SPAIN barcelona (cata cata catalan!)
aaagh is is so good to sleep in the same bed and not have to worry about check-out time. i am actually home to enjoy my place now that i am done working my miserable 75 hour week. never again. i mean, it defeats the purpose of living here in barça. things can only get better from here! i got really lucky with my living situation, and currently live in a four-bedroom flat with two italians (carlo and giulia) and a spaniard (juampi). the only shitty thing is that three out of the four bedrooms’ windows open into the building’s courtyard so i get no natural light…the positive to this is that my room is really dark and i can sleep in forever. our place is next to la sagrada familia, so it is cool to see my favorite architectural piece of barça everyday!
so much for improving my spanish! the main language here is catalán, and if it is printed i can sort of read it…but have no clue when it comes to listening and watching a program. hanging out with people from the irish pub does not help either. so i try talking to my roommates when i am home…always with a dictionary on hand! in the last year, my english has started getting crappy from speaking broken english to foreigners (right, lish?), my spanish has improved a little, my japanese is somewhere in between, and i have had to substitute american english words for british english on some occasions. like when i was trying to work my work SCHEDULE for flyering…and kept hearing “rota. rota. “ no one ever told me it meant schedule! because of all these factors, i think it is hilarious that i am going to be picking up some english teaching classes to keep me going. we’ll see how it goes!
SPAIN barcelona (my new home!)
back in barça…fellow backpackers told me it is probably one of the easiest places to pick up a job, so i made my way down here. it helped that i had already been here and liked the vibe (miss you tiff and alex!) to know i was gonna come back one day. so, here i am. and lucky or unlucky for me, i managed to find two jobs and an apartment on my second day. the hostel receptionist informed me of loquo(craigslist for barcelona) and after replying to some postings i was set up.
this also meant i had to pay for the first and last month. my first “job” of the day was to flyer for an irish pub from 14:00-18:00, and 19:00-21:00. the people were chill and we goofed around most of the time but at 6 euros an hour it was not going to cut it. so immediately after this shitty shift, at 21:30, i would start bartending with the experience i DON´T have at a club in ciutadella villa olympica.
what a sleazy place. villa olympica has about twenty establshments lined up-like a strip mall but with clubs, and most of the clubs play the same music. same as in the same exact tracks, in the same order…since all the dj´s have this one party mix they put on. they just look like they are doing something. fuck. for eight straight hours, we had to endure the torture as some of my favorite dance songs turned into songs i could not listen to without thinking about the club. anyway, the music blares unnecessarily loud so you can´t even hear the order…whiskey and coke on the third time, you got it. but if you ask for specific hard alcohol and a mixer, forget about it. i can´t hear you and i have absolutely NO idea what you want.
the crowd here consists of mostly foreigners who get shit-faced and run around to all the bars. because i was sober, i was embarrassed for some of them and decided i did not want to get that drunk in public. haha. this combination of music and people naturally made these grounds sleazy, since some people came down here with the intention to take advantage of “rich tourists.” unfortunately, this included the bar owners. when girls came in, we gave them a free shot. if they were pretty, we gave them a free vodka lemon so that they would have to stick around and finish their drink. my favorite were the girls who saw right through this and would chug the drink and run. i actually encouraged some of them to do so. why stick around a shit club when you can hit up the next one? as more girls filled our bar, guys would come in and spend money…which was the point. there were a few times the owners made really stiff drinks and gave it to incoherent girls, and then proceeded to make out with them. sick.
only a week into it i hated working here so much that i am sure the owners noticed. they would call me over, and i seriously walked as slow as i could. plus, the long hours on my feet and acting chipper to rude people were killing me. i would sleep for about five hours, and then have to get up and start all over. since i usually try to get atleast ten hours, five was just too little. i have never worked this hard or been this exhausted in my life! so, a week after trying out the bartending gig and paying off the rent, i was done. thank god.
