Not that I have a countdown going or that I'm overwhelmingly anxious to return to the drab world that is Boca Raton, Florida, but I have approximately 17 days left abroad before I am whisked away to the States only to wonder if all of this has been a mere dream or lucid reality. So as I sit here and stealthily write in my blog while at my internship sipping on the chi-latte I snuck out to get behind my line-manager's back I wonder how exactly it is that I will cope waking up the morning after my flight only to look back at all this and pinch myself. But for now I'll remain in the present, acknowledge that the time to bid farewell has not come and I am in fact still 21 and in London. Hell yes!
This past Easter weekend has been one for the books. It was a four day weekend (Friday was a bank holiday here in the UK) and I pretty much can sum up the entire weekend in one drunken binge. I've become quite the lush-- no questions asked. Now you may thinking to yourself what compels me to "brag" about my drinking binges, but the truth is acknowledging that I infact indulge in the bottle more heavily whilst abroad merely indicates that it is not a problem, but rather a youthful form of entertainment. At least thats what I'll keep telling myself thank you very much.
We ended up playing beer pong (berut as I've come to call it and thereby betraying everything that is Holy at UF) on Thursday night in what I consider an absolute shit fest. It was just me and 3 of my closest mates there (Shane, Andy and Jess) before the workers (that's what the self-proclaimed pot smokers call themselves) came in and joined the fun. I like to think and thereby tell myself that I dominated the table, but if you only saw the conditions in which we play berut you'd understand that the game could be nothing, but an absolute blast. Turns out we got so shitty we forgot to clean the common room, I passed out (because I've given up on actually falling asleep sober anymore) and everyone else seemed to scatter to their respective hybernation places. So, when the morning came and the common room wasn't clean the residence life coordinator didn't fail to reprimand us, lock the common room for the 4 day weekend and threaten to charge us for the mess we had made. Fear not however because my time spent in a crap hole of a fraternity house has taught me that no mess shall be left un-acknowledge and unclean. Of course the thought of possibly getting charged sparked my intensity and immediate willingness to find an alternative to the possibility of taking money away from my discretionary spending, so Shane and I beat the cleaning people to the punch and mopped up the common room and cleaned up after ourselves. The verdict is still pending as to whether any "serious" repercussions will be taken out on the individuals who participated in the anarchy. (F.Y.I. I use complete sarcasm in my recounting of the story because we were honestly treated like 5 year olds for leaving beer cans out and a few spills on the floor. They acted like we had burned the chairs, and glued the rest of the furniture to the roof. Come to think of it-- we probably should have and it would have made the shutting down of the common room all the more worthwhile.)
So aside from the continuous slue(sp) of drinking binges of which includes hitting up Porterhouse that houses beer from all over the world and Shane and I's brilliant plan to try nearly every one in the few weeks that remain....I did get some physical activity and recreation in. Yes-- I played football a.k.a. soccer. Now the interesting thing is my deep-rooted desire to participate in team sports has been buried for a while in fear of ridicule and possible SUCKAGE by myself, which is why I stuck to individual sports because there is no one to blame but yourself when you flub up. But when in Europe any opportunity to play football with 2 Serbians, a Spaniard, an Italian, an Egyptian and the ridiculousness that is the Americans -- one must always seize the opportunity and rise up to the occassion. And to much of my amazement it was as though the Colombian blood within boiled and I in fact did not suck at football (soccer). We played for 2 and half hours out in Regents Park before hunger pangs set in and I nearly passed out from starvation. I hadn't had so much fun playing football-- ever. The last time I had seriously played was back in the 3rd grade when I was part of a rec. league and I wore a green uniform with "Jaguars" printed across the chest. I loved the orange the peels and gatorade after the games and missed the excitement that is slide tackling a forward to prevent the goal. Not that we had orange peels or gatorade at Regent's Park.
The rest of the weekend we discovered Porterhouse and their endless menu neatly divided by country and their best tasting beers all available for my indulgement. Shane and I sat there for a few hours each day trying beers from everywhere, but they aren't the ones you'd normally find in stores so they're not highly commercialized. Hell the place even cracks on American beers for their incompetence to actually brew a good tasting one, but does however acknowledge that they are brilliantly advertised. We couldn't help but try the 11.3% beer called Trappistes Rochefort 10 from I believe it was Belgium. That's 11.3% of goodness in a single 330 ml bottle and yes we got hammered. We also had Maccabee from Isreal, Casablanca from Morocco, Brahama from Brazil, Erdinger from Germany, Moosehead and Honey Brown from Canada and others I forgot to peel the labels off and save.
