Lessons learned from a month abroad....

Well folks, its finally time for me to make the trek home. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, "wow, its already been a month! That went fast." But spare me, this month did NOT go fast for me. Anyway, I have learned and gained and grown so much in the past four weeks.

Here are some of my take home points:

• I love my husband. I did not doubt this when I left. Considering we had only been married two months when I left, I think we would have had some problems if I had doubted it. But I guess what they say is true, distance makes the heart grow fonder.
  
• I love my cat. I missed my cat a ton, more than I thought I could miss an animal, and I'm scared she won't care that I return, and that she didn't miss me.
• I could move out of the United States for a while, and in fact, being here makes me want to move else where for a year or two, but there are conditions:

1. Husband must come (and he says that it therefore must be an English speaking nation, although I think if I moved to Spain or somewhere where at least the alphabet is similar, I could learn the language.)
2. Cat must come (and I've already looked into this, its possible)
3. Everyone at home must get Skype and a camera for their computer.
4. People must send me Trader Joe's unsalted peanut butter frequently, along with some trail mix and packed brown sugar.
5. Family and friends must visit. Heck, if we lived in England or Ireland or Australia, something tells me that people would be more willing to come then to visit us in Sac-town. Somehow, Sac-town has no appeal. Oh well, your loss on that one.

• I am smart and hard-working. I had lost my pizazz back in the states the last few months. I was easily distracted at work and school and was in a rut. I was starting to think I wasn't cut out to be a PhD student. But, now, I feel better, I have my confidence back! Yeah.
• A month is too long to not see my husband. We decided three weeks is our new maximum. Three weeks is long. But, I really start missing home after 10 days, and if its only going to be 21 days, after 10 days, I'm half way there. With a month, after 10 days, I still have 5 days until my trip is 1/2 over. Ugh, no good. Hopefully, if I have to go away for a month again, John can at least come out at the end, like I did after his adventure in Austria, which brings me to my next point:
• No more solo international adventures. Jeez, lets visit someplace new together!! We've been to Ireland together, and we're heading to Jamaica next month. But John has been to Austria and Italy without me, and I've been to Spain without him.

Thats all for now. Keep posted for more recaps upon my return... and thanks for tuning in.
Love, Laura

More pics...

This is a penguin, he is the mascot for a popular beer, and I think he's cute!




Another view of the sunrise:

The doorway to somebody's beautiful garden:

This street is normally jam-packed with people, bright colors, etc. All the doors you see are shops, but that early Saturday morning, the street was empty.

Not sure if I've mentioned the graffiti here. Its everywhere! Some of it is artistic and interesting, like in this pic, but some of it is not. There does not seem to be any effort to combat graffiti here.

Some pics from town

I wanted to share a few more pictures with you that I've snapped during my time here. . . Enjoy!

Outdoor spice and tea market:

Street accordian players are popular. I was behind this old man one early Saturday morning and snuck a pic, I really like it.

I am getting used to the "cafe con leche". Here I am enjoying a cup, and a tostada.

There are lots of dogs roaming the streets. Here is one that found some leftover pizza. He didn't mind having his picture taken!

Sunrise over Granada. I got up *early* (7am, not so early for me) Saturday morning and walked to watch the sun-rise. That morning was probably my favorite few hours in Granada. The streets were empty, no shops were open. It was quiet and serene and breath-taking.

When you come back down

If you were at my wedding, the following lyrics should sound vaguely familiar, if the don't, then you probably weren't paying attention during my sister's MOH toast. Anyway, this song came on my iPod yesterday, made me think about my husband, how lucky I am to have him, and, right there on the bus, made me tear up (and now even as I type this, I am tearing up) Here are the lyrics:

When you Come Back Down
Nickel Creek

You got to leave me now, you got to go alone
You got to chase a dream, one that's all your own
Before it slips away
When you're flyin' high, take my heart along
I'll be the harmony to every lonely song
That you learn to play

When you're soarin' through the air
I'll be your solid ground
Take every chance you dare
I'll still be there
When you come back down
When you come back down

I'll keep lookin' up, awaitin' your return
My greatest fear will be that you will crash and burn
And I won't feel your fire
I'll be the other hand that always holds the line
Connectin' in between your sweet heart and mine.
I'm strung out on that wire.

