Half Way Home!

Hello devoted blog followers!

For the last 80 days I have explored new cities, experienced new cultures, communicated in a new language, and taken on new challenges. I now have 62 days remaining in my adventures (as you can see I wanted to publish this post last week). I thought this provided a good opportunity to both update everyone on general life, as well as share some of the many reflections/observations/opinions I have formed from being here for almost 3 months.

Lets start with classes. Classes are, well, almost over. I now have exactly 3 weeks left of regular classes followed by a week of finals (with a week of Spring break thrown in the middle). Honestly, classes have been a little bit of a joke. I think this is the case for a couple of reasons. First, grade cut offs are quite low. After receiving some tests/quizzes back and getting grades in the mid 80s on a couple of them I was disappointing-until I looked and saw that this was a solid A-, and is an A in my UAB courses. Additionally, it seems some of my teachers have a hard time teaching classes in English; even though they are virtually fluent when speaking one-on-one it seems difficult for them to lecture for an hour and 45 minutes in English. Thus, I think topics end up being simplified. Finally, and in true Josh form I will probably piss someone off by saying this, but I am shocked at how many 'intellectually challenged' students there are on this program. Ignoring where people go to school, I have never see so much negotiating about paper lengths, complaining about tests before they are even given, and general lack of cooperation or respect. You know that kid that always asks the really stupid question every five minutes and everyone else wants them to shut up so class can keep going? I have about 5 in every class. That aside, I will most definitely have my work cut out for me after spring break as I have term projects in almost every class that, again in true Josh form, I have yet to start. I don't plan on them being too difficult.

Next, people. Roommates are good. We have gotten along well all semester and I hope to keep in touch with them next year-though I will not miss sharing a kitchen with them. I have met a lot of new people, some of which I hope to keep in touch with. As I probably should have expected, there are a lot of kids which came on this program to party Barcelona-style for a semester and think they are just too cool for the rest of the world. I think I have done a pretty good job avoiding that/them and have solidified a few relationships that I can maintain in the long run. I am especially excited about my new Illinois friends for next year and acquaintances from the past which I am now good friends with.

Housing. I am often asked whether I would have rather been in a homestay instead of my apartment with 4 other American students. The answer is: it depends. The good homestays that I have heard about with a great Spanish family/Señora and a good American, international, or Spanish roommate would be awesome. I would much prefer that over my apartment because of the language and culture emersion, as well as not having to cook every meal for myself. However, I think I prefer my situation to about 80% of the people in homestays with whom I have spoken. Many of the hosts are old or cranky or both and are just hosting for the money they receive from the program. Some people don't even eat with their family, get served different food, share a bathroom with kids, get yelled at for opening the fridge too long, etc. Therefore, if put back in October when I preferenced housing options I would not change my decision.

Travel. As anticipated, this has probably been the best part of my trip. I love seeing new places, learning the history of countries, seeing historic landmarks, and fully comprehending firsthand what people are talking about when they refer to a city or country. I have already been to Barcelona, Madrid, Cádiz, Sevilla, Valéncia, Amsterdam and Florence. This weekend I'm going to Belgium: Brussels and possibly Brugge. Over spring break I am going to Prague, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. In May I am going to Paris, Morocco (Marrakech and maybe Casablanca), Portugal (Lisbon and Lagos), and some combinations of Athens, Greek Islands, Istanbul, Dublin, Monaco and Nice. By the time I return on May 27 I will have traveled to about 13 countries in a 5 month period, adding to my already abnormaly long list (including 5 continents). Each of these trips has been remarkable and each city is exciting and unique. And everytime I return from another incredible trip to an amazing city that I absolutely loved I come to the same conclusion: Chicago is unquestionably the best city in the world, second to none...I am now determined to travel to every country in the world so that I can confirm this allegation.

Culture 'shock'. I actually have some interesting observances with my cultural experience here. Perhaps its because I have already travelled to places like Africa and South America and have been to Europe before, but I really did not experience a 'culture shock' in the classical sense during my first few weeks. It also may have to do with the active effort I made to assimilate and connect with the culture. What I find, though, is that I have actually had a quasi-reverse cultural immersion. My first month or so I tried really hard to dress, eat, sleep, and live like someone from Barcelona. However, as I fell into everyday life I have gravitated slowly back toward my natural tendencies. I now am back to snacking a little more, sometimes eat dinner earlier (8:30 wouldn't be considered early in the U.S., but it is here), check ESPN a lot more, etc. However, there are still some aspects of Spanish culture that have definitely taken root (ie: I don't wear gym shoes walking around). I think it will be very interesting to see the effect of the 'reverse culture shock' when I return to the U.S. and see whether, after being back for a couple months, I retain the Spanish cultural aspects that have stuck with me to this point.

