Spanish Adventure

So this new post is all about my mini backpacking trip through Spain, the country in which I know many people now, thanks to Erasmus. But since my holidays are limited to about 20 days, I have to use them wisely, which is why I chose to take 5 days off, which allows me to actually go on a 9 day vacation (well, I was going to take 17 days off and actually cross the canal to Morocco, but I'll explain that later). Seems like a short time, but I definitely packed in quite a bit in those 9 days.

I first flew from Geneva to Barcelona on a Friday night, just checking into the hostel (in a street full of prostitutes), having dinner (in a bar on the street full of prostitutes), and talking with a strange drunk old man from Romania. The next day, I woke up early to start my sightseeing, and I knew I had to hurry because well, people would think that I'm crazy to do all of Barcelona in 2 days. At first, I headed towards the...of course, La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's still unfinished masterpiece of a church with 18 soaring towers (like 6 of them are done so far?). It's apparently set to finish by 2050.



Other points of interest on the first day were La Rambla, the famous street with crazy street performers, tiny little shops selling everything, and of course, pickpocketers. I also went to 2 of Gaudi's apartment buildings, La Pedrera and Casa Batllo.





At night, my whole dorm room and I (8 of us) joined the hostel pub crawl without paying, which turned out to be a great way to get a glimpse of Barcelona's supposedly bumping nightlife. This may have been the first time in which everybody in a dorm room went out together and became friends. Fantastic! But I also didin't want to go out for too long because I knew that the next day was when I was going to see the last bit of Barcelona and take the train to Madrid to see my girlfriend!

Buuuuuuut, before that I need to give a shout out to the Free Tour of Barcelona for making this city so wonderful to me. We went through the tiny streets around La Rambla, where history and interesting facts were waiting around every corner. I don't want to ruin anything, but here's one great story: In the picture underneath is the art school where young Picasso used to attend, but also true was that he used to frequent the brothel that was just across the street. Now, fast forward a few years in Paris when he drew his first cubism painting - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. From the title, it sounds like this is a painting of women from the French city of Avignon. However, as the tour guide told us, and as you can see in the picture, the street on which the art school and brothel was located, was called Carrer D'Avinyo. And not surprisingly, the original title for the painting was The Brothel of Avignon. Bizarre.





After the fantastic tour, I headed over to the train station to take a nice long ride to Madrid, and believe me, the anticipation was killing me. By this point, I hadn't seen Caro for about 3 weeks so it was getting rough to say the least. If Barcelona was the city of design, then Madrid was the city of grandiosity. Everything just seemed big and grand. The street of Gran Via and adjacent roads (seemed like this city only had roads as opposed to little street and alleyways of other Spanish cities) contained huge government buildings and intimidating statue fountains.







Caro and I also visited the city of Toledo, a few km out of the city. What makes this city particularly interesting is the mixture of Roman, Visigoth, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian cultures and architecture (although much of the city has been overtaken by McDonalds, H&M, and souvenir shops by now). It is also a city famous for sword making as well as being home for many famous Spanish artists like El Greco.



At night, I followed Caro like a puppy being shown off to her family and girl friends most of the time. But of course, I did my part, and I think I held my own. They were all great people, and that's exactly what made Madrid special for me. I may have enjoyed the city of Barcelona or Granada more than Madrid, but streets and history don't make a city come alive, the people do.

The next stop on my itinerary was the fabled Granada and its La Alhambra! The last Muslim city in Spain to be conquered as well as the Muslim capital for hundreds of years, this Andalucian city has everything a city needs - history, a UNESCO heritage site, a diverse student population, a great nightlife, and of course, free food! Yep, if you buy a drink in Granada, you get free tapas, and some student bars give out heaps of food for every drink so you come out of the bar drunk and full. In Granada, I stayed with my Lausanne roommate, who is from Granada, and his girlfriend. Although I didn't get to enjoy the nightlife as much, I wholly enjoyed La Alhambra, the Muslim fortress from the 11th century. The details on every wall were absolutely breathtaking.





