Barcelona: One hell of a ride

So the time has come for me to write my last blog as I pack up and get ready to head back home tomorrow. Honestly, I don't really know what to say. Where did time go? It seems like just yesterday we arrived here in this amazing city and had no idea what to expect. This place was our home for almost 4 months and we couldn't have asked for a better one. As I pack up and get ready to move on to the next step, I cant help but re-live some of the insane times we had here. From skydiving in interlaken to getting pepper sprayed in prague to simply chillen on the beach here in barce, it really is going to be tough to leave.

It took me a while to get adjusted to this city, but honestly once I did, I never looked back. We had some of the best times of our life here, and I can truly say these have been the best few months of my life. I've gotten the opportunity to meet so many amazing people and travel to so many amazing places. I guess its kinda like they say, you never really know what you have until its gone. Thats kind of how I'm feeling right now. I feel like 4 months just went by with the blink of an eye. Its one of those things I will look back on and smile from ear to ear. As I sit here somewhat saddened by the fact that its actually time to go, I have to think to myself not to get sad that its over, but to smile because it happened. I just got to spend the last 4 months of my life with some of my best friends and travel all over Europe. It really doesnt get any better than that.

As exciting as it is to get back home to America, its just as difficult to leave. A very bittersweet feeling, but man did we make some memories or what. Barcelona was everything I expected and then some and I'll never forget this experience. It was a blast. Thanks to everyone who kept up with my blog for the past few months, I hope you enjoyed reading them!

I guess all good things do have to come to an end eventually...

I'll miss you barca.

So for the last time:

MEMORIES MADE,

Prit

Ibiza: BOOM BOOM BOOM

Boat to Formentara

Chillen in Ibiza

Urban Dictionary - Ibiza: A truly beautiful island off the east coast of Spain. Home of the greatest clubbing experiences on the planet, showcasing the great and good of the dance music scene.

That about sums it up. Ibiza was absolutely insane. We started our journey Thursday night on a 7 hour boat ide to the island. There were about 200 kids from our program going so we had a big party on the boat, it was a really good time and a perfect start to the weekend. We arrived in Ibiza at about 6AM and checked in to our hotel, which was right on the beach. It was absolutely beautiful, but we were all so exhausted that we just passed out. We woke up around noon and headed down to the beach, had some drinks and just enjoyed the sun. After that we went back to sleep to rest up for the night. Later that night we all went to this lounge/club and it was a white party. It was a really good time but everybody just kind of took it easy because we had to wake up around 11 the next day to catch a boat to this island called Formentara.

We woke up the next morning and headed to the boat. About 100 of us took a 40 minute boat ride to one of the most amazing islands in all of europe. When we finally arrived, about 15 of us went to this private, secluded beach and just chilled there all day. It was just what the doctor ordered, a perfect day just to chill and relax. The beach was so nice and the water was legit the clearest, blueist water I've ever seen.

We had been told that we were going to this club called Pacha that night so we all just took it easy to prepare for that. We got back to Ibiza around 7PM and took a little nap. When we woke up everyone knew it was time. This club is one of the top 5 clubs in the world so we had to prepare ourselves. We headed over there around 2 and had the time of our lives. We fist pumped with the best of em for about 4 to 5 hours and before I could even blink it was 7 in the morning. We finally made it back to our hotel and the sun was starting to come up and the birds were chirpin. I didnt get to sleep until about 830 because I had house music blastin through my head. I really dont even know how to put it in to words, it was an absolutely insane night, a night ill definitely never forget. We woke up just a few hours later to catch a 40 minute flight back to Barcelona. Reality set in when we were in the air and we realized this was our last time traveling back to barc so it was definitely a weird feeling.

Its soo crazy to think our stay here is just about over. Although I miss america a lot, its going to be really hard to say goodbye to this place, after all it was my home for 4 months. I'll be sure to check back in one more time before we all head back home on saturday. So till then, hollaaaatchyaboi.

Just keepin the good times rollin

Yah dont say that!

Makin my last few memories here,
Prit

Amsterdam and Beerfest in Munich

Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam

IAMsterdam sign

Hofrbrauhaus (Old school gemand dude)

Enjoyin some liters at Beerfest

Sorry for posting these late, I've been busy with school and traveling, I will post Amsterdam and Munich now and Ibiza tomorrow.

Where am I? This was the question I had to keep asking myself as I wandered the streets of this crazy little city. I don't really know how to describe Amsterdam besides saying its disney world for college kids. Amsterdam was everything I thought it would be and more. First off, the red light district is out of control. Everywhere you look there are prostitutes standing in windows and they aren't your stereotypical dirty prostitutes, these women are hot! But that's neither here nor there. Its kind of a creepy scene at night but its still a really good time nonetheless. The coffee shops are also very interesting as well, in Amsterdam, everything goes. Also, the food was very impressive. We went to this incredible little pancake bakery where I got a bacon and cheese pancake and Miller got a chocolate banana pancake. They were absolutely incredible.
Besides the obvious red light district and coffee shop visits, we actually did get to see some pretty cool things. On friday we saw the heiniken brewery, the Van Gogh museum, and the IAMsterdam sign. All of those were fun and on saturday we went to The Anne Frank house and a comedy club called "boom chicago" that was really funny. All in all, Amsterdam is an amazing place. So many crazy things and such little time but we definitely saw everything we needed to. Once again, another successful trip.

