Barcelona in style

So pretty much the best way to view Barcelona is in one of these bad boys. We saw our first one after taking the metro and then walking uphill to Park Guell. We grabbed a brochure out the back then went to their website and found out a little more information. We rented ours at noon the next day and in two hours had seen the majority of the city.


Holly was a little nervous driving at first, but she got the hang of it and we were eventually cruising down the boardwalk on an amazing day.

We used their map as a "what to do in Barcelona" and managed to hit every stop along the way. In addition to checking off every spot on our list, we managed to have a pretty good time driving around the gocar. It kept up with all the cars on the street, and you would think we were driving a lambo with all the looks we got lol


If you're going barcelona, this is by far the way to see the city! More to come soon!

Carnival

Welcome to Carnival!

What to say about Carnival...I guess I'm just going to run through the days events as they played out. I woke up and needed a costume so I went over to the local Chino store and made the best 4 dollar purchase of my life:

I didn't really know what I was going to be, I just felt like a drum was a solid addition to any costume. I guess I'm all function over fashion. But I found some pseudo army threads and decided to go as an army drill sergeant/drummer dude/ didn't really care. Post drum purchase is when the craziness began. The roommates and I set off for the bus station at about 11:30 where the organizer, Elaine, said the buses were going to be.

Before I get into the day, let me tell you a little about our bus tickets. We had all given Elaine 22 euro and our passport numbers in order to receive our spot on the bus. Carnival is no joke, so pretty much everyone from school was going. In total she had booked 11, 60 passenger coach buses to shuttle us there and back. For those of you rusty on math that's 60 X 11 X 22 = 14.520 euro or roughly $20,000 US collected...not necessarily chump change. From the get go I was a little uncomfortable of handing over this money to a virtual stranger, and my suspicions were raised when I received my ticket:

Now to be fair, I took this after the trip so it wasn't as destroyed, but any ticket where the validating stamp is Homer Simpson lacks a little credibility and should have been enough foreshadowing for me to realize crazy times were ahead.

The day we were suppose to leave, we were all suppose to meet up there at 12 and then buses were leaving at 1 PM. As we were waiting at the city bus stop, we got a call from someone saying that Elaine now said we should go to the train station. Confused we waited for a call back for confirmation of where we were suppose to go. The final word was head to the bus station. When we got to the bus station, there were 3 of our other friends there waiting, but they just received word we were suppose to be going to Plaza Einstein now. Time was ticking so we decided to take a taxi to the plaza. Mid way on our ride we got another phone call saying now we're all meeting at the train station. So we switched destinations, then as we're driving we see all of our school including our amazing coordinator walking the other direction to some other plaza. We hopped out and followed but still weren't out of the woods. At one point Elaine told us our buses were in an opposite direction, so we went where she told us but no luck. After meeting other frustrated Carnivalians worked over by Elaine, being hung up on and given no direction, and the clock approaching 1 PM, we ran to the train station and finally found our bus...

That story is pretty typical of the following 30 hours in Cadiz. Here are the highlights of the actual Carnival experience:

-We got off the bus and the first thing we say was a drunk American from our school pounding a 40 as a group of people dressed as inmates cheered. This kid has been plastered every time we've seen him in Granada, last time he went to the bathroom and peed with the seat AND LID closed....so it was only fitting he was our first sight in Cadiz. He capped of his drinking performance by smashing the glass bottle he killed at everyone's feet...

Drunk kid in 15 years...

-My roommate Joe found a cow costume and our friend Adam purchased a Bull suit...so it was inevitable that the two were going to have to mate. We prepped the scene telling them we needed a photo, but I let the video roll and this is what followed:

-We ventured around for awhile and made it to the big plaza and main stage for musical performances. We talked with a group of Spaniards from Granada for awhile and then the music died down. We decided the only natural thing to do, being that I had a drum, was to start a Congo line. As soon as we did, the camera men picked us up and followed us as we snaked through the entire crowd. We're 85 percent sure Joe kicked a baby who was sitting on the ground somewhere, but we marched on regardless. For the entire 5 minutes the Congo line lasted, no one bothered to get a good picture of our faces plastered on the big screen...so you can just imagine us there:

Post Congo line, we were where the guitar player is

-After our fame with the congo line, we found a band of drummers down the street. Seeing as how I just happened to have a drum I decided to join in lol

-We met up with some other CLM students after that and I took one of my only normal pictures. She had the audacity to question me on my Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles knowledge...needless to say I shut that down immediately by referencing my posssion of all 3 mobies, the Shreddar Dome, and The Blimp.