GERMANY berlin (sayonara, cold weather!)
i love berlin…if only the weather was nice all year long! it has been absolutely gorgeous here and i have only been rained on once, but i hear the winters are miserable…i had hoped to live and work in berlin, but since it did not work out i guess it was just meant to be. oh well.
the party scene here is off the hook! i wish i could remember the clubs we hit up but i don’t. haha. my favorite was the one by alexanderplatz with a roof top deck of some building…too bad we couldn’t enjoy chilling up there as much since it was freezing. the pub crawl through the bike tour was unreal. i mean, it was completely opposite of the “spanish steps” one in rome where one of the organizers admitted the “free shot” at every bar was juice. here, the pub crawl leaders carried around bottles of vodka and absinthe and poured it down your throat in between bars. hot damn.
now i am on my way back to barcelona…where i am giving myself a week to find a job. if not, i think i will try valencia. somewhere warm where i can practice my spanish but work to keep traveling. wish me luck!
GERMANY berlin (it´s cliche but you gotta bike around berlin!)
after four months in europe, i finally made it to berlin! my first stop was the tv tower by alexanderplatz to wait for randall. i was really excited to hang out with him since i saw enda in korea but had not seen randall since cusco… i sat in the fat tire bike tours office and a few minutes later randall arrived after giving his tour! on foot his place is kind of far, so he let me use a bike which meant i could not wear my backpack…but was amazed when he picked it up and rode his bicycle with my with it like it was nothing. good thing, since the last time i was on a bike was in mendoza riding around to all the wineries!
the next day, i got to go on the bike tour with randall. the people in the group were all nice and got along…and it was funny when one of the guys decided to ride in between this water faucet/fountain thing by the reichstag but got drenched as he slipped and skidded through it. it was especially funny since one of his mates caught it on video. ahahaha still makes me laugh.
on a more serious note, information given on the tour was thought-provoking and sometimes amuzing as we rode to famous sites (you know, like the brandenburger tor, a parking lot that now covers hitler´s bunker, checkpoint charlie…) around berlin. i never do tours since i end up getting distracted and bored, and i much prefer to read up on a subject. but since my friend was leading it, i kind of had to pay attention…and ended up getting a lot out of it. imagine that. the most powerful site for me was the memorial to the murdered jews of europe. we briefly stopped here where randall explained that the concrete slabs were purposefully uneven and on a slope to create a feeling of disorder. i think he said it was built this way so that it would be similar to how people felt going into the concentration camps. the next day, i rode back since i wanted to spend some time walking through this memorial. i was quite surprised to find a lot of people stepping all over the slabs, while others were playing hide-and-seek. this also contributed to the disordered feeling, as some were really somber while others giggled and enjoyed themselves.
GERMANY mitfahrgelegenheit.de
my observations about germany thus far: really kind people. courteous but fast drivers. most people speak english. are pretty much law-abiding citizens. lots of schnitzels and frankfurters. extremely expensive railways.
more on this last point: the train fare from würzburg to berlin was going to cost me around 180 euros! this is where the mitfahrgelegenheit.de is absolutely clutch. this website allows you to coordinate rides around the country, as drivers post their starting, stopping, and ending points and number of available seats. anna and i used it to get to würzburg and so i decided to use it for my berlin trip…and at 5 euro per 100km, it only cost me 25euro! whoo hoo.
GERMANY würzburg.rothenburg
damn what a chill place. every night i have spent here has been memorable! i know my friends here (anna-chan aishiteruyo!) have played a large part in contributing to my experiences and i feel really fortunate to be surrounded by such good people… i can not wait till someone finally visits me! (hint hint)
würzburg has this river that runs along it, and at night people hang out by it drinking beers. i love it because it is like having a picnic every night. with the sights i already mentioned in the background, ofcourse the setting is beautiful and tranquil…until it starts raining. and when it rains, it RAINS. it is also amusing when this occurs because the bums come out and start collecting the bottles people have ditched. at about a quarter for a big bottle i seriously considered it.
one day, wibke, her boyfriend, and i took a road-trip to rothenburg. it is only an hour or so away (i guess it depends on if you have a german driver or not…haha) and the town is famous for its classic old german-town look and its “christmas village” shops. some parts of the store was overwhelming but it was cool overall. here i ended up buying my first euro-trip souvenir, which is a christmas tree-shaped ornament! we spent the sunny afternoon walking around the streets, going up the clock tower, and even got to hear some music from the festival happening down in the gorge!
