Party Abroad? No, Study Abroad

For you very few consistent followers of this, you've probably noticed that a weekend has passed and I haven't updated on the crazy times I had and distasteful things I did over the weekend in another corner of Europe. What's the reason? School. I thought this was my pre-paid European vacation? Nein (as the Germans say). I got some midterm exams this week so in between watching Mad Men and stalking facebook I have to find time to study and thus not write a big post about my past adventure. Since I'm not gonna study in class, figured I'd write this preview instead

Let me give you some highlights to keep you occupied. Use your imagination:

• My 21st birthday- way less exciting than you can imagine. I'm just too European now to care about it
• long ass bus ride with all 27 kids on my program- like high school all over again
• visits to some EU institutions- sometimes cool, sometimes I fell asleep
• Roman ruins- in Germany? wtf

Journey North

Now the "travel portion" of our program is really picking up. Thankfully, that means that the school portion is significantly declining. I returned from my crazy Spanish adventure on Monday, went to my internship on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then was off again Wednesday evening.

Pause. I just mentioned my internship. I haven't really elaborated on this so far, seeing as most of the posts are just about my weekend excursions. During the week I do real work. I'm interning at this company called FORATOM which is a trade organization that represents the nuclear energy industry to the European Parliament. Basically what I'm doing is writing reports on a few issues that they are going to give to their members. No bitch work involved. According to my supervisor, that's why they hired four secretaries for an office of 12.

Play. You all want to hear about my travels, not my boring work. Here's a little bit of both. Wednesday evening we boarded a train to the Hague and then had some speakers and visits on Thursday and Friday. The highlight was on Friday we sat in on a trial at the ICC (International Criminal Court). The ICC is basically a baby court for universal human rights violations and has recently finished its first trial. The trial we observed was for Germain Katanga who recruited child soldiers in his warpath through the DRC. Best part: Katanga was actually there testifying. I sat about six feet away from this war criminal who was, I might add, dressed in a baller ass African robe sort of thing. From what I could gather, this guy was a straight g among his own people.

We also took another Jerry walking tour around the Hague. It was short, but the Hague is definitely a cool city.
 

On to the main event- Amsterdam. My past two weekends at Oktoberfest and the Barcelona had me on the tail end of a party binge that may have contributed to why I didn't rage like a maniac this time around. Conveniently, Amsterdam is perfectly situated to accomodate such a dilemma. I simply enjoyed walking around the city admiring the quaint beauty of it.

That last sentence sounded like the most innocent of activities I could possibly engage in. But hold up. In Amsterdam, walking is a liability. There are hoards of bicycles everywhere, ready to flatten any unsuspecting tourist who dares venture into the bike lane. You think the Harley Davidson biker gangs are tough? These crazy Dutch people with their oversized, outdated two wheeled cruisers are menacing.

bikes on bikes on bikes

That's not the end of it. I don't know if it's the Dutch liberal drug policy or what but we saw some people do some pretty damn wild things. Exhibit A:

He's high. Off the ground.

Needless to say, this floating dude above deserved way more than the 50 euro cents I dropped him. Most European street performers suck. This guy was legit though. Another reason why walking around Amsterdam is not an innocent activity. Hint: They are female and cost 50 euro per 20 minutes. Yessir, the red light district. Windows on windows of barely clothed prostitutes trying to tempt you out of your money. Photos are strictly prohibited, thus I have no photos. Not sure they would really be appropriate for this site though. Two funny things about the Amsterdam hos. One. They are either tapping on the glass trying to seduce you or are casually smoking a cigarette, texting, or even eating a donut. If I'm in the market for a prostitute, not sure I want one who's simultaneously shoveling down a long jon (jokesjokesjokes). Two. These hos are legit. And by legit I mean they pay taxes on every uhh hard earned euro. Combining the fact that the Netherlands is a welfare state, these poor ladies probably don't walk home with very much moolah at the end of a busy night. 

The last component of Amsterdam that requires mention. Coffeeshops. That's the stupid euphemism for weed bar. You can walk into these places (provided you look 18) and purchase pot without having to feel bad that you are fueling the Mexican drug wars. They even give you recommendations on what kind to buy. Subsidiary effect of this "legal gray area" industry: an equally as thriving munchie industry. Every kind of food you could imagine from a good old Mexican burrito to some dank Asian noodles. And everything in between. I just wonder how the city is going to stay afloat once they begin restricting tourists from coffeeshops.

One more mention. While wandering around the city looking for a museum that cost less than 10 euro (bullshit if you ask me), we wandered into something I would have never expected. Occupy Amsterdam. Exactly the same thing as Occupy Wall Street except remixed Dutch style. When I say remixed Dutch style I mean pretty much the same bs but with a funny accent and way more bikes. I wish the site would let me upload this video clip I have of a Dutch guy arguing that the "1%" gains all their power by letting the asians (pronounced ay-see-ans) take all the Dutch peoples' jobs. Je ne sais pas.

