¿Dónde está Katie?

Siempre estoy perdida.

[dondeestakatie]

In exactly four weeks from now,

I´ll be on a plane back to Boston...

It´s crazy how fast time passes. 

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jugando con pavos reales en los jardines del campo del moro

Well, more like spotting them. 

I don´t feel like writing, so here are some pretty pictures! 

3000 words right there.

[dondeestakatie]

tomando fotos de jamón

Lots and lots of ham in Madrid. 

all dat ham.

moar ham.

me + ham. 

  Good thing I'm not a vegetarian. 

[dondeestakatie]

avanzando en mis investigaciones

i love how MIT has licenses for almost all the MATLAB toolboxes, as well as the latest R2013a ersion. 

Optimization Toolbox, MATLAB Compiler, ScatteredInterpolant... 

Life is wonderful <3 

[dondeestakatie]

celebrando el cuarto de julio!

This post is so special, I even put an exclamation point at the end of the title. 

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Although I didn't get the day off or watch fireworks, it was still a pretty awesome time. 

The MISTI kids got together and had an (almost) All-American barbecue yesterday at my flat!  Complete with hamburgers, fries, potato salad, watermelon, beer, and country music. 

I didn't get a chance to take many photos, but Cris took some on her superpro camera!

MIT + amigos! 

Pablo and Cris, best pisomates :) 

Superbuen dia!

[dondeestakatie]

cayendo de balancínes en segovia

A bit behind in posting, but they're coming ! 

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Segovia is a small town in the outskirts of Madrid.  It's known for its Roman aqueduct, alcazar, and cochinillo.   

The Aqueduct of Segovia is one of the most well-preserved aqueducts from the Roman time.  It's made of granite blocks, and there's no cement holding it together . Pretty amazing to imagine how they built this so long ago. 

Alcazar is a fortress-turned-castle that was built upon by the Romans, Arabs, and Spaniards.  They claim that the Disney logo is based off Alcazar, but Disney says that they modeled it after French castles. 

Cool kids on the castle! 

And, of course, the food. The different regions are very proud of their unique foods. Valencia for their paella, x for their y, and Segovia for their cochinillo. Cochinillo is a "roast suckling pig." Yes, fried baby piglet. 

It's pretty pricey (22euros per person per portion), so we split two portions for 7 people.  College students for the win. 

You can see the tail, arm, and ear! 

If you're not a fan of cooked baby pigs, don't worry.  Segovia's got you covered.

The big one just stands there and shakes its hips. 

And then we walked along the aqueduct to the purification tower where we found a playground with a seesaw made with this spring with a spring constant not meant for people over the age of 5 so I fell head first into the ground whoopdedoo. 

Yay Segovia! 

[dondeestakatie]

montando en bicicleta por el parque de juan carlos

El Parque de Juan Carlos is a hidden gem in Madrid.

Well, it's not really hidden-- just super far up north and out of the way, so not your hottest tourist spot.  But it's absolutely amazing, and if you have time in Madrid, you should definitely go there!! 

If you bring your European ID card or your passport, you can register yourself to check out bikes for an hour at a time.

It takes ~20 minutes to bike around the whole park, but you can easily pass a good two hours just walking around and enjoying the scenery. There are gardens specific to different cultures (jardínes de tres culturas) and modern sculptures all around.

And then there are the awesome play structures for those who are still kids at heart.

[dondeestakatie]

estableciendo una nueva tendencia

It's a new photo style that takes a different perspective. 

I don't exactly remember how or why we started taking photos of us laying on floors and other things, but it's been a good time. 

By fountains.

Across canals.

In parks.

Just chillaxin'. 

Casual.  But you do get a new perspective-- the view up above is amazing. 

[disclaimer-- I didn't lie down in the middle of the cathedral.  This just motivates me to look up more often and see the amazing things you might have missed otherwise.]

Ciao. 

[dondeestakatie]

comprando un bocadillo de jamón y una caña de cerveza en el Museo de Jamon

Unlike the name suggests, the Museo de Jamon isn't actually a museum.  It's just a restaurant/deli thing that has amazing jamón sandwiches and beer for cheap. 

[Yes, 0.70 EUR for a cup of beer, which is less than 1 USD.]

This is also where I buy my lunch meat/cheese for the week.  Enough meat and cheese for at least two weeks still costs less than 5 euros. 

I love this place. 

[dondeestakatie]

comiendo las cafeterias y cervecerias

Food in Spain is cheap.  I can buy great-quality groceries (fruits, vegetables, CHEESE, MEAT, etc.) for less than 30 euros a week.  Or, being my lazy self, I can also by 1-euro sandwiches from the Museo de Jamón (direct translation-- ham museum.  but there's no museum part. only ham).  

The food here is wonderful :) I eat breakfast at home and pack a lunch to work, but at night... 

Told ya I'd write a blog post about tapas. 

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Tapas are delicious.  Tapas are amazing. Tapas are tapas.

What are tapas?

Tapas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtapas]) are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid).

