To tell the truth, I forgot about blogging for a while and just didn't feel like it other times. So it kind of ended early, but now it is going to end for real. I just wanted to give you my overall thoughts on the stay.
I was able to improve my language abilities, saw Europe for the first time, and enjoyed the culture of Spain. But what I found to be the best and most memorable part of my trip was meeting and becoming friends with the people there. To some extent I got caught up in the "exchange student trap," as the majority of my friends were other exchange students. But fortunately, very few of them were Americans and I still did make Spanish friends. Living, traveling, and hanging out with them all the time is what made my trip as great as it was. It truely did make me sad to leave these friends on the other side of the world, not knowing when or if I will see them again.
On the plane I thought about how sad I was to leave these people, but how excited I was to see my friends back home. Through this I think I stumbled on an important life lesson. It doesn't matter how beautiful a city is, how much I call a place home, or even how good the food is, but what really makes a place great are the people you care about. It wasn't the great city of Madrid that defined my trip, it was my friends that helped make it great. I wasn't looking forward to return to Fayetteville to be see my home city once again, but rather to see my friends and family. I am so grateful to have such great people in my life, people are what made my trip and they are what makes me happy to be home. Well if I didn't learn anything else in Spain, and hope that I did, at least I learned the importance of people. Even if I didn't invest my time into classes all the time, I feel certain that I invested it correctly.
It looks like this blog is now over. There are no more updates from me in Spain and I don't really have anything important to say most of the time. Maybe I could start another, but I don't know what it would be about, so this maybe the end of my Internet writing days. It has been fun and hopefully my writing here hasn't done anything to destroy modern literature as I was afraid. Thanks for sharing in my journey.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Free Gum
I have not made a post in the while, because usually I feel like I should post when I go on a trip or do something incredible here, but for the most part I have been living my everyday life here in Madrid. But everyone of those days has had something special and this is the point when I'm wishing I had kept some sort of journal. But I didn't and I'm afraid I've already lost some of those little memories. There is no changing that now, but I'll try to share a couple of those things.
Although the stereotype of a Spaniard may not be the nicest person in the world, my experience has been quite positive. As a side note we've actually been going over stereotypes of Spaniards in my Spanish class to practice certain grammatical forms, but I think it is secretly an information gathering tool to improve the outlook of Spain in the world. Anyway, the old people have been my favorite. I know I imagined that everyone of the older generation would be hardened and closed after years of living under the Franco fascist government. This is not the case at all, as they are almost always overly helpful, friendly, and enjoyable to talk to. I've had to ask directions many times, while finding parks, rock chairs, and even the way home. They are always more than happy to help, give directions, and in one case even draw a map. There is one elderly man in his 60's or so that lives in my building who I see occasionally and enjoys correcting my Spanish. He is a professor at a university close by. Today when there wasn't enough room on our tiny elevator for everyone, I got off as an old lady got on and told him to get in since I could walk. He then said "No," and that I was going to walk up with him. So we walked up together as he kept asking me what we were doing and I would have to respond in Spanish, but with the proper pronunciation of course. When we were at his floor, he told me to come in to show him where Arkansas was on a map. I had told I was from here before and every time he sees me he asks where I'm from, so he can here me pronounce it the Spanish way, "Ar-Kansas." After showing him where it was and showing where all I've traveled in the Sates I was headed out as he stopped me and as he opened a new case of Mentos gum. I'm not a big gum chewer, but I accepted and after taking the pieces he handed me the pack and told me to take it all. He once again reminded me to come by his flat if I need anything and he demonstrated how to use the doorbell as he walked out behind me.
Strangly enough this isn't the only pack of free gum I've recieved here. I've become friends with the owner of a small convience store half a block up my street. The convience store business within Madrid is dominated by the Chinese sub-population. I'm pretty sure this one is run by him and his wife, both of Chinese decent, but were born in Spain. Well wanting to practice my Spanish more, one day I struck up a conversation and ever since then we talk whenever I go in. He too gave me a free pack of gum, Trident I believe. Because of these two incidents, the amount of free packages of gum I've recieved in the past few months greatly outnumbers the amount of gum I have purchased in the past few years. And even though I don't really like gum that much, I will chew these with joy thanks to the gratious people of Spain.
I also went to a bull fight a couple weeks ago here in Madrid. The Plaza de Toros here is the second largest in the world and I'm sure one of the most beautiful. I know many people disagree with bull fights, but I went to less to see a bull die, but to experience a cultural tradition. And it was definitely full of tradition and I felt even more like I really was in Spain (after 3+ months of already being here). I'm not going to argue for or against them, but I will say that I did enjoy the fight and would go back if I get a chance. Another amazing thing about it was that the ticket was only 2.20 euros! The snack I then bought from a vendor outside (peanuts and a drink) cost 4 times the price of admisions. Sports food vendors seem to be the same wethere it is at a Razorback Football game or a Spanish Bull Fight.
(I'll give a warning that I'm going to post a picture from the fight, so if you have objections don't continue below. )
Right now I should be doing my Macroeconomics II homework, but honestly it is too dificult and I get frustrated looking at it. I also have a final coming on Tuesday that I may or may not be ready for. Tomorrow after class I'm going down to Seville for the weekend. It is a 6 hour bus ride, so there is 12 hours worth of studying, right? We'll see and I'll let you know how it goes.
