the 30 hour day

Uff, there is nothing like a horrible travel day to make you want your own shower and bed.  I'm so relieved to be off of transportation and back on solid ground.

la despidida

Photos from the dinner :) 

Stephanie, Gemma, Sammi, Carmen

Carmen and me! 

Stephanie, Nick, moi. 

The Elite Eight (the 6 weekers) plus Michael and Gemma! Celebrating Gemma's love of heavy rock. "Two much rock for one hand!"  

the last field trip

Well what a joyful morning we had on this last Friday...

Another Biomass day and oh boy did it smell.  Not only were we literally surrounded by feces, we were all exhausted from dinner and karaoke the night before.  I going to honestly say that I don't think any of us would've been happier with the situation on a full night of sleep, but it definitely didn't help that we were running on fumes.

I'd rather not dwell on the situation if I can avoid it, but just know that cow, chicken, and yogurt waste mixed together to make energy does not smell pleasant.  I didn't take pictures because I was too busy trying to keep myself from vomiting when the wind blew... If you want to hear more about it you'll have to ask me directly.  I don't want to type about it any more.  I'm not a squeamish human being usually, but...

Ew.

the last night out :(

Tonight we have our farewell dinner.  It's so strange to think that 6 weeks is already up.  Just when we were all getting really comfortable with the city and it was REALLY starting to feel like home.  I'm going to miss these guys for sure.  It's amazing how close we all got in such a short period of time.  I'm a little bummed that they are all going back the Kentucky without me :(

But we play at Kentucky this year and they all promised they'd be there!! It's been a great time with a great group and I've made some stellar friends.  I'm looking forward to some of the comforts of home (especially food wise), but I am so sad that our time here is coming to a close.  We've tried to wring every ounce of fun out of our time and I think we have succeeded admirably.

I'll be seeing y'all soon. <3

biomasa e hidráulica

I have forgotten to fill you in on our field trip last week! 

We went to a biomass plant that uses all the refuse from the wine making processes in the region to produce energy.  It smelled like concentrated alcohol all over the place...I think it may have actually been possible to get drunk off of the fumes.  It was a really interesting plant, but it was definitely a place I wouldn't want to be stuck alone at night--looked like a set for the latest saw movie.  

The second destination of the day was a dam in Estella.  It was a neat little place that was run by some rather interesting souls: I'm pretty sure there was a small batch of marijuana plants in the garden there.  Whatever floats your boat.  

Neither of the places smelled like roses, but it was a fun experience and I learned a lot about both technologies.  Especially dams.  I thought I had a pretty solid grasp on how those worked, but there were quite a few things that I hadn't thought of.  Good thing I didn't design them :) 

Hasta la próxima. 

los heridos

The calm encierros didn't last.  6 and 7 were disasters. 

I watched both of them from home with Nerea, and both of us were terrified.  The 6th running there was a leading bull and a trailing bull.  The two most dangerous things that can happen.  They both managed to get their horns into people, but the trailing bull was the worst.  

I felt horrible for the man who was attacked for a solid 40 seconds by the trailer, but I felt even worse for the poor bull--he was so confused and turned around and lost and it was horrible to watch...  The man didn't make his situation much better by trying repeatedly to get up.  He made it easy for the bull to get a horn in his leg (which was disgusting by the way).  As far as I know, everyone who was injured survived, but some of them were definitely in critical condition. 

The danger of the 7th running was the ridiculous amount of people that ran.  There was only one goring, but there were many trampled people at the mouth of the bull ring.  It was a literal mountain of bodies and the bulls slammed right into them.  One Australian man was "flattened" (the only thing that was funny about it was how it translated into English).  Thankfully no one died that day either.  

The 8th run was fun to watch again from the inside of the ring.  We had much better seats this time and we could see everything very clearly when the bulls thundered into the plaza.  It was a good last running for the week.  We decided to rest for most of the day so that we could go to the closing ceremony at 24:00 in the same plaza as the chupinazo.  It was really beautiful and calm.  Much the opposite of the antics of the opening ceremonies.  

This morning walking around the city it was so strange not to see anyone in their red and white garb.  And to see Pamplona return to its calm self.  It'll take weeks for it to recover completely, but we are all relieved to have our quiet city back.  I can't imagine having to see the city take that much abuse every year.  