I don't understand why anyone would complain about living in the Netherlands

Je ne sais pas 

Nice costume, bro

This is how I view the "Occupy" series of protests. Exactly how I view the "Jaws" series of movies. The first one was cool, the rest were a failed effort and really sucked. But they all were unrealistic. A 25 ft shark in New Jersey? come on.

Also, I turned 21 today. That doesn't mean shit here in Europe. Guess what I'm doing for my birthday? Well, I intern from 9-5 then board a bus for Luxembourg. How many Americans turn 21 in Luxembourg though?

A Sensational Weekend in Barcelona

What do you think of when you think of Barcelona? City of the Olympics, paella, sangria, beaches? No. It is definitely the City of tourists. Now, yes, I was most definitely a tourist with my city map, guided walking tours, and eternal fear of pickpockets, but I was a hip, cool tourist under the age of 60 who made the conscious decision to wear clothes on the beach.

Typical Barcelona beachgoers. The girls named the white haired one "Mr. Elephant". Not saying why

We arrived in Barca on Friday afternoon. Unlike many European cities, you actually have to pay for the metro service; this ended being an annoying extra expense the entire weekend. Our hostel was a few blocks from the water (great location!) but its door was akin to a military bunker. This worried us at first but we quickly learned we were in a very safe neighborhood. I guess the 8 inches of steel was just for aesthetics. The hostel was wonderful, the older spanish woman who ran it treated everyone like her children and directed us to all the best restaurants, bars, stores, and metro stops no matter what we wanted to do. The free although tiny breakfast in the morning was nice too.

Friday night we went out with the majority of the AU students who were in Barcelona that weekend. This was about 20. Yeah, a lot. After aggressively pregaming in our hostel kitchen, we met up with everyone at this stock market bar. Everyone in the bar was American; I didn't really mind though. So a stock market bar, what the heck is that? It's actually a cool concept. As people buy drinks, the drink's stock goes up and others go down. Drink prices are always fluctuating which makes drinking a little more exciting and interactive. Craziest part was, however, I turn around and who do I see but a girl from my high school graduating class. Crazy coincidence but it was nice to talk for a while and catch up. On Friday I also ate my first ever Spanish paella. As a "kind of vegetarian but still loves fish" person, this was my jam.

In terms of sites, we saw a fair amount. Friday we saw the Parc Guell, the infamous maze of sculpture and architecture that could have only been created by someone on hallucinogenic drugs. It truly is an amazing feat of architecture, however, incorporating natural landscape along with beautiful mosaic art (shout out to my momma, the mosaic queen). As we approached the park, the sun was setting, a storm was coming in off the water, and the park was rather lonely. A lone man was playing a solemn and eery number on the violin. It was the most surreal experience I've had in a long time. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera. This forced us to return to the park the next day avec le camera. Just our luck, the sunny Saturday afternoon was packed with tourists so not quite the same effect in my pictures.

  

Trippy yet very cool architecture in the park

Hi Jesse!

An example of the mosaic art

Before Parc Guell round deux on Saturday, we took a free walking tour of the city titled "Gaudi tour". Gaudi is the messed up dude that designed Parc Guell a long with anything else famous and touristy in Barcelona. This dude used to only eat lettuce dipped in milk and would use stillborn fetuses for sculpture cast models. But these days you gotta do something crazy to get famous. Gaudi's pretty much a 19th century Charlie Sheen. On this walking tour we saw a bunch of Gaudi's other works including some wavy buildings as well as the Sagrada Familia, a really big ass church. When I say big ass church I mean BIG ASS church. I was standing relatively far away from the base and couldn't even see the top of the tower.

Wavy apartments. Above: The HUGE Sagrada Familia and another Gaudi Building

Unfortunately, we didn't go into the Sagrada Familia. I heard that it was amazing, though. However, a 14 euro pricetag and a 60 min wait at the end of a long walking tour didn't sound too appealing. Speaking of the euro, I'm kind of pissed that it's rebounding from its dive in value vs the dollar. I say let Greece go bankrupt and I'll reap the benefits of living in Europe for only 2 more months.

After the walking tour we were pooped and needed to get some rest for our big night. I had been waiting for this night since I departed for Europe: Sensation Barcelona. Sensation is a concert/production that travels around to a few European cities every year. Everyone dresses in all white (cred to my man Jared who let me borrow some slick white pants) and dances to house music accompanied by a cirque du soleil -esque show. Tickets were a fat 70 euro but let me tell you, it was worth every penny. Not only did I have 1 part of my main crew there with me (Jesse), I had a bunch of great friends to enjoy the night with. We made all the way from 11pm to 6 am, making sure to get our money's worth.

This isn't the best video from the night, but the site isn't letting me put up the bigger files

Anyways, Sensation was an absolute blast. After getting home around 7 am, we slept for a good 4 hours and then woke and went straight to the beach. Nothing like a nice relaxing day on the sand to recover from a hard night of partying. It was great to be on a beach again. Reminiscent of my spring break middle school days, thinking I was too cool for anything but laying and enjoying the sun. I did swim in the Mediterranean Sea, so I can check that off my list. Another thing I can check off my list is seeing dozens of naked old people. Gotta love Europe right. If only it were the hot young spanish women who enjoyed topless sunbathing. 

