wtf man.

WTF:
http://oddbieber.tumblr.com
Should he ditch the mainstream and join Odd Future?
Have you heard of his perfume--for girls? (wtf? have you smelt it?)
How much ass do you think he gets on a weekly basis?
*Never in my life did I think I would ever post something even somewhat related to this 'teen-pop-star' whose name I cannot say without throwing up a little bit....sorry, I exaggerated a lil, but you know what I mean.


WTF:
here are some important phrases in spanish that I wish I knew before I came:
Tio/Tia (dude/gurl)
¡Joder! (shit!)
¡Que te jodas! (go screw yourself)
Estas jodido. (you are screwed)
¿Quieres follar? (do you want to fuck?)
¿Pero qué coño? (what the fuck?)
*but be careful if you ever use these phrases! Different spanish-speaking countries use different words/phrases and take some more offensively than others. For example: the direct translation of 'coño' and 'conejo' is cunt; in Spain they are used casually, but you can't say them in other countries without offending someone.
**do you have any other words/phrases you'd like to know how to say in spanish? or do you know any other good ones? (ask/write in comments)

WTF:
I'll be back in the USA in about 13 hours. But when I get there, the time difference will make it only 7 hours from now. oh shitz i hate the whole time change thing, it messes with your head!
Photos from Spain will go up next, I keep procrastinating!

not-so-concise

I am trying to finish a post before I run out of Wi-Fi time (or weefee, as they call it in spanish), but I have too much to say. I just highlighted a ton of what I wanted to mention in this post, and deleted it. I decided if I am ever going to finish, I should just make it simple.
I don't have any pictures ready to put up right now either, but I promise to post some as soon as possible!  Check out this list of places I have visited/plan to visit since Monday: Cadaques, Carcassonne, Hondarribia, San Sebastian, Pamplona, Najera, Santo Domingo, Logroño, Madrid....more places?
*I think Barcelona is still my favorite so far, but maybe because it feels like home now.

Did I mention the police came (knocking on the door) to the rooftop party I went to last Friday? I never really found out, but I think they came because of noise complaints. I hope someone was taking photos of that night because I didn’t think to bring my camera. It was lot of fun and the 'unofficial going away party' for about seven people (including me), it got a little crazy. Like every night out in Barcelona, I met a lot really interesting people-that I would totally hang out with/want to be friends with-but it was disappointing realizing that I was leaving the next day and I wouldn't get the chance to hangout with them or anything.
After that party, I got back to my homestay apartment around 7 am. I was really hungry and I didn't think the my homestay mother (the older lady whose home I was living in) would be awake yet....so I started raiding the refrigerator for food. As I was stuffing left over pasta into my mouth, she walks into the kitchen and says (translated to english), "you're up already? wow, its so early! I thought I heard the door open, so I wanted to see if it was you leaving or something" and I told her, "actually, I am just getting in!". Luckily, she is really sweet and just laughed at me for being crazy and staying out all night. Even though there where other students living with us, she quickly learned that I would happily sleep all day, if I could (if she hadn't seen me in a long time, she would knock on my door to see if I was still alive).

fuck yeah beach house.

took these pics thursday night at the beach house concert. really wish i had remembered to bring my camera to the AnCo concert, I was right in the front and center for both!

The car we rented to travel through Spain and France with does not receive radio transmission very well, even though it is a pretty nice car...luckily I bought the Beach House and Kings of Convenience CDs, so we have something to listen to, forever (its probably going to get stale pretty quick). 

Really excited for the trip, we start tomorrow morning. But unfortunately, I am starting to feel sick. I woke up very early this morning with a sore throat and sinus congestion. Sucks man. 

Staying in the hotel to rest tonight, found a great Spanish tv station, channel 5. Its like a comedy station or something, and there aren't very many commercials-which is great! Earlier I watched an old Spanish movie (probably from the 60s?) that was hilarious, I wish I knew what it was called.  

I already miss Barcelona, and all of the friends I've made/people I've met. I really really hope that we will be able to stay in-touch and see each other again. I would love the chance to go visit everyone in their home country and then have them come visit me in NYC or DC! That would be so much fun, and maybe cost beneficial (if they let me crash in their place-they can crash at mine).  

¿Otro por favor?

It's so hard to stay up-to-date on posts. I keep falling asleep every time i get the chance (probably because I have been staying out super late--till 5 am--all week). But yesterday, I spent the entire day sleeping, cleaning/organizing, and talking to friends for hours on Skype. I didn't ever leave the apartment, I hardly even left my room (which worried my home-stay mother), but I really needed to rest for a day.

