One of my roommates, Paul, left for the States yesterday. He only needed the first 6 credits of Spanish... so he is back in Texas! It is kind of weird. After class (the day before Paul left) we went all around the city because he needed to get some things to take back. We stopped and had a couple of beers here and there and then continued on. That night we went out to eat with some friends to celebrate Paul’s last night in town. Then we went to a couple of bars that we normally go to. At the end of the night (or early morning) we went back and I helped him get all of his stuff together and went downstairs and put him in a cab. Our Senora (Isabel) was really sad to see him go. The house is going to be different without Paul. Hell, Sevilla will be different. He is one crazy kid.
It is definitely more of a reality now that I only have about 7 weeks left here. Time is flying by, and as much as I miss all of my family and friends... it is going to be weird once I am back in the States. I have adapted (or at least I think I have anyway...) to the Spanish culture and lifestyle. I enjoy living in the city. Sometimes I think about what it is going to be like when I get back. Obviously I have grown a lot during my time here (and I am merely half way through) I wonder how different the people that I surround myself will be. 4 months (in college days) can really feel like an eternity. I am definitely going to sit back and watch things unfold.
Currently I am worried about my Spanish two class. I thought the other one was going to be bad. Hmmm well this one is going to be worse! Tomorrow I am going to Tarrifa with a group of friends. Tarifa is known as the Hawaii of Spain. It is going to be awesome. On Saturday we are going to take a fairy across the Strait of Gibralter into Morocco, AFRICA! Oh yea, that is right... add another country onto the count! :)
I hope all is going well with you all. There is a new album of Paul’s last night here in Sevilla. Check em out! http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
Portugal!
Well I can honestly say that I have been to the "End of the World" and back... Friday morning we set off for Portugal. Our first stop was for something to eat and continued on to Sagres. It is in the southern part where we got to see the "End of the World"... or so explorers used to thing before time (and columbus) would actually prove them wrong. Sagres was amazing. I kept singing "it’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine" Gotta love REM! We visited Prince Henry’s School of Navigation.
Next we continued on to Lisbon. We traveled into the city on a giant bridge that looked like the Golden Gate in SF... we also saw this huge aqueduct that was built in 1975 after a huge earthquake. We arrived and checked into our hotel. It was later in the day so we all went out to eat at this restaurant call "Chimarra’s". We have places similar in the States. Basically we paid 12 Euros and it was a buffet of sides a the men that worked there walked around and sliced all different kinds of meat off into your plate. It was great... and cheap! We all stuffed ourselves and headed out. We didn’t do much the first night... we just all hung out together and experienced the city a little bit.
The next morning the group left to go see a couple places on the itinerary... Jared (a buddy of mine) and I slept in ... because we wanted to do our own thing. We got up and oriented ourselves on the map... and went to grab a quick bite. We saw so much in the city! I loved it, and I am so glad that we didn’t go with the group. I feel like we got to see what they saw plus many other things that we wanted to. We allotted ourselves as much time as we wanted and saw everything! The Jeronomite Monestary was one of my favorites. We visited the building where they used to hold political sessions. Jared and I also went to this outdoor gallery they had. It was called From the Top of the World. And they were all areal photographs. It was really cool. They had a big picture of the Twin Towers.
That night we all got ready and went to the Docas (The Docks). Basically they are old warehouses that have been converted into fancy clubs, restaurants, and bars. We went to about 4 different clubs. They were all packed and hopping. The clubs in Lisbon are pretty cool. Then everyone wanted to go to The Lux. It is like one of the top 35 clubs in the world! Let me just fill you in on a little information first. The clubs there can charge basically whatever they want. Most of the time if you pay a 10 euro cover... it comes with 2 or 3 free drink passes. The Lux is a famous club, and it is also famous for being pretty cheap at the start of the night (around 12 euros) and once they start filling up... they are really expensive to get into. We get there (a group of about 8 OBVIOUS Americans) and it is well into the night ...(early for them) ... and we stand in line to get in. We approached the door ... and without even cracking a smile the door man said "that will be 180 euros." ...I automatically thought he was talking about the entire group. I was quickly corrected. Hmmm, 180 each! After we picked up our jaws, we hailed a cab and continued elsewhere. There were brazillian and Portugese people going in left and right ... apparently they were "members" haha. We got the shaft. Realized it and left! Haha.