Why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly? (Kidding obviously)

Munich is another really cool city. Unfortunately this time around, we didn't get to see anything the city had to offer besides spring fest and beer houses. We arrived on Thursday and the first place we went to was this beer hall called Hofbrauhaus. It was a traditional, old school beer hall with all kinds of crazy weird German bands playing and all kinds of old weird German people hanging out there. It was really cool, the beers were huge! They had half liters and liters(obviously we got the liters because we're hardcore haha). They had all different kinds of beer and needless to say it was a really good time. We spent about 6 hours there before we finally had to leave and get some rest for the actual festival which started the next day. Friday was insane. We woke up and walked around a little and then went back to the Hofbrauhaus for a few beers before beer fest opened up. At around 4, we headed over and things got rowdy. There must have been probably 250 kids from America studying abroad all over Europe there. We went to a huge tent and started drinking with everybody. A few hours later, we went over to a bigger and better tent, where we spent the rest of our night. Unforutnately, my night got cut a little short because for some reason the bouncer decided he was sick of us and threw us out. In the process, my blackberry got thrown out of my hand and lets just say I nobody could find it. So after that I was pretty pissed off so I did the best thing for me and just went back to sleep. The next day we woke up and did it all over again. This time, it was more successful. We had an incredible time and that night we even went on some rollercoasters that they had at the festival. It was an incredible time.

We woke up the next morning at around 5 to make sure our flight back to Barca was on time. Of course, it was cancelled due to the freaking ash cloud from Iceland. If you would have told me my flight back to Barcelona was cancelled due to an ash cloud from an errupting volcano in Iceland I would have laughed at you and then probably punched you in the face. So our journey started to find a way back to Barcelona. All the flights for the next few days were cancelled so we tried to get a train. We went to the station and asked the lady what was the fastest way to get back to Barc and she laughed at us, pointed to the calender and saidwith an amused grin on her face "next week." After that we tried to charter a bus. After hours of debating with the bus companies we finally got a group of 100 people together and chartered 2 buses back. 18 hours later we finally arrived in Barcelona exhausted and with school looming in just a few hours. Besides losing my phone and getting a flight cancelled, it was an absolutely amazing weekend and we all had a great time. Lovin life right now, but only 6 days left. The ibiza post will be up tomorrow so make sure to check back then.

P.S. - VOLCANOS SUCK!

Makin memories,

Prit

Spring Break: Prague,Rome, Florence, Greece

Lennon Wall - Prague
Coliseum - Rome
Vatican City - Rome

Top of Duomo - Florence
Toga Party - Corfu Island, Greece

Before I get started I should warn you that this post is a little lengthy. We had an incredible spring break and I want to talk about each place. If you dont want to read it, don't.

Prague: Our first leg of the trip had us in Prague, Czeck Republic. We got a really nice apartment style hotel there for 2 nights. The first day there we walked around and checked out the city. It was pretty amazing, a lot of castles and bridges and things of that nature. It was nice because everything was walking distance. Anyways, the food there was pretty solid, had a few really good sausages(there were stands every block). The night life in Prague was pretty impressive. The first night we went to a few bars and a club that was playing all 70s and 80s music, a nice change of pace from what we are accustomed to in barca. The next day we got to walk around the whole city and see everything. We saw the john lennon wall, petrin hill, old town, charles bridge, some huge castle, and we even got to go to a beer garden. It was awesome. That night it was time to celebrate this guys 21st. Without getting into too many details, we went to a club and rapchik may or may not have gotten in a fight with the bouncers and we may or may not have gotten pepper sprayed. Either way, we had an amazing night. Prague was a very cool city and a ton of fun. Successful trip.

Rome: The next stop on our journey was Roma. Let's just say rome might be the coolest city I've ever been to. Everywhere you look there is ruins and things of that nature. We got to see the colesium and the vatican and many other amazing sights. I'm not really in to history much but this place was incredible. Everything was so amazingly interesting. The food was the best thing I've ever experienced. Pasta, pizza, gelato, tiramisu and profiteroles, get outta here. Easily the best food I've ever had, the pizza was incredible but if you're wondering, its not as good as deep dish :). The night life in rome is pretty solid. They aren't really into the clubs as much, its more bar oriented. It was definitely a nice change of pace. The whole time in rome I was actin like a wise guy, and obviously the line "when in rome" was used quite a bit. Overall, Rome was tremendously tremendous.

