Viva la vida

Even chilling at the train station it was a good view
The water looked really close to this exact color too! Honestly so beautiful it was surealMy attempt at trying to give this the vibe of the endless summer poster (http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D1137~Endless-Summer-Posters.jpg)
The view honestly looked really close to these colors in the background
Where i saw the sunset

My favorite photo of the week





The most redicoul well crater and detailed sand display
Where I took my siesta... What a view huh?
Beautiful Sitges
The bottle on the left and right I bought
Matt and I... Matt tried really hard to smile here
My kinda wine cellar
The disney like train we took to have a look around
Torres the is the Winery
Finally a picture of Paco... He is on the left and Juanjo is on the right.



The guys who played the modern flamenco... they are called Microguagua



So I ended up doing pretty well on my exam that I thought I was going to fail. I got a 21.5 out of 25 so, needless to say I am pretty happy. Although our teacher did start our class on Wednesday saying everyone failed. He was dead serious, but clearly not everyone failed, although a lot did. Most of the week I stayed in to avoid getting sick from what was going around and because I had a lot of work to do this week including a six page paper 10 pt. font double spaced all in Spanish. It was about three legends of Barcelona: Hercules founded the city, Saint Jordi and the Dragon, and The black Virgin Mary of Montserrat. I made up a bunch of details to fill the two pages, but it still took me a long time. On Thursday, I met some other people working in FAD. I am having Lunch with Gillem (like William) and some of his other graphic designer friends. We will see how it goes.

Thursday night started the fun part of my weekend. I went to El Dorado with Paco to see this really cool concert of like modern flamenco of these two guys. They were funny and singing about everything from dancing to marijuana. I could not understand everything but I did pick up on a few words here and there. After the concert ended at 1 am, I stayed around till around 3 am when they closed up shop. I practiced my Spanish and met Paco’s business partner. Turns out he has a house on the beach in the Canary Islands and if I ever end up going there I can stay there. Kind of cool. I didn’t think the night would be so late but I had fun so it did not matter. On Friday I had Spanish class even though like half the class was missing. Turns out it was a lot of fun cause it was a smaller amount of people. I played basketball later that day and then we went to the beach after to watch the surfers try to surf… try being the operative word here. The weather has been turning from bad to amazing! We had some beers and chips and then I went hope to echar una siesta! Woke up for dinner around 10 pm. And afterwards headed out to the oldest bar in Barcelona, Marsellas. Here we tried absinth which doesn’t do anything except get you tipsy faster and tastes really bad. Afterwards we went to a club I really was not having it went home around 4 am… The funny part is Paco came home after me haha.

Saturday I woke up around 9 am for a day trip to Penedés and Sitges. At Penedes we went to Torres winery and had a wine tour. It was really commercialized. We went on like an amusement style train around the facilities and watched some cheesy set of videos in the train looking at a wall with digital projections of monks and stuff…. Weird I know. Anyway we got to the wine tasting and tasted 4 bottles. I like the reds and the most complex said the tour guide. I guess I have a more mature pallet haha. Afterwards, I bought some great wine for when Sheila comes to visit so we can enjoy the fruits of Spain. The next stop was Sitges. It is a lot different during the day and when it is not Carnival. Some friends and I had a good meal with some sangria. Then we headed to the beach. Another gorgeous day by the way. I loved it and wanted to stay longer than the bus would allow us. So I stayed with Matt and Sarah Khim from Colorado because we could take the train back. I am not sure why people wanted to leave so soon. They were not going back to do anything and would be wasting the day sitting in the bus. We ended up taking naps on the beach. Sarah and Matt went home before the sunset… Horrible decision. The sunset on the beach with the sun going behind some small mountains was the best view I have seen on my trip besides the Alps. I ended up watching it with some girls who recently started playing on the major professional tennis circuit. These tennis players were from England but spoke Siberian too… weird combo. They were nice and again the sunset was unbelievable… again, like the Alps, I felt like I was living in a picture. Sitges, the town, is awesome. I love the vibe there. It is a relaxed beach town feeling but with a cool hip twist to it with obviously the Spanish touch too! Great place just to get away even though it is kind of touristy. But hey I am a tourist, or technically a transnational citizen, so whatever. Then I headed home on the train and went to dinner with Laura to celebrate Oxana’s birthday. Afterwards we met up with my friend Steve Hurley from Fordham and we went to Plaza Real for some drinks. We played this Spanish drinking game where everyone has a number. We were a group of 21 people so 1-21 were assigned. And the person who starts the game goes “Mi abuelita antes de morir dejó # vasos. And whoever that # corresponds to says Comó que #?, and the person who started it says Cuánots pues? And then the person says another number. Translation: before my grandmother died she left # glasses… Then Comó que # What do you mean #, then Cuántos pues, well how much. Anyway probably the worst explanation ever, but I will remember it. Another way to think about it is like who stole the cookie from the cookie jar. Then, Matt joined us cause it was his birthday too and then Louis joined us later. We all went to this really cool club nearby Las Ramblas. I had a really good time and worked a ton on my Spanish. Like I have said I have good and bad days with Spanish. And on Saturday I was on my A game.

On Sunday and Claire McCreay, Maddie McCreary, and Angelica Lopez came into town, but I have no way of communicating with them which sucks… We finally contacted each other through facebook. I went to their Hotel on Las Ramblas… they have an amazing balcony with one of the best views I have seen of the city. That night we went out for some food in Plaza Real. We had some sangria and Paella. Then I tried to take them to a bar called Chupitos but it was closed. The city is strange on Sunday. So we just went to some restaurant and ordered drinks. Then Maddie and Claire started to fight which was really weird and kind of inappropriate. Anyway they got over it and we went to Cat Walk for a good night. On Monday Maddie and Claire went to go see the Dali Museum to find out it was closed all day… haha and angelica was too hung over to go. So Angelica and I had dinner in Barrio Gotico for some tapas. Then we ended up meeting the twins and some other Georgetown people visiting Barna. We went to the Wax Museum Bar and then Nasty Mondays. On Tuesday, I went to work and had lunch with Gillem and some other people from FAD. They were cool and I met a girl who has a sister living in Valencia and she said she will ask if I can stay at their place for a night if I go for Las Fallas (a huge festival in Valencia)… I really hope it works out because every housing option is booked or ridiculously expensive. The rest of the day I did work and I am SOOOO EXCITED for Sheila to come into town tomorrow. I have been trying to get all my work out of the way for when she comes. I think I have been planning well so it should be a great time!