Barcelona Baby!

Well, the month of European exploration has come to an end, and I think we saved the best for last. I’m not really sure where to even start. Barcelona is obviously where the party’s at, and I was happy to attend it for a couple days.

After our flight was delayed Thursday afternoon for about two hours due to unknown reasons, we finally arrived in Spain. First order of business: check into the hostel. Next: tapas! My first Spanish meal consisted of two tapas (appetizers), potatoes with a delicious “spicy” sauce, artichokes in vinegar, and then the main dish: chicken paella (a dish made with chicken, vegetables, rice and heaven). That night we went out to a club called “Catwalk” with our hostel, Kabul, which, by the way, had a bar inside the hostel. We didn’t leave to go to the club until 1:45 in the a.m., which is perfectly normal for Barcelona. Needless to say, it was a good night.

The next morning we had to check out of Kabul, and head over to our residence for the next couple nights, Barcelona Mar. It didn’t have quite the same atmosphere as our first hostel, but honestly we weren’t sitting around there long enough for it to really matter. Then we walked up and down the Rambla, a main street full of markets, stores, living statues, and restaurants. Got some more tapas for lunch, then headed to a HUGE farmer’s market (it was under a tent, and went on for a couple blocks, then looped back around). We then headed to a park, grabbed some dinner, and went out to watch the Magic Fountain. With jets of water synched with music (all classical, with a cameo from “Apologize” by OneRepublic) it put the Seattle Center Fountain to shame.


Magic Fountain before the show began.

Day 2 (I don’t really count Thursday as a full day because of the freakin plane delay) was full of surprises. We started at the Sagrada Familia church, which construction began on in 1882. It’s slate to be done in 2026. That is one heck of a project! I thought they were slow constructing stuff in Seattle. It’s gone through numerous design changes, and really is pretty spectacular. It’s going to open for worship in September, so it’s on its way. Then we met up with Jasmine’s older sister and her husband who was in Barcelona too. We went out to lunch for some seafood paella (fish, mussels, shrimp, rice, vegetables, more heaven) before strolling down the beach. That’s when the day got started. [Quick congrats to Ian and Rose, who we learned at lunch were pregnant. Rose, not Ian. That’d be pretty impressive. But it’s kind of a couple thing. Anyway, congrats!]


Under Construction...but still beautiful.

My dip in the Mediterranean had to wait one more day, but as we were walking down the beach guess what (or who) we saw running toward us? Richard Branson, the bajillionaire owner of Virgin Mobile. I know it’s a pretty weak “celebrity” sighting, but it was still kind of cool. On his way back I was able to snag a pic with him and Semir.


Semir and his new buddy.

After a Magners on the beach (nothing like sitting around, secretly drinking a hard cider on a bench on the beach-suck it open container law!) we headed to Catalunya square to: a.) go to the bathroom, and b.) waste some time shopping and walking around. The first experience was not good (it cost 20 Euro cents to go to the bathroom; most expensive number one of my life; I was not pleased), the second was better (got a cool shirt for 3.95 Euros, 4.15 if you factor in the pee tax), and then it was off to Camp Nou for a FC Barcelona soccer game. Yeah, that’s right! Let the party begin!

It was a blast and a much different experience from Roma soccer games (there will be a much more in-depth blog on this before I’m done) some good, some bad, some just different. The good: the game (was very exciting), the passion of the fans, the popcorn, the seats, the cute girls in the section next to us. The bad: EVERYBODY smokes (you could see all the smoke by the stadium lights), the gentlemen down the row from us who loved to smoke and blow it our way, and the fact that the only beer I could order at a FC Barcelona game was a non-alcoholic one. Oh well, it was pretty easy to get over that last one, and at least when I went to the bathroom at halftime it was free.


Barca baby!

