Figueres and Tibidabo in photos

Matt, myself, and hank with one of our many amazingly delicious waffles on Tibidabo.
Me with one of the waffles with the view from Tibidabo in the background.
The church on Tibidabo that you can see from anywhere in the city at night when it is lit-up.
Can you see the outline of someone famous in this Dali work? (It is Abe Lincoln if you couldn't tell).
A massive painting on one of the walls of the atrium of the building.
The courtyard at the Dali Museum.
Me outside the egg-decorated Teatro Museo Dali!

More adventures in Barca (and Catalunya)!!

Exhausted from the trip back from Ireland, I took Monday easy and finished up some work and rested up. Tuesday I had a pretty usual day with class and Peixets practice at night. Wednesday, however, turned out to be not so ordinary. Since my one class was cancelled, I decided to stay in and crank out a paper that was going to be due soon that I needed to get out of the way. After spending all day inside working on it and nearly finishing it, I figured I should reward myself by going on that evening. I met Ian and Fil at La Cigala for some drinks before we decided that we should attend razzmatazz Wednesdays. Part of this story unfortunately has to be left out due to privacy issues but should you wonder what it is that fully went on, feel free to ask me. Mind you that this evening can also be considered an enlightening point in my time in Barca as after this ridiculous time, I realized that there is more to life than being really really good looking (and by that I mean that I realized I needed to start taking advantage of Barcelona during the day time). Anyways, on the metro from Cigala to Razz, Ian, Fil and I are talking and Ian notices that this girl is intensely glaring at Fil. Ian tells Fil this and Fil proceeds to shoot back a glare at this girl to see what her deal is. Out of nowhere, she starts shouting and yelling at us and cursing us out (mind you entirely in Spanish). Fil starts trying to talk to her and ask her why she is so upset with us but she just keeps yelling at us. Eventually Fil slides closer to her (they were sitting on opposite ends of the bench with Ian and myself sitting together across) and asks her if she is just an angry person. She seems to take this as threatening and pump fakes a slap at Fil’s face. Fil somehow decides to egg her on and she ends up bitch slapping him really really really hard. He taunts her to hit him again and after a couple more pump fakes, she does. Everyone on the metro (including myself and Ian) are bewildered as to what is going on and as Fil curses back at this angry girl, we realize ours is the next stop. We leave still confused as to what happened. Realizing that we have a bunch of time before Razz, we go back to my room at Melon and chill for a while before heading to Razz. Thursday was devoted to being a day of recovery after a previously tough night and after turning in my paper at UPF, I came back and slept before Peixets practice. This was the first practice where I was asked to lead some drills and I participated in the combine as well. Both things went over well and the team was happy to have a change of pace from the usual activities.

After class on Friday began the real fun as I walked up to Fontana with Ami, Tom, and Fil to get kebabs at Restaurant Istanbul. After a delicious lunch there, I walked all the way down to Placa Catalunya with Tom and we parted ways. When I got back, Matt and I left to explore the city for the afternoon. He showed me the magnificent fountain at Parc Ciutadella which I had walked past everyday on my way to class but had never stopped at. Afterwards, we metro’d to Port Forum to discover that area as I had never been around there before. We walked along the water, up to see a view of the harbor, through Decathlon, and up to a tower to see a view of the city. A beautiful and newly developed area, Forum is definitely a spot to see if you ever find yourself in Barca. Later I met up with Orion and we walked around Gracia where he gave me a brief history of the Canary Islands (his home) and how he ended up in Barcelona. Orion is one of my friends from Peixets and the one who invited me to play with them at Lliga Catalana. I really owe my involvement with them to him and I am so happy I got to play with them. I caught the last metro back and grabbed some drinks with Hank, Matt, Brian, Jon and his sister before calling it an early night. Saturday proved to be spectacular as Hank, Matt, Brian and myself headed up to Tibidabo. We wandered through the Parc and streets to get up to the funicular, admiring the amazing views of the city along the way. We wandered around the amusement parc and various other parts of the mountain community. We played in numerous slide parks (which would become a great tradition), devoured tons of waffles (chocolate syrup and whip cream covered), and also cotton candy. Hank and I decided that we should walk home since that way we would be getting to see the entire length of the city (Tibidabo basically borders the city on one side and the ocean borders it on the other side). An hour later we arrived at Melon after a beautiful walk through the city. We hit a range of topics on the walk ranging from music management, to life plans, to love, to Hank’s current family situation. After we got back I walked over to Tetuan to catch the Barca game with Steph which they ended up drawing 1-1 with Atletic Bilbao.