I also finally got my taste of delicious sushi here in London. Granted I paid a hell of a lot more than I would have every paid in the States (naturally) and I ate a hell of a lot less too, but it was entirely worth it. I was able to introduce the fantastic world of sushi to the Shane-O as well as the scrumptulescentness that is Krispy Kreme (he'd never had either in his life-- I know he must live under a rock). We ate Yo! Sushi just across from Harrods in the Harrods supermarket (fancy that). The concept for this sushi establishment was entirely unique and an idea I may very well steal for a franchise back in the States. You sit at a bar whereby the sushi chefs sit on the other side. However, in between you and the sushi guys are conveyer belts whereby as the sushi chefs make the rolls they place them on different colored plates on the conveyer belts. The different colored plates indicate different price ranges. Now, the difference is that the sushi only comes in 2 bite rolls not the 8 bite rolls like in the States. Also, they don't exactly make all the neatly compacted sushi with the names here either. The cool thing though is that the sushi runs on the conveyer belts all around the bar and new rolls are added continuously so you sit at the bar and wait until something flies by that strikes your fancy and you grab it. I left stuffed, but I also spent a great deal, but lately I've been on this streak of not cooking anymore and simply eating out every day. I've also managed to hit up Starbucks every morning for a cafe misto and a muffin to the point where the baristas remember my face and know exactly what I'm ordering before I even say it. It's one of the many splendors of having a Starbucks every two yards from eachother and just around the corner from your flat. London has the most Starbucks per square mile in the world-- even more than NY. Incredible.
So aside from caffeine fixes, beer binges and sushi stuffings I am becoming cultural and learning to appreciate the arts. I ended up going to see The Crucible last night at Guil Good Theater on Shaftsbury Ave. It's the Arthur Miller play set in Salem, Mass. about the witch hunts, but it's really about the 1950s McCarthy era Communism witch hunts. I wasn't suppose to go to the play, but one of the other classes was going and I really wanted to see it. It was not a disappointment. It was probably top 3 best plays I've seen since being here and the acting was fantastic, the set was amazing and the storyline is really gripping. Yes- I said gripping to describe a play, but it really is an interesting play about manipulation, coercion and gullability. Also, we've managed to convince our Arts in London teacher to take us to see the We Will Rock You play based on the legendary band Queen. It's suppose to be really good and it's only playing in Vegas back in the States.
I feel like I'm ranting, but there is just so much to tell. Alright onto Baseball. So I've been exposed to so many new things while being here and one of them is this drinking game Pete and Shane play back at Southern New Hampshire University called baseball. It is fast becoming my new favorite past time and it's biting the heels of flip cup and berut. The object of the game is very much like quarters (where you bounce a quarter into a cup) the difference is you play on teams, you keep score and you get sloshed. What you do is you get 4 drinking cups of various sizes. Usually it's a shot glass, a regular glass, a pint and then a pitcher. You fill each with varying amounts of beer increasing the quantity depending on the size of the cup, so the pitcher would have the most beer. You line the cups in size order one in front of the other single file with an even amount of space in between each. The objective is just like baseball you need to get as many runs as possible in 9 innings. Each player gets a shot to bounce quarter into one of the 4 cups. Each miss is an out and you get 3 outs before you turn the quarter over to the other team. The runs work as such. If you make it into the shot glass that's a runner on 1st, the glass you get the runner on 2nd, the pint you get a runner to 3rd and in the pitcher it's a home run. Now if you get a runner on 2nd, and then make it into the shot glass the runner pushes to 3rd and so on. So when you make into one of the cups the other team has to drink. Therefore if you sit there and make it into the pitcher for a home run the other team is drinking the contents of all the cups (the shot glass, the cup, the pint and the pitcher) all in one sitting. You will get hammered in this game.
This pretty much concludes my endless schpeel of my Easter weekend.
You will undoubtedly get an update next week upon my return from Paris, France where I'll be spending this weekend. How cool does that sound?
