tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12799560895290645772024-03-13T08:49:00.207-07:00Wrought in writing.Ubuntu, Japanese, TravelingIrina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-79737942601086298462015-03-17T15:59:00.000-07:002015-03-17T16:10:31.272-07:00Xivic Los Angeles Trip <br />
Hi everybody,<br />
<br />
This is gonna be a pretty lengthy post but email couldn't withstand all the pics so i'm just gonna say my thanks here.<br />
<br />
A week later already, I managed to sort out my day-night cycle, so it's a<br />
perfect time to say thank you again for all your hospitality. I can't<br />
say how worried I was in the beginning not knowing anyone there<br />
directly apart from Bahman. I somehow resolved I would stay cooped up<br />
in the hotel room if anything. However, the entire event ended up<br />
being this cool month of getting to know Xivic LA and the city. I<br />
won't say US because I have the feeling that Los Angeles and Hollywood are a very special part of the US.<br />
<br />
Everyone gave from their personal time to take me awesome places and I<br />
know I will do the same in return (especially if i get my driving<br />
license, so help me God).<br />
<br />
Office time was a particularly memorable experience for me, because<br />
now when we discuss in conferences, I can actually picture the person<br />
behind, and figure out the reasoning and circumstances.<br />
<br />
The team analyzing the UX of Twitter Battle in the weekly project discussion can be seen below (the walls playing a whiteboard role in the entire office is something I'm envious about). <br />
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Nikolai working late night for our Meineke tickets (when he's not inventing the wheel). And we can't forget about the rainbow, bet you won't have something like that soon enough.<br />
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Nate was kind enough to show me his awesome tattoo that's inspired<br />
from Godsmack rock band logo. Please tell him I already bought tickets<br />
to Godsmack concert in Bucharest this June. Again, it's nice to see<br />
the personal dimension of the coworkers on the other side of the<br />
Atlantic.<br />
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Mister Mark Sr and Mister Mark Jr took me to this awesome ramen place,<br />
where I could order on iPad:<br />
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Barney's Beanery night showcased Mark Jr. mad pool skills. Everyone else<br />
just ate good food and pretended to compete with him:<br />
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Of course, this will never change: girls just wanna have fun. (and<br />
Bahman photobombing)<br />
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I'm just gonna put this here since it mirrors the state of our rationale after a few beers.<br />
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I took my time during the weekends and visited Hollywood (walked all the way and down Hollywood Blv.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnGXKHYtfJs-PvRQstWa50ix97NNhkNrwGM7KoMIjXtt-ak8UlPjIk5x7Xq1P4njkcR4zTDn3DOGI8sk4do092r3tRFAwv8zTzP43zLNtgQPlMgTiuzpcK4OFd66d12VwbCtQJi9LUBj1/s1600/IMG_20150221_154109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnGXKHYtfJs-PvRQstWa50ix97NNhkNrwGM7KoMIjXtt-ak8UlPjIk5x7Xq1P4njkcR4zTDn3DOGI8sk4do092r3tRFAwv8zTzP43zLNtgQPlMgTiuzpcK4OFd66d12VwbCtQJi9LUBj1/s1600/IMG_20150221_154109.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkf1P1-KQwHVjnhmkeMMG1wx7ygkePi9lfz1_J3LwN4VcUuT9InYISCufSKCYl4b6i6jY8mLSxvGd1EDLnfv2U-N-uj5r4MzGYub6sqAk-CszEI5_pouyy15ZhXiwl9uBlCCnaFbkB_Hw/s1600/IMG_20150221_162815.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkf1P1-KQwHVjnhmkeMMG1wx7ygkePi9lfz1_J3LwN4VcUuT9InYISCufSKCYl4b6i6jY8mLSxvGd1EDLnfv2U-N-uj5r4MzGYub6sqAk-CszEI5_pouyy15ZhXiwl9uBlCCnaFbkB_Hw/s1600/IMG_20150221_162815.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KVu23Yydha6oqQNo5Y6J_RHqRA2Pvwq9M1da0d26Ouwc1LzXTP9GspBUDFf7gdI7aW6KF16PFQA9t4iTHYtl0ru1vt6mf62nE8P05XOjRizVMmP65qZmDnuv9Q_pJjVRgfYxGuoO7Vay/s1600/IMG_20150221_160935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KVu23Yydha6oqQNo5Y6J_RHqRA2Pvwq9M1da0d26Ouwc1LzXTP9GspBUDFf7gdI7aW6KF16PFQA9t4iTHYtl0ru1vt6mf62nE8P05XOjRizVMmP65qZmDnuv9Q_pJjVRgfYxGuoO7Vay/s1600/IMG_20150221_160935.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Denise showed her off-the-chart organizational skills and - in no time<br />
at all - lined up an entire day at the beach. Now I can say I saw (and slightly got in) the Pacific Ocean.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2PcOGUPNyirFe8Z__WnN9rpoFe0TufpBLVJZUVWtrlMfDWQNJ7exu_xF0k__ij_0bcVlGX8Q-pbU8asDhn8ase1VPTQP7b6OUbJxMzGdl8HQfhoaiEEOPp9j9NkYC8LoCSORuLNFCSu2/s1600/IMG_20150215_114532+(Copy).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2PcOGUPNyirFe8Z__WnN9rpoFe0TufpBLVJZUVWtrlMfDWQNJ7exu_xF0k__ij_0bcVlGX8Q-pbU8asDhn8ase1VPTQP7b6OUbJxMzGdl8HQfhoaiEEOPp9j9NkYC8LoCSORuLNFCSu2/s1600/IMG_20150215_114532+(Copy).jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmDCsM2WrPf18sppIhsxMkRTWIkG_kcm1HwCF4s2q-OfGEQjaQ_nXS2cvLOfi_QuCo8yBm7IjLa2VRks_svwOF2r3fbKJzDRRsebSlxhY-rxKylKiq8BWxL_tvkOfNUhRvS871KIi59ev/s1600/IMG_20150215_130457+(Copy).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmDCsM2WrPf18sppIhsxMkRTWIkG_kcm1HwCF4s2q-OfGEQjaQ_nXS2cvLOfi_QuCo8yBm7IjLa2VRks_svwOF2r3fbKJzDRRsebSlxhY-rxKylKiq8BWxL_tvkOfNUhRvS871KIi59ev/s1600/IMG_20150215_130457+(Copy).jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DI00VptqywufWO6pIrnaDg8YfW0HJC9YegaEhw4_dpOOX-3hv1UZTABan2rREhLgqRwl1Ba2IPWtoU-YB0G0BhPXmh5NLwfbNiQfdF0M3sADqFUSAqdlYuX2PB1XP7P68NRsVdkbm9DJ/s1600/IMG_20150215_135254+(Copy).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DI00VptqywufWO6pIrnaDg8YfW0HJC9YegaEhw4_dpOOX-3hv1UZTABan2rREhLgqRwl1Ba2IPWtoU-YB0G0BhPXmh5NLwfbNiQfdF0M3sADqFUSAqdlYuX2PB1XP7P68NRsVdkbm9DJ/s1600/IMG_20150215_135254+(Copy).jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeEv4efthZkY6-X1btIeYIcGn1OvtyUKVYVcDr54TZ4ZINFqYhEKt__LyA2y2dh6tGCkXs10zORJiiqwe6Aa9GFyGbEw0YfImj0EegxhEw7IaiVphGijd3V8h9rzt4TsLx2aPCRM7Wmiu/s1600/IMG_20150215_145604+(Copy).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeEv4efthZkY6-X1btIeYIcGn1OvtyUKVYVcDr54TZ4ZINFqYhEKt__LyA2y2dh6tGCkXs10zORJiiqwe6Aa9GFyGbEw0YfImj0EegxhEw7IaiVphGijd3V8h9rzt4TsLx2aPCRM7Wmiu/s1600/IMG_20150215_145604+(Copy).jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzPl6KFhMdqVnp5pUPwgmnoR9zFLempAzmhr-JCgNQmC8uk7Xm-IACVdlZSXFplMSO34oMLHAZqHCV_qgkU-j_vzWFD8VCIDAu2aO0KmdpLAvJCmmqhx4vkrUMvbpxiSLKKeozn5WOUNN/s1600/IMG_20150215_165753+(Copy).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzPl6KFhMdqVnp5pUPwgmnoR9zFLempAzmhr-JCgNQmC8uk7Xm-IACVdlZSXFplMSO34oMLHAZqHCV_qgkU-j_vzWFD8VCIDAu2aO0KmdpLAvJCmmqhx4vkrUMvbpxiSLKKeozn5WOUNN/s1600/IMG_20150215_165753+(Copy).jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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We spent an entire day biking down Hermosa and Redondo Beach<br />
on nifty beach cruisers. I gave her a scare or two when she saw me<br />
plunging down the valley straight into the junction (red light on,<br />
cars passing, and me having no idea how to use brakes) but I think she<br />
forgave me for that already. I don't think I even ever had a date that<br />
nice.<br />
<br />
Nikolai was, I think, the one that spent most time with me and for that I am grateful. We work together on several projects for almost two years now, so the connection we had before was naturally continued when we met face to face. So yeah, we had to go to this Hello Kitty exhibition at the Japanese-American National Museum.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaseBloMIV4R5lzQuIq3VR6AABihNYozw-WBn6l3e6jCl9V0bVw_h34UNs-ZaO5M09VIe8UMAXqdCyBKPt_U4PS6z6KvrBRAtC9fWIFUloahRHV-EvGLcNxt2BXL8MXGL1YehefgTLhKI8/s1600/IMG_20150222_161353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaseBloMIV4R5lzQuIq3VR6AABihNYozw-WBn6l3e6jCl9V0bVw_h34UNs-ZaO5M09VIe8UMAXqdCyBKPt_U4PS6z6KvrBRAtC9fWIFUloahRHV-EvGLcNxt2BXL8MXGL1YehefgTLhKI8/s1600/IMG_20150222_161353.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWz0QdPRg7mcf8jzveFebZqGokEVqws5zNcMYjo0BicKKY1Qw9GxYAYKC5V9k1T6cNy43ST-juAPONgymlbU0nVXJv4PPR8l1gbwab7EBVqb3HHCJuWhkSB8LvWGmtc08m7xJZkdU_7DSV/s1600/IMG_20150222_162413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWz0QdPRg7mcf8jzveFebZqGokEVqws5zNcMYjo0BicKKY1Qw9GxYAYKC5V9k1T6cNy43ST-juAPONgymlbU0nVXJv4PPR8l1gbwab7EBVqb3HHCJuWhkSB8LvWGmtc08m7xJZkdU_7DSV/s1600/IMG_20150222_162413.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqvMJ0Y9yALMGn7XgibkgZdZiOkv9wrKy-ggSUoJSN2JoCltpvGS_P3ESWK8HmZc1LgxbSLne97UQFY9KDT5d8_ECMzgrP8jg0da2Sse6MYvxlCMDEg7bVrv2wLiIQDbOX3xSIb3jzuW9/s1600/IMG_20150222_163217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqvMJ0Y9yALMGn7XgibkgZdZiOkv9wrKy-ggSUoJSN2JoCltpvGS_P3ESWK8HmZc1LgxbSLne97UQFY9KDT5d8_ECMzgrP8jg0da2Sse6MYvxlCMDEg7bVrv2wLiIQDbOX3xSIb3jzuW9/s1600/IMG_20150222_163217.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYCRwr_3ifRoFOG-e1DIg_d7BTzRjSjZoSwS5_zvkVppPImpEylt3lT0PXhGOoYHfmilV67hOShlP-69hrFaYzqdgjoaljS0whEUWneutsK-0HlGDxAFcOO43rxcIyAOXFrph-zVPWu2G/s1600/IMG_20150222_163433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYCRwr_3ifRoFOG-e1DIg_d7BTzRjSjZoSwS5_zvkVppPImpEylt3lT0PXhGOoYHfmilV67hOShlP-69hrFaYzqdgjoaljS0whEUWneutsK-0HlGDxAFcOO43rxcIyAOXFrph-zVPWu2G/s1600/IMG_20150222_163433.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzn8FavZ29hQ-FCFFzhQykna_RB3qNnhQYTu4PY96pCBb6zz_e-7sD6AcfgRQbb-pDZtD3uza7iYj800sdOB6hq6BKCm9DQdYVnusA21xOidpG90KhyLTFbtcaoXVHxvgZCAqztTUl87Hq/s1600/IMG_20150222_173130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzn8FavZ29hQ-FCFFzhQykna_RB3qNnhQYTu4PY96pCBb6zz_e-7sD6AcfgRQbb-pDZtD3uza7iYj800sdOB6hq6BKCm9DQdYVnusA21xOidpG90KhyLTFbtcaoXVHxvgZCAqztTUl87Hq/s1600/IMG_20150222_173130.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtDK_k1GmOXauQEzdcpAVEQ912EkSNZP3JvpYt5lXjcQDmCdLR7dKsZmkmZ7Y9mxvOeTFme3EaDvjs62dYWKL5xJ-geJsyhBD6UOSEtLyvOXDkkbhUHq36lw52mGedAc_7IiowqlFp6QT/s1600/IMG_20150222_174845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtDK_k1GmOXauQEzdcpAVEQ912EkSNZP3JvpYt5lXjcQDmCdLR7dKsZmkmZ7Y9mxvOeTFme3EaDvjs62dYWKL5xJ-geJsyhBD6UOSEtLyvOXDkkbhUHq36lw52mGedAc_7IiowqlFp6QT/s1600/IMG_20150222_174845.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lGxVEiXtwbH93rnHfR0DvCa22aAn-HSJPkjUkQG0G_GESHwPqXThhyphenhyphenY6fx5EYVJz73s45UBjN6mhuG6BObLDtq8DpmNJN57T0G_QOfs-NXaQCWD14hOxpYFoVMepzPPt_zapD5EOKuLF/s1600/IMG_20150304_211101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lGxVEiXtwbH93rnHfR0DvCa22aAn-HSJPkjUkQG0G_GESHwPqXThhyphenhyphenY6fx5EYVJz73s45UBjN6mhuG6BObLDtq8DpmNJN57T0G_QOfs-NXaQCWD14hOxpYFoVMepzPPt_zapD5EOKuLF/s1600/IMG_20150304_211101.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcliYMsXRO3UFlcwmQ5UnKSVQJbauzi2IcnMb1LAMlGMcZ8flfCDLaTZzp2mO1QMbpJFI8NHYGaVe6KBuzZKuhPnkZhpqQzpBucR4skwpcRYK5QO3lTZGVdLJ2wE6J4kbuKuUm9awjJAg/s1600/IMG_20150305_195509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcliYMsXRO3UFlcwmQ5UnKSVQJbauzi2IcnMb1LAMlGMcZ8flfCDLaTZzp2mO1QMbpJFI8NHYGaVe6KBuzZKuhPnkZhpqQzpBucR4skwpcRYK5QO3lTZGVdLJ2wE6J4kbuKuUm9awjJAg/s1600/IMG_20150305_195509.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSMT6DpAs6st6JZRgvwrcQ-ZFgLX_2E6Xj6zUNC8mO8eF-x_j4L9961RNHYCUuQOQFNFXJJAtXbQDmikelsAdjRPCc-m5iKXxTQS7DdDfhUGiv_VrcC7OQZACTEBL9rYUlLd0MrqPWmUH/s1600/IMG_20150305_195534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSMT6DpAs6st6JZRgvwrcQ-ZFgLX_2E6Xj6zUNC8mO8eF-x_j4L9961RNHYCUuQOQFNFXJJAtXbQDmikelsAdjRPCc-m5iKXxTQS7DdDfhUGiv_VrcC7OQZACTEBL9rYUlLd0MrqPWmUH/s1600/IMG_20150305_195534.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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We also went to a lot of these places:<br />