Florence: After our trip to Rome, we headed to Florence. All I can say is wow! What an incredible little city. Unfortunately we were only there for a little over 24 hrs but we definitely made the most of it. Within our first hour there we probably saw 30 people we knew from home or from IU. We got to see a ton of people that we hadn't seen in a while so it was really nice. Once we dropped our luggage off at the hostel, we started walking around and saw as much as we could before it got dark. After that we went to dinner and it was amazing. Honestly the food here is probably the best in the world and everything on the menu looked amazing. Luckily a lot of people spoke english because the only italian words I know are arivaderci(and I say it like brad pitt in inglorius bastards), ciao, and gratzie. Its actually a really funny language because everything sounds so funny, literally almost every word ends with an I or o. Moving on, the nightlife in florence was pretty surprising. We went out with some friends and literally there must have been 100 people we knew at the bar. We all ordered this beer that everyone called blackout beer(yes it definitely does exactly what it sounds like) and it was on from there. Foolishly we pregamed at our friends apartment before the bar so needless to say we were feelin pretty good. All in all it was a great night. Finding our way back to the hostel, not so great. We stumbled the small city of florence for probably close to an hour(it should have been a 10 minute walk). The second day we woke up and walked around and saw everything in florence. We went to the top of the duomo(a huge, beautiful church in the center of the city) and we saw the statue of david(the dude who rocked goliaths world). We had gelato twice and went to this amazing sandwich place and I asked to guy to "make my sandwich real nice" so he did. Anyways, florence was another successful, amazing trip and I could definitely see myself studying there. We then hopped on the train back to Rome to spend one more night there before catching the cruise to Corfu Island greece.

Greece: After a 4 hour bus ride from Rome to Port Ancona, we hopped on a 14 hour cruise to some random little city in Greece where we then got on another hour and a half cruise to Corfu Island. Once we got there everyone was ready to go and things got a little rowdy. We dropped our luggage off along with about 400 other college kids at the Pink Palace. We headed down to the beach and just hung out there until it was dark. Then we had to get ready for the infamous Pink Palace toga party. We got in our togas and went to down to dinner. The food was decent, but honestly anything would have tasted decent after being in Italy for 4 days. Anyways after dinner we raged and had a great night. The next morning we woke up and signed up for the booze cruise. We got on at about noon and didn't get back until around 6. Needless to say it was an amazing day. We got to sail around the island and do some pretty cool activities. By the time we got back a nap was well overdue. That night we went to a club called The Palladium(doesn't compare to the one in pulco). We had a great night but we payed for it in the morning. We had to wake up at 8 to sign up to go atving and I felt like I just got run over by a train;however, it was well worth it. We went atving around the whole island for about 5 hours and it was so much fun. By the time we got back to the hotel it was time to pack up and check out. Our trip was coming to an end but and we had another 24 hours or so ahead of traveling. All in all, corfu was amazing. The weather was perfect and we got to do some really incredible things.

After our 14 hour cruise back and 4 hour bus ride back to Rome, we got one more incredible dinner. Finally, we had to head to the airport and head back to Barca. What an incredible break. We got to see so many amazing things from the charles bridge to the coliseum to the duomo to the incredible beaches of Corfu. What an incredible trip. Amsterdam tomorrow, can't wait!

I'm a nobody, nobody is perfect, therefore I'm perfect

Makin memories,

Prit

Pre Spring Break - Post visitors

So I just wanted to check in right before spring break. Ill make this one real quick.

Unfortunately our run of visitors has come to an end as the brown kid has now come and gone. We had a great time, I got to show him around the city that I've called home for the past few months. We went out a lot while Naz was here and I was pretty impressed with his ability to keep up since hes been chillen at home the past few months. We even got to watch most of the first and second rounds of the ncaa tourny, but lets not talk about that. Its crazy to think that when we get back from our spring break we only have about 3 weeks left in barca. Where has time gone?

With that said, Spring Break is finally upon us here in barca and im gettin pumped. We got a busy 10 days ahead as we are going to Prague, Rome, Florence, and a cruise through Greece. Its about to get out of hand, especially since I have my 21st comin up on Sunday. Night one in Prague, night 2 in Rome. I cannot wait. Thats really all I got for now, I will have plenty more when/if I return from our 10 day adventure.

Lets touch god tonight boys...

Makin memories,

Prit

Snow in Barca...Classic Kotvis

Another amazing couple of weeks in the book. Finished up midterms last week, that was a great time. I'll get my grades back in the next few days so lets keep our fingers crossed.

So last week kotvis visited, needless to say we had an incredible time. I got to show him around the city and take him out to the clubs. Unfortunately the weather was a little under par, and it actually snowed in barcelona for the first time in a REALLY long time. The locals here were freaking out to say the least. I was walking from one class to the other and people were literally taking millions of videos and pictures, most of the people here have never seen snow before. Two days before the snow I was hangin out at the beach, so it definitly caught some people off gaurd. The city basically shut down for the day.

Last thursday night was probably one of the best nights we've had since arriving in this amazing city. We went to dinner right on the ocean, and enjoyed a nice meal that included all you can drink wine...needless to say that got a little bit out of hand. After dinner, we went on a mini bar crawl on our way to the club. At one of the bars, I ended up getting thrown on stage by a "dancer" and getting my shirt ripped off. I'll spare you all the details, but lets just say it was a good time; Kotvis was loving every second of it.



