Non Plus One

non plus one final from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

this is dripping of LA hipster... but whatever.  it's still cute

Carnaval de Cádiz

  
          Last Saturday muchos americanos and I ventured to Cádiz, (a city about an hour away) for Carnaval.  The largest Carnaval celebration in Europe!  We didn't quite know what we were in for, I just had the notion that it would be in between Halloween (in Madison) and Marti Gras (in New Orleans). It turned out to be just about that, add rowdy spaniards singing and dancing, subtract any use of public bathrooms, and multiply by the 9 (very long) hours we were there...and that would equate to Carnaval.  And obviously a resaca.

My friends and I kind of underestimated the costume effort for Carnaval.  We just headed to H&M and bought anything deemed "crazy" or "leopard" and called ourselves rock stars.  With my red lipstick it was probably deemed "baby cheetah prostitute" but whatever. 

Fortunately, the spaniards and most americans, ok just about everyone else, was more creative.  

The Mask(s).  Go 90's reference

Exhausted Sponge Bob, Tetris, Croc & Zebra Duo, Cash-4-Gold

Favorite Men in Drag:

Carnaval is fun but I think i prefer my Madison Halloween: I'm not lost, there's little to no public urination, staying up until 7am isn't mandatory and... no abundance of fake costume genitalia. (Seriously, does anybody know the deal with that? I think even saw a guy in a bee costume w/an extra appendage and it wasn't a stinger)

 

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.
brilliant.

the making of here

Listening to ___

rainy day music -- Nina Simone








she does better justice to these (first two) songs than the original artists

Gracias por las Felicidades!

so it happened...FINALLY

i am now 21

via My Parents Were Awesome

however, I'm in Spain, and therefore was legal/never carded in the last month.  a tad anticlimactic.

i have to say i was a little nostalgic for a Madison 21st birthday celebration - with friends who have been calling me "the baby" for what seems like forever. 

but - my host mother made me a delicious cake, and even sprang for a "2" and "1" candle (which everyone secretly wants, right?) and it helped my minuscule birthday woes go away.  

 

anywhoo...thank you all who wished me well on my birthday! sorry i have no entertaining over-the-top 21st tales for you, as i've been obnoxiously responsible lately.  but don't worry, Carnavale is this weekend in Cadiz ;)  (Spanish equivalent of a Madison Halloween.)

Weekend Trips in February

Next weekend: Carnival in Cádiz

via Ricardoo 

On to Granada,

Then Morocco!

via André Pipa

all of these plus beginning regular classes, a university class, and my birthday, this month is going to be a tornado.  submit Wizard of Oz reference here.

Man Gets Carried Across Manhattan by Strangers

...in an attempt to prove New Yorkers are nice
here

hilarious

Córdoba

This weekend I took a day trip to Córdoba with my program

The Mestiza had the most beautiful architecture I've ever seen

First we meandered around the gardens...

and found Ferdinand & Isabel and Christopher Columbus

...this tree with character

 

...and this laday

then entered the famous Mestiza

 

 

Sorry, architecture pics are always more boring second-hand but there were 

just so many spectacular sights

The place was huge!  It was built for a capacity of 30,000

...originally Muslim, then made Catholic (like most of Spain)

After the Mestiza we went wandering around the town...

There was a Medieval Festival that weekend

And along the way found Medieval torture tactics too!

Then unfortunately had to head home...