Other Observations:
One thing that I still don't understand is work hours here. Allegedly siesta is not big in Barcelona as a result of it being a big city. However, shops are always closed...not just from 3-5pm. (Not sure how I feel about Europe being on a 24 hour clock either-something I have sort of gotten used to.) Shops open late, close early, close at random times; it doesn't make sense! I don't understand when these people work or how they make any money. What I do understand, however, is why the United States is so much more productive, innovative, and economically successful than these European nations, though. It has actually increased my American patriotism, if that was possible.

There are som aspects, however, that I would love to bring back to the U.S. For example, the idea of tapas and menú del día are incredible-definitely should be taken up by many U.S. restaurants. I'm also a fan of the siesta lifestyle, which I think I was born for. Unfortunately I have unsuccessfully been trying to bring that to the U.S. for the last 6 or 7 years. That is one thing I will definitely continue to observe.

It is very weird to see friends from home here-a little less weird if they are also studying abroad because we are on the same wavelength, but still strange. Its very cool to share some of these experiences with them, though, and I look forward to some awesome reminiscing when back next year.

I am now a professional chef-be excited if you are living with me next year.

There are no street signs in all of Europe! And if they do exist they are always on a small sign, about a square foot, on the side of buildings on street corners. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere because it would be impossible to figure out which street is which.

The crazy, fast-paced Barcelonian lifestyle caught up with me a little bit. Yes, even me-the sleep 4 hours for 5 nights in a row and keep going until a night to 'catch up' professional. Even I started to get sick. After a few weeks of taking it easy I am almost now fully recovered and ready to go 11 days without sleep over spring break.

Analysis: Overall I have been exceptionally happy with my decision to go abroad. I feel more relaxed, life is more exciting, and I think I have gained a lot from this experience. I love the city of Barcelona and am very happy I chose it-it is probably the only city in which I have the opportunity to practice Spanish, observe what old European cities are like and have the constant excitement of a big city. I do hate Cátalan, though. As far as my program goes...yeah, I won't talk about that. My dislike for the actual program has not, however, impeded on my experience whatsoever.

Going abroad was something I had wanted to do since high school-I looked at abroad programs when applying for college. Being almost done now seems very strange to me, but my experience has been virtually everything I imagined. I am not someone who 'went abroad and found themself' because I don't think I was lost before. However, in place of inserting a corny 'Ferris Bueller' I will end by saying that life does move fast-and has moved extremely fast for the last 3 months- I am happy I stopped and took a look around.

As always, hope all is well with each of you. Send me an e-mail or skype or gChat if we haven't spoken in a while. I'd love to here how everything is going back home.

Madrid w/ Mom and Dad

Last week my parents came to Barcelona. They were scheduled to arrive around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon. This was a perfect excuse, I thought, to miss my two horribly boring afternoon classes at UAB. Since I decided not to go to class, a couple friends also thought it would be a great opportunity to take class off as well. After my second class of the day I headed home to grab lunch and relax for a couple hours before they were supposed to arrive. However, upon checking my computer I saw an email that my dad had sent me early that morning...they were going to be late. Apparently someone got sick on their flight from Chicago to Frankfurt (where they connected to Barcelona) and the plane, already over the Atlantic Ocean, had to be turned around to land in Boston. Since I had already gone home I clearly couldn't go back to class so I enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon.

Around 6:30 I got a call from my parents saying that they had arrived and were on their way to the hotel. I met them there and we decided to walk around the city for a while before grabbing a great dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Barri Gotic. After some more walking jet lag set in and we called it a night. Thursday morning it was time to play tour guide again... Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, and a tapas place for lunch. Luckily it was a nice day so it was good to walk around the city. The morning's activities also provided the perfect excuse to not study/ not feel bad about the fact that I was not going to spend much time studying for my midterm at 3:45 in my Mediterranean History and Heritage course (which should probably be renamed 'Archaeology and ancient human history'). After my test I called my parents to see what they wanted to do for the rest of the day- they were participating in the great Spanish activity known as 'Siesta', an artform I have come to know and love even more than before since being here. We then did some more city wandering and had a great dinner in El Born, next to Santa Maria del Mar before heading back to the hotel to enjoy a short jazz concert.

Friday morning I had Spanish class until 12:15. I recommended some sites for my parents to see while I was in class and we planned to meet up for lunch: Paella. Not sure my mom loved the shrimp and crayfish fully adorned with tail, shell, tenticles, and eyes, but it tasted good, as always. We then headed to Montjuic ("Mount of the Jews") and I had the opportunity to do see some touring that I had not yet done. We headed up the Fernicular to the Gondola, which took us up the side of Montjuic I had not yet seen (another adventure which Mom, who is afraid of heights, loved). There we wandered around the giant Montjuic fortress. On the other side of the mountain is the Olympic Stadium area. Having never been on this side of the mountain I was unsure how far the stadiums were fromt the fortress- we were told it was about a 5 minute walk. After a Spanish 5 minutes (about 30 minutes) and some improvisational navigation around construction we arrived at the olympic stadiums. Unfortunately the stadium was closed, but at least they got to see the area. After a quick snack stop we walked down to see the fountain light show in Plaza Espana, another event I had not yet seen.

Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00 to head to Madrid. I slept for the entire 45 minute flight. Our cab driver from the airport told us that we were staying in a great hotel in the best area of Madrid-he was probably correct. We were across the street from the famous Prado, in the heart of the city. We settled into our hotel and then walked to the front of the Prado were we caught a tourist bus tour to take us around and get a feel for the city. Unfortunately the bus was quite full and there was some drama when trying to determine the order of people to move up top and sit in the sun, but I did get the opportunity to learn a little about the city via an audio recording. We got off the t0urist bus at the Palacio Real stop where we found a place for lunch-more paella. Then we went to the Palacio, the home of the Spanish royal family for hundreds of years. We walked in just as the last English tour of the day was leaving and ran to catch up with the group. The palace was truly incredible with literally thousands of different rooms, extravagent artwork, and incredible history.

Tangent: The history of Spain is truly remarkable. I knew very little about it before coming here, but am in awe of the dynamic nature of the country over the past century. I feel as though many people of my generation, including myself, consider Spain to be the same as many other Western European countries (ie: Germany, France Italy). This is not at all the case. In the past 85 years Spain has gone through a democratic revolution, a civil war, a world war, a dictatorship, a monarchy, and another peaceful revolution. The amount of development and Westernization that has taken place in just one generation is truly remarkable. Again, I would love to discuss with anyone interested.

Anyway, after seeing the palace we hopped back on the bus and were lucky enough this time to be able to go straight to the top. Amidst the georgous weather a city noises, which I have become very accustomed to by now, I fell asleep. We went back to our hotel for another brief siesta before getting ready for dinner. For dinner we met up with Danielle Himmelman at a restaurant called 'Botin', allegedly the oldest continuously active restaurant in the world, open since 1725 or so, I don't remember the exact year. We walked in a went down a narrow staircase and then were seated in a back room encompassed by brick walls. The room was large enough for two 4-person tables. The restaurant looked like an old house or series of shops. Food was delicious, yet again. After dinner we wandered the streets of Madrid with Danielle, seeing all of the various plazas and areas before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the Prado. I'm usually not one for art museums, which may surprise you considering how many I have done since being in Europe, but I really enjoyed walking through the Prado. Every painting was truly remarkable and the number of 'masterpieces' in the museum wowed me. The place was gigantic, as well. After a couple of hours in the Prado we headed to the Restiro, a giant outdoor park. The weather was so incredible that I was hot walking around in just a t-shirt. It was great to see the Retiro on a Sunday because it was filled with street performers and thousands of people. We grabbed something to eat after the Retiro, checked out, and headed back to Barcelona.

Sunday evening in Barcelona we ate dinner at a restaurant called Barceloneta in the area of Barcelona called Barceloneta. I actually had not yet been to this little area, right on the water, and it was good to finally get there. The restaurant was incredible-probably the best piece of salmon I have ever had, thus perpetuating my opinion that Barcelona has some of the best seafood in the world. I then headed back to the hotel with my parents briefly before saying goodbye. I went home and spent a good couple of hours doing homework that was do Monday morning. They caught a flight bright and early and made it back to Chicago without landing in any random cities. It was a fun weekend filled with great food and another exciting adventure in a new place.

Navarre

By now you probably roll your eyes when I tell you that I've been busy. Its truly incredible though; every week feels like the busiest week of my life...until the next week comes. I guess this can be seen in the number of posts/ frequency of my posts on this blog.

Two weeks ago (after returning from Florence) we did not have classes for IES and, instead, had a 'study week'. This was not a week off. Monday through Thursday IES hosted 'conferences', lectures from various professors on a broad range of topics from economics to politics to culture to the movie 'Vicky Christina Barcelona'. I attended a lecture on the current financial crisis and the differences between the housing and banking systems of Spain and the U.S., as well as what Spain can do to avoid a collapse similar to that of the United States. It was pretty interesting to hear why Spain has been able to avoid the credit crisis that many countries in the world are currently facing. I would be happy to share what I learned with anyone who is interested.

Thursday morning we had to wake up bright and early to head to Navarre, a region to the West of Catalunya, where we would spend the next 3 full days. On the way to our destination, Pamplona, my bus stopped in a small town called Olite. We were supposed to grab a quick lunch and then have a formal walking tour of the town. I don't think either of the two Olite restaurants were quite prepared for 400 American students wanting to have a quick lunch. That, combined with the terrential rain, made the walking tour seem like an impossibility. After finally finishing lunch we had about 10 minutes until we had to be back on the bus. I decided to lead my own walking tour and ran up to the top of the castle in the town.

After Olite we continued on to Pamplona. Here we discovered the rediculous rule requiring bus drivers to stop and take a break every two hours. I was flambergasted...I couldn't even make it down to school without stopping if this were required in the United States. Finally we made it to our hotel in Pamplona. We checked in, had a horrible dinner provided by the hotel, hung out at a local bar for a little bit, and went to bed. Roommates were randomly assigned by bus (busses made up of several Spanish classes of the same level) Ironically I was assigned Bryan Dinninis, Matt's roommate here, as my roommate in Pamplona.

