august 12. 2010.

I think tomorrow is my last day of my internship. I am not sure. I know that it is supposed to last until the 20th, but both of the other interns will have stopped by tomorrow. I'll find out I guess, but the suspense is kind of killing me. One good thing, though, is that there is a pizza party for the interns tomorrow because it's the Parks Intern and the Planning Intern's last day, too. I'm guessing this means I'm done.

Besides my internship winding down, I got together with Jamie and Kim and we booked a tour of Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle. My goal is to get into a bath at one of these places, preferably Bath (but I would accept a bath in Windsor some type of achievement by itself). We also looked up the best night clubs in London. There are some pretty gigantic places or interesting places which struck me:

1. Fabric - 25,000 sq ft (over half an acre) with 5 sound systems and 3 bars

2. Club Aquarium - 5 rooms including a pool and jacuzzi

3. Pacha - a stained glass ceiling with a balcony

4. Egg - Outdoor balconies with fake grass and, again, a swimming pool

So those are just a few that I found and thought would be fun. I'm guessing I will only go to one, so maybe vote or suggest another?

Besides my London plans, there really hasn't been too much to talk about. I'm not making it to Montreal after all, which is probably for the best because the French are awful. The French Canadians are probably worse.

I'm not sure there really is anything else to write about.

Oh wait, I promised Jamie I would link to her blog, so take this suggestion, and follow her blog on Cornell's website: Copenhagen Without a Helmet (it might be With a helmet but her title is in Danish, which I haven't mastered yet) and find the link somewhere on this page, or below her profile picture on Facebook!

Two weeks and I am in London! Cheers!

august 9. 2010.

So I have been a little confused as to when I am leaving Ithaca. I talked to my Mom today, and she let me know that I am actually leaving for NYC the morning of the 23rd (that's a Monday). That means I have an extra day at Cornell to complete my last Hurrah. That also means I now have exactly 2 weeks here at Cornell, and 16 days until I leave for London!

As always, my life, in my opinion, has been pretty uneventful. I haven't been in any shoot outs or high speed chases. I haven't met a mermaid or found a dragon egg in my closet. But I did get rid of the bat, or at least it left of its own volition. I had Dinosaur BBQ at my company picnic, too! I even won a gift certificate to Boat Yard Grill (who wants to go?)! To compound the awesomeness, Ben and Eve visited again. This time it was to go camping. Although our original number of campers had dwindled, camping was great. Anna brought us to this great lean-to in Shendagin and we had so much good food. Never had I eaten cow & goat cheese off a toasted baguette in the woods. I ate better from a campfire than back in my apartment (aside from the hot dogs that is).

This weekend was the first of my good byes though, which is now alerting me to how close Europe, the actual topic of this blog, actually is, and I couldn't be more excited. After stalking the other Cornellians already in Santander, I learned that they are already partaking in a drink that should have already made it to the states, Calimocho. My friend Liz, who just returned from Spain has told me about Calimocho (1/2 Coke, 1/2 wine) and I can't wait to get in on this drink. Jamie and I agreed that we want to have a small going away shindig that is Denmark and Spain themed. I was thinking Sangria would be the drink of choice, but I guess it will have to be Calimocho.

We lost our last intramural softball game today, too. Although we haven't won an actual game all season, we played our first playoff game and sent it into OT, just to lose it in the first inning of overtime. Oh well, I don't think softball is very big in northern Spain.

So, as they say in Denmark, Skaal; and in Spain, SALUD!

Let's make these last two weeks really count!

august 5. 2010.

Like always, I will update you all with a countdown: 3 weeks until I am in London, 16 days until I leave Ithaca, NY.

Now with that over, I have no real news.

I did find a bat flying around my apartment yesterday morning! It freaked me out, but once I gathered my nerves I trapped it in another room with the window open. I called my dad to see what I should do, and he told me it should probably just leave on its own. Thanks for the help, Dad! Just hope it takes care of itself, great life lesson. One of my friends told me to let it bite me so that I might become a vampire and a werewolf. Yes, for those of you who don't know, the night of my bar mitzvah was also a full moon in which I turned into a werewolf. I don't feel like I can handle the responsibility of being as hot as Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner so I will remain just a werewolf.

Other than that, everything is winding down. I'm hanging out with friends, finishing up the last few weeks of work, and losing miserably in intramural softball, you know, the usual.

august 1. 2010.

So it's officially August, and I leave Cornell in 3 weeks! I'll be in Spain in less than a month, starting my language classes. But until then, I am still in Ithaca, and Ithaca has been good.

Ben and Eve visited again. We made banana pancakes and went to a park and blueberry picking. I would say it was pretty romantic. Well, maybe not the blueberry picking, because we drove about half an hour to Dryden and ended up at a little house with a garden in front saying fresh blueberries. We were like, WTF? Do we just pick in this tiny garden? We are the only ones here and will get raped. But it turns out the owner was an awesome old lady and the fields for picking were out in the back. We didn't get raped, and picked a ton of blueberries.

Also, I talked to Josh, who I will be in Spain with for the next year. He, Caitlyn and Hillary are already in Spain for the first language class, lucky bastards. I'm ready to be done with my internship and head to Europe. But anyways, it seems like apart from a few problems, things are going well for them. I will see them soon!

