Never Eat Chinese Food In Spain

So the "Eating of Chinese food in Spain" story will be told soon enough....but I'll start off from the beginning:



It all began at 6 in the morning. We made our way across the sleepy town of Oxford to the Coach stop (bus stop) and loaded the Coach. This began our four hour bus ride to the London airport. After arriving at the airport, we quickly checked in and made it to our flight. Flying RyanAir was very interesting. There were no reserved seats...everyone was pretty much for themselves as far as finding a seat. It would have been really easy to get separated from your family. Soon after my friends and I found seats next to one another...we noticed that there was still one person looking for a seat! It was a man dressed in Daisy Dukes, a stuffed bikini top, a huge blonde wig, and a cowboy hat. As he searched for a seat...he finally found one right behind us. The two, old men behind us reluctantly stood as the "man" said in a raspy voice, "Well, today is your LUCKY day!!" EVERYONE on the plane started laughing!! Finally, I turned around and asked him, "So what's the occasion?" haha...apparently his friends were throwing him a Stag Party. Stag parties are very similar to the bachelor parties that Americans throw for soon to be wed men. He told us that the theme of his Stag party was "Broke Back Mountain" and that he had no control over what his friends had chosen for him. There were 15 other men aboard that plane that were flying with him...but, of course, they were dressed perfectly normal. It was funny because he said his great friend had planned it. "Seems to me my friend has some sick fantasy!!" LOL We all started laughing. Mid-way through the flight, Ms. Cowboy went to the restroom and came back to his seat with the same outfit on but with a one piece suit instead. I joked with him and told him I preferred the two-piece bikini! HAHA.

Anywho...we arrived in Biarritz, France where we managed to get by with a few French phrases. We immediately jumped on a train and made our way to San Sebastian, Spain. After the train, we got on a rickity metro line that took us all the way to Spain. Along the way, we passed beautiful beaches with a mix of grafitti covered buildings. I found myself appreciating the beauty in everything we passed.

Soon enough, after about 12 hours of travel, we arrived in San Sebastian, Spain. After spitting out a little bit of pathetic French while in Biarritz, we had to change our thinking and remember some Spanish. Fortunately, (and very random, I might add) I knew more Spanish than I thought. After years of listening to my parents speak Spanish around me...and them teaching me a few phrases here and there...I found myself speaking a little bit here and there while in Spain. [This leads me to believe that after 3 years of taking German...if I were to go to Germany, I would more likely than not be able to hold my own.] Everything in San Sebastian, Spain was absolutely beautiful from the moment we stepped off the metro. I could smell the freshness of the air and see the beauty in the perfectly architected buildings that lined the streets. Around every corner were cute, little boutiques and street vendors. San Sebastian was a ritsy, beachtown...it was kind of neat. Luckily we would be staying in a hostel...

We FINALLY found our hostel after forever of searching (okay, we didn't really search that long but after 12 hours of traveling...you're ready to SIT DOWN! haha) Little did we know that our hostel was located in a gorgeous little apartment right the thick of downtown. We found our location, pressed the button and the lady in charge buzzed us in. From the beginning, I was impressed by the location and cleanliness of the place. We walked in and were greeted by two Spanish women. They immediately brought us to our private three bed room. It was pretty cute and comfortable. We even had our own little balconey to overlook the downtown and the city. After settling in, the lady in charge took us into the common area and told us everything we would need to know about San Sebastian. She took out a map and told us where EVERYTHING was...it was awesome. She was just so helpful. She also informed us that breakfast would be provided every single morning (you know I was extra excited haha)! After chillaxin for about 25 minutes...we decided to check out our surroundings.

