the Spain roundup

First, a goodbye to November and a welcome to the last month of our trip. We've got only 23 days left, unbelievable to think how long ago I was in LA with Zach and Jori, San Francisco with James and Ben, Dartmouth, even Costa Rica with Antal was almost a month ago. what a crazy ride this is

Now, we've done and seen a lot so here goes. We rolled into Seville and hit up this hostel that got awesome reviews, a place called Oasis. We show up, the place is filled with young people socializing. The whole setup is beautiful, so we get our room, relax for a little bit, then walk around Seville a little before crashing that night. oh yeah, before we crashed, i freestyle rapped with this guy downstairs for like 40 minutes, we had a nice little crowd of hostelers watching, haha.

the next day we checked out alcazar, the old palace and cathedral in Seville. Really breathtaking, its the 3rd largest cathedral in the world, which, while not as impressive as the 2nd or 1st largest cathedral in the world, is still impressive. We climbed a tower and looked out over the whole city. Then we came back, lay down in the sun under the statue of Velasquez (sp?) for a little bit. Then, later that night, we went to this awesome underground bar and flamenco show. We drank the best sangria i've ever had with some girls we met there (including one named Dayna Arena, hilarious i know but anyway). The flamenco show was incredible though, it was a guitarist and an older man singing. He was so passionate about the music, sometimes smiling and singing playfully, other times nearly screaming with anger or sorrow or whatever the song was about. A really unforgettable experience.

The following day we walked along the waterfront and just chilled for a while before going on a tapas tour and back to the flamenco show where they had a woman doing real flamenco dance this time. Very Cool.

We rolled into Granada the next morning, checked into the Oasis in Granada, and immediately walked up to the Alhambra. The palace is unlike anything I've ever seen, religious motifs from different centuries, different religions, different rulers. Architecture from the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Andalusians, Christians, even Persians-- and everywhere, always, running water. The lower end of the palace is filled with fountains which are fed by the various water systems that run through the rest of the palace down to them. Pools are always filled with fish. And the view from the guard tower is a full 360, way above the city. One of my favorite things we've done.

Then we flew into Barcelona yesterday. In true barca fashion, last night was ridiculous. We drank some wine with our homecooked dinner at Jason's flat, drank a 6-liter whiskey and coke among myself, Jason, Dallas, and Mark. Dal and I convinced this really beautiful girl that, like her, we were from Minnesota and that we went to Franklin High in St. Paul. Then, I convinced her that I work for the CIA. haha, its not lying, its flirting. At 4:30AM Jason and I decided to head home early, a little tired from the travel but slightly upset to be going home at such an early hour. Barca is crazy. I have no idea what time Dal and Mark went back.

So thats where I am now, lying in bed at Cook's flat, its 11:30AM and my head is bumping. oh well, the price we pay.

So now some speculative things-- I'm trying to figure out what I want to do next summer. Obviously my financial situation has an important impact on that, but assuming I'll be okay, what do I do? Here are some options I've come up with:
1) Internship/Job
Pros: Steady Income, resume building
Cons: waking up early, having to do something when somebody tells me
2) Trip Part 2
Pros: See more of the world, Russia/Turkey/Croatia/Greece/Egypt/Israel, have fun
Cons: i'm already tired from traveling a lot, kinda want to chill out for a while. plus, I only speak arabic and, other than in Egypt, I won't be able to communicate well (Russian, Turkish, Croatian, Greek, and Hebrew are not my specialties).
3) Learn a language or 2 somewhere
Pros: Love learning languages, wouldn't mind getting started on Chinese. Also, there are language centers in interesting places all across the world. Could potentially live in Sevilla or something while I learned Chinese, random but cool.
Cons: Not sure I want to travel anymore (see above) and maybe want to do something productive or be around my friends.

Anyways, let me know what you think

love and happy december

Andrew

long summarizing post and update

Holla

First, thanksgiving in fez was awesome. We ate at my favorite restuarant in the world (Dar Tazi), and it was awesome. We also visited the Sufi Platemaker, saw a bunch of cool stuff, etc. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving wherever they were, especially my family at home, as this is the first time I've had thanksgiving without them! Also, it was great fun explaining thanksgiving in arabic to my moroccan family.

Then, after fez, we rolled north by train (by 5 hour train) to Tanger, which matched all previous accounts I had read about it. Basically, Tanger is infested by hustlers, people who offer you useless things and then try to guilt you into things. My advice is not to ask anybody anything and never to listen to anyone. Gee, what a great place to be. If you asked someone the time, they'd probably say, "It's 7:00, and don't forget what I just did for you, telling you the time and all, you used my help, give me five dollars". So yeah, Tanger, while cool in location, sucks in personality, and we ate dinner last night and then rolled to the ferry this morning.

