BARCA... Mes Que Un Ciudad

Lisbon was very good to my crew and I. We stayed at such a warm and friendly hostel and after a 15 hour train ride to Barcelona I was drained. But after 3 nights and four days in Barcelona, I can honestly say that this city is the funniest city I have ever traveled to. It is nuts here, and it was an interesting adjustment for me to make. It is an absolutely HUGE city. Like never ending, but fortunately we have great tour guides with the girls who literally take all and show all the boys around.

The first day we got into town around 2 PM and we were all pretty tired. We walked around the city looking for Emma's favorite gelato shop from when she was here four years ago... but despite her best nostalgic searching, we couldn't find the spot and to only find out later that it has gone out of business. But on our quest for treats we came across a massive protest. And I'm talking thousands in the streets protesting the government. All the signs were different but they one man explained that they all saw the government as a false democracy. I stood on top of a news paper stand and got an awesome photo.

Only a view from the side. We didn't bother to go in to the heart of the protest, probably for the best.

Our hostel is complete opposite of our last hostel. The last one housed about 20 to 30

people total and while I don't know how many were here, but we had 27 people in our room alone. It is called Hostel Kabul and is a complete party hostel. Every night there was a pub crawl that ended at a club downtown. It was actually a pretty good deal, for 7 euros we got 2 free shots and a buy one get one free shot with free entry into a club, plus skipping the line. Also, right before going out, our hostel had happy hour and about 50 kids drinking. Clubs don't even open til 2 AM and one night I didn't go to bed til 7 AM. Lets just say I slept very well the next night haha

On our second day we hiked up to a hill/park called Parquell (sp?). It was designed by Antonio Gaudi. You don't know who that is!? Well I didn't really either before the trip. But he is a famous Spanish architect who died about 90 years ago. This park had an awesome view of most of the city of Barcelona. Huge statues, buildings and monuments stood out and it was truly an awesome view.

To the left is the basketball court that Ricky Rubio learned to play basketball on as a child. And to the right is my friend Lily and I at the top of Parquell. The photo does not even do the view justice.

We went to the beach a few times while in Barca. They are awesome. I have never seen so many beautiful women in my life, no homo. And many of the were topless, even moreso than Portugal. But that also means naked dudes, homo. Some of the ladies in our group even embraced the local culture ;) The beach stretches for miles and with 80+ degree weather, its extremely fun but everyone got burned.

Oh, we also picked up another traveler. My friend Lily is spending most of her summer in Holland with her Aunt and Uncle and she wanted to visit Barcelona with us so she met up with us for here and Paris. She is an old friend that dates back to my early days at Camp Seymour.

On our final day our group split up. Most of our group went on a kayak and snorkeling trip while Katie, Emma and I went on our own adventure. We took a gondola, yes they have it in Spain, to the top of a huge hill where an old Spanish fort is located. This place has an even better view than Parquell and lots of historical monuments.

To the right... hope you got your tickets to the gun show! And to the right is a picture of the nicest girls you'll ever meet.

Our next stop is Paris and a 12 hour train ride. It's supposed to be a better train than our last one. I'm about 25% done with the trip and I'm not ready to leave. Traveling has exposed me to some great people and great destinations. This will surely not be my last visit to Barcelona, I recommend this city to anyone looking to have a great balance between history, culture, fun and partying. A truly great city. Until next time...

Erik

Port-U-Gal!!

From Seattle, WA to Lisbon, Portugal. We took off from SeaTac at 11:30 flight that headed to Philadelphia, PA for a connection to our overseas destination. The night before Nick, Jonny, Alan and Emma rode down with me from Bellingham to stay at my house because it is only a 25 minute drive to the Airport. We had so much extra food from Jonny's Grad BBQ so we brought it alldown to Maple Valley to have a big BBQ send off. Our last 'American Supper' was awesome. My great friends Hannah, Becca and Shaun came out to enjoy dinner and my sister and her best friend Jamie were also in attendance.

We arrived at the airport pretty early just to make extra sure we made our flight. Didn't want to pull what Brian and Nick did the summer before and miss their flight to Vegas haha.

Apparently I didn't get the green V-Neck message...