And I'll be on the other end, To hear you when you call
Angel you were born to fly, If you get too high
I'll catch you when you fall
I'll catch you when you fall

Your memory's the sunshine every new day brings
I know the sky is calling
Angel, let me help you with your wings

When you're soarin' through the air
I'll be your solid ground
Take every change you dare.

I'll still be there
When you come back down.

Here's the thing, getting my PhD has been my dream for as long as John and I have been together. And through all the ups and downs and challenges, John has supported me, and kept my focus on the end goal. Coming to Spain was helping me chase my dream, and as difficult as it was for him to do so, John kept a smile on his face as I got excited and scared about this adventure. He kept reassuring me that even though it would be difficult to be so far away, it was better for me and for US for me to come, and as I end my trip, I see that he was right. I have come so far towards my dream in the last month. I have excitement and energy for my project again, and for my abilities to complete the project. As hard as it has been to be in this foreign land, knowing that someone, someplace was thinking of me, missing every part of me, from my silly dances in the kitchen to the way I leave all the lights on in the house, kept me going, kept me working. When I was having fun here, I could only think how excited I was to tell John about my experience. When I was sad, I longed to have John with me, or at least, to talk to him. When I got excited, John did too, and when I was sad and lonely, John was too. I can only hope that I have provided John as much support towards his dreams as he has towards mine.

I think if the cat could, she would sing a similar song to me...

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a model!!

I have been working pretty hard the last few days. Francisco finally had some time to spend with me this week, I met with him Monday, Wednesday and today. Each time, he gave me quite a few tasks to complete to try to get things running.

As I've mentioned before, there was already a hydrodynamic with water temperature model written. Task 1 has been getting that model running for a twelve day simulation in August 2004. Initial results are so-so. The good news is the model runs, the bad news is it runs too hot! Here are some pictures to help you (and me) understand a little bit better. The first is a shot of the surface water temperature at the start of 12 day run. Ignore the date on the top of the figure, its wrong. It should be 8/7/04. I'll fix it later. Anyway, this figure shows a few things. First, you can see the domain I'm modeling! Isn't it pretty? Do you recognize this as the San Joaquin River and Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel? Maybe not. But, for those of you who may be familiar with Stockton (Katie, thats you!). All the way to the right of the picture, in the top corner, that's the Weber Point area. And on the bottom right, thats the San Joaquin River. My sister Katie used to live just to the right of this picture. The island area, between x = 300 and x = 500 is Rough and Ready Island. Anyway, in this snapshot, the surface temperature is the same everywhere. We did this on purpose. To start the model, we used an initial condition of 24.15 oC. This helps stabilize the model and keep the numbers out of control.

The next picture shows the surface water temperature 12 days (or 288 hours) later. You can see, things have changed, and the surface water temperature is no longer constant throughout the whole domain. Temperature can be added to the system two ways, the first is through the boundaries. We have four boundaries in our model. A boundary is basically a spot where we decide to end the model, but we still want stuff to happen at that spot, so we tell the model the information for that location. So, water from the bay (that boundary is the one to the left of the domain) and water from the San Joaquin River (bottom right of figure) bring into the domain heat. The second, and much more important source of heat is the exchange with the atmosphere. The sun heats up the water, wind can cause evaporation which cools the water, for example.

So, at least our model is doing something! It heats up and cools down each day. But, as the next plot shows, our model results don't quite resemble what we saw when we did our field work. Bummer. This plot is only for a 30 hour segment because that's the length of time we did observations for. But, you can clearly see that our model is too warm! There are a number of explanations for this. So, we're searching for the correct one. Right now we think our heat fluxes are too high. We estimate the effect the atmosphere and weather has on the temperature by using data collected on farms throughout California. Sometimes these are good estimates for lake and river areas, sometimes they are not. We have to try and explain why the data might not be appropriate for our system and what 'manipulations' we can make to the data to get the model to match our observations. Fun times.

