Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Spain adventure: Chapter one: Madrid!


Sorry it has been a while since I blogged. I was in Spain for eight days....not seven...and I was recovering for a couple days after that...all in all a fabulous trip, with a few slight setbacks and disappointments, but I survived!

Here it goes. We arrived at the Prague airport...we being Ben, Ben Jr., Dan, and myself....and right away waited in a three hour line to check in....no exaggeration. We boarded our Smart Wings plane 3 hours late and got into Madrid around 4 or 5. We found our Mad Hostel...good...and wondered around to grab some food. The next morning we got up ealry and headed out on the town...we took a Audio tour of the Royal Palace, and wondered around for a bit...then we headed out to make our journey to the bull fight in Villalba, Spain. Okay here we go. Villalba is 50 minutes outside of Madrid, so we hopped the wrong train and had to back track a little, so we got to Villalba about an hour and a half into our trip. We then proceeded to wonder around to try to find out how to get to the Plaza de Toros. We found a bus stop but no Plaza de toros...so I used the crappy Spanish skills that I still possess to pick up a guy that took us onto two different buses. He then told us to get off and wander down the street for a bit towards the Plaza de Toros. Ha! So we wandered down the street...haha...into some street vendors...no Plaza de toros. So again i used my spanish skills to ask a relatively civilized looking woman where the plaza was. She told us to cut throught the carnival...yes a carnival with rides and cotton candy...and vear off to the left. So we walked through the carnival, which was just random i might add, and headed to the left. Wait Wait..what is that...yes a Bull fighting arena...arena at this point meaning a painted plywood arena that stand probably only 15 feet tall and could be blown down by any Kansas wind. But we got there....3 hours later, and super excited we weren't too late! We got to sit in the front row..dont get too excited there were only like 4 or 5 rows...and we right in front of most of the action. We got to see 6 matadors and 6 bulls get killed. Only one of the matadors got hurt but not enought o stop fighting. I didnt mind teh gore...it wasnt too bad, and the guys and I enjoyed it all the same. So after two hours of watching a Spanish historical sport we heade back through the carnival, thought seriously about some cotton candy, and got back to Madrid about 3 time quicker than we got there. We were exhausted, and we had to catch a flight at 6 in the morning,...meaning we had to catch a taxi at 4 am. So we caught a taxi and got to the airport in plenty of time to catch our Vueling flight to Barcelona...a nice little Spanish airline...! From there the story continues...but it will have to be in another blog...soon I promise...and also dont miss my adventures in Barcelona...the for sure top that of Madrid! Talk to you soon!!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

School's Out For Summer!






Okay so the last real blog I had was the Pirate party...and there have been a few significant things happen since then...sorry it has been a while. The first reason I have is that my studio work is now done...I have been busy finishing that up and so one, I havent had time to blog, and two there was nothing to blog about...but before my two day intensive work...We had our Green Line Pub Crawl....yes that is correct lasies and gentlemen and Prague pub crawl. If you look at my facebook you have seen the aftermath in the pictures and whatnot. We start at one end of the Green Line Metro...it had 13 stops. We began our little journey at 3 in the afternoon and we got off at each of the 13 stops and had half a liter of beer...at least that was the idea, but If I had drank that much my parents wouldnt be too happy with the shipping fee across the Atlantic for my dead body. Anyways needless to say I didnt drink that much, but I did drink plenty for me... and the guys, ben, carl, chris, and landon, did drink all of that. So 11 hours later, we made it back to Masarykova alive....we had tons of fun, and a lot of pictures.

Shortly following that is when my school work kicked into gear. I basically had to put all my drawings into CAD, draw perspectives and photoshop them into pictures and what not. I also had to update my model...which wasnt a big deal. None of it was really a big deal....but I have a conscious. SO 6 A1s later and a small portfolio of process and layout....Im done...and mackenzie is going to pin it up for me Monday morning becasue.....IM FLYING TO SPAIN! yeah i super excited....and not to mention tomorrow..Sunday is my birthday! whoopie...I keep forgetting, because I am not expecting any presents of course! I am getting to use the rents credit card for some extra cash in Spain, and thats my present..and I cant complain at all because...Hell I am Europe!

But anyways, the other thing that was quite entertaining is that we had a birthday celebration last night, for Ramon (mexican), and Kate (british). A bunch of us..the British, Scottish, Mexicans, Spaniards, and all the Americans...oh and the Canadians...all cooked out at the grill outside our dorm. We grilled eveything from cabobs to steak to fajitas and everything in between. Good and of course there was drinking into the night....a very fun evening...made me feel like we were back home grilling out with all of our good friends...ahh living the high life! Anyways the rest of the weekend I plan on relacxing, packing, and preparing an itinerary for our Spain trip, which remember I am going with three guys.....ahh could be interesting. Ben, Ben, and Dan. Well see how it goes....but I am super excited, this is the most highly anticipated trip of my European vacation....ooohh I meant study abraod...haha wink! Okay well the next time I should write will be after my trip from Spain....so get excited! I am! Hope everybody is having a fabulous summer and I will see most of you in a couple months or so!