Cordoba!

After several days in Granada, it was time to pack up our incredible Chrysler PT Cruisers and head out of dodge. Pun absolutely intended, to the max. These cars have no pickup, which is very frustrating for our German (Huy) and Italian (George) drivers, but at least there's plenty of room for Lamberto and Matteo to take naps in the back seat.


The sun even came out for a while!
Pit Stop


On the way to Cordoba we decided to stop in a small town for a coffee, so we chose Espejo... mostly because it was one of the last towns left before Cordoba.

We were all really excited to see some sunshine.



Unfortunately, nothing was open. And I mean NOTHING. (Or as Matteo would say, Nating.) And there was no one under age 50 in the town. At one point Lamberto and I had this conversation:

Noelle: You know, this is one of those really beautiful little well-kept towns with friendly harmless old people during the day. But at night...

Lamberto: ... it's exactly the same.

Noelle: NO! It's full of zombies!

Lamberto has no imagination.

Anyway we finally arrived in Cordoba and, after quite a hairy parking attempt (the streets in Cordoba are very narrow and not made for big, ridiculous-looking American cars) we settled into our little hostel right next to the Mezquita. Oh yeah and the Mezquita is pretty amazing, by the way...






Only one night in Cordoba and we're off for Sevilla. Unfortunately during our one night it rained. Hard. But we did manage to watch the Munich / Milan Champions League match (the Italians were happy, the Germans were sad) and I coined a new international way of offending people: "fanculowski." High five!

Granada

Despite questionable weather (mostly rain with a few hours of sunshine here and there - sometimes just minutes, actually) the trip has been fun so far. Very low-key and relaxed, as I think all of us are recovering from the last month of studying and partying too much and sleeping too little. First few days were spent in Granada....

Granada by day

Granada by night
El Alhambra by night

The team in the cathedral

"My boys" outside the Capilla Real: Matteo, Marco, Huy, Lamberto, George

The boys by night in one of the small twisty streets of the Albaizin

Lamberto

At a "teteria" in the Albaizin: Huy & George

Marco

Lamberto
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, biatch!

And speaking of biatches... I'm delighted to see that some of our fabulous American terminology has made its way to the tiniest streets of Andalucia.

After several days in Granada, I was all Granada'd out and ready to move on to the next location: Cordoba!!!

Migration Fixation

Well kids, I'm off. Heading south. I've had enough of this rainy weather. Noelle needs a tan. Or at least a momentary glimpse of the sun. So I'm off to Granada in a few hours. On Monday, my road trip companions will arrive: Huy, George, Marco, Matteo, and Lamberto, and we'll do Sevilla, Cordoba, Salamanca, and Madrid. Huy has organized everything (right down to an excel spreadsheet - I love Germans) and thus the only thing I've done so far is book a flight and pack enough stuff to traipse around Spain for 2 weeks. The six of us will be in 2 cars and I will be responsible for... what else... making movies. Huy, similarly laptop-addicted, has booked us into places with free wifi, so hopefully I'll manage to get a few updates in. Or at least upload some photos.

And now I have to finish packing... leaving for the airport in 2 hours! Happy Easter.

Monsoons and MexiCrepes

Today was another attempt at pre-vacation productivity, and I guess I sort of succeeded. All failures I blame on the torrential downpour that consumed the day and prevented normal life (ie - not going outside for a run).

I woke up just in time to let in the handyman to fix my wall (the radiator fell off... why was something so heavy attached by just one bracket?) and while he was doing that I started busying myself with such exciting festivities as editing photos and backing up files. Oh la la!

Went to Abanis, Anil, & Mujib's place for an incredible Indian lunch, and not a moment too soon, because I was just thinking that lately my diet hasn't included nearly enough vegetables (unless you count barley and hops). The Indian meal prepared me somewhat for the full-on Indian-style monsoon that greeted me outside AGAIN when I headed home on the moto to meet Pierre. He had left some boxes full of stuff back in June and so while he went through them I went through my cases from the term. Always an adventure here at Calatrava. Of course, he picked up the boxes, only to leave his sweater. You see, the guy just doesn't want to leave. And who can blame him?

The evening was consumed with errands, Olympics prep, and ... cooking. Yes. Me. Noelle. I cooked. I waited a year and a half and purposely did it when Marco and George were away so they wouldn't know my secret, but Atsh made a video so I guess I might as well share it. Behold... the MexiCrepe.

Afternoon Delight

What to do when school ends? Party, of course! This weekend was a big one for birthdays, and we rounded out a rainy Sunday with a BBQ chez Gustavo, Keith, and Anders to celebrate Paul's 30th. It started raining about 2 hours into the festivities, and everyone went inside for about an hour, only to go back out in the rain for another 8 hours. Perhaps that's why I'm sick now....

The view from the terrace on Muntaner

Gustavo on the grill

George hardly able to contain himself
Mark presents Paul with his birthday gift

I found a soccer ball on a shelf and a nice little game ensued, until Chris headed it over the balcony and into the street below.

Tom shows off his moves

Ryan

Harry

Freddy takes a more relaxed approach

After the ball was gone we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves.

Tom really flies when you're having fun!

And he falls, too.

Tom hits the deck. Literally.
Roy offers fallen Tom a beer

Chris hugs his little buddy.

And look! He's ready to go again!

