Running around Italy

I put up some new pictures in my Italy 2005 album. The picture above is from inside St. Peter's Basillica at the Vatican.

Felicia and I have been in Italy for the last couple of weeks. After school ended and I had to leave my apartment I joined her in Milan. Then we went to visit a family friend of hers at his houses in both Parma (home of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese) and at a beach town north of Pisa. Next we went to Pisa (leaning tower) Florence (Michaelangelo's David), Rome (the Vatican, Coliseum), and the island of Capri.

My good friend Celia came to hang out with us in Rome for a couple of days last week. It's so cool meeting friends in different locations around the world. I feel so international!

To celebrate my birthday this past Thursday we spent three days on the Italian island of Capri relaxing and enjoying lots of great Italian food. It's a beautiful place similar to the Greek island of Santorini that I visited a couple of years ago. It's where a lot of European celebrities go to relax. It's was fun to hang out in the main square and people-watch. Yesterday we went on a nice two-hour boat ride around the island.

Next, we're off to Naples and Pompeii!

Euro-punk haircut

Last weekend I really needed a haircut so I went to a place closeby to my apartment. Feeling a bit adeventurous, I told the lady in Spanish to do what she thought would be best. She got all excited and rambled off a bunch of stuff that she was going to do, but I didn't understand it. I also said I didn't want it too short...

In Spain they're really into the mullet thing. Americans get a real kick out of mullet-watching since it's now seen as so stupid in the United States. While she was cutting, I realized that she was doing totally the wrong thing. Then she styled it all funny as you can see in the picture above! There were few French guys watchnig as they were waiting for their cut and they all gave me the thumbs up afterwards. I have no idea if they were teasing me or not. Afterwards she was totally proud of what she did and took a picture of me with her own camera.

I don't have the funky styling anymore, but it's still a bit short for my taste. I guess it works for Europe at least... I've gotten some compliments about it!

Homeless for a little while

Ok, I'm not completely homeless but I don't have a room to sleep in. I'm going to Italy on Monday but had to check out of my place Saturday afternoon. So scheming as I am, I made copies of my apartment keys so that I could at least get in and sleep on the couch. People in Spain are so relaxed about everything, even with keys. There is no such thing as "do not duplicate" which appears on many keys in the United States. I was so proud of myself for having a duplicate set of keys. But when I returned home with them later on the evil cleaning lady interrogated me in Spanish about how I got in when she had already taken back my original set.

At least my roomates are cool with me staying there longer. Actually, most people there take advantage of our huge apartment to have friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. stay for free. Techically, the school wants us to pay extra for having people stay, or for staying longer ourselves.

I'm going to miss that apartment. It's been my home for six weeks and I've loved the place and the people there. I'm not sure how my experience in Barcelona will be after leaving school and that apartment. I don't have a job yet so there's nothing to connect me now to the city, and most of the friends I've made have gone home.

The Real World

There are new pics in my Spain 2005 album! One thing I love about Spain is how they appreciate chocolate. There are chocolate shops all over. The picture above is from one of the best ones I've been to in Barcelona, named Cacao Sampaka.

Today is my last day of Spanish school. After six weeks of fours hours of class a day, I'm quite burnt out! Actually I haven't really been paying attention in class for the last couple of weeks but instead thinking of other things. As for the job search, I've given my resume to a photographer, a marketing person at the school, and a videographer. But nothing has happened yet, so I'm not sure how the job thing will work out.

On Monday I'm going to Italy for a week or two! I will be joining a very sweet American gal whom I met at the school a couple of weeks ago. After that I plan to come back to Barcelona and get another apartment for the month of August and either work or chill out. Most students stay for a short amount of time, but I know some folks who are staying longer to hang out with. The social life will be different once I'm out of school, but I'm really happy with the people I've met and the fun I've had here.

The Start of My Modeling Career

Last week a photographer hired by the school took pictures of me and some other students for use on their website, mailings, and in a new brochure that they are creating. Since I played with studio lighting before going on this trip and have a pretty new digital SLR camera, I was familiar with everything the photographer was doing. He even had the same laptop that I have to download the pictures to.

He took photos of me from the knees up against a white backdrop holding a globe. He also took photos of me posing with another student. It was fun. The female student I posed with has been a professional model in Bombay and Hong Kong, so she was showing me some modeling moves and attitude. Some of these photos will also be made into large advertising posters to be used at the school and around the city. So, if you go International House Barcelona in the future you may see a large picture of me hanging in the window!

The cool part of this whole thing was getting to meet the photographer (whom is popular in Barcelona but doesn't have a website that I can find) and the marketing folks from the school. This past weekend I wrote a C.V. (cirriculum vitae, the European version of a resume) and gave them to the photographer and marketing folks. Hopefully I will get a part time position from one or both of them so that I have something to do once I finish school in a week and a half. Also, I will have to find a new apartment. I really hope that I can work with the school because it's a fun place to hang out and the teachers and students are all very nice.

The Sweet and the Sour

In the movie Vanilla Sky, Jason Lee's character mentions this when he is jealous that Tom Cruise's character gets everything he wants. He says that "you can't have the sweet without the sour" and that "the sour makes the sweet so much sweeter".

My time in Barcelona has been awesome, but there are some things that I don't like. The apartment I live in is in a great location amongst a ton of bars/restaurants/clubs and is near to the beach. But this also means that there is a lot of noise and filth in the touristy section where I live. When walking home late at night I have to watch where I step because there may be trash, puke, piss, dog shit, etc. in the street. At least the city sweeps and washes the streets in that area every night so they are ok the next day.

I get asked if I want to buy beer, hashish, or cocaine at least 10 times a day. And the way the punks ask if you want to buy hasish is to whisper it to you as you walk by. It's like there are voices in my head saying "haaaassshhhiiiissshhhh". By now I know who the people are who sell the hash which is all imported from Morocco. I think I am going to start whispering things back to them, like "Miiiichhhaeeellll Jaaackkkksonnnnnn" and see how they react.

A few people I know have been mugged, and others have had their backpacks or purses stolen in restaurants or parks when they weren't watching. Of course some of this can be avoided with common sense, but has occurred to more people I know in Barcelona than any other city I've lived in.

People in Barcelona don't seem to take care of their dogs very well, and they never clean up after them. It's like what I saw in Paris as well. The weather is hot here and I see a lot of dogs panting desperately because their owners haven't given then enough water.

It's hot and humid and everyone glistens from sweating.