Friday morning our phone rang at 8:20. I answered to one of the IES staff members saying, "they are waiting for you at breakfast." We were supposed to get up at 7:45 and be down to breakfast by 8:15. Knowing that everyone else probably received the same call we causally made our way down to breakfast. Friday we started out by going to a vineyard. Our German (Australian sounding) tour guide translated the Spanish vineyard tour guide into English-probably unnecessary for the Advanced bus. I really enjoyed seeing how the vineyard functioned, as well as seeing the 75 year old bottles of wine. The 'wine fountain' out of the wall was pretty cool, as well. The vineyard was attached to a monestary that we walked through and learned a little about-not as cool.

After the vineyard we went to another nearby town (only an hour away). Another old Spanish village, more old churches, more crowded places to eat. At least there is a real rhythm to these mandatory IES trips. Then back on the bus and back to the hotel. After a much needed siesta we had another horrible dinner at the hotel. I then went across the park outside our hotel to a hotel across the way to hang out with some kids there before heading back to the same local bar as the night before.

Saturday morning was, shockingly, early. 7:45=wake up call...I pick up and hang up the phone without even putting it to my ear. 8:20= call #2...I put the receiver to my ear and start hearing the beginning of the same sentence I had heard the day before- hang up. 8:55=call #3. "Your bus is waiting for you." Damn, time to get up. Bryan and I quickly gathered our things and ran downstairs. As I walked into the breakfast room I was told there was not time to eat. I forced my way in to grab a quick piece of bread and a glass of water before running down to the lobby where we...waited for the bus for 20 minutes. Another theme of IES trips: hurry, hurry, hurry, wait.

The bus finally got on its way to downtown Pamplona. We walked around the city for a bit, saw the path of the running of the bulls, learned about the city hall and the towns history, walked into the bull fighting ring, and...waited. It was interesting to learn about the Ernest Hemingway connection to the city though. After about an hour of standing around the bus picked us up to head back to Barcelona. We only had to stop twice (every two hours) en route to a 6 1/2 hour return trip.

Sunday morning I slept in.

Florence (Pisa)

Pictures to go along with this post to come soon...

The Florence reunion has occurred...and I am doing everything I can to catch up with these blog posts. You know the format- here goes:

Thursday was quite a day. I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to join Matt on his ridiculous flying itinerary, but I did. Thursday afternoon we boarded our plane in Barcelona to Rome, Thursday evening we boarded our plane to Milan, Thursday night we finally boarded our plane to Florence- 7 hours of travel, ugh! When we finally made it to the Florence airport we looked around to try and find the bus. Luckily Spanish is an international phenomenon and we successfully staked out a target to ask. (Yes, it was the janitor-Matt's idea.) Unfortunately the bus wasn't leaving for another 45 minutes so we took a cab.

A quick, friendly cab ride and we arrived at Marc Kovarsky and Josh Keller's apartment. Their apartment is quite large, old, and winding with big hallways and bigger bedrooms. They have two kitchens and and nice layout. I also envy their view of the ponte vecchio, once the construction tarps are taken off of their enormous balcony. Ben had already arrived and was finishing up some work for the weekend so Matt and I caught up with Keller and Marc for a while.

Around 2:00 we decided to head out for the evening. Now, if you have kept up to date with my entries up until this point or heard stories about the Barcelona night life going out at 2:00 should not faze you. However, I quickly learned that Florence is no Barcelona. The first bar we went to was closed...closed. What? Next place- closing soon, no entry. Seriously? I guess all of Europe does not stay out until 6:00AM. All of Europe does, however, seem to have Doner Kebab- the ever famous falafal/ schwarma places that infested Cádiz, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and now Florence. We made a quick stop there before heading back for the evening.

Friday morning we woke to loud pounding on the wall-construction. We all got ready and left the apartment to walk around for a while and grab some lunch. As we left the apartment something hit us, wheres Barkan? He had a 7:00AM flight that morning and was supposed to call when he arrived in Florence. It was now about 11:30. We knew he had our numbers and was confident he would call when he arrived. We walked out of Marc and Keller's apartment, across the Ponte Vecchio and towards the famous Duomo and, low and behold, theres Barkan looking like a complete tourist with his bag carelessly thrown over one shoulder, map in hand, taking a picture. Typical. The six of us then continued on through the famous Florence leather market to the alleged legendary Antiguo Nué sandwich place for lunch. I have to say, the sandwich was quite delicious and very filling.

Shopping around the leather market followed lunch and we soon met up with Jordan Mandel, studying in London this semester. Time to start the real touring. Marc and Keller led Jordan and Barkan back to their apartment to drop off their bags while Ben, Matt, and I waited oh so patiently (as I always am when waiting for people, right?) in the plaza. At least we got some funny pictures out of it.

