Adios a Santander, Running of the Bulls, and Lonely Travels

I departed from Santander last week. One of the last days I was there I told my host mom how much I missed eating meat, so she cooked meat for me the day before I left. I should have told her all the things I missed about Texas weeks ago.. She cried the morning of my departure while handing me a cake to eat for breakfast. It was tough leaving the people and city I've grown accustomed to over the past 6 weeks, but I'm on to new adventures now!


This past weekend I went to Pamplona to run with the bulls. It was a crazy, wild, insane weekend. We went out at 10 at night and returned at 10 the next morning. The run was at 8am (after being up for around 24 hours straight), and I can't possibly explain the excitement and thrill I experienced running with the bulls. At the end of the run everyone filters into an arena where a huge crowd is waiting. When we got into the arena the crowd was going crazy and I felt like a rock star. I'm pretty sure I even said "thank you thank you," and bowed a few times. My voice is gone because of how loud I was yelling trying to keep the crowd going, like it makes a difference to the crowd... I recorded the entire run, but obviously it's pretty shaky so I've got to stabilize it before posting. I lost count of the number of people who told me it was dumb to run, but I would never forgive myself if I left Pamplona without doing it.

I'm now traveling with just my thoughts and can't wait for the next few weeks. After spending about two months in Spain, I arrived in Rome today, and after this I'm going to Prague, Vienna, and Germany before heading back home. I miss massive portions of food, oversized stores, and Internet at my fingertips. "Everything's bigger in Texas (and America)" is such a true statement.


Alright. I'm off to see Christopher Columbus's grave now. I'm almost positive these famous people aren't really buried where they say they are.. They just tell people that to attract tourists.

Until next time!

The required attire

Packed streets at all times

Yeah he jumped

My running mates from Australia and England

I was down there somewhere

What a Life This Is

This might just be my last blog in Spain. Luckily, I'm traveling Europe for another month after this, so I'm not done yet!

I should break this blog up into a few posts but we all know that would take weeks. I'm just going to spit out my thoughts in an unorganized fashion, so try to keep up.

Vamos.

My host mom cooks every meal for me, but rarely sits down to eat with me. I always felt it was a bit strange, and then one day she told me that she doesn't like food. I told her that her taste buds must be broken. Who doesn't like food? I'm almost positive she's just saying that to avoid talking to me in Spanish. This is a true testament to how bad my Spanish is if someone is willing to give up eating for 6 weeks to avoid listening to me struggle for 3 meals per day..

They don't refrigerate a lot of things that require refrigeration. I've smuggled yogurt, meat, and eggs out of the house and into the dumpster because of lack of refrigeration.

A few nights ago around 1am, a drunk man stopped me when I was walking past a bar on my way home. To emphasize how drunk he was, I must point out that he asked me what my name was 7 times during our medium length conversation. He continued to tell me about how he has family and friends but he is empty and sad on the inside. My goal was to escape without him crying to killing me. After about 30 minutes, I succeeded, and I hope Pablo is doing better now!

Two weekends ago we went to Barcelona. I'm going to describe the city with individual clauses to leave some mystery in your mind: English everywhere, painful imported sand, 1992 olympics, impressive Gaudi architecture, sneaky waiters, interesting nightlife.

This weekend we took a day trip to Picos de Europa in northern Spain. The two girls that planned the trip didn't tell us we'd be scaling the side of a mountain. We literally climbed up the side of a mountain, and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. There's something about putting your life in danger than makes you feel alive. It was an incredible experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Well, that's all I have the patience for right now. I leave Santander on Wednesday. I'm headed to Pamplona (running of the bulls), Seville, Rome, Prague, Vienna, Trier, Cologne, and Munich. 

See you soon!

Barcelona, Spain

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain

Los Picos de Europa

The group of champions

I am alive

I'm alive and blogging!

I wrote three sequential blogs at a good pace before I lost interest. Keeping up with a blog is difficult for me because I have loads of crazy (good crazy, not bad crazy) and interesting thoughts everyday, but I forget about them before I write them down. That's why Twitter was perfect for me (while it lasted).

Anyway, here it is:

I made it to Santander! They said it would be chilly, but I wasn't prepared for the first few weeks here. It was in the 50's, raining and windy almost everyday. I guess I just didn't expect sideways freezing rain in Spain. Luckily, it warmed up enough to go to the beach last week! Soon I'll be back to my bronzen color we all know and love.

Hmm what else... There's a large duck and a small duck that live in a front yard of a house that I walk by on my way to class everyday. I think one might be a goose. I guess they're the homeowners pets, but I always want to play with them. It reminds me of Joey's pet duck and chicken from Friends. Also, I think there's a pigeon that has become friends with them.

My host mom is super awesome. She lives alone and feeds me copious amounts of delicious food. I only have one complaint: Spaniards eat too much bread and not enough meat. My first meal when I get back to the States? Rudy's. I miss Texas BBQ almost as much as I miss Texas.

I think I've said this already but it's worth saying again. Spanish girls are gorgeous. The average Spanish girl is at least a 7 out of 10. I'm working really hard on my fluency so I can talk to them. I have zero game in English, so my Spanish game runs in the negatives.