Although the stereotype of a Spaniard may not be the nicest person in the world, my experience has been quite positive. As a side note we've actually been going over stereotypes of Spaniards in my Spanish class to practice certain grammatical forms, but I think it is secretly an information gathering tool to improve the outlook of Spain in the world. Anyway, the old people have been my favorite. I know I imagined that everyone of the older generation would be hardened and closed after years of living under the Franco fascist government. This is not the case at all, as they are almost always overly helpful, friendly, and enjoyable to talk to. I've had to ask directions many times, while finding parks, rock chairs, and even the way home. They are always more than happy to help, give directions, and in one case even draw a map. There is one elderly man in his 60's or so that lives in my building who I see occasionally and enjoys correcting my Spanish. He is a professor at a university close by. Today when there wasn't enough room on our tiny elevator for everyone, I got off as an old lady got on and told him to get in since I could walk. He then said "No," and that I was going to walk up with him. So we walked up together as he kept asking me what we were doing and I would have to respond in Spanish, but with the proper pronunciation of course. When we were at his floor, he told me to come in to show him where Arkansas was on a map. I had told I was from here before and every time he sees me he asks where I'm from, so he can here me pronounce it the Spanish way, "Ar-Kansas." After showing him where it was and showing where all I've traveled in the Sates I was headed out as he stopped me and as he opened a new case of Mentos gum. I'm not a big gum chewer, but I accepted and after taking the pieces he handed me the pack and told me to take it all. He once again reminded me to come by his flat if I need anything and he demonstrated how to use the doorbell as he walked out behind me.
Strangly enough this isn't the only pack of free gum I've recieved here. I've become friends with the owner of a small convience store half a block up my street. The convience store business within Madrid is dominated by the Chinese sub-population. I'm pretty sure this one is run by him and his wife, both of Chinese decent, but were born in Spain. Well wanting to practice my Spanish more, one day I struck up a conversation and ever since then we talk whenever I go in. He too gave me a free pack of gum, Trident I believe. Because of these two incidents, the amount of free packages of gum I've recieved in the past few months greatly outnumbers the amount of gum I have purchased in the past few years. And even though I don't really like gum that much, I will chew these with joy thanks to the gratious people of Spain.
I also went to a bull fight a couple weeks ago here in Madrid. The Plaza de Toros here is the second largest in the world and I'm sure one of the most beautiful. I know many people disagree with bull fights, but I went to less to see a bull die, but to experience a cultural tradition. And it was definitely full of tradition and I felt even more like I really was in Spain (after 3+ months of already being here). I'm not going to argue for or against them, but I will say that I did enjoy the fight and would go back if I get a chance. Another amazing thing about it was that the ticket was only 2.20 euros! The snack I then bought from a vendor outside (peanuts and a drink) cost 4 times the price of admisions. Sports food vendors seem to be the same wethere it is at a Razorback Football game or a Spanish Bull Fight.
(I'll give a warning that I'm going to post a picture from the fight, so if you have objections don't continue below. )
Right now I should be doing my Macroeconomics II homework, but honestly it is too dificult and I get frustrated looking at it. I also have a final coming on Tuesday that I may or may not be ready for. Tomorrow after class I'm going down to Seville for the weekend. It is a 6 hour bus ride, so there is 12 hours worth of studying, right? We'll see and I'll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Inbetween the Ruins
One of my early posts said that life is made up in the details, and I'm going to have to say that is what made the past few days for me really great. Sure the epic sights of Rome were incredible, but the small details, the people I met, and the little things that happened are what made the trip for me. Wanting to remember better I wrote down notes after each day. Failing to bring a journal or even a pen, I had to borrow a pen from the Hostel and take notes on the back of my flight information. The folded back of my flight sheets hold why I loved Rome better than my imperfect memory can. Obviously you know that I saw all the famous tourist sights of the city, so I am going to recount the little stories that made Rome unique for me.
On Friday after walking around for most of the day I went to the Colosseum to see the Pope's procession at the time recommended to me by the person behind the desk at my hostel. He was a little off, I was 3 hours too early, so I decided to continue walk around. I hadn't gone into anything that day because I didn't feel like waiting in lines, but one of the things I walked by earlier with a large line was now vacant, and still open. Paul's prison, from where he wrote a significant part of the New Testament. I went down there with no one else around. Being down there alone was quite an experience that I won't try to explain here. After walking around some more I found myself resting in a park above the Colosseum watching the sunset above it. When I finally returned to get a place for the Colosseum but was unable to meet my friends because of how fast it filled up. But I did find myself to this elderly American/British couple. The British man was one of the most interesting people I've met in a long time, and I couldn't have been happier to share my first Pope experience with them. He had gone to Cambridge in the 1950's, he had been to Arkansas once, and drove highway AR 1 and said some of the small towns reminded him of Western movies. This was about 40 years ago. He had also lived in Madrid for a while, working during the Franco era doing something with manuscripts, he was a professor of Latin and Greek. He told me lots of stories of Spain during this time period, being the first person I've talked to about this time period I was very willing to listen. I could tell that this couple has lived quite a life, with more experiences than I could imagine or begin to understand. They were incredibly friendly to me and he even translated some of the Pope's speech for me.
