The Human Towers and Montjuic

Once again, our bodies needed a little time to recover after our crazy night, so we didn't get Sunday started 'til around 11 a.m. But we definitely started it off on the right foot. After "El Correfoc", we didn't think we would see anything else as cool, but The Human Towers proved us wrong. Just as it sounds, these group of gymnasts stack one on top of another to create a massive tower of people. The event started with some pyramid building with about 15 people along the base. But that was just a warm-up. The highlight of the event was the tower-building. These gymnasts were capable of creating a tower 9 people high! The craziest part was the fact the last couple of people were about 6 years old. So, you have these children about 40 feet in the air. It was unbelievable and terrifying to watch. One false step, and the whole tower would topple. After lunch, Andrew, Ben and I went to El Parque de Montjuic where the Olympic Stadium from 1992 is. This park, elevated above the city, gave us a different view of the city and Mediterranean. After we finished walking through this park, we met up with the girls at the beach for the third time. After the beach, Tori, Andrew, Ben and I did our last sight-seeing at the Arc de Triomphe (not the one in Paris, of course). By this point of the weekend, we were all extremely tired and weren't looking forward to another restless night on the train. We checked out of our hostel and headed to the train station to head back to "reality".

"El Correfoc"

After sleeping in Saturday morning, we started our day at La Boquería again. From there, we walked through one of Gaudí's buildings, La Pedrera. It was originally designed as an apartment building, but now serves as an office building. The architecture within the building, though, was just as impressive as outside. The roof also offered an awesome view of the Sagrada Familia just down the street. We then proceeded to the Gothic Corner of Barcelona which is the medieval section of the city. The Cathedral, La Seu, is at the heart of the area and was, of course, beautiful. After grabbing lunch, we decided to treat ourselves to a little bit longer day at the beach.

For as relaxing as our day was, Saturday was the complete opposite. The craziest night of my life started around 9 p.m. with "El Correfoc" or "Fire Run". None of us had any idea what we were getting into. We all assumed this "parade" was going to be set up similar to the States. Ya know, roped off with big floats and some cool fire tricks. Not at all. Apparently we should have listened to the people telling us to wear "protective eyeglasses, long sleeves, and a hood". El Correfoc consists of hundreds of people dressed up in Devil costumes wielding a device that's a cross between a blow torch and a sparkler. Not only did these people not care if they hit pedestrians, that was their goal. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought this was some sort of terrorist attack. BUT, of course I couldn't sit on the side for too long. Once I got the courage, I was testing my luck by jumping in and out of harm's way. After about 2 hours of staring in disbelief and dodging sparks, the group decided to head across town to Plaza Espanya.

At this beautiful plaza, we watched "one of the ten best" fountain light shows in the world. Starting at 11 p.m., Classical music was blared throughout the square while the lights and water of the Magic Fountain were timed to the rhythm. It was amazing; so "mind-blowing", in fact, we stayed another hour to watch it again and danced to the music. So, around 1 a.m. we did the college student thing, and headed to a bar for some drinks. But, as you should have learned by now, nothing in Barcelona is ordinary. This bar, Chupitos, offered over 200 shots with anything you could imagine. I enjoyed a "Willy Wonka" while the girls had a "Boy Scout" and Ben "treated" my roommate to the "Viking". It was a wild night to say the least and I am still alive to talk about it, Mom.

"Gettin' Rowdy Like Gaudí"...

...-Quote from Fried

Our overnight train from Madrid arrived around 8 a.m. in Barcelona on Friday. Despite the fact none of us got sleep on the train, we couldn't check in to our hostel 'til after 1 p.m. so we sucked it up and hit the main sights of Barcelona. We started off at La Boquería, a big outdoor food market, for a pick-me-up breakfast before our long day. We met up with Ben who showed us the main attractions, dominated by Antoni Gaudí. We started by walking up La Rambla, the main strip filled with shops and street performers. From there we walked through La Plaza de Catalunya to a couple of Gaudí's buildings. This architect was brilliant and his works our absolutely incredible. His buildings are unique and look like they came out of a Dr. Seuss book. My favorite was La Sagrada Familia, a beautiful church characterized by its massive towers. The church was started in the 1880's and won't be complete until 2026. The twelve towers represent the 12 apostles and one side of the church is a tribute to Christ's birth and the other to Christ's death. Another of Gaudí's works is Guell Park, which we went to after the church. The Park offers incredible views of the city and also is home to the world's longest park bench (according to Ben). This park was another architectural phenomenon. (If you can't tell, I'm a new Gaudí fan)

After the park, we decided to hit up the beach. The water felt fantastic and I can now say I have swam in the Mediterranean. The beach was a little crowded, though, and had too many of the wrong women going topless. But I guess that's Europe for ya. Friday night, we watched a fireworks show from the beach while enjoying a little sangria. After fireworks, we caught some of a jazz concert, but we were too tired to stay up much longer. Sleep was necessary after being up for about 36 hours

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Have MERCÉ!