I've enjoyed the fiestas, but I am rather excited to settle down for a few days.  Only one more week :( See y'all soon! 

girls' weekend

This last weekend of San Fermín a group decided to head to Paris for Bastille Day.  Sammi and I decided to hang around and have some time away from the herd, and I am so glad that we did :) 

We went shopping, went to a circus, went out dancing, watched fireworks, slept.  It was fabulous.  And it was even better once we heard about the insane amount of travel issues the Paris group had.  We were pretty pleased with the weekend. 

I don't actually know what either one of us would've done the first two weeks if we'd been the only girl here.  I'm so glad we have become such good friends.  I'll miss this girl!!

el encierro

SO many bodies por todos partes!

So far I have been lucky enough to see every encierro in some capacity.  Sunday we got up way earlier than should be allowed and fought for a mediocre spot in the throng to see the first run.  It was uneventful and hard to see anything because of the amount of runners.  They really think all this through: on the first morning (because it is the most crowded and ridiculous group that runs) they use the biggest, slowest bulls that can cause the least amount of damage.  There were one or two tramplings of humans by humans, but no injuries attributed to the bulls.

Monday we had a group that wanted to run.  So they did.  Ekkk.  A small group of us got there extra early to get a good spot on the fence (which we did) so that we could try to pick out our runners (which is impossible).  That run was also uneventful (THANK GOODNESS), but I was not happy until I saw all 5 of them at our meeting point after it was all over.

Tuesday we got to sleep in a little bit (and by that I mean we got up at 5:30 instead of 4:30) and watch the entrance of the bulls and runners into the Plaza de Toros.  It was nice to have an actual seat for and hour before the run began instead of a 1.5 wooden fence to perch on for 2 hours or so.  The morning show was a grand display of stupidity.  And boy, was it entertaining.  After all the bulls and chasers have been corralled and are safely away from the mass of people in the ring, they let in "little bulls" (that have had their horns de-sharpened) to "play" with the crowd.  In a nutshell this involves adrenaline junkies trying to slap the bull's rear with out getting stomped on or just straight up run over.

Wednesday morning (this morning) we had an even bigger group that wanted to run.  Some people decided to go for round two with fate.  I won't lie: I'm so jealous.  I wanted to do it so bad.  But that just isn't a risk I can take right now, so I was good and sat it all out...  I again breathed a huge sigh of relief when everyone reunited under the flags.

So far all the runs have been uneventful in terms of injuries related to the bulls.  No gorings yet and no deaths and I hope it stays that way.  The city is alive 24 hours a day and I have never had a weirded sleep schedule: up too early, siesta all day, class for 5 hours, out too late, repeat.  It's brilliant but unsustainable.  I can't wait for the city to be back to its quiet, clean, less-smokey self.  I'm so happy that our program spanned this nonsense, and hopefully I can drag my family here with me one day ;) It's been a a blast and it is definitely an "un-repeatable 9 days."  I just haven't yet decided if that means there will never be another 9 days in your life that compare to these (true) or if it means that you do it once and never do it again.  We shall see.  I think internationally acclaimed fireworks every night for 9 straight days is definitely doable again.  Yes, we have gone every night.  It's wonderful and a half.

Abrazos.

el chupinazo

San Fermín started with a bang.  It came 15 minutes late and it was the longest 15 minutes of my life.  

El Chupinazo is the traditional rocket launch that happens annually on the 6th of July at noon sharp (usually) to mark the beginning of the festival.  It is held in a small plaza in front of city hall that is packed with way too many people and it is a place I NEVER want to be again.  Talk about a claustrphobe's nightmare.  I will admit that for the first 30 or so minutes it was entertaining to watch the melee of drunken tourists douse each other (and us) in sangria.  But it became distinctly un-fun when some brilliant people decided that pushing the crowd back and forth across the plaza was a grand idea and the imminent possibility of death by trampling reared its head.  That was when we began to get separated and the battle to stay upright began.  This was at about 45 minutes till noon...there were times when I had no feet on the ground...it was a horrible hour of my life.  There was about a 40 minute stretch where we all were sure we were going to die of suffocation.  It was wonderful. 

Of course looking back on it we are all glad we went.  And we have all agreed that we will never go again.  Ever.  It was the most draw-out physically and emotionally distressing situation I have found myself in so far.  Not looking for a repeat.  The amount of crazy was overwhelming.  