Unfortunately, Lou had to leave but lucky for us Sherm the worm is now in town. Gunna do it all over again this week with him, and the brown kid gets here on wednesday so that should get pretty rowdy. Oh by the way, cohen had a friend in town last week and we got to meet her friend who was visiting from London, his name is Tom and he is a professional rugby player. Probably the coolest person I have ever met, and we got to hang out with him for like 3 days. His accent was just absurd and everything he said sounded hysterical. Last thing...I have a newfound obsession with Justin Bieber, hence my facebook profile picture. He's just the man.

I hope all my friends back home enjoy there spring breaks in acapulco and panama city beach...but sorry guys, it still doesnt compare to here.

You can take me out of college but you cant take the college out of me.

Still makin memories,

Pritkin

FC Barcelona - More than a club

Heyyyyy world. Its been about a week and a half since my last post. Everything over here has been great, still have midterms until next monday though. The weather here has been gettin better by the day which has somehow made barcelona even better.

Last weekend we finally made it to Parc Guell, which is one of the coolest places to see here in Barcelona and its only a ten minute walk from our apartment. Parc Guell is a "garden" built by Antoni Gaudi, a famous catalan architect. It has amazing structures and you are able to look over the whole city, its an amazing sight to see.

The weather was so nice that we were also able to finally go to the beach. We have been to the beach before, but we hadn't been able to actually just lay there and hang out. It was really relaxing and its really nice to be able to hop on the metro and be at the beach in a matter of minutes, quite a contrast from hoppin on the b-bus in bloomington and going to college mall. We had the pleasure of seeing two naked men walk down the beach right past us. It was absolutely disgusting and it made me want to throw up. Literally the only thing these men were wearing was high black socks and sneakers. Seriously, it was nasty.

We capped off the weekend by going to the FC Barcelona soccer game. It was absolutely incredbile. People here are obsessed with the team, they live and die by it. There was about 90,000 people there for a game that wasn't really a big deal. Unfortunately, they dont sell any alcoholic beverages at the game, which is probably a good idea because it would definitly get out of hand. With that said, we hit up a bar before the game and indulged in some beer and tapas which got us feelin good before headin over to the stadium. We ended up singing the IU fight song as we were walking in, needless to say we were gettin some weird looks.

Life is good.

Great moments are born from great opportunity.

Makin memories,

Pritkin

More Barca and trip to Madrid

So it's been a few weeks since my last post, mostly cause not much has been happening really. The past couple weeks we've just been doin the usual, goin to class and goin out most nights. Life is good. Last tuesday night everyone went to Carnaval in Sitges, which is a big celbration on Fat Tuesday, similar to Mardi Gras. It was a really good time, everyone dressed up and had a blast. Cohen dressed up as an asain and was basically a celeb there, all the asains were running up to him and taking pictures, pretty funny stuff. Unforutunately I have some midterms this week so I need to concentrate and get through this week. The weather is finally starting to get better and we shouldn't see any rain for a while. Either way, its better than bein in the blizzards at home. People are startin to visit us soon which is pretty exciting, we got cohens boy comin tuesday and millers dad comin wednesday, kotvis in a few weeks and then naz and sherm the worm, exciting stuff goin down.

Now for our trip to Madrid. First of all, let me just say its an awesome city and its pretty big. The buildings and all the statues are really cool. Its the capital of spain so there is a lot of history there. The nightlife is fun, not as crazy as it is here but a really good time nonetheless. Hmmmm what else? Oh, there are WAAYYY too many gay people there. Needless to say, I was in some pretty uncomfortable situations. We were wandering the streets later in the night in madrid and we tried walking in to this one club, and the bouncer looked at us like we were crazy and said, "No chicos." Sure enough, it was a lesbian bar. Oh how I would love to be a fly on the wall in that place. Moving on, this morning as we were checking out of the hotel I witnessed somethin that I thought was pretty cool. There was a group of older german people standing around in the lobby and one of the ladies went up to the front desk to ask a question, sure enough she started speaking english to the spanish worker at the desk. I thought it was pretty cool, a spanish and german woman havin a conversation in english. Stupid story I know but I felt PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN BABY. Anyways this blog isnt goin anywhere really, basically Madrid was sick but its good to be back here.

Were finishing up bookin our spring break, its lookin like prague, rome, florence, cruise through greek islands...gotta love it, till next time holla atchyaa boy

...If I was you then I would probly hate on me too

Makin memoris,

Pritkin

Vacation on Vacation: Interlaken, Switzerland

WOW.

I don't even know where to begin. This past weekend was without a doubt one of the best of my life. We left last thursday and arrived in geneva with about 100 other kids on our program. We then took a 2 hour bus ride into a small little town called Interlaken which is nessled in the swiss alps next to two huge lakes. It's probably the coolest place I've ever seen. Thats neither here nor there, but how about this...250 college kids studying in Rome, Florence, and Barcelona invaded a quiet little town in the swiss alps, does it get any better? I think not.

I'll start with the hostel. Before we left, we were warned that our hostel was one of the oldest in Europe and that it did not have the greatest living conditions. That's probably the biggest understatement of all time. Our room had 32 beds...32 beds! Are you kidding me? We were staying in a room with about 20 other kids and we had a good time with it. Our room was literally like a tourist attraction, there was no lock on the door and all the other kids who were staying in our hostel would come to our room just laugh at us. Cohen woke up at 3:30 in the morning to a girl tickling his feet...enough said.

