Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic...all in 15 Days

OK...the (next) moment you have (or not) all been waiting for...the summary of the last few weeks I spent traveling in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic. It's long, I know, but if you actually read it all leave me a comment at the end and I'll try to bring you a key chain or something from Barcelona :)

I think the easiest way to do this is just break it down by each day of our trip...so here goes...

I traveled with my good friend from Denver, Mike Baumgarten. For those of you who don't know Mike, we graduated from Green Mountain together and he is now a junior at Colorado State. We have remained really good friends even though we have been in different states (and countries) for the last three years, and when I am in Colorado I spend a lot of time at his house. Mike arrived in Barcelona on December 18, on December 19 I took my Economics final (which didn't go so well), and then on the 20th we flew to Brussels to start our trek.

December 20
We got into Brussels in the early afternoon, and checked into our hotel, which was right in the heart of downtown--a perfect location to get to all of the pre-Christmas festivities in town. We grabbed a Belgian chocolate waffle, then walked around downtown for a while. The central plaza was all decked out for Christmas, so we saw that during the day time then came back later at night and happened to catch a big light show they were putting on, where all the buildings were illuminated in blues and greens and there were percussionists on top of the cathedral playing music. After that, we grabbed some Turquish kebabs for dinner then stopped at the delirium Taphouse to sample some local beers before heading back to the hotel for the night.

December 21
On Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at a pastry shop across the street from our hotel, then went to the train station to start our day trip to Brugge and Ghent (two towns to the north of Brussels). We got to Brugge first and walked around for a while, past two very large and impressive cathedrals. There was a huge Christmas market in the center of town (a trend you will notice throughout the course of the trip). The Christmas markets that we saw in various cities were all a little different, but the common trends included lots of hot wine, sausages, chocolates, and Christmas decorations...as well as lots of people. We had tomato soup for lunch at a place near the market, then walked back towards the train station to head to Ghent.

In Ghent we spent a while searching for a well-known beerhouse that my tour book recomended but failed to give accurate directions to, and then walked through Ghent's Christmas market and all the shops along the way back to the train station. Back in Brussels, we rested for a bit at the hotel then went out to grab some dinner.

December 22
Monday morning was our last bit of time in Brussels before getting on the train to Aachen, Germany. We walked around, past another church and tried to find a park, but on the way stumbled upon the peeing-man statue that is apparently famous in Brussels (all of the tourist trinkets and t-shirts have pictures of the statue of a young boy peeing). I don't know what the real significance of the statue is, but it was dressed in Santa Clause clothes and kinda fun to see.

Our next stop was Aachen, Germany, where Mike has some extended family. We were picked up from the train station by Hans (who is Mike's granfather's cousin) and one of his daughters, Katrin. Katrin had just finished a semester studying in Valencia, and here Spanish happened to be a little stronger than her English, so she and I conversed mostly in Spanish. We got back to their house and met Hans' wife, Gabi, and their other daughter, Sabine. When we got there they had two pairs of leather/sheepskin slippers waiting for us, and seemed very excited to have us there, so we felt welcome right from the start. They had made a dinner for us of various sausage meats and cheeses for us, then we headed down to see the Aachen Christmas market. This one is particularly well-known for being a very typical German market. Hans bought us hot wine, and some potato fritters to try (they are kindof like hash-brown cakes that you dip in applesauce...very delicious). Back home that evening we stayed up late into the night getting to know Hans and his family, and talking politics for a long time. Hans has spent a lot of time living and traveling all over the world, so he had plenty of stories of places in Africa and South America, as well as all over Europe.

December 23
On Tuesday Hans and Katrin took us to Cologne (Koln in German) to show us around. The first stop was at the Koln Dom (cathedral) in the center of town. It is the talles cathedral in all of Germany (partially reconstructed after the war) and was so high that the tips of the spiers were actually in the clouds. Then we walked through (you guessed it) another Christmas market, as well as through the main shopping district of Cologne, then had italian pasta for lunch at a place called Peroni. After lunch we went into the Ludwig Modern Art Museum, which had a lot of interesting exhibits from the 1970's American counter-culture to Picasso to Salvador Dali. After the museum, Hans took us to a bar/restaurant called Fruh, which he said is the most well-known place in Cologne, and the best place to hold business meetings. He bought us some of the Fruh beer to try, since it is fairly well-known as well, but isn't available anywhere other than at the restaurant. We got back to Aachen in time to have dinner with the rest of the family, then Katrin and Sabine and some of their friends took us out to a club and to see the Aachen nightlife, which was impressively active considering it is such a small town (probably because Aachen is home to the largest techical university in Europe).