And although I understand that this was a very touristy thing to do, I went to a Flamenco show (Caro insisted that Flamenco is something that just spontaneously happens at a bar). And trust me, it was worth every penny. I am obviously not sure, but I have a feeling that these professional Flamenco dancers put on a show with more skill than anything that's spontaneous. And here's a reason why people absolutely ADORE Japanese tourists. There was a Flamenco clapper seller going around the room selling them for 3 euros each. Some people buy one, maybe two, most of us, none. And obviously the old Japanese couple buys 20 pairs. I guess we like to receive nothing better than Flamenco clappers in Japan.



My last stop in Spain was Cordoba, another Andalucian city, and also where my friend, Dan, from University was living. I made sure to go to Cordoba on a weekend because I desperately wanted to go out with Dan. Like Granada, Cordoba is a city drenched with sunlight, streets lined with *fake* orange trees, and THE one historic site in Mezquita, a gigantic Muslim mosque from the 8th century with a gigantic cathedral build in the middle of it (which I think makes the Mezquita that much more interesting).





As intended, I enjoyed the bar scene of Cordoba, as well as the day drinking on the restaurant patios - a stark difference from Switzerland in January. Dan's friends/cousin joined us the next day for a wonderful time in the sun.



Now, the originial plan was to take another 8 days off and cross over to Morocco. I had already bought the ticket from Marrakesh to Geneva, but when I was in Granada, I started pondering. If I use 2 holiday weeks back to back, then I will only get 16 days off as opposed to 2 nine day holidays (5 days + 2 weekends on both ends). I had really wanted to see Morocco, but I thought it would be much better spent in Greece and Turkey for example (which I already bought tickets for in late May) or 9 days in Italy (which I already have tickets for as well). .....And I missed my girlfriend :)

Oh yeah, and my research is going very well too.

Soon, I'll update on my trip to Paris, Koln Karneval, and Dublin St. Patty's. Oh and skiing every other weekend. Jealous yet?

- Ryoji

Winter Vacation!

Now it's the middle of February, and I have A LOT to update since December - especially because it was the holidays. Again, I've been doing a lot of traveling, starting with Lyon, Munich for New Year's, and a backpacking trip through Spain, Swiss alps, Swiss alps, Swiss alps, and Paris just now. But I'm going to break them up into pieces...

Going to Lyon before Christmas was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing, as my girlfriend (Caro) and I wanted to go somewhere before she went back to Madrid for the holidays. The closest city that was do-able for one weekend happened to be Lyon, and it was fantastic. The morning of departure started off rocky as misconfusions after misconfusions left me pouty and upset (almost not going at all), but after much reconcilliation from Caro, we were on the train to France!

Lyon is known for its cuisine (in France!) as well as its charming UNESCO listed old town, but what I loved most about this city were the myriad of frescoes dotted around the walls of buildings known as Trompe l'Oeil. Here are some of the murals, with one of them containing a drawing of all of the famous Lyonnais people, including the author of Le Petit Prince.









Much of our time was spent walking around aimlessly through the old town, which had nothing in particular, but also everything wonderful. Little narrow streets where you hope to get lost, only to find yourself across from St. Paul's Church or the statue of the Sun King, Louis XIV.








For Christmas Eve, my American friend took pity on me and invited me to have a nice dinner with her and her family so that was delightful. Unfortunately, I didn't have the merriest christmas as most of my friends were gone for the holidays, and so my other friend who was left alone in Lausanne, well, we went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. But I knew that I was leaving to go to Germany and Spain in a few days so I didn't really care all too much.

I left for Munich on Thursday, the day before New Year's Eve with 2 of my English friends that I had met in Cambodia and live in Liverpool. They asked me if I was interested in joining up with them for New Year's in Munich, and I said, Hell Yeah. So I hopped on the train, an easy 6 hour ride to the capital of Bavaria, I go! Sadly, most of the time with my friends was spent partying until the wee hours of the night so sightseeing was left on the back burner.