When the four of them returned it was climb to take on the Duomo. Marc and Keller left us as we paid our admission and began the hike. I believe it was 468 (someone check) narrow, spiraling, uneven steps to the top, and the view when arriving was quite incredible. I am actually fascinated how every city seems to have one or two (or three for Barcelona) points that overlook the entire city and how these locations are always the main tourist destinations, the most famous spots. Perhaps its because you can really get a feel for what the city looks like and how it is designed and laid out. We relaxed and walked around the top of the Duomo for a little while before commencing the treachorous return down the stairs.

And now: gelato number 1! I actually did not have this gelato, nor many others that everyone else in the group enjoyed due to illness. And if you have ever heard me talk about gelato or know the passion I exhume for this delectable dessert you know how sick I truly was this weekend. Luckily it did not stop me from my touring or adventure seeking (with the exception of trying some new gelato flavors).

We quickly finished this gelato, met back up with Marc and Keller and went to see the David. The large statue is in a museum with many other random statues and paintings, most of which are not MichealAngelo's. We quickly learned that you cannot take pictures of the David (oops). After marvelling at it for a few moments I thought I would take out my guide book and read a little about the incredible statue. Apparently you can't speak near the David either- that or the 2 security guards thought their job was slightly more important than to stand and guard a statue for 8 hours a day. After being shushed a few more times (though I don't think any of the Italians speaking loudly around us were shushed) we left Academia-the museum. Gelato #2- I might have had a little one here.

Marc and Keller wanted to lead us one more place before sunset, so we slowly meandered over to Piazza Michaelangelo. Guess what this was-another lookout; more stairs to get up, but another rewarding view. There was also a fake David statue in the plaza which was much smaller, skinnier, and greener that the real David. We didn't get yelled at for taking a picture of this one, though. We spent some time on top of this hill/mountain before heading back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. On the way back we had to make a stop for, yes, you guessed it-gelato.

For dinner we went to a famous restaurant, Acqua something, and I had incredible Balsamic Steak along with a pasta sampler and salad sampler. There we met up with 2 more friends from Illinois and a couple of their friends. I shouldn't even need to tell you what dessert entailed.

Friday night was extremely interesting. Marc and Keller had some friends from their program over to their apartment before going out. As we were going out for the night us four from Barcelona were split up from our hosts. All attempts at communication were unsuccessful. Their Florence friends showed us a great time that evening, and around 3:30 we arrived back at their apartment. It took some nifty acrobatics/ gymnastics skills from one member of our group, but we made it in the apartment, said goodnight to Marc, and went to bed. Great day of touring.

Saturday we woke up to...alarm clocks; a relief after the wake up of the previous day. We went to a pasta place for lunch that had been recommended to Matt by one of our friends from home- another delicious meal. Of course, this should not be surprising considering we were in Italy.

Since we felt we had covered all of the major tourist spots in Florence on Friday and did not want to spend an entire day walking around and shopping, the four of us from Barcelona decided to head to Pisa for the day.

The train ride was about an hour. We arrived in Pisa, looked at a map, and found our destination-the one thing to do in Pisa: see the leaning tower. On our way we saw a man wearing WhiteSox sweatpants. We stopped to comment only to learn that him and his 3 friends spoke very little English- I don't even think he knew who the WhiteSox were. We explained that we were from Chicago and he gave the same response as everyone else, "Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan". Oh well, moving on. Before we got to the leaning tower we made one quick stop to feed our gelato drug addiction (we might have had one in Florence before we left, also).

Finally we made it to the leaning tower. I had heard that it was smaller than most people imagine, but after seeing it I can now tell you: its much much smaller than people imagine. It was probably about six stories tall with a 20 foot diameter. After discovering the price to go of 15E we decided to just walk around a couple of times. We then layed down in the large grass field next to the leaning tower and Duomo accompanying it. It was nice to just relax in grass, the first time I have done so since being abraod.

While sitting we saw quite an amusing parade go by. We watched, took our pictures with the leaning tower, and then slowly made our way back to the train, making one more gelato stop on the way. Upon arriving in Florence we went back to Marc and Keller's apartment to meet Keller and Jordan, Marc had just left for Rome to meet his parents. Time to get ready for dinner.

Initially we were supposed to go to another famous restaurant called 'El Gato'. For better or worse there was some confusion with the reservation and we ended up going to a place right near Keller's apartment. It was great, and not just the food. Apparently the restaurant was a family owned place, as most are, I assume. Our waiter, the brother of the chef and brother-in-law of the owner, was hilarious. We sat for hours joking around with him about anything; I actually think 90% of the time he had no idea what we were saying and we had no idea what he was saying, but it was still great.

After dinner we decided to go to the girls' apartment who were with us the night before. I had been told that they had a nice apartment- I didn't think it would be one of the nicest apartments I had ever seen. After walking up about 6 flights of stairs in an apartment building we went around a corner to a gated stairwell-their gated stairwell with video surveillance. In the apartment they had a large living room with a 48 in. plasma flat-panel tv, and dining room, huge kitch, and a couple huge bedrooms down a long hallway. Then there was the upstairs with another huge room. My favorite part, however, was probably the terrace off of the family room. They had a perfect view of the Duomo, which looked incredible when lit up at night. It had to be the best apartment in Florence.