December 24
On Christmas Eve Day we had a noon brunch of salmon, sausage meats, cheeses and a typical potato-with-cheese-sauce dish. Then, Hans took me and Mike on a driving tour through the countryside around Aachen. Aachen is the western-most city in Germany, and is within a few minutes drive of both the Netherlands and Belgium. We stopped at a golf course that Hans is a partial owner and one of 12 origional founders of (it made me miss playing golf a lot). The previous president of the course was apparently a Bartel, so I wonder if we are somehow distantly related. After the golf course we went into the Netherlands to a WWII memorial, where there are thousands of US soldiers burried and a large monument to the battles fought close-by (the memorial couldn't be in Germany, because soldiers are not allowed to be burried in enemy territory). On the way home, we drove through the small town of Maastrich, Netherlands.

For Christmas Eve we went to the evening mass at the local cathedral. It was a very impressive cathedral, and was filled to capacity with standing room only. Hans and his family usually celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day, so after the service we came back to the house to have a nice dinner of steak and potatoes with mushroom sauce. Gabi's mother, Oma, joined us for dinner and we had a great time talking about our own Christmas traditions and such. We sang some carols, with me and Mike trying to follow along in English to the songs that we recognized the tunes of. Then we headed upstairs to sit by the Christmas tree and open presents. They were very nice to Mike and me, and actually got us a few presents to open. I got a scarf from the local university, a bunch of chocolate, and since Mike and I had never been to an opera before, they got us tickets to see Aida at the local opera house. Even though Mike and I couldn't be with our own families, it was great to have a family-type setting for Christmas rather than just have the two of us in some hotel somewhere else.

December 25
On Christmas Day we had breakfast at 10 then welnt along with the family on a morning walk through the countryside around Aachen in the Black Forest area. We came back and had a Christmas feast of duck, red sauerkraut, and potato balls with gravy--yet another great meal. During the afternoon we rested up a bit, then went over to Oma's house for coffee cake and tea. From there, we went downtown to the local opera house. Opera is a very big thing in Germany, and almost every city has a large and very active opera house. We saw Aida, which is an opera written (and performed) in Italian, and it was then translated above the stage into German. Since neither of those languages are in my repertoir, I had a tough time understanding exactly what was going on (I would have been completely lost if Hans hadn't explained the plot to us beforehand) but the music and acting was still very enjoyable.

December 26
On Friday we left Aachen and headed to Berlin. After breakfast with the family we got on the ICE (high-speed Inter City Express train) and it took 5 1/2 hours to get to Berlin. Once in Berlin, we checked into our hotel and went to a typical German restaurant for dinner, then walked through one of Berlin's Christmas markets.

December 27
On Saturday we had currywurst (bratwurst cooked in curry) and hot cider at the Christmas market for breakfast, then headed out for a long day of walking through Berlin. We started in East Berlin, at the Platz der Republik and Reichstag (parliament building). From there we walked past the Pariser Platz and Platz der 18 Marz, then Checkpoint Charlie (main passage for diplomats between the East and West during the Cold War). Then we walked through the Holocause Memorial which is a large plaza filled with huge granite blocks. After that we walked down one of the main drags past a number of churches and beautiful buildings (which I can't remember the names of). We also stumbled upon the Bugatti, Bentley and Ferarri showrooms. The most expensive car there was the new Bugatti, which had a pricetag of 1.2 Million Euro. I tried to buy it, but they didn't take credit cards. It was a very impressive car though. From there we walked to the Berliner Dom (main cathedral) which was very impressive in the light of the setting sun, and then through a Christmas market, and then past the Nikolaikirche (another church) before heading back to the hotel. For dinner we went to the House of 100 Beers, and had a typical German meal which included lots of meat, potatoes and sauerkraut.

December 28
On Sunday we got a little bit of a late start, and planned to find something that involved a little less walking than our tour of Berlin from the day before. We headed to the museum district, right by the Schloss Charlottenburg (palace). We went into the Berggruen Museum, which had large collections of Picasso, Paul Klee, Matisse and Giacometti. After the museum, we walked around the palace gardens for a while, then went to the Museum fur Fotografie, which was primarily a museum about the life and work of Helmut Newton, who was a photographer for a number of magazines like Vogue and Elle. Then we had dinner at Burger King (a shame, I know) before heading to bed.

