Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Goodbye Madrid Goodbye Ben

I went to Madrid yet again last weekend in an attempt to forget about reality. We went to fashion week in Madrid where we were able to sneak our way into a number of shows and VIP lounges.

Outside the event.

Shay with her magical press pass.
Free Cocktails. The VIP lounge was only open for about 40 minutes after each show, but all the cocktails were free, so we'd drink as many as we could in the short window of time. The best I did was about 7 cocktails in 30 minutes.

VIP seating??

Everyone there thought they were such hot shit(me included).
Then I rushed back to Granada to say farewell to my dear friend Ben. Here he is on his last night in Spain, flushed red from all the wine.

More food?? This is called Migas, which is a bomb Spanish dish that I will one day make you.

And now I have more classes to attend, more food to eat, more traveling to do, and more blogging to blog.

-ANC

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Metronomy - Heartbreaker

Madrid by night

My lack of recent blog entries could/could not be attributed to the following: Drugs, Alcohol, Sleep, Sickness, Madrid, Exams, and/or lack of inspiration. You choose.

I finished my last exam no more than 38 hours ago, and after proceeded to make my way to the local post office in order to pick up a package sent to me by my mother. The contents are pictured below. I guess she was not thinking about international custom laws when sending me fresh fruit from her trees. Other than the fruit, the contents included run-of-the-mill hippie granola products that are the norm when it comes to my mom.

Last weekend, I decided to forgo spending the weekend studying in order to take a trip to Madrid with my Spanish friend Robert. We stayed at our Canadian friend's(Shay) apartment, which is more reminiscent of a cave. She has a dog named Milu, which could more accurately classified as a rat.

Our first night out, we went out to a restaurant with a group of Spanish people I didn't know. It was awkward...

Robert checking out Shay's aching tooth in order to save a trip to the dentist.

Here is some Sushi joint in the city called Pink Sushiman or something along those lines. it was buy one get one free, and the sushi was sub-par, but I was still elated considering I had not had real sushi since being in Europe.

Then we made some Brownies, which turned out to be "special."

After consuming the majority of the brownies, we decided to go for a walk in order to work off our massive carb intake. We ended up hanging out with this green guy.

And next thing we knew, we were eating in a Chinese restaurant. Our server was named Chou Mein, Robert had an anxiety attack, and Javi didn't know what to do with himself.

I would have liked to go to a museum or some sort of tourist attraction while in Madrid, but by the time we left the apartment every "morning," the sun had already set and I ended up seeing Madrid only by night. But my Spanish friends assured me that Madrid is much more interesting by night than by day.

Out on the town. Left to right: Robert, Javi, Javi's friend, yours truly, Yoan, and Phillip.

Robert and I trying to not kill ourselves listening to the slew of horrible Spanish hits.

Then I came back to Granada and "studied"... or something like it. Graffiti??

Last Wednesday night, in the company of my Santa Cruz friends, I went to a dinner "party" at the apartment of the director of my program. I decided to dress up for the occasion. Here Jen and I are embracing feminism by groping each other in a purely platonic manner.

Jen, Ben, and Aaron x 2.Californians in Spain.

I go by Nate or Nathaniel around my Spanish friends, cause they seem to be much more impressed by my middle name than they are by my first name.

XOXO

-Nate