Beautiful views of the beach and sea. That building is the iconic W Hotel Barcelona

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We again had paella at a little restaurant close to the beach. After unsuccessfully trying to catch a "spectacular fountain show" in Montjuic park, myself and the other boys headed out to a bar to watch some good old American football. Pats Jets game was actually a fun game to watch. Even more fun were the crazy ass Dutch dudes we met in this Irish pub. Refused by the Spanish clubs because they were wearing shorts, they proceeded to get extremely drunk at this rather pricey bar. It made for great entertainment, however. I now have friends in Amsterdam where I will be next week. First, however, our program heads off to the Hague to do some hands-on learning followed by some much needed relaxation this weekend.

Prost!

Well this post is about Oktoberfest. Yep, here it is. The following is a scattered collection of vague memories spaced out over 3 days and many many liters.

steins on steins on steins

First, think about what I just said. Liters. At Oktoberfest you consume beer by the liter. That's two pints or about 3 standard American beers. But wait there's more. Big strapping German boys brew much more alcohol into their beer than their comparatively scrawnier American counterparts. Suddenly you don't feel like a total idiot paying 8-10 euro per liter. There were many brave people, dressed in lederhosens of course, that would stand up and chug an entire liter while the rest of the tent cheers them on. Downside is that everyone boos you if you don't do it. See below, sorry for all the background screaming.

Enough about the beer, on to the beer tents. Not actually tents at all. They are permanent structures with slanted roofs that house some of the craziest people I have ever met. Perhaps the craziest part is that they are all filled by 9 am, some by 8 am, with thousands of people from all over the world. In that sense, I experienced some very good cultural immersion this weekend, meeting people from nearly every continent.

Madness

I found some old friends too. While casually (I mean aggressively) enjoying myself inside the Hofbrau Tent, I turn around and two girls from my high school class are right in front of me. Considering the size of this event, the chances of this happening were probably near zero. It was great to see some familiar faces!


Obviously, the madness could not continue all day. Vomit Hill as people call it (note: I never saw any vomit on this hill, although I can believe that it was there at some point) was where everyone took their midday naps.

Vomit Hill. No Vomit

Recharging

I'm not quite sure I could tell you anything more about Oktoberfest. Not because I didn't witness it, but because the memories are too fuzzy. Go big or go home I guess. However, going home was rough. Three days of intense partying made my liver and stomach about as happy at Amanda Knox in an Italian prison. Like her they got a break though.

Too soon?

Galavanting around Flanders

First, I'm a life long procrastinator that will never space out my workload no matter what it is. This past weekend I've been off to a new city in the northern half of Belgium known as Flanders. I actually remembered my camera this time so I got pics for y'all. Our professor, Jerry, gave us some great tours around Leuven, Antwerp, and Ghent.

Friday-Leuven
Basically the Belgian equivalent of Happy Valley, PA. The town centers around the college and is teeming with young people. It's also teeming with a lot of old shit. When I say old I mean like Middle-ages kings and queens old. Thats what we mainly saw.

Tower on the original wall around Leuven

Cathedral. I don't remember which one; it looks like the other 500 gothic cathedrals I saw

street in Leuven. Quite quaint

Saturday- Antwerp

Antwerp is the biggest/second biggest port in Europe (depending on definition) Definitely a cool place, the weather was beautiful. Because the weather was so beautiful, there were a million people there shopping. Streets were just PACKED with people from god knows where. We went in an amazing cathedral that contained one of Belgium's two artistic treasures, The Descent from the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens

badass painting

After seeing Rubens's famous works, we checked out a tour of his house. His house was seriously awesome. I'm not exactly the artsy type, but the tour/art exhibit was totally worth the 1 euro. It was also very educational. That's why I came to Europe, right? Later in the afternoon I also learned about the wonders of Australian ice cream which I guess is a thing here in Belgium. Anyways it is so delicious that it deserves your time to read about it.

Garden in Rubens's house

Sunday- Ghent

By this time in the weekend, I was pretty christed and had had enough walking (christed=tired). But yet again another walking tour all around the city! I sucked it up though and had a great time. The best was the gigantic castle we visited. Highlight of the weekend.

King in the Castle

Reenactment of a medieval torture device? 

After that tour a few of us decided to take a boat tour down the river. This was much more chill. The river boat did all the walking for us. Thank goodness we spent the 6 euro on the riverboat tour because they told us about the Turkish district of Ghent. After wandering around for quite some time we finally found the Turkish district and ate some amazing food. All of us but Mike. Mike opted for the only all you can eat restaurant that I have ever seen in Europe, basically a Belgian fogo de chao. I'm just not manly enough to do that/ wouldn't work very well with my vegetarian lifestyle.

beautiful riverways in Ghent

So definitely a weekend of traveling. Next weekend, Oktoberfest! Because I am so bad at updating this, you get to see that post in a matter of minutes!