As soon as we met up with everyone, the rain began to fall. Sprinkles at first, then basically a full out monsoon. Cadiz is right off the water so they get it pretty bad when it decides to come down. Here is the Cathedral plaza that was packed with costumed people 20 minutes before:


- The next objective was to find shelter, our bus was scheduled to leave at 6 am and it was currently 1...so 5 hours in the rain wouldn't be the best idea. I got lazy so I had my roommate wheel me around in a trashcan for awhile. Obviously that ended badly but I successfully slid out after my crash landing without falling in glass or puke (which is impressive given the previous picture). After hanging out on the stoop of a bank for awhile, we decided to venture to the underground parking lot for shelter. It was good while it lasted, but over eager parking lot security guard called in the policia to escort the 30 or so people quietly using the space as a homeless shelter.

New meaning to parking lot pimpin...

-The rain continued post parking garage eviction, and I was thoroughly socked, so I put in my iPod and embraced. If there is anyway to make being freezing cold and wet in a foreign city for 3 hours fun, it's by dancing in it lol. On a journey back to the bus we climbed fences to avoid the mini oceans that had accumulated on the street and went twosies in a pot-a-potty for shelter (freshly sanitized so it smelled rather pleasant). When we were able to eventually board the bus, we were drenched down to the core. Socks, shoes, boxers, everything. The bus ride back was only 5 hours, so I didn't freeze completely...not.


After returning, I had some of the best sleep of my life. As I regained feeling in my extremities, I wasn't bitter about the expereince at all. At the end of the day I guess I just realzied that I'm in Spain and everything that happens just adds to the story. So far it's a pretty good read.

Class Photo

Julia, "Esmerelda", Abrihim, Professora Emilia, Me, Lauren, Maggie, Ms. Hong Kong
(all names in order from left to right, as given by our Professora)

Great news everyone! Today in my email inbox I received our class photo. I hope this gives you a little more clarity into my schooling and earlier posts...

No Hablo Espanol

So back in Granada I have to do this little thing called school. I guess that´s why I´m over here so I figured I should tell you a little about what it´s like.

Well it´s school.

That about wraps it up. 4 hours a day all spanish. Nothing much else to know. However there has been quite a bit of interesting moments in class. Language barriors lead to some awkward moments. Hopefully I can relay the images through words but if not, just think I guess you had to be there after each of the following.

1. The class is about 7 students 3 American, 1 German and 4 Chinese. The teacher had us put up name tags so she could read our names, but a week into class the teacher still couldn´t get one of the Chinese girls names correct (Xin Ling, pronounced zin ling). She was all over the board from Josie to Zzzz to Chin Chin. Eventually, she gave up and told Xin Ling, "Well, um, your new name is Esmerelda, k?" And that was it.

As close to a picture of Esmerelda I could find

2. Speaking in all Spanish, we rely on gestures and actions to make sense of the new vocabulary presented. Most things presented are pretty straight forward but sometimes things get awkward. My teacher is a 67 year old, gray haired woman. Intelligent, effective, but she´s a bit of a nut. While demonstrating what a Cantante (singer) is she raised her arms over her head and did the beyonce "uh oh" dance....If you need to be reminded of how awkward that is please reread my description of my professora.

3. Xin Ling or Esmerelda has been an...interesting student. She worked extremely hard but had difficulties with the accent and putting sentences together. So one day the teacher was asking about our significant others and it got around to Esmerelda´s turn. She asked if she had a boyfriend and we all assumed the answer was no, but to our surprise she said yes. The conversation continued and our teacher asked what his name was, then Esmerelda replied that she didn´t know and that they just live together in the dorms. We all thought this was odd, and humorous, so our teacher pushed further and asked where he was from. Esmerelda always gets really excited when she knows how to say what she wants in Spanish so without hesitation she replied El soy de Senegal. Now normally this isn´t funny, interracial dating is common place and not really humorous, but picturing these two together would be the most awkward odd couple of all time.