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Meri took me and Nikolai to Scoops where I had green tea ice cream and<br />
then out to this gorgeous Japanese restaurant on top of Hollywood<br />
Hills, Yamashiro Garden.<br />
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She proposed to me there as some of you might've heard. As these<br />
things go, she then took me to meet the parents and family, and then<br />
we spent the entire day at The Getty Museum (where we weren't allowed<br />
to take photos). I still can't believe I've been looking at genuine Rembrandt, Rodin, Cezanne, Bruegel, Degas... Luckily I have the gallery catalogue now so I can stare at the book.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then, Gabby's concert at Sayer's Club where I could finally hear her perform live. Which was an incredible experience - such a petite and frail person can have such a strong, refined voice. I've videos (even though my recording quality is very low compared to what I heard) and am waiting for new songs on Spotify.<br />
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The concert was followed by educational visits with Nikolai to several interesting venues in Hollywood I shall not name. But I learned I must never order a Bud (funny, cuz I thought that was the goto beer?)<br />
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Leila and Bahman also dispensed from their valuable free time and took<br />
me to Beverly Hills, Third Street Promenade, walked along the beach<br />
and saw Santa Monica Pier from afar. Leila was basically my valentine<br />
since our time together coincided with St. Valentines Day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRajUHMoWxU2ajsCFI0XJH8vOEta5GpoF2fU3t3id40UNCsiABB3OtaLo2_wB4IgKgBedTSXsLxcOhCV5YCv8P9wlUifw8PmB50VxMBFOIRyDn2LPqmuc_sm1iG9X9GP30LwGy6Q4Wzs4F/s1600/IMG_20150214_112243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRajUHMoWxU2ajsCFI0XJH8vOEta5GpoF2fU3t3id40UNCsiABB3OtaLo2_wB4IgKgBedTSXsLxcOhCV5YCv8P9wlUifw8PmB50VxMBFOIRyDn2LPqmuc_sm1iG9X9GP30LwGy6Q4Wzs4F/s1600/IMG_20150214_112243.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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And then, the cherry on top: the trip to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA.<br />
<br />
Ian, Tracy, Julian and Ruby all out-ran, out-energized, out-drank me and beat me on all levels. I wish I had Julian's energy every day. It's all in a haze right now, but I faintly remember colors, big Mickey Mouses, dark castles and this crazy roller coaster ride smooth like silk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MJDr7qQjJuigAca60fIen-AA4JaoQgC2lgiANF-18TBghvduLzFK7i309edvAQGMMelw40XMYtP0Q_bZqosdN_HlMgrBTkLyHOZcvkamQnI91ELFkxSzBV7cTLECylzidMTOTSChHU7p/s1600/IMG_20150301_084850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MJDr7qQjJuigAca60fIen-AA4JaoQgC2lgiANF-18TBghvduLzFK7i309edvAQGMMelw40XMYtP0Q_bZqosdN_HlMgrBTkLyHOZcvkamQnI91ELFkxSzBV7cTLECylzidMTOTSChHU7p/s1600/IMG_20150301_084850.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
The Hollywood Tower was pretty scary, I must say. I actually visited the Hollywood Tower before the Disney ride, but I didn't "connect the dots" at the time.<br />
<br />
I fondly remember each moment and looking back maybe I could've taken more free days (cuz I also wanted to do Runyon Canyon and Joshua Tree National Park) but there was also work to do so it couldn't be helped. I do regret getting sick but there was help from everywhere and I also got to experience U.S. healthcare to a certain degree which was very interesting for me.<br />
<br />
I hope to see you soon again (on one or the other side of the Atlantic) and again, thank you for the hospitality. Looking forward to having teams on both sides RO and US extend and forge better relationships based on understanding and mutual trust.<br />
<br />
See you on Skype!<br />
Irina M<br />
<br />Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-43822394756450421542013-03-05T15:23:00.001-08:002013-03-05T15:24:51.073-08:00Finala concursului de Karaoke organizat de Restaurant Bavaria Iasi: Sejur la Casa Humor<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ziua de 4 ianuarie ne-a <span lang="ro-RO">găsit</span>
(pe noi, pe Xivic) la finala <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=445169742216736&set=a.428909963842714.97565.205257482874631&type=1&theater" target="_blank">concursului de Karaoke</a> organizat de
<a href="http://www.bavariaiasi.ro/" target="_blank">Restaurantul Bavaria <span lang="ro-RO">Iaşi</span></a>, <span lang="ro-RO">bătând</span>
cu pumnii <span lang="ro-RO">î</span>n mas<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>
<span lang="ro-RO">ş</span>i <span lang="ro-RO">urlând</span>
puternic, <span lang="ro-RO">î</span>ntru folosirea temeinic<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>
a corzilor vocale <span lang="ro-RO">dăruite</span> de natur<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Aşa</span> se face
c<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span> am fost fericita <span lang="ro-RO">câştigătoare</span>
a premiului mare al concursului bavarez <span lang="ro-RO">mulţumită</span>
prietenilor, Facebook-ului, <span lang="ro-RO">ş</span>i de ce nu,
<span lang="ro-RO">interpretărilor</span> vocale care la final au
alunecat <span lang="ro-RO">î</span>n laringit<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>
acut<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>. La fel de bine au alunecat vodca <span lang="ro-RO">ş</span>i
<a href="http://www.samburesti.com/" target="_blank">vinul <span lang="ro-RO">roşu</span> <span lang="ro-RO">Sâmbureşti</span></a>
pe <span lang="ro-RO">gât</span> <span lang="ro-RO">î</span>n seara
aceea de neuitat <span lang="ro-RO">aşa</span> c<span lang="ro-RO">ă</span>
nu g<span lang="ro-RO">ăsesc prilej să mă plâng de sf</span><span lang="ro-RO"><span lang="ro-RO">â</span>rşitul de
săptămână petrecut în pat în aromă de paracetamol şi
portocale. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Premiul mare a
constat </span><span lang="ro-RO"><span lang="ro-RO">î</span>ntr-un sejur gratuit de cinci nopţi la <a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/" target="_blank">pensiunea CasaHumor****</a> din Gura Humorului, Suceava. Cazarea a fost asigurată,
micul dejun intra automat în preţul camerei duble, iar prânzul şi
cina au fost oferite în mod generos din partea <a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/" target="_blank">Casei Humor</a>.
<a href="http://www.bavariaiasi.ro/" target="_blank">Restaurant Bavaria Iaşi</a> a oferit pe deasupra şi bănuţi de
cheltuială, astfel încât nici eu nici Silviu nu am scos nimic din
buzunarele proprii pentru o săptămână de răsfăţ. Mai greu a
fost cu stabilirea concediilor şi perioadei sejurului, dar prin
amabilitatea dnei Simona de la <a href="http://www.bavariaiasi.ro/" target="_blank">Restaurant Bavaria</a> si dnei Geta de la
<a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/" target="_blank">Casa Humor</a>, am conchis ca 25 februarie – 1 martie e tocmai bine. </span>
</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Am ajuns ceva mai
devreme decât ora de check-in, însă domnişoara recep</span><span lang="ro-RO"><span lang="ro-RO">ţ</span>ioneră ne-a
îndrumat spre living-ul din mansardă să profităm de masa de
biliard şi de ping pong până când se va fi pregătit camera. Cu
această ocazie, admit că Silviu este stăpân suprem peste ping
pong, şi nici eu nu m-am lăsat mai prejos la biliard. Ar trebui să
menţionez că pensiunea are şi titulatură de club select, din ce am
observat. Asta ar explica piscina, sauna şi jacuzzi-ul de la
parterul Corpului B, inclusiv televizoare şi wireless ubicue, sau
cum ar spune bunica, pistolocul. Alte caracteristici de care ne-am
bucurat au fost minibarul din cameră, curăţenie zilnică,
curăţenie perfectă, de la alb imaculat la cearşafuri călcate şi
apretate în care te scufunzi. Asta da experienţă hotelieră.</span></div>
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<span lang="ro-RO">Nu, zilele nu au
curs indiscriminat în huzur. Pentru că abia în a treia – a patra
zi am reuşit să mă desprind de servici şi facultate, şi nici
atunci complet. Fiind primul concediu în care nu am planificat
nimic, nu am ştiut ce să fac cu mine. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Ah, nu e de mers
şapte ore până la următorul punct unde să punem tabăra în
drumul pe creastă? Ah, nu trebuie să fugim să prindem trenul către
următoarea destinaţie? Ah, nu trebuie să mă culc la 12 noaptea şi
să pun ceasul să sune la 2 noaptea să pot termina proiectul pentru
facultate? Cum adică? Sunt aşa multe de făcut şi stau degeaba?