It was like staying on some magical beach resort as we walked through downtown to the beach. The beach was BEAUTIFUL, and although the water was a bit chilly it didn't even matter! There were men playing violins...it was a scene from a movie. My downfall (which I didnt know initially) would soon be the gelato icecream that was strategically placed around every single corner. That night, my friends announced that they wanted to "lay out" all day in hopes of receiving tans. I gave them blank stares and then we all laughed. I mean seriously...what do I look like? I REALLY need a tan, huh? haha Pretty much, the goal for the next day was going to be to completely relax and throw caution to the wind. That is exactly what we did!

The next day, we headed to the beach to just relax and play in the water (and apparently to get tans...for some). LITTLE DID WE KNOW that the beach was a nude beach. hahaha...luckily no one was completely nude and thank God we did not see any men...but it was very common for women to sunbathe topless. Clearly this was perfectly fine in their culture...families didn't mind and men paid no attention. It was pretty obvious who the ourist were...especially male tourist because they would gawk and point. Call me mean...I DON'T CARE, it is never okay for morbidly obese grandma to go sun bathing (topless) in public! Unfortunately, my poor, defenseless eyes have been scarred for life!! haha Anyways, we ate Bocadillos [pronounced bo-cah-dee-yohs] on the beach for lunch...which were very similar to baguettes (a really big, tasty sandwich for you non-travelers :] ). They were massive and completely fulfilling.

That night, we decided we were going to try to find a place to go dancing. Seriously, how fun would it be to go dancing in Spain? We had no idea that the partying did not begin until 2 AM!!!! Instead, we watched the teenagers as they prepared for the night to come...it was a lil something like this:

Hundreds of teenagers sat in groups of about five or more along the beach. As they revved up for the night to come, they had HUGE containers of alcohol and Coke and other alcoholic beverages...and they passed them around to one another. It was an amazing site...something I had never seen in my life. Most of the kids I saw could not have been older than 16/17. It was CRAZY. The police just watched them nearby. The teens were waiting for the HUGE DISCO to open up...the disco was located under the pier-like walking platform right next to the beach. In the end, we ended up looking for a smaller place to go dancing. On our quest, we walked down a street and heard amazingly, loud dance music. We got excited and immediately headed to the building with loud music. The closer we got to the door, the more confused I became. I looked on the dance floor and no one was on it at all. I looked to my friends and voiced my concern, "Umm, there is absolutely no one on the dance floor..." " THATS A POLE, NOT A DANCE FLOOR!!!!" my friend exclaimed!! We screamed and began laughing hysterically as we literally RAN from the location!!! It was hilarious!!! FINALLY, after all the commotion...we found an innocent, wholesome place to hang out...It was a more chill atmosphere but still fun. We were so tired that we eventually just headed back to our hostel! It was still a memorable and fun night.

Our last night in Spain was also pretty memorable. We had decided to find a place with authentic Spanish food. As we searched, we realized that we were never going to be satisfied with the seafood that neither of us wanted. Spainish food is completely different from Mexican food...it really lacks the zestiness that Mexican food is known for!! Eventually (and this was after about an hour of searching for food...anyone who knows me knows that I don't play when it comes to food. When I'm hungry, Im going to need to eat haha) we stumbled across a Chinese resturaunt. The menu just looked amazing and cheap (such a great combination!). We pretty much ran inside as our salivary glands worked double time! I hungrily stared at our waitress and snatched the menu from our waitress haha, yeah, I was THAT hungry. After our waitress lethargically made her way over to us... we told her exactly what we wanted. After what seemed like hours, she brought our food over to us. I simply ordered Sesame Chicken (no need to change it up and try to get fancy. I just wanted to stick to what I knew.) My friend also ordered the same exact thing as me and we were ultra excited! The food looked so tasty and perfect until I stuck my fork into the meat and brought it up to my mouth. My nose flared in disgust as I smelled something that was not even close to resembling the smell of the sesame chicken I was use to eating. I worked up the nerve to actually try it because I was starving!! I have to tell you that it was one of the most disgusting things I had eaten...seriously! I tried to force myself to eat it...until I looked over at my friend Rachel who was refusing to even touch it!! haha...she soon proclaimed that she would be eating at McDonald's that night!!!! I almost cried from frustration and sickness because I was THAT hungry and angry haha. I felt bad because I didn't want to be rude and disrespectful but as cool as it may sound...I just didn't want to die in Spain from food poisoning!! Moral of the story: NEVER EVER EVER EVER EAT CHINESE FOOD IN SPAIN!....did I mention NEVER! No matter how tempting or cheap...the risk just isnt worth it! Mc Donald's french fries just never sounded so amazing or tasted so devine! My dinner that night was frenchfries and gelato icecream! I annihilated both without any thought. Mc Donald's became my comfort food...oh, home sweet home! :(

