School just started last week, so I've had the first of my lectures.
On Tuesdays, I have Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). It's the applied economics course that follows Economics in Public Policy, which I took last spring. In this class we're going to learn how to find the cost and benefits of a policies and programs and than quantify and compare these. This is a good skill to have, but is especially difficult when dealing with large science or technology initiatives, in particular space programs, which may not be designed for immediate economic benefit. It will be interesting to learn how these issues are dealt with. The class has a couple of exams, but the main work is a long research paper in which we carry out a CBA on a policy or program of our choice. I haven't decided what to look at yet, but I guess I'll have to decide and get started soon.
On Wednesdays, my lecture is Politics of Earth and Space Science. The professor for this class has worked in the government for almost 30 years, a number of them at NASA. Rather than focusing on history or theory, this class looks at the reality of trying to get policies approved by various stakeholders. It looks at the differences in argument needed when getting the same policy approved by NASA, the hill, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), or others. We also have exams and one-page papers in this class, but the major component is a team project in which we actually come up with an argument based on a given scenario and then present it to professionals from the government. Almost all of the Space Policy second year masters students are in the class - Stephanie, Eric, Brian, Adam, etc. - which is really nice.
So, I have lecture only two days a week. You may be wondering what I'm doing with the rest of my time. Instead of a third class, I am taking an independent study, which will result in my writing a 50-page paper by the end of the semester. I'm still finalizing my topic, but hopefully I'll have it pinned down by the end of this week. I'm on the executive board of the George Washington Space Society, so I help organize meetings and space-related events. I'm also continuing my work with Raytheon, and looking at doing some space-related work as well. I'm still finishing the paper I was writing at NASA last spring - though I really hope to be finished with that in the next couple weeks. The space weather paper is also still in the works. In my spare time, I'm trying to learn Spanish. Other than that, I'm trying to take advantage of living in DC, and go to various lectures, concerts, and other things around the city. So I'm keeping busy. :)
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Labor Day Weekend
Though still a bit jet-lagged, I had a very fun and all-American Labor Day weekend. On Sunday, Jeff and I went to his five year high-school reunion. It was organized by one of his good friends, and there were a lot of people that we both knew, and many that I had never met. The event was held at the park, and was a potluck, with barbeque pork sandwiches and apple pie, and people were tossing around an American football. Definitely back in the states. It seemed like Jeff had a good time catching up with old friends, many of whom live in the area, so now maybe we'll see them.
On Monday, Labor Day, Jeff and I decided to copy Stephanie's idea of going to a baseball game. The DC Nationals just opened a big stadium last spring, and we hadn't been yet. We jumped on the metro for the short ride to the game (so conveniently located!), bought some cheap tickets from scalpers, and then sat by Stephanie and her friends in some pretty nice seats. (The Nats aren't the greatest team, and the stadium's pretty big, so there was lots of space.) It's been a while since I've been to a baseball game, so it was a lot of fun. And the Nats won!
On an unrelated note - there was this cool thing in Spain called "bicing" where you get a card that allows you to get a cheap annual membership and then take a bike from one place in the city and drop it off anywhere else that there is a bicing stand. And now the exact same thing just appearred at the corner of my street in DC while I was away. Awesome.
Monday, September 1, 2008
It's Only the Beginning
Friday, August 29th was the last official day of ISU. I woke up around 10:30am, meaning to pack and get things together. Pol offered to help me pack, but somehow even with his help, I accomplished nothing except sitting around thinking about how amazing the summer was until about 1:30pm, when I realized I really needed to go de-register.
I went to de-registration with Stephanie, Eric, and Pol, turned in my much-needed fan, picked up a copy of the executive summary (great work, Laurent!), and got my T-Shirt.
Heading back, I was finally starting to feel hungry again after the incredible meal I had had at Patrizia's the day before, so Pol and I headed to Mango for a bite to eat. We both ordered the set lunch menu, which was probably too much food on its own, and also ordered a completely superflous plate of patatas bravas - I couldn't risk heading home without having them one last time.
