a spanish vacation

spain was awesome! there's pretty much no two ways about it. spain just rocks. there's cool sites to see, nice people (even though they are freaking lazy), delicious food, and all around good times... i left last wednesday night at about 2am from oxford because the bus to the airport is 2 hours and my flight was early in the morning- i had to check in at 5:30am. needless to say, i didn't go to sleep, waited in the airport for 3.5 hours and then left at 7:30. i flew easy jet from london to madrid and it was pretty sweet. it's one of the cheap airlines here, and in my opinion definetely the coolest. everything is orange! the inside and outside of the planes, their uniforms, everything.

plus it's their 10 year anniversary right now, so they give you a chocolate bar when you check in! anyways, i love easy jet. the flight was pretty straitforward (except there was an hour delay, but i didn't care because their orangness made up for it) and i got into madrid at about noon on thursday. then i took the super easy to use metro into the city and met ana barton. for those of you who know her, we had a great time and she says hey (especially to dani, who she misses a lot). for those of you who don't know her, she is cool and fun and would probably say hey if she knew you. anyways, we spent the whole day touring- she showed me all the major areas in madrid- all the big buildings, the major plazas, and popular hangouts. we also went to the prado museum- madrid's huge art museum and one of the biggest art collections in europe. after the prado, we went to Retiro Park, which is one of the coolest and probably the biggest park i have every seen. it was gorgeous (especially since all the leaves on the trees are changing)- there are awesome gardens and a sweet lake in the middle. we walked all around the park, saw a palace that's in there and had hot chocolate (which the spanish know how to make really well!) at one of the cafes in the park. then, we stopped by ana's apartment (she is doing a homestay and living with a senora), and then went to tapas and sangria for dinner. tapas basically means finger food, and it is traditional spanish food- quite delicious! after dinner we walked around the big night spots, saw a mediocre movie and called it an early night around 1am (fairly late by oxford standards, but extremely early by spain's). also, i had to stay in a hostel, because i couldn't stay with ana since she is doing a homestay. however, i talked her into staying with me at the hostel and the hostel ended up being amazing! i don't have much to compare it to because i have never really stayed in a hostel before, but this one has been ranked number 1 in the world the last two years on hostelword.com! it was really cool, clean, fun, and the staff was really nice! they have their own bar, free internet, and give you breakfast in the morning, all for a sweet price of 17 euros. i know, i sound like a salesman, but if you are ever going to madrid, i really do recommend that one, you fly easy jet and two, you stay at Cat's hostel....friday morning ana had to leave early for a trip with her study abroad program, and i left for the airport at 9....my flight to barcelona (where i was meeting nick salter and we were visiting carly syke) went well and i got in at about 3 friday afternoon. after meeting up with carly (who i also couldn't stay with because she is doing a homestay), we went to the hostel, only to find that they were flooded from the spainish rains over the past week and had relocated us. this was slightly irritating but what was worse is that they relocated us to the shadiest area in all of barcelona. carly wouldn't let me and nick stay there because it is so shady that her program told them to never go to this area after 10 at night. needless to say, it was late afternoon and nick and i no longer had a place to stay for friday and saturday night. carly and i called and visited about 10 different hostels, all of which were completely booked for the weekend, before finally finding something. the place was called Hostel Castella, and ended up working out great. so, like dani always says, everything always works out in the end. however, you all know that doesn't keep me from stressing about it in the meantime...anyways, after checking into our room, carly went home to get ready for the night and i had a few hours to myself, so i decided to go check out the barcelona cathedral. it ended up being gorgeous and huge and really, really awesome, even though it was super catholic...

