Las Fallas are on FIRE!

Valencia has a celebration once a year where they build paper mache floats that cost more than my life, and then proceed to burn them on fire. Las Fallas.

Before

After

Imagine the fourth of July, but even better. All day long explosions of illegal proportions would be going on, making me feel like I was in a war zone. Plus look at these delights that stared at me everywhere I went.

Rebecca and I became pyromaniacs with the firecrackers Landas bought us. We were acting like pre-teen boys as we tried to compete with the illegal fireworks some ten year old boys had.

Look at how cool I look drinking Valencian Horchata. (don't be fooled by my springtime shirt, it was actually pretty cold outside.) It tasted nothing like the Horchata I know and love, but being on this study abroad has made me eat and/ or drink anything in sight, in fear of never knowing when I'll have another meal again.

Again, I plowed through this Paella and was not ashamed that I looked desperately hungry, and even ate the snail that accompanied it. It wasn't that bad either, but that could just be the hunger talking.

Woke up at 6 am and didn't get home until 7am the next morning. As you can see, the end of our journey was not kind to us in the slightest.

A day in Retiro Park

The other day Meredit, Riley, and I had the opportunity to hang out and/or exercise at the hottest spot in Madrid. Pues nada, Check it out. Vale?

Naughty Norte

As if being in Spain weren't enough, we get to go on vacations within a vacation.


Our first stop of the trip was this little town called Coca, boy did we start off with a bang. Pictured above are the three boys that thought that taking a picture with them meant we wanted to have their offspring. They followed us around liked diseased little rodents, while doing explicit gestures expecting us to give ourselves to them. When that didn't work one of them flashed us with his crown jewel. Aren't we lucky?

We got to go to the cathedral of León, where they had some of the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen. Stay with me here, I'm thinking this could go in my master bathroom.

I know it doesn't look like much of a difference, but we went from a 4 star hotel ( the one with the bed I was actually willing to pose on) to a roach infested 2 star the next. The Hotel España felt like a Juvi, don't tease me with these upscale hotels just to get slapped in the face with a place that most likely gave me bedbugs.

Some of the highlights of the trip included eating at a kebab place that had the only delicious food in Burgos. We loved it so much we came back to Ali Baba not once, but twice. A little of it had to do with that fact that the owner had a slammin bod and he looked like a demi god. The picture unfortunately doesn't do him justice, but just trust me.

Dance party in the moldy hallway of our hotel. Included are the Holbrook kids shakin what Deb and Landes gave them, and music from a sole i pod touch that was easily drowned out from just talking.

I'll let the Catedral de Burgos do the talking for this one.

Useful tips for Madrid nightlife

1. Being American is like being the golden snitch. As soon as they hear those Anglo-Saxon words come out of your mouth, expect to be as popular as Obama or the McDonald's emblem. Don't ask me why, maybe they just know we are as superior like we already know we are.

2. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by the amount of beautiful men. Now this city is not for the frumpy people of the world, 8 out of 10 boys could be doing an Armani campaign at this moment. What are the Spaniard people doing to create such physically beautiful people? Unfortunately, the other 2 of the 10 boys will be ugly, but that won't stop them from creeping on you countless times, just because you happened to glance in their general direction for a split second.

3. Get ready to smell like sweat/smoke/sin/alcohol. I thought I had some idea of how to party, but apparently by small town ways are as conventional as the pony express. We got to Kapital around 12:30, a decent party hour most people would say. I guess we Americans have a different idea of late, most people didn't get there till at least 1:30. Just be aware if you want to actually see people at the club you should arrive no earlier than the time just stated. Another tip, If you want to look cool you HAVE TO dance with a cig in one hand, and your preferred alcoholic beverage in the other. I can't even tell you how many times I got burned by the end of a cigarette when I was dancing.

4. Have enough stamina to dance until 5:30 in the morning. If you leave at three you might as well not even show up. Luckily by that time you forget all about the fact that you feel like a homeless man that's been rained on. Side effects include: glazed eyes, incoherent thoughts, willingness to do anything for a bed, bad breath, and if you're lucky, a regretful decision.

5. Avoid looking like you've been run over by the end of the night. Even if you don't consume any liquor, you still manage to feel slightly hungover the next day. Don't expect to leave the house the following day, so you can burn your clothes and maybe get a toxic shower. Will I ever do this again? I've already picked out my outfit for next weekend.