Somehow, we stayed at lunch until almost 4pm, and with the bus to closing ceremonies leaving at 4:30pm, we had to hurry to Penyafort for some rapid getting ready. To add a nice cyclical feeling to the summer (and because I didn't have time or money to shop) I wore the same dress to closing ceremonies that I had worn to opening ceremonies.
Closing ceremonies were at CaixaForum - a museum near Placa Espanya in Barcelona. We had a bit of a tour, grabbed some much needed espresso, and then went to the auditorium. Closing ceremonies were very nice - they called each person's name and presented them with a certificate.
I actually recieved a special award. I was presented with the "Morla Milne Award for Academic Excellence." The award is given to the person with the highest mark on the written examination. I was proud to have won the award and glad that despite all of my day trips and exploring Barcelona, I showed that I also cared about academics. They asked me to say a few words, which was completely unexpected. I don't really even remember what I said... so hopefully it was coherent.
After the presentation of awards ended, we headed out of the auditorium to the reception. The reception was very nice, and gave us another chance to enjoy some cava, watch a slide show of pictures, and enjoy some last face-to-face conversations with good friends.
In some ways, the end was similar to the beginning - at opening ceremonies, everyone was asking the same questions "Where are you from?", "What do you do?", etc. Now that the summer was over, everyone was asking "What will you do now?" "How long are you staying?" or "When do you head back?". So in both cases, you walk around having the same conversation with different groups of people.
As the reception was coming to a close, I left with Pol to go back to his house and get his car. He had offered to drive me to the airport, since I was leaving early the next morning. It was fun to drop by his house one last time, and I had the chance to meet his mother and grandmother, who were both very nice.
When we arrived back at Penyafort, people were out on the patio, enjoying our last warm Barcelona night as a big group. We hung out and chatted until the patio closed at 1am. At that point, people started to head out to the garden area, but I said my good-byes. I hadn't packed yet, and I was supposed to leave for my flight around 7am.
I went to pack, and Pol came to help and keep me company - packing late at night before leaving is definitely not the cheeriest activity, but we had fun. I pulled everything out of the drawers and shelves and put it on my bed, and it really seemed like there was no chance I would fit it all into the two small bags that I had brought.
I had to ditch a towell, hairdryer, my travel books, and some other odds and ends, but I made it. Pol said I have some great packing skills (we'd watched Napoleon Dynomite twice in the last few days, and decided packing skills are just as important as bo-hunting skills and computer hacking skills).
At 7am, I woke up to grab my stuff and head to the airport. Dragging my feet, and still in denial that it was really time to leave, Pol and I finally got out the door with all my stuff around 8am. Luckily, in a car, its only about 20 minutes to the airport (Pol saved me from what would have otherwise been a long and lonely train ride).
The woman who checked me in at the airport must have seen I was pretty sad to go. "Returning to the U.S.?" she asked me. "By yourself, I guess," she added. That was not helping my efforts not to cry. She quickly added that I was there early enough to grab a coffee before going through security - prolonging my time in Barcelona just a bit more.
So I ordered my last "cafe solo" (espresso) for the forseeable future, and sat chatting with Pol at the airport cafe. I finally went through to the gate around 8:30am - just as my plane was boarding.
Luckily for me, I ran into Paul McBeth, who happened to be on the same flight as me, headed to Amsterdam. He and I chatted while we waited in line, both slept through the flight, and met up again briefly in Amsterdam as we headed for our next gates. That was my final face to face good-bye with a foreign ISU friend.
I arrived home, finally, around 10:30pm, and Jeff picked me up with a bouquet of red roses. I'm so lucky to have people that care about me so much. As sad as it is to have people I love spread out around the world, I feel really happy and lucky to know them.
It's easy to be sad about leaving Barcelona, and primarily that's how I'm feeling right now - the summer was so amazing, and the people I met and made friends with mean so much to me. But I'm trying to focus on something that Michael said the last night while we were hanging out at Penyafort.