carly and i went out to dinner with some of her friends from her program and again had tapas and sangria, and again, of course it was delicious. salter got in around 11, dropped his stuff off at our place, and then we went out to port olimpico, down on the water (this is the hotspot for nightlife in barcelona, with tons of cool places on the beach!). salter and i called it an early night at 3:30, while everyone else stayed out to their usual time- 6am. crazy, just crazy. actually, this is my theory about the spanish people- they party like crazy and stay out all night; then, they have to sleep all morning and don't start their day until about 12; they work about an hour or two and then get tired again so they have to take a siesta, which lasts for no less than 3.5 hours; then they bring themselves to work for another two hours, before calling it a day; they relax until about 9:30 when they decide it's dinner time and then they go out to bars and clubs around 1am, starting the cycle all over again. they are pretty much lazy people, who like to eat, sleep, and have a good time with doing as little work as possible (mom and dad, i might decide to move there at some point)...on saturday, despite the late night, salter and i woke up early and hit the tourist trail. we went to "la sagrada familia" (the temple of the sacred family) and "park guelle" in the morning. la sagrada is the most famous building in barcelona; it is absolutely massive, totally ornate, and crazy looking. it is an unfinished church that was designed in the early part of the twentieth century by the architect Gaudi (it is the crazy looking building with all the tall skiny towers). part of the design included twelve giant towers, one for each of the twelve apostles. however, only two of the towers were completed at the time Gaudi died. the contruction continues today (8 towers completed), but there is no idea when it may be finished- some people say it could take as long as 2080. anyways, it was pretty cool to see it all and tour around it (there are a few pictures, from the outside and then the construction zone that exists inside). after la sagrada, we went to park guelle, which was also designed by Gaudi. it is this awesome park that overlooks the entire city of barcelona and part of it was originally designed as a playground and a place for kids. there is an area with tons of murals and two colorful crazy houses that gaudi designed. guidebooks describe it as a park that "dr. suess would feel comfortable in." however, the project failed and was never totally completed, or at least not to the extent that gaudi envisioned. although it is still really cool. so, basically gaudi is a really big deal, who designed some impressive things, that never got finished....after a sweet morning, salter and i met carly for lunch and we went to this cool, little spanish place called ra, but not until we first walked around La Boqueria- a famous and classic spanish market. there are a million stands of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat markets, and rediculously wierd spanish food like pig ears and rabbits that still have their fur. quite a cultural experience. disturbing, but cultural. then salter and i decided to head down to the water (barcelona is on the mediterran sea, which is pretty awesome). we walked all along the port and down the beach, seeing their impressive marina and the architectural sights down there. again, tons of fun and we got to see tons of sights. that night we had a low key dinner with carly at an italian place and went to this pretty local hangout- oveja before heading back to the hostel at 12:30. after five short hours of sleep i had the privlege of getting on the metro at 6am, taking a bus for an hour to girona, then a two hour flight to london stansted (airport in the middle of nowhere), and then a three hour bus to oxford, getting back to my room at 3pm. crazy long travel days, but it was most definetely worth it for the tapas. although i was only gone from thursday to sunday, i felt like i really got to see madrid and barcelona and i don't feel like there was anything major that i wanted to see and didn't get to. it was a sweet, sweet trip and if any of you are ever in the area, i highly recommend both places...
now its back to reality. i had a tutorial with judith today that went decent and my tutorials with andrwe are done. so, while i only started 6 weeks ago, i onl have two weeks left...rowing has officially become harcore. we have our regatta next week (wed-sat, and our first race in on thursday afternoon), and much luck and much faith will most definetely be needed. either way, it should be a good time. however, practice this week, not so much. we had practice yesterday morning, we have it tomorrow morning, friday morning, saturday morning, and next monday morning. and on top of having to wake up at six, it is now really cold in the mornings, and i am officially sick. i have a really bad cold that i picked up somehwere in spain, and unfortunately i don't think the whole rowing thing is exactly helping it. oh well, i got some medicine and i'm drinking a ton of water....nothing much else is new, except one minor thing- DANI COMES ON FRIDAY, and harry potter comes out that day as well!!! i am super excited to see her and the movie, as i'm sure you all know...well, if you made it this far, i applaud you. feel free to leave some sweet comments. hope all is well. can't wait to see you all soon. peace, love, and hapiness- jay.