Thanksgiving

Well, as you probably know, I spent this year's Thanksgiving away from home. For the first time in my life, I wasn't sitting around the table with family. This alone was different for me, but the entire Thanksgiving weekend was. Then again, what hasn't been different so far..

This all started with the fact that I had three classes on Thanksgiving day. Never in my life have I had school on this day, so it was a little depressing heading to class. To my surprise, my classes would turn out to be really cool. First we took a field trip, and for my second class of the day, our professor canceled class and took us all to a café, and bought us coffee and muffins! Ridiculously awesome!

I followed up class by having a nice skype convo with the fam, so at least I got my family fix in for just a little.
This was when I realized that my "Thanksgiving dinner" would be very, very different. Although I had plans for that evening to see a play, "Carmen", I did not have any plans for dinner. So I would end up eating Thanksgiving dinner, alone, at Burger King. LOL

But you see, this was OK, I actually embraced the moment. My family thought it was quite funny too, and helped me realize that this day would be one I would never forget. So there I was, alone in Burger King on Thanksgiving, with a big smile on my face. Probably never again will this happen, and for this reason I was able to really enjoy that moment. 

Things were a little more normal that Saturday, as I was invited to a "Thanksgiving party" at the house of an American. The party was nice for me, I was able to get a little piece of home. There were a few other Americans, some Spaniards, Germans, Polish, just multicultural. But then again, the first Thanksgiving was a dinner between different cultures, so in a way, we captured the true purpose of Thanksgiving with that party. Anyway, it was more of a buffet style, rather than sit down, but this was nice. Really good food, nice people, and just another great experience. These kinds of things can be hard to come across, and for that, I am thankful.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Cumple de Carolina

I hope the video works. Anyway, this weekend was the birthday of a friend, Carolina. She is the girlfriend of the nephew of the guy I live with, Emilio. Got all of that? So yea, it was her cumpleaños on Thursday, and I went out to celebrate with her, her boyfriend Luis, and all of their friends.
The festivities started Thursday night, with the whole group going out to dinner, then following that up with a trip to a discoteca. This was your textbook b-day celebration, dinner and discoteca. I had a great time, lots of awesome food and beer, then clubbing and more alcohol. So this was a nice way to kick off the bday weekend.
The festivities then continued on Saturday, with a trip to Luis's house outside of Sevilla, in a little town with a population of just around 5,000 called, Castilblanco. The town is really nice. It's your typical small town, little shops, everybody knows everybody, and beautiful scenery. Just heading to the suburbs was cool for me, something different. But the continued bday celebrating was even better.

We started drinking immediately after arriving. I was expecting this, but didn't know how much. Started off with some free shots at the local bar, then went to the house and kept it going. Basically the party consisted of just hangin around, drinking and eating pork and chicken and lots of freshly baked bread. I mean this combo right there is heavenly. Although funny story, gotta love the Spaniards in general for this, they love to drink and they also love to force food and drinks upon you. So when one of Carolina's friends asked me if i wanted more beer, and I told him no, naturally he began to fill up my cup. After about 1/3 full I said it was enough, but he kept pouring. This continued until it was filled to the top. Looking back now it was just fun. I mean why not drink, drink, drink right? So we also went out that night, and went back to the house to eat and drink more. Overall it was just a nice, chill weekend, with cool people all making for a good time. Definitely gonna do it again soon. Hasta luego!

Mis padres

For the first time, and hopefully not the last, I had some visitors here in Spain. My parents came, hit up the island for a few days, then headed over to the mainland to see me. When I first saw them, it honestly felt like just a normal day back home. Of course it was great to see them, but with Skype and Facebook it really didn't seem like anything different after not seeing them for a while.  During their time here we didn't do anything crazy or wild, but we spent time together, had fun, and relaxed. What more can you ask for?

One thing that we did a lot of was that we ate out for almost every meal. This was no problem, because for the most part we had some great food and I love to eat out. Other than that, we did some of the typical tourist things, such as seeing the Cathedral, Plaza de España, and a few others. This was actually nice for me, because I hadn't done much of this yet even though I had already been here over 2 months.

I know as far as my papá, he absolutely loved the coffee over here. I would have to agree with him, it really is significantly better than that of the U.S. With that said, I would have to say that one of the highlights of their trip was probably coming to my place. They love my apartment and location, it's hard not too. I'm pretty lucky to live where I do. They also got to meet Emilio, and try some of his amazing food. We had this great lunch, followed up buy a bunch of sweets and pastries. Just chill.

