well here i am tying up all loose ends in spain as i pack up my stuff, use up my internet time, and write my last blog. its really sad, obviously i dont wanna come home yet, but i suppose it will be nice to sleep in my own bed, eat spicy food, and . . .thats about all the stuff i can think of right now. i'm just getting back from rome, brussels, and london. i left for rome last tuesday, early in the morning, and waited to meet my friends in the rome airport baggage claim. the first major occurrence in rome was not a good one, as one of my friends had her bag lost. as of the time i left rome, 4 days later, she still didn't have it, i think its pretty safe to say that its not coming back. its funny, the guy with the airline didnt speak fluent english, so he couldn't even doctor up his explanation to her 2 days after it was lost. he simply said: "we have no idea where it is." comforting. anyway, rome itself was a great place. weather was really hot, but it was a small price to pay to be in that city. food was great, sights were incredible, people were friendly. bus transportation was free too cause nobody ever pays for it, so that was a bonus. i couldn't believe the amount of history rome has, the roman forum and the pantheon are about 2000 years old, and a lot of it doesnt look much different than it must have back then. on friday morning, i left for london but changed planes in brussels. instead of hopping on the next morning flight to london from brussels, i spent the day there and flew out in the evening. my professor here described brussels as "the most boring city in europe." with expectations like that i suppose i couldn't be let down. at any rate, i got off the train from the airport in the middle of the city and just started walking. no map, no knowledge of the city really, just kinda wandered. it was actually a lot of fun, it was interesting trying to orient myself and i ended up meeting a nice woman who told me where i should go since i only had 5 hours in the city. the grand plac, as its called, was pretty lively. there were a bunch of streets branching off it with restaurants, chocolate shops, and stores. i bought a couple shirts and had a belgian waffle for lunch (which was sooo good. . .i couldn't even finish it cause it was so rich). in all of my adventures in brussels, i forgot to buy belgian chocolate. i was mad, with my sweet tooth i couldn't even remember to buy a box of the best chocolate in the world. . . i'll be not tasting that for weeks. . .excuse the pun. anyway, i left brussels at around 5:30pm and got to london a little later. london was a great time, i stayed with chad, keya, and tyra, who are all studying at LSE for the summer. there were so many students from u of m it was unbelievable, i kept running into people i had either met or seen before, it was crazy. in london we took one of those city bus tours, which was actually really extensive and fun. i was a total tourist, i didnt care. i saw the changing of the guard, saw the lion king (wow), national gallery, the works. i've concluded that i am only concerned about looking like a tourist when i'm in a non english speaking country. weird i know, but i guess i feel more confident that i'm not gonna get taken advantage of if i can understand everything that is going on around me. i guess its just my stupid american ignorance shining through again. damn that. . .

article about the first encierro in pamplona. another pamplona article
so luckily it turns out pol was not the one gored. . .although this was one of his running buddies with whom he does it every year with, strange. . .

san fermin. pamplona. sunday july 7.2002. the smell. . .wow, after a whole night of thousands of people partying in the streets, the city definitely had a distinct aroma. what created the smell? a lot of things probably, a mixture of sweat, cheap wine, beer, urine, blood, vomit, ham, chorizo (spanish sausage), and of course bulls and whatever is associated with them, among many many other elements. its a smell that stuck on my clothes, in my hair, everywhere. . . i know i need to shower and get rid of it, but i think im gonna miss it, haha. maybe not. the actual running of the bulls, el encierro, was a 7 minute burst of energy. all the people surged up on the fences and balconies, sticking their cameras in the air, hoping to see a glimpse of something. it was tough to see, but i saw a couple bulls pass by and saw people jumping up on the fences to avoid being gored. . .most of them looked incredibly scared, which is completely understandable given the insanity of the whole event. after the running, everyone dispersed into the streets again and the party continued as if it had never been interrupted. garbage trucks came down each street, hosing down everything and shoveling everything in sight and throwing it out. . .within 2 hours, the streets were actually somewhat clean again, only to be promptly soiled again by the relentless thousands of partiers. i remember saying before that after talking to my señora's son, pol, who is obsessed with bull running and has done it for about 10 years, that i never would want to run. now, after having seen videos of many encierros as well as the one i saw live, i think it would be an incredible experience. . .if you did it right. i guess a lot of stupid people run, and no matter how much you know what you're doing, a stupid person in front of you running could screw you over and get you hurt. . .a scary thought, but judging from the rush you get just watching it. . .it might be worth the risk. we'll see about that though, cause of the 3 people gored badly today, one was an american girl student (girls aren't supposed to run, but she snuck on), one was an australian man, and the other was a 32 year old man from madrid who has been running for 11 years. . .it fits pol's description, but i doubt its him. . . if he can get hurt though, it shows you how unpredictable it is. . .now i smell terrible, like really really terrible, and there's all sorts of unidentified substances covering my clothes, so im gonna go shower. . .