My super-sweet, really awesome roommate left a few days ago/ I miss her a ton. She was so friendly and we got along so well! Most of the friends, that I have made here, left yesterday as well. I hope I don't have to say I will never see them again, because even though I may have only known them for a few weeks, it feels like a life time. I am going to tell everyone that I've met in Barcelona (from all over the world) that they will always have an invitation to stay with me in NYC for a few nights if they ever want to visit, which I hope they do.

Have you ever drunken a 'cortado'? I forgot how amazing coffee in Europe is....trying hard not to drink to much everyday, I don't want to become a caffeine addict. A cortado is a coffee drink (one of three that are common), it is an expresso/cappuccino I guess...anyway its so much better than anything from starbucks. I do miss iced coffee though. If I wake up late and the coffee is already cool, then I attempt to make my self an iced-soy-coffee.
Other food that is really good and not available in the US: turon, hamon serrano, Lemon flavored Fanta, and well I can't remember anything else right now. But I miss peanut butter! I found out that the restaurant/bar Dostrece has breakfast food--american breakfast food. I almost cried when I found out that I can get a pb&j bagel. More than definitely going to have one on monday morning.

What I've been listening too a ton this weeked:



*best song on the album. funny how she doesn't sound that great live, but she sings on most of their best songs.



*I love: 'if I could just leave my body for the night!' It is such an integral part of human nature--the want to feel 'free' and 'alive' and 'connected to the universe'.

How fast must a Zebra run until it starts to look grey?

OMG. Just found one of the most amazing things on the interwebz. Go here, and then move the mouse around a little.

Today I walked around, ended up in a place I've never been before. found myself in a side street of Las Ramblas with several music stores/record shops all in a row. The second one was the best (lower prices, less commercial, more vinyl) so I bought Teen Dream-Beach House and Riot in an Empty Street-Kings of Convenience (two not-so-new albums that I've always wanted).

This week has been great so far, and its only Wednesday. My really good friend from home (that I have known since kindergarden) is spending the summer in Portugal and Spain and came to Barcelona. We got to see each other and it was wonderful. Afterwards I went to the beach at Barceloneta, where all of the nightclubs are (like Shoko and OpiumMar) and met my roommate, some friends I've met in Spain, and met a few more people. Its really great how easy it is to make friends here, I love that everyone is so open and friendly.

Here are some photos from recent excursions:

Is Majestical a Word?

Took a cable car up to the Castle Montjuic yesterday. It was magnificent, I should have brought my camera....I'll have to go back! It was also beautiful at night when you could see the entire city lit up from the castle at the top of the mountain. Kind of like you were up-side-down because below you was dark like space, and it happened to be extraordinarily vibrant that night.

They (people who work for the museum maybe?) played the movie Inglorious Bastards (projected) on a gigantic screen in the garden of the castle. There where possibly a thousand people or more there picnicking on the grass (or if they where smart, blankets/chairs/etc), to watch the movie. It had Spanish subtitles, so the parts that were not in English were harder to understand...especially when the subtitles are in front of a white background and blend in. We had to leave before it ended to catch the very last metro home, but I like Quentin Terrentino, so I'll have to watch it again, this time with English subtitles.
A small jazz group also played music on a stage until the sun went down, they were hard to hear from the chatter of people conversing and eating, but from what I heard, I loved it. I think they even played a Frank Sinatra song; they had a wonderful female singer.  

Yo. Here are some pics from sight-seeing in Barcelona:

*I realize now that I didn't really take as many pictures as I thought I did. Next time I will charge the battery and put more space on the SD card.

Got Lost. Whats New.

I got lost on the metro yesterday. Came out of the wrong exit, went back, used the correct exit, but walked a mile in the wrong direction. Then I decided that I must have got off at the wrong stop because I didn't recognize anything. So I went back to the earlier stop and walked around for another 10 minutes...Then realized I was right the first time and went back. Then I finally decided to call someone to help me. I wasted 2 metro rides...and walked over a mile in the heat. I sweated like crazy and then chugged a ton of water--room temperature water and not from the bottle, because thats frowned upon here. It did not satisfy me thirst!!!

But had a great time last night. Went to Barcaloneta with my roommate (from my homestay) and some of her friends, and some of their friends and roommates. It turned into a really good night, we met a lot of people from many different places, spoke in several different languages together, and paid a waiter 5 euros to let a few of us use the bathroom in the bar before it closed. We got home around 4:00 am. The taxi driver drove scary fast and started singing to Rihanna. But we got home safe!

We are gunna go 'bar crawling' tonight with some Brits we met last night. It'll be fun, they said they'd let us start small (so no 'bar golf' quite yet).

Oh, and below are a few pictures I that took this earlier week.

My room on the 6th floor:

a side street of Las Ramblas:

From the porch, it looks better in real life:

*Its annoying to bring my camera around, so thats why I have only taken like 10 photos and only a couple good ones. My Nikon is heavy and expensive, and I have to bring my laptop to my internship, that it is also heavy and expensive, and I have to fit them both in a purse, so its just a pain. Barcelona is known for pickpockets, so I'd rather just not risk loosing everything.