Moving on, Friday we woke up early and hit the slopes. Now I'm not much of a skiier and I had never skiid anything close to the swiss alps, so I definitly had my work cut out for me. Luckily, rapchik is a ski instructer so he was able to help me out a lot. I took my fair share of falls but I had fun with it and got a lot better as the day went on. I'm used to skiing runs that take about 5-7 minutes max, these were about 45 minute runs we were dealing with here, it was pretty amazing. Our first run we stopped about halfway down and had a beer and just took it all in. It was an amazing day to say the least.

Saturday morning I woke up with a slight hangover but that was the least of my concerns. I was scheduled to skydive at noon. A lot of people were asking me if I was nervous...but of course being the alpha male that I am, my response was something along the lines of, "Pshh, me nervous? Nahh." But in all serious, I was freakin out. I mean, wouldn't you be? Jumping out of a plane at 11,00 feet could probly strike the fear of god into most people. So me and cohen arrived at the site with a group of other kids, apprehensive and scared out of my mind. We got in the suits they gave us and I was expecting an instruction course that would take a little bit. Nope. I met the guy that I was jumping with and he told me what I needed to do and that was it. It was literally a 2 minute conversation. We got in a small little plane and started our journey. It was about a 15 minute flight to get to the jump site. About half way up the guys started to joke around with us and my guy even said, " I hope your harness works." Real comforting dude thanks a lot. Anyways we got to 11,00 feet and it was on. They opened the door, the first kid looked at me with the most terrified face I've ever seen to which I responded with a thumbs up and then he was gone. I was next. My guy told me to get up and walk over to the door. Next thing I know, my legs are dangling out of a plane and I was officially freakin. I was expecting a countdown or him to ask me if I was ready. Wrong. Before I had a chance to blink, I was free falling. I cant even put the feeling in to words. The most incredible experience I've ever had, just insane. The free fall was about 40 seconds, and at about 5,00 feet the chute came out and we sailed down the the ground for about 6 minutes. I dont know what else to say except if you haven't done it, you HAVE to. It was honestly a life changing experience to say the least. The rest of the trip was just icing on the cake. I went to the casino after cause I figured it was my lucky day, I mean after all I did jump out of a plane and live to talk about it. I could not wipe the smile off my face. I got pictures and a video but its being sent to me so I don't have them yet.

Thats all I got for now, luckily there were no homeless people in Switzerland for cohen to kick away their life savings. By the way, swiss people are so nice and the chocolate is just as good as advertised.


Life is short but sweet for certain.


Still makin memories,


Pritkin

Seville and first trip to the gym

Been a while since my last post so let me update you on what we've been up to. This past weekend we took a trip to Seville, which is in southern spain to visit our friend ross. They say Seville is the third biggest city in Spain, behind Madrid and Barcelona so I was expecting a fairly large city. To my suprise, Seville was fairly small. It was a really nice little town, it was a lot more quiet then here in barca and they're aren't nearly as many americans there. The nightlife is a little more laid back, which was a nice change of pace for us.

The highlight of the trip is pretty obvious and as you are reading this story, try and imagin it in your head. Saturday we were walking the streets of Seville just checking it out and enjoyin the nice weather. As we were walking, a homeless man was standing on the sidewalk trying to collect change from people. Adam, scott and I walked by the guy and didn't think anything of it, but of course cohens clumsy dumbass didn't see the huge basket of change and booted it. Change went everywhere. There must have been 40-50 people staring at him thinking about how much they hate americans. Cohen frantically dropped to the ground to try and pick up all the change while of course using his favorite line, "LO SIENTO, LO SIENTO!" I dont think I've ever laughed that hard in my life, please just try and imagin cohen doing that, its too funny. If you dont know him, first of all your lucky, second of all it might not be as funny, but if you do, you should appreciate that story.

Now that were back in barca miller and I joined a gym. We've gone the past few days and its really nice. Unfortunately no smoothies though so I don't think dicker would approve. But there are a few things that bother me about the gym. First of all, the weights aren't in pounds, they are in kilos, which makes me feel a lot weaker because the weights look smaller and I have to do the conversion rate in my head for everything I do, its really annoying. Why cant they just use pounds??? Its clearly a much better system. The other thing that bothers me is these spanish dudes that work out wear the shortest shorts ever, like shorter then old school larry bird. If they arent wearing short shorts, they are wearing spandex pants. Its completely absurd, they look ridiculous and I have a hard time working out next to them cause I feel really uncomfortable. Thats about all I got for now. Were leavin for interlaken thursday so I cant wait to ski and skydive, hopefully I'll have some great stories and hopefully there wont be any homeless people for cohen to kick away their life savings again.

And thats the way the cookie crumbles

Makin memories,

Pritkin

Damn birds

Been a few days since my last blog, still livin the life out here. Were gettin ready to head down to Seville for the weekend which should be a great time. School is in full swing and classes are alright, a few are interesting and the others are extremely boring but thats the way it is.

