28 March 2008

Obama Takes Time to Enjoy the View

Photobucket
My favorite presidential hopeful, Barack Obama stopped by my favorite estrogen fest, The View.

Pre-serious talk:

--Barbara Walters chose pantyhose that made her legs look darker than Sherri's exposed legs
--Elisabeth Hasselbeck looked uncomfortable and silent
--Joy called Barbara old

Serious talk:

--Racism chit-chat straight off the bat
--Specifically, Obama talkin' about his preacher
--Elisabeth comes out as a republican?!
--Obama does not purchase every DVD that his church puts out (illegal downloading maybe??)

While watching I came up with a fun drinking game:

Take a sip of coffee (from your brand new spring-edition View mug) every time one of the following happens:

--Obama says 'America'
--Barbara makes an intense concentrating face
--Whoopi says "no child"
--Sherri talks about sex with her ex-husband
--Joy mentions something completely off-topic / something about her Italian heritage
--Elisabeth declares herself Republican (in her defense, she is always immaculately dressed)

During the commercial break, a cute commercial for 'bladder weakness protection pads' came on. Reminds me of a few "close-calls" on the road. Also, a humorous commercial for hot pockets where the one guy's mom says no junk food but he has stocked up his cart with hot pockets. It's okay though because they are made with real cheese and 0g trans fat.

First three things Obama will do as president:

1. Get a meeting together to discuss how to responsibly and honorarily get out of Iraq
2. Put forth legislation that will give every American health care
3. Fix the energy prices

First three things he will probably do:

1. Fix his tie
2. Do that thing where you stand in the center of a newly acquired room (be it dorm, freshly cleaned bedroom, or house) and you put your hands in your pocket, looked around, smile, and breathe deep.
3. Light a Yankee Candle brand candle (Home Sweet Home or Autumn Harvest) to get rid of that Bush smell

More Obama fun:

"Skinny but tough" -- New bumper sticker for Obama (and MySpace headlines for years to come)
--No spouses in the Whitehouse (we're electing A president, not a couple of empty-nesters.

Commercial break where I discovered that Jennifer Galbraith's prediction about genie pants came true:

I bought acid wash, will I invest in these?? Nope. I love tapered pants, but not in soft sweatpant material with an elastic waistband and a weird pooch.

***NEWSFLASH*** Sherri Shepherd has changed her own VIEW and is now voting for Obama. My guess is that Chelsea Clinton will be making a phone call any second.

--Elisabeth handled a jab at John McCain with grace and poise.
--Do I secretly have a strange masochistic crush on Ms. Hasselbeck?
--Sherri said "You gonna be in trouble Barbara!" when Obama mentions getting rid of Bush's tax cuts for the rich

"Barbara Walters: Richer than God? The Life and Times of My Guest Appearances on Everybody Love's Raymond, by Sherri Shepherd"

Joy was uncharacteristically silent... what's up Joy?? Where's that Sicilian sass that makes me laugh, and my nana's eyes roll.

And that was the show!

Marvelous.

Did you enjoy it?

Was it the best episode ever?

Even better than the time Kathy Griffin co-hosted? Or the time Alicia Silverstone snubbed E. HasselB?

How different do you think it would have been if Rosie O'Donnell had been on?

Yeah you're right, probably a lot more gay stuff. Or at least one thing about broadway.

Please direct all comments, love, praises, raves, hate-mail, and tuna melt subs to Star Jones PO Box 42069 Crime TV Ave, New York NY, 19122.

No Nasties: First to blog to blog about Obama's apperance on the View and the genie pants renaissance in the same post.

27 March 2008

Greetings from Genesis


I was so productive today that I had zero time to think of something clever to blog about. Instead, here is a photo of the three-year old we lived with in Barcelona.

Everything you are assuming from the photo is probably true.

ADIOS.

26 March 2008

No Nasties Presents No Nasties

Yes that's right. This Sunday I will be the guest DJ at my favorite place, the Barbary. Hopefully if you sleep all day, you'll be able to recover from the previous night ( aka LIVE FOREVER ) and come out and see me at around 10:30.