Gustavo, Roman, George, Francis

Mark

After an intense UK-vs-rest-of-world drinking contest, the Brits got a little overheated

So did I when one of my million "favorite songs EVER!!!!!!" came on
Harry and Francis show us how to lay it down on the dance floor

With Lena, Chris, and Estrella Damm

Freddy & Daya

George, Sergeant Roy, Ryan, and Lena

Chris & Roy

DJ Rafa kept us going from 2pm to midnight

Estrella fantastica!!!!!

Thanks for a killer Sunday afternoon, guys!

April Fool

This is a very strange day. It's cloudy. The weather has been crappy for over a week now - rainy, cloudy, and cold - and is due to stay like this until we head south for our Calatrava roadtrip.

It's Sunday, so everything is closed. Valerio left for New York this morning and we had a farewell dinner for him last night, which was really fun but very sad. He's not the only one leaving, and it feels really strange. I am too, eventually, and I guess I should start the process of going through all my things and starting to pack and prune. I just can't face it at the moment.

And, for the first time since September 1, 2005, I don't have a case to read. Not a single line, even. I tried to fill the void by doing such menial tasks as signing up for my alumni email account and checking out the Alumni website, for which I'm an administrator, but it's not the same. I need cases to read!!!

Wait, am I nuts? It's cloudy so it's not too hot to go running. And even though it's Sunday, the bread shop is open downstairs, thank god. And I certainly do not want to read any more cases. I can spend that time reading ... a book! Ooooooh.

The Martini Shot

One of the most important things you learn in film school is that the name of the very last shot you do on set is the "Martini shot" because afterward everyone celebrates with a martini. After the martini shot, you know it's a wrap. (And then, months later, when you realize your movie is crap, you do reshoots. There are never martini shots in reshoots. Too depressing.)

Well this morning was my martini shot: the final exam for Global Strategy, due at the new extended time of 5pm. Some people finished it on Wednesday before the grad party, but I was otherwise occupied with movies and slideshows for the festivities and yesterday I was otherwise occupied with lying on my couch groaning after enjoying the open bar a bit too much between 1am and 2am. And then of course I had to play rugby. And then of course I had to go to the last BOW. So basically, I did the exam this morning. And now it's done! Finished by 2pm, uploaded it to the Global Campus and... that's it. That's a wrap. How anticlimactic.

Fortunately, tonight we're having a birthday party here for George. And just as I was finishing my paper he walked in with enough alcohol to kill the Russian Army. So I suppose I can have my martini after all!

Now what?

Um. I just walked out of my last class of the MBA. Probably the last class of my entire life. I never expected to go back to school after finishing at NYU. And now I've just finished a year and a half of classes. Fortunately for me, I still get to do a take-home Globalization Strategy exam!

But that will have to wait until sometime tomorrow afternoon because tonight is our first big graduation party. I say first because there will most certainly be more in the next month. There always are....

So back to work on the video and slideshow for tonight. Then I won't realize that I'm in shock...

Hey! Ho! LET'S GO!!!

Hard to believe, but it's true... this is the final week of the MBA. After this week, everything will change forever. Even though we have graduation in a month, most people will be away during the month of April, and when we all return, we will be busy with family and friends and relocating. So strange.

Okay enough blathering. There is a weekend to review!

Thursday afternoon we presented Chris with a rugby jersey and a ball signed by the rugby team to thank him for doing such an awesome job as captain. Chris is going to Houston after IESE and that will, for lack of a better word, SUCK. For me, anyway. Hopefully he and Kathi will survive Texas!


Because I was uber sick on Thursday evening, I didn't make it to the Bar of the Week, which was apparently one of the most entertaining ever. Oh well, can't do everything I guess. Friday I was still pretty out of it, but by Saturday morning I was raring to go and ready to play soccer with the boys. Gay pride rainbow colors were in no way planned.

In the afternoon Sandy and Chloe arrived from Edinburgh (and brought the clouds and rain with them!) so we went for lunch downtown, wandered around the Barri Gotic for a few hours, and then relaxed for a while before heading to El Born for dinner. Somehow we ended up staying out very late, which turned out to be even later because Daylight Saving Time started at 2am. Normally I go WOO HOOOOO to Daylight Saving Time, but never the day it happens because we lose an hour of sleep. Not cool.

Sunday brought the annual paella extravaganza at Fede's house in Costa Brava. Last year team A6 went there in May and it was a bit warmer, but this year the crowd was bigger despite the cooler weather. (Directly attributable, no doubt, to last year's blog entry.) About 40 people turned up, but there was still plenty of paella to go back for seconds. And we ate it so fast, I didn't even get to take pictures of it this year! So I had to settle for a photo of Fede making his famous "tea," as Madhur calls it. It's not tea at all but actually hot rum and cognac. If that's what they consider tea in India, I wonder what they do with their Earl Grey!

Team A6 of the class of 2008:

This is what happens when I get on the beach:

The forced apres-paella march :
Madhur and Juanra:

Ahhh.... paradise....
Moments after returning, I received a call from Julian. His wife is out of town and, though he didn't openly admit it, he's lonely. So he invited us over for wine and cheese... and then dinner at 1am. On a school night! Good thing it's the last week. Anyway, I tortured his cats. Further proof that I should not have kids...
And now it's Monday night already. Only two days of class left. I have a final exam in Etica tomorrow afternoon and then that class is over. Wednesday we get our final exams for Global Strategy, which are due Friday at noon... I plan to finish that as soon as possible. Meaning by 11:59am on Friday morning.