This weekend was probably the worst time to not have a camera considering it was by far the most incredible weekend this semester. Some of my friends and I went to Barcelona on the weekend that happened to be the biggest festival of the year, La Mercé. (Dad, the title is a shout out to you, I'm sure it brings back memories for the fam, hahaha) One of my best friends and our personal tour guide, Ben Friedman, showed us every in and out of the city possible in 3 days. We were constantly running around, trying to absorb as much of the city as possible. Barcelona provided so much to do and so much fun that I am going to divide my posts day-by-day. This blog won't do it any justice but I will try as best I can to explain how AMAZING Barcelona was in words....

UPDATE

So peeps, apparently I have been feeding you incorrect information about my trip to Toledo. As was so wonderfully pointed out by my lovely mother, there is much more evidence suggesting that El Greco actually was born in Greece (So, he's not as crazy as I thought he was). I incorrectly assumed the native Toledoans (Toledans? Toledonites?...) were giving me correct information. And we ALL know what happens when you ASS-U-ME. Anyway, many more historians agree that El Greco was in fact born in Crete and moved to Toledo "at a young age". I apologize for my errors, but I hope you didn't go spreading this rumor too far. My mom is probably the only one reading these blogs anyway.....

Now that's out of the way, I failed to mention in my earlier post that I visited Tori's (my girlfriend, for those of you who are unaware) host family for dinner. A Spanish version of "Meet the Parents", haha. I think I made a good impression, though. I tried to use as much Spanish as possible and felt like I could somewhat keep the conversation flowing. Over dinner, though, Josu poked fun at my American accent. I tried to explain that I can't roll my "r"'s. (And, no, dad, he didn't try to teach me by saying "Burro" or "Rrruffles have rrrridges") The night went really, though, on the whole. Gloria even invited me back for some of her paella. Who knew I could be charming in both English and Spanish? Haha.

To say the least, Tori has a much better situation than me. She only lives with her parents, Gloria and Josu, who are extremely nice and welcoming. Gloria cooks fresh food (mainly fish) every night and speaks English relatively well. Josu doesn't speak any English, but I still managed to carry a sports conversation with him. He used to play soccer in the Premiere League and coached after his career.

Finally, for those frustrated few who can't leave comments, Now you can! I was getting frustrated at the lack of comments on my blog, thinking that no one was reading it. Silly me, the settings were set so that only users could leave comments, but now everyone can. So comment away!

Day Trips and "THE NIGHT IN WHITE"

So, this weekend was characterized by my unpreparedness. Basically, whenever I should have had my camera for some awesome pictures, I either forgot it, didn't charge it, or broke it. Therefore, this post won't be accompanied with some awe-inspiring shots. On Friday, Tori and I took a train to Salamanca which is about 2 hours outside of Madrid. Once again, this city was filled with history and was absolutely gorgeous. The Cathedral here was the best one I have seen thus far (that statement wouldn't have meant anything a few weeks ago, hahaha) and we could actually take pictures inside. But of course, my camera was dead. Also, the Plaza Mayor and the river here were beautiful. Words just don't do it justice. Check out Tori's pictures for the full effect. After a disappointing search for nightlife (we ended up hanging out at a bar filled with 30- somethings singing the "Grease" soundtrack), we headed back to our hotel for the night.

After an unfulfilling breakfast of Nutella and croissants, we met up with a group from school on Saturday and continued to explore Salamanca. The university here is supposedly very good and famous throughout Spain. Interesting fact: It was founded in the 1400's (that could be made up) and when each class graduated back then, they celebrated by slaughtering a bull and mixing its blood with an oil, which they proceeded to use as ink to write their names on the wall encompassing the campus. So there's this huge wall in Salamanca with a bunch of 600-year old names written in red (That part's true). Moving on....

So we returned to Madrid on Saturday evening just in time to enjoy La Noche en Blanco. This is an annual festival celebrating the full moon where everyone stays up all night in the streets of Madrid drinking, mingling, and going to museums for free. A bunch of us met up and wondered around the city for a few hours. Knowing I had to get up early on Sunday, I called it a night at the weak hour of 3 am. (This is going home early on a normal weekend).

