October 1st - Its Been a Month

Today it dawned on me that I have been abroad for exactly a month now. Wow, the time has flown by. It seems only yesterday that I arrived here full of anxiety and excitement. In dedication of this one month, I decided to list what I have done thus far. Lets see how this goes...

-LOVED living in my homestay, which has helped with

-opening my eyes/stomach to LOTS of new foods (which I will be making back in SD)

-increased my capability to speak Spanish TREMENDOUSLY. I seriously think I can be

fluent in December. I'm shootin for it.

-appreciating things, such as long warm showers, doing my own laundy, and other things I

took for granted back home.

-gaining mad skills at making my bed. Haven't done that in yearsssssss

-REALLY appreciating family values and staying close with family (example: typical dinner

lasts about 2 hours)

-Learned how to do grocery shopping over here

-Became addicted to gelato, paella, and sangria!

-Appreciate tapas for a light lunch, but realize they do not fill you up...even with sangria.

-Explored A LOT of Barcelona with A LOT left to check out

-Found out the awesomeness of a "Con Kit Kat" and "Cerveza" at McDonalds

-Had many UCSD reunions with Amy, Dan, Kenneth, and hope for at least 6 more before I leave

-Had some GREAT nights out at bars and clubs, but hands down, the local ones win in my book

-Learned a lot about myself and friends, both here and back home

-Found a SOLID group of people to kick it with. I'm looking forward to our upcoming memories.

-Experienced several "pick-pocketers" in action and am now very cautious with my belongings

-Been to the Beach and touched Mediterranean water (including a 2 hour boat ride!)

-Had that stereotypical night that lasted till 10am. Cannot forget that one!

-Got to see over 50 amazing pieces of graffiti art.

-Had an amazing weekend in Valenica and experienced living in a hostel for the first time

-Science Museum/Aquarium/Dolphin Show

-Had over 20 video chats and have managed to keep in touch people pretty well back home, so far.

-Had an unforgettable trip to Valencia and the South of France

-Dali Museum!

-Finally using a LEGIT camera to shoot over 500 pictures so far!

-Realized how hard it is to keep up with TV shows and music over here. I'm worried about my hip hop knowledge these next few months.

-Experienced Barcelona's INSANE 4 day festival (La Merce) with 5 story towers (made of people), giant statues, fire spraying and dancing, concerts, raves, parades, fireworks synched with music AND a color fountain show, etc. I will never forget this, ever.

-Come to love the famous man known as Gaudi over here.

-Went to a BARCA soccer game and realized I will never sit with more loyal sports fan, anywhere else.

-Engaged myself in Spanish culture and meeting several interesting people all along the way.

-Fell in love with Cultural Psychology and everything it entails.

-Signed up for a salsa class AND hip hop class. I absolutely love both and will continue them in SD.

Whew, that was a lot. Just goes to show that as much as I have done so far, there's still plenty more to see. I am on my way to ROME this weekend and have Portugal, Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris, Greece, and many others.

Thanks for reading this and keeping up to date with it. Hearing your opinions about all this definitely keeps me blogging. I'm off to finish packing for Rome, and have to finish some reading for Psych tomorrow. I think a little of A Tribe Called Quest may help.

Major blog updates when I return. I will have three weekends to discuss. PEACE!

Life Reflection

Today has been a surreal day for me. I have been feeling a mix of different emotions throughout the day. It´s unfortunate that it takes events, such as, to put your life in perspective.

Ben Wieler, another student in my program, passed away a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to meet him. I have heard nothing but good things about him, though. We all received an email about a week ago saying that he was hospitalized, so we all assumed it was something serious. They found out that he had a brain tumor and within three days, he had passed away. It´s just one of those surreal moments, because you are here in another country studying abroad and death is usually the last thing that comes to mind. Dealing with that sort of thing proves to be much more difficult abroad, given our circumstances. To think that he was just another student out to have an unforgettable four months is really tough for me. It could´ve been any of us. Even though I never met him, I feel as though I did. IES, my study abroad program, has handled the situation very well. They have kept us constantly updated and it was a topic that was discussed in the beginning of all five of my classes. Our afternoon classes were cancelled today, so that everyone had the opportunity to attend his service. It´s such a tragic event. Definitely has me in an odd state of mind. A day of reflection is the best way I can put it. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.


On a lighter note, I have a really exciting week ahead. I just picked up tickets for the Barcelona v. Dynamo Kiev game tonight. That will definitely be a memorable event. Then, I have my salsa and hip hop classes (yes, I decided to sign up) tomorrow night. Finally, a group of us head out to ROME on Thursday night and we will come back Sunday. I am incredibly grateful to have parents who have allowed me and helped me do this trip. I remember thinking back in January if this is really what I wanted to do. I had Teach for America as an idea, moving to New York, returning home, applying straight to grad school, etc.

