Last I left you, I had planned on going to Sevilla. Well, a sold out train made sure that didn't happen, since every other method of getting there was way more expensive, so I've stayed in Barcelona this whole time. Now, let's start with the good times.
My cousins Nic and Wooly were in town visiting family on their dad's side, but we went out together at night. Friday I took them to Ovella Negra with my friends and then Otto Zutz, where we danced until the Metro opened up again at 5. The following day, I didn't wake up until 5 PM! It's easier than it sounds when the hurricane shutter-like blinds completely darken the room. That evening I did some grocery shopping at Carrefour in the Glories mall, as well as some exploring in that mall. it is HUGE! It doesn't look big from the outside, but it just keeps going underground! I also found myself the cheapest official FCBarcelona jersey in the city.
That night I took my cousins out to La Fira, a cool bar with a big "Miami" sign in it, that also has a really cheap and good shot bar called Espit Chupitos (Chupitos meaning shots). We had a fun time there taking flaming Harry Potter's and hitting on women and then called it a night.
Sunday was just about relaxing and hanging out. On Monday, Cazzie and I went to the beach for some people watching for our class project (I wish I could claim credit for this idea, but she and our other partner, Skji, are the geniuses here). We did that for a few hours while enjoying the beach, and then that night we had a huge potluck dinner in a friends room. This was preperation for la Fiesta de Sant Joan, a celebration of the summer Solstice. What most of Spain winds up doing is lighting fireworks all over their cities and lighting bonfires all over the place, especially the beach, all night long. But see, here's where the bad times start...
During the pot luck dinner, my cold came back with a vengeance. It was to the point that I had to intentionally skip out on the all-night party. To make things worse, my lack of medicine made sure the cold kept me up all night long anyways. I could have endured the constant fireworks, but the cold was too much.
I spent the better part of the next day looking for medicine. Finally found some in the afternoon, and now I'm doing way better. Hopefully I'll be all rested up by the time I have to camp out for Wimbledon...
Well, I leave for London tomorrow, so this is the last you'll hear of me until I get back. If I find an internet connection over there, I might pop in for an update. See you in a week!
-Gaby
6/25/08
6/20/08
my neighbors...
...just might be a little crazy, but there was an interesting development today, if a bit small. The guy who lives next door to me has periodically been yelling at the top of his lungs at some woman since we first got here. I don't know what he's pissed about because he's talking way too fast for me to catch anything useful, but there's no language barrier when it comes to the tone of his voice. On one particular day, he was screaming so hard his voice would crack.
The odd part about this "escandalo" is the fact that I never heard her yelling back. It seemed like this woman just sat there and let this guy scream at her this whole time. I don't care what she may have done. I still seriously doubt she deserves that kind of treatment. If anything, everyone deserves forgiveness, but I won't go into some kind sermon here and now. The important thing is that as I just walked into my room, I could hear her finally standing up for herself! She was screaming and yelling right back at this guy. Hooray for small moral victories, and Hooray Beer!
Speaking of which, I'm gonna go get a cold one. Happy Friday everyone! I'll post again when I get back from Sevilla on Monday!
-Gaby
The odd part about this "escandalo" is the fact that I never heard her yelling back. It seemed like this woman just sat there and let this guy scream at her this whole time. I don't care what she may have done. I still seriously doubt she deserves that kind of treatment. If anything, everyone deserves forgiveness, but I won't go into some kind sermon here and now. The important thing is that as I just walked into my room, I could hear her finally standing up for herself! She was screaming and yelling right back at this guy. Hooray for small moral victories, and Hooray Beer!
Speaking of which, I'm gonna go get a cold one. Happy Friday everyone! I'll post again when I get back from Sevilla on Monday!
-Gaby
6/19/08
To keep a promise
If you're a loyal fan, or can read all the way back to "Dali and the Olympic Stadium" on this blog, you'll recall La Font Magica, the fountain in Placa Espanya that has light and music shows on weekend nights. Well my parents certainly remembered and wanted to go see a show, so we did. In that entry, I promised to record more video of the show, and that's the promise I'm keeping now. Enjoy!
Halley talent emerges...
I spent the last weekend in Madrid with my cousins, Nick and Wooly, who are also studying abroad there. I got there right after the celebration for Spain's victory that night in Euro2008, so I missed the insane festivities at Plaza Colón, which included a lot of chanting. According to Nic, they included encouraging women to kiss somebody ("Que se besan!"), as well as that somebody demanding some flashing action ("Si no me besas, enseñame las tetas!!"). Despite missing that, we still managed to go to a house party at a friend of theirs where their other cousin is staying (if you're lost with all this cousin talk, don't sweat it. Dismiss it as a Cuban thing and keep reading). We had a good time, hung out with some locals there. Some of the guys there were a band that was signed or on the verge of being signed. They got their hands on a guitar, and the party became limited to that for the rest of the night. They were good, but that made it pretty hard to hit on the groupies who did nothing but sing along all night. Oh well.