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Monday, April 10, 2006
Barcelona, Spain
WOW...WOW...WOW...WOW
Are the first words that come to mind after what is probably one of the best weekends of my entire existence. Where do I even begin about Barcelona, Spain? There is so much to tell and I'd love to be able to recap the entire weekend, but would fail to do it any justice. I'll start from the beginning.
Departing from London we take a quick train to Luton Airport where we check in and start our sun-filled trip to Barcelona. It was me, Jess, Shane, Crystal, Pete, Jenna and Achmed a.k.a. Egypt. The group is a quality group of people. You have Jenna from South Kensington who never lets a moment go by without a sarcastic remark coming from her mouth, but perhaps the funniest girl I've been around. Then there is Jess who, like Jenna, is sarcastic and just knows how to have a good time without letting little hurdles get in the way. Shane is a good friend and a laid back kid who just has a good vibe to hang around. Pete and Crystal are the Byng couple who pretty much know how to have a good time without making people feel like the 3rd wheel. Then there's Egypt who is new to the world of socializing (we'll leave it at that). For the most part we all hang out together and generally ALWAYS have a good time (see pictures below if you have any doubt). There was no doubt in my mind that I'd have a fantastic time with this group of people in beautiful Barcelona. Especially because 6 of the 7 of us are all about having a good time no matter what the circumstances.
We arrive in Reus at about 5 p.m. and took an hour and half bus ride to the city center. We quickly oriented ourselves with the metro system upon which I started my weekend long use of Spanish speaking in order to survive. Of which I'd never had to do prior mainly because I spoke Spanish simply for conversational purposes. We did it up in true spring break style on the plane by ordering some Heinken's and celebrating our departure to Barcelona!!!
Upon our arrival we come to our hostel which is located literally two steps from the beach. It was dark by the time we got there and the weather didn't look too promising. It was a bit cold, but much warmer then London has been since January. The hostel was crazy nice. I've lucked out like you wouldn't imagine staying in these hostels because they are located in great places, they're clean and not at all shady. Of course we went through STA to book this particular one because we were having some trouble locating one on our own-- everything seemed to be booked. We quickly put our bags down and immediately hit the strip of restaurants. Mind you it's about 9:30 almost 10 p.m. By the time we chose a restaurant I'd say we sat down to order at 11:30 or so. We chose to eat at El Rey de la Gamba (translation: The King of Shrimp).
When in Spain it is imperative that you eat three things traditional to the country:
1. Paella
2. Churros y Chocolate
3. Sangria
With that in mind we chose this seafood restaurant because Paella is a yellow rice dish with mixed in seafood including shrimp, muscles, squid, octopus and assort vegetables. It needs to be done properly in order to get the true Paella experience because as I've discovered on my journey's many restaurants in touristy areas are inclined to microwave their food and pass them off as fresh. Again- Don't eat at restaurants with pictures on the menu.
Without question the Paella was delicious. It went down smoothly when chased by a cold glass of Sangria, which is simply red wine mixed with fresh fruit and taste sweeter than wine. None of that bitter taste that lingers in your mouth. It's delicious and I'm not much of a wine person (with the exception of getting a buzz fast).
Of course there was no way that we were willing to allow our short trip to Barcelona to go out with nights of partying and drinking. Lucky for us the Spaniards are nocturnal and clubs don't really start hopping till about 2 a.m. Imagine that. The time that I'd normally be coming home from a Gainesville club, I am just hitting up in Barcelona. Crazy. We found this strip along the beach that had a handful of clubs side by side and decided to do a miniature bar crawl of our own. We hit up a more mature and nicer martini bar first and order some delicious drinks, which we chased with a pint from the irish bar next door featuring live music that reminded me of camping in key west because of the reggae feel to it. We made our way in and out of a few of the clubs, which were all free admission and took some free shots the promoters would offer us. I'm never one to turn down a free shot or drink.