The flight went by super fast actually. Emma and Alan were in my row for our flight and on the way to Phili we played a game called Farkle which I am a natural. Currently undefeated. And I slept most of flight over to Portugal. When we arrived Nick was looking through his bag and found a huge surprise. Apparently someone had snuck a male erotica magazine into his bag called "Workload." No one has claimed credit for the strike, but I'm sure someone will eventually admit to the incredibly funny and well executed prank ;)

Once we landed we were all hungry for a little snack so we stopped at this little cafe to get some food. This was our first introduction to Portuguese food and it was soooo good.

This is at BS Cafe in Lisbon. All of us on the left and my delicious salad on the right. Tasty!

Lisbon is a pretty cool city. It's huge! And so many hills! It's literally like San Francisco with how many hills and how steep they all are. And its a decently priced city. Not too much for food or drinks. In fact that salad was 3,30 Euro (I don't have the symbol for the Euro) or about $5.

Our hostel has been a dream. It is located a on top of a huge hill but that is the only knock I have. The service has been so good. Every night they have put on a cookout that is really cheap to eat 3 to 5 Euros for dinner which you can't beat. Not to mention how friendly and easy going all the staff members are, nothing has been a hassle so far and I really think we have been spoiled with great treatment. I have a feeling other hostels won't be nearly as nice. I would HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone. If you're traveling to Lisbon stay at the "Chill Out Hostel" furr sure.

To the left is a picture of our cookout with many of the other guests. To the right is a group picture of our hostel group hitting up Bairro Alto district of Lisbon.

The nightlife in Lisbon is great, you get a drink in the bar and then you take it out to the street where you socialize with everyone. In our hostel we have people from Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, England, Holland, Russia, Tanzania and even a girl that is from Pullman! So crazy. But not as crazy as the chain smoking group of Swiss girls. Like not cool crazy but crazy crazy.

We have taken two day trips to beaches around Lisboa (area around the city of Lisbon). We traveled to the city of Caiscas, about a 30 minute train ride, to hit up the beach and small town. It was a very small beach right at the mouth of the Tagus River (although i would argue that it is more of a bay myself).

Panorama view of Caiscas, Portugal. And yes there were a few topless girls lolzz

Gotta rep the DISIDUAL tanks in Portugal! Thanks Brendan!

Disidual.com

Its been a great trip so far! Only our first of 9 stops. The next month should be continue to be as awesome as this one. Next stop is Barcelona, Spain. More beaches and I actually speak un poco espanol! Keep following along and hopefully this blog is somewhat interesting for you, or it could be just an ego booster haha

Much Love

...And The Journey Begins

Currently sitting in the airport using the free wifi (who knew they had free wifi?) and feeling really anxious for this plane to take off. All seven of us are on the same flight! And all in row 18! Except for Nick, he was relegated to row 19 lolz. First flight is to Phili, the city of brotherly love, an hour layover then a 10 hour fight to Lisbon.

You must be thinking to yourself, 'I wonder how Erik is going to stay entertained for 16 hours on a plane?' Well here is a list of what I have with me to keep me entertained.

• Macbook with the first season of Son's of Anarchy- Show about a biker gang in Northern California that sells guns to gangsters in Southern California
• Ipod- Just got the new Lonely Island, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Foster the People, Emancipator, and Bad Meets Evil
• The book Game of Thrones- A Lord of the Rings type series, it was made into an HBO TV Series that you should jump on and watch... so awesome
• And just in case that can't do that job.... I have a mini shot bottle of Jack Daniel's and Ambien hey oh!

We arrive at 9 AM Portuguese time tomorrow. T-minus one hour until takeoff. So excited!!!!

Meet Tha Crew

My Fellow Travelers:

Alan K.
This Guy... Is a great friend that I met freshman year in the dorms. He is a stud baseball player for the WWU team that made it to nationals this year. He also helped me land the coaching job at Sehome High where he used to play.

Brenna S.

This sweet peach is a great friend of mine. We share crazy roots back to Tacoma and didn't even know each other before college. Brenna is a great friend double majoring in Business Marketing and Communications with a Minor in Political Science. She has traveled a lot throughout Europe and will be a great companion on our European Adventure.