so i finalized the rest of my trip for those who care. . .i doubt any do but i'll write it down anyway for the sake of procastination from studying for finals. oh yeah, finals, those are thursday, and im going to san sebastian on friday. im spending all day friday and saturday there and going to pamplona from there at like 2am saturday night/sunday morning, depending on how you look at it. im gonna celebrate san fermin there and watch the running of the bulls, key word watch. my stupid american ass was thinking of running until i talked to pol (my señora's son, who is a bullfighting and bullrunning fanatic and runs like 12 times a year all over). he described the whole situation to me, and i couldnt get a clear picture of what it would be like until he described it. then i had a vivid image in my head, thousands of people, all crowded, cant see, cant breathe, some cant run fast. .. he told me you cant see the bulls most fo the time, you just run so in case there is one behind you, you wont get speared. his stories were crazy and the videos he showed me were enough to convince me to sit this one out and take pictures. .. maybe next time though. by the way, anyone who questions the manhood of someone who doesn't want to run should talk to this guy and watch these tapes. . .then we'll talk. anyway, im leaving pamplona on sunday at 5, comin back to madrid and stayin til tuesday, july 9. then im going to rome for 3 full days. friday morning im going to london but i switch planes in brussels. i decided to spend friday in brussels since ill be there anyway and im flyin to london friday late afternoon. then london til the 15th til i come back here and leave for home the next day. it's kinda interesting, the way my trip works out, im going ot pamplona with a bunch of people from the program, rome with a few new friends from here, brussels by myself, and in london i'm meeting chad, keya, and tyra (friends from u of m). i feel like i get a new travel experience in each city, so that should be nice. . .ok ill stop boring you. . .

so last weekend was my last weekend in madrid, and i wasn't even here for the entire weekend. it was both sad and scary at the same time. trying to take advantage of all the stuff i've missed thus far in madrid, it was a pretty hectic weekend. i saw a flamenco show and tried some new bars friday, the show was pretty good, but it was more contemporary flamenco and the dancers didn't even use castonetas one time, i was kinda pissed about that, but i'll get over it. saturday i went to segovia with what was suppossed to be the entire program. it was funny, only about 15 people showed up out of about 45, but it was definitely a worthwhile trip. there really wasnt much to see there except the aquaducts, which were pretty incredible considering they're 2000 years old and still look great and still work. damn those romans and they're good engineering. . .there were a couple old churches but nothing else really, except for the castle. it was on the opposite side of the city as the aquaducts, and as we started our trip with those, we ended with the castle. the castle was pretty unique, it wasn't typically spanish at all, as it had a lot of influence from northern europe. all this is basically nonsense to anyone who doesn't care so i'll save the trouble and just get to the interesting fact about it: this castle, along with one other one in germany, was walt disney's inspiration for the castle at the magic kingdom in disneyland. not something you hear everyday, so i definitely enjoyed that, haha. actually, when i first saw it, the first thing that came to mind was "wow, that looks like disneyland!" i felt like a stupid ignorant american when i thought that, but at least now i know my instincts at least had some truthful base. the bus ride back from segovia (hour and a half to madrid) was probably the most fun part of the day, and i can't decide if thats a good thing or not.. . basically i spent the entire time driving everyone crazy with those mind games (she had a baby. .. she had she had she had she had she had. . .. thanks to pz on that one, and the game of snaps, which i will explain if you really want me to). we tried to get a game of mafia going, but it wasn't happening given the lack of a sense of adventure among all the girls on the bus (i single out the girls cause there were only 3 guys and we wanted to play. . . ) that night was actually really fun. we chilled in sol (basically the social center of the city) for awhile, went to a few bars, then went to that huge expensive discoteque i mentioned in another blog called kapital. it was expensive, 15 € with one drink, but actually i had a lot of fun, music was actually decent, hip hop room was a little old and played out, but not as bad as others. i guess you cant expect too much in another country right? overall. . .a very successful last weekend in madrid. . .wow that sounds so weird