Of the sightseeing that I managed to do, I quite enjoyed the museum, Alte Pinakothek, one of three world-famous museums in an art cluster of Munich. I chose to spend time in this one for its Renaissance paintings, Italian, German, French, and everything in between (not geographically, that would be Switzerland)

Now that I have enjoyed 2 Free Tours (Barcelona and Paris, more on this later), I wish I had done it in Munich, but I guess I just need to come back to this blue-and-white city once more. Marienplatz is the most prominent square in the center of the city, and the main tower houses the moving German figurines that kick the Austrian's ass at the end.



To the north of the city is the premier Nazi headquarters in the beginning of the reign, and some of the buildings are still intact. This is the city where Hitler tried a coup at the famous Hofbrauhaus (which is just a jolly good ol' drinking tent now)and tried to seize power, only to fail until a decade after. I visited the famous beer hall, not really to investigate the dark history, but to be greeted by liters of beer and sauerkraut, and drink with singin' Italian men (I'm not sure if true Germans ever come here...)



And of course, on New Year's Eve, we partied until 4 am in the city center where young hooligans were chucking fireworks at people (it was quite dangerous now that I think about it) and drinking champagne. It was strange to not be by a major body of water for New Year's for the first time.



And this is how I welcomed the year 2011. 2010 was a crazy, fun, marvelous year, and I hope this new year will bring as many adventures and surprises!

I promise I'll update very very soon.

- Ryoji

Italy, Austria, France, and obviously more Switzerland!

It's been 2 months since my last post, but it's been really hard to find the time to upload pictures, think about what to write about, and actually sitting and writing....especially now that I have a girlfriend.

But anyways, here's a very condensed version of what's been going on in my life since the last time I've written. I've been able to travel to different cities every few weeks, thanks to my lack of responsibilities on the weekends. The first stop in this post is Milano, Italy. Why Milano of all the places? Well, it's close...and it's cheap. I'm trying to go to all of the places I can easily go by train before I make longer journeys via Easyjet. As for Milano, I just called up my friend from U of I, DK, on a Wednesday, asked if he wanted to go to Italy, he said yes, and 2 days later, we were meeting up at the central station of Milano! It's that easy. The main purpose of this trip was to have a good time, more so than sight-seeing. Aside from the Duomo (which is incredible), there's not much to see, except for the painting of The Last Supper, which you needed to book ahead a few weeks in advance. Of all of the Europeans cities that I had been at that point, I might've enjoyed Italy the most, mainly because of the apertivo (sp?), the cheap pizza/pasta, and the wine. So for two days and nights, my friend and I wandered around the streets of Milano, drank wine on the streets, ate huge, delicious pizzas, and danced around clubs. In my books, that's a FANTASTIC weekend.





And then another week goes by in lab...

A few weeks later, I went to Interlaken, probably the most touristy city in Switzerland, and I don't blame all of the Chinese photo-shooting wanderers - the area is absolutely gorgeous...though my friend and I didn't really get to experience it. That's mostly because we spent the Friday night in Zurich with DK, and we went HARD. So much so that we didn't catch the train until the afternoon and missed the prime hiking hours in Interlaken. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a nice train ride, and we met up with our friends in Interlaken for some nice Thai food. Then we went to a club that was in the basement of our hostel, and again, questioned the purpose of this trip. To make the journey worthwhile, we all decided to go "hiking" around the lake even though it was gloomy and freezing. But the sandwiches that we had in the lobby of a random hotel in the middle of nowhere was one of the best meals I had ever tasted! So I guess it's all good that ends well.