[thank you, Wikipedia]

You can buy them at cervecerías and other cafeterias around the city.  Or, if you're like me, you just go to the places where you can order a caña de cerveza o copa de tinto de verano, and they just give you free food with your drink ;)   

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Some places, they'll give you this: 

[thank you, Google Images]

And then you go to other places, where it's like this: 

[thank you again, Google Images]

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There's a lot of possibilities, from jamon serrano (ham) to fried peppers to orejas de cerdo (pig's ear).  All the rest of the photos are mine.  Yes, I was that asian taking photos of food.  [Side story-- I went tapas-hopping with some Australians who called me out for not taking photos of my food.  So then, of course, to prove my asian-ness, I had to take photos of food for the rest of the night.  Note that this was one night-- these photos span over three weeks.]

[grilled oyster mushrooms]

[look, there are healthy ones too! ensalada de tomate] 

[eatin' dat pig's ear]

[dessert-tapas!]

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You can find decent tapas all throughout the city, but my favorite place hands-down would be El Tigre (I do have to say that El Respiro comes in a close second).  

[I swear this is the last GoogleImages one]

For 3 euros, you can get a beer/sangria and a shit ton of tapas. 

[honestly, this photo does not do this food justice. BUT LOOK AT THAT FOOD. each piece of bread is about the size of my fist.] 

[patatas!]

[pan y croquetas. note that rohun and i had already finished half this plate before i took this picture.]

  Yup.  Definitely going to miss this when I go back home... 

[dondeestakatie]

perdida en las calles de Madrid.

My pisomate got me a map because I keep getting lost...

Thanks, Pablo... 

[dondeestakatie]

bronceándome en valencia

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain.  It's  located on the eastern coast in the province of Valencia, and they have their own language (Valencian), which is its own weird French-Spanish mix. It's known for its paella and Les Falles, which consists of costumes, parades, and effigies. 

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Admittedly, we did spend most of our time bummin' it on the beach. 

[Our starfish formation around our mound of stuff.  And then there's Sterling.]

But there are also other things to do in Valencia! Like...

Drinking chocolate y horchata.  Valencia is known for their special tigernut horchata. 

Enjoying the wonderful parques. Priscilla knows what's up.

Checking out the Ciutat de les Artes i les Ciènces, which is an architectural complex that looks like it came straight out of a Star Wars movie.

Rolling around in a ball in the water like a hamster. I swear 10 minutes felt like an hour since I was sweating balls. But it was super awesome and so worth it! 

Eating delicious gelato.  Not specific to Valencia, but they had some crazy flavours. 

Making bonfires for San Juan! [see other post]

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This weekend, I've realized exactly how much I love the beach.  Time to find all them cities along the coast ;) 

[dondeestakatie]

investigaciando en IMDEA Energia

[Katie, why the heck are you in Spain this summer anyway?!]

The MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) Program is awesome-- they help connect you to internships and research positions all around the world.  I specifically chose the Spain program because...

I want to improve my Spanish.

Spain is a leader in solar energy, both in research and in implementation.

Why not?  Sun, great food, and traveling-- three of my favorite things! 

Erica and Vivian haven't stopped talking about it since they went, so they got me really excited. Gotta make it a tradition, eh? ;) 

This summer, I'm doing research at IMDEA Energy, which is a research facility dedicated to sustainable energy systems in Móstoles, Spain.  It's funded by both industry and government, and they collaborate with la Universidad de Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), the local university.  

[me @ urjc! but this isn't IMDEA]

The actual facility is super new-- it's only been open for a year, and they haven't had their official public "opening" yet.  There are 70 people in 6 labs, all focusing on different aspects like biotechnology (fuel cells), energy systems (more simulations and optimizations), and electrochemical systems (my lab! flow batteries and whatnots).  

[the epic bridge I walk through every morning]

[IMDEA!]

It's quite beautiful inside, albeit a bit empty at the moment.  The Spanish love open spaces for people to convene, so it kinda resembles a plaza with the open middle space and the labs on the sides.  Don't have any pictures at the moment, but hoping to take some tomorrow during the building celebration.

The Spaniards have a reputation of being lazy and taking siestas, but these guys work hard.  It's also possible that it's because I'm in a research facility  with lots of international people as well (I've met people from Turkey, Uzbekistan, Germany, India, and Greece... they speak beautiful Spanish).  It's a typical 9-6 workday like in the states with a one-hour lunch break. 

Specifically, I'm making simulations of flow batteries and capacitive deionization systems.  It's a bit strange being a computer scientist in this chemical engineering lab... But thankfully I took 10.10 (Introduction to Chemical Engineering, lol) and worked at a company doing flow battery development during January, which is proving very useful at the moment.  It's challenging work, especially since I'm trying to work in a different field in a foreign language, but it's really interesting.  My lifesaver: 

Coffee machine.  0,40 euros per cup!  There's also a sandwiches/snacks machine, which costs 1,50 euros.  Food here is cheap ;)  But I pack a lunch and eat in the cafeteria with people from the other labs and attempt to have conversations in Spanish. 

[some of the Electrochemical Group out to lunch!]

It's a pretty awesome time :) 

[dondeestakatie]

saltando por encima de las hogueras durante san juan

San Juan is a celebration of the midsummer.  Although the roots of the celebration come from pagan beliefs of evil spirits and healing waters, the Spaniards celebrate it in honor of San Juan (St. John the Baptist).  