December 29
On Monday morning we woke up to find that the Broncos had lost their final game, taking them out of the playoffs. But there wasn't much time to worry about that, since we were leaving Berlin and heading to Prague. The train to Prague took 5 hours. We checked into our hotel, the got the tram to downtown Prague for the evening. We walked around for a while, past the central plaza (where there was another Christmas market), and had a typical Czech dinner of roast duck leg and red sauerkraut and dumplings.

December 30
Tuesday morning we took the tram to the Hradcany neighborhood, where the Prague Castle and a number of other sights are located. We walked past the St. Nicholas Churche, and then into the Prague Castle. It was huge, with a number of buildings and museums inside, as well as a very large and impressive cathedral. After the castle, we walked through town across the Charles Bridge, past the Old Town Hall and the Tyn Churche. We found a Cuban-Irish Pub for lunch called O-Che's (get it?) and then went back to the hotel for a bit. That evening Mike and I entered into a poker tournament at the casino that was close to the hotel. It was a Texas Hold-em tournament, much like what we used to play a lot with friends in high school, but neither of us had ever entered a real tournament and we were eager to see how we would fare. Mike got knocked out fairly early, and I made it to the top 10, and was even the chip-leader at my table for a while, but I lost all of it when I went all in on pocket 8's (and hit an 8's full of 9's full house) and lost to a J-9 (that hit 9's full of J's). So, I missed out on the 50,000 Czech Crown grand prize, but it was still a lot of fun.

December 31
On Wednesday we had breakfast at the hotel then headed back out to explore Prague. We started again at the Prague Castle, but this time walked a different direction past a number of buildings. The Lorentanske Namesti, the Cernin, and the Strahovsky Klaster (monastery). We had lunch at an Italian restaurant, then walked downtown. I bought some new shoes at a store in the center of town, then we went to the main street and saw the preparations for the New Year's Eve celebration. We went back to the hotel for a little while, then headed out to see the New Year's fireworks. Instead of going all the way into the center of town with the crowds, we bundled up and went to a place along the river. We ended up climbing up a hill and had a spectacular view of the river and three or four different fireworks shows--one downtown, one at the Charles Bridge, one at the Prague Castle, and a few other smaller ones. It was a great way to welcome in 2009!

January 1
We spent most of New Year's Day traveling between Prague and Munich. Even though geographically they aren't all that far apart, it took about 8 hours on three different trains to get to Munich. When we arrived in Munich, we checked into our hotel and then went out to grab some dinner, then came back and went to sleep. Not an overly exciting day.

January 2
On Friday morning we stopped at an internet cafe on our way out in the morning, and then started walking around Munich. It was bitter cold (it had been cold all trip, but this was the coldest) so we weren't as inspired to walk around as we had been in other towns. But, we walked past the Lenbachgalerie (art museum), the Odenplatz, the Munich Opera House, the Konigsplatz (with a bunch of roman-looking buildings), and the stopped at a beer garden in the Englischer Garten. This was a place that my host-mom had recommended, but I think they must have been there when it wasn't so cold. They did have ski gondolas in the garden that you could sit in, so we did that to try and stay warm. After that, we kept walking around downtown, past the Hofbrauhaus (of Oktoberfest fame) and the Viktualienmarkt food market close to Marienplatz, then through the walking mall at Kaufingerstrasse. For dinner we grabbed some Turquish kebab, then went back to the hotel.

January 3
On Saturday we walked around some more in Munich. We decided to walk from our hotel to the Nymphenburg Palace and Park, which didn't look very far on the map but ended up being a really long walk. On the way we stopped at the Lowenbrauhaus (also of Oktoberfest fame) for lunch. I had a pork leg with dumplings and sauerkraut--another delicious typical German meal. As we got close to the Nymphenburg palace, we saw the small waterway that leads to the palace and it was full of kids playing ice hockey and adults were curling on the ice. It looked like the thing to do to bring the whole family down with a picnic and enjoy the (relatively) warm Saturday afternoon. And, it made me miss playing hockey a lot. At the Nymphenburg Palace we walked around the huge garden area for a bit, then headed back towards the hotel to pack and get ready to end our trip.

January 4
On Sunday we flew back to Barcelona from Munich. We had a layover in Cologne, and the second flight got delayed 2 hours, so we didnt make it back to Barcelona until around 10pm. We grabbed a bite to eat and then Mike went to his hotel and I went home to sleep.

