Plasticities: Serpenteado Por Los Calles de la Ciudad Antigua

A metallic ringing noise jolts him awake.
He looks around: it's dark. It's always dark in that room. It can't be long after 5 a.m., which makes last night's sleep more like a power nap.

Shirts, pants, socks, all stuffed into a bag. Hoody. iPod. Snacks. Camera. (Never forget the camera). No checklists, no last minute panic attacks. Packing for a trip of this duration has become second nature. They're up before the sun (yet again) and the apartment is silent, save for the sounds of shuffling feet and rumbling stomachs...

The metro ride to the train station drags on for an eternity. Próxima estación...

"Café con leche y un cruasán chocolate." He hits play and Radiohead's "There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere)" drowns out whatever it is that blonde girl next to him might be saying. 5 hours is a long way...

Approximate Speed: 298 Km/h.
Estimated Time of Arrival: 2 horas 52 minutos...

Somewhere between Juan Trejo's El fin de la guerra fría and blankly staring out along the Spanish countryside, he arrives at his final destination in one piece.



Our "4-star" hotel. I'm not sure how many stars the Spanish hotel rating system uses, but at least it was better than a hostel.



Something was happening...






Love padlocks.






Reales Alcazares.



I would do unspeakable acts to eat more of these churros.








The final CEA sponsored trip took us to Sevilla, Spain. This trip is cool for two main reasons: we get to take the high-speed train (AVE) , which turns a 14 hour train ride from Barcelona into a mere 5 hour ride. Secondly, Sevilla is located in the south of Spain, which means that the people are nice and their primary language is Spanish (unlike Barcelona). We had a relatively free trip, compared to other CEA sponsored trips, which gave us plenty of time to wander around the city and explore. While in Sevilla we tried more than a few different tapas places, at chocolate churros, partook in the botellón, and met a group of Spanish guys who dragged us to Club Fun at roughly 230 in the morning. It was an experience to say the least. I hope the pictures give some indication of how beautiful the south of Spain is. It has been a pleasure to visit each and every Spanish city thus far and Sevilla, with its delicious food and welcoming atmosphere, was no exception.

Timshel

The first of my international trips while living in Spain led me to Ireland with what can now be established as "the crew" (but seriously, it's just Juliet, Matt, and myself). Without going into too much detail (what detail of it there is left), I present the most beautiful place I've ever been.


Somewhere between Dublin and Cork.






Outside the Guinness factory.




Cork at night.







Kissing the Blarney Stone.

Embarrassingly enough, the strangest part of Ireland was speaking in English for so long. I havent consistently spoken one language for 4 days in over 2 months. I had to think of my questions in Spanish and remember to translate them back to English before speaking. A unique feeling, to say the least. We hit Dublin, where we stayed at the Ashfield House-- a cool hostel with a great location. The only down-side: we slept in a room with 20 other people. Not necessarily conducive to a restful night's sleep. We toured the Guinness factory, Blarney Castle, Trinity College, and a few other major locations before heading to Cork and Blarney! Each town had a really different feel to it and it was a pleasure to spend time every single place we went. I would say that I could spend the rest of my life there, but it may just be too wet to climb rocks, which would definitely be a deal breaker.

This weekend's Sevilla trip should be posted soon!