Lasting Memories

Lasting Memories will be my last blog post abroad.

I just wanted to take the time to thanks those who have allowed me to come here, those who helped me get here, and those who made this place unforgettable! So this post is for my Coach Enzo and teammates who push me to be a better player and person, Sami Sonks from UW-Platt Abroad, The Chipres family (directors of SAIIE), my host mother Charo and her family for every excellent meal and all they do, my teachers, the whole SAIIE staff, my coach Javi and my teammates from Triana, my peers who i've had a blast getting to know and explore our world with, and most importantly my family and roommate Cesar, without my family I would not have been able to have this chance to play soccer, study abroad, and travel through Europe. To my roommate Cesar, without you I know for a fact this semester could have gone upside down. From our first day, where I knew no Spanish and couldn't communicate with my host mom, to all of our practices helping me understand how drills go and what not, while at the same time teaching me bits of Spanish all semester, always answering my question how do you say "..." or what does "..." mean. You even helped me order food, I mean like common I would have starved without you G. You helped make every adventure great wether we were at Utopia type festivities or across the world. #softpost.

In my life I have now lost two teammates to death, I feel that if i'm taken too early as well, I could die a happy man who lived life. It was an honor to know you guys, see you when I see you Patty and Glynn.

I won't ever forget this place and the friends i've made hopefully I will be able to see you all in the states again or on another Adventures!

Fería

We started our 2nd Spring break two weeks after Semana Santa to celebrate the Festival in Sevilla, but before we hit the fair we visited Málaga and went to the beach for the weekend. In Malaga we found a Taco Bell! It was surprising because there are none in Sevilla. One thing I miss back home was some spicy food. The beach was fun, Cesar and I played so footy and laid out in the sun. We arrived back in Sevilla only to go to Madrid to watch the Real Madrid play against Wolfsburg in the Quarter finals of the Champions League. Madrid was losing 0-2 aggregate from the first leg game (each team gets to play a game at home). In the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, 

Ronaldo scored a big Hat Trick to seal the game 3-0 making Real win the quarter final with a 3-2 aggregate lead, advancing them to the semi- finals. Cesar was really excited as the team he supports advanced, but I went to the game hoping Real would win the match, but lose the aggregate score. All in all as a fan of futbol, you can’t watch that game without still loving it no matter whose team you support. I also got to see another friend from back home who studies in Madrid. We got another taco bell in Madrid as well haha. Volvemos a Sevilla por la Fería!(We return to Sevilla for the fair). We went to the fair for the next couple of days and got jarras de rebujitos which was white wine and sprite, a special drink for the fair. The were also carnival rides and other types of rollercoasters/ rides. We spent our last couple of days relaxing and we watched a corrida de torros (running of the bulls). The tradition of bull fights during the fair is very important to the spaniard and i'm glad that I was able to see one, but I could go the rest of my life without watching a bull die again. 

4/20/16

Semana Santa

Now that I'm blogging again, i'll try to be more frequent on writing, well just at least till the end of my semester. Well we had our first Spring break called Semana Santa which is like easter for us back home. Cesar and I traveled to Rome, Italy initially. We are obviously very organized and always plan ahead haha, but we didn't book any hotels. SO the first night we were there, luckily some of our peers went to Rome as well and we were able to crash on their floor. That night we all went out to explore the city and We saw the Trevvi Fountain, The Pantheon
we had pizza in rome cuz ya know

The next morning we had a train to florence and we spent the night there, so we found a cheap hostel and hit the plaza with statue of david.

the next morning we went to venice and just walked around, to save some money we booked an over night train back to rome. That day we were able to see the collessium and the sistine chapel in the vadikin city. I wish were were able to see the basillica, but time only had 24 hours in the day. Luckily for me I have been there once before.

That next morning we had a flight to Athens and walked up to the acropolis, unfortuantly we weren't able to access the top as it was closed that day :( and we had a flight booked already back to rome that night. #sorrymom, If I told you we allegedly hopped a fence and tried to climb to the top, got a cool view briefly before getting caught... before we went to jail, haha, we were able to talk our way out of it, ya know being tourists and all. Remember all this is alleged. After that we ran to grab some beers.

Our flight back home was late at night and we were meeting the bros early in the morning at the airport to catch our next adventure in Paris, France, so the only obvious choice was to pay for a hotel to catch some sleep for less than 4 hours or to sleep on the streets outside the airport till 4 ish in the morning for check-in. So I was homeless for a night no bigggy we still got 6 hours in France.

In Paris we had just enough time to see the Eiffel tower and grab some chocolate and banana crepes, I did however forget to get a beer from France, which makes it the only country I visited and didn't try their loggers. Then back to Sevilla for Semana Santa parade floats and easter.
4/19/16

Matches or Partidos

The big thing in Spain is that there are many great futbal clubs and major matches that i've always wanted to see live. Luckily for me I've been able to watch Sevilla FC verses Molde FK; Real Betis vs Rayo OKC and Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg. I hope to be able to watch Real Betis vs FC Barcelona (My team is Barca) We tried to visit Barcelona for El Clasico, but ticket weren't available.