There´s just so much out there and having the pressures of finding a job or applying to grad school can help you forget that at times. The value of life over here is just absolutely incredible. It shows in so many different ways. I definitely made the best choice and couldn´t think of a better plan after graduation. After Spain, I plan on traveling much more and exploring a lot of different countries. I am 22 years old and have the rest of my life ahead of me. Thanks Mom and Dad. Without you, this wouldn´t even be an option for me.

Much Love...

BARCA!!

Yes, I am still slacking on my updates. One of these nights that I stay in, I promise I
will do it. I'm off to a Irish Pub pretty soon, so tonight isn't going to be the night. Neither is tomorrow night, because I'm off to....

a BARCA game!! They are playing Dynamo Kiev and it is a champions game (which means it will definitely be crackin). We are in the talks of face paint and the works. Reminds me of Spirit Night back in

UCSD. I do feel official, because I got my jersey to rock tomorrow night.

It's gonna be an epic night. I appreciate the video chats/skype sessions, lately. In the last week, I got in about 10-13 of them, which is incredible. I love hearing from people back home. I never want to lose touch with any of you.

Talk to you all sooooon!

MAJOR UPDATE #3.5 - Hip Hop Class/"Lil JT"

SO, before I went out, I had to bring this up. After salsa class last night, the hip hop teacher came in to teach his first class. Since it was the first one, it was free. Pretty much, after being sweaty and disgusting, I was talked into staying for the hip hop class...

...and I freakin LOVED IT! I have never taken a dance class before, but if there was going to be one I would choose, of course it would be hip hop. So now I'm planning on taking salsa and hip hop back to back every Wednesday night. What a good workout.

The reason I had to mention this in my blog was because out of every possible song we could've learned choreography to in hip hop class, it was a Justin Timberlake song! ("Lovestoned / I Think She Knows") Yeah, I loved it and it was a pretty cool dance. I wish I could've videotaped it, because I think you would've gotten a kick out of it. Lil JT in action!! d:-)

Amy and I might re-do the dance and film it, so I can post it. Hip hop foreverrrr

MAJOR UPDATE #3 - THE BET

So, since this weekend has many festivities, I'm going to save the huge blog entries for another time. I'm just going to blog what I can right now. This is considered a major blog update, because of how much it affects my life...as ridiculous as it may sound! haha

I don't consider myself to have an addictive personality...except when it comes to food. I can get hooked on certain foods and eat them until I am absolutely sick of them. So, there's no reason why gelato is any different. I am absolutely obsessed with gelato and will have it almost every other day. I almost will always get Dulce de Leche, which is caramel brilliance in a cone. Two days ago, my friends made a bet with me that I couldn't go two weeks without it. Right away, I argued it and said that I could without a problem! Now the loser has to buy the winner a double scoop gelato cone. Not much of a bet, but it is clearly more about my pride here. My friend, Brad, was the one who initiated the bet, so if I lose, I have to buy him a cone and will probably get myself one at the same time. Double loss right there.

It's been about 48 hours and its getting really hard. My good friends have been very supportive with buying them and eating them in front of me the past two days. Its been hard, but I gotta keep it up. Otherwise, I'm going to have to start a gelato anonymous support group over here. Wish me luck!!




P.S. This weekend has been AMAZING so far. So much to say and talk about. It will come, I promise.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINA!!

Happy birthday to my best friend foreverrr! From kindergarten to now, we have been through the ups and downs, but we are still close! Love you and miss you girl! Have a crackin 22nd! d:-)

MAJOR UPDATE #2 - Reflection on Culture

So, even though I thought I was going to hate the class after my first day, I LOVE my Cultural Psychology class (even if it is at 9am, which means I need to be up at 7:30am). It's a class about the different cultures and adapting to them, etc. With only about 12 people in the class, the teacher knows all of us by name and we get to have really great conversations. It makes me realize how much I just took things for granted back at home. For example, in Spain...

1. I didn't have a toilet seat cover for the first two weeks at my homestay. Luckily, that changed last week, but still, you can imagine the awkwardness until then.

2. Breakfast is a small meal, which consists of toast, marmalade, and OJ. That's it. Every day since I have been here. Lunch is the big meal of the day and dinner is (since its free!). I have been gaining weight though and I love it!

3. As dumb as this sounds, I have to make my bed every morning. I haven't done that since middle school or maybe even elementary school. It only takes a minute, though.

4. It takes me 25 mins to get to class via walking and the metro VERSUS rolling out of bed and being in class in 5-10 mins on-campus. I miss asia halllllll

5. Safety. You can never let your guard down while in Barcelona. The moment you do, someone will come up behind you and take your bag/backpack/purse. I've seen it happen 3 times already.

6. Portions of food are A LOT smaller. There is no such thing as a venti coffee (unless you seriously go to Starbucks). A cafe con leche is about 2 euros and its about the size of a kids meal drink.

7. Going to the grocery store is definitely different. Your usual brands probably aren't on the shelf and that means trying new things.

Going off that, I am happy to say my pickiness with food is almost gone completely. Yeah, there are definitely some things I will never eat, but for the most part, I am breaking barriers every night at the dinner table. From tomatoes to squash, I am broadening my food horizons every day...and I love it!