The ferry, in my mind, was supposed to be this beautiful and relaxing trip across the most famous strait in the world. Instead, we left 3 hours late, and hit rough seas causing widespread sea-sickness. Pretty gruesome. Got some cool pictures before the waves got bad though.

We arrived in Algeciras on the Spanish Side about an hour ago, and we catch a bus to Seville in about 45 minutes. That'll be another solid 2.5 hours, but whatever, I look forward to settling my stuff down and chilling for a bit.
Oh yeah, and I lost my hat that I bought in London somewhere in the same bus station where I sit now. Really frustrating. I liked that hat, plus it was L40, oh well.

anyways, just eager to get settled in somewhere,
Andrew

KnrejA il Maghreb

so after a few months, im finally back in morocco. so far all is going to plan, we arrived last night and a good tagine dinner at Ten Years in the Ville Nouvelle, then crashed at Hotel Olympique. today we hold on, a bunch of arabic highschool girls are picking up on me at this internet cafe. they got my name on skype, and they are all flocking around the piece of paper. it is hilarious. anyway, back to my journal entry.

today we walked down to the medina and went to my old house, where as expected, we were invited in for tea, then lunch, then to spend the next three days sleeping there. so cool, we have a place to stay, eat, relax, etc. we then walked around the talaa kbira for a while, came back for a late lunch, then came here. awesome day.

quick note on edinburgh: the royal mile is awesome. Eat at the Mitre Bar. We ate there three times. For three consecutive meals.

quick note on life, from our last night in london: sometime the magic is there, and sometimes it isnt.

see you soon
ML
A

Good news and Bad news

Good news first--
We're having a totally badass time in Edinburgh. We climbed Arthur's Seat (a big mountain thing) yesterday afternoon with some food and ate lunch on top looking over the city and taking everything in. It's a really incredible place.
Quick interlude story-- we're sitting there eating and this dog comes up and is all up in our grill trying to get at our food, so bill shooes the dog away with his hand. A moment later a woman comes up and says, in the thickest of scottish accents, "Next tai'm ye raise yer 'and to mie animal Aye'll return the compliment" and the briskly walks away in a huff. It was funny; bill's going to use it in a paper as an example of the fiery nature of scottish people.
Anyways, so then last night we pregamed in Bill's room, watched Will Smith videos, and had a great time before hitting the club and having a great time there too. Highlights include us looking more fly than anyone there, many girls stealing the cool hats dal and I bought, one guy trying to fight Dallas, Bill biting some girls shoulder, and other great things.

Bad News--
I'm pregnant.

For no apparent reason, the digital mode of the video camera has stopped working. I think it's basically going to be like dead weight until I can get back to the U.S. and take it to a repair place or something. Also, it deleted the memory card (also for no good reason) so there will be no footage from London or Oxford of any kind (from my camera... Dallas may have some pics). I can still film in Tape Mode, though, so its not all lost.

More Bad News-
After a few hours of searching for return trips from Fez to Edinburgh, we realized that it's just not going to be possible for Bill to come with us. There is a cheap British Air flight to head down there and back on tuesdays and fridays, but it leaves from london, and it would entail a lot of travel time for not very much time in morocco (only about 2 days). So oh well.

Other News-
Howe from the Dartmouth mirror (and an AXA homeboy) interviewed me briefly yesterday about my poker career for his column. It was kind of fun, maybe this publicity will turn into something good. Howe's had the most popular column on campus ever since he wrote an article explicitly telling freshmen not to go to Theta Delt. Hilarious.


Okay thats all for now
ml
A

Update after a long time

Hey everyone! This should be some kind of lengthy update since I haven't given you guys any information. So here's whats new:
Oxford: we spent 3 nights in oxford with Weiss and Sam Kennedy. The first night we slept 15 hours, then we basically hit up a bunch of pubs, ate frequently kebabs (only Hussain's, nobody elses, if you eat anywhere else weiss will kill you). Apparently, there is a inter-kebab war, and all the students are choosing sides, haha. Oxford is a great little city with a ton of personality and history. The schools are all walled off so as to prevent their students from being killed by angry poor rioters. We went to see Mozart Requiem performed at the Sheldonian, it was really beautiful and I'm glad we were there (Sam and Dallas and I).