I'll be playing some of my perennial party phavorites so it will be a good time for sure.

Come on come on.

25 March 2008

Something Clever about Odysseus

Departing from my usual jokes and comedy routine known as "No Nasties" daily postings, I would like to share an interesting article about Starbucks and its impending doom.

La Nouvelle Vague de le Cafe.

Which has me torn between my two careers, one as a server at a vegan, fair-trade, local-farm supporting, and organic restaurant where I do not get paid hourly but instead earn my wages by being charming, witty, and helpful to my environmentally and socially conscious patrons AND my other job as a corporate sell-out where I receive $10+ hawking over-priced, high-fructose corn syruped, more-calories-than-you-need-for-one-day espresso-based drinks to a medley of various types of people*.

Also, I suppose being super left of center requires one to be super serious a lot of the time, I cannot help but think that AdBusters could benefit from a few humorous things here and there. I'm just saying! Who do you like more, the comic relief stylings and Italian sass of Joy Behar or the no-nonsense repertoire of Miss. Facts Hasselbeck?

Exactly.

Enjoy!


Life-long liberal (and comedienne) Joy Behar with the original ~*Star Jones*~ taking time to enjoy the view in the Hamptonz.


***Oh and also, do not get me wrong, Starbucks may do some crappy things and embody most bad things about globalization, but it isn't that of a corporation in comparison to some other places (Wal-Mart, le MacDo, Proctor and Gamble, etc.). The pay is well, they take good care of their employees, 80% of our customers are really nice, and they do give (a little) back to the communities like Philly.

24 March 2008

As AdBusters Wept


While visiting my favorite place, the internet, I stumbled upon a fun little quiz.

The AOL Corporate Logo Quiz

What does it mean if you get 20 out of 20 correct?

That you are the victim of the advertising world?

Big corporations are controlling our lives and inundating us with whatever information they want us to receive?

That you are 90% of America and stay true to brand loyalty?

That you are a Chinese person who cannot recognize the cross but can spot a McDonald's arch from twenty miles away?

Or more than likely it means the girl who went to all day vo-tech and sat in front of you in homeroom had a lower back tattoo of the Playboy bunny and to this day you recognize every curve.

Either way,

Advertising is bad for you.

22 March 2008

YELLE if You Want Some More

Okay.

So this artist is not super fresh, but ever since seeing her at Razzmatazz, I cannot stop listening to YELLE.



She made a brand new video for her song "Je Veux Te Voir".

I believe the first video came out last May. While this new has lost its karaoke appeal, I still love it.

Also, as a special bonus gift, I'll give you "Ce Jeu" which has been on repeat for hours.

Yelle -- Ce Jeu

20 March 2008

Departure Day Deux


Sleeping Sitch. Taken from Jen's MySpace which was taken from Max's camera. (FISHEYE!!!)

This is lifted from my super action adventure journal:

Departure days are always the worst and today was no exception! Our "early" start was barely sufficient. The train took forever. While waiting for the train, I was getting a little gamey so I thought I'd freshen up with some deodorant. I blindly reached into my luggage followed by my toiletry kit but WOOPS, I felt something painful, like a wasp sting or something.

It was, however, my four bladed razor. Turns out the cap came off. So that took a huge chunk out of my thumb and I'm bleeding all over the place. Lucky there was a station guard that I ran over to and said "TIENES UNA SERVILLETA?!" I didn't know the word for tissue, so I just asked for a napkin. Luckily, showing my blood-drenched hands translates well into any language for help. He gave me every single tissue he owned and then I sat on my luggage and pouted.

The airport was not bad. We didn't have to wait long but the terminal was really small and cold.

Airplane List:

--Last Vegetarian meal (chang chang! pesto pasta)
--Pizza party later on
--Mid-flight ice cream break
--People thinking I'm Spanish
--iPod death
--Hot tea
--Cranapple juice
--August Rush
--Nausea (perhaps caused by August Rush)
--Enchanted
--Elizabeth the Golden Age
--First class cookies
--Pesto

After the flight, I thought we would have to wait in the long line for passports BUT we got to go to the way shorter U.S. citizen passport entrance. God Bless America! Then I got my luggage and said goodbye to Jen and Yasmin because my plane was departing in a half hour. The security check was really long as well and I was stressin'.