Back to culture though, I am happy to say that I now look at things a lot differently. One of the biggest key points from my reading this week was about making the effort to adjust to the new culture.

Development-and maintenance-of good interpersonal relations with hosts, marked by respect for people in the other culture, good collegial relations in the community, free time spent with those of the other culture, and sharing of personal information to others is CRUCIAL.

I couldn't agree more with this excerpt. At the end of the day, I always remember that I'm the guest here and need to show respect to others. I have heard about some of the stupid things some of the other people in our program have done at bars, clubs, and other places. Its reasons like these that make the Spaniards not too happy with Americans. I make an effort every day to meet someone new or strike up a conversation with someone. Overall, I have gotten a very good vibe from the locals here. Yeah, I have met my fair share of rude people, but those are anywhere you go. The best confidence booster was last week when someone pulled up next to me and asked for directions. Completely in Spanish...and I was able to direct them! That made me feel good not only because I was fluent enough to understand them and direct them, but the fact that they pulled over and ASSUMED I was a local. It made my week, no lie.

Adapting to culture here hasn't been hard at all. I'm not homesick nor do I think I will be in these next three months. Yeah, I DEFINITELY miss people from back home and SD for sure! As my roommate Josh put it, "We never really have a home. It's just something we are used to and are comfortable in. There is never a place you can really say you will live at forever." This was an interesting way of looking at it. I have always been keen on calling SD my second home, after my real home back in the bay. When I leave here in December, I can see myself calling this my third home. It's all just whatever is comfortable to you. I'm happy to finally be stepping out of my comfort zone and feeling confident while doing so.

MAJOR UPDATE #1 - VALENCIA (9/11-9/13)

Whats crackin everybody... Here is my first major update on my life recently over here. Two weekends ago (Sept. 11-13), a group of about 20 of us took a short, but amazing trip to the nearby city of Valencia. Here's how it all went down...

We boarded our train around 9am on Friday, after getting there at about 7:30am to get tickets. We were able to get a round trip booked for about 42 euros, which isn't bad at all. However, since it was so cheap, the entire train ride took about 5 hours (the real trip takes about 3 hours, maybe). We definitely entertained ourselves on the way though...

Once we got there, it was only about 2pm so we still had the entire day to explore the city. It was such a cool city. There was definitely a difference being there versus Barcelona, because we got more of a small city feel (instead of the huge touristy city that Barcelona can be, at times). Weall stayed at this hostel that was ONLY 15 EUROS EACH NIGHT! Trust, it definitely

sounded sketchy when we signed up, but being

poor college students abroad who want to travel, what other choices do you have? The movie Hostel was all I thought about walking up tothe place. In the end, it ended up being such a cool experience! We were all in different rooms and besides two of the girls from our group, I stayed with two other girls from Madrid and an 18 year old from Australia. I give this girl props, because she told me she was traveling by herself for the next four months before returning back home to apply to college. I was

definitely not in that state of mind as an 18-year old.

Two things Valencia is well-known for: their paella and their infamous agua de valencia. It's this drink that mixes Cava (Spanish champagne), orange juice, and usually whatever else they want to throw in there. It's kinda like a mimosa, which I absolutely love. We had both of these for lunch and then decided to go to the store to cook up some things for the night....which meant Bradand I getting a loaf of bread and frozen pizza. Those + 2 huge

bottles of sangria + 1 huge

jug of

water = 9 euros. Legit.

After that, we all were feeling preeeeeety good and decided to do this pub crawl of the town, since we had no idea where to go anyways. 3 pubs and a club with a drink at each one for 10 euros. Not bad. It was an awesome night, but unfortunately, none of us were able to make it to the club at the end of the night. hahah

a

Then, we woke up around 11am the next day and decided to be productive. We ventured off to the Science museum and the Aquarium. Both places looked AMAZING from the outside (for all you UCSD homies, Geisel has nothing on the design of these buildings). The museum was really cool and we didn't even end up exploring all of it. The aquarium was also a lot of fun, including th

e hour long dolphin show. I'm not gonna lie. After seeing the

dolphin show, I contemplated working with animals for the rest of the day. Just watching the dolphins and seeing how intelligent they are, I got

inspired to check that out. Maybe I can be some sort of a animal psychologist? Hmm, yeah we'll see about that. (haha) By the time 5pm rolled around, we were ready for a siesta before dinner for sure!

OH YEAH, a little side story about the dolphin show. So, we got pretty good seats in front of the show, but we were right by this ramp that was made only for the trainers to use to get to the dolphins quickly. Of course, there were tons of little kids running down the ramp with stressful parents running after them.

THEN, there was this one particular little boy. He was constantly

running down the ramp, getting picked up by his parents, and then doing it all over again. After the third time, my friends Dimitra, Krith, and Kyra decide to call to him and tell him to stay with his parents. Save the parents another jog! This angel turns around and stares down the three and yelled a very loud "NO!" and gave them this cute face. We were laughing hysterically for about ten minutes. Definitely one of the best pictures of the weekend. I'm glad I was able to get it...