GERMANY würzburg (hometown of nowitzky..and much more!)
we headed over to würzburg, where behrus and his friends attend the university of würzburg . it is also the start of the “romantic road” andhometown of dirk nowitzky. i of course made sure we shot some hoops at his old stomping grounds! even though there are a lot of tourists and students, the town is still really serene and the fresh air is so refreshing! this is my first time in germany and i already feel like don’t have to see much more of it to know i would love living here.
i can go on and on about the impressive sights and places of würzburg! one of them is the “ring park,” which encircles downtown, which made it really easy for me to orient myself. another was the st. burkard church, which overlooks the town and has these unique onion-shaped balls at the top. after exploring the grounds of the cathedral, we were able to hit up a bomb bbq place (with an even better view) where the beer and food was discounted for a weekly “student” day. how awesome is that? oooh and walking through wine fields to get up to the marienberg fortress was cool too…
i had plans to visit my friend wibke, whom i hung out with at the iguazu falls. so after hanging out for a few days here, i decided to check my e-mail in order to plan my route her way. it was only after this that i found out she lives in würzburg! i felt kind of silly as i called her and was like, ” i have actually been here for a few days..can i cross town and come over…anytime?”
GERMANY stuttgart and bietigheim
first okinawa, and now off to visit anna in germany! i am not stalking her, i swear! haha…it just so happens we have been in the same country around the same time, and have had time to meet up. i love it.
i got off the plane and was picked up by anna and her childhood friend behrus from bietigheim (aka headquarters of porsche). aaaagh how good it was to give her a hug and then update each other on the last few months! we headed over to bietigheim-bissingen, where we were staying with behrus´ absolutely wonderful family. . .and then got ready for a night out in stuttgart!
stuttgart was fun-anna and behrus´ friends are really nice and funny, and they all spoke english. the night life was also cracking and because there was a festival and tons of people were out. so i don´t know why we ended up staying at the this particular club (i don´t remember the name of it) but i remember the crowd being shitty. just really machismo and sleazy. anyway… i backhanded someone for the first time here.
we were dancing when this guy kept tugging at me to dance with him, and every time i was like, “no thanks.” so after a while i relented and stood next to him. he attempted this jig so i laughed because it was just awkward. i was trying to walk away when he put his fingers to his eyes and pulled at them to make “chinky” eyes. so then the next thing i know, i reached over and backhanded him. . .and then thought to myself, “shit.” i was not expecting this reaction from myself, so i stood there stunned, as did the guy and his friends. he must have felt he deserved it because he walked away without saying anything. . .and i didn´t see him for the rest of the night.
AUSTRIA vienna (yes, all the recordings on transport sound like arnold)
yay for vienna! i was really starting to lose interest in sight-seeing when this city rejuvenated my appetite for travel. the sight-seeing here (especially the parliament building) here is AMAZING, the mozart chocolate is AMAZING, and the crocs store is AMAZING! conveniently, my thongs broke so i had to search for new ones. . .and found a pair at the crocs store across the street from the hostel. (i swear it was meant to be) ya the sandals are ugly but when they are all you can wear after surgery you end up loving them. and now i have the thong version! since then, i have worn my ultra-comfortable crocs almost every day!
one of my favorite sights was the ´zentralfriedhof´, which is a huge cemetery a bit outside of the city. with extravagant family tombstones, parts of it reminded me of the recoleta cemetery in buenos aires…with trees! damn how i miss trees. anyway, the layout is also unique in that there are general lots, and then the special sections. for example, there is a section for important politicians, artists, and musicians. this last section was my favorite since beethoven and schubert are buried here. . .kind of weird but i definitely took a bunch of photos of the graves.
continuing with the australia theme, i stayed at the ´wombat´hostel in vienna. it was probably my least favorite animal at the bredl´s, (the wildlife/reptile park i volunteered at in australia) but i chose it since the amenities sounded alright. it was actually pretty cool, except for the price which was over €20. . .and NOT ok when you are running low on money. but there was a bar downstairs and the atmosphere was chill so i would recommend it if you are ready to throw down some dinero.