Drept pentru care, în primele două zile am citit articole pentru
dizertaţie, în ciuda privirilor exasperate ale lui Silviu. E o
problemă reală, asta cu conexiunea indisolubilă la matricea
urbană. Probleme vor fi mereu puse pe masă spre rezolvare, şi nu
trebuie să fii teoretician al absurdului pentru a-ţi da seama că
jocul acesta de satisfacţie-recompensă preia ceva din redundanţa
abjectă a efortului sărmanului Sisif.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Apa face minuni
pentru minte şi suflet. Fireşte, o metodă de a ne relaxa în
timpul sejurului a fost să înotăm cât mai mult şi am profitat
atât de <a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/galerie_int.php?menu_item=3" target="_blank">complexul SPA al Casei Humor</a> cât şi de bazinul quasi-olimpic de la
complexul de agrement Ariniş din Gura Humorului. Din fericire, după
35 de ture de bazin, nu mai vrei să citeşti nici un articol pentru
dizertaţie, nici eticheta de pe cola măcar. Dar dacă tot vorbim de
etichete, un Red Label Johnnie Walker este primit întotdeauna, nu-i
aşa?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Fiecare cină
elegantă la <a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/galerie_int.php?menu_item=3" target="_blank">restaurantul Casei Humor</a> s-a încheiat cu o băutură
bună. Silviu a fost constant şi a optat mereu pentru eticheta roşie
menţionată mai sus, pe când eu am preferat licoarea vânătorilor
de elani prusaci, Jägermeister. În apărarea mea, aceasta este
propusă ca remediu pentru răceală şi trecută în meniul divers
al restaurantului sub antetul </span><span lang="ro-RO"><i>Băuturi
digestive</i></span><span lang="ro-RO">.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Cred că e de prisos
să spun că fiecare vizită la </span><span lang="ro-RO"><span lang="ro-RO"><a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/galerie_int.php?menu_item=3" target="_blank">restaurantul Casei Humor</a></span> pentru a lua
micul dejun, prânzul sau cina s-au concretizat nu în simplă
ghiftuială ci în experienţe culinare de calitate înaltă.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Ar fi grozav dacă
toate restaurantele ar avea ospătari precum cei de aici.
Comportamentul afişat de către ospătarii Casei Humor nu poate fi
calificat ireproşabil (un calificativ bun de altfel) ci profesional
şi perfect elegant, fiindcă iată, nu am avut ocazia să mă
gândesc la a face reproşuri ci mai degrabă, la a lega o relaţie
de prietenie cu ei, ceea ce s-a şi întâmplat.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">Am avut parte de
zile cu ceaţă şi pista de schi închisă, implicit de timp mai mult
petrecut la restaurant şi de vizionat filme. Din camera noastră, se
putea vedea însă destul de bine pista de ski, doar porţiunea
superioară. Abia în ultimele două zile, soarele şi cerul s-au înseninat oportun pentru a lăsa loc unui început de primăvară ca la carte. Prin carte, rog a se înţelege volumul de pasteluri al lui Alecsandri, cu cocori, soare care râde, dediţei şi brebenei.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqaPC2ptyG-2oslWz6A00epdpvfLRV34smSt5NVY1mfm7zjoNe3Gyq7oXVSH4jZkJdmMN-_Jjh3R8keOiKkan7rMHghGEX39YNaAKm6KXxw3STzp7hfUWdkkapxlRFaZhzBQ3IrQJeABQ/s1600/SAM_0033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqaPC2ptyG-2oslWz6A00epdpvfLRV34smSt5NVY1mfm7zjoNe3Gyq7oXVSH4jZkJdmMN-_Jjh3R8keOiKkan7rMHghGEX39YNaAKm6KXxw3STzp7hfUWdkkapxlRFaZhzBQ3IrQJeABQ/s320/SAM_0033.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">În încheiere,
recomand cu căldura<a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/" target="_blank"> pensiunea Casa Humor****</a> pentru şedere şi pentru
restaurantul cu specific bucovinean deopotrivă. De asemenea,
recomand <a href="http://www.bavariaiasi.ro/" target="_blank">Restaurantul Bavaria Iaşi</a> pentru profesionalism, experienţa
culinară ieşeană şi petrecerile tematice de Karaoke, care sunt
gustate mai ales dacă eşti acompaniat de prieteni.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="ro-RO">O scurtă descriere
a pensiunii, care poate fi regăsită şi pe <a href="http://www.casahumor.ro/preturi.php?menu_item=4" target="_blank">website</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">Capacitatea de
cazare la pensiunea Casa Humor este de 52 locuri distribuite astfel:</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">Corpul A </span></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- receptie,
restaurant (zona fumatori si zona nefumatori), sala conferinta 40
locuri, </span></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 6 camere duble cu
balcon</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 2 camere twin cu
balcon</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 2 camere duble
mansardate (fara balcon)</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 2 apartamente
formate din 1 camera dubla matrimoniala + 1 camera twin si grup
sanitar cu cada), </span></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 1 apartament
format din 1 camera dubla matrimoniala + 1 camera twin (mansardata)
si grup sanitar cu cabina de dus</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">Corpul B </span></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- centrul SPA
(piscina, Jacuzzi, sauna, masaj)</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- sala de agrement </span></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 6 camere duble cu
balcon</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">- 4 camere duble
fara balcon</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span lang="ro-RO">Optional serviciile
de masa va sunt oferite in restaurantul pensiunii cu specific
bucovinean in regim a la carte, deschis zilnic intre orele
08:00-23:00, materia prima folosita in prepararea bucatelor provenind
din gospodariile taranilor locali.</span></span></div>
irina-magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01319503426563706160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-18674706143280156132012-09-10T14:47:00.001-07:002012-09-10T14:47:58.255-07:00Latest interesting excerpts #1Some interesting excerpts from most recent reads - #1.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
Every talent must unfold itself in fighting, a love of wrestling, an inherent incapacity to unite for any length of time, an absolute dedication to the idea of contest and the virtue of ambition.<br />
<br />
Never overlook the obvious. Lie down, take it easy. Discipline yourself. Aren't you happy?<br />
<br />
You live in a world of names. That's why I have the charity to tell you this.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<u>Beautiful Losers</u>, Leonard Cohen </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
"I'm resourceful", Price is saying. "I'm creative, I'm young, unscrupulous, highly motivated, highly skilled. In essece what I'm saying is that society cannot afford to lose me. I'm an asset."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I'm ethical, tolerant, I mean I'm extremely satisfied with my life, I'm optimistic about the future - I mean, aren't you?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<u>American Psycho</u>, Bret Easton Ellis</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<hr />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Atticus's office in the court-house contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checker-board and an unsullied Code of Alabama. His first two clients were the last two persons hanged in the Maycomb County jail. Atticus had urged them to accept the state's generosity in allowing them to plead guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass. The Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb's leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the son-of-a-bitch-had-it-coming-to-him was a good enough defence for anybody. They persisted in pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was probably the beginning of my father's profound distaste for the practice of criminal law.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<u>To Kill a Mockingbird</u>, Harper Lee</div>
irina-magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01319503426563706160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-31828662239586922342012-07-18T16:24:00.000-07:002012-07-18T16:24:33.525-07:00Travelling, a short in-depth viewAna just asked me what travelling means to me. Point blank question. She only requested three lines, before I knew it, I wrote half a page, so something must have been seething with expectation. Expectation probably connected not in the least marginally with the mountain trip to come on the 1st of August.<br />
<br />
If it's about the idea of travelling - I suppose it's a very important means of bringing back harmony. When you go visiting new places, all your five senses are alight. It's not enough to see anymore. You need to touch, to hear better, to sniff and arch your body. You're reminded to keep an open mind, to walk carefully, to actually pay attention to what others say. You feel a healthy constructive fear again - who is that, where can you find shelter, how long is it before sunset. You feel joy for small successes like finding a street, or finding a clear trail in the woods. Ultimately, you stumble upon a hefty load of new and awe, in which you always irreverently struggle to find the familiar morsel of mundane. No personas, just you with your true heartfelt reactions and actions. All this is worlds apart from the prozaic act of living day after day in your town, going to and coming from school and work. If you do that for too long, it's bound to drown you in routine. Here's where the bit about 'bringing back harmony' comes in. All the routine and pretense is washed away as you find equilibrium with your inner self, anew. I know i got slightly poetic, but this is truly how i feel when i go to the mountains or travelling in general, it's always a travel inside myself first and foremost.<br />
<br />
<br />Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-38076969273148253162012-05-03T00:19:00.002-07:002012-05-03T00:20:06.847-07:00Node.js second thoughtsBeen planning for a while to approach the <a href="http://nodejs.org/">node.js</a> direction to tackle a distributed system project, but my proletarian endeavours stand foiled yet again: this adamant article here makes me think node.js isn't so bad for personal/small projects but it might cause more harm than benefits in a real-world situation. <a href="http://teddziuba.com/2011/10/node-js-is-cancer.html">Node.js is cancer</a>?Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-11563847041398989362011-12-28T00:58:00.000-08:002011-12-28T00:58:07.660-08:00Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot - moan & groan: part 2I happen to have 11.10 not only on my personal netbook but on my work station too. So here I came to work this morning (i.e., half an hour ago) and pushed the start button. The magical message shows, which goes like this: "<span style="color: #741b47;">errors found on drive /. Push F to attempt to fix errors, I to ignore, S to skip mounting and M to fix manually</span>".<br />
<br />
Pushed <b>F</b> to fix errors. The message then turns into error message connected to /tmp mount point. The cause of this unexpected behavior may had something to do with leaving the USB stick last night in, and booting system today with it in. But I'm not sure. Asked a friend that also has 11.10 and says he never experienced something like this so it may be a very isolated case I'm talking about here. You'd think there would be no mount errors but seems the 11.10 is still unstable (considering that the work station was shutdown properly as always).<br />
<br />
So, pushed<b> F</b> to fix errors: waited for a while without results. Pressed <b>restart</b>, removed the USB flash, this time the screen with recovery mode appears. Selecting r<b>ecovery mode</b>, I had the chance to run <b>clean</b>, <b>dpkg</b>, <b>fsck</b> then <b>resume</b>. Same error shows ("<span style="color: #741b47;">errors found on drive /. Push F to attempt to fix etc</span>."). Okay, then let's do it manually. Pressed <b>M </b>to attempt manual fixing. Then console-mode shows, and I ran <b>fsck</b> without arguments. I spent about 10 minutes pressing on <<b>y</b>> on prompts from system regarding corrupted inodes. Fix? Clear? Allocate? yeah. Then <b>Ctrl+D</b> to exit shell and reboot. Same error shows, tried my luck with <b>F</b> again (attempt fix errors). Waited for 30s, then finally the login screen showed normally and everything is fine now.<br />
<br />
I may be masochistic but I'm really happy that even these types of situations can be handled somehow by the user, this is why I prefer Unix myself. I must confess I had this type of issue (filesystem errors) with 9.10 and 10.04 once in a while. I'd do the same thing with 9.10 (run dpkg, fsck etc.) but almost always 10.04 would fix errors with the initial disk scan&fix automatically. As a sidenote, 11.10 also runs pretty successfully the initial disk scan&fix (if it hadn't been for the situation this morning, I'd remove the "pretty") but is it just a figment of my mind that it seems to need the scan with a higher frequency than 10.04?Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-18382479623591373712011-12-26T08:42:00.000-08:002011-12-26T08:43:28.361-08:0012.04 Precise Pangolin; moan & groan about Oneiric Ocelot<b>Precise Pangolin (PP)</b><br />
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/103797-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin-unveiled">http://www.extremetech.com/computing/103797-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin-unveiled</a><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