barcelona and food poisoning. apparently the two go together hand in hand, as 80 people reported getting food poisoning in barcelona this past weekend. make it 81. undercooked omelette + stupid me eating all of it = salmonella. while barcelona definitely has a lot to offer and is really beautiful, i really found myself liking madrid more simply because its more unique. others have said the opposite, that barcelona is so amazing, their favorite place, etc. i think perhaps i missed out on some of the better parts of barcelona, which could help explain this. the gaudi architecture is one of a kind, his houses, temples, and palaces are really unlike anything i've ever seen outside of a star wars movie. check out this site if you want to see more about gaudi. . . las ramblas is about a kilometer long street that stretches down the border of the old part of town down to the harbor. its a crazy place, people selling everything from porn to pet birds to fake soccer jerseys. a lot of the stores are run by indians too, which was very very weird to see. the museu picasso was nice too, it was a self guided tour through picasso's life basically. they had a lot of his early works, drawings when he was still in art school, portraits when he was finishing school. its interesting, when i think of picasso, i think of cubism or at least nothing realistic at all. but all his early stuff was nothing crazy or innovative cause he had to acquire the skills first. i just never thought of picasso as an art student, i guess i assumed he was born with all that talent. thats just my artistic ignorance speaking i suppose. anyway, i saw the olympic grounds too, really not as spectacular as i was hoping. the stadium is really small, maybe 19-20 thousand tops. a lot of the fields are smaller than i expected too. . .althogh everything is different when theres nothing going on. . . crowds make a difference, haha. there was a holiday last weekend in cataluña too, sant joan. literally, over a million fireworks were set off through the weekend, so it sounded like a warzone, kept you on your toes. thats about it, came back to madrid and spent the next two days in a salmonella induced trance highlighted by a 30 hour fever, pounding headaches, hallucinations, and all sorts of rejection by my body's digestive system.. . .im better now though. my señora asked me if i wanted a tortilla (spanish omellette) for lunch tomorrow. . .i think im gonna lay off the eggs for a lil while. . .

its funny, today is june 20, its supposed to be the day of la huelga general (general strike). while in other parts of the country, such as sevilla and other parts of andalucia, the work stoppage has actually been effective in crippling the cities and high participation and occasional violent outbursts make it seem like la huelga is indeed a big deal. however, here in madrid, the capital of the country, its really not such a big deal. when i went out this morning, i noticed about half of the places were closed, mostly all the small shops cause the owners are afraid of angry teamsters and picketers looting their stores. all the large stores or otherwise important places remained open, brushing off the day that was supposed to be for the people to take back what is rightfully theirs from the evil, capitalist influenced government. the only real sign that anything unusual was happening was in sol, which is essentially the center of the city. there were a lot, i mean lot of policemen in riot gear and even a load of swat teams ready for anythign and everything. fortunately, or unfortunately if you were a cameraman for the news anxiously waiting for something to film, nothing really happened. there was a bunch of graffiti on buildings and statues and stuff saying "20-J Huelga General" or stuff like that, but nothing really that effectively altered daily life here. i found that odd since this is the capital and biggest city and whatnot, i just figured this would be the main stage for whatever could happen. so what is the strike all about you ask? it actually makes sense when looked at through a spaniards eyes, but for americans, it really seems outright silly. what it all boils down to is the spanish government, under pressure from the rest of the european union, has reduced unemployment benefits and the employment guarantees that their once much more socialist system promised to its citizens. spanish labor unions and workers are naturally furious with the reduction of their benefits, and they are frustrated with the lack of response from the government their complaints have been met with. as a result, they hoped to have a general strike today to show the government that they will not be pushed around. they picked today mainly because there is a conference of european delegates in sevilla this weekend to discuss globalization issues. . .to the average american who has been brainwashed with the protestant work ethic and programmed to think that hard work is the only road to success (such as i admittedly have), this strike seems somewhat ridiculous. the reduction in benefits was really not that drastic, and with how inefficient the spanish economy is, spaniards could stand to work a little bit harder. i guess the bottom line is which do you prefer: efficiency or pleasure. . .im not entirely sure where i stand on that one yet . . .