The game was different than a Roma one. It was more calm, despite the fact there were 80,000 people there. It was much more family friendly than Rome. There was yelling sure, but people actually sat down during the game and no one was shoved around when the team scored. They just jumped for joy and high fived. I was also impressed with the soccer IQ of the fans. They cheered and applauded for good passes, controlling possessions and some pretty impressive footwork. [Stay tuned, because later in the blog there’s one more important, exciting soccer note.]

After the game the night was just beginning. We grabbed some quick food with Ian and Rose who were at the game across the stadium from us, then ran to our hostel to change, then ran to Kabul to meet back up with the girls and go to Razzmatazz, one of the largest nightclubs in Europe. It has five rooms in a warehouse style building. It was insane! I can’t even try to describe it. It won’t do it justice. But we got there around 2, didn’t get home till about 5:30, and had 3 1/2 wild, crazy, awesome, amazing hours in between.

The next morning the girls headed home right after our 11 a.m. checkout, which came way too early in the morning. Semir and I had a plane at 8, so we still had the day to explore. And explore we did. We loaded up on energy at the Hard Rock Café at noon and took off for the beach. On the way we stopped by a monument in honor of Christopher Columbus, a person who we, as Americans, really owe a lot to. Then we took a stroll through the Olympic Village from 1992 and headed back down to the beach, where I finally got to step into the Mediterranean Sea! After a few pictures we subwayed it back to our hostel, grabbed our stuff, and took one last walk down the Rambla to Catalunya square, for the return trip home.


I know what you're thinking, the resemblance is uncanny!


Olympic Villiage: Go USA!


This is as deep as I could go...I'm not a strong swimmer.


It was an amazing weekend, and I can’t even begin to try to rank the trips in order of awesomeness because they were all so unbelievable (although I feel a reflective blog on all of them coming out pretty soon). We definitely went out with a bang. I loved absolutely everything about Barcelona (minus the pee tax, although it’s so much fun to type “pee tax” and I suppose you have to combat the poor economy somehow…), especially that I got to utilize my high school Spanish, and actually have a small idea of what was going on for the first time in a couple months. It will definitely warrant a return visit when I come back to Europe in the future.

My last weekend of the program will be spent in Italy. It seemed fitting. Tomorrow is a day trip to Pompeii, followed by the AS Roma v. AC Milan soccer game Saturday. You know what that means! Crazy soccer fans and David Beckham (OMG DAVID BECKHAM!). I can’t wait. Sunday I’m going to get some souvenirs at the flea market, then head to the Vatican to see the Pope. See, Roma knows how to party too.


Kicking it on the beach.


Some impressive sand art.


The national museum, looking pretty cool at night. And this was before the Magic Fountain (in front of it) started going off.


My own sand art.


Adios palm trees!

Greece Lightning

When I study abroad again next year I was considering two, maybe three places. London, Germany and maybe a return trip to Italy. Not only is there a new city on that list, but it’s at the top of that list: Athens.

It was beautiful. Even with the sand storm from the Sahara that occurs once a year (from what I’m told). Even with the clouds and the breezy 68 degree temperature. It was amazing. Unbelievable. Incredible.

First off, it was cool to see buildings older than the ones in Rome. And, unlike Rome, there were some modern buildings blended in. I don’t want to say Rome’s living in the past, but I don’t think I’ve seen a building less than 500 years old since I got here. Anyway, here’s the rundown of the Greece trip:

Day 1-After the flight was delayed for an hour on the runway and two hours of bus/subway rides were taken to our hostel, it was already after 4 p.m. by the time we arrived. Having not eaten since 7 a.m., we were understandably very hungry. We went to a restaurant close to our hostel and then just started walking down the street. Eventually we got to a subway station and ended up at the Acropolis. We found a rock nearby that had a great view of it and Athens. That’s when I realized that this was the best decision ever. Looking at the lit up Acropolis, we all had a great reflective time.

Day 2-Saturday was taken up with a ferry boat ride to Aegean Island. What was supposed to be a 30 minute boat ride according to our tour guide (Semir) turned into an 80 minute ride. But it was still pretty cool. I mean how often do you get to sit back and watch the Olympics in the country they were started in? We walked along the beach and went out for seafood for lunch. I had the weirdest meal I’ve had in Europe, “small fried fish,” which, I thought meant like a whole fish that’d been fried. Not quite (see picture below).