They're keeping Unity, urgh.<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Oneiric Ocelot</b><br />
I started out with Ubuntu 9.10 (about a year), I've been down with 10.04 LTS version for over a year and been using 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot for over three months now - I'd say I could make a well-off comparison.<br />
<br />
I'll be straight, I'm not crazy about Unity. I thought I should wait until I get used to it, but to no avail. I was almost thinking of switching to Fedora, believe me.<br />
<br />
If I have 3 windows of the same app open (don't ask me why, need may arise to do that) why do I have do make the double amount of clicks to close all of them? Say I have three Firefox windows open and I want to close them.<br />
a. go to Unity, click on app icon to call screen with 3 Firefox windows (grey overlay one)<br />
b. pick appropriate Firefox window<br />
c. close window<br />
<br />
Oh wait, that's 3 times more clicks.<br />
<br />
And then, there is the really annoying window controls situation. Always placed at the top of the screen on a singleton kinda nav bar (looks like they were trying some Mac nav style, really?). If I've got a puny messenger window and an Office document window open, it's annoying to have to make deliberate extra clicks just to get the tool bar of the Libre office show up. And then click back on Unity to get messenger back on, go to the far top-left corner to access this time messenger's tool bar. Or even click on some random person in my Pidgin list, just for the sake of bringing back on the Conversation dialog and actually talk with whom I want to.<br />
<br />
I won't say anything about the boot time, how slow Ubuntu Software Center loads, OR about the sporadic bug that my Asus EeePC 901 is experimenting. It goes like this:<br />
- open Firefox, Pidging, maybe Rhythmbox (not much of a Banshee fan, so I'm glad they're reinstating RB on Pangolin 12.04)<br />
- do your stuff happily for some amount of time<br />
- then, out of the blue, everything dies and you see the black screen with a list of registers and commands.<br />
<br />
The error messages sounds like this: "<b>Panic occurred.</b>" Reading between the lines, the errors are due to a semaphorization issue, lack of sync between threads and/or processes. Is there some bug in the kernel? I may be asking too much though so I suppose that this is an issue affecting this brand of notebook in certain circumstances I have yet to reproduce. I'll be careful and make a photo with the death screen next time and post it here. <br />
<br />
There is also something tiring about their avantgarde concept of scrollbar. Please. I can't ven get Eclipse to show correctly these types of scrollbars they've pushed onto PP. The users know what I'm talking about. Thank God double-touch pad is working blissfully.<br />
<br />
What am i happy about in Oneiric Ocelot? Not sure. It's like a bittersweet gift. Unity is cool for sliding in and out faithfully (I really expected bugs on this, blocks and so on), providing fast access to windows (if you've got only one window of an app open...) and I have to confess that when I occasionally get on a Windows, I have the tendency to go to the left and have Unity show up. Call it the power of habit. Other than that...all functionalities were working the same on 10.04 LTS. I bet there are a lot of other things that have changed but you know, this is the type of report you'd get from a User Testing/Acceptance Testing session. <br />
<br />
I'll just wait a bit more, till April.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-52193648237952642252011-12-23T06:49:00.000-08:002011-12-23T06:49:21.208-08:00Import GWT/ Google App Engine project to Eclipse in Linux "Unable to locate the App Engine agent." errorAnother happy episode of Ubuntu quirks. <br />
I'm an Eclipse newbie (been using Netbeans for its straightforward interface and fairly intuitive project management tools) so it's natural that I may be bothered by all sorts of intricacies that don't come in handy all the time.<br />
Configuration: Ubuntu 11.10, Eclipse Indigo, Open JDK<br />
<br />
So, I've got this Google App Engine & GWT project on SVN, checked it out somewhere on my local filesys. Mind you, the project is already an Eclipse one, and my installation of Eclipse already has installed GWT, Google App Engine and all that magic. So I'm thinking, everything should work smooth, right? Wrong. Try to run project as Web Application, start web server, and naturally error occurs:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to locate the App Engine agent. </span><br style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;" /><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Please use dev_appserver, KickStart, or set the jvm flag: <span style="color: #cc0000;">"- </span></span><br style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;" /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> javaagent:<sdk_root>/lib/agent/appengine-agent.jar" </span></span><br />
<br />
Luckily, after a bit of search I found this <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java/browse_thread/thread/df660675d21c64f0?pli=1">really useful post</a> and did what the smart guys and girls say there.<br />
Click on project > select Run As...> Run Configurations > selected from the left the google project html page > click Arguments tab > paste in <span style="color: #134f5c;">VM Arguments</span> the exact javaagent flag they're quoting in the error message, replacing <span style="color: #134f5c;"><sdk_root></span> with your Google App Engine SDK location. In my case, the path was this:<br />
<div style="color: #0b5394;">/usr/lib/eclipse/plugins/com.google.appengine.eclipse.sdkbundle_1.5.5.r37v201110112027/appengine-java-sdk-1.5.5/lib/agent/appengine-agent.jar</div><br />
Another friendly advice found out the hard way. If you're working with GWT, Google App Engine(GAE) and have Eclipse Indigo (i.e., you got the juice by way of installing plugins from <a href="http://dl.google.com/eclipse/plugin/3.7">http://dl.google.com/eclipse/plugin/3.7</a> ), <b>use JDK 1.6</b>. This is what did good things for my colleagues and me.<br />
<br />
Click-right on project > Properties > Java Compiler > Compiler Compliance Levels: make sure 1.6 is selected. Even if you've upgraded to 1.7, it's useless - GAE and GWT will scream and not function as expected. It'll save you 2h of F words.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-77328604348687288812011-12-06T13:08:00.000-08:002011-12-06T13:08:32.817-08:00Play .asx files in UbuntuIn case you had this issue - strangely enough, had no such problem on Ubuntu 10.04, but 11.10 seems to bring along some unexpected items here and there (no way!).<br />
<br />
This <a href="http://vntutor.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-play-asx-files-under-firefox.html">post</a> would have been okay, if only<br />
> sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer<br />
would not retrieve "E: Unable to locate package mozilla-mplayer"<br />
<br />
Solution:<br />
1. Copy the .asx file path (that you're trying to access in the search bar)<br />
e.g.: http://www.simulradio.jp/asx/fmodawara.asx<br />
2. Open Rhythmbox (music and all things audio player)<br />
3. Rhythmbox > top menu > Music > New Internet Radio station (or Ctrl + I)<br />
4. Paste the .asx URL in the input > "Add"<br />
5. Rhythmbox > click "Radio" icon in left sidepane - you'll see a list of radios, double click on the freshly added radio station and start listening<br />
<br />
Note: you can also click on the added station > right-click > Properties > Edit metadata and genre. It's gonna be easier for you to access your favorite stack of radios in the left sidepane (with genres).Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-35498580788127252722010-10-24T14:22:00.000-07:002010-10-24T14:25:04.708-07:00Sierra Nevada @Jose7:00 Preparación previa con Anca, Oana e Irina en su piso de Granada.<br />
7.30 Salida hacia la estación de Pradollano, estación de esquí de Granada.<br />
8:30 Llegada a Pradollano, preparación y distribución del equipo.<br />
9:30 Inicio del ascenso, salida desde los albergues universitarios, 2300m.<br />
10:30 Llegada al monumento a la Virgen de las Nieves.<br />
11:30 La niebla hace su aparición, nuestra visibilidad de los paisajes lejanos es nula.<br />
12:30 Llegada al refugio del Veleta, situado entre los Tajos de la Virgen y el Veleta. En este momento nos encontramos en la división entre la cara norte y la cara sur de Sierra Nevada.<br />
13:30 Parada para comer en la estación de telesilla del Veleta, con el objetivo de refugiarnos del viento de la cumbre.<br />
14:00 Llegada a la cumbre del Veleta, 3.396m. La niebla limita nuestra visibilidad. El sur está practicamente cubierto por la niebla pero podemos vislumbrar algunas lagunas. En el oeste vemos los Tajos de la Virgen pero no podemos ver ni el Cartujo y mucho menos el Caballo. El este esta cubierto por la niebla y apenas podemos ver entre claro y claro el camino que conduce al Atalaya y al Mulhacén. El sur está también cubierto por la niebla y no podemos ver más allá de la estación de telesilla del Veleta.<br />
14:30 Inicio del descenso hacia los albergues.<br />
16:00 La niebla se espesa y nuestra visibilidad queda muy reducida, variando entre 30m y 10m dependiendo del momento. En este tramo descendíamos cortando entre las curvas de la carretera A-395, pero la falta de visibilidad nos obligó a seguirla durante algún tiempo. La caida de algunas gotas de lluvia nos obligó a hacer uso del GPS para acelerar la marcha.<br />
17:30 Llegada a los albergues universitarios, descanso e ingesta de bebidas calientes en Pradollano.<br />
18:30 Salida hacia Granada.<br />
19:30 Llegada al piso de Anca, Oana e Irina en Granada. Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-92009340708654558282010-10-24T13:24:00.000-07:002010-10-25T11:03:02.249-07:00Sierra Nevada<b>Sierra Nevada, the snow-capped mountains</b><br />
<br />
<b>30th day, Saturday, 23 oct</b><br />
<br />
Only Silviu would know how much I waited for this. I dreamed of it. And I did it. Well, all four of us did it: I, Anca, Jose and Oana conquered the Veleta peak of Sierra Nevada.<br />
<br />
I got up at 6am and decided on what clothes to wear: I settled for three sweaters, my famous white knit hat that resembles a condom (hand-knit by my grandma) and my ubiquitous boots. Jose was ringing the door bell at 7am sharp, but of course he had to wait for a quarter of hour. He brought two packs of water, "crazy amounts of food" cooked by him and by his mother, a huge sack of socks and professional boots for the girls. I also brought my frontal lantern given to me as a parting present from my friends at work.<br />
<br />
At 7:15am, while the full moon was still up on the sky surrounded by a orange-ish halo, we got in the car and off we went. <br />
<br />
It's really easy to get to the Sierra Nevada ski resort in Pradollano (that's where we were headed for) by car and I'm sure there are touristic buses too. We just drove for an hour and a bit on A395 highway. When it got very windy, all three of us got sick and Jose had to stop for us to take some fresh air. I bet he thought "Girls...".<br />
<br />
We arrived in Pradollano or Solynieve ("Sun and snow") at 8:30am. It was really cold in the morning and the resort was empty. I have to admit, it looks like a very very expensive place - you have a perfect highway at 2000m high and tons of posh hotels. @Jose: "It looks like a small Swiss town".<br />
<br />
We went to the Information Point hoping we could grab maps, but it would open at 9.30am, so we didn't waste time anymore and left. What kind of Information Point is that, that is open only between 9:30am and 13:30pm, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGbcbR7FV3NMrzSWR4l8nfa3GidloEMY45bSBA6grF4rLoYxzQLoYf1GEsjkJQiL5qBr96VytAbInMZJNMBijblZl-zIshq4oTY2hEM2ynbF7aATnSvSSv7h5GrkWcDLVhB6C-PqWjpAC/s1600/IMG_0125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGbcbR7FV3NMrzSWR4l8nfa3GidloEMY45bSBA6grF4rLoYxzQLoYf1GEsjkJQiL5qBr96VytAbInMZJNMBijblZl-zIshq4oTY2hEM2ynbF7aATnSvSSv7h5GrkWcDLVhB6C-PqWjpAC/s320/IMG_0125.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Jose parked the car in a free parking place located at 2200m high (near the "albergues universitarios") (we went a bit higher on the highway once we got out of Pradollano). We got equipped, took 8l of water (we barely drank 2l so we just carried it for nothing) and distributed the food. Jose even brought socks for us as mentioned earlier, and even though some were huge for our feet, they were very, very welcome. Moreover, Anca received Jose's old pair of boots and Oana, the boots of Jose's mother. All of us had 4-5 pairs of socks. At 9:30 we started going up.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-eTV_3HoRGt0SUiqWTFTVJLO9fa3Nw3kfdxqbCuApLQhhgGkP_0_ZP9jRS7KMRFHA1Kv7Sz51rnb7QLoO_BoIaOCScDszIvTwkpbLv4zgFVM4T-COODCr3wpy5WspsTaVtoNTtD2GV4v/s1600/IMG_0132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-eTV_3HoRGt0SUiqWTFTVJLO9fa3Nw3kfdxqbCuApLQhhgGkP_0_ZP9jRS7KMRFHA1Kv7Sz51rnb7QLoO_BoIaOCScDszIvTwkpbLv4zgFVM4T-COODCr3wpy5WspsTaVtoNTtD2GV4v/s320/IMG_0132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pLQFhXeLFYKbhDTOne9p8mGoY3YV8ZnGZ6bYQP1JcHKLbb81tcR74CR6EUROKbtdakEPKEAehYRA-yJ-9CGEjSNABmiR-cOeX4pvQXfUV487fd7j8VmpX9A1I0CChJIPFmbwDA1i-NOv/s1600/IMG_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pLQFhXeLFYKbhDTOne9p8mGoY3YV8ZnGZ6bYQP1JcHKLbb81tcR74CR6EUROKbtdakEPKEAehYRA-yJ-9CGEjSNABmiR-cOeX4pvQXfUV487fd7j8VmpX9A1I0CChJIPFmbwDA1i-NOv/s320/IMG_0139.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