Friday morning I called up Grandma-dukes who took a train from Madrid to Barcelona early Thursday afternoon and was staying 2 miles north of where my hostel was. I met up with her to have some breakfast and it was so nice to see her again. It was a little piece of home in Barcelona. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at this cafe just around the corner from her ridiculously lavish hotel she stayed in...of course it's always only the best with Grandma-dukes. Since she had never been to Barcelona she wanted to take the bus tour. Now, normally I'd object to the notion, but my friends had mentioned wanting to possibly do one also and quite frankly aside from having beaches I didn't know what Barcelona had to offer. So, it was really nice to be able to balance both my friends and family on this trip without having to juggle the two and get stretched thin.
The bus tour wasn't as bad as I had imagined simply because we were able to get on and off the bus as we wished, so we weren't subject to the bus the entire time. It took us all around the city stopping at the real toursit areas like the Sagrada Family Cathedral, the Park de Gaulle and others. For the most part Barcelona is reknowned for its architecture by Antoni Gaudi. I'd never heard of him until I got to Barcelona, but his stuff is really creative and different. I think a lot of it is mosaic inspired and pretty unique. He has buildings and parks throughout the city all with similar styles and touches that it is easy to pick them out amidst the modern buildings.
That night I promised my Grandma that we'd go out to eat so everyone put on their best and we went to this nice restaurant just next to my grandma's hotel. The dinner was fantastic. Not only was the food amazing, but the entire atmosphere and feel at the table was great. There was good conversation, we were shooting the shit, laughing, making jokes, just enjoying eachother's company. There was no separation of from my friends and my grandma. She was getting along great with everyone. We ended up ordering Sangria, wine and beers and got a great buzz going. Even my grandma got a little tipsy at the table. I ordered a delicious cut of veal and some spanish ham and cheese rolls as my appetizer. It was a filling meal. The waiters and all of us ended up getting along without a hitch. We didn't leave the restaurant til about 1:30 a.m. to head back to the hostel and continuing the partying. However, we didn't leave the restaurant without first getting some pictures with the waiters and even the cook. They then gave us three bottles of schnapps as an after dinner shot, but since we were having such a good time we ended up killing two of the bottles amongst the 8 of us at the table. It was crazy getting drunk with Grandma-dukes, but definitely a night to remember. She got so comfortable with everyone she busted out here sandals that she carries in her purse for when she's tired and started pretending to talk on the phone to the girls at the other end of the table. The girls joined in the mayham and all took off their sandals and pretended to talk on the phone back to her. Sounds nutty, but you had to be there to see how chaotic it got.
After dropping Grandma back off at her hotel, upon which she decided to jump on Shane's back for a piggy back ride. We decided to take the metro back to hostel. I had thought the tube closed at 5 a.m., but we quickly realized that it shut down at 2a.m. Turns out we got on at the wrong entrance and the tube we needed as quite aways. I asked an attendant what time it closed and she said 2 a.m. and it was 1:55, so if we wanted to get home we had to book it. We took off running...actually it was more like sprinting down the metro tunnels and it was by no means a short run. It was hysterical because here we are in Barcelona hauling ass down the metro tunnels to make it to this one train. We end up getting to the platform at the exact second the train pulls up. No kidding had we stopped for a breather we would have missed and had to walk our happy asses 2 miles to the hostel.
Since we were already feeling the buzz from dinner we decided to take it easy Friday night and just buy a bottle of Bacardi rum, take a sheet and sit on the beach. It was so awesome to sit on the beach with my friends and just shoot the shit, listen to the waves crashing and taking crazy pictures. It was almost like back when you were in high school and you had the group of friends that you were just so close with that just sitting around doing nothing was fun. It's one of the moments I'll look back and always remember those 5 other people on the beach. Good times.
Saturday morning was perfect. Shane and I got up early while the rest of the crew ended up sleeping in. Boo! I wanted to hit the beach the first chance I got and considering the sun was out I didn't want to let any opportunity slip me by. The temperature turned out to be perfect. While it was still sunny there was a cool breeze that steadily swept through the air so it never got excessively hot to the point where I'd sweat profusely. It was nice. We then hit up the Barcelona Zoo. Alright I'm not much of a zoo person, actually they can be quite boring, but this zoo was different. It was actually really awesome how close you could get to the animals. You could touch some of them you were that close. I got some great pictures of a few of them too. It was a massive zoo, but it was just nice to walk around leisurely and check out the animals. I never though that I'd enjoy going to the zoo while I was vacationing in Barcelona, but the day was just so nice that it didn't even matter.