So, there you have it--15 really fun days of traveling around Europe. I liked all the cities that we visited, but here's what I think: Brussels was fun but there is not a lot there that I didn't see that I would want to go back to. Aachen was fun as well, but unless I went back to visit Hans and his family it also wouldn't have a whole lot more draw for me. I loved Berlin, but it is a huge city, and feels like it; I would go back someday. Prague and Munich were both my favorite, and I would go back to either as soon as I got the opportunity. I could also see myself living in either one of them too.

Here are the photos from Brussels, Brugge and Ghent:

Brussels, Brugge, Ghent (Dec. 20-22)

Here are the photos from Aachen and Berlin:

Aachen and Berlin (Dec. 23-29)

Here are the photos from Prague and Munich:

Prague and Munich (Dec. 29 - Jan. 4)

A little advertisement...

So I don't know if anyone is interested, but I thought I would share blog addresses of a few of my friends who are or will soon be studying/living/working abroad, in case you want to take a look at some of their experiences as well.

Greg Shelly is going to be in Ecuador for the 2009 spring semester:
http://greginecuador2009.blogspot.com/

Sierra Hostetler will be studying in Mexico for the 2009 spring semester:
http://sierrahostetler.blogspot.com/

Jordan Penner is currently living in Guatemala:
http://jordo24-jordanpennersblog.blogspot.com/

Jon Huber is working with the InterMenno program in Germany and Switzerland during the 2008-09 school year:
http://handsareme.blogspot.com/

All of us bloggers enjoy getting feedback and knowing that people are taking a look at our blogs, and that a few of you may even be living vicariously through us in some sense during our time in foreign countries :)

This may be my last post for a little while, as I don't know if I will have enough time during my trek through Europe to post anything. Mike is arriving on Thursday, and we will be gone from Saturday until January 4th or 5th. I will be checking my email (and of course facebook) as regularly as possible (and by regularly I mean hopefully every two or three days). So, if you don't hear from me until after New Year's, fear not, for I am likely having the time of my life in Belgium/Germany/Czech Republic (or lost and unable to contact home).

If you are reading this, then you are obviously important enough to me to sincerely wish you Happy Holidays in the coming weeks!

Peace,
Jordan

Economics

In case anyone is interested in seeing one of my University professors, this video clip has an interview that Professor Granell did on the local television news channel, TV3. Only catch is, it's in Catalan. Those of you who speak Spanish might be able to understand some of it nonetheless. Professor Granell is one of my teachers for Organization of World Economics.

http://www.tv3.cat/videos/82

Wow.

Wow wow wow wow wow.

I love the Alps. And I have decided that although I love Colorado and the Rocky Mountains, they ain't got nothin' on the Alps. Really.

We loaded up on the buses Friday night for the (long) drive to Les 2 Alpes in France. I started the trip only knowing one other person going, Adam (a fellow BCA student from Ohio), but we made some new friends even before we got on the bus. We got to know a group of eight guys who are all architecture students at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), and we had 10 hours on the bus to get to know eachother better.

On the bus we watched a movie called Whiteout, which wasn't very good but had a lot of snow in it, so I think it got everyone excited about getting away from coastal Barcelona and up to the snowy Alps of France.

We rolled into Les 2 Alpes at about 10am on Saturday mornning. It was snowing pretty hard already and didn't really let up all day. There was already about a foot of powder when we hit the slopes around noon, and my best guess is that we ended up with 24-26 inches of powder by the end of Saturday. It was a little windy, though, so the whole day we were skiing in near whiteout conditions making it very hard to see where we were going or enjoy whatever views we might have been able to see otherwise.

The mountain had over 6,000 feet of vertical change between the village and the top of the ski area, so there was more than enough real estate to explore.

Saturday night we had pizza and burgers with our new friends at the bar right by our apartment and watched FC Barcelona beat Valencia in an important soccer game, then went ourside to do some sledding right by our building.

Sunday morning we woke up fairly early and were on the slopes at about 10am. I led the group through some amazing powder runs, and we had a complete blast. The conditions were pristine...we were able to cut new tracks through a lot of deep powder and the sun was out and it was absolultely gorgeous. Unfortunately, I had a little mishap on a backcountry run where I was trying to cut through a chute between some rocks, caught my ski and twisted my left knee as I fell. It hurt quite a bit for the rest of the weekend, but I tried my best not to let it get in the way of enjoying my first experience in the Alps.