Sunday proved to be another great day. It was supposed to be Matt, Hank and myself but Matt never woke up (per usual) so Hank and I headed out just the two of us to catch the train to Figueres. The train took about 2 hours to get to this small town in the northern part of Catalunya. After we got in, we wandered around the town for a bit before heading to the Dali Museum (our main reason for going). We passed through their versions of Placa Catalunya, La Rambla, Centro Comercial before arriving at the incredibly designed Teatro Museo Dali. Dali himself converted this old theater into a museum for many of his works. We wandered through the museum absorbing his various works and were in awe of how many different types of art forms he engaged in. After spending a few hours there, we headed over to a special exhibit of jewels that Dali had designed. Overwhelmed by all the amazing art that Dali had produced we decided that we had had enough and walked around the town a bit more including stopping at Parc Del Bosc and playing on the playground there. Figuring we were ready to head back we went to the train station where conveniently a train was arriving right then. Needing to go to the bathroom we went really quickly but upon coming out, the train was departing! Frustrated that we had just missed the train back and the next one wouldn’t be for an hour, we decided to explore more of the town. We wandered over to Passeig de John Lennon and further for a nice view of the Pyrenees in the distance. We made sure to catch the train back this time since it was going to be the last one of the day! After arriving back in Barca, I took the rest of the evening easy.

Irlanda through the lens!

Me overlooking the cliffs with the beautiful landscape behind me as well.
A view from a top the cliffs on the Howth coastline.
A different view of the cliffs. It was amazing how much variation there way in color too.
A house that overlooked the water and had a beautiful lush green yard and typical Irish stone fence.
One of the many beautiful church facades in Dublin.
John and I during the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery Tour
The view of Dublin from the Perfect Pint Room at the Guinness Museum.
A typical Dublin street view (notice the double decker bus!)

below is a video of Fisherman's blues played at Fisherman's Pub! While the quality is not the best and doesn't do justice to how awesome these local jammers were, it still gives you an idea of the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Visiting Sir John in Irlanda!