Saturday night we ended up going to this restaurant/club called Baja. Alright, seriously I have never been to a club like this. I felt like I was in Cancun, Mexico on spring break. I was waiting for the foam party to just start. It was seriously one of the best nights of my life. The entire club was just packed, and decorated in this beach, surfer style. They played only spanish techno/dance style music, with a few American songs here and there, but it was just awesome to hear different music instead of the usual Lil Jon and Beyonce shit. If you talk to me in person I still can't describe this club to you and the energy that was fluent throughout. Some of the best parts was that they have these songs in Spain that are designated line dances...but more like the Macarena than a country line dance. So, when they'd play the particular song the bartenders who were all bikini clad and shirtless would get on the bar and dance with the crowd all doing the same dance moves. It was so fun to watch and attempt to immitate. It was also one of the only clubs in the world where it would be cool to get TPed. Every once in a while in between the strobe light, green laser show and fog they'd shoot out cannons of toilet paper, confetti and shredded napkin into the crowd, but that just enhanced the entire experience cause you just busted out crazy. The best part is that the club closed at 6 a.m., but we had to check out of our hostel at 10 a.m., so I ended up dipping out at 3:30 while some of the girls stayed until 5:30 a.m. Crazy!
My weekend in Barcelona was unforgettable. I would go back to party in Barcelona in a heart beat and I can't imagine how insane it is during the summer. I actually only got a few days of good sun, but if you saw me now you'd think I'd laid out for a week. I'm so tan. It's funny because when I returned everyone thought that I had been tanning all weekend (at tanning beds) because I guess I was pale before and now that I'm back to my natural blackness people notice it. The group of us had so much fun in Barcelona we're actually planning another trip out before my visa and trip capabilities expire.
One of the biggest things about traveling is the company with which you find yourself. The crowd you decide to travel with may either make or break your trip-- in this case my trip was far beyond the entertainment, fun and once-in-a-lifetime experience I anticipated. I can't really say it was "once in a lifetime" actually because I see myself returning to Barcelona again, but of course not with the same group of individuals. I think what made it that much better was in fact those 6 of other people and my grandma. Everyone there was close to me, good friends and family. Needless to say, I feel lucky having the opportunity to just say "I just spent a weekend in Barcelona and it was fantastic!"
Honestly--- who says that???
Are the first words that come to mind after what is probably one of the best weekends of my entire existence. Where do I even begin about Barcelona, Spain? There is so much to tell and I'd love to be able to recap the entire weekend, but would fail to do it any justice. I'll start from the beginning.
Departing from London we take a quick train to Luton Airport where we check in and start our sun-filled trip to Barcelona. It was me, Jess, Shane, Crystal, Pete, Jenna and Achmed a.k.a. Egypt. The group is a quality group of people. You have Jenna from South Kensington who never lets a moment go by without a sarcastic remark coming from her mouth, but perhaps the funniest girl I've been around. Then there is Jess who, like Jenna, is sarcastic and just knows how to have a good time without letting little hurdles get in the way. Shane is a good friend and a laid back kid who just has a good vibe to hang around. Pete and Crystal are the Byng couple who pretty much know how to have a good time without making people feel like the 3rd wheel. Then there's Egypt who is new to the world of socializing (we'll leave it at that). For the most part we all hang out together and generally ALWAYS have a good time (see pictures below if you have any doubt). There was no doubt in my mind that I'd have a fantastic time with this group of people in beautiful Barcelona. Especially because 6 of the 7 of us are all about having a good time no matter what the circumstances.
We arrive in Reus at about 5 p.m. and took an hour and half bus ride to the city center. We quickly oriented ourselves with the metro system upon which I started my weekend long use of Spanish speaking in order to survive. Of which I'd never had to do prior mainly because I spoke Spanish simply for conversational purposes. We did it up in true spring break style on the plane by ordering some Heinken's and celebrating our departure to Barcelona!!!
Upon our arrival we come to our hostel which is located literally two steps from the beach. It was dark by the time we got there and the weather didn't look too promising. It was a bit cold, but much warmer then London has been since January. The hostel was crazy nice. I've lucked out like you wouldn't imagine staying in these hostels because they are located in great places, they're clean and not at all shady. Of course we went through STA to book this particular one because we were having some trouble locating one on our own-- everything seemed to be booked. We quickly put our bags down and immediately hit the strip of restaurants. Mind you it's about 9:30 almost 10 p.m. By the time we chose a restaurant I'd say we sat down to order at 11:30 or so. We chose to eat at El Rey de la Gamba (translation: The King of Shrimp).