Sunday night we had dinner in the apartment, did a little more sledding, then tried to get some sleep before the third day of skiing.

Monday we couldn't get in a full day of skiing because we had room inspections then had to load up on the bus by 4pm, but I got in 4 runs in the morning, so it wasn't too bad. Then we loaded up for the long drive home and said goodbye to the Alps. We got back to a cool rain in Barcelona, a long long ways from snow once again.

Here are the pics!

French Alps Dec. 6-8

Family in Town for the Week

Well folks, it's the moment you've all been waiting for--the update about the week Mom, Dad and Leah came to visit Barcelona. Buyer beware though, it's long, and it is accompanied by what is by far the longest digital album I have ever offered for public consumption. Enjoy!

Mom, Dad and Leah got in on Thursday morning, and I already wrote a little in my November 27 post about what we did Thursday so I won't go into a lot of detail again, but basically we walked around some, then they all took naps, then we came over to my host family's house for dinner.

On Friday, we took a day trip to Sitges. This is a small beach town south along the coast from Barcelona. During the summer it offers a lot of swimming and surfing and such, but during this season it is a little more low-key. We walked along the water for the morning, past the beaches and the piers and such, then had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the water. This was Mom, Dad and Leah's first opportunity to try Spanish Paella, which is a dish with rice and lots of seafood and spices. I think they enjoyed it. After lunch we took the train back to Barcelona and spent the evening walking around Las Ramblas, which is a popular walking street in downtown Barcelona. The city had just turned on all of its Christmas lights too, so it was a pretty time to be in that area.

On Saturday morning we went to Montjuic. It was raining most of the day, so we spent a lot of time inside the Museu Nacional de Arte de Catalunya, which has a number of art exhibits from around the region. We also walked by the Olympic Stadium where the 1992 Olympics were held in Barcelona. Then, we came back to my host family's house for another meal. This time we had a lunch with some of of my host-family's extended relatives. I think we were about 12 or so, and it was a great time for my families to get to know eachother, and for Mom, Dad and Leah to get to try their hand at understanding some Catalan. There was a ton of food--the first course included salmon, herring, clams, and a number of other "tapas" then the second course was Fideua, which is a noodle dish (somewhat similar to Paella) but much more typical to this particular region of Spain. Lunch was followed by cake and Spanish turrones (a typical Christmas sweet). In the evening, I stayed back to do some studying and Mom, Dad and Leah went back to Montjuic to see the night-time lighted fountains, and then past the Sagrada Familia to see it at night.

On Sunday we took another day trip, this time to Figueres. The main attraction in Figueres is the Salvador Dali museum. My October 31 post talks a little more about Dali's art and how he is one of the most famous surrealist artists in the world, let alone Spain. We enjoyed the museum, then had dinner in Figueres and then brought the train back to Barcelona.

On Monday I sent Mom, Dad and Leah out on their own in Barcelona so that I could study in the morning a little then take two finals in the afternoon. After my finals, we met downtown and I took them around a bit, showing them two of my University buildings where I have classes and such.

On Tuesday I had a class in the morning, then we met for our so-called "Gaudi Day." We visited three buildings that Antoni Gaudi (the most famous architect from this area) designed. We started at the Sagrada Familia, which is a huge cathedral that is still under construction. It has been under construction for the last 100+ years, and the soonest estimate of when it could be completed is 2020, but it is still a beautiful place to see. Dad, Leah and I took the elevator up into one of the spires and got some great views of Barcelona.

After the Sagrada Familia we took the metro the the Casa Milla, also known as La Pedrera. This is an apartment complex that Gaudi designed. There was an exhibit on the top floor with some of Gaudi's furniture and such, but the real attraction is the roof, which has all types of odd-shaped pillars and spires. It's hard to explain, so you'll have to check out the pictures. After La Pedrera we had lunch at a restaurant close-by, then moved on to our next adventure.

Next, we went to Parc Guell. This is a park built up on a hill overlooking Barcelona, and a lot of it was designed by Gaudi as well. The most notable features are a long park bench that is completely covered in broken tile mosaic, and two buildings that are now gift shops, but I think look like gingerbread houses. Again, the pictures at the end of this post will give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.