The next morning, we headed home...overall Spain was amazing!! So many memorable moments :) I loved Spain and I hope to return one day.

SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN! ((Pictures))

I'm just going to post my pictures for this post...I'll write about my experiences later. I'm currently in the middle of finishing up my marketing research project for A.C. Neilsen...its a huge group project. We collected data about consumer purchasing behavior of soda in England. We were suppose to get the root of why consumers buy soda and what spurs their purchase...whether it be an impulse buy or whatever. Anyways...we collected over 200 surveys and now we are analyzing the results. ANYWAYS...Hope you enjoy the pictures. :)

~Jazz

I'm FINALLY Back...

The Eye of London

Big Ben

Metro System called "Underground"

Other side of Big Ben

Looking up

Yay for looking extra shiny haha
Oh well

Inside Lloyds of London

Sorry its taken me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to post another post. Good thing is that just mean you're in for double the dosage. haha

First off, last Wednesday our study abroad group went to London to visit Lloyds of London. Its a market place for brokers to sell different types of risks to a myriad of insurance companies. Its amazing! Professional athletes can even buy insurance to cover specific body parts...or an opera singer can get their vocal cords covered! Its pretty interesting! We went on a tour of the place...I enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we took the metro to different parts of the city. First, we stopped at Big Ben and Westminister Abbey. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay in London long enough to see all of the big sites (we plan on returning for a day trip this Saturday!!). Next, we HAD to make a stop at Harrods, the biggest department store in the world!!! We got through like a fourth of a fourth of a fourth of that place haha. IT WAS SO HUGE! It reminded me of something that would come out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...no lie. Every brand you could ever imagine...ever!!! It would take someone an entire day to get through it...maybe even two days.

My favorite part of the entire trip was seeing the Broadway show WICKED in London. Words can never thoroughly explain how I felt about this show. I've seen The Lion King before...and to me, this show was on the same level as that!!!! It might even be ranked slightly above...the storyline was twisted, crazy, music was amazing, choreography was out of this world, and the costumes were great as well. The music was just breathtaking...at this very moment...you can hear me singing the lyrics to "Defying Gravity" (one of the songs in the musical)!!! I would see that musical again in a heartbeat!

The train ride up and back to and from London was great. I also thought the metro system was pretty neat, too...I wish we had transit systems like that throughout America! I enjoyed London; however, while there I felt rushed because it was a class excursion...I can't wait to go back :)

1st Weekend in Oxford: Random Funny Happenings

To be honest with you I was pretty excited to just stay in Oxford this past weekend rather than travel to another country. There were many groups of students that chose to go to Ireland and other places...but my roommate and I decided to stay in Oxford and see what this little town had to offer.



Friday:

It was so relaxing to just SLEEP IN!!! I'm not even kidding! The day before we had had class from 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening with lil mini breaks in between...I promise you I was dying. Slowly and painfully. haha We had to arrange classes that way because we were going to get all of Friday off. I've come to the conclusion that I CANNOT and WILL NOT sit in one place for that long EVER again. The only way I will be okay with that happening is if I'm held at gunpoint...then I guess I'll be okay with it (guess I wouldn't have a choice at that point haha). Imagine staring at formulas like: n= (t*s)/ME^2 OR t-calc=(xbar-null) / (s/sqrt(n)) for hours upon hours lol. Every now and then my teacher would crack a corny joke...and me being me...I would laugh entirely too hard. I went to sleep early Friday...and I had no shame about it. My roommate did too. It was great because I slept the night and following morning away haha :) Talk about beauty sleep!!