You could do it the wise, easy and long way: walk on the street until below Veleta (you would have to walk 40-50 minutes more from where the street ends). It is very windy, but it is vital to get your body accustomed to the change of air pressure - it gets lower the higher you go. A memorable edifice a the beginning of the hike was La Virgen de las Nieves - which, by the way, we were very happy to see on our descent.<br />
<br />
We did it the stupid, but fast and interesting way: we cut the street and went straight up, over the rocks. Once or twice, Jose stretched his foot muscles but it was nothing compared to what Anca went through later. We joked a lot on the way, we talked a lot in Spanish and he would correct us a lot, but this is how we learn stuff, and saw many professional cyclers.<br />
<br />
This is a perfect place for mountain biking, except the persons we saw all had track and cyclo-cross bicycles and were all over 30 years old. Gosh, I would like to look like them at 40...I even saw old ladies on track bicycles, very fit and fully equipped.<br />
<br />
We actually hiked up alongside with the ski track and the telesilla line (chairlift). When we got at the end of it, at the last big building that hosted the telesilla line, we had already arrived at the end of the highway and below Veleta. Therefore, we sat for a while and ate!<br />
<br />
Jose brought indeed a lot of food, but not only was it delicious, it was stuff I never ate before:<br />
- humus (crema de garbanzos con aceite de sesamo) - a sort of delicious spreading for bread<br />
- curry - pollo con garbanzos y cebolla - chicken with garbanzos and onion<br />
- mantecados: these are Spanish sweets that are usually eaten at Christmas - con almendras (almonds), con aceite de oliva (olive oil), con canela (cinnamon) y con ajonjoli (a type of sesame I think) - they are very fatty and crumbly but delicious nonetheless<br />
- pollo con hierbas provenzales (albahaca, orégano, tomillo, romero, ajedrea y mejorana) - a French recipe of chicken meat boiled/cooked with all sorts of spices such as oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram - take or leave a few of them types<br />
- pan con higos - higos secos, almendras, cafe y chocolate - a sort of salami made from figs, almonds, coffee, chocolate...and a lot of good stuff - we had to thank Jose's mom for that <br />
- tortilla, the Andaluz type (without meat): with potatoes, onion and egg - courtesy of Jose's mom also <br />
- green salad, sandwiches and chocolate<br />
<br />
We ate well and went for the top: we got there in about 40-50 minutes I think and the feeling was overpowering: la cima Veleta, altitud: 3396m.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-KsYUyPtDMMgmgW0nrAK4Vrj18KVhJXkeho-jahp1bCC-R44LX_4IEj_FDcFJ5FdeGu-G-NKb7cBIRCKdzfG65uqwYw8Fg2RqoOMVbnTJmXRHowsRloT-Au7Zt0oxFNjqSBGPJ65MGyxU/s1600/HPIM4408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-KsYUyPtDMMgmgW0nrAK4Vrj18KVhJXkeho-jahp1bCC-R44LX_4IEj_FDcFJ5FdeGu-G-NKb7cBIRCKdzfG65uqwYw8Fg2RqoOMVbnTJmXRHowsRloT-Au7Zt0oxFNjqSBGPJ65MGyxU/s320/HPIM4408.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Covered with snow, and surrounded by fog so thick that I bet you wouldn't see your fingers if it were winter. Sierra means "range of mountains" and Nevada is the past participle for "nevar" = to snow. That is why Sierra Nevada = "the snow capped range of mountains" is a very important goal for los senderistos (hikers, people that like to make treks in the mountains): it's mostly sunny because of the southern position and also snowy, because of the altitude. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNY4HlZxJMtVDr4ygLDhGonwG7_k2_x737JucSKNF1PpgIyIKl62ranezFi7qVbuEafCEJBCmOMoaGYDQsTSH1QRXpAvxL_jCI96xYwcHKU2uQYaGMo5nive_ZKpPNQpBKYWhgaxqPDbc/s1600/HPIM4445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNY4HlZxJMtVDr4ygLDhGonwG7_k2_x737JucSKNF1PpgIyIKl62ranezFi7qVbuEafCEJBCmOMoaGYDQsTSH1QRXpAvxL_jCI96xYwcHKU2uQYaGMo5nive_ZKpPNQpBKYWhgaxqPDbc/s320/HPIM4445.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We didn't have sunny weather, but if we did, we could have seen from one part the city of Granada and all Andalucia, and from the other part - the sea, and Africa with Sahara desert. That would have been great but I am really grateful that I managed to reach Veleta!<br />
<br />
Sierra Nevada's highest peaks are Mulhacen (3478m), Veleta (3396-3398m the measurements vary) and Alcazaba (3371m). We were planning to start on the path for Mulhacen after Veleta but that was a bit to much for us and we left it for another trip. Mulhacen is much tougher, whereas Veleta is much more accesible. Its ridge on the left is cut in an angle of 90, I would recognise it in any picture now. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqwZqB6eoOX641Sv_afePbWw0HgB6h01fCRlf1ucHRL_0vYb9Une-YVFa6K15EvefkwotHQruHCqgGZkF90jV0hs_lSTsQs4YzYk6VODPoNDUHIQ1bpIp8X1-0gvHEFHcpP4mR_f2XPux/s1600/HPIM4407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqwZqB6eoOX641Sv_afePbWw0HgB6h01fCRlf1ucHRL_0vYb9Une-YVFa6K15EvefkwotHQruHCqgGZkF90jV0hs_lSTsQs4YzYk6VODPoNDUHIQ1bpIp8X1-0gvHEFHcpP4mR_f2XPux/s320/HPIM4407.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
At Veleta's right you could see, covered with snow the angry looking "Tajos de la Virgen" - "tajos" being steep, vertical, inaccessible ridges - "El cartujo" y "El caballo". A beautiful mixture of black and white, lines and fangs.<br />
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In the left of Veleta, there is "La Atalaya" and "El Mulhacén", peaks. Jose told us that hikers would usually reach Veleta, then come down to "el refugio del Veleta" - a big lodge-like building that stands as a refuge, at the foot of Veleta, located in the division between Veleta and "Los tajos de la Virgen". They would camp there for a night, and the following day, they would go for Mulhacén. This is a very good suggestion for what my hiking group should be doing in the future, along with myself, naturally.<br />
<br />
We took pictures for a while, meditated, feasted our eyes and after a half of hour we began descending. The fog got very dense, we could only see 20m ahead, but fortunately there wasn't any rain or wind, just the fog. Anca started feeling bad and we were very worried, but she hung on luckily. Jose used the GPS only once or twice, to make sure that we cut the street properly on our way down, salvaging from certain death another group of aproximately 10 people following us like geese. The rapid descent was stupid because we soon felt the effect of altitud sickness. Bear with me for a small excerpt of wiki:<br />
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<i>"Altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), altitude illness, hypobaropathy, or soroche, is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude. It commonly occurs above 2,400 metres (8,000 feet). It presents as a collection of nonspecific symptoms, acquired at high altitude or in low air pressure, resembling a case of <<flu, carbon monoxide poisoning, or a hangover>>"</i><br />
<br />
Symptoms:<br />
* Lack of appetite, nausea, or vomiting<br />
* Fatigue or weakness<br />
* Dizziness or light-headedness<br />
* Insomnia<br />
* Pins and needles<br />
* Shortness of breath upon exertion<br />
* Nosebleed<br />
* Persistent rapid pulse<br />
* Drowsiness<br />
* General malaise<br />
* Peripheral edema (swelling of hands, feet, and face).<br />
* Diarrhea<br />
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I certainly had the first and the last. <br />
<br />
The general malaise befell all four of us when we went for a hot cup of something in a pub in Pradollano. We tasted chocolate con churros that was quite cheap (3.40 Euros) compared to everything else in other restaurants there. A coffee would cost only 1.70Euros.<br />
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On the way back to Granada, Jose had to stop the car 3 times because we were either very sick, or needed a pause from all the curves of the road. I bet he thought: "Girls..."<br />
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Back at home, we watched all the pictures and the movies (yes, there are movies, too) and laughed a lot, but I went to bed ASAP and fell asleep at 10pm. I got up after 11h of healty sleep, proud that I didn't puke and that I conquered Veleta.<br />
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I hope with all my heart that I would come back here for Mulhacén.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-64599381578727390152010-10-24T08:46:00.000-07:002010-10-24T08:46:07.474-07:00Being blind in Granada<b>24th day, Sunday, 17 oct</b> <br />
<br />
I felt like walking alone downtown, so I went to the church (Catedral Real). Afterwards, I spent an hour listening to a flamenco guitar player in the middle of the plaza before the Cathedral's steps.<br />
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Young people sprawling just like that on the pavement, soaking up the sun, the orange and green old buildings, the sun...pidgeons coming and going, parents with children... This poem i saw etched in porcelain plaques in the plaza really does justice to a Sunday morning in Granada: <br />
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<i>"Dale limosna mujer, que no hay nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada."</i><br />
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(Be charitable with him woman, because there is no other pain than being blind in Granada).<br />
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<b>25th day, Monday, 18 oct </b><br />
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This was the start of a long series of search heuristics and algorithms in Artificial Intelligence (the class I like best) A*, IDA*, BF, DFS, BFS, RBFS, A/O*. In the evening, I put my cooking skills to use and made bors with potates, peas and chicken (Anca's cousin Dan gave us 3l of homemade sour borch precisely for this). It turned out great! I really felt like home when I tasted it.<br />
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<b>26th day, Tuesday, 19 oct </b><br />
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DIU - Diseno de Interfaces de Usuario practica today held a surprise: the first project (delivery date: 5 nov) is about a complete and detailed analysis of www.ikea.com, and some other two sites from esthetical and functional point of view. In other words, QA! I get to do that here too. Hopefully, the entire subject will polish my QA skills and help me design good user interfaces.<br />
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It's my brother's birthday. Feliz cumpleanos to him!<br />
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<b>27th day, Wednesday, 20 oct</b><br />
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Wednesday is the only day without IA, in the rest of the days we either have teoria (4 classes of theory) or practica (2h). After a boring hour of NTP theory, we had to go shopping big time. We got our fridge and cupboards stuffed again with food, joy of joys. Alcampo, Aldi and Mercado (although Jose usually doesn't go to Aldi, we showed him what good cheese they have there - we would't survive without it) usually provide us with anything from peanut butter to eggs. <br />
<br />
Jose tried to convince us to buy garbanzos that are very Spanish (I believe it's "naut" in Romanian) but we don't know how to cook them, so I postponed that a bit. We did buy however (apart from tones of milk, cereals and fruit) a lot of mosto "castillo de salobreña" - which is basically grape juice with apple juice and some spices. It's terrific and Jose is addicted to it - it doesn't have any alcohol, it's just delicious juice without acid and it's very cheap - 0.75 cents. Well, we bought one bottle and Jose two: we drank it together anyways - he also tasted our borch and seemed like he liked it.<br />
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<b>28th day, Thursday, 21 oct</b><br />
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Two boring Xlib hours and a lot of research for my bachelor project. Don't you just love semantic web and ontologies?<br />
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<b>29th day, Friday, 22 oct</b><br />
<br />
The girls worked really hard for their practica at DAC where they design pink cranes and translate them round and round on a green field - I'm joking, this is all I understand from their talking - it's all done in OpenGl. I followed suit and continued the research for my BD project.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-45214977121722579202010-10-24T08:34:00.000-07:002010-10-24T08:34:40.650-07:00El Parque de Ciencias<b>23rd day, Saturday, 16 oct</b><br />
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Parque de Ciencias - Anca wanted to go here from day 1. It's at the outskirts of Granada and it is a huge site with different buildings, each with trunks full of magic and physics. Since Jose owns a Euro26 card (how do I lay my hands on one of those?), he paid only 6.5 Euros (4.5 for the whole Parque and 2 for the Planetarium) whereas we paid 8.5 Euros(6.5 and 2). As we got there at 2pm, and we were scheduled for the 5.30pm Planetarium session, we had the time in between to go feast our eyes. <br />
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I bet Dodo would be green with envy and yellow with jealousy, he'd eventually turn lime-coloured, wouldn't he. Dodo is my beloved co-worker that is passionate with physics and electricity.<br />