We continued on throughout the night. Then headed back to the hotel and crashed out... only to get up a couple hours later and had breakfast and headed back. We stopped off at a battle field (Batalla de la Albuera, 1811) It was pretty cool. Dr. Ingles told us all about it. He brought a sword the was more than likely used in that battle and we got to use it chopping up melons. Some people in the group searched the ground for little buck shots from the battle.
That is all I have for now. I started Spanish 2 today. The teacher is going to be extremely hard... I can already tell! My trip is about half way over now! My 21st birthday is at the end of next week. I am pretty excited about that... but I am not sure what I wanna do yet... hmm ... Well, make sure you check out the Portugal album! http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Hope all is well. Talk to you soon!
Brandon
Next we continued on to Lisbon. We traveled into the city on a giant bridge that looked like the Golden Gate in SF... we also saw this huge aqueduct that was built in 1975 after a huge earthquake. We arrived and checked into our hotel. It was later in the day so we all went out to eat at this restaurant call "Chimarra’s". We have places similar in the States. Basically we paid 12 Euros and it was a buffet of sides a the men that worked there walked around and sliced all different kinds of meat off into your plate. It was great... and cheap! We all stuffed ourselves and headed out. We didn’t do much the first night... we just all hung out together and experienced the city a little bit.
The next morning the group left to go see a couple places on the itinerary... Jared (a buddy of mine) and I slept in ... because we wanted to do our own thing. We got up and oriented ourselves on the map... and went to grab a quick bite. We saw so much in the city! I loved it, and I am so glad that we didn’t go with the group. I feel like we got to see what they saw plus many other things that we wanted to. We allotted ourselves as much time as we wanted and saw everything! The Jeronomite Monestary was one of my favorites. We visited the building where they used to hold political sessions. Jared and I also went to this outdoor gallery they had. It was called From the Top of the World. And they were all areal photographs. It was really cool. They had a big picture of the Twin Towers.
That night we all got ready and went to the Docas (The Docks). Basically they are old warehouses that have been converted into fancy clubs, restaurants, and bars. We went to about 4 different clubs. They were all packed and hopping. The clubs in Lisbon are pretty cool. Then everyone wanted to go to The Lux. It is like one of the top 35 clubs in the world! Let me just fill you in on a little information first. The clubs there can charge basically whatever they want. Most of the time if you pay a 10 euro cover... it comes with 2 or 3 free drink passes. The Lux is a famous club, and it is also famous for being pretty cheap at the start of the night (around 12 euros) and once they start filling up... they are really expensive to get into. We get there (a group of about 8 OBVIOUS Americans) and it is well into the night ...(early for them) ... and we stand in line to get in. We approached the door ... and without even cracking a smile the door man said "that will be 180 euros." ...I automatically thought he was talking about the entire group. I was quickly corrected. Hmmm, 180 each! After we picked up our jaws, we hailed a cab and continued elsewhere. There were brazillian and Portugese people going in left and right ... apparently they were "members" haha. We got the shaft. Realized it and left! Haha.
We continued on throughout the night. Then headed back to the hotel and crashed out... only to get up a couple hours later and had breakfast and headed back. We stopped off at a battle field (Batalla de la Albuera, 1811) It was pretty cool. Dr. Ingles told us all about it. He brought a sword the was more than likely used in that battle and we got to use it chopping up melons. Some people in the group searched the ground for little buck shots from the battle.
That is all I have for now. I started Spanish 2 today. The teacher is going to be extremely hard... I can already tell! My trip is about half way over now! My 21st birthday is at the end of next week. I am pretty excited about that... but I am not sure what I wanna do yet... hmm ... Well, make sure you check out the Portugal album! http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Hope all is well. Talk to you soon!
Brandon
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Spanish 1 is OVER!
