Bumbling through Barcelona

Barcelona-the close of a story

2009-12-14T16:30:00.003+01:00

All good things come to an end right?

What are you supposed to write in your last blog post. As I have never written a blog before, I am not exactly sure how to end this splatter of my life that I have spilled upon the internet for whoever out there may or may not be reading. I guess I could talk about how I have changed for the better, or what new and bright prospects exist in my life. I could talk about every place I have gone and list off what it was that I took away from each of those experiences. I could talk about all of the friends that I have made while abroad and recount how much each and everyone of them mean to me. I could be really artistic and try to write a page long metaphor about how I am like a leaf just blowing in the wind (I know I actually thought about that...how desperate). I could even go so far as to leave a picture diary of the most meaningful events and images that have affected my life while I was here.

The fact of the matter is that in about 40 hours, I am going to the airport to meet my parents and pick them up in Barcelona. For three days I will show them around my home, then we will fly to Sevilla and that will be the last I see of this city that has taught me so much about myself. I just got out of my final exam for my European Integration and Economic and International Law class. On the last part of the final, a question was asked in which the teacher wrote, "Your personal opinion is what is most important." I think it is very well known by pretty much every student in the United States that this is the last thing that you would see on an Economics or Political Science exam. In my other class, the teacher had me ask myself my own question on the final exam and answer it as I saw fit, making sure that I include my personal opinion.

More than anything, Barcelona has taught me that-No matter how much I can learn through an education, none of it means anything if I do not comprehend it and spice it up with a little bit of Dan Driver. Coming back to the United States is definitely going to be what my program´s pamphlet describes as a "culture shock." I am not sure if I am ready to integrate myself back into the "system" where getting a job and attaining success are the most important things that I can do. Its ok to take some time to think about what we want to do with our lives. We are young and no matter what any authority figure may tell us about planning our future out and getting started young, it is okay to float around for a while. Don´t get too excited or anything-I am not gonna start a hippy movement and disappear off the face of the Earth. I am just not in a rush to prove myself to anyone anymore.

Studying abroad changes people. I know that before I left in my typical sarcastic manner I joked with my friends about how I definitely was going to do my best not to come back and embellish the already existing stereotype by saying that but unfortunately its true-i do feel that i have changed for the better. And yes, I hope that everyone who has read my blog considers going abroad again. I am not only talking to the students when I write that. Noone is too old to experience a piece of culture that they have not yet seen. DO IT!

To my friends in Barcelona- Thanks for all that we have shared

To my friends at home- Thanks for being there when I needed you

To my family at home- Thanks for allowing me this amazing opportunity

One picture should do the trick...San Diego or Barcelona...its all a blur to me too!

España es de puta madre. ¡Valle!

More stars than Hollywood´s walk of fame-guaranteed

2009-12-12T15:57:00.008+01:00

After our time in Fes, we took a long bus ride out to the desert. On the way we stopped at an oasis that looked liked the grand canyon with a bunch of trees in it...pretty awesome if I might say so. We also saw monkeys in pine trees! I can honestly say that we went through some very diverse terrain. First we saw the coast, then we hit desert with shrubs everywhere, then we hit the forest which looked like NorCal, and then of course we hit the sandy dunes of the Sahara. It was a very long trip but, as always, well worth the time.

When we finally arrived in the desert we had to get off the bus and take a caravan of 4x4s into the dessert. There were 60 of us and each car fit 5 to 6 people...you do the math...there were lots of cars. Our campsite was literally out in the middle of the Sahara desert about 30 minutes walking from the nearest town. It was awesome. The first night we were there, the locals stayed up with us and watched the moon rise. Never in my life have I seen such a clear sky. Coming from Lake Tahoe, where we boast a pretty clean environment, the Sahara desert still absolutely blew me away. I wish I had brought some kind of star map, but instead I found myself content just looking for Orion´s belt continuously. We saw several shooting stars and just hung out on the dunes.

The most interesting thing about out time in the desert was that the locals followed us wherever we went. At any given time, they were willing to hang out with us, wander the dunes, dance, sing, and just have an awesome time. They also always were willing to sell us something, but understood if we weren´t interested in buying. At night, they would randomly light bushes on fire in the desert to keep warm...SO COOL!

Anyway, the next day we woke up early to watch the sunrise. I just happened to pick the one guide who felt like walking farther than everyone else, so we walked...about a mile in the desert to this extremely high dune and watched the sunrise together. His name was, of course, Muhammad...super common name over there. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and then mounted up on our troupe of camels. I must say that I never realized how high off the ground you are when on a camel haha. It was fun as well, although a little bit painful! During the day we went into a local town and walked around...they tried to make us buy rugs again!!...but i was resilient and stayed rug free. We walked back (little did we know the camel ride was a one way trip) to our campsite and hung out with the locals.

Sam, Caroline, David, and I got into a battle royal with all of the little kids that lasted the greater part of 15 minutes. They also got a hold of my camera and had a full on video and photo shoot. (Check facebook once I get home!) That night, we danced with the locals, had a great dinner and layed under the stars.

It was definitely the trip of a lifetime which I doubt I will ever be able to relive.

My journey through Fes with a man named Muhammad

2009-12-12T14:25:00.013+01:00

Africa. The final frontier of my travels during my time abroad. Going to Morocco was of instant appeal to me when my program offered the trip up to us. What other opportunity would I have in my life to feel the sand of the Sahara beneath my feet, ride a camel to a local village, and taste the sweetest tea on Earth.

Between all of the travel of Morocco, my trip really had two main focal points. The first was the city of Fes. We arrived in the city late at night by bus and had a great dinner at our hotel. Afterwards we all just went to sleep because we were so tired from travelling all day long. In the morning, we proceeded to hop on our tour bus and meet our tour guide Muhammad. Throughout the rest of the day we would be his blind followers, going down random allyways that are only accesible by donkey in the famous Medina of Fes. Flecked with bits of cultural education, such as the fact that Morocco is composed of 97% peaceful and open-minded Sunni Muslims, we were taken to 5 shops that showcased the pride of the Moroccan market. The first was the rug store...let me just say right now that Moroccans are very VERY proud of their rugs. The owner of the store sat us all down and gave us a 10 minute presentation on all the different kinds of rugs that they have and gave us all tea. If I ever want a rug...I guess I will go back...but I definitely did not want a rug haha. Needless to say, they were really trying to reel us in and get all of our Dirham(Moroccan currency).

Afterwards, we proceeded to the tannery, which produces and dyes all of its own leather, the apothecary, the scarf shop, and the pottery district. In each of the areas, we either received personalized tours or in-depth demonstrations of products. Additionally, the entire time we were walking we picked up a pack of travelling salesmen that followed us wherever we went trying to sell necklaces. They would even go so far as to wait outside of shops until we came out and then would follow us throughout the Medina.

After the long day of shopping we headed back to our hotel and walked around the town in this area that had a little light up fountain secion. That night we went out to see a belly dancing show with the program which was pretty funny. By around 12 though, we were all ready for some well deserved sleep as we got ready to journey forth towards the SAHARA! And yes, we went into McDonalds to see what strange things they might have in Morocco...the McArabia and the Chicken Mythic!!

Vanessa Neag and Montserrat

2009-11-30T12:48:00.012+01:00

I lied! I promised that my next post would be after Morocco, but I had a pretty cool weekend and I wanted to show you guys some of the pictures that I took! To start off the weekend, Vanessa was visiting Barcelona! We did some of the essentials here like looking at the Gaudi buildings, going to the ope n air market, and visiting Montjuic at night! It was an awesome time and I am definitely glad she stopped by. I realized
while she was here that I am definitely ready to go home and visit friends and that I am DEFINITELY in love with this city and not sure how I am going to cope when I get back haha.