Thanks to Tori, I was able to get up Sunday morning at 8 am to meet the bus at school for our day trip. Of course, the one day trip that involves winding roads on the edges of cliffs is the one where I am horribly hungover, hahahaha. As Tori said, it was comical at how miserable the morning was. But all in all, the day trip was totally worth it once we got to the last mountain town. This town was in the shadow of an ominous SuperCrag looking mountain. (Appreciate the reference Nickelodeon fans. D-D-D-DO YOU HAVE IT, GUTS!! Let's get the scores from Mo', MO!..... hahahaha that was more for me than you). So, this town's castle was situated so that it not only had a sweet view of that mountain, but it looked out over the river below. I had to settle for a mental picture because at lunch my camera fell out of my pocket and somehow broke. I was upset to say the least and still am.... help, parents!

That was yet another successful weekend in a nutshell (a rather large nutshell, at that). Sorry for the lack of pictures. Hopefully I can get this camera thing straightened out before I head to Barcelona next weekend!

Gettin' Our LondON

In honour of our voyage to England, I will be writing (as best I can) in the Queen's English for this update. So, we landed in London on Friday night and had to catch a couple of buses in order to get to our hostel. The hostel, however, was a wee bit rubbish to say the least. The room was barely big enough for the bed, and in terms of comfort, imagine sleeping on a cargo net covered with a sheet. Not so fun, but the trip tired us out and we slept as best we could for the night. The next morn, however, we rose with the sun and embarked for the city. We discovered a FREE walking tour of London, so we joined the queue immediately. Marcel, our guide, took us to all the sights of London, as well as filling us in on its history. Did you know that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell and not the tower itself? Anyway, this tour led us by the Wellington Arche, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the such. Afterwards, we filled up on some delicious grub. At lunch, we purchased tickets through the same company (NewEurope, take a gander if you're studying abroad) for a Pub Crawl that same night. After a quick shut-eye, we started our Pub Crawl around 8 p.m. which included entry into 5 bars/clubs and a few free drinks. The night was fun, but the English don't quite know how to drink like the Irish. We called it a night around 12:30 and proceeded to our sorry excuse for a room.

On the Lord's Day, Andrew departed us early in the morn, so Tori and I were left to fend for ourselves. We decided to see as many of the museums as possible (free museums, that is). We started off at the National Gallery Museum, but were quickly ushered out due to an emergency evacuation. (We still don't know why). We then headed to the Science Museum for the dork in me, and dabbled in the hands-on Physics experiments. Once done there, we returned to Trafalgar Square to enter to National Gallery and the National Portrait Museums, respectively. We saw works by Picasso and Monet (Including "Water Lily Pond"), as well as many others, in the Gallery. (I also saw plenty of Monet's on the London streets, if you know what I mean) After the Portrait Museum, we grabbed a quick bite to energize ourselves for a long, cold walk back. On the return trip, we stopped by Hyde Park to see the Kensington Palace where Princess Diana lived. Considering we walked throughout the whole day, this was plenty of sites for us in one day, so we went back to our hostel. We packed our rucksacks and basically napped that night having to wake up at 1:45 a.m. to catch our bus to the airport. But we successfully made it to the bus stop on time, despite spending literally all the English pounds we had for a taxi. Despite being totally drained and spending every last dime we had by the end of the weekend, the trips were totally worth it and we had such a blast!

Cheerio,

Alex

P.S. Sorry, I realize the attempt to write in Olde English failed miserably

Dublin the Fun!

First off, don't let the cheesy title prevent you from reading this post. Despite the fact we (as in me, Tori, and my roommate Andrew) had less than 24 hours to experience the city, our efficient planning allowed us to see as much of Dublin as we wanted to (and as much as we could afford). We landed on Thursday night and didn't make it to the center of Dublin 'til around 1 a.m. Living in Madrid told us that this was just about the time everyone STARTS going out, but we soon realized that's ONLY Madrid. There was absolutely no one on the streets when we started heading out... Strike One. But we continued anyway and found a bar!.... which proceeded to card us?! Of course we didn't have our I.D.'s cuz it's Dublin, right? Wrong!.... Strike Two. We continue down the street to another bar that is busier, so maybe the carding thing was a blessing in disguise. But at this bar, you had to be 21?... Strike 3. By this point, Dublin has turned out to be a huge bust and we have only been there for 20 minutes. But apparently in Dublin you get 4 strikes cuz we were directed towards the Temple Bar which immediately dashed any malicious thoughts towards the Irish. A live band is playing, Irishmen are singing, and I am drinking a Guinness. For the one hour we were there, it was the best bar experience I have ever had. The band (and therefore us) closed down the bar singing "Hey, Jude" at the top of our lungs. After all, our lone night in Dublin was incredibly successful thanks to Temple Bar.