So I am officially done with Spanish 1! I took my final exam for the first 6 credit hours this morning. I am so glad that is finally over! This test just about killed me. I have been so stressed out about it. I still don’t know my grade in the class, but I know that I passed... and that is all that matters (right Mom and Dad? Haha)
So my photobucket site that I have been using... I went over the "free space" amount... so I had to delete a lot of the pictures off there.. So I could show post more for future trips... hopefully you all got a chance to look at them. About 1/2 of them are still on the site... There is a new pic in the Wake boarding album... of some of our friends from Gettysburg. They are pretty cool!
I leave for Portugal in the morning... It is going to be awesome! I am excited about going to another country... I will tell you all about it when I get back!
So my photobucket site that I have been using... I went over the "free space" amount... so I had to delete a lot of the pictures off there.. So I could show post more for future trips... hopefully you all got a chance to look at them. About 1/2 of them are still on the site... There is a new pic in the Wake boarding album... of some of our friends from Gettysburg. They are pretty cool!
I leave for Portugal in the morning... It is going to be awesome! I am excited about going to another country... I will tell you all about it when I get back!
Sunday, October 17, 2004
2004 Wake Board Championship
Vamos a ver... (here we go...)
What a great weekend. It was the Wake Board World Championship in Sevilla. It was a lot of fun. Thursday after class ...6 or so of us went down by the river to watch the qualifying rounds. It is really pretty down in that area and I enjoyed myself. Wake boarding is a lot of fun to watch. Friday we stopped down there and it was the Jr’s tournament... We didn’t stay too long cause we had other things to do. Friday we met up with some girls near my house and hung out all night. Ended up at Stiffler’s bar (we call it that cause there is a picture of Sean William Scott "Stiffler" and the owner up in the bar... he was here last winter) and then came home. Saturday morning I woke up and met a few friends at Kroxan’s for some Tinto de Verano and headed to watch the Pro Men’s finals. There were a ton of people at the wake boarding competition! (I took pictures ... and most of them turned out kinda bad because it was fast movement.. but if u look on the pictures with the boats you can normally see the wake boarder flipping in the air...) It was crowded and there were vendors everywhere. We met people from all over the world that were in the tour. There was also a kid named Martine (7 years old) from Madrid competing. These guys and girls get to travel all over the world and see some of the best beaches because of Wake Boarding! I have never been to something like this before and I never expected to see something like this in Sevilla. It was quite an experience. I met a lot of people and enjoyed good conversation. I needed a down weekend like this! Sunday I didn’t do much. Went to Starbucks and studied for a quiz that I have Monday. Next stop for the tour... Australia! Next stop for me.... class! Thursday we have our final for Spanish 1. Next weekend I am going to Portugal and then I start Spanish 2. It is "crunch time" here in Sevilla. I have so much going on and I don’t feel like I have enough time to do it. I hope I do good on this test!
CLICK the link to see my VIDEO... it should automatically play in whatever media player you have on your computer. http://www.aarondickens.com/images/wakeboarding.avi
Hasta Luego mi amigos!
(check out the new Wake Board album..)
http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
What a great weekend. It was the Wake Board World Championship in Sevilla. It was a lot of fun. Thursday after class ...6 or so of us went down by the river to watch the qualifying rounds. It is really pretty down in that area and I enjoyed myself. Wake boarding is a lot of fun to watch. Friday we stopped down there and it was the Jr’s tournament... We didn’t stay too long cause we had other things to do. Friday we met up with some girls near my house and hung out all night. Ended up at Stiffler’s bar (we call it that cause there is a picture of Sean William Scott "Stiffler" and the owner up in the bar... he was here last winter) and then came home. Saturday morning I woke up and met a few friends at Kroxan’s for some Tinto de Verano and headed to watch the Pro Men’s finals. There were a ton of people at the wake boarding competition! (I took pictures ... and most of them turned out kinda bad because it was fast movement.. but if u look on the pictures with the boats you can normally see the wake boarder flipping in the air...) It was crowded and there were vendors everywhere. We met people from all over the world that were in the tour. There was also a kid named Martine (7 years old) from Madrid competing. These guys and girls get to travel all over the world and see some of the best beaches because of Wake Boarding! I have never been to something like this before and I never expected to see something like this in Sevilla. It was quite an experience. I met a lot of people and enjoyed good conversation. I needed a down weekend like this! Sunday I didn’t do much. Went to Starbucks and studied for a quiz that I have Monday. Next stop for the tour... Australia! Next stop for me.... class! Thursday we have our final for Spanish 1. Next weekend I am going to Portugal and then I start Spanish 2. It is "crunch time" here in Sevilla. I have so much going on and I don’t feel like I have enough time to do it. I hope I do good on this test!