After another night of cooking in the kitchen, we started to hang out in front of the hostel and "pre-party" there. A lot of the other people in the hostel were chilling outside too, so we wanted to join them. There were people from Germany, Poland, Italy,

Britain, Spain, Portugal, etc. I am always a fan of being a foreigner with other foreigners! Sooooo, we got outside around 11pm to head out and didn't end up leaving till about 1am. After the night before, we didn't end up staying out too late. Also, since we had a cheap train ride back and weren't exactly sure if we had a 10am or 5pm departure, we decided a long night out wasn't necessary (since that can happen any night back in Barcelona).

Turns out we didn't need to head to the train station till 5pm, so we went out to the beach to lounge around for awhile and have some GELATO!

Anyways, after the beach, we headed straight to the train station and embarked on our 5 hour train ride back to Barcelona. This weekend proved something real cool that I have been noticing lately. I have always thought of myself as an easy-going person and making new friends is a skill I have been lucky to have been blessed with. After these three weeks, I don't think I have ever bonded with a group so quickly. Well, given two years of RAing and three years of OLing, that's a tough statement to make. Regardless, I feel incredibly close to "our crew" and am happy that we roll together wherever we go. It's only been three weeks. PLENTY of more adventures to embark on!

Next update: Carolyn's bday and our weekend trip to Girona and the border of France!

P.S. If you want to see ALL of my pictures from Valencia, use this link. They start at picture #34.

P.S.S.

I love you all and miss you too!!!

P.S.

My three most commonly used words ("crackin", "hella," and "legit") are definitely becoming a part of my friends' vocabs...even anna (the sister of my homestay).

Amazing.

Classes and BLING

Yo, yo, yo. I still haven't blogged about last weekend and am about to go on another trip this weekend. SO, since that blog will wait till next weekend (since it will be long), I figured I would talk about class.

SO, here are my classes I'm taking. I'm striving for all A's in my classes. They all have a LOT of reading and presentations and papers. The frustrating part is that I already graduated and am done with school. I need none of these classes to graduate, but I still would love to end with straight A's. Haven't come close that since high school....

Spanish is pretty legit. My teacher, Raul, is REAL laid back. We spent the first 30 minutes yesterday talking about betting on soccer games. Then, when we had about 10 minutes left in class, he told us to open our books, so "we can say we did something today." haha. Yeah he's awesome. Everyone else has homework over the weekend, like essays or whatever. Our homework is to speak spanish. Legit.

Psych is reallllly interesting. It's this Irish woman that moved to Spain about 6 years ago. The class deals with culture, based on race, location, food, jobs, weather, sexual orientation, family values, etc. My class only has about 10 people in it, so we have been having a lot of good discussions.

The other three are...whatever. haha. The TV class is real cool. We will be studying different types of shows in Europe, including ones from the U.S. that are just dubbed. I get to do a presentation in that class on REALITY TV! Oh boy, that's gonna be fun! My film class will be interesting, I'm sure. I have been falling asleep a little, so I can't really comment too much on it. As for my art class, it's okay. I mean, I love the art and architecture in Spain and really appreciate it. However, our class deals with a lot of the history behind it, which isn't exactly my cup of tea.

Yay class. I'm trying to keep motivation for these classes, since all my friends actually NEED the classes they are taking. I can do this!


As for THIS lovely thing, I picked it up today for only 4 Euros. Two sneakers. I told my friends I was gonna buy it "just for kicks." (get it? haha...?) I have lost a lot of necklaces at the airport traveling back and forth from SD to the Bay Area over the four years. It's time to get the necklace collection going again.

Now, I gotta pack for the weekend. We are going to a nearby city called Costa Brava with EVERYONE from our program. It's gonna be a little crazy. I'm most excited about visiting the Dali museum. I love his art and think its genius. Later tonight, I'm meeting up with Dan Driver for another crazy ERC RA reunion night in Barcelona...while still having to wake up for the trip at 7am tomorrow. Ugh, I'm getting good at this minimal sleep and I don't think it's a good thing. haha

Take care folks! Here is the picture of almost everyone who came out to celebrate my 22nd birthday in SD. Much love to you all!

More updates on Sunday...probably Monday. Peace homiesssssss

Salsaaaaaa

So, after not being happy with the prices of massage classes, I tried out salsa tonight...

...and i LOVED it! I'm signing up for the rest of my time here. I couldn't stop doing it. I salsa-ed on the metro, back home, in the office supply store, etc.

I'm hooked. d:-)

Hmmm....

Before I start my Valenica blog, I have some random thoughts to vent.