After having another fun filled week in Barcelona, I headed to the airport early Friday, November 13th, with Hank to catch our flight to Dublin where I was going to visit my buddy John who was spending the semester there. After we landed, Hank and I headed down to the central spire to meet Hank’s friend Shippy. We decided to go to the Guinness factory and take the tour there as our first experience in Irlanda. We wandered around the museum learning about the surprisingly intensive beer producing process before engaging in a lesson on how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. We sipped our perfectly poured pint while enjoying a beautiful view of the city of Dublin. Upon leaving the skies opened up and it started down pouring and unfortunately we got drenched on our way to catch the bus. We made our way back to UCD (University College Dublin) where both John and Shippy were studying for the semester. Hank and I parted ways agreeing to meet up at some point the next day. John and I decided to take it easy that evening and get an early start the next day. We had a blast and enjoyed catching up about life and WashU things since I hadn’t really seen many people since I had left the previous May. As we had planned, we woke bright and early Saturday morning, chowed down a quick breakfast and headed into the city for a full day of touring. We started at St. Michan’s church where we rubbed the hand of an 800 year old mummified crusader before heading over to take the tour of the Old Jameson Distillery. I was selected as a taste tester and after the tour got to try the different types of famous whiskeys! After downing our whiskeys, John and I headed to more of the famous sites of Dublin. Where enjoyed a delicious lunch at a small café near Christ’s church before going inside and exploring this beautifully built religious place. We tried walking through the four courts (the judicial building) but it was closed. Unfortunately so was St. Patrick’s Cathedral (as well as Marsh’s Library) for a graduation which was a major disappointment but gives me good reason to return to Irlanda! We walked along the streets of Dublin and through the grounds of Dublin Palace to the Chester Beatty Library which housed a magnificent collection of religious artifacts and works from various areas around the world. John and I wandered around the museum for a while contemplating life, religion and art before heading over to the old and famous campus of Trinity College Dublin. The campus of this heart-of-Dublin-college was absolutely beautiful but unfortunately they are starting to add in some more modern looking buildings which look very out of place. Nonetheless it was nice to cruise around one of the oldest universities in the world. After, we walked to Church Bar and grabbed a Guinness before heading to O’Neill’s Irish Pub to grab dinner and watch the Ireland versus France World Cup Qualifier. Church Bar was beautiful. Situated in an old church, it had a long island bar in the middle with a restaurant up in the balcony and a club in the basement. Great atmosphere as most people were there in preparation for the game. I thought Church Bar was packed but it was nothing compared to O’Neill’s. This pub was packed with people cramming food and brew into their mouth in anticipation of the game that would give Ireland the chance to go to the World Cup this upcoming summer. I myself got the traditional fish and chips while John indulged in some Irish stew. Both meals were surprisingly delicious and more than filling. We weaseled our way in front of one of the larger tv’s and settled in for a long and intense game. Unfortunately, Ireland couldn’t hold it together and lost the game 1-0 to everyone’s disappointment. After, we all headed to Dublin’s smallest pub (which I think was called Dawson’s but I’m having trouble remembering right now) and shared stories about our common friends (my how small the world is). Hank and Shippy decided to head home but having taken it pretty easy the previous night, John and I tried out Porterhouse. Jammed pack and way too smoky and noisy for us we headed to International Bar. Unfortunately, the case was the same there so we wandered down to Stag’s head where we grabbed drinks and chilled on the street catching up about what we had been doing in the time since we had last seen in each other. A very fun atmosphere, even in the street, after a while we decided it was time to head back since we wanted to get an early start again on Sunday.

Sunday we woke bright and early again, ready for another day of exploring. We checked online and unfortunately St. Patrick’s was going to be closed again. Guess it just wasn’t my chance to see that church this trip. Unconcerned, we headed downtown to check out Merrion Square, the beautiful park of St. Stephen’s Green, before grabbing sandwiches and heading out to the coastal town of Howth for the day where we were meeting up with Hank and Shippy. After cruising through a beautiful farmer’s market right in the heart of the harbor, we watched the playful seals respond to people throwing them food and other treats. We walked all the way down the pier to see the eye of Ireland and get our first views of the coastline. Next we picked up a map and with Hank and Shippy started our hike along the beautiful Irish coast. It was magnificent to see this nature in comparison to the city that I had seen the previous two days. Filled with waterfalls, drop-offs, lush green grass, the ocean slamming into rocks, and the houses overlooking Dublin bay we thoroughly enjoyed our roughly 3 hour hike. Pretty tired from all the exploring, we made our way back into ‘downtown’ Howth and ate fish and chips in the harbor. Shippy and Hank took the train back to Dublin but John and I decided to stop by this pub called Fisherman’s for a few drinks before our bus was to leave for the city center. This was one of the top things I did in my time in Ireland. We walked into this small but stereotypical Irish pub and were greeted by friendly locals and the sweet sounds of traditional Irish music. We grabbed two chairs towards the back, ordered pints of Guinness and absorbed the amazingness of this pub. A few hours later still enjoying the pure bliss of this pub, we realized we had to catch the last bus back so we could make it to John’s place without having to take a cab from Howth. We parted ways with our new favorite place (though I fortunately didn’t have to part ways with an amazing Smithwick’s pint glass) and rode the bus back to UCD. Our flight back to Barca was really early in the morning and our best option was to grab the AirCoach. Around 4am we headed down to the stop and right as we exited the gate, the bus went zooming by. We turned down a number of cabs hoping that it wasn’t the right bus but after 45 minutes of waiting and an offer to pay the same price for a cab that we would have paid for the bus, we decided to test our luck and take our chances. Turns out it all worked out perfectly and we made it to the Dublin Airport and onto our flight back to Barcelona.

