Bologna and the towers

I first arrived in Bologna late on June 18th... I stayed at my cousin Michael's house with his wife, Cinzia, and my other cousin Kynan (the one i went to venice with). My first day in Bologna, Kynan was a wonderful tour guide. A few days later we went to Venice and then just hung out in Bologna the rest of the time. We had planned to take a trip to Florence, but the train schedule didnt work out. Instead we headed to Bologna and up the tower. It is said that it is bad luck toascend the tower if you have not graduated from the university, so being that i just did.. i was able to go. here are some pictures of the towers and the one we climbed. The other tower leans a good 5 or 6 meters... pretty scarry walking by it.

And by the way, my cell phone number in italy is...
country code 039 34.69.63.25.96

In Torino

Hi.. i made it to Torino.. and then on our tour of the italian rivera... when i get time i will post pictures and the details... gotta go to class!

me and kynan.... on antifighting day in venice

here is me and kynan on antifighting day in venice..... many weird things were seen and heard during our day... one that stuck with us was a mom and her 4 kids.. probably all under the age of 6... she said, "there is no fighting today. Today is antifighting day."

Venice... with my cousin Kynan

On Thursday, June 21, my cousin, Kynan, and I boarded a train to Venice. It only took about 2 hours... once we were there.. we walked and walked and walked and walked...up and down, up and down.... Venice is just like all teh pictures you see. and as my cousin, Michael, describes it, 'It's like Las Vegas.. you just have to go to see it once.' So here are some pictures....







Everything in Italy has been wonderful.... Michael and Cinzia have been very generous and took me to get my first real italian pizza and gelato.. all wonderful. kynan has been making me food which i will be very deprived of when i leave on monday. Monday i go to Torino, then on a 3 days Italian Riveria Tour and get to see Then i move into my housing on friday, with school starting monday. I will be going to Rome on the 7th with friends from Bilbao who will then come to visit me!! I will also hopefully be going to Nice and Florence sometime in the next 5-6 weeks. after August 3.. school is offically over.. maybe earlier for me since i dont have to take the final, and then its Europe!!! ahh.. where should i go? so many choices and only 15 days!


and of course i cant get away from PR stuff while i'm abroad... this ad drove me crazy everytime i saw it.. do me a favor and DONT HYPHENATE!

Leaving Spain

Wow... as i make my way to the metro station in Barcelona.. i had very mixed feelings about leaving. i was sad to leave all the friends i had made in the last 3-4 weeks. Yea, doesnt sound like a long time, but when you are pretty much forced to make friends.. sometimes they turn out to be very good friends... Like James and Katie who i went to Lisbao with... or Colt who i helped study for his final. Or laney, ashely and kim who, when stuck in a hotel room together, you bond very quickly. Preston of course will always be in my heart...He is my 'spanish-american' brother. My family in spain was wonderful and couldnt of asked for more!





Thank you to everyone in the USAC bilbao program... staff, students and my teacher Estela... i couldnt have made the memories myself. I love you guys!

Ok, so getting to the airport in barcelona wasnt easy.. the lady told me the wrong train, some spanish dude busts out his guitar and starts to sing....i finally get to the airport about 7:20 when my flight was at 7:30.. and turns out.. I'M AT THE WRONG AIRPORT!!!!! and little minutes left on my phone, so i booked another flight, called my mom, and got on the new flight at about 10 pm... the plane only had about 40 or so seats, and only 25 people on it... maybe it was worth getting to the wrong airport! oh well... i made it to italy!!!

Barcelona... June 16 - June 18

I know,I know... it has been a while... so here is my barcelona update.

Before leaving for Barcelona, we had to finish school. Since I am auditing, I didnt have to take the final exam on June 15. So, after my 2 other classmates finished their exams, our teacher Estela, took us to her home town of Durango, about 40 minutes from where we lived in Getxo.
Durango is a calm, peaceful and quiet town. Estela made us lunch... tortilla with potatoes, salad with pasta, fresh bread and spanish style fried rice with ham. All was delicious. We then went and had some coffee.. cafe con leche... no more iced vanilla lattes from starbucks for me... im boycotting starbucks in europe.. they only belong in the states.. and took too much money from me since the new drive thru opened in chico. Estela then took us to the mountains near by where we stopped to take pictures of the view and a hotel and restuarant. We had a great time!! Thank you Estela.. and come visit the states again.. only this time come to California.. dont worry I'll talk to Félix.


So, Friday, June 15th, we (Ashley, Laney, Kim and I) left for Barcelona at about 11:30 pm on the bus.
On Saturday, June 16th, we arrived in Barcelona around 7 am, dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went to see La Sagrada Familia. This catholic basilica which has been under construction for 100 years.. crazy!! anyways, the outside has alot of details, and inside is just a lot of scaffolding since it is still under construction. It will be neat to go back once it is finished (in the year 3000! haha) and see how it really came to life. The inside columns are made of different stone and meant to resemble trees with the burst at the tops like knots of a tree and then above that, the branches.
We went up in the evelator to the top of one of the towers... and saw the view... the people looked like ants!! There were 427 stairs that we then had to climb down, in a spiral.

After La Sagrada Familia, we checked into the hotel, took one of our last spainsh siestas, then went to find Las Ramblas and Colon. We walked in the wrong direction about three times, got to see some of the houses that Gaudi helped build and design and finally made it to see Colon. We decided to have some sangria at an outisde patio restuarant, and ran into some friends from Bilbao... but the waiter wouldnt let us just order drinks and appeitizers for 7 people.. so we got up, left and went to another bar where the sangria was really strong!! We ended up just hanging out that night and then went home and to bed.

Sunday, June 17th: Ashley had to leave us so she could fly to Rome. So, Laney, Kim and I went to Park Guell and the Olymipc Village area. Guell had purchased the land and Gaudi built on it. At the main gates are the houses of Hansel and Grettle,
then up the main path are a few founatins (the most famous is of a lizard.)
There are many arch ways which Gaudi built...

The olympic area wasnt very impressive.. but this thing was pretty cool lookin.
and so was the beach....


Later that day we met up with the guys form bilbao again... by the 'dirty fountain' this founatin was yellow, but the one next to it was white... something funky was going on... These are the guys from bilbao we met up with!

and had some more drinks!! we ended up going to the beach so i got to touch the Mediterrian Sea!!!!

Monday, June 18th: Laney and Kim left early in the morning to go back to Bilbao... so i was alone in Barcelona.. i got to people watch all day long! it was great! This is some of what i saw...






Durango and Barcelona are very cool and enjoyable. Hope you enjoyed them too!!