1. My teacher made a good point in class today. "As students, you have to learn how to adjust to the Spanish culture, while still going out at night AND doing well in class." I had to get up at 7:30am and after coming back at 4am, it wasn't pretty this morning. I realized that I am missing something over here that always worked for me in San Diego during late nights.....AMP!! Ugh, if you want to send me a couple of cans over here, I would greatly appreciate it. d:-)


2. I can get mail now!! IF you feel kind and want to send me some, here's my address:

Brent Costa
IES Abroad Barcelona Center
Ronda Sant Pere, 5 1°
08010 Barcelona

3. I am starting to miss some of the food back home now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the food here and will miss it when I leave. Still, I get my random cravings, especially for these wonderful non-healthy places:























3. It is extremely hard to keep up with TV shows over here. I have to scramble and search all over the web for different clips. My favorite shows I want to keep up with are Family Guy, South Park, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Everybody Hates Chris, my trashy reality shows, and a lot of other ones. I think I am going to be sitting at home my first 2 weeks back home watching all of these. I DID get to catch MTV's Video Music Awards and saw several different clips of the show. Despite all the Taylor Swift/Kanye drama, I DID catch the opening of the show, which may have been the best opening in my opinion. Over the last 3 months, I have been constantly jamming to old Michael Jackson songs and as weird as it sounds, his sudden death really hit me hard. I mean, I remember being a 8 year old moonwalking in the kitchen with one glove on, bumping Off the Wall. I was almost obsessed with him at one point. I had every single cassette of his from his days with the Jackson 5 all the way to his History compilation. You could ask me to sing any song at any time and it wouldn't be a problem for me. I think my mom probably thought something was wrong with me at one point. When he passed away, it was definitely a part of my childhood gone, too. HE will always be the best entertainer in my book and I feel like his legacy is FAR from being over.

ANYWAYS, I have seen many tributes "supposedly" honoring him these last few months and to be honest, I thought most were trashy and disrespectful....until the VMAs. It started off with Madonna giving a 7-8 minute speech about him and then the screen came on to when MTV first showed the Thriller video in December of 1982 (haha I say it like I was born then...). Some of the best choreographers and dancers showcased his iconic moves for Thriller, Bad, and Smooth Criminal. Then, the video for Scream came on and Janet Jackson came out to do the song; one more time. The best part was when she does the dance with him in the middle of the song. They edited her out of the video on the screen, so it looked like she was really dancing with her brother again. This was absolutely incredible to see and give major kudos to her for being able to do that. That was SUCH a great way to start the night and I'm so happy I got to watch it. I included links down below, in case you missed it. VERY CLASSY TRIBUTE FINALLY!

There was also a trailer that they showed for an upcoming MJ movie, This is It. It will be about his preparation for what would have been his comeback concert. From watching it, I'm happy to say it looked like it was going to be an EPIC concert. I cannot imagine being one of those chosen dancers who were the last people to dance onstage with him. You can't even guess that he was 50 years old from watching the trailer. You best believe I will be getting tickets for the show when it comes out. I just found out it will be playing in Barcelona, so it's on!

R.I.P. Michael Jackson. My favorite artist always.

Madonna speech: http://www.hardcandymusic.com/2009/09/madonna-michael-jackson-tribute-speech.html

Michael Jackson tribute performance: http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435991/michael-jackson-tribute.jhtml

Michael Jackson's trailer for his upcoming movie: http://www.hardcandymusic.com/2009/09/michael-jackson-this-is-it.html

MAJOR CATCH-UP!

Hey folks! Sorry, it has definitely been awhile since I have gotten caught up. Life has been real good, lately. Last week was my last week of crazy fun, since I started the rest of my classes yesterday. It's still hard to believe I have only been here about 2 weeks. It really feels much longer than that! Wow, where to begin? This is probably going to be a very long post, just fyi. Since it takes forever to upload pictures on here, I'm just going to put a few on each post and include the link to my latest facebook album. It's just easier that way...Alright here we go!

Last time I was on here, I was starting Spanish class (this was last week). We had just Spanish classes for that week to get us back in the mode of speaking Spanish, even though it is easily a part of my daily routine now. I got a chance to explore the famous Gaudi Cathedral. It was breathtaking. The building itself is magnificent. There is so much intricate detail in every corner of the cathedral. What was odd to us was how people got to come in and take picture, while a mass was being held. I mean, I understand that it is a very famous building, but still. I could not imagine being in mass and having people taking pictures all around. At least they had an area roped off for the people that were actually attending the service. It was such a good feeling inside. I got a real good vibe and definitely felt a presence inside. Something I won't forget. I am definitely going to attend at least one service there before I leave.

For our Spanish class, we had to do a scavenger hunt across the city of Barcelona. Luckily, everyone in my group was really willing and excited to do it. Unfortunately, we lost, but we still had a lot of fun doing it. I have gotten to know a lot of the people in my class and some have been added to our "infamous crew." haha

That night, a couple of us stumbled across this bar called, "Espit Chupitos." Basically, it is this shot bar that has 300+ different kinds of shots and they are all no more than 3 euros! These aren't just any regular shots. Each has its own cool trick or theme. One of my favorites is a Boy Scout shot. You get a shot of different flavored alcohol and then the bartender lights it on fire and you roast a marshmallow over it before you drink it. So far, my favorite is the Harry Potter shot. Similar to the other one, an orange is placed on top and then it gets lit on fire. Different spices and sugar are shaken over it to make it look like a shot suitable for any wizard. Here's what it looks like...