Ultimate photos and video!

Me trying to break a player on Discterycs. This guy and I competed the entire game and he was a really tough matchup.
Lluis looking upfield and me waiting to make my dump cut.
Peixets B battling during their first game.
Playa Ocata where we played the tournament.

check out this video link for an awesome video with tons of shots of my team (and of me too!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezJcIKEU5Tk

La Liga Catalana: Beach Ultimate Tourney in Ocata

The week after Madrid brought some epic evenings out but the amazing week culminated in the beach ultimate tourney at Ocata Beach (just outside of the city of Barcelona) that I was playing in with Peixets. The tourney itself took place on Sunday but the festivities started Saturday evening with a dinner and party that lasted until 3 am (don’t think I’ve ever stayed out that late the night before an ultimate tournament but thus it is Spain and the lifestyle is very different). After a short night’s sleep, I hopped on the train out to the beach. It was a freezing morning but fortunately it didn’t take long for the sun to come out and warm us all up. The sand was extremely grainy so I decided to try out wearing socks. This was definitely a good decision up until the point where they tore midway through the first game but luckily my teammate Orion gave me a pair of his. The first game we faced what is supposed to be the premier team in Barcelona, Patatas Bravas. On my team, Peixets, there was only one person not from Spain and that was me. However, on Patatas Bravas there were NO people from Spain. Thus I was proud and glad that I had joined the true Spanish team. We fought hard throughout the entire game and traded points up until the cap went on and unfortunately ended up losing on ultimate point, a disappointing end to a great performance. I played well as I was fresh at this point throwing 4/9 scores and catching another 2. It was frustrating to lose to the Bravas especially since they were being carried by 3 US study abroad students but nonetheless we came away from it in good spirits. The second game we battled with the top team from Girona, Discterycs, and came out on top again during ultimate point this time taking the game 10-9. I through 3/10 scores and caught 3 more this game for another solid showing by Peixets A. Our third game was a bit more of a joke since we were playing our own ‘B’ team. At the beginning we were all kind of screwing around and not taking the game seriously but after a few points, Peixets A dominated and we took the game 13-7. The one day tourney was an absolute blast. The video below includes a bunch of pictures of me from the tourney as well as many of my team.

Madrid through the lens...

My favorite Halloween costume that I saw in Madrid. A smart car dressed up as a shark!
A shot of me from one of the window slits in the guard house at the Palacio Real. In the background is the cathedral.
The beautiful and extravagant Palacio Real.
The Cathedral that sits opposite the Palacio Real.
Plaza Mayor. Definitely one of the most beautiful and vibrant plazas in Europe.
Plaza del Sol, the center point of Spain!
The ham museum as it was called. So much ham it was overwhelming.

Final Ultimate Fall league game and….MADRID!

Wednesday October 28th marked the final game for the ultimate league I had joined here in Barca. Finally my team showed a dominate performance and won! I played one of the best games I had all season throwing 4 scores and catching 4 scores in a 13-6 win. After the game, one of my teammates invited me to come play with his club team, Peixets, in an upcoming beach ultimate tourney and I gladly accepted (more to come on this tourney later). Thursday evening I left on a late flight to meet my parents in Madrid for the weekend!

We woke up early Friday morning and grabbed some breakfast before heading to the famed Museo del Prado. This museum was entirely overwhelming. We spent roughly 7 hours just wandering through the numerous rooms staring at the beautiful paintings, sculptures and mixed media works. I will definitely need to revisit this place to take in some more of the history and culture that it offers. Saturday we had a chance to visit a bit more of the city as we wandered through Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor, before ending up at the Palacio Real. This palace was absolutely spectacular. It had 2800 rooms and art work and decoration to rival even that of Buckingham Palace, we were completely overwhelmed by the riches that the Kings of Spain had accumulated over the years. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside any of the museums or the palace so I don’t have all that many pictures of these beautiful sites but did get some good shots of the city itself. Sunday we were up early yet again (which was starting to take a toll on me) and walked through the city to arrive at one of the largest flea markets in Spain. After making our way through this crowded area, we stopped at a beautiful covered market where my father indulged in some incredible looking seafood. After exploring this market for a while, we walked back through the city and to another of Madrid’s art museums, the Thyssen-Bornemisza. This museum was just as overwhelming as the Prado and housed the private collection of the Thyssen family (the collection was rumored to be worth between 1 and 3 billion dollars). After finishing up there and taking a quick rest, we ate a delicious meal in Plaza de la Santa Ana before crashing early since we all had early flights in the morning (mine back to Barca and my rents back to DC). While I enjoyed my time in Madrid, I am definitely happy with my decision to study in Barcelona. I found that Barcelona is a much friendlier city with more diversity and a much broader range of things to see and do.

