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.