The next day, we took a boat ride around the Mediterranean for an hour and a half. It was amazing and I finally got to take some really legit pictures with my new camera. It was a nice, but way too short trip. We couldn't have asked for better weather out there.

The following day, a group of us went on a Gourmet Tour around the city of Barcelona. A tour guide pretty much showed us all the really good (and cheap) food places to check out while we are over here. We definitely got some real cool spots to check out now. At the very end, we got a coupon to get a glass of wine and 2 tapas at our final stop. As we were walking in, these two guys brushed right past us and starting running when they both got outside. Just then, one of the ladies who worked there started to shout, "Su bolsa, su bolsa!" These two guys had just ran off with two purses from these 2 girls who were apparently in our same program. Throughout the past 2 weeks, I keep hearing about different people getting mugged and losing their credit cards, cash, passports, etc. It was a real trip to actually see it happen right in front of us. A bunch of us guys definitely would've stopped these guys had we known they were robbing these 2 girls. I guess that's just how slick they are. Today, I actually heard a pretty scary statistic from my Spanish teacher. "50% of all students abroad will encounter someone trying to mug them or somebody else around them." As cool as Barcelona is, you really have to keep an eye out for your backpack/bag. Everytime we go out to eat, we put our bags in between our legs on the floor. The 2 girls who were robbed had their purses on the back of their chairs. While that is extremely common back home, that is a HUGE mistake over here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen to me or any of my friends. I have already heard of about 10 people who lost their wallets or purses and it has only been two weeks! It's a crazy world out there...

That night, my study abroad program, IES, held a Welcoming Ceremony for the students, their host families, RAs, teachers, staff, and others. It was a real classy event. I LOVE dressing up, so it was fun to put those nice clothes to use, finally! Here is a picture of me and my host family
(Bernard - dad, Adela - mom, Anna -sister, and Josh - my roommate). After that we wandered down towards the beach looking for a bar and came across this real local bar. I love meeting people from my program, but it I will almost always prefer hitting up a bar with the locals to get the real Barcelona feeling. It was a verrrrrry good night and a long one. Here is one of the best mirror pictures I have ever seen. This is a small portion of our crew. We also met a guy named George, who was from Greece. We talked for almost an hour about life and it was just one of those really good talks. I mean, the drinks we had at this point definitely helped the keep the conversation going, but he was a real legit guy, anyways. He told us if we ever wanted to visit Greece, he would show us around and host us. THIS is definitely a reason why I love the local bars. You would never find someone like him at a party with all the study abroad kids.

THAT leads me to our trip we went on this last weekend. This has been sort of long, so I'm gonna make a new blog about the weekend. Peaceeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.S. Go to my previous blog if you want the first two albums of my trip. They are posted over there...

Off to Valencia!!

Hey everybody! So, I know I haven't updated in awhile, but trust me, I will! I'm off to the city of Valencia in about 3 hours. It's 3:30am right now and we have to get up in three hours. I DID upload all of my pictures (thus far) to my facebook page, so here are the links for that:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2427934&id=3315695&l=a2d53b8122

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2431403&id=3315695&l=68d1bcc8d3

I will be back on Sunday night with lots of updates! It's gonna be a long one! Adios!

Nice Little Rap

Here is an amazing rap that was written for me before I left in August. The best gifts to me are the personal ones and this is a clear example of that. This person will remain anonymous, but she is definitely "legit" in my book. d:-)

I once met a boy named brent
a quiet little sweetheart
your west coast Clark Kent.
Let me tell you a little something about this cutie
a soul of a black man with the whitest booty.
the moment that i first saw brent walking
was the moment i approached him and started talking
cuz he roamed around with a smile on his face
made me wanna be surrounded by his warming embrace.
Brent loves to listen to hip hop
he wears them SF hats with the matching top
he rocks them Nike shoes that you’ll wanna cop
he has that type of swagga that doesn’t ever stop.
The reasons why i love Brent are plain
its cuz he thinks with his heart and not with his brain
its cuz he shields you from lose even if it endangers his gain
its cuz he’s so real, so fresh like the rain,
its cuz he thinks he’s black when he’s whiter than cocaine.
Brent, i’m real glad we met
you’ll be a friend i will never forget
and remember that once you get your ass over to Spain
you’ll think of me the whole time on the plane
and you’ll get all the girls, put those other boys to shame
and you’ll put my pictures all over your domain.
Have fun Brent and know that i’ll miss you
here’s to a start of a great friendship, one long over due.

More updates to come later! It takes forever to upload pictures, but I'm working on it!

Reminiscing...

So, I think I am also going to post some old pictures as I have my moments of reminiscing here in Spain. Which better one to start with than this one...

It does feel weird not being back in ERC for RA training right now. I love these guys!