I feel very fortunate for meetings such as this one. There was no reason that we should have met, as I was looking for my friends, but we did and this is something that really improved my trip to Rome. I am also starting to realize that if I record every event such as this one that I won't sleep tonight, so I am only going to mention a few more things. I would go on to see the Pope once more for Sunday Mass in the Vatican, which was something very unique. At times I felt like I was at a fair, while others I was at a religious ceremony I did not know the rules to. But all in all that was another great Pope meeting.
On Monday I had another little adventure. Most of my Rome trip and visits were planned on the spot. After visiting the Capitol Museum, I sat down, read my guide book, and decided I would go to the Roman Catacombs. According to my map they didn't seem too far away, about the same distance from where I was as the Hostel is to the Colosseum, about a 20/25 minute walk. This is when I discovered that my map had several imperfections, one of which being that it wasn't drawn to scale. After an hour's worth of walking through streets not on the map I was about to give up at turn around. Suddenly I saw a sign saying Catacombs this way! Only 1500 more meters! A little while later I found the catacombs, which were certainly worth the trip. It was a great tour, but of course only consisted of more walking.
When it was over I started the hike back. In a short hour and a half I was back to the Circus Maximus, the closest metro. I decided I would spend the euro and take it back to the hostel. After I bought the ticket and went to the platform I realized I was on the wrong side. I searched my side for stairs to the next and found that it was one of those one entrance ones with no way to the other side. I would have to pay another euro to get to the side I needed. Being in a very one track state of mind, I decided that the metro of Rome did not deserve another euro for having poor service and not being well labeled for the common tourist. I continued the walk on foot. I made it back to my hostel after a 2 hour walk, sore and tired. I had a nap before exploring that night and meeting my Italian friend Alessandro later.
The great memories didn't even stop at the airport, where I was to meet a Chinese business man that has been traveling all over Europe and parts of Africa for his Telecomunications business in China. He had never been out of China before working for this company, but is now very well traveled, with many experiences. He along with the people from my first night are examples of how easy it is to meet people from all over the world, in places that aren't there own. All of this had me thinking somehow, but I don't really know exactly how. I know that doesn't make much since, but to me it does somehow. But for now I'm finished with thinking, I haven't slept much this week and tonight won't be too different. I am afraid this is going to be a difficult school week, although it is only two days long for me. These will be an intense couple of days.
On Friday after walking around for most of the day I went to the Colosseum to see the Pope's procession at the time recommended to me by the person behind the desk at my hostel. He was a little off, I was 3 hours too early, so I decided to continue walk around. I hadn't gone into anything that day because I didn't feel like waiting in lines, but one of the things I walked by earlier with a large line was now vacant, and still open. Paul's prison, from where he wrote a significant part of the New Testament. I went down there with no one else around. Being down there alone was quite an experience that I won't try to explain here. After walking around some more I found myself resting in a park above the Colosseum watching the sunset above it. When I finally returned to get a place for the Colosseum but was unable to meet my friends because of how fast it filled up. But I did find myself to this elderly American/British couple. The British man was one of the most interesting people I've met in a long time, and I couldn't have been happier to share my first Pope experience with them. He had gone to Cambridge in the 1950's, he had been to Arkansas once, and drove highway AR 1 and said some of the small towns reminded him of Western movies. This was about 40 years ago. He had also lived in Madrid for a while, working during the Franco era doing something with manuscripts, he was a professor of Latin and Greek. He told me lots of stories of Spain during this time period, being the first person I've talked to about this time period I was very willing to listen. I could tell that this couple has lived quite a life, with more experiences than I could imagine or begin to understand. They were incredibly friendly to me and he even translated some of the Pope's speech for me.
I feel very fortunate for meetings such as this one. There was no reason that we should have met, as I was looking for my friends, but we did and this is something that really improved my trip to Rome. I am also starting to realize that if I record every event such as this one that I won't sleep tonight, so I am only going to mention a few more things. I would go on to see the Pope once more for Sunday Mass in the Vatican, which was something very unique. At times I felt like I was at a fair, while others I was at a religious ceremony I did not know the rules to. But all in all that was another great Pope meeting.
On Monday I had another little adventure. Most of my Rome trip and visits were planned on the spot. After visiting the Capitol Museum, I sat down, read my guide book, and decided I would go to the Roman Catacombs. According to my map they didn't seem too far away, about the same distance from where I was as the Hostel is to the Colosseum, about a 20/25 minute walk. This is when I discovered that my map had several imperfections, one of which being that it wasn't drawn to scale. After an hour's worth of walking through streets not on the map I was about to give up at turn around. Suddenly I saw a sign saying Catacombs this way! Only 1500 more meters! A little while later I found the catacombs, which were certainly worth the trip. It was a great tour, but of course only consisted of more walking.