So yea, the countdown has really started now. Next week I will be camping around Ithaca with Ben and Eve, then the following I should be in Montreal, pending a car ride, and then it's my last week in Ithaca. It's going quick now!

july 28. 2010.

I tried promising myself I would only post once a week while I was still in the States, as this is a blog mainly to tell about my adventures in Europe. But alas, I am always bored and have nothing to do but to write nonsense.

Blog title fails:

Spain Themed

It Spain't Me, Babe

No Spain, No Gain

If I were in Basque Country Themed

Basqueing in Spain's Glory

Bilbao Baggins: The Lord of the Spain

Spanish Puns

Livin' Like a Playa: A year on the beach

Leave a Junior, Come Back a Senor

Even in Spain You Can't Get madRID of Me

Europe Themed

e(UR)o Hipster

US Leading Off, Europe Next

Music Themed

Never Been to Spain

Barcelona Loves You (But So Does Santander)

So if you didn't think I was lame before, this should give you all the proof.

Oh hey! I did figure out most of my winter break though! I know, it's like 5 months away, but since a GREAT friend from Cornell is visiting, we wanted to hash out a plan, or at least some bones of one. So, as it stands now, my winter break will be

12/22-12/23 Andorra La Vella, Andorra

12/23-12/27 Barcelona, Spain

12/27-12/29 Geneva, Switzerland

12/29-12/30 Lyon, France

12/30-1/2 Paris, France

1/2-1/5 Nice & Cannes, France & Monaco

1/5-1/9 Rome, Italy or Brussels, Belgium

This means that I will be in Barcelona for Christmas and Paris for New Years. Let the drunken debauchery in high class cities begin!

july 25. 2010.

Okay, quick update.

I went to see Flaming Lips on Friday and a roadie recognized some people's shirts. He came up to us and asked us if we wanted to dance on stage. That makes two Flaming Lips concerts and two times dancing on stage.

Wayne Coyne didn't remember me, but he talked to Beth on the phone and told me he would be a dog if he had to be any animal. A small dog with a really hot woman for an owner so he could cuddle with her at night.

Saturday I became a man in the Jewish culture.

Sunday nothing happened of importance. But it is only one month until Europe.

That's all for now. I'll keep you updated.

july 21. 2010.

Okay, so not much has changed since last post, I am still NOT in Europe, despite the name of the blog. I am STILL working a mind numbing job, where any classes in engineering over qualify you for this engineering internship. Also, I still have NOT seen Avatar (I am not counting the 30 minutes I saw at Beth's).

Somethings have changed. I AM 20, surprisingly with no quarter-life crisis (and unsurprisingly with no children, causing me to give up all hope of being a teen parent). I am JEWISH (soon to be bar mitzvahed(?) to become a man). Oh, and Spain WON the World Cup (I think I called it).

So not too much exciting news...

BUT, I will be leaving Ithaca in one month, so that's a little exciting. Yes, although I don't leave for London until the 25th of August, I will be leaving Cornell and all of the people that come with it come August 21st, okay, maybe the 22nd, when my parents come to pick me and all of my things up and bring me to New York. We are seeing Avenue Q, being tourists, and reveling in American culture one last time before I journey to the other side of the pond.

So that's it, the most exciting thing happening in Ithaca for me is reaching a milestone in a countdown to leaving Ithaca. Lame.

Oh WAIT. Flaming Lips and the Black Keys are playing this Friday! Okay, that's not too bad, considering last time I saw Flaming Lips it was the best night of my life.

So recap: Nothing happened, I have 31 days until I leave Ithaca and 36 days until I leave America for a year. Cheers.

july 8. 2010.

This has been the hottest week I can remember. Driving home from work today, a sign read 102 degrees. Yesterday it was 99. The day before that it was 101. Sleeping in my 3rd floor apartment feels like god smote me and sent me to hell. Playing softball made me feel like I lost the game, or like everyone was pointing at me and saying "Your team" because I was so sweaty and red. Picture this being my whole body...

Sexy, I know.

Anyways, as you all know, this blog is really about Spain and the adventures I have there and around Europe. I figure since I am new to blogging, as they say, I need to practice before I arrive in said country. So, an update into my travel plans:

I already have my first trip planned and booked, before I even get to Spain. My friend, Jamie, and I are departing JFK August 25 at 10 pm and arriving in London at 10am the next day. We are staying at Smart Russell Square hostel (left). We already planned our itinerary too, and it looks like it's going to be 3 days of jet lag combined with shameless tourist activities (ie. Big Ben, Parliament, Stonehenge) and hopefully some pub and club hopping.

After all that excitement, I head to Santander, Spain on August 29. Santander will be my home for the next year.

Also, plans are in the works for Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Oktoberfest is actually mainly in September, who knew?

Anyways, everything is still fairly far away, physically and chronologically. Is that even right? So I don't know, how is that for my first entry? Pretty boring, eh? I will try to spice my next ones up with some more sarcasm, profanity and drunken debauchery, I sure cursed enough trying to get the pictures where I wanted them. As for now, 48 days and counting.

And GO SPAIN! You are taking home the world cup this year! I know it, at least until I have to eat my words this Sunday.