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We saw so many things, so many processes brought to life, so many experiments and phenomena explained in a very user-friendly way (still I.T. by heart) that I can't wrap my mind around them yet. Jose has technical/mecanics + I.T. background and owns a totally bad ass telescope => he's very interested in physics and could only be really excited when he showed us all the things there, argued with me on occasions, but mostly detailed every nook and cranny of every experiment there. He started arguing with an employee there actually over an electricity experiment. <br />
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We first watched an inactment of Foucault's Pendulum and therefore we were convinced that the Earth is round (if someone had any doubt anyway) and then went off to the huge room dedicated to Astronomy and Astrophysics (which honestly, I loved the most). Planets in and out of the Solar Systems, their composition, mass, their gravity constants, the layers of Earth's insides and outsides (troposphere, ionosphere etc.), Coriolis force, and all sorts of other effects caused by the rotation around Earth's axis and around the Sun.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoMURlEc3ouLbfjPdW2iLPfC7SISq282FmIPOPKZHh8oBUmdvDn-xYsL-qEscumwdMPrHAXGPZCAi5WPX2fXUWsqWqFWmRcaOoA-ey80a6HcssenNkw5c_IzjApMCA7BdQvtRsoGrumrn/s1600/IMG_0058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoMURlEc3ouLbfjPdW2iLPfC7SISq282FmIPOPKZHh8oBUmdvDn-xYsL-qEscumwdMPrHAXGPZCAi5WPX2fXUWsqWqFWmRcaOoA-ey80a6HcssenNkw5c_IzjApMCA7BdQvtRsoGrumrn/s320/IMG_0058.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtoh_wMPG8mwwy_YT1xU26WNeZO5LVJOsnwWiDHzD-kQms2fq6OofT6-5PUpKh8VXD9cTYH33mR2JEiS6SPGQTae160j3M5RA-nOeOztosjC4hd_rPo07Q060QO6wummFK19WMgVs_7du/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtoh_wMPG8mwwy_YT1xU26WNeZO5LVJOsnwWiDHzD-kQms2fq6OofT6-5PUpKh8VXD9cTYH33mR2JEiS6SPGQTae160j3M5RA-nOeOztosjC4hd_rPo07Q060QO6wummFK19WMgVs_7du/s320/IMG_0062.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After an hour or so, we went to the first floor and off to the Mecanics room. I was duly upset when I saw no inactment of the Henri Coanda effect but lighted up when I saw a room full of ancient measuring technology: barometers, hygrometers, thermometers, old Morse telegraphs, ancient phones (that occupied half a wall) - I bet my mom would have loved to see this room, as her background is in telecommunications and worked as a phone operator for 20 odd years.<br />
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Starting from 5.30pm, we enjoyed 40 minutes of mind boggling depictions of constellations, planets, systems, black holes, explosions of supernovas and then, from macro we went to micro. DNA, how life on Earth was born - from a hot boiling sea that was filled with cells which made photosynthesis and caused the creation of masses of oxygen down to development of saurians. And a huge swath of Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution. Jose told us that the Granada Parque de Ciencias tried to inject Evolutionism and put an emphasis on this because they are developing right now something connected to this, and are trying to attract sponsors.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8DMvihMB51v60RqeobQVS_uJtwAcRQr6MxzzFXqv1yV_6MiThqxMWachXkCh3pUHTwsFOIKmgmdYMmIeCehkH15y84u-JQOTK5Mg6eGCKLvsEtdLLROzzGUEuCrJqw6S7k-jHTuGoWUW/s1600/IMG_0083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8DMvihMB51v60RqeobQVS_uJtwAcRQr6MxzzFXqv1yV_6MiThqxMWachXkCh3pUHTwsFOIKmgmdYMmIeCehkH15y84u-JQOTK5Mg6eGCKLvsEtdLLROzzGUEuCrJqw6S7k-jHTuGoWUW/s320/IMG_0083.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After the Planetarium - the first grand Planetarium that I have ever been to and I feel so privileged and lucky because of that - we went to a different building: this was consecrated to space navigation. We saw genuine space costumes (one that went in an Apollo mission too) from NASA, URSS, Chinese space programs, food that is usually taken into space, how they pee in those suits (it's quite an intricate device) and how they communicate.<br />
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And the great finale: the rooms dedicated to Electricity where amazing experiments followed suit. Electricity in 10 experiments, to be more specific. How ozone was created from oxygen with the help of an electrcal discharge, the amount of energy we as human beings produce (of course that spawned a few Matrix(the movie) puns) and much more. I'm gonna leave it now for Dodo to dwell painfully on that "much more".<br />
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We went for tapas later: history of tapas @Jose - in Medieval ages, people at Court would be brought hot beverages and mixes that had to be covered with something until the savours would blend. Since the plate put above the mug was looking a bit naked, food was served on it, for the customer to eat while he waited for the drink to be done. Wherever you see "bar & tapas" it means that once you order a drink, you are automatically brought food that's included in the price. You can eat really cheap that way. By the way it's mostly in Andalucía, not everywhere in Spain.<br />
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But Parque de Ciencias was explored only 40%. We still have 60% more left. Coming up in the next series.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-24535707448782234602010-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:002010-10-24T08:02:29.480-07:00El Dia de la Hispanidad - Columbus Day<b>17th day, Sunday, 10 oct</b><br />
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The weather has been a bit 'under the weather' - no pun intended - and that could only boost up the need to work at the AES implementation. Confident progress towards ShiftRows stage was made.<br />
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<b>18th day, Monday, 11 oct</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
Manana es dia de fiesta - consequently, el dia antes de la fiesta es dia de fiesta. I'm positive this recursive looking sentence has been understood by everybody. I could only use this time to progress towards the MixColumns stage and Key Schedule in AES. I actually had a conversation with Andrei that scolded me on the grounds that I do not know what 'free time' is. What a strange concept.<br />
<b><br />
19th day, Tuesday, 12 oct</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
El dia de la Hispanidad is today, my friends! In the United States, it's called "Columbus Day", in Southern America - "El Dia de la Raza" - it celebrates the day in which Cristopher Columbus, following the orders of Isabela I of Castile (a great visionary) set foot on America. In his health, we drank Sangria, and honestly the girls and I turned a bit rosy-cheeked. No sooner we realized that the Sangria has 7% alcohol than we realized we were getting happier and happier.<br />
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I don't fully realise its importance what with me being a Romanian patriot, but the Spanish speaking world surely takes pride in being quite vast.<br />
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<b>20th day, Wednesday, 13 oct </b><br />
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Boring Nuevas Tecnologias de Programacion theory class looming in the clouds. I thought I would dress elegantly - I tend to do that at least once a week, a whim of mine - and apparently guys here were a bit surprised. Girls tend to dress...trendy and cool, and ladies over 40 are really elegant and beautiful, it seems a mixture is unusual. <br />
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Since Oana had some serious problems with her wifi driver on Ubuntu (it seems all bad luck befalls her), Jose was kind enough as to help her solve her problem - many of our asignaturas here are linux based so Oana was really happy when she had it fixed. It so happened that it rained today. At sunset, you could see a sort of beautiful red sky - red granada-ish iron dust mixed in the atmosphere - with two rainbows. Absolutely breathtaking.<br />
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21st day, Thursday, 14 oct</b><br />
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Iasi - my home town in Romania - celebrates today along with the thousands of pilgrims the day of Saint Paraskeva (Sfanta Paraschiva). The days of Jassy, a time of praying, a time of going out with your friends/classmates/family and watch the entertaining programs the mayor laid out, a time when merchants from all parts of Romania gather in Iasi to expose their local sweets, national costumes and so on. The smell of icercream, mici (cylindrical barbecued meatballs would be an accurate description) and beer lingers everywhere and the town central plaza teems with people. Although many of my friends say it's not that much fun, what with all the crowds and various types of society strata mixing, I relish it because it's a singular, out of the ordinary period. <br />
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If I were at home, I and Silviu would pretend to go watch the fireworks together, but actually go in Taverna (a local rock pub, where we feel like home) and miss the fireworks altogether over a beer. <br />
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But I'm not at home, consequently I and the girls just got on with our usual school activities. <br />
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<b>22nd day, Friday, 15 oct</b><br />
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Cleaning day, working and reading. (When I say reading, I say Naruto manga reading.)Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-37370586029580252492010-10-10T02:57:00.000-07:002010-10-10T07:14:11.553-07:00Salsa and Choir<b>11th day, Monday 4oct</b><br />
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School - I'm still figuring out my schedule - is starting in baby steps as opposed to school back home (which starts in Ghita Muresan steps). I'm almost ashamed to admit that seminars (practicas) will start in two weeks time in some asignaturas and next week in others. Algoritmica is most certainly interesting and engaging, as the teacher lectures with a velocity of 400 words/second - it's so fast that most words convert into amorph sounds stressed by a hitched breath here and there. That's Andalusian, gentlemen. <br />
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Just for the record, Andalusian is the dialect (it is not a dialect strictly speaking though, it's a way of speech specific to the South) spoken here in Granada - it consists in spitting words at amazing rates, not pronounciating the final "s"-es and joining words so that you can't tell when a sentence finishes and another one begins. <br />
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Castilian is the literary form of Spanish - the one you hear at the TV - and is fairly musical and clear.<br />
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Catalun from Cataluna is a dialect - this one really is and it is spoken in the East of the Spain. It's a mixture of French and Spanish which is an understandable phenomenon for all borderline regions.<br />
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Euskara...that's a different animal all together. I suppose you are familiar with ETA - el vasco, la lengua vasca or el euskera is the language of the Basque people that live in the northeastern regions - Spanish people view them as their own but there are many <strike>bombs</strike> diplomatic tensions as the Basque people require autonomy - I think they already have autonomous government of some sort. The Euskara is the only language in Spain (from what I've been told) that survived the Romanization process. I view it as Etruscan for Italian.<br />
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<b>12th day, Tuesday 5oct</b><br />
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School - of course I went back and forth to the faculty only to be announced each time that practicas for a specific asignaturas haven't started yet.<br />
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<b>13th day, Wednesday 6oct</b><br />
<br />
This is the day we went to the Comedor or the canteen in the faculty. You have to pay 3 euros and you receive a ticket with which you can receive the day's menu. You can't choose plates - you have an entree, a main course and a salad. Optionally, a glass of red wine. The salad was terrific though - it had a sweet juice, nuts, apple, letuce, tomatoes, onions and so on. We met Alvaro who is somehow in charge of Erasmus students and trips for ETSIIT (Escuela de Telecomunication y Sistemas = our faculty) but all we could get from him (even now, sporadically on messenger) is this [very limited] collection of phrases [csv format follows]: "You don't go drinking at night? You're so boring", "Come to my place, we're having karaoke, me and my buddy, we'll let you go home at 4am", "Let's go drinking", "Let's go to the disco", "You don't know what you're missing". <br />
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<b>14th day, Thursday 7oct</b><br />
<br />
I finally got to go to the choir! I picked up a flyer that said the rehearsals were each Thursday, from 5pm till 8pm and all three of us decided to go. It's the choir of the Facultad de Ciencias and it consists of amateurs - pretty much like my choir back home - but I was wondering, why the long rehearsal? Well, it is indeed like my choir - they are pretty experimented, I had to read 5 score sheets (first encounter with the songs) and sing at the same time. The conductor is a young and very enthusiastic person and was really glad that we came. We're already invited to tour with them - and tour we will - on the 16th, 17th and 18th of December. We'll sing in Sevilla too ergo I'll get to see Sevilla and in the same time, keep an upbeat with my voice training so I don't lag behind my choir back home while I'm gone. Perfect! <br />
