Adrenaline Rush

Hey,

I´m writing this from San Sebastian on the North coast of Spain. I just woke up after what seemed like the longest 3 days of my life.

I don´t want to say too much, becasue I´m already a week behind and I haven´t even told you all about the shennanigans that happened in Madrid last weekend. But really, all I have to say is:

I HATE OVERNIGHT BUSSES (which I´m taking another one tonight, dammit) AND ACCIDENTLY MAKING HOTEL RESERVATIONS FOR THE WRONG WEEK!!!

but, other than that... I RAN WITH THE BULLS, AND IT WAS AMAZING!!! I´m not sure what I´m going to have to do to get another adrenaline rush like that. Because we weren´t allowed to take pictures from the course, I have to get pictures from my friends who watched.

I´ll post a more detailed story about the past couple weekends when I get back to VLC, which will be a week. First, I leave here tonight for Barcelona, then on Thursday morning I leave for MOROCCO!

There´s always more to come.

-From SS

¡Alicante es Caliente!

I'm sitting down at my computer just an hour before I leave for Madrid, so I decide to talk to you about my first weekend in Valencia and my trip to Alicante.

Friday night, after walking around the city a bunch and just discovering a lot of cool shops, we made it out to dinner at some restaurant in the Universitat de Valencia area. Everyone from the program then went out to an Irish Pub called Max Max, not really my kind of thing. the 40 some odd people took over the entire bar and I felt like I was back in Tallahassee. At around 3 am, we decided to hit up a discoteca. Luckily, one of the administrators at the study center is a dj. She was spinning at a club called Latex (which I found out later was it's closing night). That place was awesome, it was relatively tiny compared to the other discotecas where most of the students went. It was probably big enough to hold a couple hundred people. The best part about it was that it was "indie night". I felt like I fit in perfectly, I was dressed like I would normally and I felt like I was at home, in the metaphorical sense. I even got called over by a couple of pretty Spanish girls to dance with them. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of dancing they started talking and I didn't know what they were saying, so I made my way back to the bar!

On Sunday a large group of us woke up at 5:30am to start our day trip to Alicante. Alicante is just a couple hours south of Valencia by train. It's also an oceanside city. The coolest part is definitely Castillo de Santa Bábara. El Castillo de Santa Bárbara is on the edge of a mountain cliff right on the beach. The lift was broken, so we had to hike up the mountain to get there, but let me tell you, it was WELL WORTH IT! There really isn't too much to say about it other than what these pictures will tell you!

After the castle visit, we made our way to the beach for a couple hours, and then watched both the Spain vs. South Africa game at another Irish Pub (laaame!). Then back to the train it was. We got back to Valencia to catch the end of the USA vs. Brasil game which I'll just leave it at that.

This week has been awesome; I started my classes, and let me tell you that I LOVE SPANISH CLASS! I hope to be pretty proficient by the end of this program. So please, if you know spanish well, help me out!

I'll try to keep on top of this a little better, but it's just so busy here. Oh well, gotta go pack! I leave in 30 minutes for the bus station! 4 hour ride, w00t!

-From the VLC.

and here's some pictures of Alicante:

Sorry For The Delay

I've just been overwhelmed with things going on. I'll update some tomorrow... and possibly with some pictures!

-From the VLC.

O Valencia!

I've made it to the good ol' city of Valencia, Spain! Just got in and set up my comp.... so i'll inform you of my last little while in town!

Tuesday I went to the agencies, and although I didn't get to talk to anyone, it was just awesome seeing the offices in real life. I rented a bike making it extremely easy to get around.

You can walk everywhere, but biking is definitely the way to go; bikes outnumber cars in this city by a large amount. after a while of biking around and going to the agencies I made my way back to the hostel for a nap.

After my nap I decided to walk around again making my way out of the touristy areas and into an area they call Jordaan. This is west of the city center and the red light district. It is beautiful out there, lots of families and small businesses. it is actually where my favorite agency 72andSunny is. It was that part of the city that made me realize that I could spend a long time here, living here if I had the opportunity at any of those 3 agencies. But don't worry, I don't plan on calling up my parents to ship all my things here just yet.

I made sure to stay up until it was darker and ventured out into the red light district late night. It is crazy! The bars are all packed and the streets are even more crowded. The lights literally are red all over. The hookers are out in full force and the guys are creeping in full force as well. Watching creepy,dirty, tourist looking men walk up to a window, talk to the girl, walk in, and then see the curtain close is a sight that will haunt me forever. After a little bit of wandering, I made my way back to the hostel and slept.

(Ok, this is intermission. go get a drink of water if you need to, maybe some eye-drops if your eyes are hurting from staring at the computer screen for so long.)

Yesterday morning I woke up and had breakfast, this time it was fried egg with a slice of ham and toast. I had to quickly finish up in order to make my way to return the bike back at Centraal Station. From there I made my way to the city center where the National Monument is to meet up to take a tour.