4. In order to find out how to say something in Spanish, we have to ask "¿Como se dice _____ en Espanol?" The blank is usually filled in with "chicken" or "bathroom" or simple words in phrases. However one day our star pupil Esmerelda raised her and asked "¿Como se dice, I´m sorry but I have to leave early beacause I have an appointment that I made a long time ago and I cannot miss it because I won´t be able to reschedule and they will make me pay for the visit even if I do not show up?" ...and she was dead serious

5. My favorite day thus far has been the food day. As we were learning names of various foods we got to huevos, or Eggs in english. One of the girls had absolutely no idea what they were so our teacher began to demonstrate again. She flapped her arms like a chicken and we all followed where she was going. It got interesting after that. To demonstrate the egg connection, she proceeded to squat down in the middle of the classroom and act like she was laying an egg, using her hand to represent the egg as it left her body and landed on the floor (picture this in your head now). the next step was to show that you eat the egg, so she picked up the "egg" off the floor and put it in her mouth... I don´t know if you can follow that decription, but the resulting idea of what a huevo is was not as clear as the professor had intended. Instead the student was shocked and appauled at the idea of eating her own...you get the idea.



6. We ask a lot of questions in class and one day I was asked who in our class I would like to take out for dinner? Not wanting to be the awkward guy hitting on my classmates I took the opportunity to earn some brownie points with our elderly teacher. I responded that I would take Emilia (our professora) but apparently it didn´t translate as easily as I had thought. the teacher stopped what she was doing and gave me the head tilted ice stare and then replied in English "You want to do me, eh?" Now I don´t get embarassed much, but as the class burst in to laughter I glowed and prayed that our teacher didn´t try and take me up on the "offer" lol

So even if it is 4 hours a day, I´m lucky enough to have some good moments to keep me on my toes and laughing.

There's no place like rome...

Broke Down Ice Cream Sign

Don't let this jenky ice cream cone picture distort your view of Rome. Not only was the gellato or ice cream there amazing (I sampled twice daily) the city itself is legit...no wonder they film so many movies there! After flying in I had no place to stay and nothing on my agenda so I wondered to the first hostel I saw. The building had two hostels both open with resonable prices, but I saw two blondes walk into The Mosiac so needless to say, my choice was made then and there.

Being alone in a city I found out pretty much sucks so I made quick friends with the blondes, who I found out preferred to be called Lucy and Maria. They said they were on their way out to do touristy things so I jumped on the tour. To my surprise, Maria was a virtual Roman Atlas and knew all of the historical attractions and their significance. I basically saved a good 40 euros on a tour by tagging along.

The Pantheon

Roman Colliseum

Fountain of Trevi

I got a little confused which monument was which so I called the Fountain of Trevi the Spanish Steps...all I knew was that it was cascading like steps so it seemed logical after walking for 3 hours. We got harrassed by a local crazy on the bus ride home but it was all in Italian so the only thing I got out of the tirad was "Christopher Columbus". Don't know how it quite ties in but I'm sure it was in some sort of negative connotation.

Later on the trip I got to visit some fellow Huskies and got to see their places of residence. Let's just say I got shafted in Granada. Jasmine's bedroom is the size of my entire 4 bedroom apartment and Weiser lives above Campo de fiori, a fruit market plaza during the day turned virtual Cancun Spring Break destination at night. If you couldn't speak Italian no problem, cuz the "Drunken Ship" was basically Earl's on steroids filled wall to wall with Americans

Jazzie-fizzle and Me

Huskies: Lucy, Me, Julie, Weiser, Tawnie

Rome did have it's share of weird stuff....

Pretty sure that's the author and subject...but still

Got Rice?...on Pringles tho?

But at the end of the day, Rome is by far my favorite city in Europe thus far. You can't duplicate that kind of history. Even if the only chicken I found was not the greatest...