Vanessa left on Sunday which was the day that I decided to head off to Mt. Serratt which is this giant mountain an hour outside of Barcelona with a Monastery on top of it. It was definitely a breathtaking view from the top. I was supposed to go with my roommate and another friend, but they chose sleep! haha its ok, it was an early morning after a late night. Anyway, I spent the afternoon on top of the mountain by myself. I took a gondola ride to the top over a giant drop -like any good gondola ride- and then hiked around for two hours. It definitely reminded me what it felt like to smell that fresh Tahoe air. It felt awesome to literally be in the clouds and watch the mist fly by. Also, what good mountain doesn´t have mountain goats? A herd of goats ran by on the side of the cliff...you would not believe how fast those guys can go on such a steep slope!

I made a video on top of the mountain that I plan on posting once I have an iternet connection that can support that option!

El Día de Acción de Gracias

2009-11-27T12:50:00.007+01:00

Coming into Thanksgiving, I had very low expectations here in Spain. I have already written a few posts mentioning how I am not that wild about the food here. So when I signed up for the ISA dinner on Thanksgiving (which was free) I was definitely expecting a hodge podge of Spanish tapas, some use of jamón, which the Spanish love, and an incorporation of a bocadillo into my meal! I could not have been more wrong!

Thanksgiving day felt like any other day in Barcelona. I woke up, walked to school, went to class, walked home, watched some Walker Texas Ranger in Spanish, went over to a friend´s apartment, and got ready for dinner. ISA told us it was going to be at a restauraunt on the water which was the first surprise because those restaurants are usually pretty expensive. When we walked over, we found out that it was indeed at one of those nice restaurants and we had a section of it reserved just for us. There were about 60 people there in total and believe it or not, we were served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (no green been caserole or yams with marshmellows though!). We were served a salad, individual Turkey portions, mashed potatoes (no gravy though), this weird mixture of onions (low point), and for desert APPLE PIE! Sometimes its good to be catered to as an American as much as people complain about it. By the end of the meal, I was very full-the mark of a good Thanksgiving dinner- but still looking forward to coming home to a better Thanksgiving.

My next post will probably be about Morocco which I am leaving for on Wednesday and staying for an entire week. Yikes!

DD

A cold night and El Día de Acción de Gracias

2009-11-27T12:11:00.005+01:00

During the first weeks that we came to Barcelona, Brent and I saw this bar on the beach and we knew that we had to go. The Ice Bar, or Ice Barcelona, is exactly what you think it is...and then some. At this bar, you are given a jacket and gloves when you arrive that you have to wear while you are inside. Of course in the outdoor terrace-which is ironically on the beach-they were screening the movie Ice Age in what I think must be a never-ending loop. I am sure the people working there know every line haha. In the actual bar, you are only allowed to stay for 45 minutes because it gets so cold(-8 C). ¡We payed 7.50€ to get in and get one drink! Not bad. Inside the actual bar, it is very small haha, but there are giant ice sculptures and a curtain made out of ice balls hanging on strings. It was pretty cool. The cups that we got our drinks in were made completely out of ice. One of our friend´s glasses was melting while we were in there! As far as Ice Bars go, I would reccomend them...but I would NOT recommend an ice hotel! After 45 minutes we were ready to bounce!

Amy and I being cold!

Roller Blading and Pumpkin Pie

2009-11-25T14:28:00.003+01:00

This last weekend, I stayed in Barcelona as the majority of my "crew" was heading to Amsterdan to do you know what! However, it was a great weekend. The highlight was definitely Friday night. Every Friday, this rollerblading troupe goes in a 100-200 person mass through the city. We decided to join up with them through our program. Little did we realize that it was an 18 kilometer route or that everybody in the troupe would be going super fast. I will just put it this way. Our group lasted 1 minute as we had one person who had never bladed before and 3 girls that ran into eachother causing a massive traffic jam right at the start. Afterwards, we made our own route and still ended up blading pretty far. It was super fun!

O ya...and I found a giant palm frond and stuck it in my back so that I could lead the pack easily haha.

Additionally, as you all know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Because I cannot celebrate with pounds of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and family, my mom sent me my own pumpkin pie mix in a box. I told Conchita that we were cooking it so yesterday the plan went into effect. The first thing that I needed to do when I went to work was to pull the pie crust out of the tin. Let´s just say that the airplane flight did not do it any justice and within seconds I had a pile of grahm cracker pieces. Nevertheless we trecked on forward and made what I would have to call a pumpkin cake. WHATEVER! It was still good because my love for pumpkin pie triumphs all.

Thank you mom! And thank you ISA for having a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow...I have no idea what to expect!

If my pie had looked anything like this...it would have been a dream come true.

Cravings

2009-11-21T20:13:00.004+01:00

The people of Barcelona are very proud of their food...I am however not so sure what they are that proud of as they lack certain staples in my diet...which are Cheeze ITs...Mexican food...and of course Hamburgers! I cannot wait until I get home and am able to go to the store and buy a box of those crunchy reduced fat cheeze its...they are the best. Thenf for lunch I am going to go to an In n Out Burger and get a double double with grilled onions. After that, for dinner, I am going to go out to ANY Mexican restauraunt and get either shrimp tacos or a chicken burrito...or Enchiladas! No more bocadillos! (the spanish sandwhich)

When in Rome...I had to say it.

2009-11-17T15:25:00.005+01:00

On Saturday, we got up a little bit later due to the late night that we had just experienced. We headed straight over to the Vatican museum. If I had to choose one word to describe this place, it would be Overwhelming. It would have been really nice to have hired/found a tour guide in this place...but I am definitely running low on money. I decided I would just have to check Wikipedia when I got back from Rome. After the Vatican museum, we headed over to the Colosseum after eating lunch. We got there too late to go inside which was unfortunate...but we still had some time to walk around. We also found this ruin with a cat in it and Mikel spent ten minutes leading the cat around the ruin with a laser light. It was awesome. That night, we went out to a nice Italian restauraunt for dinner and I got the homemade lasagna which was, of course, magnificent. We all decided to stay in that night due to the havoc that we had wreaked the night before.

The next morning, most of the group headed home, but those of us that remained started the morning off by heading down to the Colloseum and going inside. The most interesting area of the Colloseum is definitely the center where they had all of these trap doors and such that were used to bring tigers and various other animals up to fight the gladiators. The Colloseum was constructed in 80 AD...and we are still walking on it...that is dannng old. Afterwards, we rushed to St. Peter´s square to see none ohther than the Pontificus Maximus himself. The Pope was giving a speech, and St. Peter´s square was absolutly packed. It was awesome to see him in person. He spoke in 6 or 7 different languages and his accent was amazing in all of them!

After that, the group had dwindled to just Kelsey and I as we had the latest flight out of everyone. We went back to the Roman Forum and checked out the ruins. Luckily, we ran into a free tour that lasted over an hour. We learned all about Ceaser´s altar in the ruins, how Rome had been flooded for a thousand of years, about the lives of the Vestal Virgins, and why all roads lead to Rome. It was definitely a great way to end the trip...although Kelsey and I agreed that we wish we would have found that guy sooner.

We had one last gelatto and then headed to the airport for yet one more uncomfortable flight back to Barcelona (there should really be a maximum height requirement for sitting in the middle seat). Barcelona now for the next couple weeks...then MOROCCO!

As far as the pictures go...yes, the one with two people touching is in the Sistine Chapel, where you are not allowed to take pictures. The blue Jesus was in the Modern Catholic Art section. I thought it was very interesting. The beautiful sunset was right outside of the Colloseum and the Forum. The ruined area is the forum, the ruined stadium is the colloseum, the mass amounts of people were there for the Pope´s speech and the ice cream is the best that I have ever tasted in my life.

DD out!

