Monday, September 27, 2010

Spanish Fun

I apologize for not updating the blog for quite some time.  Ever since leaving Florence, it has been quite a busy trip, especially with the addition of Brian Botsford to Team America... who we met up with in milan and then headed to Ibiza.  The island of Ibiza is famous for its nightlife (clubbing) and great beaches.  We arrived in Ibiza late monday night and checked in at our hostel around 10 pm.  Hostal marino by far has been the greatest place to stay.  The rooms were really inexpensive but very comfortable and the hostal had a pool, ping pong table (which we played everyday on), great food (we had every meal there for the entire duration of our trip), and an amazing and friendly staff.  Even though we we quite tired monday night, we were told by everyone that it was a must to see Tiesto at Privilege.  For people who do not know who Tiesto is, he is the number one dj in the world and Privilege is the largest club in the world... with those two facts, we were expecting the greatest night in our entire lives.  Tiesto put on a great show but to what people talk about, it didnt live up to our expectations.


Tuesday- All day we were at the beach.  The water was really nice as well as the women who for some reason were not wearing their tops (love the spanish culture).  Hanging out at the beach all night caused us to be pretty wiped out so we decided to stay the night in to catch up on some sleep and get ready for the upcoming week... more importantly (Deadmaus on Thursday)


Wednesday-  Team America heard from the workers at our hostal that fishing was a great experience on the island.  We went to the docks and arranged to fish around the islands of Ibiza.   To our dismay, the only fish that we were catching were sardines and small brehm fish.  I caught a fish and did not realize that I had until I reeled it up on the boat.  We concluded though it was nice to get out on the water and check out the other islands.


Thursday- All day was dedicated to the pool and resting/preparing for the night of Deadmaus, who is a well known dj that is famous worldwide and quite a favorite to Americans.  Team America had an amazing night, but come Friday, we were ready to move on to more Spanish travels.  Bubba, Pat, and I flew to Barcelona for the night and the plan was to meet Likens in madrid then following day.  Even though we were only in Barcelona for two days and it pretty much rained/thunderstormed the whole time, the city was really neat, especially camino las rambles (pretty much the main street of the city).  We explored the marina and the beach and it was nice for us southern california boys to get a whiff of the ocean air again.... pretty much rejuvenated us.  


Saturday-Wednesday--- All members of Team America reunited in madrid and rented an apartment for a couple days.  Even though there were a lot of usd kids in the city, they are all required by the school to live at a host house, so we were not able to stay with them.  madrid was quite the city and it was amazing just to walk around.  Some of our favorite places were Plaza mayor, Puerta de Sol, and the retiro (park).  The retiro is a huge park in the city that has an amazing rose garden and even peacocks roam some of the areas.  I was fortunate one night to run into one of my older brother matts friend Brian Van Scoyk.  He met us at a bar called Fabrica in which you sit at a table that has a keg tap in the middle and you serve yourself and then pay at the end... pretty much the greatest idea ever but the most dangerous for Americans studying abroad.  


The highlight of madrid was going to the Sunday Bull Fight.  It was quite an intense show and they slayed about 5 bulls, but it was great to watch a part of Spanish culture and history.  The matadors had really neat and detailed outfits and were very serious about their bull fight performance.


The most impressive thing about madrid Team America concluded was how beautiful the local women were.  By the end of the trip, we were tired of seeing sooooo many of how potential wives that we were happy to get out of Spain and move on to Paris, France.  


I am beginning to really miss all my friends and family back in the states, but it has been great meeting new people from all around the world.


hope all is well,


Alex

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

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