Throughout the whole summer, he would always say "It's only the beginning!". Whether it was lunchtime, dinnertime, or 5am walking home from a club, you'd hear him, "Hey, it's only the beginning!" When we were saying goodbye for the last time before going to the airport, Michael repeated his phrase, which made me laugh. But he said he was serious. Sure, it's the end of SSP '08, and people are heading home, but now we have to visit each other, chat online, and start planning re-unions. "Really," he said, "It's only the beginning."
I went to de-registration with Stephanie, Eric, and Pol, turned in my much-needed fan, picked up a copy of the executive summary (great work, Laurent!), and got my T-Shirt.
Heading back, I was finally starting to feel hungry again after the incredible meal I had had at Patrizia's the day before, so Pol and I headed to Mango for a bite to eat. We both ordered the set lunch menu, which was probably too much food on its own, and also ordered a completely superflous plate of patatas bravas - I couldn't risk heading home without having them one last time.
Somehow, we stayed at lunch until almost 4pm, and with the bus to closing ceremonies leaving at 4:30pm, we had to hurry to Penyafort for some rapid getting ready. To add a nice cyclical feeling to the summer (and because I didn't have time or money to shop) I wore the same dress to closing ceremonies that I had worn to opening ceremonies.
Closing ceremonies were at CaixaForum - a museum near Placa Espanya in Barcelona. We had a bit of a tour, grabbed some much needed espresso, and then went to the auditorium. Closing ceremonies were very nice - they called each person's name and presented them with a certificate.
I actually recieved a special award. I was presented with the "Morla Milne Award for Academic Excellence." The award is given to the person with the highest mark on the written examination. I was proud to have won the award and glad that despite all of my day trips and exploring Barcelona, I showed that I also cared about academics. They asked me to say a few words, which was completely unexpected. I don't really even remember what I said... so hopefully it was coherent.
After the presentation of awards ended, we headed out of the auditorium to the reception. The reception was very nice, and gave us another chance to enjoy some cava, watch a slide show of pictures, and enjoy some last face-to-face conversations with good friends.
In some ways, the end was similar to the beginning - at opening ceremonies, everyone was asking the same questions "Where are you from?", "What do you do?", etc. Now that the summer was over, everyone was asking "What will you do now?" "How long are you staying?" or "When do you head back?". So in both cases, you walk around having the same conversation with different groups of people.
As the reception was coming to a close, I left with Pol to go back to his house and get his car. He had offered to drive me to the airport, since I was leaving early the next morning. It was fun to drop by his house one last time, and I had the chance to meet his mother and grandmother, who were both very nice.When we arrived back at Penyafort, people were out on the patio, enjoying our last warm Barcelona night as a big group. We hung out and chatted until the patio closed at 1am. At that point, people started to head out to the garden area, but I said my good-byes. I hadn't packed yet, and I was supposed to leave for my flight around 7am.
I went to pack, and Pol came to help and keep me company - packing late at night before leaving is definitely not the cheeriest activity, but we had fun. I pulled everything out of the drawers and shelves and put it on my bed, and it really seemed like there was no chance I would fit it all into the two small bags that I had brought.
I had to ditch a towell, hairdryer, my travel books, and some other odds and ends, but I made it. Pol said I have some great packing skills (we'd watched Napoleon Dynomite twice in the last few days, and decided packing skills are just as important as bo-hunting skills and computer hacking skills).
At 7am, I woke up to grab my stuff and head to the airport. Dragging my feet, and still in denial that it was really time to leave, Pol and I finally got out the door with all my stuff around 8am. Luckily, in a car, its only about 20 minutes to the airport (Pol saved me from what would have otherwise been a long and lonely train ride).
The woman who checked me in at the airport must have seen I was pretty sad to go. "Returning to the U.S.?" she asked me. "By yourself, I guess," she added. That was not helping my efforts not to cry. She quickly added that I was there early enough to grab a coffee before going through security - prolonging my time in Barcelona just a bit more.