That night we went out to a club called Space. I was actually quite impressed with Keller's ability to work the party promoter and get us all in. They had built up this club quite a bit, saying it was the biggest club in Florence-can't wait until the Florence people see what the clubs in Barcelona look like.

Sunday Kogan, Barkan, and I woke up quite early to catch our flight back. Luckily we only had one layover this time- 4 hours in Rome; I slept.

General thoughts of Florence: Another city that is way smaller than I had imagined-they never use public transportation there because you can walk almost anywhere in 15-20 minutes.
I was also surprised at the number of Americans in the city, mostly students. During the day the American study abroad presence can be felt clearly, but at night it is dominant-most people you bump into on the streets at night are American students.
Probably the most disapointing part of the weekend was the number of New Trier students I bumped into...I counted 6 (not including me and Matt) from 4 different groups of people. What!?! I usually don't see 6 New Trier students that I'm not with in a weekend at Illinois! It definitely provided for some awkward reunions.

Overall I had a great weekend, which would only have been made better if I had not been so sick. After sleeping for 22 hours between the last two nights I am feeling quite a bit better now and ready for another weekend trip on no sleep (I leave in about 6 hours). Even better than the city was the opportunity to see friends from school. It is incredible to be with people with whom you are usually in one environment in such a different place; people don't change- which I think is a good thing. I think it is safe to say, though, that we had a better time in Florence than we would have in Champaign (sorry to anyone from Champaign reading...hope your having a great semester, too.)

Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday I will be attending a mandatory trip to Navarre (Pamplona) with IES, my abroad program. Woohoo!

Carnaval in Cádiz

AHHHHH!!! So sorry it has taken me so long to publish this post. The last 11 days have been absolutely packed. Anyway, the first half was written last week and I just completed the second half. I was in Cádiz two weekends ago and Florence this past weekend. Here is the Cádiz post- Florence to come soon.

This past weekend I decided to take on the infamous Carnaval party in Cádiz, allegedly one of the largest celebrations in the world every year. Luckily I lived to talk about it, or else you would not have an excited blog post this week...here it goes.
(Before I get started I would like to say that I finally just looked up how to type accents on a Mac and am very pleased that I can now do that.)

Thursday morning rolled around and I still needed a costume. I had been told that everyone goes all out- adults, children, teens, college students, everyone- so I should not be sheepish about picking a costume. Ben had already picked out a Bavarian outfit, basically a stereotypical German, and asked me to look like a moron with him; I agreed and purchased the same costume, hat and all.


We then went back to quickly pack and catch a cab to the airport. After waiting for Barkan for 15 minutes longer than we wanted (as we have become accustomed to at this point) we headed for the airport. We cought our flight to Madrid and then our connection to the airport in Jerez de la Frontera without a glitch. (There is no airport in the small, old town of Cadiz- Jerez is about 30 minutes away by car and is the closest airport). When we arrived in Jerez we had to figure out how to get to our destination. Ben and David were staying with a friend of Ben's in Cadiz while I had booked a hotel with Danielle Himmelman in Puerto de Santa Maria- a small town on the beach between Jerez and Cadiz. After conversations with about 20 different airport officials (possibly everyone at the tiny airport) and getting a different yet equally unpromising answer from each of them regarding our public transportation options we decided to try our luck with a cab. While I had an incredibly difficult time understanding the stereotypically heavy Andalucian accent with a lisp of our cab driver, who spoke no English either, I was able to communicate our needs. He could get us each where we needed to go for a reasonable price.

As the cab driver pulled up to my hotel I was sure there had to be a mistake; the hotel was incredible. Looking more like a 4 star resort I walked in and called Mark White- he had already checked in and was staying with Danielle and I for the night. Before even asking what room we where in I said, "am I in the correct place." After a quick, "yes, this place is incredible" I headed up to the room. I walked in the room, put my bag on the bed, and immediately walked out to the balcony. We had a breathtaking beachfront view of one of the widest beaches I have ever seen and the lights of Cádiz in the background. I couldn't believe that this place was actually cheaper than some of the hostels I have stayed in this semester.


Mark and I relaxed by enjoying the view and weather for an hour or so as we waited for Danielle to arrive. By the time she got in it was already quite late and we did not feel like making the 35 trip by train to Cadiz. The three of us just hung out in the hotel room and enjoyed each other's company before going to bed.

Before going to bed I thought it would be a good idea to see what time breakfast at the hotel remained open until (yes, buffet breakfast also included). As I was about to head down Mark stopped me and said they had told him when he checked in that it was open until noon. Assuming he was correct I set my alarm for 11:00 and went to bed. At 11:00 we woke up, got ready, and headed down by 11:30 to eat...breakfast was no where to be seen. I went and asked the concierge, who promptly informed me that breakfast closed at 11:00. Damn. Oh well, we decided to go get everything we needed and just head to Cádiz- we could eat lunch soon there.