The biggest lesson I've learned in my travels is that hospitality and kindness go along way in this world. Everyone in life is usually focused on their star player, numero uno and I get that. But at the end of the day, you never know the value of reaching out to someone else. A friend running off no sleep taking you out for lunch, or making you some Nutella toast, or planning a pub crawl for you to have a good night. All small gestures but were the difference in making my trip a success.

Even further the kindness of strangers goes even further. I arrived in Rome without a place to stay or anyone to roam the streets with and because of the kindness of two girls from Boston College I had one of the greatest experiences of my life. Thank you. I will be sure to pay it forward...

Paris Rhymes With Whack

I should have known Paris was going to suck when this was the first AD I saw.....

It didn't get much better after that. I came to Paris for two reasons:

1. To visit my summer coworker and Paris guide extraordinaire Holly and
2. To see the Eiffel Tower

So based on those two requirements I guess you can say my visit was successful. But other that that I would say that it was a bust.

I have a Bucket list and on it I have visiting the Eiffel Tower, Roman Collesuim and Egyptian Pyramids. So this was stop 1 of 3 while I´m abroad and to be honest it wasn´t all that impressive. I will say that it creeps up on you faster than a Spanish dude on a blonde at the club tho. I got off the metro at the "Eiffle Tower" stop and couldn´t even see it. I looked around, did the whole awkward 360 tourist with a map spin, then just started following the general flow of people. As soon as I passed a building on my right, BOOM, there it was. The place was packed with tourists including this special lady wearing a brown furry Chris Brown hat:

They decided to close the elevator to the top because it was snowing so all I got was a 2nd level view of the surroundings which was still pretty neat. However I would have liked to see the spot where Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker we´re fighting Kenji. After that I went to the Louve Museum which houses the Mona Lisa...but they like to close on tuesdays...yes tuesdays, so I didn´t get to see squat. I jumped on the metro to see Notre Dame next. I got off and saw the Bird Lady from Home Alone 2´s husband in the park:

After all my sight seeing I met up with Holly, for a little night out. We met at the Moulin Rouge which has extremely over priced tickets to see breast-a-ses.

Especially when I went down the street and got my favorite kind of breast-a-ses for 5 euro:


So far this is the best Chicken I have had outside of the US. 2 piece with hot wings was on point and if I ever go back to Paris, the "Chicken Corner" is my number 1 spot. The Crepes were also pretty good.

It was Australian Day at the local Aussie Pub so we got free bottle openers and key chains which was a fun perk to an otherwise disappointing day. My last 3 hours in Paris were far greater than the previous 48 combined so thank you Holly! I´m just chalking the rest of the day up to experience and glad to have seen good people!

Getting to the airport was another fun experience as I unknowling booked at the jenkiest place in rome. The companies over here should really use that old bank commercial with the "It´ll cost ya" line because the charge you for everything. 5€ for an online check in (which they require you to do), 15€ per checked bag, 3€ for a drink, 5€ for a hot dog, etc.

Then they also cut costs anywhere they can. For example let us analyze the following photo:
Most obviosuly, we have to walk to the plane. No big deal in normal conditions, but if it was pouring down rain I woulda been a little pissed. You can also notice the high quality of the boarding sign to Rome Ciampino airport. Finally, the budget minded airport decides garbage cans are too much of an expensise so they hang the bags around to suffice. Maybe I would have a little more positive review of the airline if the wings didn´t shake constantly through the whole flight and the passangers didn´t give the pilot a round of applause for a safe landing. But thats a big maybe...

Sevilla

To start...Sevilla is pretty legit. The bus ride here was done in style on the VIP bus, with outlets and wifi. We got in and were a good distance away luckily...someone in Sevilla came up with this dope rent-a-bike idea:

So 5 euros for the week and we were on our way:


We got to the hostel, unloaded, and went out to explore and eat. Would up at a pizza place that I wasn't to thrilled about, and it turned into an amazing dinner. In the process Alicia went to get money out of the bank and the ATM went all hungry hungry hippo on her card so she was left with only a credit card for the trip.

