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.