Good thing my flight was delayed.

I wish I would have written in my journal from the beginning but oh well.

NO REGRETS SPRING BREAK 08!!!
(official slogan which came in handy now and then)

Plus I blogged everyday. I miss the city and the food and basically everything. Except maybe the sleeping situation and Genesis coughing on everyone.

I can't wait to see the pohotos taken by Max, Yasmin, and Jimmy. They're gonna be great. Max has HQ shots and fantastic group shots. Yasmin has some good gems from various events. And Jimmy was the only one to take photos at RAZZMATAZZ.

So yeah, fantastic trip.

Leah and Dani were waiting for me at the baggage claim and later I went out with two of my VURRY best friends Claire and Kristina. Came back to my room that's the size of THREE of the Barcey bedrooms and I got to sleep in a real bed and I passed the heck out.

I still haven't unpacked and I still need to upload photos.

Which will hopefully be the next post.

Ciao!

18 March 2008

Bye Bye Barcey

Well today was my last day of vacation and fun in Barcelona. It was low-key but really nice.

I'm just going to copy what I wrote in my Barcelona Journal that I got at Dick Blick for $1.00.

On my last full day, Jen, Max, Yasmin and I unsuccessfully tried to scale this really tall mountain. We even waited for the trolley but he told it was closed.

We still trekked upwards but some people told us the "mountain resort" was "cerrado".

Beforehand, we went to a vegetarian buffet that Max discovered. The owner was super nice and the food was super delicious.

I had two peices of eggplant lasagna, two flans, two double espressos, three falafel-esque balls, and a myriad of other delicious things. Oh, and a Earl Grey (my favorite Earl next to Earl of Sandwich and the seventh Earl of Cardigan).

Later, Yasmin went to meet up with Jimmy and we explored a ghetto park that had the sound of a kennel all throughout.

We later went to La Rambla and stalked this couple that I liked but we lost them. Funny enough, two hours later I was searching for this nice shopping district and I found them sitting in a restaurant in the area that we lost them. Weird! (especially on my part).

Jen and Max headed home and I decided to stay out in the city. I had to go to the bathroom so I fled to the McDonalds (Starbucks was closed). Nobody was in there when I went in and then it filled up with like 30 German teens. Grossie.

Also, most of the bathrooms here have a common room and then separate stalls for women and men. It's awkward sometimes.

I wrote this in a square courtyard type of deal. Last night we went to two bars and a tango club.
The club was nights! We had to ring this buzzer for this apartment building, and then we were buzzed in and walked up some flights of stairs. A bouncer greeted us at this one door and let us into an apartment that was converted into a club with a dance room, a bar, and a pool table. It was crazyyy.

Later, we sat outside a mean bar and hung out with three Italians and two teenagers from PA.

It was a grreat trip, but I am basically ready to come back to Philly now.

Also, I do not know what to blog about anymore.

Nice!

Ten hour plane ride ahoy.

17 March 2008

Solo (or Doppio)

Today was another neat day.

I slept fantastically!

Woke up and walked around the city for a really long time all on my own.

Other kids were skating, other kids were sleeping, and then other kids were on a date at the aquarium so I opted to explore.

Saw lots of neat stuff and I should have bought souvenirs, but I did not.

Hopefully tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the last DAY since Wednesday we need to leave the apartment by 7:00 or so.

I am currently "skipping" classes only not really because I told all my professors and made up the work.

Some differences I have noticed between Spaniards and Americans:

--Mullets are completely acceptable in Spain (and not just by hipsters and white trash!)
--Shoes are really weird (yet still better than Sketchers)
--Entire aisles are dedicated to canned olives and olive oil yet there is not a bag of pretzels in sight
--You can go to the bathroom in ATM rooms (but it's probably not very acceptable)
--You cannot buy just a regular 'drip coffee' anywhere
--Falafel EVERYWHERE
--Barcelona teens know how to party
--The emphasis on bread
--The emphasis on newspaper reading
--The emphasis on staring
--The emphasis on the accent

Etc. etc.