Exploring Barca with the rents: photos

The Barca boys exit after a convincing 6-1 win over Real Zaragoza.
Barca returns to the field for the second half of the Real Zaragoza game.
A view of the mosaic tiled bench at Parc Guell.
The towers of Sagrada Familia with the city in the background. This view is from the top of the lift.
Who knew that a turtle could support the weight of the entire Sagrada Familia on his back?
While it was unfortunately one of the only rainy days in Barcelona, we still had a chance to marvel in the magnificence of Gaudi's La Pedrera. This picture is me with some of the chimneys that cover the roof of the building.
The picture I submitted to my program's most artistic photo contest. It is a shot of Barcelona taken from a small window in Sagrada Familia that I stopped at on the walk down from the top. Let me know what you think!

Barca: the rentals arrive!

Barcelona the week after Portugal was a blast. Exhausted from a fun weekend, I took it easy on Monday. Tuesday marked the difficult battle of FCB against Rubin Kazan at the famed Camp Nou. My old camp friend, Katie, and I headed to this local place, Snack 55, to grab some tapas and watch the game. Unfortunately, Barca lost (for the first time in a while) and depressed I headed home to take an early night and ponder whether or not this season would be as successful as the last. I woke up Wednesday morning revived and with a renewed faith in FCB. After class I headed to the ultimate fields again and unfortunately my team lost for another consecutive week but this time only by a small margin. Exhausted, I headed home and prepared for the arrival of my parents the next day. Fortunately, my class got cancelled that morning and I met up with them and had a really nice breakfast before we decided what to do for the day. We took the metro to Passeig de Gracia and walked up this main street in Barca before entering into La Pedrera, one of Gaudi’s most famous works. We spent a while there exploring the building and learning about Gaudi since it was pouring outside and we weren’t interested in getting drenched. Once we finished we left but unfortunately got stuck in a rain storm on the way to lunch and got soaked anyways. After lunch we headed back to our respective places and I ended up napping through my art seminar as I wasn’t able to brave the rain yet again. However, with much convincing from my friends I went to the museum visit that my next class was taking (and was definitely glad that I did). After a nice evening and dinner with the parents, I headed home and passed out after a long day. Friday class was cancelled again and so we went to visit La Sagrada Familia, another of Gaudi’s famous works in Barcelona. We spent a long time inside exploring and seeing the view from the top. It was my second time inside but it was just as incredible the second time. To see this magnificent cathedral being built while I am here is an odd yet endearing experience. We walked all the way back along Carrer de la Marina stopping in shops and exploring along the way. We rested for a bit before heading out for a delicious meal and turned in for an early night. Saturday was another big day as we hit the Picasso museum, walked down Las Ramblas and wandered through Mercat de la Boqueria and Placa Catalunya. Sunday was one of the most fun days by far as we went up to Montjuic to see the Miro Museum before heading over to Parc Guell where we took in the city and walked through the majestic park. At night we enjoyed tapas at Ciutat Condal and then my father and I headed to a Barca game together. The game was magnificent and definitely one of the highlights of my time here. We sneaked down to 5 rows at midfield behind the team benches and watched Barca destroy Real Zaragoza 6-1! It was incredible! To see the players work so hard for so long was truly an inspiration. Since then FCB has been playing well and hopefully will continue to dominate the other teams it faces. It was a fun yet exhausting weekend having the parents in town and I definitely felt a bit more like a tourist than a resident while they visited but nonetheless I got to see a ton of the most amazing sites the city has to offer.