Not exactly what I thought "small fried fish" was, but I guess it makes sense.



I'm on a boat!

Once we got back to the mainland, we got dressed up for a nice dinner. Afterwards, we stopped by a liquor store to pick up a couple beers and a bottle of something called Ouzo (never again) because honestly very little sounded more appealing than having a beer while looking over Athens and the Acropolis. We met some people from Indianapolis, going to school in France, visiting Athens (yeah I had to read that a couple times too) and went to a bar with them. Around 2 a.m. they wanted to keep the party going, but we were ready for bed so we headed back to the hostel. But not before stopping at McDonalds for a late night McFlurry.

Day 3-The most exciting day of the trip. We finally made it up to the Acropolis and saw the…wait for it…Parthenon. It was another one of those “I can’t believe I’m here” moments that have happened pretty regularly the last couple months. This was definitely one of the top five moments of my trip so far. It was incredible. The views. The temples. All of it was a lot to take in. Luckily, I took roughly 98,000 pictures so I can always look back. Another bonus: since it was Sunday it was free! Then it was souvenirs, one last Gyro, and back to the airport.



View from (one side of) the top of the Acropolis.



Group picture at the Parthenon.


A few awesome things about Greece: Hadrian (who appears in the first picture of this post with me), one of the wild dogs that followed us around at the Acropolis protecting us from all the centipedes all the while reminding me of Tess, R.I.P. puppy; the food, while some of it was weird (the fish and shrimp) it was still delicious and Gyros will never taste the same again; watching the Olympics in Greece; and getting to say I’ve been to Athens, the Parthenon, and Greece.

All in all we’re going to call it another hugely successful (and way to short) weekend trip. To combat that, this weekend we leave Rome Thursday at 4:40 and arrive at our next destination around 7. Where are we going this time? I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with Darpelona, Train. That’s right, Barcelona baby! So far we have three definitive plans: Razzmatazz, one of the largest nightclubs in Europe, jumping into the Mediterranean (because there wasn’t enough time on the island to do it in Greece) and on Saturday night going to the FC Barcelona game against Malaga, which, we have tickets for!

Long story short: it should be good times!

Czech Me Out

Welcome to the Czech Republic!! Where it's still freezing cold!


I’m going to be honest. I didn’t come up with that title myself. I borrowed it from the shot glass I bought in Prague. But it seemed appropriate. As with Budapest, the trip was amazing, and so much was accomplished it’s time for Highlights from David’s weekend trip, part two:

The first day was one of the best (the other day and a half were good too). Whitney and I flew over a day early and had all day Thursday to get used to the city before Semir, Tawnie and Abby arrived. Of course, we decided rather than see the sights without our friends, we’d wait for them to see the big stuff and get acclimated to another part of Czech culture: the bars. We decided to go on our own Independent Pub Crawl 2010 to see how many bars we could hit in a 12 hour period. I won’t tell you the exact number of bars attended (or amount of amazing-both tasting and priced-beer was consumed) but suffice it to say I set a new personal record that is HIGHLY unlikely to be broken (by myself, or anybody else I know for that matter) anytime soon. Just trust me. I’ll give you a hint. The number of bars was more than 3 and less than 128.



Here's another hint: this was bar No. 5.

That night after everybody else arrived we went out for some late night food and one more beer for the day, that wasn’t an official pub crawl drink, but still added to my impressive total. The next morning we woke up with a purpose: see as much of Prague as we could. And we were very successful. We explored Old Town, ate some legit Czech food for lunch, saw the Astronomical Clock, walked across the Charles Bridge, took pictures of the Vltava River, went to a mall to do a little shopping (dropping Czech Kroners left and right) and finally went out to a bar with a music club downstairs to end the night.



Quick picture on Charles Bridge.



Couldn't resist.