The Long Haul

2009-11-17T15:00:00.004+01:00

On the first Friday that we were in Rome, we got up to make a walking tour that started at 11 on the Spanish steps. We of course, like any good group of college students, did not make it in time and were forced to make our own walking tour. We started the day by heading to the Trevi fountain and throwing in our coins so that we would one day Return to Rome...I realized that I had thrown a coin in that fountain before when I was in 6th grade...IT WORKED! Afterwards, we headed to the Pantheon...which was of course amazing. It was crazy to see such a remarkably old building still in tact. I was at first worried about how they managed rain with the giant hole in the ceiling...I quickly realized that it was covered with glass.

After thePantheon, we checked out one of the major Squares in Rome and then headed over to the Vatican. We got there around 2 o clock and went in to check out St. Peter´s Basillica. I definitely felt pretty cool as a Catholic while we were in there. It was remarkable how you could see the rays of light shining through the windows into certain areas of the church as it contrasted with the darker areas of the church around it. The Basillica is absolutely enormous! It is definitely a place that I would reccomend all to visit. We attempted to go to the Vatican museum afterwards, but did not have much success as it closed at 4 o clock. We headed back to our hostel afterwards which turned out to take a couple hours due to metro construction and all of the public transportation being piled full of people.

That night we went out on a pub crawl. I drank a little too much. We won´t get into too many details but I will say that I did win a free shirt!

The Fall of the...Spanish Steps?

2009-11-17T14:40:00.003+01:00

After the long flight on Vueling airlines (avoid at all costs), I arrived in Rome on Thursday afternoon. We checked into Allesandro´s Palace and went out for some Italian food. The place we stopped at turned out to be one of our regular stops...I am not sure of the name, but it advertised Pizza, Kebap, and Sushi...munchies dream come true. Anyway, it is true. The food in Italy rocks. I will try to leave it at that and not dwell on the amazing Pizza, Pasta, Gelato, and Rizzotto that we had for the rest of the trip...because I don´t want you all getting jealous...Seriously though, coming back to Spain´s jamon bocadillos has proven to be a little bit difficult.

The first night, we went to the Spanish Steps because we wanted to people watch. We ended up running into a giant exhibit for the fall of the Berlin Wall because we were there 20 years after it was torn down + a few days. It was super cool to run into this bit of history and to realize that it was not that long ago that people still lived in the fear of the Cold War. After that, we met up with one of our friends who was studying abroad in Rome and checked out a local bar area. The bar had the most random mix of music-everything from techno to 50s music to aretha franklin haha. Also...we found the Triton Fountain...repping UCSD´s mascot of course!

Very good Wednesday

2009-11-17T14:16:00.004+01:00

Before I get to my Rome trip, I have to point out how great last Wednesday was. During the day, I went to this really popular restauraunt for lunch called Champagneria. The restauraunt prides itself on its bottles of cava. They were sooo good, and they also have really cheap food. We went at one or so, and then later I had class at 3. It was definitely a little bit hard to keep focus...but that is the price you pay for having cava at 1 in the afternoon!

The best part of the day happened later when I got to see KARM!!!! Karm decided to come visit Barcelona for the weekend...unfortunately she decided to come one of the weekends when I was travelling, but nevertheless I was able to see her on Wednesday because my flight left on Thursday morning. Hanging out with Karm and Brent that night was super fun. It was awesome to just give her a hug and talk about school and everything that we had missed. We were supposed to make a video for everyone back home...but Brent was busy doing "hardcore pardcore" and we didn´t get to it. I just wish I could have spent a little more time with Karm!

Love ya!

Dublin´s final chapter

2009-11-11T12:13:00.006+01:00

I Know I know. There was no jumping off of cliffs or waterfalls in this trip. There was however, beautiful sights and friends. On the next day of our trip, Brent, Cassie, Max, and I went out to a seaside village a half an hour outside of Dublin called Hoath...i think. It was fun to see such a small town feel. There were maps everywhere despite the very small size of the village. We walked through an old Irish Graveyard, took pictures by a lighthouse and watched some torusits feeding fish to some walruses that hang out by the port waiting for a delicious snack. We got soup by the ocean with fresh fish and then headed back into town.

That night, we were planning on going on a haunted tour of Dublin but after realizin that the tour was sold out, wound up at a pub. The Stag´s Head was the best pub that I have ever been to. In the basement, we listened to an authentic Irish band spouting off about their hate for Elizabeth I and playing a bunch of different songs. It was a lot of fun...especially when we got to watch this really drunken Irish guy dancing around and spilling beer all over the place!

The next morning, we took at stroll through St. Patrick´s Green, had our last meal and headed out to the airport...and saw part of an authentic rugby match!

Today is Wednesday by the way...and yesterday I went to a Barcelona game where they blew the other team out of the water 5-0! We got to the stadium an hour early because we didn´t know when the game was supposed to start! woops!

The genius of Guinness

2009-11-11T11:32:00.003+01:00

The next morning after Brent had arrived, Cassie decided to have class again...way to go Cassie. Brent and I took this opportunity off to the fabled Guinness factory of Dublin. Of course on the walk over, I did not bring my umbrella because I was told by a reliable source ·cough Cassie cough· that in Dublin it only rains for 5 minutes at a time and then stops. Needless to stay as we got closer to the factory, it rained more...and more...and more, until right before we got there we practically had to swim to the entrance of the tour area. Once we got inside though, it was definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.

We walked through the entire Guinness brewing process, tasted fresh barley, saw the waters of Guinness, tasted a fresh brew, and then headed up to the Gravity Bar at top of the factory to receive our complimetnary pint of freshly brewed Guinness. Let me just say that I used to hate Guinness and now it is hands down my favorite beer. It was practically a milkshake up there. Brent and I spent a romantic 45 minutes looking out on the city of Dublin and drinking Guinness before heading back down to the city center. On the way down, we made the most random connection...Guinness book of World records. Apparently, the Guinness book of World Records was started to settle bar arguments, the first of which revolved around what the fastest flying bird in the world is...some kind of duck in case you were wondering.

Brent and I trekked home and stopped at a pub called Legends for lunch...the french fries -chips- are soooo good in Dublin despite their high price tag. That night, Cassie, Max, Brent got fish and chips to go and then went out to a local pub...it was super fun and I of course ordered a Guinness.

We found my saw that I had been looking for at the factory by the way haha.

Apparently Ireland is still bitter

2009-11-10T12:18:00.008+01:00

After spending a weekend in Ireland, I have learned a few very important things. The most important of which is that the Irish still do not like the British. Yes. Even though they have been their own free and independent state for some time now, the Irish have quite the load of negative feelings and things to say about the United Kingdom. Do not even think about mentioning Queen Elizabeth I if you want to order a Guinness any time soon.

Ireland was a fantastic experience. I arrived on Wednesday night late so I went straight to bed. The next morning, Cassie and I went out to this great crepe place for breakfast. After spending the last couple of months surviving off of two pieces of toast for breakfast every day, apple Cinnamon crepes have never tasted better...I can promise you that much. Cassie had class, so I went ahead and did a 3 hour walking tour all by my lonesome. The tour was great for a few reasons. First of all, it was led by the most stereotypically looking Irish guy you could possibly imagine. I am talking red hair, pale white skin, thick Irish accent, sharp wit and an apetitie for beer like you couldn´t imagine. Additionally, I was able to go through all of the main sites in Ireland and learn a brief history of them. This included Dublin Castle -which really does not look that much like a castle-, Christ´s Church Cathedral, Trinity College, the Viking area, the Temple Bar district, the City Hall and the main park in the Town...St. somebody´s green...I am thinking Nick...but that sounds wrong. Most importantly though, the tour was free!