By the way, creating these plots is a 2-step process. The first is using Fortran to run my model, the 2nd is using a program called Matlab to create the plots. My model runs for 6 hours, then I can spend a few minutes creating these plots to see the results. Often, I leave two or three models running over night and come back and check the results.

While the hydrodynamic model runs, I have been working on getting MY water quality model running, and, today, I have been successful. I've been working towards this for three years, and I finally got all my equations together, compiled in Fortran and off it runs!!! Its a big step towards the end of my research. It feels great, but I'm, exhausted after a few days of chasing down bugs and fixes. . .
anyway, these next pics probably only excite me, but they are screenshots of my code and my model running. sweet!


And with that, I head to the bus. . . . 7 more days of work left here.

I've been tagged

So there's this game of tag going around in the blogging world and I've been tagged by Holly.. another CA girl living abroad, in Australia. Holly and were chatting and discovered that we both lived in Playa del Rey, just a few block from each other for a year or so. And we found each other on-line, thousands of miles apart. amazing!

Here are the rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I was a NCAA college athlete I wanted to play water polo, but the jerk coach at LMU told me on the phone that my SAT scores were probably not high enough to get into LMU. Yeah, right. Anyway, I didn't play water polo. The swim coach asked me to swim, but my freshmen year there was no pool on campus, and I really wanted to stay an engineering major, but classes and practices conflicted. So, I joined the crew team. I did it for 1.5 years, it was fun and hard and well worth it. (oh, and by the way, the jerk water polo coach was obviously mistaken, not only did I get into LMU, I gradated with the number 2 GPA of all people graduating in may 2003. so, take that jerk coach)

2. While we're talking about sports, I was kicked off the water polo team my senior year of high school. It was a different jerk coach's fault. I picked having fun and being in the Bellarmine fashion show instead of playing in one game. I would have missed one game, and he made me pick. I think it was probably because there was two of us that had to make the decision. Whatever, I don't regret it for a second.

3. I once saw Jessica Simpson's underwear, while it was on her. Let me explain. I was flying from LA to Detroit, Michigan for a Nerd, I mean Tau Beta Pi Convection. (Tau Beta Pi is the engineering honor society, so i guess nerd convention sums it up). Anyway, I was walking along in the terminal, and had to use the bathroom, so I went into the ladies room. This pretty good looking blond was in front of me. We both entered stalls at the same time, and exited at the same time. I thought she might be an OC girl, she was dressed in a Juicy sweat-suite and was carrying a rather nice Coach carry-on bag, but that is not terribly uncommon in LAX. Anyway, we walked out of the bathroom at the same time as well, she was a few steps in front of me. Her pants were low and her thong was sticking out. At this point, I did not know it was Jessica Simpson, this was before she was terribly popular. It was even before she was married to Nick Lachey. Anyway, I was this close to telling this poor girl her underwear was showing. We ended up at the same gate, sitting back to back in some airport seats. It was at this time that I thought this girl might be famous, because she was talking to some kind of personal assistant who was giving her the run down on her time in Detroit. Later, when I boarded the plane, the blond was in first class and the assistant was in coach. When we landed, some other girls asked her for her autograph. But, I saw Jessica Simpson's underwear, and thats all that matters!

4. I still have the stuffed animal I carried around with me as a kid. He is a stuffed rat, and his name is "Doggy". He stays under my pillow, John doesn't mind so much. Oh, and he is not so much a stuffed animal anymore as just a rag. When I was young, I used to wet the 'stuffed animal' and put him in the freezer during the day so he would be cold at night. I loved the feeling of his cold ears and tail and arms on my face. I'm a nut case, what can I say?

5. I somehow convinced my allergic to cats husband to get a cat. I'm still trying to figure out how. But, sometime along the way, John fell in love with the cat, so its all good in the end, at least for now while we live in an all hardwood house.

6. I don't put lids on very tight, to anything. I also leave zippers open to purses and wallets. This had led to many messes and one stolen/missing wallet. I know I don't tighten lids, but I still shake the OJ vigorously or pick up the salt container by the not tightened lid. You think I would learn, but I haven't. I'm sure this habit annoys my husband, heck, it annoys me!