The reason for the 15 minute delay (which Nerea assured me never happens--they always fire the rocket at noon!) was because a group of Bosque Nationalists had managed somehow to string the Bosque flag over the plaza in an act of defiance and display of their wishes to be completely autonomous.  As much as I appreciate their patriotism, I can't help but be a little bitter that they prolonged my suffering for an extra 15 minutes.  Fortunately we all had small groups that stuck together during the whole ordeal and we all came out relived to be out and most importantly: alive.  I owe Sam my life, and I had to take Sammi to the nearest Corte Ingles to get her new shoes (when there is that many people in a small space the distinction between your feet and the ground becomes unimportant to those around you...poor girl was shoeless for about half an hour...). 

Our clothes, which had been the traditional all white, were then pink with wine and sangria and we were drenched from head to toe in the stuff.  Utterly exhausted, we decided to break for a while and reconvene for fireworks that night.  

The opening to the week has been a trip for certain.  Thursday was the 4th of July, Nick's birthday, and juevintxos, so naturally we had to celebrate.  Friday was San Fermín eve and we were curious to see how the population boom was treating the city.  Saturday was...well.  All in all we were exhausted but happy.  The fireworks show was phenomenal and the best part is we get to see them every night of the festival!! I've never been so excited for 11:00pm to roll around every night :) 

I'll keep you posted.  Hopefully things will settle down during the week when some of the tourists head home. 

Besos a todos. 

wtg

We have spent a lot of time on the subject of wind turbine generators (WTGs) this week.  I am so happy that I have the opportunity to take this class!! I'm learning so much, and I'm just thrilled about it.

I feel like I am continually shocked by the expense and difficulty of implementing these green technologies.  One on hand it is so admirable that we go to such great lengths to try and fix what we have messed up in the world.  And on the other hand it just seems crazy.

Commercial WTGs are GIGANTIC.  And heavy.  And expensive.  I knew all that about them, but apparently I was unprepared for the numbers.  One rotor of a typical commercial wind turbine can weigh over 40 tons!

If you are interested here's a link to an awesomely entertaining video we watched in class that tells you a little bit of the basics about the parts of the turbines.  I highly recommend it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXTm7aHvWc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Our field trip today was to a wind farm owned and operated by Acciona Energía.  I was a little disappointed because it wasn't windy enough for them to be turning and I really wanted to hear how loud they were as that seems to be one of the complaints that they face in the US.  Hopefully I will get to see them again sometime when they are more active.

We also visited a Solar PV field, but that is all Electrical Engineering stuff that was kind of over my head...it also reminded me a little too much of Physics II.  But it was still interesting to see.  Especially because the panels were "BP Solar."  We all got a little chuckle out of that.

We'll start talking about Solar PV this coming week.  So far I'm of the opinion that Solar PV is better for residencial applications.  Large installations take up an insane amount of space.  Still excited to go to classes so that's a good sign!

San Fermín starts tomorrow and already there has been an unprecedented boom in population size of Pamplona.  I'm excited!! But a little nervous as well.  I'm glad our group is so tightly knit.  I think it'll make the whole situation a bit more enjoyable.

I'll let you know how the opening festivities treat us :)

¡castillo de olite y una bodega!

Talk about a long day...

We started off with a cultural excursion to El Castillo de Olite and then after to una bodega (a winery) called Pagos de Araiz.  We left at 9:30, got back at 2:30, had enough time to grab a quick lunch, and then had class from 4-9 as usual.  And no time for a siesta either.  

The castle was absolutely beautiful! It was built during the 13th and 14th centuries under the orders of Carlos III of Navarra.  So many towers and stairs to climb and views to be seen.  We only had an hour which I think we all decided wasn't enough, but everyone in the group enjoyed the time there a whole lot.

After our truncated time in Olite we headed to one of the many bodegas in the region.  Pagos de Araiz was such a cool experience.  I've never been to a winery or anything like it before and it was really interesting to learn about how the grapes were monitored and harvested.  I then had my first wine tasting and was pleasantly surprised to find that there actually is a reason for all the smelling and swirling and other seemingly silly things that happen at wine tastings.

It was an exhausting day, and 5 hrs of class after all the stair climbing in the castle and being in the low-light interior of the winery was a struggle, but we prevailed :) 

barcelona :)

Ahhh Barcelona :)

What an interesting place.  I'm pretty positive that approximately 97.63% of the population there were tourists, and we all agreed that it was kinda refreshing to hear some English and to see some confused faces that weren't our own.  It was a bit more stressful to travel in a group of 14 than it was with our original 8, but once we finally got everyone checked in to the albergue it was pretty smooth sailing from there on out.