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<b>15th day, Friday 8oct</b><br />
<br />
I only had a lecture, Programacion Declarativa (Prolog) which I find interesting: the sintax is pretty intuitive and it seems that you can do a lot in terms of demonstrations and knowledge representation although I'm not sure if it will be of any use regarding the BA. Nonetheless, I will be familiar with all three main ways of programming - imperative (java, as3, c++ etc.), functional (haskell) and finally declarative (prolog). <br />
<br />
This was also the "paying the dues" day - we called Mr. Julio (we always refer to him as "Mos Julio") and paid the rent for October - we nearly paid three rents: one as a guarantee (we'll get these 370 euros back when we leave), for September (well, half of it), and for October. We spent the day shopping - we went shopping with the suitcase. Let me tell you how it works: you take one giant suitcase, buy stuff to last you two weeks (12 cartons of milk, kilos of cereals, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, cheese, cookies, eggplants etc.), put them in the suitcase in an orderly manner, and rip your hands off your torso trying to trudge it to the nearest taxi in a blistering heat.<br />
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<b>16th day, Saturday 9oct</b><br />
<br />
It was an interesting day as it rained. I welcomed the rain naturally, and the wind. It was a quiet day: the girls slept through the afternoon, I started research to implement AES in Qt (I haven't programmed in C++ in a while so it's hard in the beginning) and figured a minimal design, but the Qt part also poses problems (I also haven't used Qt in a while).<br />
<br />
It was a quiet day, until 11pm. Then, we went out - sorry George, I know you told me before I left "You'll see, you'll go out dancing salsa at midnight" and I was always like "get behind me Satan". But sadly, you were right. We made a friend here - guess what his name is - Jose (equivalent of Joseph or Iosif in Romanian) who is surprisingly smart (and smart people seem hard to find even at a Computer Science faculty which by definition should be packed with us nerds) and has an English girlfriend, ergo speaks English! <br />
<br />
He's really a nice friendly guy and seems to see in us a nice way to practice English. He also slanders his own people a lot. We went dancing - well, I and Oana danced, Anca swayed in a very crisp and restrained manner (I think she was a bit sad about something), only at times being more at ease when she saw us having fun. We were most duly taken home and slept a nice deep sleep. I should not forget to tell you that people here are night miscreants - the streets are empty during the day because most of the people are at work, or simply sleep and have their siesta but they ALL go out during the night. It's like it's a festival every god damned day, only they get out to eat. The town is suffused with kebap and food smells at 12 o'clock in the night and it gets so crowded that you bump into people. Sorry George, you were right.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-86895514523273526462010-10-03T13:53:00.000-07:002010-10-03T13:53:51.966-07:00Let's eat<b>9th day, Saturday</b><br />
<br />
Saturday was "doing chores" day - we washed clothes (they dried in 1 hour because the sun is relentless here), we had our basin in the bath repaired and paid the rent (half, for September) to the landlord. Very conscientious indeed. I am most certain that the landlord noticed how the air in the apartment now smells like jasmin and soap, and not dust and cigarette smoke. <br />
<br />
Before us, some girls lived in the apartment - but I can't fathom how! The washing machine and the oven hadn't been used - neither the shower for that matter - supposedly they sent everything to their mothers for washing and only ate pizza but still, we had to use gloves in the beginning.<br />
<br />
In the evening, we went downtown and marveled at the numerous Chinese bazaar/stores that basically had the same products but many customers. I bought myself a Chinese gown (I think I have a ball dress for this year's BA graduation party) and - Silviu, writhe in pain - it is pink (other colours were much more adequate as to what I like but the sizes were either too big or too small). A blonde makes do with pink, how cliché. <br />
<br />
PS (#1): It turns out that the truck with gasoline cylinders comes today, not Thursdays how we expected (this is how we get hot water and fire granted that the apartment is older than my dad by a considerable amount of years). You basically have to get out to the balcony when you hear the ruckus they make and yell "1 (2) bombones aqui" - you pay them 1 euro and they bring the cylinders to the piso where you live. We have 3 full cylinders right now, so we're good.<br />
<br />
<b>10th day, Sunday</b><br />
<br />
Today, the most incredible thing happened! The wind blew all day and the sky actually tried hard to be cloudy. I also noticed that if it were really cold, I would freeze in my room, because the window is not tightly closed and it lets wind in.<br />
<br />
Meals have consisted so far in vegetarian soups, vegetable salads, cereals and mils and fruit. We decided to go wild today since it's Saturday and spent the morning doing pancakes with finetti (yummy:)) and spaghetti with chicken meat, champignons and grated cheese.<br />
<br />
In the evening we went to the Catedral Real located downtown and attended the shortest service in my life. It lasted only 30 minutes. Many old people and no choir but peaceful nonetheless. I think next Sunday I'll go back to the neighbourhood church "Nuestra Senora de la Consolacion" though.<br />
<br />
I have put together a faculty schedule and it looks very bad - they emphasize here more the teoricos and so far, less the practicas. I have 6 subjects to attend, each with at least 2 teoricos (lectures) and only one practica (lab). For instance, IA is packed with 4h of lecture and 2h of practica.<br />
<br />
I just have to get through 8h of Spanish classes tomorrow.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-90737411098618268972010-10-01T07:41:00.000-07:002010-10-02T07:53:47.880-07:00Vivimos aqui sub pod.<b>7th day, Thursday</b><br />
<br />
I had Sistemas Multimedia for the 1st time (since we missed Tuesday's lecture). The teacher is young and nice but we were nervous nonetheless. Well, that ceased the moment he started asking the whole class "Savez por que es el cielo azul?" and ultimately "Que es el sonido?". Silence. Either the rest of the students were being slow (I said the definition as I remembered it and the teacher was pleased *insert bewildered emoticon here*). He had to resort to a very plastic analogy as to make them understand what exactly is sound - "imagine you have a room full of gelatin and if I punch it - bam! - it will shake and be wobbly-wobbly" (we learned about sound 7-8 years ago and without such metaphors). <br />
<br />
This is when depression hit me for the first time since I left home. <br />
<br />
Afterwards, the teacher surprisingly made a smooth transition from "wobbly-wobbly" onomatopoeia to Fast Fourier Transform definitions and algorithm to analyze sound. I felt better. <br />
<br />
The girls went out in the evening, but I had to go to a 2h lecture from 7pm till 9pm which I thought was Logic Programming. Instead it was Programming Languages and it was tremendously easy (characteristics of all programming languages, a bit of C, a bit of Haskell). This confusion occured naturally because their schedule has the subjects abbreviated. I stayed anyway - I was the only girl, and there were 6 boys too. <br />
<br />
I got depressed again. I got really mad, however, when one of them asked me something about lists, trying to convince me not to drop the whole course. I understood "Lisp" and I told him "No, I don't know Lisp yet, I hope I'll learn it soon". He only understood "No" (obviously never heard of Lisp) and started to enumerate fast in Spanish "areyes, matrices, pero no Matrix, no la pelicula".<br />
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Concluzion: he took me for a stupid girl who never even heard of lists, and the only matrix there is would be the one in the eponymous movie.<br />
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I can't understand Spanish perfectly and I certainly can't express myself correctly (right now) in Spanish. English is useless. <br />
<br />
I had no way of getting through to him, he was already feeling smug. How could I tell the idiot that last year I implemented in C++ the entire DSA and RSA cryptosystem, including attacks? Nevermind that, how could a third year in Computer Science ask someone about such basic concepts? It's like asking a painter if he knows what is a chevalet. <br />
<br />
I slept with a headache, and I woke up with it. <br />
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<b>8th day, Friday</b><br />
<br />
Today was a better day - firstly because I finally found the schedule for Logic Programming and secondly because I started doing tutorials for Processing. It even has OpenGL. I'm wondering how the GUI will come up for the BA paper & application, using Processing and Java but I am looking forward to it. I think I'll start making the designs after I figure out the RDFa and the Ontology parts.<br />
<br />
In the evening, we went out (we all do it in threes) and met with Linah, a Flemish girl that lives in Belgium and was born in Africa (she told me that people living in Flanders hate French and consider themselves Dutch). It was fun to see the town at night time (teeming with people).<br />
<br />
PS (#1): We're known around the campus as the blonde, the redhead and the brunette Erasmus students, me incidentally being the blonde, Anca the redhead and Oana the brunette. That is indeed something I would like recognition for, I bet everyone back home envies me.<br />
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PS (#2): Sometimes at the TV they show gypsies that claim they're Romanian and recount how vile the Romanian government is, how they don't receive any help (and money for free like they do in Spain) - "Vivimos aqui sub pod", "Nostra casa - ne-am carat-o cu roaba - patru cinco", "Nimeni nu s-ar intoarce in Romania de buna voie" ("Nobody would willingly come back in Romania").<br />
<br />
I am very tolerant, but how can I agree with a minority that slanders my country everywhere and compromises it internationally beyond any hope of redemption? When in Romania, most of them say they're not Romanian - they don't have a sense of belonging to Romanian culture - they're Roma. I wish my country were not slandered, and foreigners wouldn't confuse Romanians for Roma gypsies.<br />
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PS (#3): Oana calls every Spanish person "Rodriguez". How was the Artificial Intelligence teacher called? Rodriguez. How was the guy to your left called? Rodriguez. How is the landlord called? Rodriguez. And she takes a photo of every single God damned graffiti :) .Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-53716242608676968332010-09-29T14:32:00.000-07:002010-09-30T04:37:09.147-07:00The rains (girls) in Spain stay mainly on the plains (in house, cleaning)<b>5th day Tuesday</b><br />
<br />
Yesterday school began, at least officially. I, Anca and Oana managed to attend only one lecture, Artificial Intelligence. The second lecture *would have* been Multimedia Systems, if it weren't for us running like crazy people around the campus, searching for the classroom. The timetable changed, and we didn't know. Go figure.<br />
<br />
First of all, Artificial Intelligence was fairly well understood - about 50% which is more than i can ask right now - and the teacher seemed very nice and open to dialogue with the students. There were few girls, but as it goes in computer science, each "asignatura" or subject is frequented by a trendy crowd that consists of 85% boys and 15% girls. <br />
<br />
At the final of the lecture, we asked the teacher (in Spanglish) whether we could hand in the projects in English. He said (in Spanglish) that we should be able to learn Spanish until the Convocatorias (final exams). That oughta make it clear for us. <br />
<br />
Afterwards we went to AI (Artificial Intelligence) laboratory but the room was empty. Only today did we find out that in the first week there are no laboratories because the plataforma no es lista (the faculty's working platform is not configured yet).<br />
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In the afternoon we went to apartment-hunt, to see if we could find something cheaper and newer - we didn't so we decided to make Calle Artemisa our permanent (squeeky clean) home for the next 4.7 months.<br />
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<b>6th day Wednesday</b><br />
<br />
We had to call Mr. Julio (he always seems to have the same shirt when coming round) to fix stuff in the apartment. Because Dan left today (he returned home in Valencia), we received a strict 101 regarding the gas recipients (the Spanish call them "bombones"), how to change a lightbulb - how many Erasmus student girls do you need to change a lightbulb ? (ha, ha.) - and if we have any question/problem at all, we can call the old man night and day. Hm, that didn't sound right.<br />
<br />