CLICK the link to see my VIDEO... it should automatically play in whatever media player you have on your computer. http://www.aarondickens.com/images/wakeboarding.avi
Hasta Luego mi amigos!
(check out the new Wake Board album..)
http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
LONDON!
Good Day Chaps!
I just got back into Sevilla from LONDON, ENGLAND! It was one of the best 5 day trips I have ever had! It was such a good time. I spent loads of money but it was really worth it!
We arrived in London around 4pm on Friday (I don’t even want to talk about traveling! What a day!) We caught a cab from Liverpool Station to Astor Hyde Park Hostal and checked in. The hostal was good. We were all in separate bunk rooms. The room that I was in slept 8 people. After that we kind of familiarized ourselves with the area that we were in and went to some shops and stuff. We ended up at this Chinese food place for dinner which was a little different, but good.
Saturday: got up early and had breakfast at the hostal. We took the Tube (the Underground Subway) to St. James Park. It was really nice. We also saw St. James Palace. Chris, Aaron and I wanted through the park to get to Buckingham Palace. After we left there we walked down to Westminster Abbey area. Westminster Abby is a living church as well as an architectural masterpiece. It has a very gothic style. We also saw Big Ben and The House of Parliament. I really enjoyed this area. There were some protest signs up over there also. We visited Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery (which was amazing). I got to see collections from Rembrandt, Claude, Canaletto, Monet, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Pierp della Francesca, as well as many other artists. It was great. If my 8th grade art teacher could only see me now, ha! It was weird cause I knew or studied a lot of this art during school (when I was younger) and now I had the chance to see it up close. Next we went to the British Museum and saw an awesome exhibit on Mummies. The British Museum was huge! We went down to Piccadilly Circus, The SoHo District, China Town, and Oxford Circus. I wish you all could have seen it!
That night back at the hostal we made a few friends and all went to Hard Rock Café to eat dinner. It was really good. This one girl named Jess just graduated from college (she is from Massachusetts) and she has just been traveling all over Europe for the past couple of months. It was really cool to hear about all of the interesting places she had been and the people she had met!
Sunday: We went back to Buckingham to see the Changing of The Gaurds. It was quite interesting to see how they do this (and they do it just about everyday!) Jess came with us... it was nice to have an addition to the group. We went to Abbey Road and stood on the very spot the Beatles did for the famous CD Cover. This really made my day! One of the coolest experiences ever! Then we went to The Tower of London and The Tower Bridge. There is so much history in this city!
After that we got tickets to see The Complete Works of Shakespear (Abridged). It was at Criterion Theatre, in Piccadilly Circus. It was so funny. I had such a good time seeing the play. That night Me, Jess, Chris, Hi (a girl from Japan that we met), Aaron and Neil (a guy from France that we met)... It was good!
Monday: Jess and I hung out all day. We went to The Dickens House. It is where Charles Dickens used to live. The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Notting Hill Gate, Portobelo Market, and then to The Gate Cinema to see a movie... The Motorcycle Diaries (a book I am currently reading about ‘Che’ Guevara’s mid-20's trip all over South America.
Tuesday was pretty much full of traveling and we made it back here to Sevilla safely and exhausted! Ahh I have so much more to say about all of this but not enough time to do so. I have a test tomorrow in Spanish which is going to whoop my butt.
CHECK OUT THE NEW LONDON ALBUM!
Hasta Luego!
Sunday, October 03, 2004
CADIZ!