So I ordered my last "cafe solo" (espresso) for the forseeable future, and sat chatting with Pol at the airport cafe. I finally went through to the gate around 8:30am - just as my plane was boarding.
Luckily for me, I ran into Paul McBeth, who happened to be on the same flight as me, headed to Amsterdam. He and I chatted while we waited in line, both slept through the flight, and met up again briefly in Amsterdam as we headed for our next gates. That was my final face to face good-bye with a foreign ISU friend.
I arrived home, finally, around 10:30pm, and Jeff picked me up with a bouquet of red roses. I'm so lucky to have people that care about me so much. As sad as it is to have people I love spread out around the world, I feel really happy and lucky to know them.
It's easy to be sad about leaving Barcelona, and primarily that's how I'm feeling right now - the summer was so amazing, and the people I met and made friends with mean so much to me. But I'm trying to focus on something that Michael said the last night while we were hanging out at Penyafort.
Throughout the whole summer, he would always say "It's only the beginning!". Whether it was lunchtime, dinnertime, or 5am walking home from a club, you'd hear him, "Hey, it's only the beginning!" When we were saying goodbye for the last time before going to the airport, Michael repeated his phrase, which made me laugh. But he said he was serious. Sure, it's the end of SSP '08, and people are heading home, but now we have to visit each other, chat online, and start planning re-unions. "Really," he said, "It's only the beginning."
Final Presentation Day
Thursday, August 28 was the day of final presentations. After many hours of working on the final report, and tons of effort by our presentation team putting turning that into a presentation, it was time to show what we had accomplished.
I was the point of contact for Business and Commercial related questions, so I sat up front in my suit, ready to speak if needed. I actually did field one question, but I'm not sure I fully understood what the person was getting at - hopefully the answer was satisfactory.
A short (1.5 min) video that was part of the presentation was posted online by my teammate (and friend) Hugo. You can find it here.
After the presentation was over, we headed up to our team room for one last meeting with our whole group. We had cava and snacks to celebrate and all got T-shirts.
After that, I hurried off with my friend Patrizia to her house for home-made Paella. Hugo, Andrew, Stephanie, and Pol also came. The paella was amazing - definitely the best I've had while in Spain. I wish that I could learn how to cook like that. We had a huge meal (I couldn't eat for the rest of the day!) with appetizers, paella, desserts, and drinks. It was really nice of Patrizia and her family to invite us over!
After lunch and a bit of relaxing and hanging out at Patrizia's, we headed back to Penyafort. I took a much needed nap, which lasted until 8:30pm - 30 minutes before the start of the talent show that I was supposed to be in.
The talent show act was 100% Jaisha's idea. She thought of it, organized it, and conjoled Stephanie and I into doing it. We practiced it twice in her room, minutes before actually performing. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about going on stage. However, Jaisha's wisdom proved true again - I had tons of fun and people really enjoyed the act.
Our group was made up of Jaisha, Stephanie, and I, and we called our act "An American Tribute to Spanish Culture." Stephanie and I wore red shirts, and Jaisha wore yellow (colors of the Spanish flag), and we danced to the refrain of a couple of popular Spanish songs. There's a video out there somewhere, and if I get a hold of it, I'll try to post it. (Here it is!)
After the talent show, people were ready for one more night out. We decided to all head to Almoda Bar, which has karaoke upstairs and dancing downstairs. It turned out to be my last night out dancing in Barcelona, and I had a really great time!
I was the point of contact for Business and Commercial related questions, so I sat up front in my suit, ready to speak if needed. I actually did field one question, but I'm not sure I fully understood what the person was getting at - hopefully the answer was satisfactory.
A short (1.5 min) video that was part of the presentation was posted online by my teammate (and friend) Hugo. You can find it here.
After the presentation was over, we headed up to our team room for one last meeting with our whole group. We had cava and snacks to celebrate and all got T-shirts.
