Mosteiro dos Jerónimos y Otras Aventuras...

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos is one of the most beautiful spots in Lisboa. This Monastery not only houses an exhibition of ancient architectural finds, as well as remains from Ancient Egypt, it also has a Naval Museum to highlight the period in time when Portugal ruled the High seas in navigation prowress and speed. This Monastery is directly in front of the ocean with a sailboat pier and a monument to Vasco de Gama near it's entrance. I was able to have a picnic on the lawn of ther monastery with Sarah, Kat, and Trevor and we had a wonderful time breathing in the fresh ocean air. We later walked back trough Avenida da Liberdade, and where offered literally every type of drug I could think of and with a frequency of about every ten paces. It was normally an elderly man with a cheap suit... very interesting. We also saw street performers and bought a few paintings off the street. There was a point where we saw a dog holding a bucket with its mouth in order to recieve money in front f his owner which was playing the accordion. We saw that Lisboa is full of very friendly people for the most part, and we all had a blast and got to know each other in a more personal. 

Canadians and Portuguese

When visiting Lisboa this past weekend, aside from being able to see many amazing parts of the Western European countries, we were able to make very good friends while in our hostel. This group of 3 Canadians from Alberta that just happened to surf... Imagine that, Canadians that can surf. Jamie, Kyle, and Brian were very intersting people. They had just recently begun a journey through Europe with no concrete plans whatsoever. I loved hearing about it. We went out and explored Lisbon together. We also made a friend in the hostel staff with this charming young lady named Ligia. She was full Portuguese and made us sandwiches to take on our trip back to the airport. She was so awesome and hospitable. The hostel name was the Chill Out Hostel and claims to be the most "chilled out" hostel in Portugal. I can say by experience, this hostel was the most chilled out, relaxed, and hospitanle hostel that I have ever visited. We made great new friends and now have more of a reason to visit Canada. I give it two thumbs way up! 

Perseus and Andromeda

This last week I was able to visit La Granja on the outskirts of Segovia.  This palace was built by the first of he Bourbon dynasty to rule in Spain. This palace was a rememberance of France for the king Felipe V. Apparently, the taste in architecture and art were different between the two countries, with the French coming away from religious paintings and more geared towards the perfect representation of the human anatomy. This is the way the Palace is represented.  I was able to walk around for a  period of about 3 hours in the gardens, and managed to get lost in the forest while I was at it. When walking in the gardens, I was able to see many statues and sculptures having to do with the pagan gods. My favorite statue is the one represented in this photo. This is a representation of Perseus saving Andromeda by fighting the sea monster with Medusa's head.   I sat and gazed at it for a while and realized that I really enjoy greek mythology. I'm planning on looking back into it now.

TOYS, Thursday, come join the club!!

Toys is a bar and dance club on "La Calle de los Bares" in Segovia. theres really nothing too special about this nicely decorated and ample-dance-floor-having establishment except for one thing... For a measley 4 euros, one can have all the drink he or she wants for 3 hours on thursday nights. That is correct! They serve Lambrusco, Calimocho, and Beer (the most important one) and you can dance the night away. our group of students is a good bunch of people, and by this I mean that they know how to get down and party correctly. This photo is testament to the truth of the statement. This photo shows the bottom floor of the Toys bar and the fun we have while we're there. So for all of the people who do not have anything planned on Thursday night, C'mon down to Toys, where the drinks are cheap, the dancing is awesome, and as they say in the South, "the gettin's good".  Join the club, I have and i dont regret a minute of it. Now that I've given this place tons of free publicity, I think I'm entitled to partial ownership, or at least free drinks next time.

SI SI MADRID..

