20: Have a plan for packing

Sewing a patch with the Spanish crest onto the Hulk

I took a break from packing to sew this patch onto my backpack. Studying abroad in Spain has been an unforgettable experience. This patch sewn on the bag that will hold everything I own as I travel for the next 2.5 weeks is a symbol of the time I spent here, learning, seeing, experiencing.

With that said, packing is crazy. These two months here have made me forget how crazy it is to try to stuff everything back into a bag!

I have an important decision to make. I've already decided that I don't want to travel for 2.5 weeks with my laptop because I probably won't have much time to use it. Plus, it's heavy and takes up a lot of space. My laptop, I think, wins the award for Largest and Heaviest Laptop in Spain. Seriously.

So here are my options:
1) Mail is back home. Shipping ranges from 50 Euro to 200 Euro and up!
2) Have Alex ship it home for me because he has time to. Will have to pay him back.
3) Pack it in Naomi's checked luggage and get it back from her later.

Another important thing to think about is the mylars! Those three sheets of plastic document the process and evolution of my project. They're 24" x 36", so they won't fit in my backpack. I think a few people are shipping theirs back to Berkeley together, but again, the shipping costs are high. I could also send it back with Naomi.

I've had to throw out or give away things that I know I won't need anymore--my regular-sized sunscreen, lentils, some candy, the bowl and plastic boxes that I bought here. I'm going minimal again so I can pack light! I bought some Febreeze (yup, I found the name brand in Torrevieja) and rebottled it in a 33 mL spray bottle, and poured the laundry detergent into a 33 mL bottle as well. My liquids bag is about to burst.

It also pays to think about how you will travel afterwards. If I was taking the train to travel around Europe, I could have more luggage than just a backpack because the train system doesn't charge for extra bags (and you don't have to have a tiny bag for liquids!). If I was flying RyanAir, I would have to be very, very careful about the size of my bag. I'm flying EasyJet, though, and they're more lenient on bag sizes.

Plan ahead for packing and you will be alright! 

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Final Review

The day has finally come. 

...and gone!

I'm exhausted, but a good kind of exhausted. Today was a lot of running around, getting everyone's mylars and models to the exhibition space. We pinned up in the new music school building, a very modern-looking building with no signs. Naomi and I have come across it a few times and didn't know what it was for. 

Our room, thankfully, had air conditioning, but the rest of the building did not! It was a struggle to go to the restroom. 

We started late, so the only reviewer that showed up on time had left by the time we'd finished pinning up. It was frustrating to sit and wait, but we got to relax. Two groups presented on the first day--Water and Earth--so the two groups that weren't presenting--Air and Fire--ran back to the Pension to get the bocadillos that Vicente and the kitchen crew had ready for us. I don't think I'll be able to eat another sandwich for a very, very long time. 

After lunch, we finally began reviews. Naomi went first!!! I was the designated timer. I kept changing the amount of time each person was allotted to try to make sure we could get to everyone by 6PM. Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the reviewers knew what the loud buzzer meant. It could have been someone's phone randomly going off, for all they knew. But Alex kept the reviews rolling at a good pace.

Before I knew it, it was my turn--I went first for Earth! I had to explain the program because it's different from the Water program. I told myself that this was my very last final review* and that I would do well. And do well I did! I combined Guardamar's history and my experience of the city and the Rio Segura to design a complex of buildings and walkways. I felt really accomplished at the end of my review! I felt empowered, like my ideas could really be turned into reality. 

The rest of the day was a blur! I'm really relieved that my review is over. There's one more day of reviews tomorrow, and then this summer studio is over. 

*Last review of my undergraduate career, at least! 

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19: Buckle down for studio!

Diagram

It's that time--final review time! If mid-review strikes fear in the average architecture student's heart, any mention of final review can cause tachycardia, cold sweats, and panic.

But don't worry! It should be different this time! I don't fear desk crits with Alex--I embrace them, because he's been receptive to my ideas and has given me helpful constructive feedback. I'm stuck clicking around in Rhino and Illustrator, but at least my computer still works (one more Mac has decided not to work anymore this week!). I don't know exactly where my project is headed, but Alex says that's a good thing. If I knew where I was going, then there's no room for adaptation, change, and spontaneity that could enrich my project.

I feel like we've been spoiled in the first half--oh, maybe even 2/3rds--of the program by all the leisurely travel to various cities in Spain. It's been really relaxed and now we are paying for it! Not that it's a bad thing--I enjoy the hard work because I know in the end something good will come out of it. It just feels terrible to be sitting in this hard studio chair for hours and hours on end, and, at the end of the day, not feel like I've made any significant progress.

I'm hoping for some last-minute burst of something to make my project really sparkle. For now, it's time to buckle down.

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Guardamar's Medieval Market

For three days only, a Medieval Market is set up on the street behind the church and stretches up to the base of the castle. This is the most beautiful and varied market so far in Guardamar--each booth is so unique! The Moors and Christians festival begins this weekend and this is one of the major events leading up to it. Everyone from town and all the tourists are here--our studio included!

The street that the Medieval Market follows is a residential street. Families open up their garage doors and invite friends to hang out. There's a section at the beginning that looks like it was set up by the locals, for the locals--there's a table with women selling home-baked treats, a table for kids to do arts and crafts, and a longer set of tables where elderly men and women were making lace. Yes, making lace! 

We couldn't communicate very well with them, but we found out that it takes a long time to make high quality lace. I believe it. Here are a couple of fans--definitely better than anything you can find at the dollar store! At the top left corner of the photo, you can see a little of the contraption that they use to make lace: wooden dowels with white thread wrapped around them to better control the thread. The thread is woven/knit/wrapped around dozens of pins. How the lace-maker knows what direction to weave the thread--that is a mystery. It looks so unbelievably intricate. 

