Today I have to write about the connection between Spain and San Antonio. Why the hell should Texans care about this place? Well, for one, most of South Texas culture is a spin off of Spanish culture. Alot of our food, customs, language, etc comes from Spanish culture. Granted, the cultures have changed alot over the years, and they´re not completely alike, but theres a noticible similarity. And this is why you should care.
I´m out of stuff to say, and others need to use the computer so I´m going to get off here and go grab a beer at the bar.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Madrid: June 12th, 2007
We left San Antonio around 12:00pm central daylight time on Jun 11th, and started our 4 hour flight to Newark, New Jerzey. Needless to say, after a night of very unfitful sleep, I slept most of that flight. We arrived in Newark, and then roamed around and killed time for a couple of hours until our flight to Madrid began to board. Like the previous flight, this one was packed. I sat next to my best friend Sarah, and chit chatted about nothing until we pulled away from the terminal. As we were pulling away, the Captain came on the intercom and said we´d be delayed an hour because there was a long line of planes ahead of us. A groan went up from everyone on the flight, it was loud enough that I´m pretty sure the folks up in the air control tower heard it. I chuckled and pulled out one of the two books I had brought along and began to read it.
I have no idea how much time actually passed until the Captain came back on the intercom and said we were preparing to take off, but almost as soon as he said it we began to taxi onto the runway and were in the air in less than 5 minutes. The flight was uneventful. Once again, I could not sleep, so I decided to watch the inflight movies and listen to my MP3 player. The 6 hour flight from Newark, New Jerzey to Madrid, Spain passed by like a lifetime. I tried as hard as I could to sleep, but the combination of the freezing plane cabin, people talking, and having to sit upright in an uncomfortable airplane chair made it entirely too hard to sleep. I´m pretty sure I´d have had an easier time sleeping in the fires of hell, atleast there I wouldn´t be so cold I was shivering and my teeth wouldn´t be chattering.
We arrived in Madrid around 12:00pm Greenwhich Mean Time, and went through customs and sat around waiting for our luggage to be delived to us via a carousel, not too uncommon from the ones like back in San Antonino. Two of the people in our group were missing their bags, so we had to wait for them to talk to the airline about where they were. In the mean time I went to minibar and grabbed a couple beers and sat down with the group and began to drink them. After an hour or so, the two people who´s bags had been missing walked up to the group with their missing bags and we boarded a bus and headed off to the hotel.
We took some time to refresh at the hotel and then headed off to the Royal Palace. It was hot, but not like south Texas. It wasn´t as humid as South Texas, thank god. The palace was nice and cool. After walking around the palace for an hour or so, we headed off on a driving tour of the city for a while. I fell asleep after 2 nights of no sleep, so I cant´really say what all went on during the tour.
Finally, we went to dinner. The food tasted weird, and I have no idea was alot of it was, but atleast the second course had steak. A definate God send. I had a cold beer to wash it all down, and then walked around the town listen to the sound of the cars and people chatting.
Anyway, I´m running out of time at the cafe so I have to leave. I´ll update again tomorrow.
I have no idea how much time actually passed until the Captain came back on the intercom and said we were preparing to take off, but almost as soon as he said it we began to taxi onto the runway and were in the air in less than 5 minutes. The flight was uneventful. Once again, I could not sleep, so I decided to watch the inflight movies and listen to my MP3 player. The 6 hour flight from Newark, New Jerzey to Madrid, Spain passed by like a lifetime. I tried as hard as I could to sleep, but the combination of the freezing plane cabin, people talking, and having to sit upright in an uncomfortable airplane chair made it entirely too hard to sleep. I´m pretty sure I´d have had an easier time sleeping in the fires of hell, atleast there I wouldn´t be so cold I was shivering and my teeth wouldn´t be chattering.