Madrid is the city to be in on the weekends. The Museums the Prado, the Thyssen and the Reina Sophia hold some of the most impressive art in history. Even though the city was packed to the outskirts with people walking, running, eating, fighting, laying, etc. It was one of the most pleasurable days that I've had in Spain so far. In El Parque Retiro, I laid on the grass and drank a cold beer, that was delicious. After that, we ( Chadwell, Kat, and I) made our way to the Real Madrid official merchandise store and pretty much went wild. I have recently become an uncle and decided it would be a good idea to bring back a present to Nashville from Spain for my new niece. While there, i was able to find a Real Madrid One-sy for her, but the only sizes they had were 18m and 24m. im guessing that the "m" stands for months, so it will be a while before she can wear them but the time will come, and when it does, she will be the most fashionable baby on earth. Above: (from left to right) Gabe, Kat, Chadwell, Parque Retiro, Madrid Spain, March,  2009. 

SALAMANCA, WHY NOT?

Our class, or better said, the group of us students, had an excursion planned for Salamanca this past weekend. I was very impressed by the figures that were stated to us by the guide. There are apparently 50 thousand to 55 thousand students in Salamanca. This is nearly the population of the entirety of Segovia. 15 thousand of these students are international. So I have one question for KIIS... Why is our group not in Salamanca with the rest of the people in the world? Segovia is a wonderful city, but the impression that was left upon me of Salamanca was an  impressive one. There was intelligent conversation going around, people actually going out to get coffee and converse with one another...without laptops in their face. Not to say that laptops are wrong to use, but there is an entire Spain out there for the taking. We left the city and on the way home made a stop in the small but sweet town of Avila. The city is shown in the photo in the background behind the attractive model. This was a town that was completely protected by a "muralla" which must of been a great place to live during the middle ages. It really made me think about how life must of been during the fighting between the Moors and the Christians.

...Simply Impressive

Another one of Antoni Gaudí's projects, and more than likely his most impressive work, was La Catedral de la Sagrada Familia en Barcelona. This building was started in 1909, and one year after construction began, the notorious architect (which only built in his native Catalunya) was named director of the city project. This amazing building has taken one hundred years so far, and is still not finished. Gaudí spent forty years of his life with this as his main work, and dying without completing it. There are still three main towers (and also the largest towers) that must be constructed. These are the tower of the Father, the tower of the Virgin Mary (which is slightly smaller), and the tower of the Evangelist (which is smaller even). Another interestng point to take into consideration is that the Catholic Church only uses alms and donations from the church to continue building. This Photo demonstrates the amazing talent that the great architect had by showing the study of nature and the installation of these aspects into his architecture. Photo: The central ceiling of La Sagrada Familia. 

You Never Know Who You'll Meet...On The Street.

This weekend a small group of us students decided to make a journey to Barcelona, in Catalunya. Catalunya is quite a remarkable place, Its personality is unique to what i've seen from the rest of my travels in and around Spain. The language is officially Castellano but the influences of Catalan are noted immediatly by the residents strong accents and cut-off words. It seems like a mixture of Spanish and French (with more Spanish than French). The small groupof us  visited Gaudí's El Parque Güell. This photo is showing our group sitting on what is speculated to be the worlds largest park bench. While sitting on this park bench a member of our group asked a person sitting to our left to please take a photo. This man was kind enough to do so and when he was done He and I began talking. This man was a Swiss architect who was on vacation in Barcelona for the weekend with his wife. His wife, believe it or not, was from Barranquilla (a city in Colombia for those of you who don't know) and he had visited Caratagena (the city I was born in) as well. we talked for ages about my beautiful city as well as the economy and my future plans. You never know who you'll meet on the street, but there is a whole world out there with infinite possibilities. If one limits him/herself, life is not really worth living.

The Dining Room Table

When setting up for dinner at his home away from home, as is the routine everyday,the student realized that the door leading to the balcony was open.When he gazed out, The sharp contrast of the yellows and golds of the age old Cathedral against the blue created by the mixture of the infinitely black night and the bright setting sun made it quite a sight to see.  At that moment, Amparo comes in with the two plates and places them on the table which is set to perfection by the student, studying abroad in the beautiful country.  She pours him a glass of cold water from the plastic bottle and they begin the conversation which they have both been looking forward to all day. The theme of the exchange has ranged from Feminism in Spain as compared to the Middle East, to why the beaches in Cuba are better than those in Barcelona. What a wonderful woman Amparo is. Today, this student could not imagine being in any other place but sitting at this dinning room table, eating this wonderful meal, and gazing out this window admiring the gigantic monument, and thinking to himself: "If all things could be this wonderful..."