After a late night (and an early morning) we took off Saturday morning (our last day) early to catch a tour through Prague Castle, which ended up only going through St. Vitus Cathedral. But it was still very cool. The stained glass windows were amazing and the entire Cathedral was beautiful. We walked around the courtyard a bit, and even got to see the changing of the Swiss guards. Afterwards, we got a few last pictures of the Prague skyline, headed to a restaurant nearby for lunch, went back to Old Town to buy a few last souvenirs and some hot chocolate and then headed back to the airport for the trip home.



Not bad for a kid from Marysville.



Group picture outside Prague Castle.

Quick story about the souvenirs (and it’s important to note I was totally sober for this entire experience): I bought two items (both very cool and both very breakable) and within five minutes of purchasing them proceeded to accidentally throw the bag on the ground, effectively ruining the products I had purchased. After everyone saw this and laughed, I headed over back to the store to buy two new items, and then dropped my bag again. Unable to contain my laughter, I walked into the stand, showed the owner what happened (all the while crying I was laughing so hard) and she hooked me up with two new things and a free Prague postcard. You gotta love the Czech people!

Overall it was another successful (and freezing cold if it wasn't obvious by all the beautiful snow all over the place) trip. Thursday was a good day chillin with Whitney, and telling her my dreams of being an ambidextrous President when I’m older, and how I can’t wait for the day when “Maria Cantwell no longer wants to senate” so that I can take her seat. It was great to finally have an international experience with Semir, and having Abby and Tawnie (who was a VERY last minute addition to the trip) helped bring everything together. We had a great time, and Prague is now also on my list of countries to go back to when I’m older.

Now for my favorite part of these posts, the part that says where I’m going next. Friday morning I leave early in the morning to spend about two and a half days in Athens, Greece. Weather forcast is in the mid-60s and partly cloudy. I'm so excited for the 60s I'm practically giddy. Early plans include visiting the Acropolis, Parthenon, jumping in the Mediterranean Sea and visiting the Hooters. I’m sorry but I’m a little homesick and I figured it’d help!

Everybody have fun, stay safe, and I’ll talk to you after Athens!

David

p.s. Here are a few more pictures from Prague:




Stained glass window in the Cathedral that's actually an advertisement for a Czech insurance company...that is no longer in business. What can ya do? The economy sucks.



Prague Castle from Charles Bridge.



What time is it? Time to get a watch! Or look up at the Astronomical clock.




An authentic Czech sunset (and another beautiful city visited).

Halfway Point (One Week Late)

(Quick note: So I wrote this up last Tuesday before I left for Prague, but in my rush to get my homework done and clothes packed, I forgot to post it. So here's my thoughts on the first half of my Roman Journey.)

Well ladies and gentlemen, I find myself at the halfway point of my Eurotrip and I’m already ready to call this trip a success. I honestly feel myself becoming a more independent, faster-acting person, which was my overarching goal. I’m adapting fairly well to my surroundings-I even order almost exclusively in Italian now. I know my way around Rome, and am to the point where I feel confident and 100% safe walking around.

I still test myself with some trying experiences (see: 24 hours to prepare for a Budapest trip) and school is starting to put a sliver of a damper on the trip (SOOOOOOOOOO much work-it’s terrible) but the first half of the trip has definitely been the time of my life.

That being said, I still have quite a bit to do, and plenty of time to do it. I want to keep the excitement and joy going for the next five weeks (and then two weeks of my Bosnian adventure after that). I’m going to start that today, with a journey to Prague, in the Czech Republic. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to top Budapest, but darn it I’m going to try.

After sitting around too much (and spending too much time on Facebook and typing these blogs up) the first part, I’m getting out now. I’m taking buses around just to explore. I’m going to new restaurants to see what they have. I’m even working in the kitchen more myself, learning some new tricks, so I can dazzle you all when I get back.