Hopefully tomorrow will be jam packed with adventures.

16 March 2008

Razzmatazz: A True Barcelona Experience


Okay.

Last night was probably top ten greatest nights of my life.

Perhaps top 3!

The night began with a little nap and resting up.

Jen and Max were already out and Team One had already left so Team Two (which I was a memeber of) headed on out around 12:45 a.m. to go to Razzmatazz.

The metro ride was marred with urges to urinate. We were two stops away from our destination when the train was stopped and the doors just kept opening up at the stop. Very frustrating. Eventually we all had to get off and police came in and searched it up and down. This potential terrorist threat could have been the end of our night right there, but it wasn't.

We peed on the side of the subway thing in a hidden alcove while some German guy jumped down into the tracks to pee. Talk about insanity already!

Eventually another train came and it was filled to the brim with teens. We got on and everyone was singing and dancing and moving all around. Every single car on the train was jam-packed. We finally got to the stop and everyone just RAN out while maintaining the aforementioned singing and dancing. About 20 people crammed into the elevator and the escalator broke because of the all the people on it. As we came out of the metro, we ran mass exodus style towards Razzmatazz.

There must have been 500 people leaving that metro, no jokes. We waited in line and it went really quickly. I was awkwardly carded but it felt good to have real ID for once and be able to get in somewhere.

So I paid my 15 euros (totally worth it as I'll explain in a breakdown later) and then Max showed us all around the place. There was a gigantic huge room that was about the size of a standard high school gym and then several other rooms connected off the sides, each with different music.
There was only one other good room that was playing allllll my favorite 80's songs and even some newer pop stuff that was damn good.

Musical Highlights:

--The Teenagers
--Vampire Weekend
--Such Great Heights (the crowd went crazy for this one!)
--Blue Monday mash-up with some other crazy song I can't think of
--MoTown hits
--Hit Me Baby One More Time
--Walk Like an Egyptian

And of course a thousand more.

Also, I caught a little bit of the Raveonettes in the front room. I had no idea they would even be there.

By this time, everyone was pretty much separated so I headed down to the main room to see YELLE.

Her show was incredible! She played every hit and even some of the remixes of her songs. It was so good and everybody was dancing.

After Yelle, everything kind of fused together.

I used my free drink ticket and got a really delicious drink that was rather large for being free.

I mainly stayed in the front room with the eighties hits. People were sleazin' all over the place and giving me the sleazy eyes.

Oh and also, I don't know where all these hipsters came from because I did see one of them while walking the streets of Barcelona. It was crazy.

Some quotes from last night:

"Oh hey, I'm going to see if I can make out with someone, I'll seeya later" -- A friend after briefly seeing her for ten seconds.

"Tienes cocaina?" -- Some kid asking me as I walked the halls.

"Well... I don't know if we'll ever see each other again..."
"Probably not, byee!" -- An exchange

"Pennsylvania!" -- A nick-name I received from kids.

So yes. Lots of dancing, sweating, singing, moving, scavaging, walking, etc. etc.

There were a lot of photos taken so hopefully I can scour the internet for some.

Eventually it ended and I walked outside only to be stunned by the fact that the sun was up.

Another gigantic crowd was flowing towards the metro. There were also lots of people passed out on the street and lookin' miserable.

While waiting for my friends, a group of Spanish teens who were standing next to me, were whispering about me and eventually came over to talk. They were interesting and we laughed a lot but it was time for BED.

The worst part was, Commeh and I did not have a key so we had to wait outside in the hopes that someone would open the front door BUT nobody did. I had to pick the lock (thanks for teaching me that mom!) and we got in.

I basically slept on the floor because there was only one sleeping bag but who cares.

Last night was so zany.