We arrived in Madrid around 12:00pm Greenwhich Mean Time, and went through customs and sat around waiting for our luggage to be delived to us via a carousel, not too uncommon from the ones like back in San Antonino. Two of the people in our group were missing their bags, so we had to wait for them to talk to the airline about where they were. In the mean time I went to minibar and grabbed a couple beers and sat down with the group and began to drink them. After an hour or so, the two people who´s bags had been missing walked up to the group with their missing bags and we boarded a bus and headed off to the hotel.
We took some time to refresh at the hotel and then headed off to the Royal Palace. It was hot, but not like south Texas. It wasn´t as humid as South Texas, thank god. The palace was nice and cool. After walking around the palace for an hour or so, we headed off on a driving tour of the city for a while. I fell asleep after 2 nights of no sleep, so I cant´really say what all went on during the tour.
Finally, we went to dinner. The food tasted weird, and I have no idea was alot of it was, but atleast the second course had steak. A definate God send. I had a cold beer to wash it all down, and then walked around the town listen to the sound of the cars and people chatting.
Anyway, I´m running out of time at the cafe so I have to leave. I´ll update again tomorrow.
Monday, June 4, 2007
San Antonio: 4 June, 2007
Sitting here in a classroom in Texas, I've been given an assignment to do before I leave for Spain to go on this "grand adventure." The first order of business for this 5 week long assignment is to write down my hopes and dreams for this trip to Spain. I'm not too sure what exactly I hope to gain from this trip, other than getting out of the USA for a much needed vacation. Unlike normal college students who go someplace on vacation and relax, I'm taking college courses while in Spain. This blog happens to be my first assignment, and I'm pretty sure its boring you to death. In all seriousness though, I'm going on this grand trip to Spain in order that I may be able to better understand the world around me, and be better able to adapt to it in a more graceful way. With the creation of the internet, and globalization happening at a more frenzied pace, one must be able to quickly adapt to the world around them, or they're going to quickly learn that they're well and truly screwed. I hope that by going to Spain, I will be better able to understand a culture that is quite different from the one I'm used to. The culture I've grown up with in my family is one that is mixed Irish Catholic and Czech; not exactly that close to Spanish culture like my Hispanic friends. These are my hopes for the trip.
My dreams, those are another matter. I'm hoping to find some rich Spanish girl, grace her with my Texan charm, get married and spend the rest of my days lounging around on the Spanish coast drininking the finest Spanish wines, doing absolutely NOTHING. Just kidding, I really want to visit the famous sites and take in the historic culture. I've read about so many different places, people, and events in Spanish history and now its time for me to go see and experience some of them first hand. And like any Aggie fan, I definately want to drink some beer.
All in all, I'm excited about this trip, but I'm definately not looking forward to the traveling part. I'm not big on flying over the ocean, I'm not big on flying for more than a couple hours, and I really don't like going through Customs and Immigration; those guys scare me. They always seem like they hate their job, and they aim to take it out on you, the unsuspecting tourist. Ohh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. I've got to look on the bright side, an hour or so of annoyed Customs and Immigrations officials, and then 3 weeks in Spain.
My dreams, those are another matter. I'm hoping to find some rich Spanish girl, grace her with my Texan charm, get married and spend the rest of my days lounging around on the Spanish coast drininking the finest Spanish wines, doing absolutely NOTHING. Just kidding, I really want to visit the famous sites and take in the historic culture. I've read about so many different places, people, and events in Spanish history and now its time for me to go see and experience some of them first hand. And like any Aggie fan, I definately want to drink some beer.
All in all, I'm excited about this trip, but I'm definately not looking forward to the traveling part. I'm not big on flying over the ocean, I'm not big on flying for more than a couple hours, and I really don't like going through Customs and Immigration; those guys scare me. They always seem like they hate their job, and they aim to take it out on you, the unsuspecting tourist. Ohh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. I've got to look on the bright side, an hour or so of annoyed Customs and Immigrations officials, and then 3 weeks in Spain.
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