REAL MADRID (SAY WORD)

KAT IS THE BEST for doing this. She pulled some strings and called her husband Raul, otherwise know as number 7, and we were able to go practice with the Real Madrid team on Sunday day. Kat was just hanging around with her dude, but Chadwell and I were doing work on the field. The team needed our higher level of expertise in matters of Futbol and we were able to deliver. I even got a uniform out of it. We took a photo with the team afterwards and then we headed back to Segovia via helicopter to the good ole 3B's to do some homework and study for your test, yes you Alice reading this right now, perhaps smiling because of the fact you know this was engineered to make you laugh. haha, mission accomplished! ok ok, all that is true except for the whole futbol thing, I made that up. But I mean, I didn't have to fess up, I mean, there is a photo proving that we did. On second thought, maybe it did happen. ( in reality we were all in the cafe and instead of doing homework ALL day, we did it MOST of the day and spent the rest drinking coffee and watching Kat play with photoshop for a while, Patricio loved it, he couldn't stop laughing for a while, good people at 3B's)

I Dance/Drink Alone!

This is what it looks like, I've been caught! I am not really sure who took this photo but as the almighty facebook has informed me, it was posted, and I was in it... SO THERE. This is clear and definitive proof that I DO sneak in my ipod into certain bars or nightclubs whose music is less than acceptable to my trained ears ( I decided that just now by the way), and yes I DO dance to my own tune sometimes when the time calls. I dont normally make that stupid face, but im sure it's somewhat similar and at least borderline stupid-face. This was taken the night before our merry group took the Excursion to Toledo.  I have to endorse this bar at this time...HMM hMM.. attention, at the bar TOYS on Thursday nights, All you can drink (yes, that is correct) ALL you can drink Calimochos and Lambrusco from 11:30 to 1:00 a.m. ..$4 euros (Chadwelll and Kat know what im talking about, indeed. Back to the dancing. I heard a good quote the other day, and it goes like this: " I realize that dancing to the beat of a different drum, is, in fact, still dancing." Keep on keepin' on.

Holy Toledo

I must say that of all the times I have had to get up at the crack of dawn, this has been my favorite ( if I had to choose that is.) Not bad at all. We went out to a few bars the night before, had our fun and Calimochos and called it a night. After four good hours of sleep that was tumultuous to say the least, i was well on my way to the metal making mega metropolis of Toledo. I slept like a baby on the bus and had splendid dreams involving Jennifer Connelly and various other gorgeous women, and when I woke up, BAM! "We are here" Said Antonio, in his flowery and convicting tone, as the rest of us students shuffled and bussled about the bus gathering our belongings and what not. The tour guide which was leading us around the city should have been shot (just kidding...but really), if i can be so frank, she was very nice, extremely informative and all, but there comes a point where one should know how to read their audience. She was illeterate in this sense, as I'm sure I am in many things speaking in the same terms. (vent(steam sound)) Besides all that, i thought the city was amazing. What good weather and nice plazas. The narrow streets tell of the olden days when cars were sort of a science fiction joke, although i dont think science fiction existed back then, and thank God for that. 

Yes, this is what it appears to be: Me, flying over one of the many ponds/pools in the Alhambra. This was part of the Carnavales trip as well. The first stop was Granada.  Our group of notables had the pleasure to be able to spend the day inside the small fortified city. This was quite the exparience. We were all over the place, at one point we were at the top of one of the towers sitting in a small group (not all of us) reflecting on the beauty of the landscape and the experience as a whole. At another point i was following these girls that were following me at first. One of the them was extremly gorgeous, you could see the arab influence a bit in her facial features. We decided that the city was one of the most beautiful places we had seen. We roamed around for hours, were attacked by raging mad squirrels of unknown origin ( ask anyone that went, it is a funny story), as well as ate an orange of the one of the trees in the place. this trip was really one to remember.  