Ticket breakdown:

15 Euros

-5 to see Yelle
-5 for drink
-4 to see Raveonettes
-1 for sleazing and dancing and drinking legally in Europe.

I'm pretty much set to go home now.

This night was chocolate in the croissant!

15 March 2008

You'll Need That Espresso For Later

It's the weekend and you know what that means!

Going out.

En la moda de Barcelona.

That may or may not be correct.

Either way, today Yasmin and I had to go and exchange money BUT the bank was closed and someone went number 2 in the ATM room. NICE.

After that, I made breakfast and everyone left to go skating.

Yasmin and I headed out to the area around the Picasso museum and drank espresso and ate chocolate croissants (I left my veganism in Philly, sorry!).

Aside from a homeless man begging for change and a lady with a beard who needed "un euro por un cafe!!!" the sit was well enjoyable.

Afterwards we walked and walked and walked. I had to use the bathroom so I went into Starbucks. I may have mentioned this before, but there is seriously NO place to get drip coffee besides Starbuck. Not even "Dunkin Coffee" (Spanish version of Dunkin' D) sells it. Aye di mio. Oh well. The espresso was delicious.

After I used the bathroom there was a HUGE protest for the rights of places like Tibet, Palestine, and Ghana. There were more, but we only caught the tail-end of it. It even ended up on Spanish tv!

We came home and bought some food and necessities for tonight's events and cooked up some fantastic dinner.

Miguel (the owner of the place) had friends over and I may or may not have been tricked into eating fish. Let us pray that it did not happen.

Now people are napping and I am on the computer getting ready to go to RAZZMATAZZ. I cannot remember if I wrote about this before but it's basically a gigantic dance party and there are tons of different rooms and finally, Yelle will be performing.

Should be a good time for sure, and if I survive, I cannot wait to write about it.

Ciao!

14 March 2008

Pablo WHO?

Another late start today.

We spent the entire day at the Picasso museum which turned out to be in some abandoned mansion or something. It was nuts. None of his most famous paintings were there but it was definitely interesting.

At the end, we lost Yasmin, Jimmy, and Dave near the end soo we waited around for a long time and eventually gave up. The vintage stores are crazy expensive around there but I would like to have every single thing in my closet.

Afterwards I made a big dinner and now about a hundred of us are hanging out a 4x8 room.

Nice!

Friday night party time.

13 March 2008

Industrial Skating and Beach Recklessness

Hullo hullo.

Well today is day five.

This day got off to a slow and long start. I do not even think I got bread.

We rode the metro for a looong time to the middle of nowhere. There were tons of industrial buildings and a giant mall.

Everyone was going skating so I just walked around and tried to exchange my money but no dice.

After 3,000 retries, we headed on out to get some donner. A donner is this middle-eastern type of place that sells weird meat AND falafel. It is nowhere near as good as Maoz, but jeeze louise, cheapest food prices I have seen in awhile and the portions were gigantic.

Later I fell asleep at like 7 at night which sucked but then we headed out to the beach.

My toes were chilly but then we hiked up this giant lifeguard post and it was sketchy. There was also this really tall rope tower thing on the beach for people to climb and I'm sure the death toll is up to 50+.

I had a dream that I came home last night so it was weird when I woke up here. Oh and Commeh came back so I have to sleep on the floor now. Boo.

Jimmy also came back from Amsterdam with some good stories and a limp.

This weekend should be really good!

I'll keep you posted.

12 March 2008

Hedge Maze: Or the Day I Almost Believed in God

Well well well!

Day Three esta aqui.

And what a day.

Started off with the normal trip for a baguette and then I had a delicious bowl of cereal and some bread with banana and nutella.

Yasmin's luggage was at the airport so she and Ans headed off there.

We waited for them for about three hours.

We'll just pretend that was a siesta rather than being super lazy.

Eventually Yasmin returned triumphantly with her bags and we headed on our way out.

After a metro ride in which some were aided by 40s, we arrived at some crazy park. It looked like neo-classical estate and behind it was a decent sized labyrinth. Two university students guided us on our way. After lots of jogging and sweating, we made it out alive. We were rewarded with cesspool-esque fountains filled with pesos.