When in Spain it is imperative that you eat three things traditional to the country:
1. Paella
2. Churros y Chocolate
3. Sangria
With that in mind we chose this seafood restaurant because Paella is a yellow rice dish with mixed in seafood including shrimp, muscles, squid, octopus and assort vegetables. It needs to be done properly in order to get the true Paella experience because as I've discovered on my journey's many restaurants in touristy areas are inclined to microwave their food and pass them off as fresh. Again- Don't eat at restaurants with pictures on the menu.
Without question the Paella was delicious. It went down smoothly when chased by a cold glass of Sangria, which is simply red wine mixed with fresh fruit and taste sweeter than wine. None of that bitter taste that lingers in your mouth. It's delicious and I'm not much of a wine person (with the exception of getting a buzz fast).
Of course there was no way that we were willing to allow our short trip to Barcelona to go out with nights of partying and drinking. Lucky for us the Spaniards are nocturnal and clubs don't really start hopping till about 2 a.m. Imagine that. The time that I'd normally be coming home from a Gainesville club, I am just hitting up in Barcelona. Crazy. We found this strip along the beach that had a handful of clubs side by side and decided to do a miniature bar crawl of our own. We hit up a more mature and nicer martini bar first and order some delicious drinks, which we chased with a pint from the irish bar next door featuring live music that reminded me of camping in key west because of the reggae feel to it. We made our way in and out of a few of the clubs, which were all free admission and took some free shots the promoters would offer us. I'm never one to turn down a free shot or drink.
Friday morning I called up Grandma-dukes who took a train from Madrid to Barcelona early Thursday afternoon and was staying 2 miles north of where my hostel was. I met up with her to have some breakfast and it was so nice to see her again. It was a little piece of home in Barcelona. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at this cafe just around the corner from her ridiculously lavish hotel she stayed in...of course it's always only the best with Grandma-dukes. Since she had never been to Barcelona she wanted to take the bus tour. Now, normally I'd object to the notion, but my friends had mentioned wanting to possibly do one also and quite frankly aside from having beaches I didn't know what Barcelona had to offer. So, it was really nice to be able to balance both my friends and family on this trip without having to juggle the two and get stretched thin.
The bus tour wasn't as bad as I had imagined simply because we were able to get on and off the bus as we wished, so we weren't subject to the bus the entire time. It took us all around the city stopping at the real toursit areas like the Sagrada Family Cathedral, the Park de Gaulle and others. For the most part Barcelona is reknowned for its architecture by Antoni Gaudi. I'd never heard of him until I got to Barcelona, but his stuff is really creative and different. I think a lot of it is mosaic inspired and pretty unique. He has buildings and parks throughout the city all with similar styles and touches that it is easy to pick them out amidst the modern buildings.
That night I promised my Grandma that we'd go out to eat so everyone put on their best and we went to this nice restaurant just next to my grandma's hotel. The dinner was fantastic. Not only was the food amazing, but the entire atmosphere and feel at the table was great. There was good conversation, we were shooting the shit, laughing, making jokes, just enjoying eachother's company. There was no separation of from my friends and my grandma. She was getting along great with everyone. We ended up ordering Sangria, wine and beers and got a great buzz going. Even my grandma got a little tipsy at the table. I ordered a delicious cut of veal and some spanish ham and cheese rolls as my appetizer. It was a filling meal. The waiters and all of us ended up getting along without a hitch. We didn't leave the restaurant til about 1:30 a.m. to head back to the hostel and continuing the partying. However, we didn't leave the restaurant without first getting some pictures with the waiters and even the cook. They then gave us three bottles of schnapps as an after dinner shot, but since we were having such a good time we ended up killing two of the bottles amongst the 8 of us at the table. It was crazy getting drunk with Grandma-dukes, but definitely a night to remember. She got so comfortable with everyone she busted out here sandals that she carries in her purse for when she's tired and started pretending to talk on the phone to the girls at the other end of the table. The girls joined in the mayham and all took off their sandals and pretended to talk on the phone back to her. Sounds nutty, but you had to be there to see how chaotic it got.