When it was over I started the hike back. In a short hour and a half I was back to the Circus Maximus, the closest metro. I decided I would spend the euro and take it back to the hostel. After I bought the ticket and went to the platform I realized I was on the wrong side. I searched my side for stairs to the next and found that it was one of those one entrance ones with no way to the other side. I would have to pay another euro to get to the side I needed. Being in a very one track state of mind, I decided that the metro of Rome did not deserve another euro for having poor service and not being well labeled for the common tourist. I continued the walk on foot. I made it back to my hostel after a 2 hour walk, sore and tired. I had a nap before exploring that night and meeting my Italian friend Alessandro later.
The great memories didn't even stop at the airport, where I was to meet a Chinese business man that has been traveling all over Europe and parts of Africa for his Telecomunications business in China. He had never been out of China before working for this company, but is now very well traveled, with many experiences. He along with the people from my first night are examples of how easy it is to meet people from all over the world, in places that aren't there own. All of this had me thinking somehow, but I don't really know exactly how. I know that doesn't make much since, but to me it does somehow. But for now I'm finished with thinking, I haven't slept much this week and tonight won't be too different. I am afraid this is going to be a difficult school week, although it is only two days long for me. These will be an intense couple of days.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
What's Going On!
I apologize for not updating in a while. I have been kind of busy lately and when I haven't been busy I've been tired. Therefore blogging has not been a top priority, but now I am so this is what has been happening the past couple of weeks.
Two weekends ago I went up to San Sebastian in Northern Spain, very close to the French border. On the way up we stopped at Burgos for lunch. Burgos was a city I have never heard of before, but there was a large wall around the city, impressive bridges, and an incredible Cathedral. This made me realize something: I'm definitely in Europe. I can go somewhere I never knew existed and find history as old as my country. Plus I really know I'm in Spain, because every town/city is famous for it's cathedral. They are all very important and impressive... and everywhere. But nonetheless each one has something special that makes you appreciate it.
Well San Sebastian, one of the "most beautiful beaches" of Spain was a little under the weather. It was too cold to go out on the beach and one night it was raining so much it felt like a hurricane. But one night we did discover a large sail boat that had washed up on shore. From the distance it appeared like a haunted ship. When we left on Sunday we made a stop at Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim. The building was art itself, as all Guggenheims are and the exhibits actually did a pretty good job matching it. There was a large exhibit from the artist responsible for the Beijing Olympics firework show, Cai Guo-Qiang. Also another Japanese artist, who's name has escaped me, who had an animation style of art, and some more very strange things. I also walked into a video room and found
the music video to Kanye West's Good Morning playing. I think this video is somehow connected to the Japanese artist, but I don't quite know...
Haunted Beach?
Well after that trip I had one week of school before Semana Santa. I surived that and on Thursday I traveled to El Escorial, about an hour an a half outside of the city. This monastery, circa 1570, served as a place for many kings of Spain. It now is used as a tomb for many of them. This day I saw the most kings and royalty of my life, unfortunately all of them dead. After paying way too much for some bad nachoes and reading my guidebook, we decided to take what was said to be a 3 km hike to La Silla de Fillipe II, where he had a seat carved into the mountain watched the construction of El Escorial. After getting lost due to the poor direction in the book we decided to ask an old lady on the street the best way there. It was from her that we learned it was about 4 km. But she did give us some better directions. After walking about 1/2 km we found a sign knocked over hidden in the grass. Thank you Spanish signs. We then decided it would be a good idea to ask someone which way this was really pointing. We asked this old man who was the gate man at a golf course nearby. He gave us directions and told us it was about 4 or 5 km from here. Apparently the closer we got, the futher away we really were. After hiking quite a while we finnaly made it to our destination. For a king, it was a pretty lackluster seat, but after worring that it maybe impossible to find due to infinitely growing distances, it was a much welcome chair.
The Royal Seat
The next night I went to see Franz Ferdinand, which was amazing. And Troy and Eric visited from Bristol, which was very fun as well, making for a very enjoyable start to the weekend.
Ahh Franz Ferdinand!
The next few days were spent relaxing for the most part. Then on Tuesday a few of us went for a long planned hike in the Sierras de Madrid, about two hours from the city by train. But in this distance which was probably only about 50 km, the temperature went from warm spring weather, to the middle of winter. As the train to Coros scaled the mountain we got a little excited when we saw a bit of snow, but then after going through a short tunnel we realized that we were going to be dealing with quite a bit. We were in the snow covered mountains and hiked through snow for most of the way. At times it became a foot or more deep, but most of the time it was pretty manageable. Until the end when it started to snow a little bit, which eventually turned to hail and made it difficult to see. And to think, I was afraid of dressing too warm for this trip. It was one of the most unique hikes I've been on. Sometimes it seemed as if the trail markers were playing hide and go seek with us, others it seemed like mother nature just wanted us to be cold, but all the time it was in the presence of beautiful snow covered mountains all around. It was certainly a great hike.
And today I made another day trip from Madrid and traveled over to Segovia to view the Roman aqueducts and the Castle. It is rumored that this is the castle of which Disney Castle is modeled afterward. The aquaducts were amazing and the castle was everything I imagined. I would tell you more but I've become very tired and need sleep.