Soon we parted ways with some of our group and began the next stretch of the day. It consisted of walking up a hill that had to have been a seventy degree angle and then some escalators. The reward at the top of this mountain however was a fantastic panoramic view of the entire city of Barcelona. Fantastic! Of course, there are some beautiful pictures on my camera and even MORE beautiful pictures on Max's (read: high-res) camera.

Just you wait.

For dinner I ate the rest of my baguette and made an avocado, basil, and olive oil sandwich with a spinach salad and horchata sorbet for dessert.

Mmmm.

This weekend we're going to this crazy nightclub called Razzmatazz and Yelle will be playing the main room and insanity will be going on in all the other rooms.

See you there.

11 March 2008

Buenos Dias de Barcelona!

Hola chicos!

So I'm knee-deep into Day Three of Barcelona and it sure is zaniness!

This is kind of going to be more adventure journal and less bloggy until I get back.

Soo... I came home around 6 o'clock on Friday and went out to dinner with my family. I just got done telling them how much I was kind of over burritos because that's all I ate at school. So naturally we went out to a mexican restaurant where I got a burrito. After dinner I drove all over to buy last minute things including a Dior sweater from the 80's at Goodwill. A definite necessity for my trip to Spain. I came home and went to bed in the basement because my mom threw away my mattress while I was at college. Boo.

On Saturday, I woke up at 5 a.m. and we jetted off to pick up Jen and Yasmin. My mom gave us some parting advice such as "be safe" and "maybe you (we) could buy some sparkly sandals at the flea market". Our two hour flight to Atlanta was fairly short and it was snowing and way colder in HOTlanta than A-Town (Allentown). When we arrived, our eight hour layover began. Time passed quickly with some sorbet, avocados, and camping out in the terminal. Eventually our flight to Barcelona arrived.

The plane ride was pretty terrible. Eight hours or so and none of us slept. Also, they played some awful movie with John Cusack called "Martian Boy". I believe Joan Cusack was in it, but I was slipping into various periods of insanity and pictochat with Jen and Yasmin. The meals were fantastic though! Best plane food ever.

Eventually we made it to Barcelona. Major setback was waiting in line for an hour or so to claim that Yasmin's luggage was lost. We rode the metro for a long time and we arrived at the apartment. The apartment is really crazy and totally not what I expected. There are four tiny bedrooms, one bathroom, a tiny kitchen, and a decent sized living room / dining room.

Living in these four bedrooms are the following:

Bedroom 1:
--Miguel (the owner of the apartment)
--His wife
--His three year old daughter Genesis


Bedroom 2:
--"Kramer" (a crazy guy who is the Kramer of Spain)
--His large girlfriend who leaves bloody meat juice all over the counter and kitchen towels

Bedroom 3:
--Ans
--Pat
--Jimmy
--Tina
--Mike

Bedroom 4:
--Me
--Jen
--Max
--Brendan
--Yasmin

Soon Commeh will return from Italy and join us in Bedroom 4. Jimmy is Amsterdam so Yasmin moved into Bedroom 3. Tina has left leaving one more space open. I don't know where I'm sleeping after tomorrow night. Aye aye aye!

In conclusion, the first night there were 15 people living in this four bedroom apartment which is absolutely ridiculous if you are aware of typical European living spaces.

We just kind of got settled in and tried to get over the shock of the living situation. We're all into it right now. Later we got some 'pan'. I thought Yasmin was joking about how much bread we would eat, but seriously, each one of us goes through a baguette a day because it's so good and so cheap.

Later in the night, we walked around the touristy area but there were some neat stuff. We also bought alcohol legally and walked around with it. Oh this European living. Liberating.

Then we came home and crashed!

Day 2 involved waking up and walking to the bakery and bought croissants. Worst / best part of the whole trip is the fact that I cannot get coffee anywhere. But it's helping me get rid of the addiction and it's a really weird feeling. Grocery shopping is amazing though. Rather cheap and you can make really good food.