After that, I hurried off with my friend Patrizia to her house for home-made Paella. Hugo, Andrew, Stephanie, and Pol also came. The paella was amazing - definitely the best I've had while in Spain. I wish that I could learn how to cook like that. We had a huge meal (I couldn't eat for the rest of the day!) with appetizers, paella, desserts, and drinks. It was really nice of Patrizia and her family to invite us over!After lunch and a bit of relaxing and hanging out at Patrizia's, we headed back to Penyafort. I took a much needed nap, which lasted until 8:30pm - 30 minutes before the start of the talent show that I was supposed to be in.
The talent show act was 100% Jaisha's idea. She thought of it, organized it, and conjoled Stephanie and I into doing it. We practiced it twice in her room, minutes before actually performing. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about going on stage. However, Jaisha's wisdom proved true again - I had tons of fun and people really enjoyed the act.
Our group was made up of Jaisha, Stephanie, and I, and we called our act "An American Tribute to Spanish Culture." Stephanie and I wore red shirts, and Jaisha wore yellow (colors of the Spanish flag), and we danced to the refrain of a couple of popular Spanish songs. There's a video out there somewhere, and if I get a hold of it, I'll try to post it. (Here it is!)
After the talent show, people were ready for one more night out. We decided to all head to Almoda Bar, which has karaoke upstairs and dancing downstairs. It turned out to be my last night out dancing in Barcelona, and I had a really great time!
Figueres and Cadaqués
On Wednesday, we took our third and final roadtrip for the summer. This time we went a bit farther north than the previous two days - first to Figueres and then to Cadaqués. The group included Brice, Me, Laurent, Sandrine, and Pol.
The morning actually started with a meeting, so we first attended that and watched the run-through of the final presentation for our team. The trouble with meetings is that they tend to spur additional meetings, and Pol and Sandrine got pulled into a long discussion about their section of the report.
In the meantime, I headed back and met up with Laurent and Brice. The plan for the Figueres trip was to see the Dali Museum. They were worried that we might have trouble getting there before closing (it was already 1:30pm and we hadn't left), so the plan changed so we would leave now, and Pol and Sandrine take the train and meet us as soon as they could.
For some reason there was no radio in the car, so Laurent, Brice and I decided to sing instead. They knew a bunch of French folk songs, and I tried to remember a few American ones.
Figueres is a cute town a few hours north of Barcelona. The main thing to see, as I mentioned before, is the Dali Museum. It was actually put together by Dali himself, and is a pretty crazy place. We spent two and half hours seeing everything. There are a lot of cool exhibits, like this one of Mae West, which only looks like a portrait from a particular angle.
Pol and Sandrine arrived around 6pm, and actually were able to get into the museum. They did the express tour, and only took about 45 minutes.
When we were all finished with the museum, we headed to Cadaqués, the town on the sea where Dali had lived. Cadaqués is a really beautiful place. We walked around a bit, and found a cute restaurant up on a hill called La Sirena (the mermaid). We ate dinner there - I had sea bass - I'm a great seafood eater now.
On the walk home, you could see tons of stars, which I absolutely love. Though walking while looking straight up is a bit of a challenge.
The drive home started with a dark, winding road through the mountains, for which I stayed wide awake, watching the road ahead for any signs of oncoming traffic. But after we made it onto the highway, I was out like a light. Everyone else was about the same, so that poor Brice, who had taken over the driving for the way home, had to chauffeur a car full of sleeping people back to Barcelona.
The morning actually started with a meeting, so we first attended that and watched the run-through of the final presentation for our team. The trouble with meetings is that they tend to spur additional meetings, and Pol and Sandrine got pulled into a long discussion about their section of the report.In the meantime, I headed back and met up with Laurent and Brice. The plan for the Figueres trip was to see the Dali Museum. They were worried that we might have trouble getting there before closing (it was already 1:30pm and we hadn't left), so the plan changed so we would leave now, and Pol and Sandrine take the train and meet us as soon as they could.