If you know me at all, you know I have a strong hatred for birds, I CANNOT STAND THEM. Pigeons are everywhere here and the other day I had a rough encounter with a group of them. I was just minding my own business walking to the metro after my class and some pigeons start walking behind me, following me for a little bit. I didn't think much of it until I noticed not only were they walking behind me, but there was also a large group of them flying over me. If you dont know, when I was a little kid a bird landed on my head and ever since then birds and I haven't really gotten along. Anyways, these birds were above me and behind me for literally 3 blocks and it was starting to freak me out so I picked up the pace a little but of course they stayed right on me. Long story short, I ran to the subway station while birds were following me and spanish people were lookin at me like I was crazy. I don't know what they were doing our why they were following me, but I guess they don't really like me that much? I dont know, who cares, damn birds...

Moving on, a few more things that have been on my mind. Listen, I know I'm good looking, but why do spanish people feel the need to stare holes through me. Like I will be sitting on the metro and 5 or 6 people will stare directly at me, not for a few seconds, but for a few minutes. It is beyond uncomfortable, like take a picture bro it'll last longer. I really don't get it, like do I have something on my face, why can't these weirdos stop starin at me? Freaks. Oh by the way, remember the blind lady that walked through the metro about a week ago, yeah I had another encounter with her. It is by far the creepiest thing I've ever seen, she is straight up casting a spell on people. Finally, whats the deal with all these spanish bums? I will be walkin around minding my own business and they will pester you will crazy spanish nonsense. Its like I know your homeless dude but I'm not giving you anything. Listen up buddy, I dont give American bums money, I'm damn sure not gunna give you any. Thats about it for now.

P.S. - Rapchik fell at a club the other night and gashed his face open. Cohen took him to the hospital where they gave him some stitches, and then Rapchik proceeded to try and hook up with cute his female doctor. :)

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Makin memories,

Pritkin

GET OFF MY GRILL DUDE

So its been a few days since my last blog mostly cause I'm dead. My body is killin me so its time to just chill and take it easy for a lil bit. We've literally been goin out every night and its so fun but I need to relax for a night or two.

The past few days we've finally gotten to see another side of Barcelona. We went on a bus tour which was really cool. We got to see a lot of cool buildings and museums and take some good pictures. Barco is a really cool city cause its got so much to offer from the night life all the way down to the different buildings and food. The best part of our bus tour would have to be when rapchik got in a fight with gypsies cause they tricked him into giving them some money. When it finally occured to him that they stole from him he went back and yelled at them for a minute until finally we had to pull him away from them cause it just wasnt worth it anymore but it was really funny. CLASSIC rapchik.

There are a few things that have been on my mind that I just dont seem to get. People here don't understand the concept of PERSONAL SPACE. They will literally talk right in your face, they will stand as close to you as they want, they always brush up against you and I personally cant stand it. Its just like get off me bro give me some room to breathe. It super annoying but I guess I'll have to get used to it. Another thing is PDA is huge here. Everywhere I go I see people makin out and goin at it. Its disgusting, like get a freakin room dude. Finally, whats the deal with the people and there dogs here. Honestly, multiple times a day I see people walking their dogs and stopping so the dog can take a piss in the middle of the sidewalk. Its freakin insane, I straight up have to walk in a maze so I'm not walking through huge streams of piss. SO WEIRD. Which brings me to my last point, do dogs here bark spanish?? Like do they understand what their owners say to them?? Would bailey be able to survive here? Do dogs speak spanish to eachother or what?? Just something thats been on my mind.

Still love this place, but now its time to do some homework and get some stuff done. Goin to an american bar tonight to watch the games, pretty excited for that. I'm prayin the saints beat the shit outta the vikings, and I'm hopin the jets colts game is close. Till next time...holla atchya boy.

God is love.

Makin memories,

Pritkin

Just another day in the life

I'm going to try and keep this one short cause I think they might be gettin too long.

Where to begin...

First off, let me start by apologizing to the people of barcelona for calling them out on not speaking english. Yesterday cohen miller and I went to pick up my phone at this package place, we had no idea where we were going because the street signs are extremely annoying and difficult to read but nonetheless, we had to ask 4 people for directions. Luckily 3 of the 4 spoke english. We were so suprised and happy, so I guess some people here do speak english, thank god.

Moving on, there is something here that really bothers me. We have to bag our own groceries. Now it may not sound that ridiculous but the other day we spent about 70 euros which is like a little over $100 at the supermarket to stock up our apartment with food.After the guy rang us up we waited for them to bag the groceries, after staring at him for a few minutes, we ended up having to do it ourselves. I wanted to be like listen up bro, we just dropped 100 dollars here the least you can do is put it in a bag, like come on whats that all about? Not that its difficult to bag groceries but its the principle.