The next day was "Dia de Deportes" where all manner of streets were closed and turned into playing fields for soccer, basketball, handball, field hockey and such. This was all over Madrid, too. We spent the day at a huge flea market where they looked for gifts for their family. I managed to buy myself a pretty nifty hat 8).
That night we played some intense soccer amongst ourselves at a park clearing, because Madrid is an expensive city where you even have to pay to use soccerfields. Lame, but we still had a good time. We ate tapas later at a cheap place called "El Tigre", and it was damn good stuff. So good, in fact, that there's standing room only! It was a really local place, too, which is always a good thing.
The next day they had class, so I just walked around Madrid and revisited some sites I had been to when I was twelve (which means I barely remember them). It was kinda cool to Puerta del Sol again, where I spent New Years almost ten years ago! That was the craziest New Years I've ever had, hands down. I left that afternoon on the Ave, the highspeed train in Spain (about 300 km/h).
If you ever have the chance to take a train ride through Spain, do it. The countryside is absolutely beautiful, even on the Ave. I included some pictures of it below.
In case you're wondering about the title of the post, it's because I balled up playing soccer with my classmates today. Scored a bunch of goals, saved a bunch more, and scored a couple of ridiculously lucky goals, which is just fine with me. My cousins are still way, way better, but the more I play the less you can ignore a knack for it.
That's all for now. I plan on Sevilla and London next week, so plenty more pictures and videos (especially from Wimbledon and the concert!).
I'll post randomly b/w now and then, but don't be afraid to leave comments to any boberia I may have written. I always like to know you're reading ;)
-Gaby
The next day was "Dia de Deportes" where all manner of streets were closed and turned into playing fields for soccer, basketball, handball, field hockey and such. This was all over Madrid, too. We spent the day at a huge flea market where they looked for gifts for their family. I managed to buy myself a pretty nifty hat 8).
That night we played some intense soccer amongst ourselves at a park clearing, because Madrid is an expensive city where you even have to pay to use soccerfields. Lame, but we still had a good time. We ate tapas later at a cheap place called "El Tigre", and it was damn good stuff. So good, in fact, that there's standing room only! It was a really local place, too, which is always a good thing.
The next day they had class, so I just walked around Madrid and revisited some sites I had been to when I was twelve (which means I barely remember them). It was kinda cool to Puerta del Sol again, where I spent New Years almost ten years ago! That was the craziest New Years I've ever had, hands down. I left that afternoon on the Ave, the highspeed train in Spain (about 300 km/h).
If you ever have the chance to take a train ride through Spain, do it. The countryside is absolutely beautiful, even on the Ave. I included some pictures of it below.
In case you're wondering about the title of the post, it's because I balled up playing soccer with my classmates today. Scored a bunch of goals, saved a bunch more, and scored a couple of ridiculously lucky goals, which is just fine with me. My cousins are still way, way better, but the more I play the less you can ignore a knack for it.
That's all for now. I plan on Sevilla and London next week, so plenty more pictures and videos (especially from Wimbledon and the concert!).
I'll post randomly b/w now and then, but don't be afraid to leave comments to any boberia I may have written. I always like to know you're reading ;)
-Gaby
6/11/08
Vatican City
I didn't remember all of this info. I had to look up a lot of it on www.saintpetersbasilica.org, which is a great website on the Basilica.
souvenirs from Paris
As promised, here are a couple of little gems from Paris:
I didn't have a chance to stop and listen to these guys (it was on my way out of the city), but I took the video anyways.
I didn't have a chance to stop and listen to these guys (it was on my way out of the city), but I took the video anyways.
6/10/08
Pictures at last...
Finally, pictures from Paris and the Roland Garros French Open. Enjoy and comment!
Paris
Roland Garros 08
Paris
Roland Garros 08
6/8/08
cultural differences
So I spend an extra full day in Rome because I booked my flight on the wrong day. I though I was clicking on Sunday, but in Europe the calenders start on Monday. Despite knowing this, I still managed to get confused. Long story short, I'll be back in Barcelona early tomorrow evening. I may try to post tomorrow night, depending on how long it takes to upload pictures. Count on Paris pictures, at least.
-Gaby
-Gaby
6/6/08
a little free time for you
Ok, I finally have a little bit of free time to tell you guys some stories, so let me tell you about my visit to Paris (I'll tell you all about Italy when I get back to Barca).