The next day we went off on our bicicletes (that's spanish for bikes) and Seattle weather decided it wanted to come too. We probably rode around for a good hour in the pouring rain and it was one of the best parts of my day. We finally arrived at the FC Sevilla soccer stadium and mall just as the rain was letting up.

As we walked to the gate we encountered yet another type of Hustler found in Spain....the ticket hustler. This old dude spotted us as we're walking and had a SUPER good deal on tickets. 150 eruo seats for 75! We said no and they immediately dropped to 50 euro...sketch. So while this is all in spanish, and the guy pulls out his tickets and shows what could possibly be real tickets, I'm just sitting back not really trying to drop 50 euro for a ticket. The hustler says u won't get any tickets for 50 so we go up to the window and ask and they give us 5 seats, together for 50 a pop. The hustler is ballsy and pulls us away from the window when we're trying to get our tickets, but we were just trying to get the sure thing. Especially cuz there were another 50 or so people in line but he was only targeting us....sketch ball. We got our tickets and the dude reached for em' trying to show us how we got a bad section or something but we weren't havin it so we bounced and the dude yelled some Spanish insults at me that ironically were the same as on a shirt we found at the mall 20 minutes later:


It means bad boy....I think i was more disappointed in the calibur of insults in Spain rather than offended. The game was legit and our seats had a great view. We moved down at the half and got better seats and Sevilla won so it was pretty legit. My boy Joe yelled at the opposing team in spanish and got an ovation from a bunch of old Spanish dudes, also pretty legit.

Everyone got McDonald's after, but I only had one thing on my mind....Chicken. I had seen a KFC the night before right after we ate at the Pizza spot. I left my crew and ventured out to find it again, luckily my nose lead me straight there. Needless to say the only thing that can make a great day greater is chicken of the fried variety.

This KFC didn't have any popcorn chicken but it was a double decker with a balcony up top and upscale decor. Overall I was satisfied and the original recipe is consistent from country to country.

Sunday was an exploration day and we just cruised through the city catching the sites. Unfortunately I didn't bring my student card so I couldn't get in most places, but still a fun day.
Everyone left around 1 to go back to Granada but my flight for Paris was at 9 am the next day. I wasn't gonna waste money on another night in the hostel so I found an Irish Pup that had the football games on and watched the playoffs until 430 am. Then it was a nice bike ride to the airport where I slept awkwardly across the rows of seats until my boarding time came for Paris!

The club

Spanish/Mexican Bathroom

The DJ setup at the club

"Hair Clipper" - no name needed

So last night was pretty legit, went out with the crew to a Mexican restaurant and basically took it over with American students. There was prolly about 40 of us in the little joint. The place was pretty authentic too as you can see by the picture of their lil bathroom which included a crank sink and can for the bowl.

In preparation for the night, we went out and got some "hair clipper" to get fixed up. They have these little minmarts, mostly run by Chinese, that have literally EVERYTHING you need. Quality it may lack, but if variety is the spice of life these people are on that Wasabi level...even if that is Japanese

After dinner at the mexican place we went out to the hip hop club we frequent ever week. We brought some new amigos out and had a pretty good time. However there are always some interesting creepers in the club. Take the following for example:

Numero Uno: The Sleeper Creeper

This dude was dancing so hard (completely awkward I might add) he put himself right to sleep. He was a drink or two away from a full epileptic seizure so luckily he got his rest before anything major happened.

Numero Dos: The Keeper Creeper

So this dude was the high slach low light of the night. He found himself a nice little latino...but im pretty sure she was hookin and they definitly made two trips into the bathroom together throughout the night. But once he found his victim/service provider he stuck with her all night.

Numero Treis: The Grim Reaper Creeper

So I don't know if you can tell....but this dude is pretty damn old. Beyond the outfit and out of date hairstyle reminecent of my dad's from 85' till 07' (thanks again for cutting it pops, the new look is much improved), he had the dancing confidence of a broadway star with the ability of Barney. At lease he was living out his later years to the fullest so props for that.

Coley-zzie Homemaker

Notice the lack of TP...

