Barcelona, very good times!

So yes, blog #2 is SLOW in coming, no doubt. It's this city! I've never been someplace nearly so interesting with half as much character everywhere you look. And I'm living near tons of people I know and am part of a program that has constantly got some sort of surprise in store for us, so that's all adding up to a lot of interesting times.

I can't believe I last left off in London, but to pick back up, I didn't see much of the city outside of my hotel, Paddington Station (didn't get touristy and buy a bear there or anything...yet), and a couple places between Heathrow and Luton. Then I shot over to Madrid and got to see the Museo del Prado--lots of Diego Velazquez, this cool painting by Jose del Castillo (la pradera de San Isidro), tons of really great paintings and sculptures. Really enough to fill up maybe two full days or so but I only got to spend 3 or 4 hours or so. Sooo much more there to see. Anyway, I then made it over here to Barcelona and have let the good times continue from there.

Our whole program went to the island of Mallorca for 3 days of 'orientation,' where I got to see the cuevas del drach (some really cool cave systems with rivers flowing all throughout) and the Catedral de Mallorca, and a few other interesting spots. Gaudí was actually hired to direct a restoration of the cathedral so there's a quite distinctive portion of the interior that follows his ocean theme (seemingly somewhat out of place I thought, but cool nevertheless). Speaking of Gaudí, the only house that I have seen of his works here in Barcelona to date was the Casa Batlló. Amazing place, every room has more character than you could believe. Slats in the doorframes for airflow, a cozy little pod of a sitting place by an interior fireplace, swirling ceilings that look like whirlpools, and a skeleton-like outer wall facing the street. Just one of the many, of which I will try and see as many as humanly possible over the course of the next 6 weeks or so.

So as we speak I'm out the door, heading to Italy to see Florence and Rome for the next 3 days (just scratching the surface obviously). The Coliseum is right up there near the top of the list, but I won't give too many precursors. We'll see when I get back where the adventure takes me. I'm starting to settle in so expect updates plenty more often from here on in. I'm off to a slow start but I'll get it going next week.

Adiós!

Finally doing it!

I'm finally cranking out round 1, my first blog! I'm a little behind the times it seems, everyone has their daily two cents worth kicking around on the internet for all to see and here I've been keeping it all to myself. So I'm setting out to document some of my crazy travels of the next couple months in an attempt to keep you updated on just where exactly I might be and what I'm up to (assuming that I even know). Thus far it's been a fun list of cities seeing friends and family including Fort Wayne, Westfield/Fishers, Toledo/Sandusky (some freeeezing but fun Cedar Point action), then off to Chicago to start my journey towards Europe. I guess I hadn't bought gas in a while somehow or hadn't paid attention to the sudden rise, but all of a sudden I hit the road and found $3.49 to be the new low, occasionally getting teased by the "2.68!!" signs...oh wait, that's diesel. Jerks. I even kept driving until the gas light went on trying to find something cheaper. No such luck.

Anyway, that was definitely a lot of life for the week or so after leaving good 'ole Bloomington, and it kinda caught up with me on Monday when I could barely move (probably since I left any remnants of my immune system on a roller coaster somewhere at Cedar Point). Seriously, 45 and windy combined with going 80mph wearing short sleeves?? Not cool. After a short doctor visit today that ended in me needing to go on the BRATT diet (bananas, rice, apple sauce, tea & toast) and drink lots of gatorade, I find myself in the international terminal getting ready to board my flight in a couple minutes or so. SO--time to go, next stop: London!