Hola, from Sevilla. This are going pretty good here. I just got back from an amazing weekend in Cadiz. Mike, Candice, Hunter, Christine, Allison and I all took a train to the beach. The train right was nice. It was almost 2 hours away. The province is true ancient history. Cadiz was settled over 3,000 years... ago which makes province the oldest in the Western World. The city was awesome.
We arrived and checked into Hostal Marques. It was a one star hotal. Enough said. Haha. No, it really wasn’t that bad, but it was small and kind of hot. We checked in, changed into our beach clothes and went directly to the beach. After hanging out on the beach all day... soaking up the sun, we went back to get cleaned up and went out to dinner. Good conversation. Good meal. Good times. There were lots of cool little shops and stuff all over the city.
The following morning we checked out of the hostal, and went to grab some Burger King. Allison and I wanted to stay the whole weekend, so we went to find another Hostal (a nicer one.. Haha) ... so we saw them off to the train station and we checked in and went around to some more shops and stuff. We went to check out the Cathedral there. It was beautiful. We sat on the steps as a flamanco guitarist played in the courtyard. He was really good. It was nice. There were lots of shops and restaurants around. The little kids were chasing the pigeons around. Alli and I ended up buying his CD. It’s awesome.
After that we went back to the beach all day. It was great just relaxing on the beach. I had a really good time. I am glad she and I decided to stay! We met some more Americans that were from Seattle. After we got done at the beach we stopped off for something to drink at this little café and went up stairs to get cleaned up. Our hostal was so much nicer. It was a 2 or 3 star hostal with our own bathroom, sat. tv, and air conditioning... Hallelujah! It was great.
We went down to this nice little Italian place and had the best food, and ordered a bottle of wine. Then we went down to the beach to check it out at night time. The wind was blowing hard and it was "muy frio". Today we got up and went to this café to get a Bocadillio (sandwich) and then around the corner to get a pastry. Then we slowly but surely made our way to the train station.
Once we got back here we ended up at the Tex-Mex place for some good food and NFL with a few of our other friends. Good weekend.
OK PICTURES ARE UP... sorry about the quality. They are scanned in ... because I forgot my digital @ mi casa. Enjoy! http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Hope all is well. Adios!
We arrived and checked into Hostal Marques. It was a one star hotal. Enough said. Haha. No, it really wasn’t that bad, but it was small and kind of hot. We checked in, changed into our beach clothes and went directly to the beach. After hanging out on the beach all day... soaking up the sun, we went back to get cleaned up and went out to dinner. Good conversation. Good meal. Good times. There were lots of cool little shops and stuff all over the city.
The following morning we checked out of the hostal, and went to grab some Burger King. Allison and I wanted to stay the whole weekend, so we went to find another Hostal (a nicer one.. Haha) ... so we saw them off to the train station and we checked in and went around to some more shops and stuff. We went to check out the Cathedral there. It was beautiful. We sat on the steps as a flamanco guitarist played in the courtyard. He was really good. It was nice. There were lots of shops and restaurants around. The little kids were chasing the pigeons around. Alli and I ended up buying his CD. It’s awesome.
After that we went back to the beach all day. It was great just relaxing on the beach. I had a really good time. I am glad she and I decided to stay! We met some more Americans that were from Seattle. After we got done at the beach we stopped off for something to drink at this little café and went up stairs to get cleaned up. Our hostal was so much nicer. It was a 2 or 3 star hostal with our own bathroom, sat. tv, and air conditioning... Hallelujah! It was great.
We went down to this nice little Italian place and had the best food, and ordered a bottle of wine. Then we went down to the beach to check it out at night time. The wind was blowing hard and it was "muy frio". Today we got up and went to this café to get a Bocadillio (sandwich) and then around the corner to get a pastry. Then we slowly but surely made our way to the train station.
Once we got back here we ended up at the Tex-Mex place for some good food and NFL with a few of our other friends. Good weekend.
OK PICTURES ARE UP... sorry about the quality. They are scanned in ... because I forgot my digital @ mi casa. Enjoy! http://photobucket.com/albums/v461/brandon5/
Hope all is well. Adios!
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