My Short List of Interesting/Funny/Sweet things...

-My usage of "hella" and "crackin" is spreading in the group. I like this.

-We are keeping a notepad of spanish words that we hear often with their translations. Our homestay mom is doing the same for English words. d:-)

-We found our first bathroom that we had to PAY to pee in. Urinetown!!

Spanish classes start tomorrow. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm taking classes here too...NOT crackin.

Homestay vs. Apartment

It's about 1:45am and this is the latest I have ever been in the homestay before going out. We had dinner around 8:30pm and didn't leave the table until about 15 minutes ago. I remember signing up for the Barcelona program and requesting an apartment. I went into it thinking that I would just have the best time in an apartment with other students trying to live it up. When I found out I had a homestay, I was bummed. I thought this would seriously limit my fun times abroad and would possibly shelter me from meeting other study abroad students. I was completely wrong with both of those assumptions.

It really brings "family" into a new perspective to me. It was just one of those "amazing conversations" that nothing else could come close to. We talked about theatre, food, family, relationships, movies, music, and LIFE. Anna, the sister we are living with, brought up the U.S. and how wonderful it seems. She has traveled to a lot of places over there already, but she talked about how it seemed like the ideal place. I have absolutely nothing against our country. It's a great place with a lot of opportunities. However, we definitely have our share of issues at the moment. Anna described how the U.S. looks like a great place from the movies she has seen. People having so many chances to do great things, traveling from one state to another freely, people with different religions and backgrounds living together, the vast differences in weather (even in the same state), and so forth. These are things that I never ever think about when I'm at home. Then the conversation turned to Roscoes and the mood of the conversation definitely changed. (haha)

I guess my point is that I am starting to feel like I'm becoming the "global citizen" that everyone talks about when they go abroad and our famous motto back at ERC in UCSD. My eyes have opened up so much since I have been here. Yeah, there are many great advant

ages to living back in the U.S. However, seeing and hearing these things through somebody from another country definitely changes my perspective on things. Back home, I feel like I take so many things for granted and a lot of worries and complaints can be so materialistic and pointless at times. Life is good. Real good. I need to always remember that and never forget it.

On another note, I finally touched the Mediterranean Sea today and made it to the beach. It was full of people, along with vendors selling tattoos, massages (which I almost got), beer, coconuts, and club tickets for the night. This city is amazing. Josh (my roommate) and I were walking back to our house and we were talking about how we never know what is going to be for dinner. Our "mom" just tells us what time it will be at. Last night, we had

a conversation about the foods we usually eat back home. Josh and I both LOVE ketchup and do not like mayo. We mentioned how much more popular mayo is here than in the U.S. So, when we got back for dinner tonight, we walked into a table set with some bowls of soup. Afterwards, we were served a plate of hot dogs, french fries, and ketchup. We laughed, because we felt weird eating an American meal here in Spain. It was definitely good though! I couldn't be happier at this homestay situation. d:-)

After being out till about 7am last night, I figured we probably wouldn't go out tonight and just take this only ni

ght (so far) to stay in after our long dinner conversation......but, there is a Spanish bar with a band playing in about 20 minutes. Yeah 2:30am. I think we are going to check it out. I guess tomorrow night will be our first night actually staying in, since we both have early class on Monday. Adios por ahora!

Dan is amazing for this

I got a good laugh when I read Dan's facebook status last night. I hope this nickname doesn't follow me abroad.

"

Dan Driver

is going clubbing with gentle strawberry tonight. Be jealous....very jealous"

Thanks Dan!

My OH My.....

Where oh where to begin? I am seriously falling in love with this city. It's 5am over here, so I have a feeling this might be a long blog. We will see how it goes....

I am really learning a lot about myself over here. It's real refreshing to be able to live in a city where nobody (well, only a few) knows me from the U.S. and I get to start over again. I am doing my best not to look like a tourist. After a tan and some shopping in Barcelona, I feel like that won't be an issue. hahaha

Another thing I have been picking up on are the couples in Spain. I love that they are very affectionate with one another here and it's SO different from back home. I hardly ever see people being affectionate with the intent of taking them home that night. There is just a mutual love for one another and it shows. It's so genuine. I wish it was more like this back home...

As for me, I have been living in the moment every single day. My spanish has improved TREMENDOUSLY and I seriously can't wait to come home and be able to speak it fluently. Last night, we walked Las Ramblas and checked out different bars and clubs. It was awesome to just walk around and take in as much of Barcelona as possible! Today, we had our orientation for classes. 5 classes and I don't need any of them. Ughhh. Oh well!

The best part of being abroad is the number of people you meet. It feels like orientation back at UCSD. Meeting people, introducing yourself, and forgetting their name 5 minutes later. Today, I walked around with an awesome group and we had a great adventure. We found this REALLY good tapas bar with excellent sangria! Then, we all got phones from...Mailboxes, Etc. (hahaha) They were a good deal though! Then we walked around and checked out different stores. Nick, Bryan, Carolyn, and I made our way to McDonalds...just to see what is was like. Boy, this was the best McDonalds I have ever been to! They not only had an ice cream cone w/ a kit kat bar ("Con Kit Kat"), but they even sold beer there for less than two euros! It was really good too. Then we headed to the Nike store and I realized that I definitely have to buy a few items before I leave in December. That's for sure!