Then, we left and headed into London, where we met up with Hahn. We walked around the city for a while. Then, we caught a train east to Three Bridges (past gatwick) and met up with one of Dallas' friends, this guy named Rob. Dallas met him in Jamaica, and he drove us about 30 minutes to this guy Simon's house, another friend of Dallas from Jamaica. It was Simon's 21st birthday, and we were invited to the party.

And it was quite a party, haha. We showed up to see about 50 british people, including some beautiful girls, and all the beer and wine we could drink. We settled in and started getting to know the people (including one girl named Erin who will from now on be referred to as Lady Battered). There was food and stuff also. Then, Simon comes down and tells us he's about to light the bonfire, so we curiously follow him outside to see a huge pile of wood about 50 feet high. They light it, it burns and looks really cool, and then a massive fireworks display goes on for about 45 minutes afterward. It was incredibly cool to watch. We spent the rest of the night enjoying the festivities (including a stripper that Simon's mom had bought for him) and the casual atmosphere. We talked with some girls, including Lady Battered, who quickly became completely battered, hence the name. The party was awesome, we stayed out at Rob's place for the night, then headed back into London in the morning.

The next day, we walked around London with Hahn some more. it happened to be Remembrance day so it was a good day for sightseeing. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby (the bells were awesome, the reverberations just keep going, its pretty powerful), Big Ben, Parliament, everything on the west side of the city. We walked north checked out Speaker's Corner, which was hilarious. Crazy people just stand up and start yelling stuff about politics, and people can try to contradict them and stuff. This mean old lady was talking about how English people are the only race before God and being really racist and mean and stuff, and a guy walks up and holds a sign next to her that says "Free Hugs". Pretty funny. Then, everyone started singing "always look on the bright side of life". Great times at Speakers Corner.
We continued along Oxford Street, where I bought a totally awesome yet bougie hat. You'll see pictures soon. We then headed back to the Hotel we got for that night and chilled for a few minutes, before meeting up with Kahlie and heading down that night to the Tower of London. We walked along the waterfront (Thames) at night, crossed the Tower Bridge, and made our way to the London Eye only to discover that it closed about 5 minutes earlier. Oh well, next time. So we grabbed dinner and called it a night. We caught the flight to Edinburgh the next day.

We met up with Bill yesterday, got food at his place (sketchiest point system ever, 6 points, and we had to sneak in, it was rough, and the food wasn't even very good. whatever, we're cookin tonight, booya). Today Dal and I walked around the city for a few hours in the morning, bought a shirt, climed this mountain and saw a totally badass monument for Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson. It went something like this:
"To Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson
the hero of the great victory at Trafalgar
from the grateful people of Edinburgh
erect this monument
not in unavailing sorrow at his death
nor yet in the matchless glories of his life
but in the hope that their sons will emulate
their dreams, and, like him, face the duty with bravery to die for their country"
so tight. Then, we met up with Howell and Winky at a pub, had some food and Guiness Extra Cold-- you have to have it if you're in Europe, the best guiness ever. Yeah, so thats it, we're at Howell's place right now, we catch Bill in an hour, booya tribe

hit you up soon
much love
A

PS: Bill is gonna come to Morocco with us! Booya again.
PPS: I really love the show Heroes.

Good Day Mate

After traveling for about 20+ hours (8 hour bus ride from tamarindo to san jose, 6 hours at a hotel, 3 hour flight to miami, 4 hour layover, 8.5 hour flight to london, 1 hour bus ride to oxford, so I guess about 31-32 hours all told), we arrived in Oxford yesterday morning where we slept on Kennedy's floor for a few hours, then walked with Sam to Weiss' place where we went out to an awesome pub (same tavern where Tolkein and C.S. Lewis used to hang out, very cool). wow, long first sentence.

We ate dinner at Keble dining hall. Everything is way more traditional here--students have to wear their eating gown otherwise they wont' be let in. The buildings here are incredible, all looking like castles and crisp green lawns that you're not allowed to walk on. The whole place is awesome, we are thinking about staying an extra night here to see Mozart's Requiem at the Oxford theatre or something like that. We'll see how that goes.

Next stops are London, then Edinburgh. I'll let you know how it goes.

much love
Andrew

Like, saying goodbye to Costa Rica, except legit style

that's right, I'm chilling here in the hotel aeropuerto before I catch my ridiculously long flight to London tomorrow morning. Dallas is taking the first hot shower he's had in like a month, haha. I'm next, booya.

