Hey, watch what you're looking at...

You know how Americans smile at you on the street if you happen to have awkward eye contact? Or even just to be friendly? Nope, doesn't happen in Spain.  They just stare you down like you're some freak of nature.  

But upon returning to America, I seemed to have forgotten that little fact.  So I'm in Sweet Tomatoes with my mom, watching the obesity of America become more of a problem right before my eyes, and upon our departure, I stopped in to use the restroom.  Some lady smiles at me in the bathroom, and all I can think to myself, is "Why is this broad smiling at me?" All of a sudden, WHOAAA.  I've become hardened.  Haha, well at least in that respect. I guess I can work on that smiling thing, I tended to miss it while in Spain...

El Txupinazo, or "Let's throw a lot of things at a lot of people" party

Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise.  Great on burgers, even better for throwing at people.  Wine and champagne?  Good to drink, better to spray people with in large quantities.  The txupinazo, or chupinazo (tx is Basque-speak) started off the week of festivities for San Fermin, or Running of the Bulls.  At 12 pm on Monday, July 6, City Hall (el Ayuntamiento) sets off a huge rocket that officially marks the start of the festival.  Everyone puts on their red pañuelos (neck scarves) and sprays everyone with wine and champagne and water.  If you're in front of the Ayuntamiento, you're basically in a giant, dangerous, and wet mosh pit.  I got the picture above off MSNBC...it just shows you how many people were there! So we chose to stay in Plaza del Castillo, where other food types are allowed to be thrown, creating a huger mess.  And, of course, Rule #1 is to wear all white...and expect it to be ruined.  There's no way you're leaving the chupinazo clean.  It's just not happening.  As you can see, we have both before and after pictures...pretty crazy.  

After the chupinazo, we all headed down to Calle Estafeta, which was basically a huge street party and a bunch of bars with DJs.  Some Spanish guy spent 25 euros to buy us all hats. Obviously, the love was flowing.    After an afternoon nap, a long shower and some clean clothes, we went back out to watch fireworks, which was probably the best show I've ever seen.  Sorry, Kirkwood, but your fireworks don't really compare.  I don't even think St. Louis could top this...

Run Bull Run.

You gotta be pretty hardcore if you want a spot to watch the encierro (bullrunning).  On Monday, Alex and I got there at 6:30 am, which was way too late.  So we learned our lesson--on Wednesday, we arrived at 5 am.  We scored a spot right on the fence, so we had an amazing view of the running.  Only thing that would have been better would be a balcony, but hey, what can you do? 

It was a long three hours on that fence, fighting off angry Basques who wanted our spots, but we somehow managed.  Our view was great, though my photo-taking skills were not as good.  I only managed to get a photo of a steer running, not a bull.  But it gives you some idea of what it looks like.  Here's a photo from my friend Andrea, who managed to get on a balcony on Calle Estafeta, which is the most well-known street in the running. 

Get your game face on.

Wow.  So San Fermin ended up being probably the most epic party I have ever been to in my life.  Normal population: 200,000.  San Fermin population: 1 million.  The professional San Fermin-goers know how to do it:  Go to fireworks at 11 pm.  Stay up all night, get a spot for the bull-running at 5 am.  Watch bulls run at 8 am, get churros at 9 am. Bedtime: 10 am.  Repeat each day.  As a result, let's just say that the normally clean, calm and pristine city of Pamplona turned into absolute chaos.   

Though Pamplona streetsweepers are remarkably efficient the rest of the year, there was no way they could clean up PAMPLONA: WAR ZONE, which results from hordes of partying foreigners and Spaniards alike. Case in point, the Ciudadela.  As you can see from this picture, people just set up camp among all the trash.  Tent or no tent, if you need a place tosleep, the grassy Ciudadela is the place to be.  

Sevilla

So we just got back from officially the last big trip we're going to take in Spain.  And it definitely ended up being very different from the other trips we've taken.  We had just finished exams and were ready for some relaxation.  We didn't feel as compelled to do all the touristy/cultural things, because we've done a pretty good job with that on our previous trips. Of course, we did all the obligatory sights...El Catedral, the Alcazar, the parks, etc., but were never rushed for time.  We really were just able to take our time and do whatever we wanted.  