This place is getting crazier by the day. I'm blown away with everything I see. The clubs aregetting more and more fun as we continue to meet more people. We are just starting to get acquainted with thesubway system here. It started off confusing but its actually really easy and quick. While on the subway today, Rapchikand I saw honeslty the most absurd, creepy thing either of us have ever seen. We were just standing there mindingour own business tryin to get back to our place after class. We were actually standing next to the only other red head in barco so I was about to try and talk to him and get his life story, I figured he might know miller cuz of the red head thing, but before I could start talking to him, I look behind me and I see everyone parting like the red seaand I was so confused. The next thing I know there is a old blind lady walking down the middle of the subway with herhuge blind stick waving it around as she walks. She had a cup in her left hang trying to collect change while singing some weird spanish song extremely loud. It was the crazyiest, creepiest thing I've ever seen, nobody really seemed to be in shock like me and Adam were, but it straight up felt like she was casting a spell on us. The whole subway was silent listening to her singand watching her navigate her blind self down the train. So freakin weird.

Class started yesterday and it is what I thought it would be. Some of the classes are interesting cause we get to learnmore about the history of barcelona and europe as a whole. Today I had a 10:30 class and my teacher called me out. We had nametags on our desks and there were only about 10 kids in the class. Of course, I was having a very difficult time stayingawake after a long night, I must have dozed off for a minute cause she was like Ryan wake up, probably not a goodfirst impression but what are ya gunna do?

One more thing real quick, I am like average height here. Im lovin it, a 5'8" kid bein average height is pretty coolif you ask me. There are honestly no tall people here its so weird. We were walkin through the subway station and I noticed the celings were so low, honeslty weiner you would be screwed bro, you would literally have to duck to walk throughthe subway station. Fricken spaniards, cant live with em cant live without em, but it is what it is and its hard notto love this place.Thinkin about hitten up interlaken this weekend, we'll see, I had a hard time holdin my own at ChesnutI dont know if I'm ready for big ass mountains. Pshh who am I kidding? I'll tear that shit up.

New pin: 310965B3 add me!


Clear eyes, full hearts, cant lose


Makin memories,
Pritkin

P.S. - Cohen is 3 for 5 in breaking glass bottles at out at night and Naz I had a brown cab driver last night and I asked him if he knew you, he said your name sounded familiar ;)

DOES ANYYONE HERE HABLA ENGLISH!?

Yesterday we moved into our apartment and it is reaaaallyyy nice. We have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and a nice kitchen and living room, its really good to finally be all settled in and unpacked. We live on the second floor of an apartment building, but its really the third floor because the they call the first floor 0, which is just completely ridiculous. The elevator is real old school cause its supported by weights and a rope so there is no way cohen can ever use it because it was fall straight to the ground, its ok though dude ill take the stares with you :). There are 16 kids in our program that live on our floor, 4 apartments with 4 kids in each. Everyone seems pretty legit and its gunna be fun getting to know all of them. When we moved in yesterday we unpacked and walked around to check out our new hood, the gracia neighborhood. Its really cool and very vintage and well-established. It seems like a pretty wealthy area judging by the stores and the restaurants. There is a few really good tapas places around here and I finally found some half decent food. I tried to order a bacon cheesburger, but cohan and rapchik told me to order this other thing cause it would be bigger and better. Foolishly, I listened to them and to my dismay, when our food came out, i had a burger with no bun, onions on top of it, and a sunny side up egg with it. It wasn't what I had expected but it really wasnt that bad. Oh and by the way, this is my kind of place, its cheaper to get a beer or a wine in a restaurant then it is to order a water...HELL YEA. Anyways, we came back to the apartment and met up with some of the kids on our floor to go buy some sheets and towels for our apartment. This is where it started to get out of hand. Let me just explain and get something off my chest before I tell you this story.

So whoever said that most people in barcelona speak english is a straight up liar. The only place where people speak a word of english is in the really touristy areas like bartenders at the clubs and all the club promoters. Its really funny to see us walking around town and watch people stare at us, we probably look like the biggest idiots but we embrace is so its all good. But seriously, everyone in the world should speak english? Like r u kidding me, its far and away the best language and everyone should know it. Its really hard to find certain things we need because we cant ask anyone anything without sounding extremely ignorant and getting laughed at, to which my response is laugh right back at them. Now to my story of getting sheets and towels yesterday...8 of us left the apartment on a mission to find some supplies for the apartment, none of us speak spanish by the way. If you can, imagine 8 extremely american guys walking the streets of an old school barcelona town rockin things such as basketball jerseys and high top nikes. Yea people were lookin at us like we were aliens or somethin, it was really funny lookin. But anyways, we figured it would take about 20 minutes to get the things we needed and we could come back and take a ciesta. WRONG. We walked around for about an hour and a half, going in to about 5 or 6 different stores asking for sheets, or if they new where we could find them. Literally, every single person looked at us and laughed. At one point, I stood there just wanting to scream out to all of barcelona for an english speaking person. Finally, we found what we needed and headed back to our place after walking for what seemed like an eternity. Just another adventure in the life of ignorant americans roaming a huge european city I guess.