Saturday:

After sleeping in til almost 11am, my roommate and I walked like 2.5 miles to Oxford's downtown. The previous weekend we had been in France so it was cool to be able to see how Oxford was on the weekend. It was just like any other huge city's downtown: street vendors, performers, free giveaways, and promotional events. It was so fun! Although I didn't buy anything, we walked into virtually every store! I've found that I really love the European style! In Oxford, it seems like everyone is so fashionable...of course its just a norm for them! Downtown, they also had a covered market. It was in this covered market that we discovered a fruit that neither of us had ever seen...they were called gooseberries!!! They looked like miniture watermelons/grapes and they were furry! The man selling them laughed at us as we gawked over the wierd looking fruit. "Why don't you just give them a try?" he called out to us...so we did!! They were so interesting. They were slightly crunchy and every bit sour, in my opinion. I didn't too much care for them...but Rachel seemed to enjoy them.



Later, we walked back to our house to change clothes and shoes before heading to the grocery store. We weren't sure when the grocery store closed...and we weren't so willing to just casually walk to the store (considering it is like for ever and many, many days to get to it!). We decided that we would ask someone along the way. We saw an old man on the way...so we decided to stop and ask him. He was standing outside of a restraunt and he didn't look very busy at all. As we stopped to ask him, he smiled at us (what a friendly old man I thought). So after we ask him...I guess he wanted to "chat" :( First he grabbed both of our hands and asked us where we were from. haha...then he randomly says "EBONY AND IVORY!" haha My friend Rachel and I just stare at each other and tried to leave without being rude. After that awkward moment, he asks us what our names are. After I told him mine, he says : "Oh your name is just like a flower!!" Then he leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek! GROSS! I don't care how old you are...that is NOT okay! Finally we were able to get away...but I have been scarred for life haha.

Sunday
Sunday was pretty relaxed. For our marketing research project for Nielsen, we have to interview people and collect data related to fizzy drinks (soda). Rachel and I decided to head to the park because so many people hang out at the parks on the weekends. After interviewing many college students and families...we realized that we needed to interview older men. We approached two older men and proceeded with our :"Hey sorry to bother you...we were wondering if you would be willing to fill out a short survey for our class..." One of the men responded with an extra zealous, "BUT OF COURSE...COME OVER!!" He grabbed my survey and pulled out of his pocket this wierd stuff and plopped it on top of my precious survey.
"Where are you two from??" he asked us. "Oh, Texas..." I could tell something was up...I just pick on to things quickly...sometimes. "Oh, well I'm sure they have weed in Texas but nothing's better than Oxford weed!!"

SERIOUSLY???? WHY DO THESE THINGS SEEM TO HAPPEN TO ME?? haha I immediately made up a lie..."Uh, well, we have to get 60 more surveys within the next 30 minutes so we'll have to just come back!!!" We didn't even look back as we pretty much RAN away!!! How crazy is that???

What an interesting weekend we had in Oxford! Despite the creepy men...I'd say we had a pretty good time :)

My next post will be about SPAIN...woohhooooo We will be taking two trains and a plane to get to SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN :) Wish us luck.

~Jazz

Remembering D Day/ Beaches of Normandy (Pictures)

Normandy, France

D Day Memorial in Normandy

I thought this was so neat

Albert Einstein warning President Roosevelt about the new "radium-like elements" that were being developed

The bad little kids looking down on us from the upper level lol

Beaches of Normandy

Omaha Beach: very emotional being on that beach. There were no seagulls, no seashells, no real signs of life. A lot of people died on that beach and it was very eerie standing on it.

Barricades that the Germans had built deep in the earth during DDay.

Broader view of barricades