ITALIA milano
for new years, i hopped over to milano to see my relatives. i can’t believe how close everything is in europe. i mean, the flight was only a hour and a half! i was last there in july but considering they are so close i really need to visit more often.
buying my ticket to the city was kind of funny since i wanted to find out which was cheaper-the bus or train. i was trying to ask the lady at the counter with a mix of spanish and italian when she just looks at me and says, “the bus is cheaper and leaving now.” i was like, “oh, grazie.” at least i tried.
i think i mentioned this before, but i really like the milano centrale station. it is really magnificent. so it made me really happy to see it again as it also meant i was just minutes away from my relatives!
SPAIN barcelona (bon nadal!)
yay for holiday time with family! this was going to be my first christmas alone so i was kind of sad and unsure of what i should do. all that changed when my parents and bro decided to come here! they arrived christmas morning and i have to say it was one of the best presents ever! my mom also brought me some things i desperately needed…like costco-size teriyaki sauce and japanese mayonnaise. i don’t know how i survived without these things. seriously though. my roommates were also home for the holidays, so until they came home my family got to stay in our flat! this was really nice because we were actually together the whole time.
in the short time we had, we tried doing most of the touristy things here in barca. i must say it was an exhausting week of walking. the sagrada família, casa batlló, la pedrera, park güell, dancing fountain show of plaza españa, montjuic, picasso museum, walking up and down la rambla, and the macba…whew. i think we all had our favorite, and where my favorite was the “flamenco y opera” show (at palau de la musica), my dad’s was the joan miró museum. paul actually said, “this is the best day of my life!” i told him if that is the case, i don’t think he has had a very good one. haha…
thanks for visiting me guys! i love you!
SPAIN sevilla (champions league!)
sevilla sevilla sevilla!!!! that is how one of the songs start for sevilla fc…and the only words i remember. haha. what a memorable event! we went to the sevilla-arsenal champions league game one night, and it was especially exciting because arsenal has been top-ranked recently and sevilla was at home. we tailgated on the way and outside the stadium (a good attempt anyway) with a couple of locals who, like other europeans i have met, asked us if any of us had msn messenger. i swear every european person i have met is obsessed and is appalled when i don´t have it. i also don´t see what we would talk about after meeting for 15 minutes. hmm maybe one day.
the tickets were bought at the front window but our seats were scattered, and at a packed game it was going to be impossible to sit together. nonetheless, we tried…in some prime rows behind the goal! i think these seats were for season-ticket holders since the people knew these were not our seats…they said we could still sit there if no one came, and we thought we got away with it until the real seat-holders arrived after the game started. haha sad.
i can not compare the incredible atmosphere of the sevilla crowd because i have never been to anything so passionate. only to say that the fans are truly loyal and the sport and players so respected. i thought the barça crowd was amazing, but it does not ever compare to the sevilla crowd! to top it off, sevilla played really well and won 3-1!
SPAIN sevilla (free tapas with drink!)
off to sevilla we go! to start our trip, suesan, chris and i flew over using vueling air…for thirty euros and only one and a half hours! so much more convenient than a train. i had high expectations because spaniards even recommend going to sevilla, and i was not let down! if i had been here before settling in barca, i am sure i woulda stayed. i love it! streets lined with orange trees (like the namesake), the gothic cathedral which reminded me of milano’s, and the plaza españa? AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS! the tile work was especially beautiful with the sun shining on it, and it is my favorite “plaza españa” thus far (ok i have only seen two…but still).
we couchsurfed with some people, and as always it was great to talk to locals and get their perspective on the city they live in! but going out for tapas with tina (one of the hosts), her friends, and other couchsurfers was cool because i met people doing similar things. oooh ya and i can not believe how cheap everything in sevilla is! i had no idea barça was so expensive until i got here…and paid only 50 cents for a beer (cruz campo-the local brew) and free tapas with drink. i need to move here stat! haha.
SPAIN barcelona (my first barça game!)
my first barça futbol game! tickets are really reasonable and we were able to get tickets for only 30 euro! camp nou is a pretty big stadium and it looked pretty packed, considering it was a wednesday night game. i got into the game instantly by feeding off the crowd’s energy and passion for their team-much different than a game back home. my friends should definitely play over here where futbol is appreciated.
camp nou has a big screen but all it shows throughout the game are names of players substituting for each-other and scores of other games. no instant replays, no nothing. this was strange for me, especially when there was a play that called for one. waste of a big screen, no? anyway, the final score was 4-1 over zaragoza!
getting home was a chore and a half! the game started at ten, so it did not get out till after midnight….which meant the metro was closed for the thousands of people who stayed till the end. i don’t know why the city didn’t just keep the metro open for an extra half hour. night buses run every twenty minutes so we knew we could get home but you shoulda seen the crowd waiting to board. and for some reason, people would pile in and then stand sardines-style in the FRONT of the bus…while there was all this space in the back. seeing this, an old man stands in front of the bus and refuses to move. so, instead of asking people to move towards the back, the bus driver lays on the horn for about 10 minutes. no joke. i felt for him and others who wanted to get on, but damn. finally, people shuffled to the back and he and about TWENTY people got on. talk about an ordeal. at least we were on the bus.