The Unbelievable

One of the many beautiful squares of Lisbon.
A view of the city from a top the Castelo de Sao Jorge
Post scuba diving on the western coast of portugal!
Jumping picture in one of the coves in Lagos
one of the many beautiful vistas of the Lagos coastline
Ian and myself ecstatic to be where we are
another scenic vista of the Lagos coastline
one of the beautiful beaches in Lagos

Lagos and Lisboa, Portugal: Magnificence at its best

Having passed out on my flight to Lisboa after a late night on Thursday at Oveja, I landed on Friday morning in Lisboa and proceeded to the bus station to meet up with Ian and Mikel who had braved a 14 hour train ride to the city. Although we were supposed to meet at the bus station to head to Lagos together, I couldn’t find them and thus just took the next bus that was leaving. After a smooth 4 hour ride to the coastal town (on which I slept the entire way), I had arrived in the beautiful coast town of Lagos. I met an American on the bus who happened to be staying at the same hostel that Ian had booked us in (ironically called ‘The Rising Cock’) and walked to there with him. I checked in and called Ian from skype to find out that he and Mikel were near and that we indeed would meet up (up until this point I wasn’t sure what was going to happen). We dropped our stuff off, changed into our bathing suits and headed to the coastline for what was to be a marvelous walk along the cliffs that Lagos sat on. Words cannot describe the vistas that we saw. Please see the pictures for a better idea or even google image Lagos to fully understand the beauty that we experienced. It was truly a surreal experience and was so wonderful to be back in nature after really only having visited cities for the past 2 months. This coastline was some of the most beautiful nature that I had ever seen. We walked along the coast for 2 hours before stopping for lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the cliffs. After lunch we continued on and hiked down to a beach for a swim. The water was cold but we toughed it out and went for a swim through some caves and caverns that were right off the beach. Everything was going wonderfully until we got too shallow and freaked out after scraping ourselves on a lobster trap (though at the time we had no idea what it was) and swam quickly back to the shoreline. We walked along the coast, popping in and out of caves before deciding we should head back up, watch the sunset and head back to the hostel. After a quick rest, we headed out for dinner which was delicious and since it took so long got some free treats. I ate bacalao with potatoes, a traditional coastal Portuguese dish. Exhausted from a long day of traveling, we headed back to the hostel and passed out for the evening. Ironically, we were staying at what was known as the biggest party hostel in the town of Lagos. Oh well, the next day was going to be huge as I was going to be going scuba diving!

I woke up early Saturday morning, downed some of the famous crepes from Mama and headed outside to meet up with the dive company that I had emailed the previous afternoon. Elmar, a friendly German who had been living and diving in Lagos for 15 years and now owned Blue Water Divers, met me in his old school jalopy and we headed out. Unfortunately, the ocean on the coast that I had walked the previous day had swelled up and it wouldn’t be possible to go diving there. Our other option was to drive around to the western coast and try our luck there. I figured I might as well give it a try and we loaded up the truck and headed out. It was a beautiful drive through the Portuguese countryside and eventually we arrived at our destination. Fortunately, the ocean wasn’t too rough on this side and so we donned our gear and headed in for our adventure. The water was much colder than I expected and was around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The first dive was magnificent. We had a maximum depth of 55ft and a bottom time of 70 minutes. The equipment that we were using was unlike anything that I had ever used before and took some adjusting to but once I found neutral buoyancy, it was smooth cruising in this dark and mysterious sea. We swam through beautiful caves and caverns which the sun shone through, saw numerous octopi (huge ones and one inked at us twice!), multi-colored starfish and oddly enough blocks of hardened marijuana. Apparently, a drug trafficker had dumped a bunch of marijuana trying to enter into Portugal and Elmar had found it and turned it in to authorities. However, some still remained and had been hardened by the salt water but still had the scent of the herb as we found out when we exited the water. We took a short surface interval and headed back in for our second dive. The second dive was just as spectacular and we stayed down for 60 minutes with a maximum depth of 45 ft. We saw multi-colored urchins and more caves, octopi and large schools of fish. It was an experience that I will never forget and treasure forever. Exhausted, we headed back into Lagos and I went back to the hostel for a quick nap before dinner with Ian and Mikel. We tried our luck at going out in Lagos but decided it wasn’t worth it and took an early night in Lagos since we were going to head to Lisbon in the morning.

