Murcia. Week 1

Wow.
Just Wow.

   The purpose of this blog was to create webisodes where I travel around Murcia on my bike and talk about the ecology of Murcia... This has not happened...

   First, may I say that the people here are incredible! I landed in Madrid barely speaking any Spanish. I managed to find my way through a complex yet very efficient tram system to my friends house in downtown Madrid, with no phone, internet access, and a whole lot of luggage... and carried it up a 4 floor building with no elevator. After 30 hours without sleep it was kind of brutal (but also totally awesome!)

  Feeling rejuvenated, Arielle took me out for a night on the town where we enjoyed plates of prosciutto and 0.80 euro beers! And met a slew of her amazing friends.

   The next day I woke up at 3 in the afternoon, missing my day in Madrid and almost missing my train to Murcia. Luckily that was not the case! I made it to Murcia, slept like a baby and woke up the next morning to go straight to work.
I work in the the Spanish research Center CEBAS with my supervisor in Murcia, Dr. Querejeta, but that's another post. We bike to work together every day and it's totally awesome! We are super best friends already!

  During my downtime I mostly explore the city and try to orient myself... which has been very unsuccessful. Mainly because I spend most of my time looking up at beautiful buildings and not paying attention to street names. The image to the left is of the Cathedral in the heart of Murcia. Haven't been inside yet, but that's                                            another post.

  I was supposed to find a bike by the weekend and explore some of the coast. Instead, the beautiful woman who is letting me stay in her home took me to her friends house in the near by town Cartegena and I stayed in one of the fanciest resorts in Spain. Supposedly this is where the royal family plays golf.

  Other than that I have been making friends, eating amazing Spanish food (extremely cheep cheese), and smelling the lemon and orange tree flowers in bloom. Some of the varieties such as this one in the image to the right only bloom at night. They grow everywhere near the campus that I work at and you can literally pick an orange and eat it on your walk to school!

  Thanks for listening! I still haven't gotten used to my new sleep schedule, I have just come down with a cough and am very tired! I will post soon, and it will hopefully be more in line with the original intention of this blog! Until then...

                                                                   
                                                      ...dios mio... but that's another post.
                                                                        Matt Zustovic

And so it begins...

It was my last day in Vancouver today.

I said goodbye to my bike Shadow fax.

Took him for a spin around Stanley park,

Ate some all-you-can-eat sushi, and enjoyed the sun!

I'm sitting in the airport right now; I'm excited-scared.

I'll never have been away from home for so long.

I've never traveled alone before.

I'm really not sure I know what I'm doing.

... Here we go!