I leave Friday morning for Rome. I'll be spending Easter with the Pope, so I hope that it all goes well, I know he is expecting me. I'll update you more when I have some good Roman stories!
Two weekends ago I went up to San Sebastian in Northern Spain, very close to the French border. On the way up we stopped at Burgos for lunch. Burgos was a city I have never heard of before, but there was a large wall around the city, impressive bridges, and an incredible Cathedral. This made me realize something: I'm definitely in Europe. I can go somewhere I never knew existed and find history as old as my country. Plus I really know I'm in Spain, because every town/city is famous for it's cathedral. They are all very important and impressive... and everywhere. But nonetheless each one has something special that makes you appreciate it.
Well San Sebastian, one of the "most beautiful beaches" of Spain was a little under the weather. It was too cold to go out on the beach and one night it was raining so much it felt like a hurricane. But one night we did discover a large sail boat that had washed up on shore. From the distance it appeared like a haunted ship. When we left on Sunday we made a stop at Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim. The building was art itself, as all Guggenheims are and the exhibits actually did a pretty good job matching it. There was a large exhibit from the artist responsible for the Beijing Olympics firework show, Cai Guo-Qiang. Also another Japanese artist, who's name has escaped me, who had an animation style of art, and some more very strange things. I also walked into a video room and found
the music video to Kanye West's Good Morning playing. I think this video is somehow connected to the Japanese artist, but I don't quite know...
Haunted Beach?
Well after that trip I had one week of school before Semana Santa. I surived that and on Thursday I traveled to El Escorial, about an hour an a half outside of the city. This monastery, circa 1570, served as a place for many kings of Spain. It now is used as a tomb for many of them. This day I saw the most kings and royalty of my life, unfortunately all of them dead. After paying way too much for some bad nachoes and reading my guidebook, we decided to take what was said to be a 3 km hike to La Silla de Fillipe II, where he had a seat carved into the mountain watched the construction of El Escorial. After getting lost due to the poor direction in the book we decided to ask an old lady on the street the best way there. It was from her that we learned it was about 4 km. But she did give us some better directions. After walking about 1/2 km we found a sign knocked over hidden in the grass. Thank you Spanish signs. We then decided it would be a good idea to ask someone which way this was really pointing. We asked this old man who was the gate man at a golf course nearby. He gave us directions and told us it was about 4 or 5 km from here. Apparently the closer we got, the futher away we really were. After hiking quite a while we finnaly made it to our destination. For a king, it was a pretty lackluster seat, but after worring that it maybe impossible to find due to infinitely growing distances, it was a much welcome chair.
The Royal Seat
The next night I went to see Franz Ferdinand, which was amazing. And Troy and Eric visited from Bristol, which was very fun as well, making for a very enjoyable start to the weekend.
Ahh Franz Ferdinand!The next few days were spent relaxing for the most part. Then on Tuesday a few of us went for a long planned hike in the Sierras de Madrid, about two hours from the city by train. But in this distance which was probably only about 50 km, the temperature went from warm spring weather, to the middle of winter. As the train to Coros scaled the mountain we got a little excited when we saw a bit of snow, but then after going through a short tunnel we realized that we were going to be dealing with quite a bit. We were in the snow covered mountains and hiked through snow for most of the way. At times it became a foot or more deep, but most of the time it was pretty manageable. Until the end when it started to snow a little bit, which eventually turned to hail and made it difficult to see. And to think, I was afraid of dressing too warm for this trip. It was one of the most unique hikes I've been on. Sometimes it seemed as if the trail markers were playing hide and go seek with us, others it seemed like mother nature just wanted us to be cold, but all the time it was in the presence of beautiful snow covered mountains all around. It was certainly a great hike.
And today I made another day trip from Madrid and traveled over to Segovia to view the Roman aqueducts and the Castle. It is rumored that this is the castle of which Disney Castle is modeled afterward. The aquaducts were amazing and the castle was everything I imagined. I would tell you more but I've become very tired and need sleep.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Dedicated to Awesomeness
This blog is as the title reads, it is dedicated to awesomeness. And quite namely Laser Tag.
But first I will mention what went on this week: very little, then Hillary came and it was a lot of fun. We went to a pirate club, another awesome thing.
The rest of this will be dedicated to laser tag, it has a very high position on the list of awesomeness. It ranks up there with cheeseburgers and the internet. I discovered this website, which can be found here. Not only does it have facts, records, computer back grounds, and a list major laser tag events. It includes a comprehensive list of all the laser tag arenas in Europe. From this I found one very close to my university, and I'm ready to compare my skills to the best in Madrid. Or quite possibly the best children in Madrid. Now I only have to find a time to go. This week I have to somehow get a team preparation ready for Tuesday, turn in an assignment, and study for a test in my hardest class. So probably no laser tag this week, but at least I now have the knowledge needed for some Spanish laser tag. It is also important to note that the only two languages available on this site are English and Russian.
In my excitement I found this epic commercial for a home laser tag system. Imagine a future not so distant, when the world has destroyed all of its weapons, the major sporting games have collapsed, all that remains for entertainment is... laser tag. After watching it I realized I owned this same laser tag system as a child. I love it.