On Wednesday I sent the family out again to expore on their own so that I could prepare a Powerpoint presentation for my last Political Psychology class that afternoon. After that, I met them and we walked along the docks some, then went into the Aquarium. I think this was one of Leah's highlights of the trip, as we got to walk through a glass tunnel surrounded by sharks and fish on all sides. After the Aquarium we had a nice dinner at a place close to the water.

On Thursday we took our final day trip to Montserrat. This is the mountain just outside of Barcelona that has some fascinating rock figures, and partway up the mountain there is a monastery that houses the Black Madonna. Two of my BCA friends, Caitlin and Alisha joined us on the trip to Montserrat as well. We went straight to the top of the mountain and walked around for a little while enjoying the view. It was great for me because even though I had been there before the weather was much clearer this time around so I got to see a lot more of the view instead of just clouds. After we walked around on top, we came back down to the monastery and cathedral to see the boys choic sing a few songs, then walked past the Black Madonna. Caitlin and Alisha had to head back to Barcelona for a class, but the rest of us stayed to have lunch at the cafeteria there before heading down.

We spent Thursday afternoon packing (I had to get a bag ready to send home with Mom and Dad) and then went out for Chinese food for dinner. Dad had frogs at the restaurant, much to Leah's disapproval, but they were actually really good. After dinner we said goodbye, and Mom, Dad and Leah went back to the hotel to get some sleep before their flight back home on Friday morning. They should be on the plane somewhere between Barcelona and New York as I write this.

After goodbyes, I went to see the European premiere of a skiing movie by Teton Gravity Research. They make films of some of the most incredible skiing I have ever seen, mostly backcountry skiing in some of the biggest and steepest mountains of the world.

And, this evening I am loading up on a bus and heading to the French Alps to try my own hand at skiing some of the biggest mountains in the world.

Hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break! Enjoy the pictures of this last week with the family in town!

Mom, Dad and Leah Visit Me in Barcelona

Here's the Deal-e-yo...

Well talking with Mom, Dad and Leah this evening I realized that they don't even really know all of my plans for the rest of the year, so I think it's safe to say that you probably don't either. An update on what I have been doing with the family in town this week is forthcoming, but if you're interested in my plans, here is how the rest of my time in Europe is shaping up:

I have already taken two finals, so those two classes are completely done. Tomorrow I am giving a Powerpoint presentation that will finish up my third class. My last class (the Economics class) will continute meeting until I take the final for that on December 19.

Mom, Dad and Leah are leaving on Friday morning, and that evening I am taking a bus to France for three days of skiing in the French Alps. I will get back from that on December 8 from that.

On December 18 my friend Mike is arriving from Colorado to travel around Europe with me for the hollidays. I will take my final on the 19th, then on December 20 we will fly to Brussels to start our trek.

We will spend a day or two in Brussels, then take the train to Aachen, Germany, where we will stay for a few days (including Christmas) with some of Mike's relatives who live there. Aachen is also home to a world-famous Christmas market leading up to the holliday, so we will no doubt see and experience that.

Sometime between December 26 and 29 we will make our way across Germany to Prague. We aren't sure yet if we will be making the trip direct, or if we will stop somewhere along the way in Germany for a day or two, but we will probably just go with whatever looks like the most fun at the time. The plan, though, is to get to Prague in time to spend New Year's there.

We will likely be in Prague (or in that general area) until January 4, when we will fly back here to Barcelona, and then Mike leaves to go back home on January 6.

Then, I have a few days free in Barcelona from the 4th to the 13th, during which I will either lay low or try to make another ski trip somewhere inside Spain (if my money holds up that long). On the 13th I will meet with the incoming BCA group for next semester (including a friend and fellow Bethel student, Blaire) for dinner, and then on January 14 I will fly to Madrid to spend a couple weeks there with the Bethel Interterm trip there.

We will be in Madrid from January 15 to 27, and then I will fly home, and hopefully be back in Newton sometime on January 28.

So, that's what the future looks like for me. More on how great it has been to have the family here coming later!

Two Families, no Turkey, and a Great Thanksgiving

Well today was a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time--maybe even since before I even arrived in Barcelona. Mom, Dad, and Leah arrived this morning.

I went to the airport at about 9am to pick them up from the flight from New York (make sure to ask them about meeting Rupert at the Hello Deli the day before). We took the train and then the metro back to their hotel and got them all settled in. Even though we were all tired, and napping sounded like the best thing to do, in the interest of recovering from jet lag I got them to walk around with me a bit. We headed down towards the coast, and walked past the port and then had sandwiches for lunch. Then, I headed to class and the other three took naps for most of the afternoon.

