Back to Life

So, I am finally back. Let me just say yes, Americans take the Internet for granted, but life without it is rough, but I have survived! But, now that I have consistent internet access at my home I can return to being a blog-o-holic once again. I have done a lot in the time where I was not able to update all of my fellow followers, but the update is on its way. Many good things to come, just want to update everyone that all or most of my links are now functioning (check them out!!!) and that I will be back to blogging regularly very shortly! Talk to you soon.



PS- If this sounds like a child wrote it, I sincerely apologize, but I am writing on 6? hours of sleep after an amazing weekend in Madrid.

Chao.

Home Sweeeet Home

So, as I hope you've all noticed, I have not blogged recently. The reason is that on Sunday night (1/25) I moved from my residencia, to a home-stay. For those of you who are interested in how close/far I actually moved, here is a map. Anyways, my home-stay is absolutely great, minus not currently having the Internet. I have been through thick and thin (had a technician come to the house and try to fix the problem for hours then demanding tons of $$ from me... nothing worked, language barrier is tough in real-life dilemmas) trying to get this problem solved, and hopefully it will be shortly.
With that said, here I am, updating you all. I am currently at UPF, where all my classes are now kicking off as of this week. I have to blog from here due to my Internet not working at home. Anyways, now that you are all caught up, the home-stay. My friend Josh and I live with one woman, and her name is Carmen. As soon as I moved in, she showed me around, gave me keys and told me this is my house now- she is amazing. Mid to late 50's, widowed, mother of three, and oh so cool. She has cooked us burgers, homemade Vegetable soup, spaghetti, and chicken, all of which has been delicious-she basically cooks for us b/c these are not authentic dishes nor does she eat late at night. In the mornings she makes us tea, coffee, gives us cereal, muffins, fruit, bread whatever we want. The day I go there, she did my laundry for me, and since there are not dryers here, she hung everything out on the balcony, which is in my room! Hmm what else?? Josh has his own room (which somehow again is huge) and I have my own. Both are great and perfect for us. We are starting to form a nice little family even though these first few days have been hectic with Josh being sick and myself trying to get the Internet going. Overall, every night we have a dinner together, where Josh, Carmen and myself talk, relax, and enlighten one another about our days(all in Spanish obviously). This is where I try to understand what she is telling me, and sometimes I do, while other times I simply do not. The area we live in is also quite nice and extremely CENTRAL within the city of Barcelona. Basically, with the home-stay, I get to see more of the culture: How Carmen runs her life, how energy actually matters because lights are always off, rooms are always cold, water does not stay warm long, and dryers simply dont exist, and I enjoy taking all of this in. Overall, I am very happy about my move. Carmen is a great cook and a very sweet woman, providing quite the grandmother touch I have been looking for! Josh and I are eating it up... ;)

Since I am a little behind and Internetless I do not remember everything that I should blog about, feel free to ask me more about my home-stay. This is a summary of what comes to mind for now, to give you all an idea, but like I said... feel free to ask about more!

**Lastly, I plan to take some pictures of my home and Carmen shortly and
post them on my blog and facebook.

BARCE---BARCE---BARCE!

Last night, a few of us finally made it to a FC Barcelona match, and let me tell you, words cannot describe the experience. First of all, tickets for the cheapest section were all sold out. Somehow, someway, this lady gave us some random free tickets and we got in! Right from that point, I realized this is meant to be! As soon as I entered the stadium, Camp Nou, I wanted to cry. The "pitch" is so immaculate and surreal. 100,000 fans cheering on their pride and glory, and I was in the heart of it, experiencing it all. The amount of pashion alone is unimaginable (and then screaming, blow-horns etc) and make up the total experience for a futbol match.
Afer some scrambling, I made it down to the lower level, grabbed a seat and enjoyed the match. FCB is the best team in La Liga (Spanish Leauge), and they showed it last night. They beat their oponents 4-1, and it was truly amazing. Everything from the living the first GOALLL, to the simply listening to the fans, to scrambling through the stadium was ideal! Like any sporting event, watching it live takes the cake, but with futbol, you have to live it. I look forward to getting to as many matches as possible!

A special journey to class...

So today (like the last 10 days) I woke up with the sun shining through my curtains. I thought to myself, I want to walk the beach on my way to class. I live right off the beach (Barceloneta) so the walk to the boardwalk/ "paseo" is not too far. With that said, I grabbed my Ipod, put on Radiohead, my favorite band, and cruised the sea on my way to class. Between the music and the sights, it was truly one of the most breath-taking moments of my life. Therefore, I had to stop a man and ask him to snap a picture of me. So, hope you enjoy!

Mr. President- Obama-Obama-Obama!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009. No matter where anyone was, today was one of the most notable in history. Us American's over in Spain were allowed to leave class a bit early to catch the Inauguration coverage of Barack Obama. Therefore, after a long day of class, we all ventured to a Irish Pub nearby for $1 Estrella's, (one of Barcelona's most common beers)and to watch the official Inauguration ceremony. When entering the pub, I noticed a huge crowd of kids. Granted seeing tons of American's in one place is not something to be excited about, today was an exception. Kids from all sorts of programs gathered around, had some beers, and cheered on our new president. It was truly a priceless experience, and granted I was not even in the homeland to experience it, it will never be forgotten.

Flamenco: 1/19/2009

Today was great. Around 8PM I went for a bottle of wine and some tapas with some friends. Then at 9, our Guardian Angel group met up for drinks and a Flamenco Show. This was extremely authentic and an enlightening performance. The place we went to see this show was called "Tarantos"-- TAKE A LOOK!

My flamenco video: Must see on my facebook profile, video does not load here.

...After Flamenco our group did Sangria, and then it was the end of the night. It was a great Monday night!

Weekend wrap up

So, Thursday was a big night for "Welcome Week". Tons of different programs had just been getting started, and we went to a club called "Sutton". This place was very classy, and extremely fun. There was tons of house music, great amounts of Spanish kids, and a cool dance show. Overall, it was a great time. Then Friday was class, and I also came down with a cold. Therefore, I decided to stay in and try to take it easy. Then Saturday rolled around and my guy friends all had a day trip. So, I met some girls I know from a different program and walked La Rambla: (a giant street running through the center of the city with tons of touristic attractions ranging from great food, to quaint shopping, and an abundance of culturally diverse people- one of the most famous attractions in the world!)and also the Med. Boardwalk. This was so awesome and very pretty. To imagine walking the Mediterranean boardwalk and to actually do it are two completley different things, the experience is simply priceless. Overall, it turned out to be an amazing weekend. Sunday I also went down to the beach once again and tried to take everything in. You can never get enough of sitting on the Mediterranean sand and looking into the water, no matter what month it is. Throughout the weekend I explored my neighborhood and discovered tons of local markets, restaurants, and the port/board-walk. I had a great time finding new places to hangout, eat, and get drinks.