SPAIN barcelona (sneaky bastards)
my luck ran out and i finally got robbed. even after countless stories of people getting robed every which way, i felt comfortable trusting fellow backpackers and would leave my bags in the room. the taxi rides by myself in bolivia and peru were fine…and i always kept my bag close on the metro. so it was a shock when i realized i got robbed, since it probably happened in the TWO SECONDS i let my guard down and did not even realize it. sneaky bastards.
i was flyering at the top of la rambla and had my shoulder bag slung at my hip. i ran out of flyers, went back to the pub for a refill, and as i was sitting down for a break i realized my ipod was not in the usual compartment. i started emptying the contents thinking it had to be somewhere…and then realized my wallet was gone as well. i thought maybe, just maybe i had misplaced it but fionn, (my bartender friend whose bar i was sitting at) was like, ”you got robbed!” that is when it set in. i had so much crap in this thing i have no idea how they managed to unzip my bag WHILE IT WAS ON ME and nick the most valuable things. skills, i guess.
obviously, it sucks because of the inconvenience it caused me. at first i felt extremely violated and vulnerable…but then i got angry. haha going through the steps to recovery, right? anyway, angry because i felt like i was prepared for confrontations. for one, i have mase (thanks kell!) i am ready to use and have not had the chance to yet. two: i will most definitely whip out my swiss army knife if it comes down to it. and three: i give the evil eye to random people that look like they are looking at my belongings. but all of these things are useless if i don´t know i am getting robbed!
moral of the story: the thieves here are sneaky bastards and are extremely good at what they do. watch your stuff.
SPAIN barcelona (le mercé!:dos)
parc del fòrum was built to accommodate outdoor concerts and events. since it is away from residential areas, shows can start at two in the morning and go till seven if anyone gets a chance to go there is a club called cubic that we frequented on sundays (it is closed for the winter), and it was awesome since we would go after the pub at three am and stay till seven…and then catch the train home to sleep all day. and ofcourse, since it is barça, if you still want to party there is always an afterparty somewhere! anyway, for le mercé the fòrum was packed with thousands of people as it hosted free shows. one night we we went out to see cassius (french house dj band) at a mtv-sponsored event! i don´t think there would ever be a free show like this in the states. gotta love spain!
“piromusica” is the culmination of the festival, and ends with fireworks coordinated to the colorfully lit up fountain in plaza españa. the fountain show is one thing, but to see it in conjunction with fireworks was absolutely stunning! they also handed out packets sparklers (my favorite!) with lighters which we held up towards the end. it definitely capped off the crazy weekend of festivities!
SPAIN barcelona (le mercé!:uno)
an awesome perk about living in spain is that it is always celebrating some sort of holiday. ”le mercé” at the end of september marks the end of summer/beginning of fall and is held in honor of barcelona’s saint. there are over 500 events held throughout the weekend, and i got to catch a few of them. sooo…here are some highlights:
the first was the “correfoc,” which translates into “fire run” in catalan. people in “devil” costumes (the gaudi lizard was even one of them!), parade down the street breathing out fireworks which i swear are aimed at the crows gathered along the sidewalk. but what was really scary and kind of exciting were the other dancers alongside. these dances were more like drunk bar dances at irish pubs…except replace guinness pints with what looks like the skeleton of the umbrella with fireworks shooting out every which way like a sprinkler. loud cracking noises that went off every few minutes would make me jump, as these participants danced toward the crowd who would retreat away in a wave-like motion. although a lot of people were showering in it (99.9% of these people were wearing hoodies and scarves to cover their face) i was not prepared to do so. in fact, i was ready to have a heart attack every time one came by. thank god we were only there for a half hour or so!
the human towers in plaza de sant jaume were thrilling! some got as high as the surrounding buildings, as each level consisted of people standing on each others shoulders with their arms linked. drums start rolling as there is a time limit, and the pyramid is only complete when the last participant-a little child (probably about 3 years old) shimmies up one side and down the other. who the hell decides to let their kid participate? this definitely made me hold my breath! i only saw one pyramid crumble, and as the audience we could see it was going to happen. a guy in the middle of the tower was visibly shaking looking unbalanced, and sure enough, about ten seconds later the whole tower crumbled in slow motion. but atelast no one got hurt.
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.