This evening we had dinner at my host family's house. It was really a good time. Instead of turkey and stuffing and the works for Thanksgiving dinner, we had pan con tomate (bread with tomato and olive oil), and various different smoked meats and cheese, as well as Spanish tortilla (which is most like a quiche, with potatoes and eggs and veggies). For dessert we had fresh fruit, as well as some traditional Spanish Christmas pastries. It was really a fun time having both my real family and my adopted family around the same table, and I was really impressed with how strong Mom and Dad and Leah's Spanish still is--I only had to translate one or two things the whole night!

When I come back home to the states and people want to hear stories of my adventures in Spain and the other parts of Europe, I'm sure there are a few other stories that will make for better conversation than today, but I really don't remember the last time I went to bed at night feeling this content.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

France and Holland

Well I just got back this afternoon from our whirlwind trip to France and Holland. It was a great experience, full of irregular sleep patterns and tons of walking around beautiful places. I traveled with two other BCA students--Josh (from Mexico/Texas) and Matt (from California). We also met Josh's sister, Ericka, in Paris and stayed at her apartment in Amsterdam when we were there.

On Thursday morning we flew to Paris, where we checked into our hotel. We found a really great deal on a four-star hotel called Cozy's--two King beds, a kitchen, living room, dining room and only three stops on the metro from downtown--for only a few Euros more than we would have paid for a dormitory-style hostal. It really worked out well because we were able to cook for ourselves instead of eating at restaurants, and I think in this case the life of luxury really was cheaper than the cliche college-student hostal. Not a bad deal.

After we checked into the hotel, Josh stayed back to sleep (he was still trying to get over the flu--very bad timing) and Matt and I walked around the neighborhood around our hotel. The whole street was lined with outdoor fruit/veggie stands, flower shops, and art places. We looked around a while, and bought some grocieries for dinner. When we got back, I made pasta with a potato/veggie stir-fry and red pepper chicken for dinner. Ericka and one of her friends joined us for dinner, then we all went downtown to see the Eiffel Tower and such at night. The tower was beautiful (all of Paris was really). We took the elevator to the top of the tower and got an incredible view of Paris from the air. After the tower, we walked through the plaza inside the Louvre (where we even managed to foil an attempt to steal Matt's SLR camera) and then came back to the hotel for the only night of actual sleep we would get on the whole trip.

Friday morning we made omelets and hash browns for breakfast, then Matt and I headed back downtown. Josh was still not up for walking around, so he slept most of the day but was finally feeling good enough to join us later into the afternoon. We started at the Louvre plaza, then walked along the river up to Notre Dam. Notre Dam is a gorgeous cathedral, but I don't think I was able to enjoy it as much as I could have since I am still saturated with all the cathedrals we have been seeing in Spain. They wouldn't let us go up on top unless we sat through an hour-long tour, but we still got to see the inside of the building from the ground level. We walked back down the other side of the river, past a number of beautiful buildings but I can't remember what they all were so I won't even try to repeat them for you. Matt had 6 friends who are all studying in different places in Europe who were also in Paris at the same time, so we met up with them at the Museum Orsay. This obviously isn't as big or as impressive as the Louvre, but it does have quite a large collection of artists such as Van Gough, Rembrandt, and Picasso, so it was great to see. After the Orsay we walked around the neighborhood and found a really good crepe restaurant. After the crepes and hot cider, we walked over to the Louvre. It is free to get in for college students after 6pm on Fridays, so we took advantage of that and walked around for a couple hours. Obviously we saw the Mona Lisa, which is every bit as big of a deal (and unimpressively small) as everyone says it is. After the Louvre, we came back and made pizza which is somewhat tricky when your kitchen doesn't have an oven, but we discovered that if you put two pizzas together and put them on a frying pan it turns out to be a delicious calzone. Score one point for innovation.

Since our train on Satuday morning left at 6am, we decided not to go to bed and just sleep on the train, so we walked around Paris most of the night, but gave up and got about 2 hours of sleep before getting up to go to the train station.