Before I go on further about my travels, I feel like I should talk about Lausanne so far. I'll start by saying... it's been a BLAST! My people in lab are great, my research project is interesting, I could get published as long as I get positive results, and the city itself is so international and student-oriented that none of us has a difficult time finding a party on a given night. I've been hanging out with mostly Germans and Spanish people, though I feel like I know somebody from every country in Western Europe. I generally go to a dormitory called Falaise before going out though I sometimes wish that my dorm was as open and fun. But since my girlfriend lives there, it's basically my second home. Unlike most other big cities in Switzerland, there are loads of free-entry clubs in Lausanne, some favorites like Darling, Buzz, Jagger's...I'm gonna miss this place when June rolls around. Every Wednesday is a pubnight for the Erasmus students, every Thursday is reserved for departmental parties (which I don't really go to...because I don't take classes), and the weekends are...well, they're weekends. Play hard, work hard.

We've also celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving with class.









The last weekends, I've gone to Innsbruck in Austria, and Strasbourg in France. They were both very beautiful cities with rivers transversing the city, and again, wandering was the main objective of these trips. Innsbruck was made famous perhaps by the Winter Olympics while Strasbourg lures 3 million people during each December with its Christmas Markets and the illuminations. Enjoyed some schnitzels in Austria, Flammenkuchen in Strasbourg.











Last weekend, I went skiing in the Swiss Alps at Les Diablerets, and WOW. I would have to rank this experience among my favorites so far...in life. The idea of skiing in the Swiss Alps alone is just incredible, and add the fact that it was a beautiful day with stunning views, among all of my friends (about 25 of us signed up for the same weekend), and having an apres-ski wine in a chalet was unbeatable. It's hard to justify my feelings with words so here are some pictures to make you jealous :)









But now that it's getting cold, it's time to go more south, towards Spain, Greece, Italy. It's almost Christmas, and unfortunately for me, I'll be stuck in Lausanne at lab while all of my friends are going home to their family :( Eh, whatever. For New Year's Eve, I'm going to Munich with some of the guys I met in Cambodia, who are English and making a trip to Germany to party the year away. And after a week, I'm going backpacking to Spain and Morocco for 2 and a half weeks, so I can't really complain. The next time, I'll write will probably be in 2011. What a year it's been!!

Bienvenue a Lausanne!

Now that I have somewhat settled down and have some time on my hands, I'll give an update on the last 2.5 weeks of my hectic life in Europe.

First of all, thanks to everyone that let me stay at their apartment in Chicago and Champaign during the one week that I was there to get my visa. I stayed in the US for 6 days because the Consulate General of Switzerland in Chicago told me that the process after authorization would take 3-5 days, but as I soon found out, it took about 20 minutes. Anyway, it was great to see my friends for the last time in probably awhile. I actually tried backpacking a little bit in Chicago, but when I found out that the Art Institute cost 18 (?) dollars for entry, I said, forget it. I did manage to wander through the streets of Chicago and tailgate for a U of I football game that nobody had tickets for.

On the 15th of September, I flew from O'Hare to Switzerland. With a bit of fear and a bit of excitement, I disembarked the plane in Geneva and headed for Lausanne, a 30 minute train ride. And of course I knew this, but WOW was everything in French! I could pretty much tell then that it was going to be a rough year with my limited capacity for French. Nevertheless, I arrived in Lausanne, and I was able to find my apartment without much problem. On the same day, I went into lab to discuss my project, and by the time I had finished, it was already around 6:30. The strangest thing about Switzerland is how everything closes at 6 or 7 and definitely on Sundays. Not having known this, I was forced to sleep that night with a towel over me, freezing to death.

Here's my room now:



For the next couple of days, I had to get a residence permit, open a bank account, go see my scholarship officer, buy a metro card, get a phone, buy all of the bed stuff, buy groceries, and of course, I had to find people to hang out with. It was the weekend! Fortunately, I had bumped into one of the other Fulbright scholar at the immigration office, whom I had met at the Harvard interview. Ever since then, we had been hanging out with a bunch of German Erasmus students along with several other people at the dorms. This particular weekend in Lausanne was a big music festival with several stages in the city center. My roommate (another German) and I went out to the festival, eating kebabs, drinking beer, and we met up with the others to go out. Ever since then, it's been about 3 or 4 nights of going out per week. Feels like senior year of college all over again.