The tour however, did end up being about the only thing you could get for a low price in Ireland! That afternoon, Cassie showed me the book of Kells which is one of Ireland´s national treasures. Basically, this book has survived since AD 800 and is a beautiful manuscript of the Bible that was written by about 25 monks and took several years to complete. It was pretty cool. Also, we got to see this really long library that Trinity College is famous for. In Star Wars Episode 2, George Lucas modeled the Jedi Academy after this room. I was very tempted to pull out the lightsaber application on my iphone and start an all out duel!

Afterwards, we headed back to Cassie´s place, cooked some dinner ourselves...aka Cassie´s boyfriend Max cooked for us...and then went out to a bar. We didn´t go out too hard that night because we were of course anticipating the arrival of Brent Costa that night!

Conchita does Halloween American Style

2009-11-01T18:01:00.010+01:00

Last Thursday during dinner, we were talking about Spanish traditions this season. Halloween is not big here. It is more of an event that all of the clubs and tourist attractions use to attract Americans and international students. They celebrate el Dia de Los Santos which is on the 1st of November to remember all of those who have passed away in their families. One way that they celebrate is drinking a sweet wine, eating panhellets(like I mentioned last time), and eating sweet potatoes. It was definitely the biggest and the best dinner that I have had since I came to Spain. I told Conchita at dinner that she absolutely had to carve a pumpking because it is the only appropriate way to celebrate Halloween in the United States!

She was very resistant at first and kept telling me that I had to carve it and she would watch because she had never done it before. So I went to the local grocery store, bought the only pumpkin that they had...yes there was just one pumpkin...and brought it home. Gavin and I forced her to carve half the face. She kept telling me that she was not good at it...who is good at carving a pumpking? After we finished carving it, we collected all the seeds and threw them in the oven with salt so that we could eat them later. Did we burn the top of the pumpking because the candle was too large? yes. Did we burn the pumpkin seeds because we didn´t realize how long they were in the oven for? yes. Irregardless, we had an amazing time. Conchita started calling the pumpkin Princesa which you guessed it means Princess in Spanish...at first Gavin and I thought that was a colloquial way of saying pumpking but after further inquiry she told us that was what she named it...that was very random. The best part of the night was when she started taking pictures so that she could show her friends. She has never taken any pictures of us before. At the very end she said "thank you for giving me this feeling. I am glad that I have experienced it." It was definitely a good night and I was in no rush to go to the Halloween parties and events that happened afterwards

Needless to say, I stayed out until 5 am last night and got to hang out with lady gaga, (yes close friends know I love Lady Gaga) a chola, a ladybug, dracula, and naughty tinkerbell. I also ran into Hamish from UCSD and Kristin from UCSD on a random street and am going to get Sangria with them tonight! Ok, enough said. I will chat it up with y´alls later...o ya actually I probably will not because I no longer have internet at my house!

The Lapse in blogging

2009-10-29T15:28:00.002+01:00

Sorry to all about the lapse in time since my last blog post! It's hard to compare my recent times to the trip to Interlaken, Switzerland haha. However, today was a really cool day. ISA (my program) sent an email out asking if any students wanted to do an intercambio (language conversation exchange) with some of the students at the University of Barcelona. I of course was super excited to do this as my first intercambio flaked out on me. So I made the trek over to the metro stop to meet up with everyone else who had signed up. Everyone else who had signed up being one other guy who barely speaks any Spanish. I then learned that the class of 20 that we were meeting with was going to be doing an English presentation for us about Barcelona and the areas around it. Afterwards, we were to do a similar presentation in Spanish for them about where we live and things that we like to do. No sweat right?

I had a blast. It was so great to be in a class of all Spanish speakers. I definitely feel like I am conversationally competent with the language and that I can always figure out what people are talking about even when I do not know a certain word. Also, Al (the other American guy) and I are going to get Mexican food with two of the people in the Spanish class. I am really excited...and I am not sure if it is more for the Mexican food or the Spanish people haha. I am starting to worry abo

ut the limited time that I have here and how when I get home, I am not going to be able to have constant Spanish all around me! I don't want this awesome skill to fizzle in the dark. Me encanta hablar el espanol mas que ingles y es dificil para mi comprender como me voy a vivir sin el idioma cada dia. Pues, espero vivir en IHouse cuando regreso a UCSD para que yo pueda seguir hablando!

Happy Halloween! In Spain, it is not celebrated

like in the United States, but all of the clubs are having Halloween parties. El dia de todos los santos que es el uno de noviembre is what is celebrated here instead. In Catalonia, everyone eats Panhelletes which are these little sugar balls covered with different toppings...the best one is covered with Pine Nuts! o soooo good. And there are these really crappy pumpkins here that are really small and cost 5 euros...what to do without my Halloween!

The Little Mermaid

2009-10-17T21:46:00.003+02:00

Today I did absolutely nothing productive except for watching this youtube video. It was glorious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8okYhcRwrgY

Mermaids really do exist. Yes I am bored right now haha

Miss everyone back home right now

Dan

European Integration and Economic and International Law

2009-10-14T18:59:00.002+02:00

So today I had my first midterm...which was kind of intense but I think I did pretty well. The questions were very specific...for example. "What year was the NATO treaty signed. There were 4 choices. 1947,1948,1949, or 1950." These were hard to remember because I was thinking about the dates when they started talking about forming the organizations and what not...and to top it off the whole test was 20% of my grade and only 20 multiple choice questions. Did I mention it was SAT style-if you get one wrong that is -1/3 of a point! We shall see what happens.

However, I absolutely love my teacher in the class. He has a few funny perks.

1. Whenever referring to George Bush Senior or George W. Bush he calls them Bush Father or Bush son

2. He calls people out like no other- I was wearing a Lamda Chi Alpha shirt the other day and he called me Mr. AXA and made me speak for the "American Delegation"

3. Today during the test, he went off about how all Spanish people cheat. He said, "In Spain we have many good things, but all of the students are cheaters! You will see in 5 minutes when the test starts!"

4. He has this one expression that he says that does not translate at all...sneaky cheaky...I have no idea what it means

Chili Schleire

2009-10-12T22:32:00.006+02:00

When I signed up for Canyoning, I was legitimately nervous. Outdoor, Interlaken described the canyon that we wanted to do-which was the highest level one- for athletic people who do not have any fears of heights. As many of you know, I would not describe myself as the most athletically inclined person, but in the end I managed just fine. Canyoning is a must for any person that can muster the courage to do it. it is the most beautiful, thrilling, and eye opening experience that you can take advantage of in your life. The day started with a short hike out to the canyon. The very first thing they had us do was jump off of a 40 foot waterfall. That was what they called the point of no return. If we could not make that jump, we had to walk out...but if we did make that jump, it was impossible to walk out.

After plummeting, we went through a series of slides, jumps, and rappelled

off of some cliffs and waterfalls. Slides, are not always the traditional slides you imagine. While some of them were like rock water slides fueled by the river, others were nearly vertical drops that we would jump to and "slide down." The waterfalls we jumped off of had landing areas. Before each jump, our guide would tell

us where to jump and then would say..."if you jump too far to the left you will land on rocks, so don't do that eh?" The rappelling off of waterfalls was like normal rappelling except that if we lost our grip we could fall into a giant river haha. In one rappel we were lowered off of a cliff through a waterfall that was 100 feet high. That was crazy.

Some fun facts about the group-

We all had helmets with our name of the day. I was Starfish, and in the group we also had Precious, Peanut Butter, Wonder Woman, Skunk, Bambi, Single, Voodoo, Gumby, Cool, and Wild. Also, we went in at a really high water level. They measured some gauge at 4.5 cm. Usually they go when it is around 2 or 3...and the highest that the guide had ever been in, without a tour group, was 7. This made for all the more challenging experience. Here is a link to the promotional video for the canyon that we went in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZC5esoiUw

The Rainy Hike and the Leap of Faith

2009-10-12T21:51:00.005+02:00

Saturday morning we woke up to go canyoning. To our dismay, we found the guide waiting for us to tell us that it was too dangerous to go out because yesterday it had been raining all day and all night and that the river was going to be too high to safely go about the activities...we were all pretty upset, but he told us that we could go the next day, so we took that as consolation. In the morning, we were trying to decide what to do. A bunch of people wanted to go Canyon Jumping because Daniel Toolan had had so much fun doing it the day before. I decided that I would do it because I did not want to find out that we couldn't go canyoning the next day because of rain again. That was scheduled for 4 o clock in the afternoon.