At the start of the market is and hand-cranked flying swing set for the kids. I wanted to ride that so bad. 

There was such an eclectic and varied collection of booths! One brewed you a teapot of Moroccan tea and gave you a plate of Moroccan sweets. Many sold beautiful jewelry--woven, gold, silver, stainless steel, pearls, jewels. One sold hand-made shoes in bright, dyed leather. Another sold leather lace-up boots. One had a dazzling array of dried fruits and candies, while another had the freshest goat, sheep, and cow's milk cheese (I even got a sample!). One man wrote your name in Arabic letters. One booth sold miniature books. The most interesting (and tempting) booth was owned by one woman who sold her bakery goods by weight--there were chocolate-glazed donuts bigger than my face! And loaves of bread as large as an XL pizza in America! At the base of the castle there were a multitude of food and drink booths. At the center was a large fire-roaster, with chicken, sausages, pork, and vegetables. There was also a kebab stand (which we tried! It was delicious) and a cocktail booth. Plenty of seating for everyone to sit and eat their food. 

My favorite booth was owned by a woman who made glass beads and made beautiful jewelry out of them. She even demonstrated how she made beads with her little fireblower (not a technical term) and her sticks of glass. I ended up buying a beautiful ring from her!

I wish the Medieval Market lasted longer than three days. It's amazing to see the range of artisans and their wares, as well as to walk through slowly with everyone else in town around you.

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Torrevieja: the Boardwalk and Chinese food

Sunshade device along the boardwalk

Naomi and I took a day trip to Torrevieja today. I was looking for a Barclays ATM so I could withdraw cash without paying any fees. We wanted to see the salt museum too, but it was closed.

Above is a sunshade. It's an awesome cantilelever, but it doesn't provide much protection from the sun, especially at high noon.

There's no beach in Torrevieja--that's why they have a boardwalk. It's all huge rocks, and the waves crash hard against them. We walked pretty far out. There are a variety of stalls that line the boardwalk, as well as restaurants and shops. It's a huge tourist area--there are even people climbing the rocks to touch the water and feel the spray.

Rocks, no beach

Torrevieja is known as a more international city--which might just mean that there are more Chinese people here. It's a bigger city than Guardamar and more British people live and have their holidays here. Chinese cuisine is rather popular among the British. I mean, who doesn't like Chinese food?!

Most restaurants in Spain offer a "Menu of the Day," which is similar to the lunches at the Pension: bread, first course, second course, a drink, and dessert and/or coffee. It was no different at the Chinese restaurant.

It was cheaper than other restaurants and the familiar flavor was comforting. Back in the US, I never really ate out at Chinese restaurants because the food is Americanized. When I did have Chinese food in a restaurant, I was always with my parents, who knew how to order healthier fare off the Chinese menu. The waitress at this restaurant in Torrevieja offered me the Chinese menu but I couldn't read it--and it was cheaper and simpler to order the Menu of the Day. I had to get Naomi to help me decide on what was safe to order. I got a salad with Asian-style dressing, chow mien, chicken chop suey, and a coffee. I even had leftovers to enjoy for later!

We found a Chinese grocery store near the bus station. There were so many foods--bok choy, tofu, salted duck eggs, mung beans, frozen pot stickers, spices, sauces... I ended up going on a mini shopping spree and getting bok choy, tofu, a barley soup mix that my mom has made before, the salted duck eggs, and umbrella cookies. Yum! (That's a photo of Banlangen, a drink powder that makes a tea good for drinking when you are about to get sick or have a fever.)

Banlangen at the Chinese food store

All in all, it was a successful trip!

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Bike ride to Orihuela

On the road

This weekend, I decided to stay in Guardamar. I'm tired from traveling so much. And after seeing the Sagrada Familia, everything else seems to pale in comparison.

A bunch of people went to Morocco, some to Bilbao, some to Madrid. I took a bike ride to Orihuela!

It's a 36.73 mile bike ride, round trip. I rode along the Rio Segura. I ended up biking more than I planned because when I got to Orihuela, there was a bridge with train tracks blocking the bike path. I was expecting something like a highway exit straight into the city... boy was I wrong. I had to cut through an orchard of orange trees to the highway, and bike on the highway into the city!

It was so hot. I killed so many bugs just by smacking into them while riding. I stopped at the Mercadona (I've never been so happy to see a grocery store!) and walked around in there for a good 30 minutes because there was air conditioning. I left with Gatorade and 1.5 L of water for the trip back.

I didn't do much in Orihuela. I arrived around 1:30PM, so most places were starting to close for siesta. I found the Tourist Information and got a map. The cathedral was small but beautiful from the outside. I took a break in a gelato shop and drank horchata.

I started my ride back around 5PM. It was still really, really hot! I almost got lost trying to bike out of the city too. Every 15 minutes, I had to stop and sip some Gatorade. By the time I got back to the edge of Guardamar, the only thing keeping me going was the thought of dinner.

But I saw some great sights. The river, though mostly overgrown with plants, was very, very pretty. The mountains, as they got closer and closer, were majestic.

Panorama of a part of the river

About a block away from the bike rental shop, I stopped and tried to wipe myself down, but my bike was covered in sand from the riverbanks. I told the owner, "Orihuela, muy bueno!"

(Edit: On the Tuesday after this weekend, Alex was stopped by the bike shop owner, asking if Alex knew that one of his students rode all the way to Orihuela. His wife said it was too far! That made me smile.)

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