*Damn, I still haven't written anything in Spanish. I'll get to it, tomorrow...but you know, tomorrow never comes. But I promise that my Spanish has gotten so much better in such little time!

Barcelona, Day 2.

Barcelona is beautiful! I love it so far, I just wish my Spanish was a little better (but it will be soon, I've already noticed improvement), and I miss everyone/everything at home a little. My mom is going to Skype me with the puppy tomorrow! Sadly, Chuleta (my puppy) is who I miss the most. She is so cute, and I keep seeing dogs on the street that remind me of her.

11:00 pm: I'm sitting on the porch right now (on the 6th floor) and there is a building beneath us that has lots of stay cats on top of it. From what I understand, people from the surrounding apartments throw food to them. and they are all 'fixed' and maybe someone cleans up their 'living space' every once in a while. Kinda reminds me of the musical Cats.

There are a lot of customs in Spain that are not too different then anywhere else, but are just odd to foreigners. A few examples:

• Spaniards don't like to drink cold water because they think it will give them a cold/sore throat. 
• Its not normal to drink anything out of the bottle, you have to pour everything into a glass.
• Lunch is the biggest meal, but dinner is not that small either.
• Most people don't start work until 9, break for lunch at 2, go back at 4, and leave around 9.
• Most vehicles on the road are mopeds.
• Everyone is very energy conscious: there is little air conditioning, 4 different types of large recycling/garbage bins every few blocks, no one owns dryers.  
• They use military time.

*I like a lot of these things, but I am just not used to them.
I think my favorite thing about Spain right now, is that it doesn't get dark until 10:00 pm.
I also like that the metro is easy and effective---if you know where you are going. The best part is that you have to push a green button or pull a lever in order for the doors to open (they don't open automatically). haha, its fun, but I recommend anti-bacterial gel afterwords.

4:30 am: I just fell asleep on my laptop, I was quite confused when I woke up, with my head on the bottom end of the bed. Now that I got up to use the bathroom, I can't go back to sleep. I was going to write a lot more today, but I can't remember most of what I wanted to write about (because I passed out).

Oh, all clothing stores are having "Rebajes"/"Rebaixes" right now. Which means everything has to go on sale (via government required). The sales are really great, well known stores are up to 50% off, and might get to 75% by the end of the week. I can't wait to shop, but I am afraid I'll splurge (the Euro is worth 1.5 dollars).

Jet Laggg

It's 00:00 am in Barcelona right now (gotta get used to military time), and 6:00 pm in the east coast of the USA, oh right. Happy 4th! I have a little jet-lag, but its not as bad as I expected, its just weird...I hate planes, they always hurt my ears, I have ruptured my eardrum--on the right side--at least twice. It didn't rupture this time, thank goodness! But it feels all cloudy/puffy and my hearing is muffled...if that makes sense.  
I promised myself I would start writing blogs in Spanish (and english) as soon as I got to Spain, I will start tomorrow!

I'm listening to Bon Iver right now, I love how soothing it is, but it kinda reminds me of cheesy 80's love ballads. I hope that wasn't the point to it, and I hope I didn't just ruin the album for you.

If you like music blogs, you should follow or 'like' Stereotype Helsinki (link to blog) on Facebook. They upload new videos and links everyday on their facebook page.

Arcade Fire. My friend Patrick is right, Sprawl II is probably the best song on The Suburbs. But thats biased, and the rest are pretty good too--obviously (via the grammys). They supposedly released the short film directed by Spike Jones, Scenes From the Suburbs, on the interwebz. Haha! I found it! It is a available on MUBI.com, here is the link---oh, maybe you have to sign up first, before you can see it. But it is worth it.
Have you seen it? What do you think?

Adios, mis amores.

Yeah. i just got a MacBook Pro. I've never really used a mac before, and i am kinda confused, but i had to have some fun with photo booth.
Happy Cyclops:

 Siamese Twins:

I guess life is pretty good! The NYU orientation was so much better than I expected, and I can't wait to move to NYC! We walked all over the West Village and went up to Highline Park (which I have been wanting to see for a long time) and ate lots of food. All the Music Technology kids 'bonded' or whatever. We got along really well, and apparently had more fun than everyone else. I think its because we are all pretty 'chill', but you have to be a little dorky to be a Music Tech major. The Jazz Performance and the Music Composition majors all seemed pretty cool too, but I didn't really get to meet them all. 

I leave for Spain tomorrow! I am constantly anxious, but its in a good way i guess. My internship sounds like so much fun, I am working in the music business with a musician/actor. 

gotta go finish packing!!