In the meantime, we decided to take a train up to a small town and hike through an area with lots of waterfalls. Though we never actually found the trail that we were supposed to go on, we did get some spectacular views and we did get to see some waterfalls. Everything in this country is petrifyingly beautiful. I purchased a red swiss umbrella as I did not plan ahead and bring my own...I will call that my souvenir from Switzerland haha.

That afternoon was the canyon jump. I will let the video do it justice...sorry that it is sideways *cough Patrice couch*...I have said that I never want to go sky diving because it does not appeal to me- I am not sure what about this suddenly seemed appealing, but I definitely am very glad that I went for it. This trip has taught me more than anything that we really do only live once and need to take advantage of every minute!

After the jump, we headed back to the hostel,

watched Daniel Toolan attempt a local pizza eating challenge, and then headed off to the metro bar one more time. Gummy bears and vodka tonight. Yum! Canyoning tomorrow!

Due to my horrible Internet Connection, I was unable to upload the video on blogger...here is the link to it on facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=792090092974&ref=mf

Bike Riding, Balmer's Herberge and the Metro Bar

2009-10-12T20:21:00.003+02:00

After arriving in Interlaken, we could not check into our hostel. Patrice, Rachel, and I decided that we were going to take a bike ride around Interlaken while Katie, Mona, and Kelsey went paragliding. I guess I can take this time to spout off about how beautiful Switzerland is. We were in a town that was surrounded by the Swiss Alps, with a river running through it and two lakes on the sides. In Switzerland, the water is teal...it almost looks fake because it is so clean. Our tour guides told us that there was some special mineral that comes from the mountains and fills the lake that makes it turn that color. It was absolutely beautiful. During our bike ride we of course got lost a few times, but rode along the river for a bit, went to the lake, and just soaked in nature. Right when we got back from the bike ride, a torrential downpour of rain started, but it was okay because we were able to check into our hostel right then.

Napping was the first thing on our mind since we had not slept

in quite some time. After our nap, we went and got pizza for dinner at the spot right next door. We came back to the hostel to get ready. Our hostel is THE best hostel in

Interlaken, Switzerland. It actually is ranked

very high on some website...but we had an 8 person dorm room for our group. There was a complimentary breakfast, free bus passes, and most importantly a club downstairs with two for one happy hour from 9-10. After a few plus three drinks, we decided that we should get some sleep for the CANYONING TRIP that we had planned the next day. Little did we know that the rainstorm brewing outside had different plans.

Direction- Interlaken Ost

2009-10-12T19:28:00.004+02:00

Because it is going to be impossible for me to fit my trip to Switzerland in one blog post, I am splitting it into a few and not necessarily in the right order. Where do I begin...I know! The airlines. Swiss Air is officially my new favorite airline. Let's just put it this way. For a late night flight, I was graced with leg room, two Toblerone chocolate bars, a buttered pretzel, and a Heineken- all included in the ticket price. American airlines need to get their act together! Anyway, our flight arrived in Geneva, Switzerland at 11 o clock on Thursday night and our train didn't head out until the next morning at 7 or so, so our original plan was to sleep...did we sleep? No! We took the train into Geneva city center to explore with the knowledge that the next available train to the airport was at 5 in the morning.

We quickly realized that Geneva is not known for its night life so we started searching for "the place to be." After wandering through a Kebap restauraunt, two bars, a couple of conv

enience stores, and various streets, we got a tip about a local place that turned out to have a small club bar downstairs that was open until 5, and a cabaret show upstairs. Mona insisted that we go, and because we had happened across 100 francs earlier in the night, we went on in. We proceeded to watch a Cabaret show in French that we could not understand but could see very well. We watched Cinderella take it off to the PussyCat Dolls' "When I grow up" as well as the traditional "Hey Big Spender" number. Needless to say, it was hilariously awesome. On top of all that, we found out that one of the performers was from Kansas and

we talked to her about living abroad for a while. Afterwards, we went to the club

downstairs and danced away to the most strange mix of music I have ever heard. Everything from Madonna to Jewish Barmitzvuh (sp?) to Eminem. What a night haha. We went back to the airport and caught our train into Interlaken Ost where we arrived around 10 in the morning! Vilkommen!

Wish me luck!

2009-10-08T00:06:00.003+02:00

I am heading off to Interlaken, Switzerland via Geneva tomorrow and will be Canyoning on Saturday. I am sure I will have one interesting if not very scary story to relay upon my arrival in Barcelona. I am a little angry right now because vueling rejected my debit card...which seems to be functioning just fine everywhere else in Europe...booking Rome will just have to wait.

Tonight was my second salsa lesson. Sooo much fun, especially when i had to dance with someone who was 4'11'' and I had to throw her hands over my head. We quickly realized that we were not going to be partners for much longer. I definitely want to join some kind of club or take classes when I get back to UCSD.

This is the Kebap. The European answer to the burrito...I will miss it dearly upon my return to Taco Tuesday however I would never let down my true and strong allegiance to Mexican food which surpasses all other late night cravings.

Peace out!

The Sketchy Park Incident

2009-10-03T20:33:00.002+02:00

About one hour ago, I was sitting in a park watching ducks in a pond and it had just started to get dark. This kid rode by me on a bicycle through the park and off around the bend. I was waiting for Gavin, to come down on a run so we could walk back home together. After a while, that same kid on the bicycle rode by me again and it reminded me of how I used to ride my bike in continuous circles around my neighborhood when I was younger. Another kid, who looked a lot like the one on the bike, strangely enough, walked past me into the grassy area behind me and was hanging out by a tree. That was when I realized that something kind of strange might be going on. I wasn't really that worried because there was an older couple on the bench about ten feet away from me and it was a pretty public area. Then, that kid on the bike rolls up again, but this time he stops in front of me and says something in Spanish. I ignore him, but he continues to ask me for cigarettes or something. I wasn't really paying attention because I figured he would go away. After he asked me again, I stood up to leave rather than waiting. I notice that his friend who had been hanging out at the tree behind me had started walking towards me right before that. I gave him a sharp look straight at the face, pulled out my cell phone to make a phone call and walked off at a brisk pace. THEY DIDN't get me this time suckazzz haha.

Lesson learned- Do not sit in a park late at night watching ducks

Russians, Salsa, FC Barca and an electrical disaster

2009-10-01T18:14:00.005+02:00

Hola amigos! This last week has been one of the first that I could consider somewhat normal and low key in my time here in Spain. I have been here for just over a month now and I think things might start to settle down a little bit. The closing of the festival of Merce was fascinating. It was held at the Montjuic fountains last Sunday night. It was the most packed venue I had seen in a long while...I was worried about terrorists! They combined the music of movies, with fireworks and the famous fountain which I previously wrote about. My highlight was when they played Pirates of the Carribean, Lord of the Rings, and then Batman...it was awesome. It was also the best fireworks show I have ever seen in my life which is saying a lot coming from Lake Tahoe on the 4th of July.

Anyway, this week, I started class and soon learned that one of my classes was with "international students" meaning students from Peru, Russia, Singapore, the US, Spain, and France. On the first day, the Russian girls already started speaking out against the United States saying that we would not share the leadership of the IMF with other countries. This class is going to be fun. The teacher walks around and calls people out...for instance, a kid was wearing a Georgetown shirt and the teacher would yell, "Georgetown, do you think that Obama will sign the new agreements that the United Nations are going to make in place of Kyoto?" You have to know your stuff here and that is for sure.