After dropping Grandma back off at her hotel, upon which she decided to jump on Shane's back for a piggy back ride. We decided to take the metro back to hostel. I had thought the tube closed at 5 a.m., but we quickly realized that it shut down at 2a.m. Turns out we got on at the wrong entrance and the tube we needed as quite aways. I asked an attendant what time it closed and she said 2 a.m. and it was 1:55, so if we wanted to get home we had to book it. We took off running...actually it was more like sprinting down the metro tunnels and it was by no means a short run. It was hysterical because here we are in Barcelona hauling ass down the metro tunnels to make it to this one train. We end up getting to the platform at the exact second the train pulls up. No kidding had we stopped for a breather we would have missed and had to walk our happy asses 2 miles to the hostel.
Since we were already feeling the buzz from dinner we decided to take it easy Friday night and just buy a bottle of Bacardi rum, take a sheet and sit on the beach. It was so awesome to sit on the beach with my friends and just shoot the shit, listen to the waves crashing and taking crazy pictures. It was almost like back when you were in high school and you had the group of friends that you were just so close with that just sitting around doing nothing was fun. It's one of the moments I'll look back and always remember those 5 other people on the beach. Good times.
Saturday morning was perfect. Shane and I got up early while the rest of the crew ended up sleeping in. Boo! I wanted to hit the beach the first chance I got and considering the sun was out I didn't want to let any opportunity slip me by. The temperature turned out to be perfect. While it was still sunny there was a cool breeze that steadily swept through the air so it never got excessively hot to the point where I'd sweat profusely. It was nice. We then hit up the Barcelona Zoo. Alright I'm not much of a zoo person, actually they can be quite boring, but this zoo was different. It was actually really awesome how close you could get to the animals. You could touch some of them you were that close. I got some great pictures of a few of them too. It was a massive zoo, but it was just nice to walk around leisurely and check out the animals. I never though that I'd enjoy going to the zoo while I was vacationing in Barcelona, but the day was just so nice that it didn't even matter.
Saturday night we ended up going to this restaurant/club called Baja. Alright, seriously I have never been to a club like this. I felt like I was in Cancun, Mexico on spring break. I was waiting for the foam party to just start. It was seriously one of the best nights of my life. The entire club was just packed, and decorated in this beach, surfer style. They played only spanish techno/dance style music, with a few American songs here and there, but it was just awesome to hear different music instead of the usual Lil Jon and Beyonce shit. If you talk to me in person I still can't describe this club to you and the energy that was fluent throughout. Some of the best parts was that they have these songs in Spain that are designated line dances...but more like the Macarena than a country line dance. So, when they'd play the particular song the bartenders who were all bikini clad and shirtless would get on the bar and dance with the crowd all doing the same dance moves. It was so fun to watch and attempt to immitate. It was also one of the only clubs in the world where it would be cool to get TPed. Every once in a while in between the strobe light, green laser show and fog they'd shoot out cannons of toilet paper, confetti and shredded napkin into the crowd, but that just enhanced the entire experience cause you just busted out crazy. The best part is that the club closed at 6 a.m., but we had to check out of our hostel at 10 a.m., so I ended up dipping out at 3:30 while some of the girls stayed until 5:30 a.m. Crazy!
My weekend in Barcelona was unforgettable. I would go back to party in Barcelona in a heart beat and I can't imagine how insane it is during the summer. I actually only got a few days of good sun, but if you saw me now you'd think I'd laid out for a week. I'm so tan. It's funny because when I returned everyone thought that I had been tanning all weekend (at tanning beds) because I guess I was pale before and now that I'm back to my natural blackness people notice it. The group of us had so much fun in Barcelona we're actually planning another trip out before my visa and trip capabilities expire.
One of the biggest things about traveling is the company with which you find yourself. The crowd you decide to travel with may either make or break your trip-- in this case my trip was far beyond the entertainment, fun and once-in-a-lifetime experience I anticipated. I can't really say it was "once in a lifetime" actually because I see myself returning to Barcelona again, but of course not with the same group of individuals. I think what made it that much better was in fact those 6 of other people and my grandma. Everyone there was close to me, good friends and family. Needless to say, I feel lucky having the opportunity to just say "I just spent a weekend in Barcelona and it was fantastic!"