A quick cab ride, 45 minute wait for the Renfe (Spain's equivalent of the AmTrak), a 35 minute train ride, and a 10 minute walk and we made it to Cádiz! Ben and Barkan met up with Danielle, Mark and myself and we headed started walking into the city. As we headed to lunch we met up with Ínes, Ben's friend in Cádiz with whom him and Barkan were staying. We found a great tapas place and had some incredibly cheap food. I was happilly to finally try the Andalucian famous bull meat- it was delicious. We then dropped off our stuff at Ines' apartment and walked through the city to the beach. It felt so good to sit on the beach and just relax. While my passion for adventure and seeing different parts of the world drives me to exciting, educational vacations this was the perfect occassion to put that aside and instead take it all in. I found it weird that I was sitting on a beach on the Atlantic Ocean-the same Ocean have seen in Boston, D.C., and Florida.


As the sun began to go down it began to get chilly; we walked around the small town for some time before heading to dinner. Upon the recommendation of Ines and her roommates we went to a great place called "La Gorda Te Da De Comer". We arrived around 10:00 and sat for a little over two hours as we each slowly enjoyed 4-5 tapas dishes. It was a great meal. Eventually the restuarant kicked us out. Ben called Ines to see what the plans for the evening entailed- we were instructed to meet up with her and a bunch of friends in one of the big plazas. As we walked there the streets were not as crowded as I had imagined. The plaza, however, was quite packed. Only about 1/2 of the people out wore costumes on Friday night. As we hung out with Ines and her international friends I was in awe at the number of languages known/ spoken at any given moment among group members. I was also surprised that I was introduced as the one that knew Spanish- something I greatly appreciated, but definitely resulted in a couple difficult conversations. It was very strange standing in a plaza with people from from Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and friends from college and high school- another 'pinch me' momoent.

I spoke with Ines and a couple of the other locals about the rest of the weekend. They informed me that Saturday all day was the truly fun, crazy, famous day of the festival. Hearing this I decided to head back to our hotel relatively early. Around 3:00 Danielle, Mark and I left the plaza and caught a cab back where we quickly went to sleep.

Saturday morning I did not miss breakfast. Mark and I woke up around 10:30 and quickly headed down; Danielle slept in (she's lucky I'm so nice and stole some food to bring back to the room). After a quick breakfast we got ready, packed everything up, checked out and headed back to Cádiz. While on the Renfe Mark received a phone call from our other roommate, Austin, saying that he was at the hotel. At this we all started laughing histerically-let me rewind and explain why...

Austin and Mark had decided together to join me on this trip. Mark had booked his flight for Thursday morning while Austin could only come on Friday. I told Mark that he was welcome to stay in the hotel room with Danielle and me Thursday night- he had Austin booked a room at our hotel for Friday night. Their hotel for Saturday night was close to the airport in Jerez. Friday afternoon Austin called Mark saying that he couldn't get on his plane. Apparently he did not realize that he needed a passport for local flights; the airline refused to allow him to board without the passport. Because he did not have time to go back and get the passport, he was forced to miss the flight. He then called me to see if he should spend a lot of money to get on antoher flight Friday, try and book a flight for Saturday, or just completely skip the trip. I told him that I did not think it was worth it for him to come on Friday, but that he had to decide whether just coming Saturday would be worth it. After a long discussion he said that he would continue to look at flights and call us when he figured out his plan. This took place around 8PM on Friday evening. So when Mark saw that Austin was calling him around 12:30 Saturday morning we naturally though he was calling to inform us that A) he had booked a flight and would be in Cádiz soon or B) he was just not coming. As is usually the case with Austin, natural logic did not hold. Austin had found a 'train hotel' just after hanging up the phone with me the night before. He then took this train 12 hours from Barcelona to Cádiz without informing any of us, and was calling to inform us that he had arrived.

Continuing with the weekend's events- when we arrived in Cádiz we dropped all our stuff off at Ines' place and met up with Ben and Barkan. We had to wait a little while for them to get ready and then met up with our friend from Barcelona, Audrey (coincidentally goes to University of Illinois) and her three friends for lunch. Then back to the beach.

When we got to the beach there were a couple of guys throwing around a frisbee. For any of you that know Ben you know what this means-gone. Me, Barkan, Mark, Danielle, and a German guy that was a friend of a friend of Ines' that we had met the night before and bumped into at lunch, and a French girl that he knew relaxed on the beach for a while. We eventually began talking to a group of people sitting near us. Most of them were Americans studying in Vigo, Spain (Galicia), but there was also a German girl and a guy working in France with them- back to crazy language time. When the Germans were introduced the girl asked our friend, "do you want to speak German or English?" "English" he replied and the conversation continued- I was baffled and awestruck at this ability/ desire. The language capabilites of some of the Europeans I have met is truly magnificant.