This week I started taking salsa lessons with Kelsey, a friend from UCSD. Brent recommended the lessons and tried to get met to take some hip hop class with him as well-not happening. Needless to say it was super fun. When we came in there was this giant picture of a lady dancing and I jokingly told Kelsey she was going to look like that when we finished dancing. Brent then proceeded to tell me that the 4 times life sized poster was our teacher who happened to have won many salsa competitions in Barcelona. All I can say is WATCH OUT CHRISTINA! I am gonna dominate you in salsa when I get back...probably not haha.

Also, this week, I went to the FC Barca game which was one heck of a rush. I will say that the Spanish fans aren't as die hard crazy as everyone makes them out to be. They don't even sell beer in Spanish stadiums. Irregardless, it was a lot of fun watching FC Barcelona take down Dynamo Kiev in the Champions match 2-0 and to sport an overpriced Jersey and headband...mine was neon haha. I sooo wish our school had any sport worth watching bleh!

As I write, all of the power outlets in my house are being moved as well as the light switches which means. It is quite hectic and my battery life is running out, so I am going to have to upload pictures to this post mas tarde.

Spanish word of the day: JODER!

Correfoc

2009-09-27T19:41:00.005+02:00

Among the other small things that I did on Saturday, The Correfoc was the highlight...not just of that day but of Merce as a whole. It is a tradition in which a major street is shut down because the devils take it over. During the celebration, the gates to hell are opened. There is this giant red arch with a huge door and a bunch of devils come out onto this stage. They all proceeded to do some ritual, chanted a bunch, and then proceeded to start the parade. These troops of people would come through the gates of hell one at a time. Each one started with a drum line of about 20 people. Then they would each have a moving dragon float, or some kind of demonic looking creature that would come through. After that they would have a troop of like 20 people dressed up in devil costumes that were flame retardant and kind of reminded me of where the wild things are. The catch is that the devils floats are continually reloading massive amounts of sparklers and shooting them into and directly at the spectators. Additionally, a bunch of people go out into the parade and start dancing with sparklers flying all over them. They all had a lot of protective clothing like baggy sweaters and bandanas. I on the other hand, was wearing a long sleeved shirt...so I popped the collar and threw on my sunglasses for protection and joined in. IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN and a huge adrenaline rush. Brent and I charged in and started chanting and dancing with the devils one time. It was crazy. I got burn marks on the back of my shirt because sparks were burning it haha. On top of that, at the very end of the parade, there was this giant pig and Brent and I went right up next to it to take a picture and right as we got there we were covered in a massive amount of sparks. We may or may not have a picture as we practically hit the deck and dove for cover from the sparks. It was also funny because the whole event smelled like...you guessed it HAM. Everything in SPAIN REVOLVES AROUND HAM! aside-my lunch today was a bacon and cheese bocadillo--o and after all of that I saw fireworks! CRAZY!

La Fuente y senor kenneth dowling

2009-09-27T17:57:00.003+02:00

After the Castiles had finished, we decided to head back and get some tapas. It was hot. So hot that one of our friends fainted! She recovered quickly enough and, after we ate, Brent and I decided to venture off and try and meet up with some other friends at the Picasso museum. Our sense of direction got us there after many minutes of wandering around and finding a place to eat some pizza para llegar on the way. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in a park and then went to watch the fountains that night! Much more layed back then the morning and the activities in the following days. The next morning, we slept in...and thank God because getting up on Thursday was early after going to sleep on Wednesday so late. Brent and I met up in the afternoon and wandered around Las Ramblas to a place called The Fairy Bar. It is a little hidden restaurant off by the wax museum that closes every night at 10 o clock...which is not normal at all. It seemed like Rainforest Cafe meets haunted mansion meets pirates of the Carribean. It was a pretty cool little spot. At some point during our wandering we also found the D-Diva store. Anyone from ERC will understand why this was important haha. We got a call from Kenneth soon after and went over to say hi. It was nice to see another UCSD face up visiting from Grenada. We might plan a trip to go down and visit him. Brent and I grabbed some Sangria and had a laid back afternoon. We saw an amazing break dancing performance in the middle of Las Ramblas which I am sure you will see more of on Brent's blog haha. That night, we hung out around the beach at Barceloneta and then headed off to the Forum! It was a super fun night minus the subpar Spanish rap music at the concert.

Spanish Castiles!

2009-09-26T14:32:00.005+02:00

After standing in the crowd for over 3 hours, I was getting a little anxious and a little bit hot...I am not sure why I chose to wear black...anyway the Spanish Castiles finally started. This tradition traces back to the days when pirate attacks were a problem in Spain and young people would make towers at the beach on eachothers shoulders to see if there were ships on the horizon. Today it has evolved into an amazing tradition/competition. There are 5 teams from the five different barrios of Barcelona all dressed in different colors to represent their area. They come in with stacks of 4 people and parade through the square pushing the crowd out of the way as they go. Once they arrive they have all come in, there is a competition for the fastest towers, tallest, best type and such. Unfortunately, we could not understand the scoring as it was all in Catalan. However, the majority of the towers are about 5 layers of people tall and after the five layers are in place, little kids with helmets climb to the top to signify that it is completed. We had the unfortunate experience of watching one of the little kids fall off of the top of the tower to the ground! She was okay when all was said and done, but it was definitely a scare. I felt bad for the guy on the bottom that everyone was supporting because he was getting groped like it was nobody's business haha. All of the castle building took place right in front of the Catalan government capital building in Barcelona and a bunch of what must be important people were out on the balcony watching the kids. Of course, being the ignorant person that I am, I had no idea who any of them were. I got a video of the castle building, but I accidentally held my camera sideways not knowing that you cannot rotate videos as you can pictures...I will see if I can get it up a little later.

WE'RE SURROUNDED

2009-09-25T13:54:00.003+02:00

On the day of the Merce, I did not want to miss anything so I woke up at 8:30. Keep in mind I went to bed around 4. I headed over to Jaume I because at 11 o clock, the giants parade was going to happen and then at 12:30, the famous Castillos of people were going to happen. I met up with the gentle strawberry Mr. Costa and we headed over to the square. It was not that packed yet and when we got there we heard fireworks from around the corner. We decided to go check it out. As we got closer and closer, it was getting louder and louder. That was when we realized that we were walking towards a troop of locals that were shooting gunpowder rifles into the air and marching towards us. We had to turn around to walk away because it was getting so loud. They then proceededd to move into the center of the square that we were in and start shooting off the guns in the air and at everyone. Brent and I thought it would be a good idea to go to the edges of the square but then we found ourselves standing right next to the soldiers while everyone else was surrounded in the middle. They put on a really good show and were doing massive simultaneous firing as well as circle shots which I got a video of. Our ears were ringing for sure by the end of it and we realized that all the soldiers had earplugs...except for one who we decided must already be deaf.

After we finished watching the firing squad, which we had not planned on, we watched the giants parade...which turned out to really be a dance competition in these giant outfits...sounds cool and it was for the first performance, but we ended up watching about 14 performances which lasted for over 2 hours...why did we do this you might ask? We were saving our spots for the Castillos that were coming up next!