We woke up early and downed a bunch of Mama’s famous crepes and headed to the bus station. After a nice bus ride that took us along the coast and through the countryside we arrived in Lisbon. It was kind of a shock being in a city again after relaxing in a beach town for the past two days. We grabbed a delicious lunch and worked our way through some of the most famous sites in the city. We began by touring the Se Cathedral and walking through the old Alfama neighborhood before heading up the hill to catch the view from Santa Luiza Belvedere and explore the Castelo de Sao Jorge. We packed a ton into the day before I headed to the airport to catch my flight back and Ian and Mikel headed to the train station for their trek back. Portugal was beautiful and I definitely hope to make it back there at some point in the future.

Barcelona: La vida loca

Fortunately, the Monday after Amsterdam was a holiday which gave me some time to recuperate from a fun filled yet exhausting weekend. Tuesday classes were decent but the highlight was visiting Mediterraneo at night with sir Fil. We were treated again by a working Mar and indulged ourselves throughout the evening. Mar sang along with many other magnificent local artists and we stayed out late until the night. Feeling as though I finally knew Barca well enough, I attempted to walk home (and this place isn’t exactly close to my resi) from Med. I got off to a good start but took a wrong turn at some point and although on the correct road, I ended up walking in the opposite direction. Frustrated and exhausted at 4am, I took a cab home and passed out. Wednesday marked another evening of ultimate with the fall league that I had joined here in Barcelona. My team again played well but fell short for another consecutive week. I clearly impressed though as I was invited to play with both of the local club teams here in the city. Thursday came and classes passed fairly quickly and for some reason everyone in the program decided it should be oveja negra night (a local joint near my resi). I of course attended but when it got to be close to 4am, I had to head home as I needed to catch an early flight to Portugal that same morning. It was nice to spend a few days in Barcelona before heading to Portgual with Ian and Mikel on Friday.

Dutch treat...photos from Amsterdam

Obamaphant! one of the elephants on display in the park was decorated as Obama. Pretty amazing artistry right there.

The I amsterdam sign! People were constantly climbing all over this.

Just some of the tons of bikes we saw during our time there.

If you look carefully, you can see that this house is only the width of a door!
Me with one of the beautifully decorated elephants outside the Van Gogh Museum.
And yes, I was one of those people climbing all over the I amsterdam sign.
A view from one of the main canals in Amsterdam during our walk to the apartment.

I AM AMSTERDAM!