I'm tagging Faith, Amy, Ellen, Annie, John and Nancy

Reasons to miss my home. . .

The cat obviously is falling madly, deeply in love with my husband. Boba does not sit nicely on my lap, ever. Yet look, John sent me this picture of himself and the cat snuggling on the couch. I guess I should be glad that the cat can't cook for John, or go grocery shopping, he might ask me to stay in Spain!



But, look, John bought me apple cider! He said he would wait until I got home to drink it. He is also refraining from watching any of the new episodes of The Amazing Race until I get back, it must be love. Oh, and he also downloads all my shows from our tivos (yes, plural - thanks Joe and Beth) to our hard drive, so when I get back I will have a month's worth of all the fabulous shows to catch up on. (trust me, I've tried watching them on-line but the sites block IP addresses from over-seas!)

Diamonds are a girls best friend. ? . . ?

perhaps only in the United States?

There was a time a few years ago when I really wanted to be engaged that I looked at every woman's left hand for a glimpse at a diamond. In the states, a diamond means engagement. If I saw another ring, I knew she was already married. I could not gauge the quality of the diamond, but still a diamond to me signified security and love. For a while, I wanted one and wanted on bad. Eventually, Johnny got me one, a beautiful diamond. A cut not many people have and a unique band. Not big, not small, perfect for me, perfect for John, perfect for us. I wear my diamond with pride, but its not uncommon in the states to see lots of diamonds every day. Not just on fingers, but in ears and around necks.

I have not seen any diamonds here, except on my own hand. It is very odd to me. First, married people wear their rings on their right hand. People do get engaged here, and a ring is involved, sometimes (so I've been told) but it is never a diamond ring. The engagement ring goes on the left hand, and the wedding ring on the right. Do you thing the diamond (well diamonds really b/c my wedding band has sparkley little diamonds too!) labels me as American? Do people even notice it? When I stand in the bus, my left hand grasped around a pole, do people see it? Its a weird feeling. I have not even seen diamond earrings or necklaces.

So many cultural difference. . . so little time. This one I just had to write about because its been on my mind for a few days. I've been hunting for diamonds!

Christmas Season has begun. . .

In the US, it seems that Christmas season really starts just after Thanksgiving. There is no Thanksgiving here. But, I did notice that the stores (El Corte Ingles, for example) has lots of Christmas goodies. Chocolates, cookies, etc. I'll probably buy a few just to be safe! So maybe its November that marks the start?

I'm ready, though, to see what makes me warm and Christmas-y inside, the red starbucks cups and santa on the coke cans (which my sister Gina informed me is available now). I'm ready to drink Gingerbread Lattes (GBLs for short - John and I are nerds, we use acronyms as often as possible!) and hot apple cider. John was nice enough to stock up on cider at Trader Joes yesterday! Maybe I'll even get lucky and be greeted as I get off the plane with a big old mug of hot apple cider. yummy!

Hey, a girl can dream.

The Sun Fired My Dermis!!

And other tales from my weekend. . . .

The title of today's blog is a direct quote from a violin player I met this weekend. On Saturday, I accompanied my roommate Jessica to a show at the Irish pub in Granada. Jessica is a musician, she plays the cello and is trying to get into the conservatory here. Anyway, she met this English singer/songwriter/guitarist at a yoga class, they started talking. He is thinking of adding cello to his music, so they have been practicing together. He was playing a show at Hannigan & Sons, and I went. I really liked the music, kind of like one of my favorite bands back home, Nickel Creek. It was folk type music. The lyrics were great too.