This trip was definitely the best decision I’ve ever made in my life (going to Budapest was a close second). It’s what I needed, and it’s going to make me such a stronger, better person. I get happier and more confident everyday. I feel like I’m going to be a much better person for the rest of my life because of this. Who knows, maybe when I get back I’ll even be able to be serious for more than two seconds at a time. Hey, a kid can dream!

One last story to close out this blog and illustrate my main, underlying point. Last night was the best Monday night of the trip. Semir, Matt and I went out for dinner and then to an Irish Pub for a couple of hard ciders afterwards. It was a much needed guys’ night out. While we love the girls on the trip (believe me!) it was nice to just catch up (last weekend I was in Budapest, Matt in Barcelona and Semir in Rome), see what was going on and discuss various issues pertaining to the trip and beyond. We watched a replay of the Super Bowl (along with some rugby, which is actually really cool to watch) and then headed home and continued to sit around and talk for awhile (it was either that or read for class, and that wasn’t going to happen). I settled on my motto for the rest of the trip, which we then adopted as a new house rule:

Nothing but good times and no regrets.

So here’s hoping the second half of the trip is just as spectacular, amazing, exciting, happy, entertaining, special, enthralling, adventurous, motivating and inspiring as the first half.

Honestly, I’m not too worried about it.

Dear Big Kams

Sorry it's been awhile since I did one of these, and I actually wrote this last week before the Prague trip but forgot to post it. So get ready for an onslaught of blog posts this week!

Once a week I’m going to write a note to someone specific . If you still want to read it, be my guest, I have no secrets! And look out, you may be next!

Dear Big Kams-

What up little buddy? Hope school is going well for you. I know registration’s coming up and that’s never fun, but that sports media class sounds awesome. You should send me the info for that so I can look it up. Plus after being apart for 3 months, it only seems right that we have a class together again right?

Daytona looked like it was a blast (despite the pneumonia). It turns out my cousin was there too. He had a pit pass for the whole day. If I never get to go with you, I’ll go with him and maybe we’ll just happen to run into each other down in Florida and can hang out :D

So, I guess the big news is you’re on the heart transplant list. That’s kind of weird. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it. I mean I’m happy and a little scurred (that’s “scared” but I tried to say it all gangster-like so it seems less wussy and more cool; I know you know this, it’s really just clarification for everybody else). I’m sure it’ll all work out though. It has to, for two reasons:

1.) We have got to come to Europe. I’ll be your own personal tour guide. This place is amazing! The food puts ours to shame, and the languages, while hard to learn, are kind of cool. Plus the sights are breathtaking. There are literally buildings that are thousands of years old just chilling around town. Whatever you like. Castles, monuments, obelisks, you name it, they have it here! Even soccer stadiums! Maybe we can go as a special trip after…

2.) We have to get married in Las Vegas. I know your parents will kill me (and my entire family reading this is going to get really confused and think I’m proposing via blog…which I think is a ballin way to do this) but I need that weekend wedding in Vegas! The plan you sent me sounds so perfect I’m practically giddy. I know it will only last the weekend (don’t worry Jim, Dee Dee and everybody else reading this that’s terrified right now) but it’d be pretty cool. Plus it could be my only chance for a happy marriage :D

Yeah, so argue with that. We’re doing this little buddy! No questions. I will kidnap you when your parents aren’t looking-I know opportunities are few and far between, but I’ll find one :)

So, that’s pretty much all I got. I hope your Super Bowl party was a success (it had to be because the Saints won!) and I sincerely wish I could’ve been there. I don’t get homesick too often, but it does happen in little spurts every once in awhile. That’s when I look at pictures from the O.S. …and have a beer (pretty much just because I can).

I miss you so much and I can’t wait to tell you a few of the crazy stories I have (from just the first half of the trip!). We’re more than halfway through this. I’ll talk to you later, and see you before you know it. Love you! Have fun!

D

My Hungarian Adventure

Wow. So in the most spontaneous act of my life, I bought a plane ticket to Budapest that departed pretty much 24 hours later, and I gotta say, I could get used to this.