The sunday of the weekend, My roommate and I, along with 3 others, drove to Annecy in France, supposedly known as the most beautiful city in France to the natives. And wow. I was first incredulous about taking a day trip to South France. I was absolutely floored by the beauty of the city, and it definitely helped that it was a beautiful, sunshine-filled day. It's hard to capture the beauty with pictures, but I tried my best. We just strolled around town, sat down at a creperie, drank wine on the porch of the restaurant, and just relaxed. What a wonderful introduction to Europe!







My lab work consisted of reading and designing experiments for the first few weeks so I wasn't that busy though I'm sure things will start picking up. But right now, the anticipation for the weekend overrides any scientific paper or a to-do list (I still like science, I promise). My friend in Zurich from U of I had been in touch with me about going to Oktoberfest in Germany, which started in September. So it was nice to hear one of my German friends suggesting we go to Stutgart's Beer Festival, the second largest Oktoberfest in Germany, and she will drive and we can stay at her parents' house. Talk about a sweet deal. After a few hours of driving, we crossed the border to Germany (we didn't even get checked), ready to taste the finest beer that Germany has to offer. On Saturday, we went to the tents at around 3 o'clock, where people were already completely plastered. Knowing we needed to last until midnight, we decided to take it slowly, but this plan had been completely demolished after the first two 1-liter mugs. Priceless, priceless moments. Then of course, some of us somehow stumbled our way towards a club until 4am when the day/night finally concluded.





By week 2 of my stay, everything had kind of started to settle down, and I finally became somewhat comfortable in this French speaking environment. I'm far from being able to have a normal conversation, but I have been taking measures to improve my French: listen to French music everyday, watch French cartoons, take a French course, and talk to friends in French. Even after 2.5 weeks, I feel a little bit more comfortable speaking to natives. This weekend, I finally walked around Lausanne with a Lonely Planet in hand, trying to memorize the winding streets, looking for nice restaurants, pubs, etc, and of course, sight seeing. The 800 year old Cathedral of Notre Dame is the highlight of Lausanne along with a small castle and the cobblestone city center. Down by the lake, my friend and I had bought white wine, chilled it in the Lake (or tried to), and people-watched for hours.





And just today, a bunch of students hiked up a beautiful mountain, and it was absolutely exhilirating...even if I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before. The clear skies, pure air, and a wonderful view combined for an amazing day trip out of Lausanne. It's the end of hiking season right now, and soon, skiing season begins. My roommate is going to get out his fondue set soon enough, and I'll enjoy winter like I have never before...





So obviously I had been keeping myself busy, and I'm absolutely exhausted. I only sleep a few hours a night so tonight, I'm going to bed at midnight and get a full night of sleep for the first time in a week. So goodnight. Sweet dreams.

- Ryoji

Family Reunion and the rest of Japan

I'm already back in Chicago for the moment as I write this post. I didn't really have any time to write in Japan - it seemed like there were better things to do than sitting down and typing. So this is what happened in the last 2 weeks of my Asia trip:

After spending a week with my parents in Osaka, I returned to my old form as a backpacker and ventured out to Kyoto, the cultural center of Japan. Staying at a hostel, I realized how expensive lodging in Japan is: while it cost $5 in SE Asia for a dorm bed, it cost at least $25 in Japan. Of course, the amenities and cleanliness were unmatched, and the staff made my stay very comfortable. Kyoto used to be the capital during two dynastic periods, and as the treasure chest of Japan, it is home to 17 World Cultural Heritage Sites, from the renowned Kinkaku-Ji to Kiyomizu Dera, there is more history here than anywhere else in the country.



Although the temples in Kyoto were in the running to become one of the 7 New Wonders of the World back in 2007, I was a bit disappointed because most of the buildings are reconstructions for a few centuries back. Coming from China, where everything is authentic, much of Japanese history seemed to be burned down to the ground. Nevertheless, being Japanese and having grown up with these images, it was great to actually see these famous sights in person.