The tour was about 3 hours long walking through the red light district, the city center, and then west almost to the Jordaan. The tour guide was alright, nothing to special. She told some interesting stories, but not too much history, nothing more than what I could quickly read in small pamphlet about the city. Of course she pulled all the "i'm gonna let you in a secret because I like you. (insert name drop of a restaurant) is the best place to get food" a few times. I'm sure that the company had to be getting some sort of kickback from taking us right by these restaurants and suggesting them, and making a rest stop at a typical tourist souvenir shop. The tour ended at the enterence of the Anne Frank Huis which is where I really wanted to go.

Three hours of walking left me with my feet hurting and parched. I grabbed a quick snack and then made my way back over to the Jordaan area. I can't really get over that part of the city. It is such a wholesome part of town, little kids riding their bikes or scooters eating ice cream or gelato, moms taking strolls with their babies, and beautiful buildings lining the bright streets. With such a dirty part of the city so close, it is awesome how safe and pretty that part of Amsterdam can be.

(disclaimer... don't judge my emo[tions]. the following paragraph is serious business!)

After I took a little rest I made my way back to the Anne Frank Huis. I can't say how touched I was by walking through that house and reading all the plaques, seeing all the pictures, and walking through the tiny rooms that TWO WHOLE FAMILIES had to hide in for two years. Her actual diary is on display there. I got the chills just looking at it. Just trying to imagine what it would be got me teary eyed. It made me take a look back at complaining about being stuck at home for a day, and made me realize how much I take for granted things as simple as walking down the street, or standing outside.

My next mission was to make it to the Rijksmuseum, but by the time I got there it was almost closed and they weren't letting anyone else in. Instead I strolled down the street to take a rest in Vondelpark which is just one of many large parks that are scattered throughout the city. With such wonderful weather the park was very crowded, tons of people walking, riding their bikes, having picnics, or just laying out and enjoying the sun.

After all of this, I made my way to a bar right across from my hostel to watch the USA vs. Spain game. It was awesome, the Americans were out in full force. I met a couple kids from the Virgina/DC area. One of them had bet the bartender €50 that the US would win, and long behold, WE WON!!!

So instead of doing what a lot of drunk young guys would do in Amsterdam and spend that extra cash on a hooker... he proceeded to buy us (4 guys) each a beer. Thank you Bobby from D.C. We walked around for a while and chatted it up with a few random people we met on the streets and in the bars until I decided I had to call it a night.

This morning, I woke up and caught my plane to Valencia. This is where I'll leave you, and I will update you all again when some more debauchery happens!

Coming Soon... More from the VLC.

I Amsterdam

I've made it to Amsterdam! I can't really tell you much about how I made it here, for I was asleep almost the entire time we were in the air. The flight to London was nice, they served a hot meal accompanied by a personal size bottle of wine. Every seat had a personal screen. I wanted to watch movies, but my sleep deprivation caught up to me. I ended up only getting to watch Good Will Hunting; I wanted to watch Taken, I've seen it already, but just the fact that it's about abduction while on vacation... I passed it up. The flight from London to Amsterdam was only about 45 minutes long.

This city is awesome, the streets are all cobblestone or other types of pavers, no asphalt or concrete. The architecture is very interesting; right next to my hostel there is a castle of some sort, it's tiny but cool. I'm gonna try and do some research on it. The sun has been out the past couple days and it is beautiful, the temperature is perfect for walking around. The city seems very friendly and even walking around by myself i don't feel nervous at all.

The hostel is fine, a little creepy (Christians run the place), not too big but that doesn't really matter at all. I met my roommates this morning, one is here working at a web design agency; he's from Northern Holland. The other is here traveling with a friend; they are from Sweden, he is also a photographer. They both are very nice and I have something in common with both of them so it is easy to talk to them.

The hostel really is a block away from the Red LIght District and I guess what you could call China Town. I walked all through the area and it is definitely an experience. The streets are crowded and there are more bars and restaurants than I have ever seen.

And I'm sure you all want to know about the hookers... they for the most part are all gross.

I haven't seen more than two or three that I would even take a second look at, let alone pay for sex. For the most part it just creeps me out, but it's definitely an experience to see people open their doors and talk to them, then sneak in and the curtain close.

This morning I ventured out and rented a bike. I rode it to two of the three ad agencies that I wanted to stop by. At Nothing (www.nothingamsterdam.com) I met Susan van Deth. She didn't take me up into the office claiming they were really busy. I'm sure they were, but I think it was more of a, "Who is this kid? And why is he here?" type of thing. She was very nice and gave me her email address and told me to get in contact with her.

At Wieden+Kennedy (www.wk.com) I walked in and went up to the front desk where after stating why I was there, I was told "I'm sorry, we're too busy to take walk-ins." which I completely understand. She was very nice and we chatted for a minute about Amsterdam and she told me a couple places to go. It's so hard to get in touch with these big agencies. In a couple hours I am going to try and make my way to 72andSunny (www.72andSunny.com) and try my luck there. Even if I don't get to talk with anyone, Just seeing the office building and the front desk is enough for me.

I'll keep you all updated as my adventure continues; hopefully with some cooler stories. I just figured I'd document a little bit of my first 24 hours.

More soon from the XXX.