For some reason there was no radio in the car, so Laurent, Brice and I decided to sing instead. They knew a bunch of French folk songs, and I tried to remember a few American ones.
Figueres is a cute town a few hours north of Barcelona. The main thing to see, as I mentioned before, is the Dali Museum. It was actually put together by Dali himself, and is a pretty crazy place. We spent two and half hours seeing everything. There are a lot of cool exhibits, like this one of Mae West, which only looks like a portrait from a particular angle.
Pol and Sandrine arrived around 6pm, and actually were able to get into the museum. They did the express tour, and only took about 45 minutes.When we were all finished with the museum, we headed to Cadaqués, the town on the sea where Dali had lived. Cadaqués is a really beautiful place. We walked around a bit, and found a cute restaurant up on a hill called La Sirena (the mermaid). We ate dinner there - I had sea bass - I'm a great seafood eater now.
On the walk home, you could see tons of stars, which I absolutely love. Though walking while looking straight up is a bit of a challenge.The drive home started with a dark, winding road through the mountains, for which I stayed wide awake, watching the road ahead for any signs of oncoming traffic. But after we made it onto the highway, I was out like a light. Everyone else was about the same, so that poor Brice, who had taken over the driving for the way home, had to chauffeur a car full of sleeping people back to Barcelona.
Cala Llevado (near Tossa de Mar)
Since Jaisha couldn't make it to Tossa on Monday, and others wanted to go also, people decided to rent a car and go again. This time the group was comprised of Jaisha, Laurent, Brice, Pol, and Me. Anna joined us later by taking the train out.
Our planned destination was Tossa de Mar, but on the way, Jaisha suggested we stop at Cala Llevado - a small place just before Tossa. One of her friends was from the area and suggested just catching the view from here. Cala Llevado has a camping area where you can park, and from there you can climb down a pretty steep hill to a beach surrounded by cliffs, trees, and rocks.
Once we got there and saw it, we decided to just stay. There was a restaurant on the beach there, so we could even stay for lunch.
As soon as we got there, the guys decided they were ready to swim. (Jaisha, being responsible, had brought her team's report with her, and was editing that on the beach.) I decided to join the swimming group. There were some giant inflatable intertubes way out in the sea, and we decided to swim out and see what they were. It was a pretty long swim, but really fun, except for one scary incident. I was swimming along happily, chatting, and enjoying the water, and then Brice says "Hey, Mariel, watch out for that jellyfish," and I responded by flailing and trying to move away from the dark splotch in the water. (Laurent swears that I somehow moved about a meter in under a second.) The jellyfish was only a couple centimeters from me when Brice warned me (thanks for all the warning, guys...) so I actually did touch it (Yuck!!!) - but luckily I didn't get stung.
We swam back to a different beach than the one where we'd come in, so we thought we'd walk up and over the rocks to get back. Unfortunately, this plan failed miserably, and we ended up walking up and down the rocky path in our bare feet. On the way up we talked about how nice the swim was and how great the views were. On the way down we mostly discussed who's idea it had been to walk up this way.
We ended up swimming back to our beach - this time I was more on alert for jellyfish. Anna was going to arrive on the train soon, so Laurent and Brice went to go pick her up. I laid on the beach and chatted with Jaisha while Pol napped.
When Anna, Laurent, and Brice returned, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant on the beach. Lunch was very nice - all the food was really well made.
After lunch, Pol and I really wanted to go kayaking again, and we convinced Brice and Anna to join us. While people were still getting things together, I went to rent the kayaks. I was very proud to be able to do it in Spanish (Neccesito alquilar dos kayaks para cuatro personas, por favor), to which the person responded in Spanish with the price, and I paid. Then she turned to one of the guys near the kayaks and said, "Hey, grab two of those kayaks for these people," in a British accent. Ah well.
As we were walking to the kayak, one of the guys saw that we were bringing a cell phone, and told us we'd better leave that on the beach. We explained that we had no watch and no way to know when our hour would be up. He said to just estimate, and that he'd whistle if it was getting late. (Which is kind of crazy, because you kayak pretty far away, and a whistle isn't going to be audible...)