On Friday, we venture through the heart of the city towards the Guinness Factory for a tour. The tour itself was just OK. It was more a virtual through the process of making Guinness rather than witnessing the assembly line bottling process. At the end, though, we enjoyed a pint of the best Guinness I've ever had (which is, admittedly, a limited exposure) at one of the coolest bars in the city. (Check out the pictures on facebook). From there, Andrew and I were both keen on having our first Irish Carbomb in Dublin. After a little searching, we found a hole-in-the-wall bar that would serve us one (b/c apparently it's a complete American creation). With the whole bar watching the two American idiots, I downed mine like a champ while Andrew proceeded to pour half of his on his shirt, haha. Thanks for making me look good. We quickly hurried out of that bar after the awkward glares and found a lovely park for a nap (nap, drunken stupor, whichever) and proceeded from there to Trinity College. We managed to cram all of this within our short stay and headed for the airport around 6 p.m. for London, Baby!

Dublin/London: A Prelude

So, as promised, I have returned from my excursion to Dublin and London (yep, mom I am safe and sound), and am excited to fill you in on my trip. The whole weekend actually ran very smoothly even though we were clearly first timers on Ryanair. We experienced everything there was to experience in each city and ended up with some great stories. Rather than pour all information into one post, I am going to split it up to make it easier to read. So read on and hopefully you enjoy...

a BRIEF update

So, I have been here for over a week now and I have still not seen Alejandro (not myself, but my senora's 9 year old son) wear any clothes, except for his underwear. At first, I thought it was funny and laughable, but now I am starting to get a little worried. Ironically, our senora was telling us how we had too many clothes in the wash, but I don't think she wants to see me walking around in my boxers all day. I'll give it to him, it has been a little hot here since we don't have anything remotely close to A/C, but a whole week?! C'mon Alejandrito.Anywho, since I have the time, I figure'd I'd give you, my fans, a little glimpse at the apartment I now call home. It's a pretty nice apartment from what I can tell from talking to my friends. The location is great, being only 15 minutes walking from school and a quick metro ride to the city center. Check out the pictures and you will see my living quarters (in addition to Alejandro with no clothes on) haha.

Toledo

So, the last post sounded like a described the whole weekend, but little did you know that was only one day. On Sunday, we took the AVE again to Toledo, another city layered with history. Its claim to fame is that it is called home by Muslims, Jews and Christians, and has been for hundreds of years. Therefore, the city offers much diversity and plenty of mosques, synagogues, and churches. We walked around the whole city (twice because we weren't prepared) and there were amazing views. The Tazo River? loops around the city and has carved impressive cliffs which the city sits on. In addition to the diversity, Toledo was also the birthplace and home of one of Spain's most famous painters El Greco (yes, El Greco was born in Spain, how 'bout them apples?). Unfortunately, many of the museums and sites were closed since it was Sunday, but my favorite site was the Church of Santo Tome which houses El Greco's most famous painting, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. Supposedly, the sixth man from the left is El Greco himself, and the boy in the foreground is his son. Overall, the weekend was a huge success and left me extremely tired by Sunday night. I hope you all enjoyed the little history lesson entwined in my interesting, yet humorous, blog. Check next week for an update cuz I am going to DUBLIN and LONDON this weekend!!

Segovia

So this weekend was a freakin' blast. Tori and I planned day trips to Segovia and Toledo for Saturday and Sunday, respectively. FYI, these are two small cities about 30 miles outside of Madrid with tons of history. So, on Saturday morning we boarded the high-speed AVE (which some of you may recall from your high school Spanish classes haha) and made it to the Segovia station on the outskirts of town. So, the first thing you see when you pull into the city is the HUGE Roman aqueduct running across the city square. (Interesting fact: the aqueduct was built with large stones that are NOT held together by any mortar or clamps). Also in Segovia is the Alcazar(Arab for "fortress") which had a moat and all. The extremely difficult climb to the top offered an awesome view of the "catedral" (despite the hernia I nearly suffered). Another interesting fact: it is believed that Walt Disney modeled the Magical Kingdom castle after Segovia's Alcazar. The last big site in Segovia was the cathedral (ha, mom, don't say I haven't made it to church). The different chapels were extremely intricate and impressive. Everything was covered in gold and the architecture was incredible. Check out the pictures and make your own judgments.