After my program here in Santander ends I'm travelling to Seville, Rome, Prague, Vienna, and then Germany. I'm buying my plane and train tickets and booking my hostels today. I'm going to be so broke.

Our entire program went on an excursion to Burgos, Segovia, and Toledo this past weekend. My favorite thing was the Roman aqueduct in Segovia. It is the most preserved aqueduct in the world, and was built by the Romans in the FIRST CENTURY with no mortar!! The stones were just placed on top of each other in a way that keeps them from falling. Of course, my first thought was "I can probably push it over." I couldn't, but I tried.

Alright that's enough for now. I can use iMessage whenever I have wifi, so text me and I'll tell you a joke or we can talk about the government spying on us. Obama is probably reading this right now...

Until next time!

Beach in Santander

Toledo, Spain

¡Hola a todos!

I'm writing this on a train to Santander from Madrid. It's super hot on board. I'm super giddy. The man next to me can definitely tell because I'm fiddling with everything and I can't stop moving my leg. I've never been on a train like this. My knees don't even hit the seat in front of me! This is living.

Corbyn and I just spent 5 days in Dublin. The stereotypes are true, the Irish LOVE their beer. Unfortunately, the Irish people weren't the friendlies bunch. Maybe it's because we are young American guys, but only a few people were pleasant to be around. Here are another few differences I noticed:

- Lack of urinals. Mostly large troughs to pee into. Super bummer if you have pee fright like me. 5 guys peeing into a smelly bucket is tough.

- The electrical outlets have switches. Don't forget to turn them on if you want your phone to have life in the morning.

- Obviously, they drive on the left side of the road. This was impossible to get used to. I don't know how many times I began to cross the road thinking it was clear, and then a car came from my right when it wasn't a one way. I came close to death numerous times.

- They call their French fries "chips" and their chips "crisps." Irish "chips" suck.

- Weights are in kilograms (probably obvious again). This is all of Europe. Not a big deal, but it takes a little longer to find the right weight in the gym.

Those are probably the biggest differences I noticed. We stayed in a hostel the whole time. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We met people from all around the world and they were all fun to talk to. Traveling is all about the people you meet. Speaking with others from different cultures is the most important part to me. All of this wouldn't be worth it if I didn't get to enjoy the presence of citizens from different counties.

On our last day we took the metro to a small fishing town called Howth, just north of Dublin. We hiked up the mountains to see amazing views of the cliffs and the sea. We also saw some really cool seals and some oversized seagulls. Seriously, these things are three times the size of our seagulls. They could totally snatch up a small dog if they ate beef.

Overall, Dublin was great. Guinness storehouse, Jameson distillery, St. Patrick's church, and the pubs all made for an unforgettable vacation. The scenery in Dublin wasn't great, but the experiences made up for it.

By the time I post this I will be in Santander. I start school on Monday, which really stinks because I kind of forgot I had to take classes while I was here. Oh well, ¡viva España!

¡Adios!

We made it. On time. I sat next to a Moroccan man and his 4 year old son who insisted on kicking in his sleep, which means I got ZERO shut eye. We got to Madrid yesterday and are leaving for Dublin today.

The first thing I noticed on our way from the airport to downtown Madrid was the graffiti. It covered the buildings lining the highways. Some of it looked artful, some of it not so much. Another thing that caught my attention was how many apartment buildings there are. I still haven't seen a house. Maybe I just haven't been to the right parts of Madrid. I should probably start taking pictures. It's just so much easier to keep the images in my head.

It doesn't matter how many years of Spanish I've taken, it's still awkward talking to people. It's only been a day, so I'm sure it will get easier, but I feel ridiculous at restaurants. A few people have tried to talk to me on the streets, so I say "no, gracias!" I still have no idea what they're asking...

One last thing: Spanish women are gorgeous! I might just meet Mrs. Leifeste here in Spain.. My mom wouldn't like that too much.

Alright we're off to Dublin. Hasta luego!

An interesting beginning

The plan is to begin my journey in Dublin. Corbyn is accompanying me for the first week before I start school back in Spain. We bought our tickets to Dublin way ahead of time with Ryanair (infamously known for their strict no refund policies) because they were relatively cheap. Also, Corbyn's checked bag was 15 pounds over the limit. He had to stuff everything into his other bag haha. Just a humorous side note. 

We got to the airport in Austin to find out our connecting flight to Dallas was delayed an hour due to mechanical issues. Not a big deal. Corbyn could sense my anxiety, and assured me we'd still make it on time. I believed him a little bit. 

We boarded an already delayed flight to find out we'd be sitting through another delay because the cargo door refuses to obey them. How can anyone be sure this huge hunk of machinery won't decide to disobey again mid flight? I'm going through emergency landing scenarios in my head. I'd save the women and children first, don't worry.

They "resolved" the issue after about 30 minutes. These delays made things very interesting.. I think we can catch our flight to Madrid, if Corbyn runs fast enough. We'll probably want to stop for ice cream too, but that can wait.