Now to the guy working in France: he is in Europe temporarily and said he actually works in the Chicagoland area. Where? "Have you heard of Evanston? That's where I live." Uh, really? I then asked where he worked. "A small elementary school in a bordering suburb- Central school in Wilmette." He said as if there was no one I would have any idea what he was talking about. I basically freaked out! "I went to Wilmette Junior High and Romona Elementary school and have a ton of friends that went to Central, not to mention I live about 10 minutes from it" I told him. Small world, huh?

As we talked it began to get chilly, but we had told Austin to meet us at this beach and wanted to wait for him. Good thing we did. The moment came about an hour after Mark had told him where we were and that he was only about a 15 minute walk from us. Mark pointed down the shoreline stating, "Oh my God, theres Austin."

Sure enough, walking up the shoreline was Austin wearing a yellow shirt that said "Me Cai Picha" (we later learned this meant 'I'm from Cádiz'), a pink sombrero, a dream catcher, a stick on beard, and holding a 40oz beer in his right hand and a cigar in his left. Definitely one of the funniest moments of my life. I think our new friends were fairly freaked out. By this time the city was bussling with people in costumes, at least.


It was then time to head back, change into our costumes, and get ready for dinner. I went to get Ben who then requested, "5 more minutes, pleeeease." Feeling a little like his father I granted the wish. He said goodbye to his new Israeli, Australian, and British friends with whom he had been playing for about 3 hours, bought the frisbee off one of them, and we were ready to go.

We slowly made our way back to Ines', looking at rediculous costumes, seeing some parades, watching bands warming up stages, and gazing open-eyed at the crowds of people that were flooding this little island-town. As we were finishing changing Ines told us that we should come with her and her friends to the San Antonio plaza- we went. We grabbed some quick bocadillos (sandwiches) there and then began arguably the craziest night of my life.

I won't get into too many details of events between 10PM and 4AM...Ben and I learned some great German sayings to go along with our Bavarian costumes. The night was filled with dancing in the streets, beaches, Spanish, English and a mutlitude of other languages, new friends, old friends, people in rediculous costumes, packed streets, concerts in plazas, parades, confetti, lights, losing people then finding them then losing them again, dead phones, lost voices, and anything else you can imagine. Before going one friend informed me that Carnaval in Cádiz was "like Mardi Gras mixed with Halloween on steroids". I've never been to a big Mardi Gras, but I guarantee it is nothing like this. I've never seen so many people looking so rediculous and so drunk...ever! I don't think I saw anyone dressed normal, and probably didn't see anyone sober (except a couple police standing around smoking) for the entire evening. I did not feel unsafe at any point, however, and we all made it out in the morning fine.


Now to that part- 'morning'. Early in the night we had agreed to meet Ines at her apartment at 4:00AM to get our stuff so we could head to Jerez and catch our 7:40 flight to Madrid- Ben, Barkan and I then had a connecting flight to Barcelona. We got to the Renfe station at about 4:45, which we thought would leave us plenty of time to get the 5:30 train; we were wrong. There were about 1,000 people in line for that train. On the way I actually saw everyone I had met in Sevilla (except Dena) which made for a nice 10 minute reunion. Because there was no way we were getting on the 5:30 Renfe at this stop, Barkan and Ben suggested we walk to the next stop and try and catch the train there- they thought it was about a 10-15 minute walk. They were wrong. After walking for about 35 minutes we finally made it to the next stop-we had already missed the first train. The next one would not arrive in Jerez until 6:55 (leaving at 6:00), which would not leave us enough time to take a cab from the train station to the airport to catch our plane. We had to hail a cab. This took longer than I would have liked, but we eventually found one. At around 6:30 we arrived at the airport to discover how lucky it was that we had not actually taken the Renfe. Our flight was not at 7:40, but at 7:05!!! However, the small Jerez airport let us check in, go through security, and basically walk straight onto the plane. All 4 of us (Barkan, Ben, Danielle, and I) were sleeping before the security video aired.

In Madrid we said goodbye to Danielle, got on our next flight, and again fell asleep in under 5 minutes. Finally we arrived in Barcelona, got on the Renfe to our metro stop and walked home. However, I hope you are still reading because this might be the best part of the story. If your paying attention you might be asking yourself when we changed from those rediculous Bavarian costumes shown in the first photo. We didn't. Look back up at that picture- its taken on Sunday afternoon in the Barcelona Metro station 2 stops from our apartments. Ben and I paraded like that through the entire Madrid airport, on two planes, through the entire Barcelona airport, on a packed Renfe in Barcelona, on the Barcelona subway in the middle of the day, and walked all the way home on Sunday afternoon. And when I say paraded, I do not mean walked. It was quite a sight- people were taking pictures with us, clapping for us, cheering, etc. Another hillarious adventure.

Mon, Tues, Wed in BCN before I headed to Florence. I'll try and get that post out this week. Sorry again for the delay.