No se mueve este metro

2009-09-25T13:31:00.004+02:00

And so begins the multiple part blog story of the festival of Merce. Because so much has happened and I don't want to laundry list it all in one blog post, I felt I would write a miniseries recounting some of the things that have happened in this crazy weekend that has not even finished yet. The festival of the Merce was on a Thursday, but it really starts the night before. We decided that we were going to go to a jazz music festival in one of the parks. While we were at the jazz festival during the day, we saw this little kid going crazy in the rows in front of us. I of course took a picture. He is a future rock star. After realizing that the target audience was a few years older than what we were expecting, we headed over to a giant concert by the beach. These were both mildly entertaining, but I wanted more! One of the students in the program said that I should go to Forum, a metro stop, because that was where all the young people were going. We got on the metro and it was packed...i mean packed. It was to the point where, when the doors would open at a stop, people would spill out. Everyone in the metro was chanting all these songs about the Merce as well as my personal favorite "No se mueve este metro!" -This metro will not move. Everytime we would get to a stop people would hold the door handles so that people on the outside could not open their metro doors. It was crazy ridiculous. On top of that, people were drinking from the bottle, smoking weed and cigarettes, and one person even threw up! It was crazy! We arrived at Forum which happened to be a giant fair with a huge dance. We actually never ended up going into the dance section of it, but I did get a GIANT order of fries for 5 euros. They were the best fries I had ever had in my entire life and I soaked them in ketchup haha. After a while we headed home....I got to sleep about 4 in the morning. VALE!

Dublin, Guacamole, and Gummy Pandas

2009-09-22T14:25:00.003+02:00

I am going to Dublin, Ireland Wednesday, November 4th through the 8th to visit Cassie! Ideally Brent will be going with me...we will see what happens :p haha. Chupitos was amazing last night. I ordered 4 shots. I started off with the Willy Wonka which had a piece of Hershey's Chocolate at the top as well as a bunch of whipped cream. I then proceeded to get a Boy Scout where I roasted a marshmellow on the counter, plunged it into my drink to put out the fire, and then ate it. After that, I told the bar tender I wanted something special with Vodka so she made me something that was similar to the Harry Potter! It was vodka with a lime on the top except she started sprinkling sugar on it and lighting it on fire and making sparks fly everywhere. After that one, I went for the FURBY-haha nothing special about that one except for the name haha. Good times!

Tomorrow is our first test...worth 10% of our grade! Dios Mio...instead of studying, I just got back from making guacamole which was

amazing...LOOK AT IT! it was so amazing. I just got back to my room and there was a care

package from my Mom with the two most random

things in the world-Blueberry Acai

Gummy Pandas and Badger Foot Balm. There was no note...I think I am supposed to

understand why they were sent but there

definitely does not seem to be any reason at all. OK...now I am off to study for real real.

Any good boyscout knows

2009-09-21T19:02:00.004+02:00

After dinner tonight, I am going to Chupitos for a girl's bday party. All I can say is look at these pictures and wish me some major luck. Who would of thought that marshmellows go with hard liquor? Today was pretty chill. I got back my first grade with an 8.2 out of 10...DIOS MIO! I am not sure how that translates into American grades but I am sure it will all work out for the best. After class, I came home, ate my bocadillo, went to the ISA office...yes the bocadillos are getting old...and then headed back to Gaudi's parque otra vez to get to see some more of it. I got to the top of the mountain and found an area with four giant stone crosses that overlooked all of Barcelona...the view was amazing until this British guy came up and tried to sell me a Mojito that was apparently the best in Barcelona...after I refused, he tried to sell me a sandwich. I gave him the cold shoulder. Last night was the rainstorm of a lifetime with thunder, lighting, and a torrential downpour-I loved it! Peace out homies!

Johnny Maraccas and the travelling band

2009-09-20T20:55:00.005+02:00

Hola chicos! let me start this blog off with a shout out to everyone at ERC...I definitely found a poster of ERC in the middle of Barcelona...we truly are the global citizens that everyone speaks about I just got back from Valencia, the third largest city in Espana. In addition to its amazing architecture, this city made an interesting planning choice in the 50s. A major river used to run right through the city which in medieval times was a moat to protect the castle from intruders. However, after expanding past this river in present times, the river became a nuisance as every time there was major rainfall, it would flood. At one point, it flooded so badly that many homes were destroyed and people lost their lives. The city said, "SCREW THAT RIVER" so they took it out and rerouted it around the city and made a giant running park through the city where the river used to be...I know crazy.

I also found my fraternity name on top of

a church...

well thefraternity name plus a few letters...it looks like Lambda Chi Alpha Chi Lambda haha. At night we went out seeking a bar and wound up at a place called Johnny Maraccas. The bar tenders quickly took to us because we got there before anyone else and decided to give us a bunch of

instruments to play haha. It was amazingly fun! The drink of choice in Valencia is called "Agua de Valencia." It is basically a memosa with a twist and you get it by the pitcher. It was amazing. I definitely ate someone elses dessert that was sitting at the bar too...haha good times. I am super excited for my upcoming trip to Dublin, Ireland which I am going to be booking soon where I get to visit none other than Cassie Kerkhoff.

I just got off of Skype with Scott, Adithya, Bree, Erin, Deepak, Omead, and Jason and I must say that you guys truly are some of the best friends that I could ask for! I cannot wait until we all reunite again! It is going to be off the hook.

Misssing friends back home :(

2009-09-18T22:07:00.003+02:00

Missing all of the OLs back home for the last day of Orientation :( have fun all of you guys and be fierce like I know all of you are. To everyone in ResLife-I know that you are going to have an amazing upcoming year. I am trying to live through your facebook albums so keep posting the pictures!

As far as Barcelona is going, I finally found a church and figured out when they have mass. Next Sunday, I will be heading to church in the middle of the Gothic Quarter to a Spanish mass at noon. I was very happy to find out that the Catalan masses were earlier in the morning and that the Castillian Spanish masses were later in the day because now I can stay out later and still go to mass woot woot!

A blog every day keeps the phone bill away

2009-09-14T23:00:00.004+02:00

Amigos! It is 11:00 and let me tell you that I can really relate to Dr. Seuss today. The sun was not out, it was too wet to play so we sat inside all that wet, wet, rainy day...and booked our flights to Interlaken, Switzerland! That's right, I was somehow convinced that it would be a good idea to canyoning in Interlaken Switzerland. I will be jumping off ten meter drops into waterfalls and climbing through treacherous waters in the middle of October. Let's hope that this turns out well! As far as what I have been doing in the past couple of days, I went to the aquarium of Barcelona which is apparently a pretty big deal. I will just say that it aint got nothin on SeaWorld! Shamu will always hold a special place in my heart. I will post my favorite fish that I encountered for all of y'all to see. Today, it would rain torrentially in waves and then it would be totally fine and then it would downpour again. At night though, the lightning was crazy off the hook. I have never seen such scary looking skies. I decided that if there was an apocalypse in the near future, today's sky is what it would have looked like. Anyway, I am off to an early sleep like the good boy that I am so that I can be bright and fresh for whatever tomorrow throws at me. Keep it real you guys and keep me posted on whats going down in SD/when IHouse apps come out!

Mount Olympus

2009-09-13T10:04:00.003+02:00

Yesterday, I went to the Olympic Stadium. In fact, I was not trying to go to the Olympic Stadium, but rather the Spanish Village...We never found the Spanish village. Needless to say, it was a good mistake. I feel like Olympic Stadiums everywhere make you so happy. They are always kept so clean and are just amazing to walk around in. Patrice decided that it would be fun to do cart wheels and Rachel started spinning around and then this really big guy in an Indians Jersey and hat came up and asked me to take a picture. He looked like the most American tourist ever, but he did not speak any English haha. After hitting up the Stadium, we wandered through what must have been the Olympic Gardens and found a miniature version of Old Faithful with my dog Skip running around. We decided to head back to the entrance to the Olympic Stadium where there just happened to be a professional volleyball tour going on. On our way, we followed the music to get back and accidentally found ourselves in front of a Spanish rap concert. U-turn. More wandering. Arrival at Volleyball courts. We sat down and watched the match of America versus Brazil. There were toooons of Brazilian fans going crazy which simply must have been the reason that team USA lost. tsk tsk tsk...Twas a super fun day and I am looking forward to more like it in the future. I am getting sick which means no going out!