Stadium not included.
But first I will mention what went on this week: very little, then Hillary came and it was a lot of fun. We went to a pirate club, another awesome thing.
The rest of this will be dedicated to laser tag, it has a very high position on the list of awesomeness. It ranks up there with cheeseburgers and the internet. I discovered this website, which can be found here. Not only does it have facts, records, computer back grounds, and a list major laser tag events. It includes a comprehensive list of all the laser tag arenas in Europe. From this I found one very close to my university, and I'm ready to compare my skills to the best in Madrid. Or quite possibly the best children in Madrid. Now I only have to find a time to go. This week I have to somehow get a team preparation ready for Tuesday, turn in an assignment, and study for a test in my hardest class. So probably no laser tag this week, but at least I now have the knowledge needed for some Spanish laser tag. It is also important to note that the only two languages available on this site are English and Russian.
In my excitement I found this epic commercial for a home laser tag system. Imagine a future not so distant, when the world has destroyed all of its weapons, the major sporting games have collapsed, all that remains for entertainment is... laser tag. After watching it I realized I owned this same laser tag system as a child. I love it.
Stadium not included.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Barc-adventure
At 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning, my friend Esmier and I ordered tickets for an 8:30 a.m. flight of the same day for Barcelona, Spain. I had found a concert of a band I really enjoy, The Sounds, for later that night a while back, but we didn't make the decision to actually go until the day before. It seemed like a good enough reason to go. We couldn't pre-order tickets, so if we got in great, if not we were sure we could find something to do. I mean it is Barcelona right? Well so the adventure began.
Soon after the purchase, a short flight, and long bus ride we finally made it to Barcelona. We found that our hostel seemed to be right in the middle of everything, so that was quite convienent. That day we meet up with a friend of Esmier and explored the Parque Guell (my first experience to the architect Guadi) before heading over to the place the concert was at. We had asked our hostel people for directions, so we were pretty sure we knew where it was, but unfortunatelly I couln't remember the name. Razz-a-something... That didn't help, but we did manage to find it. It was a club, Razzmatazz, located in a wearhouse district, the perfect place for a rock concert. After almost getting scammed with overpriced tickets, we managed to purchase tickets for the correct price and make our way in. We ended up on the 4th row of people and had a pretty darn good time. The crowd was having fun and because of the catchy lyrics of all of their songs, I knew most of the words to all the songs, so it made it even better.
Before the start of the concert I told Esmier the two laws of concerts. 1. You always end up behind the tallest person there and 2. A sweaty, tipsy person will break their way up to the front of the line and push their sweaty body past you to get a better seat for a group they may or may not know. Both happened within the first 10 minutes of the show. The theory even applies to European shows I guess.
Well the next day we visited the Gothic Neiborhood and walked through the old Barcelona, streets filled with history. In this neigboorhood I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that most of them were wet and smelled a little funny and that they probably have been like that for a very, very long time. But they were very interesting nontheless and made me full of of those feelings like I'm only a speck in history. But even if I'm just a speck, I'm a speck that is happy I don't have to live in wet, smelly streets. There were also several protests going on throughout the city, I wonder if it had something to do with the streets.
We ended up on the beach and took a little sun. It was obvious too cold to swim and unfortunately I failed to touch the water. I still have never been in the Medetarianian Sea. I managed to touch hundreds of year old walls, the Sangrada Familia, an Olympic Stadium, but I falied to set even one toe in the Medetranian. I'm dissapointed in myself, I'm usually big on touching important historical objects. Well I don't think the sea is going anywhere, so I'll be back for you Medetranian, don't worry.
That night we went in search for el Bosc de las Fades, a forest themed bar that was rumored to be incredible. We didn't make it there very fast. Starting about 100 feet from the actual place, we managed to look around the Gothic Neighboorhood for about 30 minutes. We started asking many people for directions and it was here that I learned a lesson that every small town kid must learn their first time in a big city. You can't really ask everyone on the street for directions. I managed to ask some of those wrong people. While searching there was a man standing on the corner who asked me if I wanted something I certainly did not want. I answered no gracias, but then asked if he knew where this place was. I mean if he was going to ask me a question, I could certainly do the same. He seemed to get a little nervous and not really know where it was. A firend of his, obviously in the same profession, came up and started to "show us the way." As he lead us he started to ask what kind of things we wanted, more stuff I definitely did not want. I realized it was a very bad idea to be following him and was very thankful we were still on a busy street, so we kind of snuck away and asked another person. But it just seems to me that men in their profession should know the back allies of the city the best. The supply chain of illegal substances must require a substantial amount of knowledge of the layout of the city. I just don't understand why they couldn't give a straight answer. We did eventually find the place, and were thankful we lived to tell the tale. And yes it was worth the search. Imagine Lord of the Rings, but instead of Frodo, there is a friendly Spanish bartender. And instead of being located in the Shire it was located in a wax musem.