Anyway, this time Pol and I were much more hardcore (he had a blister at the end!) and we ended up losing Brice and Anna, who preferred to float, chat, and swim. The water was a bit choppy, making the kayaking even more exciting. The coastline is really made up of a bunch of half-cresent shapes, so as soon as you get around one ridge, you can see another one in the distance. Curiousity kept us going from ridge to ridge, until Pol asked, "Is that the castle?" (Meaning the castle we'd been to the day before at Tossa.) To which I replied, "No." A few minutes later, as we got a bit closer, we reallized it definitely was the castle. We had kayaked to Tossa. We kayaked all the way up to the front of the castle to ask some people for the time, and then decided we'd better head back.
When we got back, Anna and Brice were already back on the beach. I guess Pol and I have pretty poor time estimation skills, because they told us we were gone for an hour and a half or more. But it was really fun - I couldn't believe we made it all the way to Tossa.
After that it was time for a fun, if slightly crouded, ride back to Barcelona.
Our planned destination was Tossa de Mar, but on the way, Jaisha suggested we stop at Cala Llevado - a small place just before Tossa. One of her friends was from the area and suggested just catching the view from here. Cala Llevado has a camping area where you can park, and from there you can climb down a pretty steep hill to a beach surrounded by cliffs, trees, and rocks.
Once we got there and saw it, we decided to just stay. There was a restaurant on the beach there, so we could even stay for lunch.As soon as we got there, the guys decided they were ready to swim. (Jaisha, being responsible, had brought her team's report with her, and was editing that on the beach.) I decided to join the swimming group. There were some giant inflatable intertubes way out in the sea, and we decided to swim out and see what they were. It was a pretty long swim, but really fun, except for one scary incident. I was swimming along happily, chatting, and enjoying the water, and then Brice says "Hey, Mariel, watch out for that jellyfish," and I responded by flailing and trying to move away from the dark splotch in the water. (Laurent swears that I somehow moved about a meter in under a second.) The jellyfish was only a couple centimeters from me when Brice warned me (thanks for all the warning, guys...) so I actually did touch it (Yuck!!!) - but luckily I didn't get stung.
We swam back to a different beach than the one where we'd come in, so we thought we'd walk up and over the rocks to get back. Unfortunately, this plan failed miserably, and we ended up walking up and down the rocky path in our bare feet. On the way up we talked about how nice the swim was and how great the views were. On the way down we mostly discussed who's idea it had been to walk up this way.
We ended up swimming back to our beach - this time I was more on alert for jellyfish. Anna was going to arrive on the train soon, so Laurent and Brice went to go pick her up. I laid on the beach and chatted with Jaisha while Pol napped.When Anna, Laurent, and Brice returned, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant on the beach. Lunch was very nice - all the food was really well made.
After lunch, Pol and I really wanted to go kayaking again, and we convinced Brice and Anna to join us. While people were still getting things together, I went to rent the kayaks. I was very proud to be able to do it in Spanish (Neccesito alquilar dos kayaks para cuatro personas, por favor), to which the person responded in Spanish with the price, and I paid. Then she turned to one of the guys near the kayaks and said, "Hey, grab two of those kayaks for these people," in a British accent. Ah well.As we were walking to the kayak, one of the guys saw that we were bringing a cell phone, and told us we'd better leave that on the beach. We explained that we had no watch and no way to know when our hour would be up. He said to just estimate, and that he'd whistle if it was getting late. (Which is kind of crazy, because you kayak pretty far away, and a whistle isn't going to be audible...)