Miss you guys back home

Dan

DOW JONES

2009-09-12T14:43:00.002+02:00

I went to a really awesome themed bar last night called...well you guessed it, DOW JONES. It was a medium sized bar and it was not crowded...until about 30 Americans from our program made an entrance. The idea behind this bar is that it is supposed to be like the old New York stock exchange but instead of stock, the drink prices are constantly changing based on what people are ordering. There was a screen with all the most popular drinks and they would either have a red arrow down, a green arrow up, or a blue equals sign. They would always all change at the same time and there would be a flurry of ordering to get the best deals. One of my friends kept driving up the price of long islands all night haha.

Reality Check: In all reality, the drinks were all fluctuating about 50 cents to a Euro the whole night, but it felt like we were making the best deals of our lives.

The highlight of the night would have to be when the drink market crashed. These yellow sirens started flashing and all the drinks dropped to super low prices. This happens when people have not been ordering enough drinks. Everyone started screaming in the bar and flooded the bartender with orders. Super cool...I am hoping that there is something like that in the states so that I can hit it up when I get home.

Back from Sitges

2009-09-11T21:19:00.007+02:00

Amigos! Valle! Everyone says valle-pronounced bah:ley- all the time here, its all crazy. So today was my first excursion with ISA and we went to the nice beach city of Sitges. The town is famous for its playas which had the clarity of lake tahoe, the sand of the Bahamas, and about 5x as many gay people as Tiger Heat in Los Angeles packed onto the beach wearing speedos. Definitely twas' the best beach that I have been to since I have been here...to top it all off, right when I left I found out that the town had Mexican food! This is one thing that I am definitely missing...I have not had tortilla chips and sals/guac since I left. I definitely know what my first meal is going to be when I get back to the States.

Before la playa, I also took a trip to one of the worlds oldest/most famous wineries. It is called Codorniu. Here we got to explore the cellars, learn about how they create their champagne and then...the best part...there was this random tram ride through the wine cellar at like 10 mph which felt like the indiana jones ride at Disney La

nd haha. After touring the facilities, they of course busted open some bottles and allowed everyone to try their famous brew

Note: No drinking is allowed on ISA excursions!

It worked to their advantage, because I definitely bought a souvenir haha

Nothing bad ever happens to me...

2009-09-10T19:24:00.002+02:00

Soooo another crazy night happened and in order to explain the story I have to introduce some of my friends that I have been hanging out with. Gavin is my roommate; he goes to USD, is from Eugene, Oregon, and is a super chill guy. Patrice is from Ohio State and her roommate Rachel is from North Texas. Both girls are super fun and Rachel is not afraid of anything haha. Of course, Brent Costa makes a cameo in this story as well as Kelsey Schultz from UCSD, John from Ohio State, his roommate Mikel from Maryland and Katie Weisman from UMass.

Now that I got all the names right, lets see if I can do this night justice. The night started off with a simple plan, we were just going to head down to the beach and have a few beers and try to find a local bar to just hang out at. Of course, we bought a couple of six packs of estrella-the Spanish natty ice- to pregame so we wouldn't have to pay too much at the bar. After drinking for a while, Patrice, Rachel, Mikel, John, Gavin and I decided that we were going to meet up with Katie at her apartment. We start wandering through Las Ramblas-a district in Barce- and after getting totally lost end up calling a cab and instead of going to her place decide to go to the discotecha "Broadbar" where there is free entrance that night.

Drink count at this point, 3-4

Time: Approximately 1AM

Upon arriving, we decided that we would go across the street and drink a little before we went into the club. So, among other things we all either had a couple shots or a red bull vodka or a couple beers. We all had a pretty good buzz on so we decided to go into the club.

Drink count at this point, 5-6

Time: Approximately 1:30 AM

As I cross the street, who rolls up but the gentle strawberry himself Brent Costa and we all pour into the club to find our other friends Katie and Kelsey. After immediately getting separated in the crowd of hundreds of people, Brent and I go to the bar and order a couple red bull vodkas for 12 euros. That was the last of the money I wanted to spend that night which was good because immediately after, Kyke, a local club promoter, announced that the bar was totally free for the next hour. Immediately, we ordered two more drinks and then Rachel, Katie, and Patrice worked the bar tender like no other ordering five drinks at a time and passing them out. It gets pretty blurry after this point in the club but I do remember Patrice drinking three drinks at once and not giving me one, and everyone going literally crazy on the dance floor.

Drink count at this point, 12-18

Time: Approximately 3:30 AM

Being the responsible drunk I am, Katie tasked me with rounding up our group of people which had made out with eachother and strangers, took friends into the bathroom, and managed to find and break a bottle of wine in the street. The first cab went to McDonalds, and I went in the second cab. Brent went in his own cab as he did not live anywhere near us haha. Our cab included Gavin, myself, Patrice, and Rachel.

Drink count at this point...

Time Approximately 4:30 am

We had the cab driver drop off Patrice and Rachel first at the metro stop by their house...and they thought they were supposed to go down into the metro. After setting them straight, I told them to call me when they got home. After getting back to our place, I got a frantic phone call from Patrice because Rachel had been mugged and Patrice wanted to go after the guy. Needless to say, it was one crazy night...and the next day I found out that Rachel and Patrice had also taken 4 shots before we left for the very first bar.

Of course, this had to take place all before the first day of class

Jamon

2009-09-09T13:46:00.003+02:00

There are certain things in Spain that you just have to accept. One of them is that ham is the country´s breakfast, lunch and dinner of choice. The country revolves around all pork products. For instance, in Madris we saw un museo de jamon in 5 different places...translated this means ham museum. Upon further examination, we realized that this actually was a butchery/bar. Pringles have a different flavor here...you guessed it ham. When we got to my homestay, I found out that my roommate does not eat pork products. Our homestay mom would not believe it! She proceeded to go through about 6 different pork products in her refrigerator and asked him if he liked each one individually. Now she talks to me about him while he is in the room saying that he won´t eat anything. Now for lunch every day, I get a sandwhich with a ham product and my roommate gets whatever she can find in the refrigerator. Yesterday for lunch, I had bread and ham...haha. Needless to say, it must be hard for Jewish people to survive in this country.

DD

The Journey Begins

2009-09-08T22:46:00.001+02:00

So after my repeated efforts not to create a blog, I have decided that it is definitely the way to go. Where do I begin? I love this city and the lifestyle. A typical days involves waking at around 10:00 to breakfast, which is usually cereal or toast. I know, not that exciting. Lunch around 2-4:30 which also happens to be siesta when every shop not catering to the tourist population shuts down. I have had a bocadilla-the Spanish answer to the sandwich-every day since I have been in Barcelona for lunch. Then we are off again until dinner which seems to change every night but is usually somewhere around 9:30-10:30. After dinner, we get ready for the night. We will usually heard out around 11:00, which is also concidentally when stores stop selling alchol. The metro closes at 12:00 on weekdays, 2:00 on Friday nights, and stays open all night for Saturday. We usually get home around 4:30 after going crazy, then rinse and repeat.

The typical schedule is kind of like a college students dream come true...except the people in Spain do it for their whole lives. It is very common to see families with small children out at midnight walking around and enjoying the city. Can you really blame them though? The city is so beautiful that you want to stay out late every night. Sleep deprivation does not matter here and people are content talking late into the night.

As far as my living situation, I decided to go with a homestay which was as of yet an amazing choice. I live 2 blocks from La Sagrada Familia and right across from the Plaza de Torros in Barcelona. My room is pretty big, i wound up with a single, and my window looks right at the bull ring. So far I have been doing a lot of travelling, but mainly within the city. I just put a down payment on a trip to Morrocco and am slowly watching all of my Euros disappear. I am going to try and post some pictures to wrap up what I have done so far...