After the show, which ended at 2am, oh how I longed for my bed, we went with the singer, Darren and his violin player to get some tea at a tea house. Darren is from England but has lived in Spain for about ten years, so he speaks Spanish. Darren asked his violin player (can't remember his name) to talk in English since I don't speak a word of Spanish. He obliged, although his English was not the best, but better than my Spanish. It is fun for me to listen to people translate Spanish into English. Sometimes they make up words or use the literal translation, which does not always work, although I usually get the point. Anyway, the violin player was trying to explain, I think, that he got a sun-burn. But, instead he said that the sun fired his dermis. Really. It was amusing, and luckily I was not the only one laughing. We corrected him, but I liked it. I'm sure if I try to translate what I think in English into Spanish, it will be equally as amusing.

Also at the show, the percussion player smoked a joint while playing. Yes, in a bar you can smoke, and apparently you can smoke marijuana. Ugh, how I long for CB Hennegans in Los Gatos or Katie Blooms in Campbell or Streets of London in Sac-town where I can get one of twenty different beers and not worry about smelling like smoke at the end of the night.

Here is the crazy percussionist smoking is joing while playing:

This is me and Jessica in the bus on the way to the concert. Her hands are orange because she died Andrea's hair (the hair of Andrea) with henna earlier in the day. Never heard of that, but its popular here.

A few comforts from home

Last night, I made quesadillas and black beans. For some reason, my roomates loved them. They had never seen black beans. They certainly had never eaten quesadillas. They were good, I was sorry I had to share. Oh well.

Today, while shopping, I am ashamed to say that I stopped and got french fries at Burger King. The number one reason I wanted to go into Burger King was because I suspected they had soda from a fountain. They did!! This made me oh so happy. In my opinion, soda tastes best from a fountain. Even if it was "Coca-Cola Light" and not "Diet Coke", it was good. The fries were OK, almost as good as home.

Then, just a few minutes later, I passed a place that sells Ben & Jerrys, and, they had my favorite, Phish Food. So, of course, I got some. Its truly amazing how something as simple as soda from a fountain or chocolate ice cream with chocolate fish can make me so happy.

I still wish I had someone to share these moments with. The happy moments are a bit subdued without someone who understands that Diet Coke from a fountain kicks butt or that Phish Food ice cream makes me dance with glee. I think if John or anybody I know well was here with me, I would have done a little dance when I discovered the Phish Food Ice Cream, but alone, I think that would just make me look crazy.

Shopping and fashion in Granada.

I attempted to go shopping last night, and again this morning. I am empty handed. But, I have some observations on shopping and the fashions that are "in" right now in Spain.

• Shopping here is INSANE! Granted, I picked Friday night and Saturday to go shopping, two of the busiest times. This morning was not bad. But, last night, wow. I'm happy shopping in the US is not the same. First, the stores are smaller with less space and more stuff. Second, if somebody looks at a sweater or a shirt that was folded nicely on a table, they don't bother to attempt to refold it. There were tables just filled with piles of sweaters/shirts. Also, if somebody took a jacket or sweater off a hanger to try it on and did not like it, they threw it on the table or just back on the rack, without re-hanging it. This is absurd to me. You took it off the hanger, put it back on! You un-folded the sweater, attempt to re-fold it! Ridiculous. So, last night, I got discouraged, and started getting hungry (just ask John, this is NOT a good combo for Laura) I went home empty-handed. The first hour or so this morning was much better, and I tried a few things on, but did not buy anything. Oh well.
• Jackets are hot right now. I will probably purchase a coat or two before I come home. They are nice, and pretty cheap.
• Sweaters are everywhere, especially long sweaters and sweater dresses. I kind of like them.
• Boots are popular, all types of boots. Mostly they are worn on the outside of the shoe, many go up to the knee. Also, lots of rain boots, I'll try to buy some, but shoe shopping is even more foreign than clothes shopping. Here's why: stores have huge window displays. So, I see shoes in the window displays that I think are cute. Problem is, those shoes are only displayed in window. Different shoes are displayed inside. I have not figured out how I will communicate which shoes I like and would like to try on. hmmm.....
• Everyone wears tights. Well, all the women at least. So, the short shorts and bermuda length shorts and mini-skirts that they wore all summer, they continue to wear, with stripped or solid colored tights. I kinda like it. Maybe its also popular back home?
• Color is everywhere. I was told I should plan to wear lots of black and neutral colors. This is a safe bet, but is no longer the fashion here. The stores have bright colors, on the streets there are bright colors. The crazy thing is people don't just wear one brightly colored item. Lets say I wanted to wear red today. In Spain, i would wear red shoes, red belt, wear red jacket and carry my red purse. Red over-load. Back home, I think just one, maybe two of the red items would be worn at the same time.
  