I was lucky enough to get to spend some time outside of the group for a day and wander around the city with a dear friend from back home.  It was lucky that Will and I were both scheduled to be in Barcelona the same weekend, and it was just to perfect not to hang out for a little while.  Don't get me wrong--I adore our group, but every once in a while a personal day is necessary for everyone.  

Saturday we visited La Sagada Familia (!!!) and then a flamenco exhibition.  I couldn't actually believe that construction on the basilica had begun over 100 years ago.  It looks so modern and advanced.  Guadí's architectural style is breathtaking and clever and inspired and we spent a solid 2 hours there (it would've been more, but we had the flamenco show to attend).  Flamenco was lively and enjoyable, but I was spoiled by the Sara Baras performance I got to see with my family in Madrid.  The couple that performed however were very nice people and during the show they brought people up to dance with them.  So I got to make a fool out of myself with Sammi and Rachel.  And that's always a good time! 

After flamenco, we decided that it would be a grand idea to try and fit all 14 of us into a little hole in the wall restaurant.  We actually filled the place, and definitely overwhelmed the kitchen...about 3 hours later we had all finally gotten our food.  Fortunately we had each other's good company and sporting attitudes.  I was about done with the day after that, so I walked around a little with Will and then heading back to my hostel and called it. I was the earliest to bed at around 1:00 and everyone else filtered in from 2:00 until 5:00.  Needless to say there were few of us that wanted to be out and about the next morning very early.   

I wasn't feeling the beach so much in Barcelona (San Sebastían had it beat by mile in my opinion), but we wandered around just to see what it was like and to see the Copper Fish and whatever else we could from the Olympic Games.  

Our real destination was Barcelona's La Cuitadella (Catalán was way more prominent than I was expecting in Barcelona...almost all the street signs and labels were in Catalán only).  Our small group was so super happy that we decided to make the trek!  Pamplona's Cuidadella is impressive and has it's own character, but Barcelona's was ten times more impressive.  It was a full on park with fountains and statues and paddle-boats on a lake and picnic spots and gardens and it was HUGE.  

I could've probably spent the rest of the day there, but we still had things on our to-do list that I wasn't prepared to pass up.  

Lunch was our next priority, and we found a wonderful little restaurant down a side road in the old city away from the tourist traps with a fantastic menú del día and a wonderful serving lady.  It was an authentic little place with a special character about it.  My favorite thing about it was that it was truly a locals' spot: we were definitely the only people in there that spoke English, and I heard a lot of what sounded like Catalán at the surrounding tables.  I was rather pleased with the find and the food was pretty spectacular as well. 

We spent quite a bit of time walking Sunday--but it was all worth it.  After doing a pass through the gothic area and meandering in the old town some more, we heading back toward the main tourist area for another dose of Gaudí.  His Casa Batlló was just as impressive a beautiful as Sagrada Familia.  We had a guided audio tour through all five levels all the way up to the roof that provided lots of entertainment:  some of the claims that they made about his choices were just too funny, and they were made in a british accent so it was even better.  

When we had listened to the full tour (I've never before done that in any museum but it was too good to pass up) we decided to head back to our lodging and meet up with the rest of the group that had been on the beach all day.  They apparently didn't have sunscreen with them...so they were all pretty miserable.  We rested and chatted for a little while and watched the consolation game of the Confederations Cup between Italy and Uruguay before heading out for dinner again.  This time we decided that groups were the way to go, and so off we went with the plan of being back at 12:00 to watch the final on the big screen between Spain and Brazil (what a heartbreaking game).  

My group dined again a little off the beaten path (it's just more fun), and then headed to Plaza Espanya for the magical fountain show.  It was colorful and fun and whatnot, but it's got nothing on the dancing fountains of the Bellagio.  

Then it was a metro trip back and a disappointing outcome of the game and then bed for me.  There were some who decided that since we had to leave the hostel at 6:30 to catch our 7:30 train home that they would just stay up all night.  I guess I just don't have that stamina...

Everyone slept hard on the way back to Pamplona.  I think we could all agree that it was our favorite weekend trip.  I guess third time's a charm.  I hope someday I'll get to go back there and finish out a tour of the city.  It's a big place and I'd like to do it justice.  Week 2 of Engineering has begun now with a focus on wind power.  Our first professor is awesome, and I've already been shocked by the prices associated with the wind turbine generators (WTGs): 1 million euro for 1 MW energy production.  And that is only the purchase of the WTG.  It doesn't include transportation or installation!! Wow.