I love this photo. It was taken by Ashley Hargrave (all praises due in capturing such a perfect moment with her camera.) Once we were in Sevilla for the first night we had quite the itch to see the sun, but especially the grand ocean. The beach was so close, and as they sometimes say: One must cease the day, so that we did. We hopped on a bus to Cadiz, which only took one hour, and in less time than we could imagine we were shirts off and taking in the rays of one of the largest beaches i have seen. It really was wide. Suddenly, the idea that we had followed through with seemed like the greatest idea that man, in his long history, had ever come up with. Even though the water was ( i'm pretty sure) below zero degrees, all three of us braved the fierce and icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  All of us were in at one point. At first we were skipping rocks, as you can see in the photo, but gradually, with the time passing and the sun getting hotter by te second, we jumped in.  Matt, more than anyone else, was in the icy waters. This man braved the waters for nearly an hour. what an impressive day. 

What a vacation. I can't decide if i really liked it or if i really thought it was alot of walking. This photo was a part of the tripthat was at the end. This photo was taken in Cordoba, in the midst of what seemed like miles and miles (or in this case kilometers and kilometers) of walking. Not only was it walking , it was fast pace walking, almost slow running, with all of our back packs and souvenirs in hand. This was by far the worst part of the trip. We had nowhere to put our bags and had to visit La Mesquita, in my case, sweating up a storm. This building, apart from the grand monument of La Mesquita, was the most impressive to me. The facade was glass and rusted metal. It reminded me of egg cartons. Lauren, Caleb, and myself passed this on the way to find Laurens lost jacket, which i was sure we would never find. Afte retracing our steps for what seemed like 50 miles, we came upon what looked like a nice size mound of human feces. i asked Lauren, " your jacket wouldn't be brown by any chance?" after her reply and my pointing out of the strange site, she was happy again.

Yet another group photo. At this point, the Journey of La Ruta de los Castillos was at the halfway point. This photo was taken in the city of Cuellar. This was a great little city. it was very compact, it seemed like, and the streets were very narrow. The way the city looked reminded me in some parts of a ghost town. There were abandoned apartments and houses that were old and dilapidated that were closed off.

The group got to a bar and ordered some drinks. The bar man was very interested in us and was practicing his english after a bit of introductions.  I had spoken to him before and he asked me where i was from. I said: " Why, I'm from Colombia my good sir". he then walked over to his stereo system and put in a new CD.  It was Vallenato, a music from the coast of Colombia. I knew the song and the CD very well and we had a good time singing along. I find it interesting that everywhere one goes, one can relate to the people in one form or another, this is the beauty of being human, we all share something in common.

Yes, i have been to the mountain top!  

 What a view this was from the place where the castle in Pedraza was. I notices most of these castles make it a point to be surrounded by very low points of land. Obviously for protection from invading forces in the past. Looking down on the castle moats was an amazing sight. I'm usually never afraid of height but dang! I got that feeling in the gut, the one that lingers inside while you're looking down from a high tree or in this case atop an old castle. 

The highest point on the trip in the Ruta de los Castillos was definetly the one shown here. This was the area directly behind the castle and it was one of the scariest. Me and a few others in the group managed to get on a rock/cliff that was protruding out of the back of the castle and sat down. I was frightened when Isaac  ( which i didn't know at the time) was under us, had thrown a light bulb up. Imagine all of a sudden a bulb floating in front of your face. i thought i had gone insane!

Either way, tons of fun. it's been a while since I've seen the kind of scenery I saw yesterday. The excursion was very well planned and even more nicely executed.