Emma B.
This is the nicest person you will ever meet in your life. I don't think she has a mean bone in her body. We date back to being friends since the beginning of freshman year. Emma just graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and plans to be a Kinesiologist (jk I made that up). She has extensive travel experience and will also be a valuable asset in Europe. But she is staying in Europe for almost the entire summer visiting a best friend from her high school.

Jonny K.

This gem of a friend has been with me my entire illustrious college career. A three year roommate is one definitely a BFFL. We have traveled around the America quite a bit from Coure d'Alane, Idaho to Las Vegas, Nevada and Kona, Hawaii (twice). He will also be accompanying me to New York to visit my sister at the end of the trip and has never been.

Katie M.
The world cannot contain this young entrepenure. Katie is an amazing person with all the traits you want in a friend; cool, fun, hilarious, smart, loyal and respectful. Can't say anything bad about this one. She was an influential member in planning the trip and did much of the hostel and train booking for the trip. She graduates in the Fall.

Nick S.

Oh boy, what to say about Nick... Well this young WWU Alumni currently works in Seattle. He was once a roommate of mine and is a great friend. We share so many funny stories and experiences ranging from trash pizza, one-shot and Rally Fries. Nice has a hilarious personality and is always fun to be around. He was a late edition to the trip but will be a blast to share the European Adventure with.

7 DAYS!

Here I am sitting in the computer lab on campus finishing up finals. I'm actually working on a blog used for an education class where I have to produce 12 blog posts about technology and education. We'll I decided to break away from the busy work for a bit and do another blog post, the fun kind.

In 7 days I will be done with school for 3.5 months. Oh god I can't wait. In 7 days at this time. I will still be on a plane headed for Portugal, I will actually be landing in Philadelphia, PA about to connect to my next flight to Lisbon, Portugal. So crazy that is almost here.

Here is the itinerary so you can follow along in the journey.

June 15-18: Lisbon, Portugal
June 19-22: Barcelona, Spain
June 23-26: Paris, France
June 26-29: Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 29- July 2: Berlin, Germany
July 2-5: Prague, Czech Republic
July 6-8: Vienna, Austria
July 8-13: Who knows??????
July 14: Depart Rome with Jonny
July 15-22: New York, New York (With Jonny)
July 23-30: Flathead Lake, Montana (Family Reunion)

Oh boy there it is. That's the plan. Jonny and I have 6 days to kill before we leave from Rome. That could be spent in any number of lucky countries to host such fine American men.

So Ready!

Oh boy, I need this European adventure to be here now. I can't begin to describe how ready I am to be overseas... but I will attempt to try it anyways:

Today is the Thursday of Dead Week at WWU. I have spent more time on campus this week then I have slept this week. Today I went to turn off my alarm and I knocked a pillow off my desk which knocked over a water glass which spilled on my desk. A slight amount of water got on my computer but apparently it was enough to send it into shut down mode.

>

Currently I am in the computer lab in the basement of Miller Hall working on school stuff. No cell phone reception and to add to the drama, I also have night class from 5:30 to 9:30 tonight. Yeah that is right, 9.5 HOURS IN A COMPUTER LAB WITH NO PHONE RECEPTION!

I guess it could be worse though. At least it is not sunny or anything like Spring weather outside. It is currently 55 degrees and raining. Average temperature for this time of year (JUNE!!!!) is 68 degrees. We haven't had a day over 70 degrees in 247 days! Oh and that breaks a record that has been around since the 1950s!


Wow, I just needed to vent a little. I'm so excited for this vacation and it is 12 days away. Just need to focus on school for a little bit longer. Then Europe!

2 Weeks... AHHHHHH!!

Holy cow, only two more weeks until I leave for Europe. This quarter is finally wrapping up and this once distant trip is finally hitting me. I can't believe in a fortnight I will be in Lisbon, on the beach, having a Corona with Chrisiano Ranoldo, and taking in the refined culture of Portugal. Before I go I do need to take care of a few things:

TO DO LIST:

-Finish Finals and Pass all my classes

-Buy a camera and a new pair of shoes

-Get a hair cut

-Find a couple good books to read

-Say goodbye to all my friends who are graduating and moving on

-Download a whole bunch of music

-Make it on the plane