A friend who studied here last semester had recommended a bunch of places to get tapas and to go out at night, so we had a really great time.  Most of the bars she told us to go to were

 international student bars, but somehow we managed to pick out the Spanish-speaking people in the bars, and therefore never really used much English while we were out at night.  One guy from Colombia commented on our language skills, saying that Leslie has an extensive vocabulary but I have more fluidity/fluency with my words.  Guess all those games Leslie played with her dictionary went to good use. :)

Sevilla has a different flair to it than Pamplona, that's for sure.  It has all the Moorish tiling and is more what you think of when you hear "Spain."  Flamenco, bullfighting and tapas are a big part of the culture there, and we were able to do all of it except the bullfight, which is only on Sundays.  They have a lot of free flamenco shows at "tabernas," so we went to one called La Carbonería, which was very cool.  Nothing like drink

ing a "Tinto de Verano" while watching free flamenco.  

Interesting side note:  Let's just say the Andalusian men are a bit more...vocal...then Spaniards in Pamplona.  It's not unusual for us to get the "HOLA GUAPA" or "La Rubia!" in Pamplona, but let's just say it was pretty constant in Sevilla.  

Just climbing a mountain in the Pyrenees...

So we've been trying for a couple months to find this mountain hike outside of Pamplona that a few of our guy friends did and said was amazing.  Attempt #1: we wound up by the river, with no mountains in sight.  But hey, at least we found the river, right?  So anyways, attempt #2 was a little more successful.  After 2 1/2 hours of trying to get out of Pamplona, through Rochapea, and up the mountain (using directions such as "Turn left on Unnamed Road A") we made it to the peak of the mountain and had an amazing view of it all. 

 We had just sat down to have lunch when, of course, we hear a giant rumble of thunder.  Exactly what you want to hear when you know it's going to take you at least an hour to get down the mountain.  But hey, we made it down in one piece and the rain held off until we had gotten off the mountain.  Mission = success.  

Amsterdam!

So first of all...I have no clue why this first paragraph is underlined.  Anyways...I just got back from Amsterdam on Sunday...talk about a cool city.  Very tolerant, very open.  We stayed in Vondelpark, which is right by the Van Gogh Museum and the "Iamsterdam" sign.  After we got in on Thursday,  we went to the Anne Frank House and this epic pancake house called the Pancake Bakery.  These are no ordinary pancakes...they're similar to crepes, but not rolled.  And the size of a giant pizza.  Garland and I split a chorizo and cheese one (going all Spain style in Amsterdam), and then all 3 of us split the best thing I've ever tasted...chocolate syrup, ice cream, whipped cream, and powdered sugar on top of the pancake.  We devoured that in no time.  Then we finished the night with a little walk through the Red Light District.  Interesting, to say the least.  

         On Friday we took a free walking tour from our hostel...our tour guide, Kevin, basically came to study abroad in Amsterdam and never left.  What a life.  He told us sooo much about the Red Light District, like the fact that it's mandated to be gone by 2015.  The way they are getting rid of the red light district is by putting in "fashion windows" with new designers that are advertising their stuff, and buying up the windows with the prostitutes.  Then, theaters and restaurants and such are being put in there.  Our guide said though it's mandated that the red light district has to be gone by 2015, it will be 2012 at the rate it's going.  

         He also said coffeeshops (aka places where you can buy/smoke marijuana) are soon to be a thing of the past.  They keep doubling the number of coffee shops they close each year.  In January they tried to close all coffeeshops within 500 meters of a school, which would have closed all but 8.  So Amsterdam bargained to get that reduced to 250 meters.  He said the pressure is coming from the rest of the Netherlands and the European Union, which is VERY conservative compared to Amsterdam.  Interesting side fact to note: tobacco and alcohol are illegal in coffeeshops...but pot is okay.  The picture I put in here is the Coffeeshop from Ocean's 12...

Saturday was another touristy day...we started out the morning at the VanGogh Museum.  They charge you an arm and a leg, but it was still very cool.  After that, we took a little train 25 minutes out to this little village called Zaanse Schens, where there are a ton of windmills.  We got to go up in the windmill, which was really cool/probably very unsafe haha.  Our particular windmill makes the chalk dust for the markers on football fields.  All in all, a very cool little historical village.  Not to mention, we ate some delicious cheese in their little cheese tasting area.  Trip  = success.  Now back to studying for my next exam  and the GRE....