AHA! this was the great night of Karaoke. The good group of students had started the journey into the night as well ended it, here, in this bar. The bar is the one that has catered to our needs for Chupitos and singing off key into microphones (as mastered by yours truly) so it has become a regular stop. The owner is an Arab born in England that has been very hospitable when the group of the KIIS American students comes by. Let me say that from the time that the group of students walk into the bar (if it is the entire group), up until the moment that we leave, we dominate the bar. The dancing begins and ends with this merry group. we had the opportunity to sing the graceful songs of this Karaoke machine. First it was Mateo and I, which was less than impressive, and the girls followed our one time act with either R-E-S-P-E-C-T or some other song for strong independent women. Needless to say that they were more successful in their endeavors than Mateo and I.  This photo is a perfect representation of the act. As anyone can tell, we are not very focused on the screen and we have not the slightest regard for showmanship. We are artist without a prescribed style or at least a new style, the style is known as Indifferent Alternative, yeah, thats a new one.

Art, Architecture, Culture, etc.

Art, Architecture, Culture, etc. All factors present in Segovia. This is a simple fact of life. As much of a fact as the "Birds and the Bees". icant say that i was surprised to see the large quantity of art that is here because it is in one way or another prefaced to you in the process of enrollment, in the program, the pamphlets, and so on. The way we are learning all these things in class, such as the history of Spain the different regions the conflicts , things such as Fascism, national identity, regional identity, ow Nadal won that LONG F'ing match today (which was absolutely incredible by the way). These are all great things.  I was especially fond of the lesson i learned the other day from Sra. Rubio. She explained to the class the reason behind why the horses portrayed in commemorative statues built for generals, commanders, etc. have one leg up, two legs up, or no legs up. It goes like this: Two legs up = Died while in battle. One leg up = Died from Battle wounds. NO leg up = Died of natural causes. And in the case of Juan Bravo, no horse, because he was considered by the king who defeated him a traitor to his nation. Interesting eh?

Oh. check out my photo of the School of Modern Art and Something Or Other. Nice rrright?

La Conveniencia

The topic of Convenience is something that is of much importance to many people, and luckily on this trip, it is on my side. When i landed in Madrid and took the bus to Segovia (the wonderful city), i did not really know what to expect. would the Lady be nice?, where would i be in relation to the school?, would my room be far from the city?, thats is to say, off the beaten path (Even though im sure that everypath in Europe has been thoroughly beaten...more than once.)  All these questions were running through my head at fanatical pace. well, maybe not fanatical. They were there though. I got off the bus and was pleased to know that my host family was not a family, it was a single woman that was very nice and outspoken. as the trip into the city progressed, i was even more pleased to know that the place i was to be living for 3 months was littlerally across the street from THE Cathedral in Segovia. thus the photo, which was taken from  my front door. HOW CONVENIENT. I could throw a rock at the school if i felt so inclined (which i probably wont). It has been so nice to be centrally located in such a marvellous city. It IS nice, i must say...

The Cars!

Ive seen small cars but damn! these are something impressive. I have always noticed cars and their design, body lines, etc. So have my friends at home. This is why i decided to start a small album of the cars that are more on smaller side of things in order to take back to Nashville ( home of the Jacked-up pickup truck) to show my friends. ive sent one or two Photos already and have received some pretty interesting responses. Also, another thing that i noticed is the amount of models that are distributed and sold here that are different than those in America. Turns out it is some sort of regulation that has to do with emmisions and size... anyway. I saw a ford that looked like an Audi TT, and a honda that i had never seen before and really would rather not see again. horrendous. I would imagine one of the many reasons that these cars must be so compact is the size of some of the streets of the old cities such as this one. i mean some of those calls on the street when cars are passing (rather zooming) by are off by less than a hair. matter of the fact, i was walking on la Via Real the other day and was nearly decapitated (perhaps i am exaggerating for effect) by a huge Mercedes truck which was doing construction. Case in point, cars and their styles and habits here are different.

Primeros Dias En La Gran Ciudad

Los primeros dias en la gran ciudad han sido verdaderamente impresionantes. Este lugar es algo completamente surrealista. Se le nota la edad a la ciudad, y me parece maravilloso poder haber tenido la experincia con buenos compañeros y amplio tiempo para gozarla. Cada dia trae con el una aventura nueva y emocionante. Mi señora no puede ser mas amable, tiene buena conversacion y muy buena comida. Esto sera un Viaje para recordar!