So overall, my parents trip to Spain was a success. For me to be able to share my experiences over here in person with them was a lot of fun for me, and I think it was great for them to finally see what I'm talking about and not just read it. Skype is great, but the real thing is always better.  I can honestly say I spent more time with my parents this week while they were here, than I would during a typical week when I am back home. There's nothing wrong with that, but that just made the time spent together over here even cooler. So for anybody reading this, come visit me in Spain :) P.S.-David and Sheila = awesome parents!

Barcelona vs. Cajasol

Well, it was a long time coming, but I finally got to see Ricky Rubio and his Barcelona squad in person. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this game, is college basketball. The atmosphere at the game rivaled that of a Big 5 game in Philly. Right off the bat, you could feel the sense of urgency, and the intensity that both teams had.  I think anytime the big, bad, Barcelona comes to town, the home team is going to be a little more fired up than usual.  This was evident from the start.

The stadium is small, that of a college basketball arena, packed full of eager fans ready for battle. There were  two drummers, leading a raucous crowd that at times I think had an impact on the game. Although I was rocking my Ricky Rubio jersey, inside I couldn't help but root for Cajasol Sevilla.

I was really lucky to have gone to this game. As I mentioned, the atmosphere was great, but the basketball was even better. Right from the start, both teams came out firing. Cajasol was hot from the field, and Barcelona wouldn't go away easily. Both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively it was a solid game. Although the scoring was low, with a final score of 77-65, the game was still exciting. Guys were knocking down shots, dunking all over, and there was a good up and down tempo that really kept things interesting.  It was back and fourth with both teams sharing leads, but Cajasol surprisingly had Barcelona under control, almost the entire game. It wasn't until the final 4 minutes when Barcelona proved to be too much.

So in the end, I got to see a solid basketball game, and on top of that, sat in the second row right behind one of my favorite players. It was a nice way to kick off my Saturday night, and I'll definitely be going back to more games soon!!

The Mountains and the Mediterranean

This past weekend was one of the best of my life, no lie. To start it off, Saurday morning three friends and I rented a car, and decided to head to Málaga. To me, just the idea of renting a car and driving around Spain would be enough to call it a fun weekend, but we did so much more. 

 So of course have to also talk about my first experince staying in hostal. It was certainly something different. I wouldn't call it a bad experience, just, interesting. You walk up to the place, and it doesn't even say hostal or anything, it looks just like any old building. We walk in and immediately you notice a strange smell, not a good smell I must say. We were greeted by a very outgoing and also quite strange British fellow. He gave us some sheets and a key, and that was it. Our room had 9 beds in it, so that meant that we would be sharing the room with 5 strangers. In the end, it wasn't so bad. Before going to sleep that night I hung out in the lobby with some others who were staying there, ended up meeting three Bulgarians and two Hungarians. In our room, there were, my three German friends, the two Hungarians, two Australians, and one guy from Whales. You really don't won't find something like this in the U.S I don't think. So although at times it wasn't the most clean and comfortable spot, I still found it interesting staying in the hostal.

OK now I will get to some more of my favorite parts of the trip. On the way to Málaga, we stopped at Torcal de Antequera, and Desfiladero de Los Gaitanes. If you don't know these spots, just check them out online. I really don't think I can describe sites like this. The Torcal de Antequera is a mountainous, rocky area that you trek through. The view and the images are amazing, but what I won't forget is the silence. While there, we all stopped, and just stood in the calming silence. Things like this you really just have to experience for yourself.

Also, we went to the beach twice during our trip. The first time, we just sat on the beach as the sun went down, drinking a little, just talking and passing the time. The other was right before we went home. Here we there were mountains all around, with the sea right in front of us. There is something about mountains and the water that I love. Both stops were so great. I got to experience the Mediterranean for the first time, something that I had wanted to do for years. And I don't know, just relaxing on the beach with some friends is great, can't beat that. What I would probably have to say was my favorite part of the trip, was our drive out of Málaga, to the Cueva del Nerja. This is another place that if you don't know, you can check it out online. We drove on a highway that runs right along the coast. This is just amazing. One one side, you have the mountains, and the other side, the Mediterranean sea. The highway runs right inbetween them and I don't know what to say other than incredible. We took a stop on the way, just to take pictures. Standing there, looking over the sea, with the sun shining and wind blowing, I just felt free, like I had escaped the madness of the world. Moments like that you can never forget.        

This was a lot of information right here, but I hope you can get an idea of how special this weekend was for me. To visit three amazing sites, rent a car and drive around Spain with friends, touch the water of the Mediterranean, it was all really something that I will never forget. Words can't describe how great it was.