I know what I did in Budapest, but I don’t know what day I did it. So here’s the quick rundown of the highlights of Budapest, and what was definitely one of the top two weekends of my trip so far, if not the top. Without further ado:

First off the flight. It wasn’t the best, there wasn’t a lot of legroom, and food was unbelievably expensive. But it’s hard to get mad at a company called “Wizz Air.” Especially when they have “Wizz Magazine” that has “A Wizz Welcome” on the first page. I laughed for half of the hour and a half flight at that. Then we got to the hostel, The Groove, which was another highlight. The staff was so helpful and nice and the people we shared a room with were amazing! Martin from Bristol, U.K., Ezgi and Evrim from Istanbul, Turkey, even the scary, quiet Russian guy was growing on me by the end of the trip. We all hung out at the bars and had a great time (minus the Russian, he didn’t seem to like us too much). The experience wouldn’t have been half as much fun without them.



Our hostel's last night together.

As for the city, what wasn’t there to love? Amazing buildings (Parliament Building, countless churches, the Opera House, museums, the famous baths) mixed in with unbelievable castles. The snow was very cold, but led to some amazing pictures, epic snowball fights and a cool snow angel. There were also a few great bars (Szempla and Lamps stand out) that were so cheap I almost felt bad. This also led to a few fun walks home, including one on the last night there that should have taken about 15-20 minutes, but ended up being 90-120 minutes…in the snow. But we were having so much fun we didn’t even care.




Me with the third largest Parliament Building in the world in the background.



I know it looks like a car commercial, but I love this picture.

Not surprisingly, next comes the food. Long story short, Hungarian goulash = Oh. My. Gosh. I also had the best Italian B.M.T. I’ve ever had at a Subway in my life in Budapest. Corn on the cob at a market and the fanciest (and most delicious) McDonalds I’ve ever seen were also great. I also liked the people outside of the hostel. They were very nice and helpful (helping us find the airport on the way home) and seemed to not be sick of seeing Americans walking around, which is a feeling I sometimes get in Rome. I learned two Hungarian words (a goal I hope to accomplish in every country I visit): “Szia” which is “hello,” and “koszonom” which means “thank you.” It was also great hanging out and bonding with Jessica. We got to talk about how much we love everybody else in the program, as well as our thoughts on life, sports and how beautiful I am.



Yeah, that's ice in the river. Told you it was cold!

The sights were amazing, but one thing that stood out in particular was the House of Terror museum, documenting the Hungarian victims of the Nazis and Arrowcross parties. I’ve read about internment camps, and thought I knew about it, but I had no idea. Seeing the history of the country was both sad and unbelievably enlightening. Nothing like this should have ever happened, there’s no excuse for it. THIS is why I want to be President of the United States of America. To ensure that there is never anything like this tragedy ever again in the history of the world. I’ll do whatever I have to do to ensure this.



The House of Terror, one of the more influencial places of the trip.

Sorry to get all serious on you. Bringing it back, I knew next to nothing about Budapest, but went for four days and they were four of the best of my life. We had plenty of time to see the sights, but still relax, hang out with people from the hostel, and go out to the bars at night. It was good times (keep this phrase in mind when you read the post coming tomorrow), and I’m so thankful I got the opportunity to do this. It’s going to be hard to top, but with a few great trips coming up, I’m optimistic.

Next stop: Prague, Czech Republic…in a little over 24 hours…




Me at Heroes' Square.



Chain Bridge and a castle at sunset.



Getting ready to nail Jessica with a snowball.



The snow just kept coming down!




The hills and buildings of Buda. I love this city!

Breaking News!!!

This just in: I'm going to Budapest...tomorrow!
Class was cancelled on Thursday, and I found cheap tickets, so me, a friend and maybe a couple more people are heading out Wednesday night for a few days in Hungary. We get back late Sunday night. I'll post pictures and updates from Budapest if we get time and can find Wi-Fi.
Everybody have fun and I'll talk to you when I get back from jetting across the world :D

David :D