Leaving the beach was bittersweet. Luke's staying another week or so in CR, heading to Puerto Viejo in a few days when he feels done surfing. It's going to be a while until I'm back in tropical, warm waters and clean, sandy beaches.
I really became hooked on surfing at the end. It's tough to get good at it, but once you get the hang of it it can be one of the most relaxing things in the world. Float in the water and chill in the sun, then grab your few seconds of pure weightlessness and speed when the chance comes around.
All told, we stayed in Jaco Beach, Montezuma, Santa Teresa, and Tamarindo. Tamarindo and Jaco being the touristy places (read: expensive, crowded, but familiar) and Montezuma and Santa Teresa being the non-tourisyt places (read: cheaper, quieter, more isolated). In order, I liked
1) Santa Teresa- the best beaches with both Playa Carmen and Playa Santa Teresa, and a tight setup with hammocks on the beach. Plus Richard at the Howling Monkey Sportsbar is the man and hooked us up night after night to watch the world series. Quieter, more relaxing, and prettier beaches with still great surf. Definitely my top pick.
2) Tamarindo- At first I hated it. Seemed touristy and weak-sauce. However, if you go, you have to cross the estuary and head to Playa Grande and La Casita. The best surf, the cleanest waves, one of the best beaches... makes you feel like you're away from the tourism scene. Plus take comfort in some extra modernity.
3) Montezuma- A tiny town that will only be tiny for a few years, as major developments are just starting. We stayed at a quaint little place called Hotel Lys, which was really friendly and had baller homecooked food. However, there's not much to do there, so we moved on.
4) Jaco- The dirtiest town, about as touristy as Tamarindo, a pretty weak overall scene, very average surfing. Still fun to be in CR and hang out, but definitely not the place I'll go when I come back.

Overall, I was amazed at how many people on the street are drug dealers or prostitutes. It's gotta be like at least 75%.

Funny story-
I was at a club in Tamarindo and picked up on a hooker without knowing she was a hooker (mostly cause i'm totally oblivious). This girl walks up behind me and runs her hand up and down my back. I'm like "hey, she's friendly", so we start talking. It goes like this:
Me- so do you live here in the city?
Her- Yeah
Me- what do you do here?
Her- I work
Me- What kind of work?
Her- I'm a masseuse
Me- Oh cool, where do you work?
Her- Anywhere you want

thats about when I figured it out, haha.

Anyways, I'm ready to move on to the last stage of the journey I believe. Europe holds many things in store for me, and I plan on making the most out of my time there. So many people want to hang out in the UK that it's going to be difficult to even leave there, and that's only the first place we're going!

Overall, I relaxed, I surfed, I met new people, I spent time with Luke and Dallas, I got tan, I ate very well. This is what I wanted when I picked a tropical country to spend this much time in. Mission Accomplished here.

Roll out baby.
Europe here we come

respect
A

Saying goodbye to Costa Rica

So a few days ago, my plan was to travel east to Puerto Viejo and hang on the Caribbean side for a few days before heading to San Jose to catch my flight to London. Unfortunately, this was going to mean saying adios to Luke, as he wanted to stay somewhere where he could surf (the Caribbean is not good this time of year apparently). Dallas, Luke, and I headed out to surf an evening high tide three days ago, but Dallas turned back because his shoulder was hurting and didn't think he could make it. So, we continued on to a new beach called Playa Grande. It's about a 30 minute walk, including a 5-minute paddle across an estuary.

When we got there, the surf was amazing. I was catching waves and feeling more comfortable than I ever had. The water was the warmest we'd seen. It had been sunny and hot all day, and slowly the sun drooped in the sky until the clouds above us lit up in bright orange and red. We surfed until dark, then paddled the estuary (which made us feel kind of like Navy SEALS, creeping through water at night in a strange country). I was so psyched on Playa Grande that I decided to stay, and Dallas was indifferent, so here I still am.
Yesterday I woke up at 8AM and surfed most of the day, then hung out on the beach the entire rest of the day.
Today I woke up at about 1030, surfed most of the day, then watched college football all day (including my Oregon Ducks beating ASU and BC losing to FSU, a great day for me).
Tomorrow is our last full day beach-wise. On the 5th we'll have to head into San Jose for the night and then catch our early flight on the 6th to London.
I'm going to write more tomorrow night about how I'm feeling, in the meantime I'm going to play some poker and then surf some faces tomorrow.

If you're in London, hit me up and we'll kick it. Gotta let me know soon, my time is running low everywhere I go!

ml
A

PS oh and Happy Birthday James! I tried calling you on Skype, I'm not sure if it went through or not because the internet here is very shaky, but I'll try again soon. I love you and hope your birthday was great!

so, not leaving tamarindo afterall

after planning on leaving this morning for puerto viejo in the caribbean, i went out surfing last night with luke and had the best time so.... so we're staying.

more to come later
ml
a