Most of the next day was spent at Mountjuic, another park with the Castle of Barcelona, and at night... the Majic Fountain Show. And it is about a million times better than it sounds. For 2 hours we we enjoyed the music and visual stimulations of the MFS. The words I can type can not explain how amazing this was. That is why I made this video. Water has never been so cool.
The rest of the trip was swell and now it is back to the real world. But I did find out that Thursday is some sort of holiday, so tomorrow is pretty much Friday. And Hillary comes soon! Fun things are ahead, but I do have a midterm in a week which really could do some damage, so I'll do my best, I just hope the test writers don't do their best as well.
And I just finished the new CD by the Decemberists, those hazards of love make for good songs.
Soon after the purchase, a short flight, and long bus ride we finally made it to Barcelona. We found that our hostel seemed to be right in the middle of everything, so that was quite convienent. That day we meet up with a friend of Esmier and explored the Parque Guell (my first experience to the architect Guadi) before heading over to the place the concert was at. We had asked our hostel people for directions, so we were pretty sure we knew where it was, but unfortunatelly I couln't remember the name. Razz-a-something... That didn't help, but we did manage to find it. It was a club, Razzmatazz, located in a wearhouse district, the perfect place for a rock concert. After almost getting scammed with overpriced tickets, we managed to purchase tickets for the correct price and make our way in. We ended up on the 4th row of people and had a pretty darn good time. The crowd was having fun and because of the catchy lyrics of all of their songs, I knew most of the words to all the songs, so it made it even better.
Before the start of the concert I told Esmier the two laws of concerts. 1. You always end up behind the tallest person there and 2. A sweaty, tipsy person will break their way up to the front of the line and push their sweaty body past you to get a better seat for a group they may or may not know. Both happened within the first 10 minutes of the show. The theory even applies to European shows I guess.
Well the next day we visited the Gothic Neiborhood and walked through the old Barcelona, streets filled with history. In this neigboorhood I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that most of them were wet and smelled a little funny and that they probably have been like that for a very, very long time. But they were very interesting nontheless and made me full of of those feelings like I'm only a speck in history. But even if I'm just a speck, I'm a speck that is happy I don't have to live in wet, smelly streets. There were also several protests going on throughout the city, I wonder if it had something to do with the streets.
We ended up on the beach and took a little sun. It was obvious too cold to swim and unfortunately I failed to touch the water. I still have never been in the Medetarianian Sea. I managed to touch hundreds of year old walls, the Sangrada Familia, an Olympic Stadium, but I falied to set even one toe in the Medetranian. I'm dissapointed in myself, I'm usually big on touching important historical objects. Well I don't think the sea is going anywhere, so I'll be back for you Medetranian, don't worry.
That night we went in search for el Bosc de las Fades, a forest themed bar that was rumored to be incredible. We didn't make it there very fast. Starting about 100 feet from the actual place, we managed to look around the Gothic Neighboorhood for about 30 minutes. We started asking many people for directions and it was here that I learned a lesson that every small town kid must learn their first time in a big city. You can't really ask everyone on the street for directions. I managed to ask some of those wrong people. While searching there was a man standing on the corner who asked me if I wanted something I certainly did not want. I answered no gracias, but then asked if he knew where this place was. I mean if he was going to ask me a question, I could certainly do the same. He seemed to get a little nervous and not really know where it was. A firend of his, obviously in the same profession, came up and started to "show us the way." As he lead us he started to ask what kind of things we wanted, more stuff I definitely did not want. I realized it was a very bad idea to be following him and was very thankful we were still on a busy street, so we kind of snuck away and asked another person. But it just seems to me that men in their profession should know the back allies of the city the best. The supply chain of illegal substances must require a substantial amount of knowledge of the layout of the city. I just don't understand why they couldn't give a straight answer. We did eventually find the place, and were thankful we lived to tell the tale. And yes it was worth the search. Imagine Lord of the Rings, but instead of Frodo, there is a friendly Spanish bartender. And instead of being located in the Shire it was located in a wax musem.
Most of the next day was spent at Mountjuic, another park with the Castle of Barcelona, and at night... the Majic Fountain Show. And it is about a million times better than it sounds. For 2 hours we we enjoyed the music and visual stimulations of the MFS. The words I can type can not explain how amazing this was. That is why I made this video. Water has never been so cool.
The rest of the trip was swell and now it is back to the real world. But I did find out that Thursday is some sort of holiday, so tomorrow is pretty much Friday. And Hillary comes soon! Fun things are ahead, but I do have a midterm in a week which really could do some damage, so I'll do my best, I just hope the test writers don't do their best as well.
And I just finished the new CD by the Decemberists, those hazards of love make for good songs.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Misplaced Eyes
So doing this blog has been a lot of fun, but there are a lot of fun things to do in Spain and sleep is fun as well. These factors make it difficult to do the blog everyday, or consistently every week. From the observations I've made, the equation looks like this:
F(blog) < F(Spain) + F(Sleep)
*F being the function of fun
But I'll do my best to catch you up.