After the shopping, I took the metro back home and had another delicious dinner. PAELLA! I have been waiting to try this dish over here and Adela cooked it perfectly. No complaints here. Then, we went out to this club where a lot of other study abroad students were. It felt like a bar in PB and to say the least, we decided not to stay very long. I wanted to come to Spain to get the international experience and while I love meeting other study abroad students, I don't want to get the feeling of a club back home. That's not what I'm after. So, we went to a bar across the street and I reunited with.....DAN! It was a nice UCSD reunion! We later ended up going back to the club to dance (since the music wasn't bad) and came back home around 4am.

Apparently it is supposed to rain tomorrow. No bueno. Regardless, I have no doubt this weekend will be amazing. With the people I have already met in the program and in my homestay, I feel like this is definitely a third home for me (after HOME and SD). I can definitely see myself visiting Spain again. Even after these few days, I know I will return to the U.S. a little different, as most people say. I am already getting the bigger picture and feel as though I have a much more global perspective on life. Life is too short to sweat the small things. Don't waste your time being unhappy or trying to pursue something that isn't in your best interest. There are endless opportunities and people out there to make you happy. All you have to do is find them....

(Here are some pictures to recap the last 2 days...)

Wow

It's 3am. I met my roommate Josh today. He is from Boston and is definitely a legit guy. We had an AMAZING night exploring Barcelona tonight. Words cannot explain. We both have orientation in a few hours, so we are gonna pass out. After tonight, I cannot imagine how the next four months will be. Our group of 8 had an incredible time tonight and it's only my second night in Barcelona.

The other crazy thing we all agreed upon was how well our Spanish has gotten in just one day. I have no doubt that I will be completely literate in Spanish once December rolls around. I can't wait. I just have to practice it, so I don't lose it when I return home. More updates later, but this is gonna be four months I will never forget. Peaceeeeee

I made it...

Whew! So, I made it to Barcelona. It's about 1:30am on Wednesday and I'm sitting in my room of my host family's house. My computer automatically switched to spanish, but I think I'm gonna keep it. It will do nothing, but help me!

The flight was ridiculous. I have never flown that much in my whole life. LAX to Phoenix wasnt bad at all, but Phoenix to London took forever! I watched episodes of Friends, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Simpsons. I also saw Panic Room for the first time. Not a bad movie... Amy and I kept worrying about language barriers at airports, but we were fine the whole time. THEN, when we got to Barcelona, it started getting a little crazy. Luckily, we got every piece of our luggage, exchanged our money, and hopped on a cab to our homestays. Once we stepped in the cab, it finally hit us that we were in Spain. The cab driver didn't speak a WORD of English, so our spanish skills were put to the test already! The driver was extremely nice and understanding and did his best to help us out. We left him a good tip!

Once I arrived at my homestay, I realized that this was gonna be the part that either makes or breaks the trip, in a sense. If the hosts weren't going to be very outgoing, this was going to be harder and take more work on my part. However, that couldn't have been farther from the reality of it all. As we pull up, I hear this woman shout out, "BRENT! HOLA HIJO!" My senora, Adela, was one of the sweetest ladies ever. I seriously already felt I had a home away from home. She brought me into their house and introduced me to her husband, son (who is 28 y/o) and daughter (who is 24 y/o). Everyone was extremely polite and welcoming. The husband and wife only speak Spanish, so the four of us made a deal to correct each other with Spanish and English. Ana and Bernardo, the siblings, spoke pretty good English, so it made it easier. They showed me their pool and we all went out for a swim around 9pm (which given the warm weather of Barcelona, it was perfect). Then we went inside to eat dinner. I'm not exactly sure what we had, but it was amazing. I found myself eating foods that i would NEVER touch back home (Yes mom, even tomatoes! A whole bunch of them!).

We had a GREAT conversation throughout the dinner, dessert, and tea. They became aware of my slow eating habits real quick (haha). They really wanted to know about the U.S. and our politics, sports, weather, activities, etc. Ana had actually been to the U.S. a lot, so she had a lot to add in to the conversation, too. Then, they wanted to see my home and UCSD, so we spent a fair amount of time on Google Earth. Then I started to show them pictures of friends and family from back in California. They really got a kick out of this. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better start here!

I'm about to pass out, since I will be up in about 8 hours. That's actually a lot of sleep for me. Adela is taking me to the university tomorrow to figure out my classes and stuff and then we are gonna go shopping for a cell phone. She kept telling me how much she loves taking pictures, so I think we are going to get along just fine! d:-)

I'm also hoping to meet up with Dan, Amy, and other study abroaders tomorrow. Word is that there is a welcoming party tomorrow. Either way, I'm in for a day of exploring!