Anyway, this time Pol and I were much more hardcore (he had a blister at the end!) and we ended up losing Brice and Anna, who preferred to float, chat, and swim. The water was a bit choppy, making the kayaking even more exciting. The coastline is really made up of a bunch of half-cresent shapes, so as soon as you get around one ridge, you can see another one in the distance. Curiousity kept us going from ridge to ridge, until Pol asked, "Is that the castle?" (Meaning the castle we'd been to the day before at Tossa.) To which I replied, "No." A few minutes later, as we got a bit closer, we reallized it definitely was the castle. We had kayaked to Tossa. We kayaked all the way up to the front of the castle to ask some people for the time, and then decided we'd better head back.
When we got back, Anna and Brice were already back on the beach. I guess Pol and I have pretty poor time estimation skills, because they told us we were gone for an hour and a half or more. But it was really fun - I couldn't believe we made it all the way to Tossa.After that it was time for a fun, if slightly crouded, ride back to Barcelona.
Tossa de Mar
The last week of ISU became the week of day trips for me, and it started on Monday with a trip to Tossa de Mar.
Sonny and Paul had been completing a diving course in Tossa over the weekend and needed to return for one more day of lessons and testing. Since there were only two of them in the car, they had three empty spaces. We found out at dinner that Jaisha was planning on going, and Pol and I said we'd love to go too.
On Monday morning, it turned out that Jaisha couldn't make it, but Sonny, Paul, Pol, and I headed out around 10am.
Tossa is about an hour and a half north of Barcelona - it's a small town on the ocean on Costa Brava. Costa Brava is really different from the beaches south of Barcelona. Instead of being sandy and staying shallow for a long time, everything is very rocky and it gets deep very quickly.
When we got there, Paul and Sonny went off to the diving center, and Pol and I went for a nap on the beach. It was a little bit cloudy, which was perfect, because direct sun in the Spanish summer is really intense. The nap was followed by a swim - I couldn't believe how clear the water was, even when we were very deep.
After swimming, we decided to rent a kayak. We were a bit lazy with kayaking, and just explored around one ridge. Whenever the sun would come out, we'd set our paddles down and just lay in the kayak, floating in the Mediterranean, until the sun went behind the clouds again. It was very relaxing, though, and we saw some very pretty views.
After lunch at a cute pizzeria, we headed off to the castle for some hiking. We walked up to the top where the faro (lighthouse) was, and took our time wandering around and seeing the views from the various lookouts.
When we made our way back to the bottom, we got some icecream, and then sat on a rock overlooking the water as we waited for Sonny and Paul to return from their last dive.
It was such a beautiful day, and so relaxing and fun, I think this trip was one of my favorites of the entire summer.
Sonny and Paul had been completing a diving course in Tossa over the weekend and needed to return for one more day of lessons and testing. Since there were only two of them in the car, they had three empty spaces. We found out at dinner that Jaisha was planning on going, and Pol and I said we'd love to go too.On Monday morning, it turned out that Jaisha couldn't make it, but Sonny, Paul, Pol, and I headed out around 10am.
Tossa is about an hour and a half north of Barcelona - it's a small town on the ocean on Costa Brava. Costa Brava is really different from the beaches south of Barcelona. Instead of being sandy and staying shallow for a long time, everything is very rocky and it gets deep very quickly.
When we got there, Paul and Sonny went off to the diving center, and Pol and I went for a nap on the beach. It was a little bit cloudy, which was perfect, because direct sun in the Spanish summer is really intense. The nap was followed by a swim - I couldn't believe how clear the water was, even when we were very deep.
After swimming, we decided to rent a kayak. We were a bit lazy with kayaking, and just explored around one ridge. Whenever the sun would come out, we'd set our paddles down and just lay in the kayak, floating in the Mediterranean, until the sun went behind the clouds again. It was very relaxing, though, and we saw some very pretty views.
After lunch at a cute pizzeria, we headed off to the castle for some hiking. We walked up to the top where the faro (lighthouse) was, and took our time wandering around and seeing the views from the various lookouts.
When we made our way back to the bottom, we got some icecream, and then sat on a rock overlooking the water as we waited for Sonny and Paul to return from their last dive.
It was such a beautiful day, and so relaxing and fun, I think this trip was one of my favorites of the entire summer.
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