• Girls wear baggy pants and their underwear shows. Not thongs, though, underwear. Odd.
• I have seen more than a handful of "genie" pants on girls. These genie pants remind me a bit of hammer pants, but capri length instead of long. The genie pants have a crotch that goes past the knee, and they come in many fabrics, including denim. Yes, denim genie pants, hot!

I want my kitchen back!

I have been married for almost three months. For our wedding, and just after our wedding, we got loads of fabulous gifts, most of them were for the kitchen. I bought a new, fabulous set of pots and pans, plus some Le Crueset pieces, plus amazing bake ware. And, of course, a KitchenAid, new towels, new plates and silverware and glasses and everything fabulous a foodie/chef could want.

For almost three weeks now, those amazing pieces, I suspect, have gone un-touched. John basically admittted to me he has been eating mostly frozen meals. I don't blame him, I'm a fabulous cook, any attempt he might have would fail in comparison. Actually, John's a good cook too, but without a dishwasher, cooking and cleaning for one is a pain. John will be much more appreciative of my cooking when I return, I'm sure. I'm already dreaming of all the things I will make when I get back: soups and stews and risottos and butternut squashes and muffins and breads and cookies.

I've cooked here a few times, including last night. But its just not the same. The ingredients are different, which makes me stick to the basics. For example, I was brave and bought some ground poultry last week. It was gross, not what I'm used to. I ate it, but I'll save meats until I get home. I bought some eggs this week, but I'm nervous to try them. Last night, my dinner was pretty good, basic, but good. Something I would make for John on a weeknight. I even took some pictures to prove that I cooked. And, yes, then I had to clean. I was thankful that the roommates took the holiday and went to the mountains. I had the house to myself for a few hours. The only thing missing on this Thursday night (in order of occurence at home, NOT importance!): my cat, Grey's Anatomy and Johnny.

Sigh, I am in countdown mode know. I only have to wake up on one more Friday in Spain. . . .

And now, pics from the kitchen:
cooking pasta with a tomato and zucchini sauce:


My ingredients and tools. I HAD to buy some red pepper. food here is blllaaaaannnnnnddddd


A self-portrait of me in the kitchen


Have I told you how amazing the olive oil is here?

A holiday in Spain

Yesterday, November 1st, was a holiday here in Spain. Holidays are like Sundays, which are eerie and deserted here in Spain. On a Sunday, in say, San Francisco or Los Angeles, or even *gasp* Sacramento, people are out. People go to malls and parks and wineries and grocery stores, we run errands, get our cars washed, go to movies, eat at our favorite restaurants, hit up farmer's markets, etc. Sundays are my favorite day (esp. in the fall when football is on!).

Sundays in Spain are a whole different story. Nothing is open on Sundays. No clothing shops, no grocery stores, no pharmacies, limited restaurants and cafes are even open. On Sundays, the streets and buses are empty, even parks are empty. The only place I can find open stuff and peopls on Sundays is in the city center, where all the tourists hang out. Yesterday felt like a Sunday, but it was Thursday, and a holiday. I have yet to find out where all the locals go on Sundays. Maybe they are just in their homes cooking and eating?

I celebrated the holiday by sleeping in. (I've been getting on the first bus at 7am to come talk to my husband each morning.) Then, I took an empty bus the city center and walked around a bit. I found some great stuff to buy and bring home. But I'll let you all be surprised. I found an open cafe and had not one, but two cups of coffee and a tostada. I read a book. I window shopped in anticipation of actual shopping that I hope to do today and tomorrow (before the shops are closed again on Sunday). I ended the afternoon with a little work.

Today, most people have extended their holiday, and the office is empty again, but at least shops are open! I'll keep you posted on my clothing and shoe purchases. .