School-wise: after I went to User Interface Design, and Oana and Anca went to New Programming Technologies (successfully managed to obtain msn and mail from Spanish girl in class) - and Dan left - what did you think we did (three 21-aged girls, alone in an apartment)?<br />
<br />
We cleaned the hell out of it. Again.<br />
<br />
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At the end of the day (two hours ago) Oana and I went jogging and mine-field testing - we returned safely therefore we hope that jogging will be a habit. We drank a tea, we blogged a bit...good night.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-27656452855805423932010-09-28T05:26:00.000-07:002010-09-28T05:32:42.943-07:00Alhambra and Arab culture<b>3rd day </b><br />
<br />
Today is Sunday (I'm having problems blogging because on the TV, three very enthusiastic persons sing time and again a stupid song "Spaghetti y tortilla! Tortilla voy a hacer!"). One however could make right guesses whether it is a weekday or a weekend judging by: how late people get up (window shutters open, el barrio fills with all sorts of food fragrances), how many empty beer cans are on the streets (our area is quite quiet though) and how people gather around the churches starting with 13 o'clock (there are services earlier, but few people go). <br />
<br />
Dan, Anca, Oana and I went to a nearby Catholic church (I wanted to find one so that I could maintain the habit) and we stayed the entire service. It lasted less than back at home - only 45 minutes. Their choir (adolescents) had about 6 guitars (many guitars, many schools of flamenco, flamenco dresses and shows..., guitar courses and shows...in Andalucia especially) and were very huggy-huggy and kissy-kissy. After the service ended, we decided to go to the Banos Arabes de Albaicin and Alfar Romano de Cartuja - Arab Baths. We searched a lot, but the GPS (such a nice lady "Gira a la izquierda. Entonces, gira a la derecha.") - took us to the Emergency Hospital and to the Granada prison. Very nice. We gave up on the whole idea and we came home and ate a bit before going out again, by foot, in Granada.<br />
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That was a very helpful experience, since we have to manage alone. We walked, we saw the main avenues, the tiendas - stores - the streets were teeming with baby buggies, moms, young people and old people, foreigners. By 9 o'clock, we barely had space to move throughout the crowds! <br />
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We were lucky, we dropped into a fiesta - some sort of march of the town officials - much like "Sfanta Paraschiva" in Iasi. The crowds and the lights made it seem like an Ibiza look-alike. After all, Granada has *many* foreigners. The area of Andalucia in general has a tourism-oriented economy and it offers the necessary "panem et circum".<br />
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<b>4th day</b> <br />
<br />
Getting up at 7 o'clock is nearly impossible when everyone around you gets up at at least 9. We had to go to the Extranjeria (Bureau of Immigration and Foreign Affaires) to make a residence card.<br />
<br />
You need a residence card (for limited or permanent stay) to be able to make an account at a bank in Spain, to rent something and to be given the so-called N.I.E - an id given to foreigners (existence is greatly improved and you're able to move more freely). We went an hour earlier but it still wasn't enough - the queue was endless. It advanced fast. We were given numbers of order to be called in(they should implement this system in Romania...) and when the panel in the waiting room displayed it, we went there only to be annouced that the "lines" didn't work. The phone or something. The nice lady gave us a special number of order for tomorrow so that we could get immediately in and solve our issue. I hope it'll be okay.<br />
<br />
Afterwards, from 14 to 20 we went to Alhambra. We explored every nook and cranny. Almost. But we saw everything that we couldn't two days ago, now that we had a pass everywhere. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6oSqV3zUE7eC6MFZHPYwg7Y-i6rALGMXj0hyphenhypheneVarPR-RfAxtbaBgV9khPTTkRCNodyrzagr1xzDp_15vkas1jb0rfAvl3OsyCLRgpQaCXtvu83gVY-rtrM5fRGXDce0dYF_KWRwBfGgS/s1600/100_1460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6oSqV3zUE7eC6MFZHPYwg7Y-i6rALGMXj0hyphenhypheneVarPR-RfAxtbaBgV9khPTTkRCNodyrzagr1xzDp_15vkas1jb0rfAvl3OsyCLRgpQaCXtvu83gVY-rtrM5fRGXDce0dYF_KWRwBfGgS/s320/100_1460.JPG" width="320" /></a>Arab culture in all its splendour - the gardens, the ingenious irigation systems that made a sky-high tuya grow out of infertile terra rossa, 400m high, in the palace premises...the intricate etchings in the walls and the secret passages. <br />
We were programmed to visit "El Palacio de Nazaries" (the main location) at 19:00 (if you are late, you can't go in, and you are llowed to stay and visit only an hour). Therefore, from 14 until 19, we visited the Generalife area with its gardens and its towers.<br />
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Once perched high up, Albaicin - the neighbourhood that was at the feet of the Alhambra palace - appeared as a set of inordinate, irregular white and deep-green dots (houses and trees). Alhambra palace is a town by itself by the way.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_UeRHed73zeN1OEu4PM5NyycckKUw-8SD9sgsHb_Kul2lucqkAqFUHnAszIJRg-63aoR1vhSjOarDqDo9P23B40OAW-91ruuF9DwlGy32ApziwYOCjUK0pMHIlsOP9gut2Ay-FUh7SyF/s1600/100_1372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_UeRHed73zeN1OEu4PM5NyycckKUw-8SD9sgsHb_Kul2lucqkAqFUHnAszIJRg-63aoR1vhSjOarDqDo9P23B40OAW-91ruuF9DwlGy32ApziwYOCjUK0pMHIlsOP9gut2Ay-FUh7SyF/s320/100_1372.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So much patience, so much endurance and quiet beauty. My feet hurt, but the day is unforgettable. <br />
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School starts tomorrow.Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1279956089529064577.post-21561307447352458652010-09-25T03:15:00.000-07:002010-09-26T08:59:53.229-07:00Granada, ready set go.On the bearings of a skull-threshing headache, I am keeping now my promise that I would blog every two days about my life in Granada as an Erasmus student.<br />
<b><br />
The journey from Iasi to Granada:</b><br />
<br />
Two days ago, on the 23rd of September, I, Anca and Oana have said our goodbies to our parents, boyfriends, colleagues, work colleagues, grandmoms, pets (well, you got the idea) and left for Bucharest. We traveled by car, with Anca's very kind and really-speedy-driving brother and by 7, we arrived at the Bucuresti Baneasa Airport. We checked in our luggage, waited for a good chunk of 3 hours' time because Blueair had <quote>serious problems: "The flight will be delayed <strike>a lot</strike> because there are operational problems.</quote>" It took 4.5 hours to get us in Malaga. No surprise there. <br />
<b><br />
1st day</b><br />
<br />
Again, due to Anca's kinsmen - namely her cousin, Dan - we had a ride from Malaga airport to Granada, and straight to our apartment there (he also helped us find it and pay the rent a month in advance). He also is a terrific guide - we (the 3 happy girls - no pun intended - we all have "Happy movil" phone cards and we have each other's number under the name of Irina Happy, Anca Happy and Oana Happy) are wondering how we'll manage when he goes back to Valencia.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflaq6nBCvUIsnM_R3PlZEkv9DeGnX-pQrzMHGdRHD-PCGzVrRQ8KJv8VSs0yIjYH7mrkXupQFgyLNR4ibXV9-7R6HetsHKU1VVJe9n0pwTlBnHIl4WJMtHimTLzvHjOqbzhom39c3xbn1/s1600/HPIM4229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflaq6nBCvUIsnM_R3PlZEkv9DeGnX-pQrzMHGdRHD-PCGzVrRQ8KJv8VSs0yIjYH7mrkXupQFgyLNR4ibXV9-7R6HetsHKU1VVJe9n0pwTlBnHIl4WJMtHimTLzvHjOqbzhom39c3xbn1/s320/HPIM4229.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Already the 24th, really tired, we went directly to the Faculty of Computer Science (as it was already morning when we got settled in) to fix issues regarding documents. We also noticed that in Romania, the streets teem with activity at 7-8 o'clock whereas here people start the day at 9 o'clock.<br />
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We talked to the professor that was in charge of the Erasmus students at the Computer Science faculty and he told us to go and submit the documents to the Bureau of International Affaires. The conversation went like this: "The documents you must send are...it´s such a shame you could not make it in time to the Erasmus meeting - the address is...if only you could have attended the Erasmus meeting. The classes start...but you didn´t go to the Erasmus meeting" (you get the drift). <br />
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We went there, did our job (we'll receive an Erasmus card in a week or ten days with which we'll be able to matriculate in the faculty and have a lot of rights and freebies) and visited a bit the downtown of Granada (we live in the Aynadamar campus which is 4,5 km far from the dowtown). (excessive use of parantheses, right?)<br />
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Our sleep need went naturally out the window and we went shopping. Seeing as the apartment in which we live now - 3 simple rooms plus the big room in the middle where we eat, watch tv etc. - was as dirty as it can be, we had to buy all sorts of solutions to disinfect first, and then clean literally everything. As a Romanian saying goes, we don't want to catch brontosaurs or some awful disease.<br />
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We bought cleaning and bath related products, 3 sorts of cereals and food. Everything added up to the trifle sum of 60 euros. And we worried that we were buying too much. <br />
<br />
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Sleep was so deep.<br />
<b><br />
2nd day</b><br />
<br />
Today is Saturday and we (3 happy girls plus Anca's cousin) slept till late of course (curiously enough I didn't). Actually when I opened my eyes and saw the surroundings, I panicked and wondered where the hell I was. I must have had a dream about being back at home. <br />
<br />
We had a general cleaning today. We're thinking of changing the apartment because the plumming, appliances and furniture are noticeably ancient and all sorts of mishaps happen.But we still cannot live in dirt, no matter how small the timespan is. Medical gloves and chloride came in really handy, just as a sidenote.<br />
<br />
We rewarded ourselves with breakfast (I usually didn't eat breakfast but I'll try here to change my bad habits) and went to visit Alhambra and the sea.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3trkhpb4Vv6RsyY_VDGOPg-GU9IwGf1kY65mGk7rJPzzYsCeyqP8wRxA0aCwEa8gu8ycM-t5FQ2hoC0XtBj79UzabQVo9nAcypk-dCtSco52hbjyiTy2dsgU2aiNGJGwQL6q30P80xU2/s1600/HPIM4234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3trkhpb4Vv6RsyY_VDGOPg-GU9IwGf1kY65mGk7rJPzzYsCeyqP8wRxA0aCwEa8gu8ycM-t5FQ2hoC0XtBj79UzabQVo9nAcypk-dCtSco52hbjyiTy2dsgU2aiNGJGwQL6q30P80xU2/s320/HPIM4234.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We didn't manage to enter the castle of Alhambra but we went around it and visited the grounds and the gardens. Everything transpired Arab sageness and motifs. A thing that made me a bit thoughtful was the fact that Alhambra, although build by Arabs before the 1600s, was superficially decorated with ill-fitting Christian signs. I'm a devout Catholic but crosses etched and embossed everywhere on Alhambra seemed like a crusade in speed-mode.<br />
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I saw (I have to get used to the sight anyway) daphne, orange, banana, fig, date and olive trees - all real life. The vegetation in Granada is Mediterranean by all accounts. The earth is red in many places, the renouned terra-rossa I learned about at Geography classes. We couldn't get in the castle but we made today a reservation for Monday at 2pm.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNHtinsOvwv7IU5WBY9cXBq-p7FHoRfMlB_AOoUcT06Nin4DSSHfanbRSm-JmIqwB-Rz-YSE9B3QM0VPBkEpMIGSW1ianUU9eBbalWlTXxfsJdy6_uPejHmw-fQwHRqALjWErkpQkXVur/s1600/HPIM4311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNHtinsOvwv7IU5WBY9cXBq-p7FHoRfMlB_AOoUcT06Nin4DSSHfanbRSm-JmIqwB-Rz-YSE9B3QM0VPBkEpMIGSW1ianUU9eBbalWlTXxfsJdy6_uPejHmw-fQwHRqALjWErkpQkXVur/s320/HPIM4311.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We went afterwards to the seaside, driving with a splendid view of snow-capped Sierra Nevada on the left side (1h distance). The Mediterranean sea is blue, cobalt blue and angry. I don't think it needs other epithets. Beautiful and breathtaking seem somehow redundant... The rocks and the cliffs that milestoned the beach made it even more imposing, if that were possible. <br />
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I played in the sea for a while not having the courage to change in a swimsuit - it is September after all - and challenged the waves to shatter nearer and nearer to my legs. And waist ocasionally. As it was the second time I ever saw the sea - I saw it first time last year, in England, the Sea of North namely - I took advantage of the occasion to marvel that the sea is salty. I tasted it, of course.<br />
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Back home, I put all my clothes and belongings in the wardrobe and drawers. There, that ought to make it more permanent. It's 3AM and my skull-threshing headache tell me that I have to sleep if I want to go to the church tomorrow and find a pool and swim. Down in T-3, T-2, T-1...Irina Magdicihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08331790691549293038noreply@blogger.com1