Moving on, we came back and just hung out for a while, me cohen and rapchik just kind of sat around waiting for 10:30 to come so we could eat dinner and go out. Meanwhile, the red head had to take a cab to the airport to finally pick up his luggage, which he had been missing for 3 days AHAHAHHAAA. Sorry, its just kind of funny cuz they lost his luggage and he has red hair. Anyways, ill finish this up quickly so its not too long, we went to dinner at the little restaurant right downstairs, it consisted of all of us eating really quickly, and cohen dropping his glass and it shattering all over the place. I've never seen a funnier facial expression in my life from cohen, it was a very scared and confused look, because everyone was staring at him, and all he could say was " LO SIENTO, LO SIENTO, LO SIENTO." The owner of the place/our waiter just kinda of smiled and laughed, he didnt seem to care, but cohen just kept on with the damn lo sientos. Unfortunately, I probably looked like more of a jerk than he did because I could not stop the uncontrollable laughter that ensues with cohens stupidity. Rapchik had to tell me to stop laughing because people kept looking at us. Oh by the way, when we walked in to the restaurant, there was literally a women straddling some guy while he was eating dinner, I guess thats how they do it here.

Notable places we've been:

Hopefully one day this list will consist of really cool, historical places but as of now, its only bars and clubs.

Opium Mar - very big club on the beach, very fun place
Shoko - right next door to opium, another big club, also very fun
Catwalk - across the street from those, similar, also really nice
Broadbar - Smaller club, still very fun
Dow Jones - Fun small little pub, more of an american bar, got to watch espn finally, the prices change similar to the stock market, and the market crashes every hour so the prices all go down, really cool.
Chupitos - Really fun pregame bar, light shots on fire and do cool things like that

Finally here!

First off, let me just say that typically I hate blogs and bloggers and everything they stand for, no offense jonny or cohen but nobody gives a shit;however, i feel this is an appropriate time to blog, as I have just arrived in barcelona and i would like to have this blog to remember barcelona and all the places I stumble upon.

Secondly, I'm not a journalist nor do i aspire to be one, so you will have to deal with mispelled words,run-on senetences, incorrect punctation, and ridiculous abbreviations such as totes(short for totally haha). If you dont want to read it, then don't, i really dont give a shit. WITH THAT SAID...here goes nothin.

Yesterday morning me and rapchik landed in barcelona at 7, somewhat apprehensive but very excited. Once we arrived, i turned on my phone and of course it didn't work, so needless to stay i was somewhat pissed. Adam and i almost got arrested about 10 minutes into our trip because I left his jacket on the plane and we ran back to get it, people must have thought we were terrorists because some spanish security lady came up to us after we got the jacket and started questioning us. We had absolutely no idea what she was saying because neither of us speak spanish, or as they speak here CATALAN. Our response was fairly breif, "listen lady, i have no idea what ur saying, but we were just running back to get this jacket." Terrible story i know, but i thought it was a funny first experience in europe.

ANYWAYS...europe is crazy. I've never been here before so I had no idea what to expect. Everything is so different here. I'll start off with the hotel, the elavator is outside,all the rooms are very nice but very small, the showers are different, the lighting is messed up, the outlets are different, and we dont watch tv because we cant understand it. After we checked in, we went out and walked around. We hit up 3 small little restaurants and ordered a few beers. It seems like the beer of choice here in san miguel or somethin like that, and its actually not that bad. The beers here are a lot bigger by the way...people were lookin at us kind of weird cause it was like 10:30 in the morning and we were drinking like it was 11PM, but we had no sense of time so who cares. Moving on, everyone here takes a ciesta(a mid-day nap)...idk its weird but I can dig it, it pushes everything back, people dont eat dinner until like 10:30 at night and then people start goin out around 1. I dont really, know everything is just real fresh right now, meetin a lot of new people and trying to live it up. The club last night was real nice and a lot of fun. I was under the impression that people here spoke spanish...WRONG. They speak catalan, which is very similar to spanish but it has a lisp and has a little french thrown in there. It actually sounds really funny and I've had to try really hard not to laugh at people when they speak to me. Whatever, it is what it is.

Ive only been here for 2 days now so i dont really know much about the culture yet but I'm sure ill figure it out. For instance, people here dont tip. Whats that all about? I tried to tip the waitress who was giving us beers and she just gave me the money back. I can't complain tho, less money to spend. Which brings me to another thing, the euro is so weird. They have coins that are worth anywhere from 2 euro to .01 euro. All of the bills are different colors and different sizes. Its really annoying and weird but I guess ill have to get used to it. It honeslty seems like monopoly money, which is a really bad mentality cuz i dropped about 80 euros last night(aka $120)sorry dad :) The last thing that ive noticed and that is really weird are the phone numbers. They only have nine digits, and ur number changes depending on if your calling from inside of the country or outside.

Tonight were goin to this club called opium mar, i heard its pretty crazy so im lookin forward to it. Just livin life one moment at a time, tryin not to let anything pass me by and tryin not to get jumped by spanish gangsters. Oh by the way, I hate when people tell me to try not to look american, I'm sorry but I love america and everything about it, and im not going to change. Plus im roaming the streets with a red head anyways, so that kind of gives it away dont ya think?

I'm sure ill have better stories and a better feel for life in europe next time...so till then holla atchyaaa boy.



Makin some memories,
Pritkin