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