We got into Amsterdam after a 6 hour train ride around noon on Saturday. We were really tired, so we went back and got some sleep at Ericka's apartment, then went out to explore some. The weather was pretty crappy in Amsterdam the whole time--I only remember an hour or two when it wasn't snowing, and it was dreadfully cold the whole time. But, we walked around downtown for a while, then went to Ericka's boyfriend's restaurant and had a really good meal. I had lamb tenderloin with mushroom sauce--quite different than our own cooking we had been doing. After dinner, we went to a bar that had live music (some British indie band) and enjoyed that for a while. Josh and I tried our hands at pool, which paid off becuase we beat the two British guys who had been running the table all night and got plenty of compliments from all the other frustrated players who had been losing to them all night.

For Saturday night we had tickets for the Awakenings festival. This is a world-known techno concert and lightshow that happens a couple times a year in Amsterdam. This one was held in what I'm pretty sure was an old water-treatment plant, so the dance flood was just a huge round cement building. There are lazers, indoor fireworks, and the music literally doesn't stop from 11pm to 7am. We got there at 2am, and stayed there until almost 7am. It was a great time, and I got exposed to a type of music I hadn't really listened to a lot before but really enjoyed in this setting. Some of the DJ's that played this year were Christian Varela & Pepo, Deetron & Doris Voorn, Elton Dee & Snoo and so on (not that that means anything to most of you).

Since we obviously didnt sleep much Satuday night, we slept most of the day Sunday (made all the more comfortable because the "weather outside was frightful"). We woke up at 4pm and went to a bagel shop and I had a bagel with bacon, nuts, and traditional Dutch gouda cheese and a cappuccino. After dinner (or breakfast, or lunch, or what-have-you) we walked around town more, including through the famous Red Light District, which has to be one of the most bizarre and depressing places I have ever been. On the way home we stopped at a waffle stand and I had a waffle covered in white chocolate and whipped cream, which has to be one of the most delicious things I have ever bought from a street vendor.

On Monday morning we had to get up fairly early for our flight back to Barcelona. Thankfully that (as well as our other flight and train ride) went perfectly smoothly without any problems.


And this is where I get to dispell any potential rumors about traveling to Amsterdam--and you thought I was going to beat around the pot-bush for this whole blog, huh? Well, marijuana isn't my cup of tea, and in all fairness that is not the only reason people visit Amsterdam (although it's definitely the cliche thing to do there). It was fascinating, though, just to be right in the middle of such an open and blatant drug-culture. People are extremely friendly, even to those not participating in the comsumption, and the fact that they speak English and there are so many other tourists around meant that we really didn't stick out like a sore thumb like we do when we travel other places. That being said, I could see myself going back to Paris much sooner than Amsterdam.

And now you can click this link to check out my photos from the trip:

France and Holland Nov. 20-24

Demonstrations at the University

Today I got a message on my phone from the BCA office telling me that there are demonstrations in front of the History Faculty today and that our classes have been moved to a different building. Apparently this is a fairly frequent event, and here is what I know about the situation:

In 1999 all of the leaders of education in Europe got together to talk about the university system, and they decided on a 10-year plan that would basically standardize university education among the European countries. I'm not sure what actual changes this involved, but in essence it means restructuring the schools to be more like North American universities. This change was embraced by students and faculty of the sciences, but not so much by those in the arts.

Over the past 9 years, they made little progress towards their goals for 2009, so in the last year or so the university administration has made some fairly severe and drastic changes, most of which have been contested by a number of students. Actually, recently there has been quite a bit of grafiti and propaganda around the campuses with the phrase "VAGA TOTAL CONTRA LA BOLONYA!" Bolonya is the term for the new structural organization (the place that this agreement was reached) and the propaganda calls for strikes and demonstrations and such.

The demonstration today is likely linked to the university elections that were held last week. The UB elected a new president and a number of other positions, so my best guess is that this is in some what connected to that as well.

I'll try to find a good article online that explains it all better than me and I'll post it here when I do.

Another Barca game

So I just got back from another FC Barcelona soccer game. This time we played lesser-known team, and a couple of the starters sat for Barca, but we got much closer seats this time, so it was fun. I actually got in for free, because my friend Adam's host family has season tickets and he invited me to go with him to the game.

This was a much lower scoring affair. We won 1-0, and barely at that. Messi scored our lone goal in the 41st minute of the second half on a penalty kick after he was taken down on his way to the goal. His initial kick was actually blocked, but he followed up and got the rebound and put it home. Very exciting to watch, even though it shouldn't have been so close against a team like Benidorm.

This album has the pics you already saw of the Nov. 8 game, but I added a few from tonight's game as well:

Barca Games Nov 8 and 12