The saying goes that if you jump over a bonfire at midnight and make a wish, it'll come true.  This also extends to jumping over 7 waves at midnight and doing some weird thing with putting a wish under your pillow when you sleep while burning a white candle.  I just stuck with the bonfire-jumping. 

The holiday is primarily celebrated in cities near the Mediterranean Coast in Catalonia.  The biggest celebrations with parades and feasts are in Alicante, but we had a MISTI-Spain get-together in Valencia this weekend to celebrate! 

The government realizes that this holiday is a big deal and that drunk people jumping over bonfires at night is not always a good idea... But they still facilitate to make sure people have fun and stay safe.  Starting around 8pm, there are pick-up sites where people can get free wood and mulch.  We didn't realize that it ran out quickly, but with some awesome teamwork, we were able to get our own pit started!  

Our mound of backpacks, food, drank, etc. 

Parker and Eduardo asked a market owner for some wood, who sympathized and gave us some wood.  

We begged other groups for some spare wood and cardboard, and we pulled bark off the palm trees.  

Our pit of school pride. (didn't actually end up using this pit because we moved, but it's the thought that counts!)

We also borrowed some other group's fire! Drevo, our resident pyro, with some borrowed flame. 

Bonfire starters doing their magic. 

So yup.  In summary, an awesome night of food, drink, and great company. 

Missing a few, but [almost] the group! 

And, of course, bonfire jumping. 

[dondeestakatie]

corriendo por el parque Madrid Rio

Time is a wonderful thing. Since I don´t have homework or meetings or anything specific to do after work, I finally have time to make real food, explore, and run!  Today, I decided to be that lame tourist-runner who takes photos after every half-kilometre. But hey, I got some pretty decent pictures out of it. 

I usually head down to Parque Madrid Rio, which is along this canal-like thing that I personally would not consider a rio (river). But the park itself reminds me somewhat of the Espalande-- its own entity separate from cars and city-life.

[this picture makes it look a lot better than it actually is, aha]

There are these huge walkways where you can cross over to the other side. My personal favorite is the huge modern tunnel.

[selfies! haha. pre-tomatoface]

It´s a humongous park, complete with a football court, basketball court, play structures, a skateboarding park, and more. 

[cool climbing thing]

[lots of benches lining the walkways]

[slides!]

[fontanas for when it gets hot during the summer ;) ]

[para jugar futbol]

The sun doesn´t set here until about 10pm, so darkness doesn't count as an excuse. 

And thus was my 4.9km of awesomeness today.

[dondeestakatie]

sudando como un cerdo en Granada

I'm taking advantage of all of my weekends here in Spain to travel all around the country. 

This weekend, Sterling and I took the bus down to Granada, which was highly recommended to us as the most beautiful city of Spain. Located in Analusia, it's an hour away from both the beach and the snowy mountains (yes, there is snow in Spain).  

Although these days there are tons of catholic edifices throughout the city, you can't miss the Moorish influence.  It's interesting to see the Islamic geometric patterns and arabesque on the streets and buildings next to these super ornate cathedrals.  With the combination of these buildings, decorations, whitewashed houses, and Sierra Nevada mountains, Granada just seems like a mix of Spain, Turkey, Greece, and California.  [Speaking of California, there is a Universidad de California in Granada!] 

  [city centre]

[fountains and saints]

We took an early morning bus ride to Granada, and then went straight to La Alhambra in the afternoon. La Alhambra (not to be confused with the water bottle company) is the "Red Castle" initially constructed as a fortress in the 9th century.  The palace portion was added later in the 14th century.

After venturing through the patios and jardines and salas, we were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hostel to rest for a bit and then head out on a tapas tour with other hostel-mates.  Two Australians from Melbourne (Judd and Mitch.  Don't know how much more Australian you can get than that), one Quebecan (Noami), one Russian (Max), two Americans, and our German guide (Jorges).  I definitely learned a lot on our tour about American football, Russian pilots, and whatnots.  Being the Asian, of course, I had to be the one to take pictures of the food. 

[sterling and mitch with their attractive eating faces]

[sangria!]

Post-tapas, we went back to the hostel for free sangria night! 

After a great night of sleep, we had a relaxing morning walking around Albayzín, the old Moorish neighborhood, and then we took a scenic bus ride back to Madrid. 

[albayzín]

[enjoying the view]

[dondeestakatie]

cocinando un tubo de pota

I wanted to make fish for dinner, so I stopped by Día (the supermarket chain here) to buy some food on the way home. 

Turns out "tubo de pota" doesn't mean whitefish or sea bass or any kind of fish at all... 

And this is how I ended up eating cuttlefish and half-assed aioli for dinner. With lots and lots of garlic. :) 

Just kidding.  This is Google.  Didn't take pictures because I was too busy eating while cooking, haha.  But I did make myself some beautiful couscous to bring for lunch tomorrow! 

Also made some simple syrup with the overripe strawberries and the leftover basil so I can have Italian soda ;) 

Life is wonderful when you have time to cook.