After the temples and shrines of Kyoto, I headed to Takayama, a remote village in the middle of Japan. It's famous for retaining some Gassho-zukuri houses like these:



Gassho means praying hands, and this type of houses was named so from the resemblance of the roofs to praying hands. The town also had an old school charm to it, with wooden shops, sake breweries, and cobblestone streets. And as a day trip out of Takayama, I headed to Kanazawa with a French guy and a German girl, and we took a nice stroll through Kenroku-En Park, one of the 3 most beautiful parks in Japan. Patched with greenish-yellow moss and century-old Japanese pine trees, this park really made me appreciate the beauty of Japan, and I think I'll buy some Bonsai once I get my own place (although I would love to have some of these Japanese pine trees in my backyard).



My family had made a plan to have a family reunion in Tokyo over the weekend so I had to make sure that I got there on time. I met up with my parents in Ebisu, Tokyo to check into a very nice hotel, and we took the train to Ginza, where my sister, her husband, my brother, and his girlfriend were waiting for us at a fancy Japanese restaurant. My family hadn't had a real reunion like that for about 4 years, but it's the craziest thing about families - it was as if we had been living together. We didn't miss a step. This was also 2 days before my birthday so I was glad to have spent it with my family for what may be my last time.



The next day, my parents and I had a day to kill before we went our separate ways, so we went to Nikko for its famed Tosho-Gu, a famous Japanese temple and also the resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the most famous Shogun of Japan. Like the temples of Kyoto, Tosho-Gu was filled with familiar images from TV and movies - like the No Hear, No Speak, No See Monkeys and the Sleeping Cat - but as a historic site, it was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe it was hyped up a bit much.



Because my mom had bought a 1 week JR pass, she wanted to travel with me through Tohoku, the northeastern region of Japan, where neither of us had gone before. Obviously, I was more than delighted to travel with her. From Tokyo, we went up to, in order: Sendai, Matsushima, Hiraizumi, Tazawa-Ko Onsen, Kakunodate, Hachinohe, and Towada-Ko Onsen. Although the region does not boast much history or amazing sites, this trip was special because I got to spend time with my mom. I was able to relax for a long time at Onsen, or Japanese hot springs, where you where yukata and sleep on tatami mattresses like this:





We also went on a small hiking trip alongside a river to Towada-Ko Lake, and it was absolutely beautiful.



And also, one advantage of traveling with a parent is the fact that I could eat whatever I wanted without really worrying about money. So we definitely ate well, and it was great because this region has very unique cuisine.

Having said goodbye to my mom, I went up to Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. I first went to Hakodate, a port city with a charming western influence, evident from the churches that dot the city. This is where the last soldiers from the bakufu took a stand in the Goryokaku fort against the Bakumatsu (end of the Bakufu) army. Known for its seafood, I could not resist the urge to spend 20 dollars and get a decadent seafood donburi, with fresh sea urchin, shrimp, crab, salmon roe, scallops, and squid, all on a bed of warm white rice. The city is also well known for its skyline at night, as it was ranked the best in Japan.





My last destination in Japan was Sapporo, famous for its beer, ramen, and jingisu-kan, a lamb barbecue. It doesn't have very many historic sites, but it has a nightlife that I had absolutely loved. Although I took a day trip to Otaru - the Venice of Japan - and Poroto Kotan, an Ainu village, my main interest of the region was going out. For two nights, I went out with some of the people from the hostel, and I was finally able to party righteously in Japan for the first time. I don't think I got more than 3 hours of sleep each night.

I had to go back to Tokyo for the flight home, but since I had gotten there a few days earlier than expected, I slept over at my sister's place for 2 nights. We went to Kamakura, the capital of Japan 700 years ago, and the Ghibli museum. I guess this gigantic statue of Buddha is an appropriate ending to my Asia trip:



And now, I have a week in Chicago and Champaign, getting my Switzerland visa and catching up with friends. I'm also getting back into research shape by reading articles and such. As I bring the first chapter of my blog to an end, I am getting ready for my new adventure in Europe!

- Ryoji