In the morning we went to the flea market and there were crazy things there. Oh and a lot of porn. Like every stall. Cheap fabric and porn.

We came home, lunched and then siesta-ed the rest of the day practically. I can't really remember what we did at night besides go grocery shopping, cook dinner, listen to Ans play the harmonica at midnight and then go to sleep.

Day 3 was an adventure as well! Jen and I went to the bakery down the road and ran into the middle schoolers wearing weird gingham smocks. Blue for the boys and pink for the girls. For breakfast we enjoyed a fresh fruit salad, cereal, and croissants. Tofu is so expensive. Soy milk three for 1,80! You can't beat it. Also, I bought this super weird vegan caramel pudding things that were 3 for 2,20. Nice!

After breakfast, we headed to the craziest zoo ever. You could get up so close to the animals, even the lions and cheetahs! Kids were dangling in the sea lion pit and nobody even cared. It was nuts! Alligators right to the dome.

We were there for a LONG time. Eventually we finished and bought some bread, olives, and other snacks and picnicked on the beach. I attempted to use my polaroid camera but it freaked out and took seven photos of nothing. NICE. Some weird Eurotrash man asked us if he could finish Max's Fanta, which he did, and then threw on the beach. It was weird.

Later we discovered a really cool park and the site of a mammoth excavation.

We went to the Spanish version of a Wal-Mart so Yasmin could buy clean clothes (her bags have yet to arrive or even leave Atlanta) and I also succumbed and bought a coffee from Starbucks. The barista was impressed with my Spanish (which is good considering I've spent six years trying to learn it and mad $$$ at college for it).

But other than that faux pas, we're trying to avoid American franchises in general aka KFC, McDonalds, Starbies, etc. etc.

We've been home since ten (it is currently midnight here and like... seven o'clock back home). I made some home-made humus for dinner and finished it with some pineapple rings.

Tomorrow we are going to a labyrinth. Should be crazy / Jen is worried monsters will kill us if we make a wrong turn.

Other interesting things:

--Spanish is basically a second language here while Catalan reigns over all.
--People eat lots and lots and lots of bread
--People sell one euro beers that are hidden in the sewers
--My friends bought hashish that turned out to be wood chips
--Vintage stores are crazy expensive
--Basil is not Spanish for basil
--Clothing is weird here
--Vassar
--I don't want to come back to Philly
--There are three Maoz here though
--But you can get cheaper falafel elsewhere


And finally, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS HANNAH!

Your birthday has officially been over for seven minutes here, but I guess you've still got five or so hours left.

Ciao!

07 March 2008

Pharewell Philly, Buenos Dias Barecelona

Well tomorrow I leave very early for 11 days of well-needed vacation time in EspaƱa.

Hopefully when I come back, I will have piles and piles of stories and photos to share with you.

Until then, enjoy the ultimate vacation song:

"Theme from a Summer Place" -- Percy Faith

Just click that link and follow the instructions.

See you in a week and a half!

04 March 2008

Sa Vie En Rose



I love the French language and Edith Piaf and cute up-and-coming actresses so I do not know why I have not seen "La Vie En Rose".

After seeing this little video, I think I will go see it for sure.

Ahh the struggles of learning a language. I hope I will look as cute when I struggle to speak Japanese in Japan / French in France / Spanish in Spain.

Oh and also interesting, I read somewhere Ms. Cotillard made a comment about 9/11 not being caused by planes ( aka U.S. government backed situation ) and now people are up in arms. Her publicist says that it was a case of her words being taken out of context.

After watching that video, I'm sure almost anyone could believe that.

But even if she did say that, who cares? People are not allowed to believe what the government is claiming? Jeeze louise.

Either way, love me some Cotillard.

03 March 2008

Busiest Week Ever

In preparation for missing three days of University time, I have to make up everything I will be missing this week.

Giving me zero time to live life.

I'm tryin' to squeeze some extra fun in here and there, including bloggery.

Photobucket

This past weekend included:

--A house party
--Silk City being lame
--A shoot-out right next to the car I was in

BOGUS.