Honestly--- who says that???
Monday, April 03, 2006
Go Gators!
So the Gators are advancing rapidly in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. I can only imagine the amount of Gator spirit, enthusiasm and fanatical screaming, gator chomping and gator bait chanting there must be going on in Gainesville. We knocked George Mason right back where they belonged and brought a tear to the nation's eye when their beloved "Cinderella story" was crushed unremorsefully by your's truly- the relentless Florida Gators!
Pre-London I was a Gator enthusiast of sorts. I went to UF and took pride in the Orange and Blue. Could I say I bled Orange and Blue? No, not entirely. Post-London I think it's safe to say that my admiration and love for the Orange and Blue that once lacked is very much present. I didn't realize how incredible our school is in comparison so some of the universities around the U.S. where students are jipped out of a true college experience with lower division sports teams, zero school spirit, no pride in their school's name and their paying nearly 4 times I am per semester for less than spectacular amenities that I would otherwise take for granted. Like SouthWest, Racquetball and the Swamp.
I got a chance to catch the game against George Mason at American Sports Cafe. The experience was unique in that everyone, aside from the 14 people (give or take a few) that came with us to cheer on the Gators (even kids from Southern New Hampshire University wore Gator paraphenilia), EVERYONE in the bar was cheering on George Mason. They'd taunt us with the Seminole chant and throw it in our face with every shot at the net that went in. However, need not fear, because in my obnoxious, drunken, absurd state I was the quintessential American dick/prick/asshole that threw it in their face when we made each 3 point shot, took out the keys and jingled them in their face when the game was clearly over and never failed to give them the gator chomp. Let's just say that many a people disliked me in the bar and I but nearly escaped getting my friends into arguments. I played it safe-- sort of. We even sang "The Boys of Old Florida" at the end of the 1st half and met an alumni who happened to be traveling through London and stumbled upon a place that was showing the game. Hell I even ran into the notorious Nick Norden for the first time in 3 months.
Nearly 4 pitchers deep I pretty much let it be known that the Gator spirit would not lack while on this side of the Atlantic. While the pride and sheer insanity may never rival that which swarms Gainesville today (Monday April 3). I assure you my American counterparts that I (and my fellow Gator mates) are screaming just as loudly for that championship.
Go Gators!
Pre-London I was a Gator enthusiast of sorts. I went to UF and took pride in the Orange and Blue. Could I say I bled Orange and Blue? No, not entirely. Post-London I think it's safe to say that my admiration and love for the Orange and Blue that once lacked is very much present. I didn't realize how incredible our school is in comparison so some of the universities around the U.S. where students are jipped out of a true college experience with lower division sports teams, zero school spirit, no pride in their school's name and their paying nearly 4 times I am per semester for less than spectacular amenities that I would otherwise take for granted. Like SouthWest, Racquetball and the Swamp.
I got a chance to catch the game against George Mason at American Sports Cafe. The experience was unique in that everyone, aside from the 14 people (give or take a few) that came with us to cheer on the Gators (even kids from Southern New Hampshire University wore Gator paraphenilia), EVERYONE in the bar was cheering on George Mason. They'd taunt us with the Seminole chant and throw it in our face with every shot at the net that went in. However, need not fear, because in my obnoxious, drunken, absurd state I was the quintessential American dick/prick/asshole that threw it in their face when we made each 3 point shot, took out the keys and jingled them in their face when the game was clearly over and never failed to give them the gator chomp. Let's just say that many a people disliked me in the bar and I but nearly escaped getting my friends into arguments. I played it safe-- sort of. We even sang "The Boys of Old Florida" at the end of the 1st half and met an alumni who happened to be traveling through London and stumbled upon a place that was showing the game. Hell I even ran into the notorious Nick Norden for the first time in 3 months.
Nearly 4 pitchers deep I pretty much let it be known that the Gator spirit would not lack while on this side of the Atlantic. While the pride and sheer insanity may never rival that which swarms Gainesville today (Monday April 3). I assure you my American counterparts that I (and my fellow Gator mates) are screaming just as loudly for that championship.
Go Gators!
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