Drying clothes in Spain

"The George" Grill

So most of the days here are starting to be the same: Wake up 5 minutes before class, learn for 4 hours, eat, sleep, internet, kick it, sleep. I´m excited to start traveling this weekend and mix things up a little bit. I´m going to Seville this weekend to check out a soccer game, then probably the Canary Islands to get some sun, then maybe Paris or London, still haven´t decided.

Today in class was rather amusing. We have a couple of catz who are pretty interesting. They´re nice people but not very focused on the student part of the whole trip (I guess I could be included in that category). Or maybe they just like to have fun in class. Either way they were getting on this other girls nerves. She´s an older lady who is only learning Spanish to help her kids out who just moved here, so for her its all about the learning not the credit. She always gives them the coldest looks and today they were talking about how they wanted to go play outside with the little kids across the street. The other girl was like hey, you can go play with them, but I´m tryin to learn. Unfortunately they didn´t here. Then they got into an argument about how the Muppets weren´t on Sesame Street and blah blah blah...It was funny to watch tho.

I have to tell you all that I´m becoming a pretty dope chef. I´ve made my third batch of ham and cheese sandwiches on the spanish equivalent to the George Forman and let me tell you, they are beyond delicious. I might step up to the pasta game by the end of the week, but I don´t wanna rush things.

I also have discovered the world of air drying clothes. We don´t really have a dryer, except for this clothes rack so I came up with the genuis idea of putting it in my room and cranking up the space heater, making the room hot for the clothes to dry faster. But I kinda forgot about that energy is never destroyed it just changes form or whatever and realized that once I got back to my room, the water from my clothes had just evaporated and moved over to my bedding. Long story short...humidty sucks.

I finally broke in the biday...by necessity rather than choice mind you. Still can't tell you if it was a positive or negative experience, but it got the job done. I figure at one point in ever man's life he needs to experience another countries culture so this was my attempt to be open minded.

Went out last night to my favorite Tapa spot and got the hook up as usual. It´s pretty funny cuz I always go with other people and order a drink just like them, but when the tapas come out I usually get like two sandwiches, fries, and a crab popper and they get a plate with a sandwich lol It´s good to know people lol

After that spot I went to met up with some other people, and definitely got lost. I basically went on an unguided tour of the area known as the Albacyin and wound up on top of the valley with a dope view of the alhambra. Lesson being...buy a map

Hustlin...

So the last couple of days have been pretty entertaining. My roommates are pretty legit and even when we go out to just chill, something always pops off. It's like a comedy show everytime we kick it. For example, we were walking to class yesterday and walked by this cement truck and construction zone. All of the sudden we heard a loud crash and got sprayed with something. Somehow the first thing i did was cover my mouth and say, "tell me that's not piss" instead of ducking for cover. We never found out but I'm going on the assumption it was water....

We went out to eat again with the hustler, and this dude formed a team with ol' quatro seis from a few posts back. Now don't get me wrong, both these people are pretty cool on their own. Fun to talk to, chill people, but HUSTLERS lol We went to a chill spot had a good time and when it came time to pay...the lil tag team collected the money as usual. Then after everyone had put in their share, all of the sudden we needed some more coin to cover the bill. No one stepped up cuz we all were covered and eventually one of the members of team hustle stepped up and said they forgot to pay for their salad cough cough. Same buisness went down later on at the tapa bar, these guys are good.

On a lighter note...we saw this dude with foil highlights when we were eating...wtf. I don't think any further comments are needed.

We still don't have hot water, so I today I went on an excursion to find some gas. Apparently it's like a third world country over here and the gas guy just drives around, stops, and honks. Then everyone runs out to the street and gets their fix. My new plan is to pee while I shower so at least I'll be semi warm....

I met a Delt at a bar here, and I'm learning more and more how small of a world it truly is. I went back to La Agurillia or whatever its called to get my favorite tapas and got some pics to show you...basically just imagine a mixture of delicious with amazing and thats the spot. I got a picture with my dude Mikal, it's a little blurry but he's a g and hooks it up everytime we come thru.

Tonight it's suppose to go down big so I'm going to prepare for my first real weekend here!