I arrived in Paris bright and early Saturday morning and got on the Metro to go to my hotel. It turns out that the hotel is out in Levallois, well away from the city center. This wouldn't have been a problem if the train actually went out that far on weekends (It would reverse directions five stops away and you'd have to cram into a crowded bus the rest of the way). Still, it was a nice place with friendly people who tried (in vain) to direct me to an internet cafe. They told me I'd find one more easily nearer the city center, so I went back to the Metro and randomly got off on Sentier. I walked down one street and found nothing, so I ate lunch at a Quick restaurant. I walked down another street that looked promising, and quickly discovered that there were a string of sex shops and clubs down this street. Not half a block down one guy tried inviting me into his club. He actually got more excited when I told him I only speak English, and continued insisting. I told him unless he had free internet, no dice. A little further down a bar had a sign for free wi-fi, so I walked in. Turns out they speak perfect english there, and constantly have soccer or rugby on the TV, and there happened to be rugby on when I walked in. After settling a few things on my laptop, I wound up talking to a drunk guy from Sydney. Real nice guy, but very, very drunk. That night I walked from the Louvre down Le Jardin de Tuileries and Champs d'Elysees all the way to the Arc de Triumf. Absolutely beautiful.
The next day I went back to the same place to see it during the day, and walked down to Notre Dame and spent the afternoon there. I took a pretty cool audio tour of the cathedral, then went up into the belltowers and looked out at the city of France, not to mention saw Emmanuel, the huge bell only rung on special occasions (it's an F# 2, if you're interested). After that I went to Mass downstairs. Though I didn't understand a word of it, I still got goosebumps while celebrating Mass with complete strangers in a strange country. It really showed me the true meaning of the word "Catholic". I can't wait to do the same in Vatican City.
That night I watched the Eiffel tower sparkle for several minutes. I have video, and I'll post that and pictures when I get a chance, I promise.
The next two days I spent at Roland Garros, all day. It was really a cool tournament (read expensive), and I literally got chills as I walked in to Phillippe Chartrier Court. I got to watch Ana Ivanovic duke it out with Pattie Schnyder. After Ana won, I watched Nadal warm up. I had to leave after that to catch my train to Florence, but that's where I'll leave you for now. More by video when I get back to Spain, and I'll have a TON of pictures to show you when I get there. Until then, I'm in Rome, doing as the Romans.
-Gaby
I arrived in Paris bright and early Saturday morning and got on the Metro to go to my hotel. It turns out that the hotel is out in Levallois, well away from the city center. This wouldn't have been a problem if the train actually went out that far on weekends (It would reverse directions five stops away and you'd have to cram into a crowded bus the rest of the way). Still, it was a nice place with friendly people who tried (in vain) to direct me to an internet cafe. They told me I'd find one more easily nearer the city center, so I went back to the Metro and randomly got off on Sentier. I walked down one street and found nothing, so I ate lunch at a Quick restaurant. I walked down another street that looked promising, and quickly discovered that there were a string of sex shops and clubs down this street. Not half a block down one guy tried inviting me into his club. He actually got more excited when I told him I only speak English, and continued insisting. I told him unless he had free internet, no dice. A little further down a bar had a sign for free wi-fi, so I walked in. Turns out they speak perfect english there, and constantly have soccer or rugby on the TV, and there happened to be rugby on when I walked in. After settling a few things on my laptop, I wound up talking to a drunk guy from Sydney. Real nice guy, but very, very drunk. That night I walked from the Louvre down Le Jardin de Tuileries and Champs d'Elysees all the way to the Arc de Triumf. Absolutely beautiful.
The next day I went back to the same place to see it during the day, and walked down to Notre Dame and spent the afternoon there. I took a pretty cool audio tour of the cathedral, then went up into the belltowers and looked out at the city of France, not to mention saw Emmanuel, the huge bell only rung on special occasions (it's an F# 2, if you're interested). After that I went to Mass downstairs. Though I didn't understand a word of it, I still got goosebumps while celebrating Mass with complete strangers in a strange country. It really showed me the true meaning of the word "Catholic". I can't wait to do the same in Vatican City.
That night I watched the Eiffel tower sparkle for several minutes. I have video, and I'll post that and pictures when I get a chance, I promise.
The next two days I spent at Roland Garros, all day. It was really a cool tournament (read expensive), and I literally got chills as I walked in to Phillippe Chartrier Court. I got to watch Ana Ivanovic duke it out with Pattie Schnyder. After Ana won, I watched Nadal warm up. I had to leave after that to catch my train to Florence, but that's where I'll leave you for now. More by video when I get back to Spain, and I'll have a TON of pictures to show you when I get there. Until then, I'm in Rome, doing as the Romans.
-Gaby
6/4/08
wait for it....
I know I've been bad about updating while traveling. It's been crazy/good, but I promise the next stable connection I get on my computer I'll do a more complete update, at least on Paris. I promise I'll have everything up before you wake up Monday 8)
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