so there's a little more about Granada below, not much more though, i cant do it justice by description with just words. . .so the waitress at the vietnamese restaurant in torremolinos was absolutely beautiful, i wasnt entirely sure if she was ethnically spanish, but for lack of a better word she had a completely unique look to her. . .actually a little bit like kristin kreuk from smallville (i know pz just got all excited. . .). at any rate, i kept tryin to talk to her when she came to the table but she was so fast when she came and went that it was a challenge. finally when she slowed down i went up and asked where we should go that night. now my spanish has been improving, and she understood me, asked me if we wanted to go where tourists are or not, and when i said no, she recommended puerto marina, which ended up being pretty fun. i asked if she wanted to come with us, but she said she had to clean up and close the restaurant (which was actually messy and closing), so we went just the five of us to puerto marina . . .so monday morning my family and i had a plan to go to the reina sofia, an art museum in madrid with a great collection of modern art, a lot of dalí, miró, and picasso. on our way there on the subway, it was crowded as hell and all four of us were kinda packed together in the middle of the train. i forgot to tell my mom to always carry her purse in front of her instead of on the side, and when i stopped paying attention for 30 seconds and started blankly at the floor, i guess someone asked my mom a question she didnt understand so she had to bend down and got distracted. . i heard her say she felt bad that she cant answer questions cause she doesnt speak spanish, but i didnt think anything of it. then when we were getting off the subway, someone pointed out that my mom's purse was open, and when she checked, her wallet was missing. . .a shame, cause if i had been looking up or paying attention, i probably would have been suspicious when someone asked my mom, an obvious tourist, a question about the subway system. . .luckily she didnt lose much money, had to cancel a few credit cards and it was a big pain to do so, but she took it well, laughing it off and saying she at least learned a lesson and has a good story to tell. . . attaway mom. . .

what i'm realizing is i dont have enough time here, which is kinda pathetic. you would think 7-8 weeks would be enough to see all of madrid and then some other cities too, but im traveling somewhere pretty much every weekend, i just got back from torremolinos (on the costa del sol) and granada this morning. with all the traveling and class and whatever work i have during the week, there's not nearly enough time to explore madrid, let alone the rest of the country. anyway, i went to torremolinos friday morning, on a train from madrid to malaga and then a quick bus to torremolinos. in a nutshell, i didnt like it. . .at all. the second i got out of the train station, it felt like much more of an american city, and when i looked around a bit, i realized EVERYONE there were tourists, which was kinda annoying. its on the mediterranean sea, which i hadnt seen before so that was nice, and the beach and water near the mountains was definitely pretty. mainly what i didnt like was that i didnt feel like i was in spain, it was a bunch of americans, germans, and a few spaniards. whatever though, at least i saw the med. friday night was kinda fun, we ate at a vietnamese restaurant, a nice change from somewhat bland spanish food, and asked the cute waitress where we should go. she told us to go puerto marina, which seemed to be hidden from civilization but turned out to be this crazy bar scene with all these rich europeans who dock their yachts in the marina and go party for a day or two. it was surreal, but definitely a good time. on saturday we went to granada, less than 2 hours away by a bus ride through the mountains, which was nice. anything i didnt like about torremolinos was more than made up for by Granada. we went straight to la alhambra, a moorish palace and fortress on a hill just outside the city. it was absolutely incredible, and supposedly the view of the sun setting behind it is amazing, but we had to miss it to catch our bus, a shame. from the very little i saw walkin around the city for a bit, i liked it a lot. reminded me of a mix between sevilla and madrid, contemporary yet really historic at the same time. really unique. my parents came into madrid today, so i hung out with them all day, theyre sleeping now (shh). i dont know where to take them now though, EVERYTHING closes on sunday, so its kinda annoying, we'll figure something out. . .oh, and ive learned that picking travel partners should be a very, very rigorous interviewing and screening process. .. some people are irrationally difficult about the most trivial things over which we have absolutely no control. . really can suck the life out of something. . .its ok though, it wasnt that bad. i think thats it, need to sleep. . .