Amsterdam was an indescribably spectacular trip (unfortunately I am not going to get into all the gruesome details but if you so care, please ask me in person when you see me next and I will give you all of them; furthermore, while I will post some photos here, I would recommend you looking at the photos on facebook as there are many great ones there). Having not left Spain in 6 or 7 weeks, it was nice to get out and explore another country. I barely made my flight with my friends after meeting the Mayor but once on the plane, I quickly passed out for the short flight to the city of Amsterdam. After landing in Schipol, we exited and took the train to the central station. We decided against taking the tram to our apartment (since we were going to be 6 people, we decided to rent an apartment instead of trying out luck at a hostel, this turned out to be one of the best decisions we made) and began our walk. We stepped out of the station and were immediately confronted with thousands of bikes, a trademark of the city. It was also much cooler (in the 50s) than we had experienced in Barca and we were definitely refreshed by the cold breeze coming off the water. We walked along the Amstel river before turning down one of the main streets. After arriving, we checked in and relaxed in the room for a bit before deciding to wander around. We stopped at Kandinsky coffee shop and enjoyed some tea and typical Amsterdam treats before wandering around to find dinner (where I ate the most delicious and grand shwarma meal of my life). Thus began my food journey in Amsterdam. It was late and we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment where I laid down and later passed out for the evening.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to this pancake shop that had been recommended to me. It was incredibly delicious. I started out with a pancake covered in blueberries, powdered sugar, caramel, and bananas. I wish I had ordered two of them they were so good (but don’t worry I made it back to this place numerous times). After we hit up the tulip museum which described the way that tulips came to Holland and why they were so famous. Afterwards, some of my friends went to the sex museum but I decided since we were so close to the Vincent Van Gogh museum that I would head there instead. On our way there we stopped in Vandel park and climbed around on the IAMAMSTERDAM sign (which I had forgotten was there until I saw it). We cruised around the park for a while and then got in line for the museum. We wandered around staring at the paintings for roughly 3-4 hours before deciding that we should explore some more before the sun set for the day. In the park was an elephant exhibit of elephants that artists from around the world had decorated. We played on the elephants and again on the sign before trying to decide what to do for dinner. I had a craving for Indonesian food as I had heard it was marvelous in Amsterdam (since Indonesia had been a Dutch colony for many years). Unfortunately my friends didn’t quite agree so after some short arguments, my friend Matt and I indulged in some delicious Indonesian. I promised my friend Laura we would get pancakes and waffles at Sara’s pancakes again since she didn’t get to go for Indonesian. We indulged ourselves at Sara’s and I had a giant nutella and banana pancake as well as a waffle covered in cherries and a chocolate milk. It was amazing. I hadn’t eaten this well in a long time as I had had a hard time finding good food in Barca. Next we all met up back at the apartment and reconvened before wandering down to the famed red-light district. We wandered around before Laura and I decided to share a window for a quick peep show. I can for sure say that that moment was the beginning of our friendship. The sex show was definitely sleezy and not something I would do again but when in Amsterdam you must at least try it out. Life is all about those experiences right? We stopped in a coffee shop for some dessert before continuing our journey through the surprisingly classy prostitution district. Even the prostitutes were surprisingly attractive. At one point, we passed a covered door and as we walked by it opened and a well groomed man in his 60s walked out. Looking at him awkwardly he told us that “she was a good one, I would recommend her” before scurrying off. We couldn’t stop laughing as it was the first person we had seen walk out of one of the doors. We poked our heads in a typical sex shop before walking back to the apartment and passing out.

We were up early again Sunday and made our way to the Anne Frank Huis in an attempt to beat the long line we had seen there the day before. We waited in line for a short while before entering into what would be a very moving experience. We took the tour of the house and stopped in all the rooms to ponder what really happened in this historic building and to try to comprehend what it must have been like to live there during the terror of the war. Eventually we decided we couldn’t handle much more and moved on to indulge ourselves once again in Sara’s waffles and pancakes (again I got one of each). Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment to regroup and picked up some traditional Amsterdam brews (blueberry and brisket to be exact) on the way. Matt, Hank, Laura and I went to rent bikes and began our cruising around the city. Riding bikes through the canal areas and on the main roads was a definite highlight of this amazing trip. It felt like we were flying as the bikes were so smooth and the city is so biker friendly. We biked to the park outside the Van Gogh museum and indulged ourselves in numerous waffles before walking around and taking more pictures with the elephants. On our bike back we stopped and picked up more Indonesian food which we gorged ourselves on in the apartment. After our dinner, Matt and Laura departed for the airport while the rest of us went out to explore again. Fixing for a milkshake the entire weekend, I finally got an amazing one at ben and jerry’s. After another long day we headed back to the apartment, watched tv and crashed since we had to be up at the crack of dawn for our flight back to Barca. All in all, it was indeed a completely brilliant weekend.

Cook&Taste and meeting the Mayor...photos!

These pictures are kind out of order but here is me with my finished tortilla de patatas! It was incredibly delicious yet surprisingly even more fun to make.

tortilla de patatas still in the cooking stages

Our gourmet chef explaining to Fil and I how to properly cook the tortilla.

Fil and I displaying our magnificent onion chopping skills.

Professional photo shoot in a double room at my residencia, Melon District. The girl in the photos with me is Lenka from Prague who was also there to meet the Mayor.

Lenka and I speaking with the Mayor. A really nice guy, his popularity has decreased among the people in recent months.