I spent the greater part of last week getting over my cold, but luckily the cough/all around sick feelings went away by the end of the week. But during my week of sickness, something very, very strange came to pass. I was riding the metro home from school one day and I looked at the row in front of me and noticed that a man had gotten out a certain amount of an illegal substance and was proceeding it roll it into a form that could be smoked. It was something very funny to see on the metro, as there are no-smoking signs everywhere and there is just no need for "no smoking illegal things signs," but some people may need them. I began to laugh to myself, needing affirmation that this was actually funny I started to look around to see if anyone else noticed. I made eye contact with the guy right in front of me and we both laughed, but that turned out to be a mistake. After one laugh I assumed it would go back to the status quo avoiding eye contact game known as riding the metro, but he persisted. Not knowing what to do I dodged my eyes around, but he was sitting right in front of me and there was no avoiding it. I didn't quite understand and just thought that he must have thought the weed smoking man was much funnier than I did, but I turned out to be very wrong.
I got off at my stop and began to walk the wrong direction, so I turned around and noticed the eye guy was right behind me. I walked past him, but he changed directions too. He hung up his phone and began to talk to me. Thinking he wanted to laugh more about the weed man, I went along with the conversation. To my surprise he never mentioned the man and started asking me where I'm from, how long I'm in town, if I want to hang out, etc... After declining several times, because of having plans with friends, and after a few choice words of his I realized he had very, very different intentions that I originally believed. The adrenaline must have rushed to my brain, because in some of the best Spanish I think I've ever used I began to explain how I never meant to give him the wrong impression, I was making eye contact about the weed man, I didn't intend to imply certain things by laughing, and so on. He applogized for the confusion and I quickly left. I spent the next few times on the metro looking at either the ground or my feet.
Lesson learned: never make eye contact with another male on the metro. Even if there is a fire look down and run.
Well even after that strange encounter I still had a very fun weekend. Friday night I went with my Finnish friends, and Sandro (Swiss) to a salsa club. Although we weren't the only ones our age there, we were at least 10 years younger than the average age. Not knowing more than the basic step, I was determined to try. That night I danced with more women closer to the age of my mother than me, but it was okay because they were the best dancers. But it was a little embarrasing when they would say "listen to the music" and I would have to respond, "I'm trying!" For me the dancefloor was a dangerfield of misplaced toes, knees, and elbows. But I tried, I had fun, and I'm pretty sure I made the night of several ladies who danced with someone close to the age of their sons.
Well this week has been cold, rainy, and dark. I need some sun again. Watchmen comes tomorrow and I'm very excited about that. But I can't get into that now, because I need to do some homework, so adios until next time.
F(blog) < F(Spain) + F(Sleep)
*F being the function of fun
But I'll do my best to catch you up.
I spent the greater part of last week getting over my cold, but luckily the cough/all around sick feelings went away by the end of the week. But during my week of sickness, something very, very strange came to pass. I was riding the metro home from school one day and I looked at the row in front of me and noticed that a man had gotten out a certain amount of an illegal substance and was proceeding it roll it into a form that could be smoked. It was something very funny to see on the metro, as there are no-smoking signs everywhere and there is just no need for "no smoking illegal things signs," but some people may need them. I began to laugh to myself, needing affirmation that this was actually funny I started to look around to see if anyone else noticed. I made eye contact with the guy right in front of me and we both laughed, but that turned out to be a mistake. After one laugh I assumed it would go back to the status quo avoiding eye contact game known as riding the metro, but he persisted. Not knowing what to do I dodged my eyes around, but he was sitting right in front of me and there was no avoiding it. I didn't quite understand and just thought that he must have thought the weed smoking man was much funnier than I did, but I turned out to be very wrong.
I got off at my stop and began to walk the wrong direction, so I turned around and noticed the eye guy was right behind me. I walked past him, but he changed directions too. He hung up his phone and began to talk to me. Thinking he wanted to laugh more about the weed man, I went along with the conversation. To my surprise he never mentioned the man and started asking me where I'm from, how long I'm in town, if I want to hang out, etc... After declining several times, because of having plans with friends, and after a few choice words of his I realized he had very, very different intentions that I originally believed. The adrenaline must have rushed to my brain, because in some of the best Spanish I think I've ever used I began to explain how I never meant to give him the wrong impression, I was making eye contact about the weed man, I didn't intend to imply certain things by laughing, and so on. He applogized for the confusion and I quickly left. I spent the next few times on the metro looking at either the ground or my feet.
Lesson learned: never make eye contact with another male on the metro. Even if there is a fire look down and run.
Well even after that strange encounter I still had a very fun weekend. Friday night I went with my Finnish friends, and Sandro (Swiss) to a salsa club. Although we weren't the only ones our age there, we were at least 10 years younger than the average age. Not knowing more than the basic step, I was determined to try. That night I danced with more women closer to the age of my mother than me, but it was okay because they were the best dancers. But it was a little embarrasing when they would say "listen to the music" and I would have to respond, "I'm trying!" For me the dancefloor was a dangerfield of misplaced toes, knees, and elbows. But I tried, I had fun, and I'm pretty sure I made the night of several ladies who danced with someone close to the age of their sons.
Well this week has been cold, rainy, and dark. I need some sun again. Watchmen comes tomorrow and I'm very excited about that. But I can't get into that now, because I need to do some homework, so adios until next time.
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