1st day in Spain, 10.02.2007: Barbera and Sabadell

SATURDAY

And so we are here ! We finally met Steffi, who because of our delay was forced to spend more time than it was planned in the most beautiful city in Spain - Girona. If You will ever need some guide, call Steffi, she'll show You the best places there :)

So Steffi and Jordi were standing in front of the door on the airport, waving, screaming our names, throwing blossoms !!! We felt like some heroes !!!!!! :D

Warmth, palm trees all around, handsome spanish guys :)
Here You feel that you are alive ! (I would recommend this country to Dutch people).

After exhausting day we went to the bar in Sabadell, for a dinner with Mariona's friends, which (unlike spanish people in Lent) turned out to be very open and very kind people! Lidia joined us, so it still felt a little bit like erasmus :)
We were eating tapas with them (like fried potatoes, kalamars, octopus, spanish meat of course and many other things) and drinking delicious wine.

Mariona got a welcome gift from her friends - huge frame with loads of pictures from the past :)

Afterwards we went by cars to the clubs - Mariona said it's a post industrial hood, where all the old factories were changed into the music clubs. I had an impression, that Ibiza must look like this place multiplied by 10 ! :)
The names of the clubs are various, some of them mean rude things, which Mariona told us not to repeat loudly in the city (once we did it, everybody looked at us in a strange way....:P ).

:D

oh and here the bartenders look like that:

I've never seen such a big drinks, alcohol was more than a half of the glass and bartenders give you the rest of the drink from the bottle (instead of keeping it), so that you can refill your glass.
mariona, lidia, steffi
Kill me and i won't tell You Mariona's friends' names... but they were really nice !!!!!

Chocomelk???? :)
Although we were pretty tired, we had fun till the morning :)

Our lucky flight to Barcelona :)

After very very nice party all we could think about at 6. in the morning was to get some sleep...
Therefore we could think rationally - we planned our journey to the airport very quickly, according to the idea "the later we leave the longer we sleep".

We almost missed the train at 7:43, we didn't even buy the tickets, cause we had no coins.

We were lucky in Hertogenbosch, we had a train after couple of minutes.

In Eindhoven our time was still very good - we had 30 minutes to get to the airport.
Of course on both of the taxi stops there were no available taxis. The bus was leaving at 9:12. The check in was closed at 9:20. At 9:10 the bus driver announced, that the bus broke down and we have to leave.

We were very lucky again - the taxi appeared. The woman kept repeating: "Oh oh, so I have to hurry, I have to hurry" but the car didn't ride too quickly... Apparently she forgot to synchronize her thoughts with the car.

I was running to the check-in... but all I saw was: "Barcelona, check in CLOSED". Random worker of Ryanair called somebody and told us, that we can still enter the board, but... without the lagguage!
"Of course!" - we said "We're going, we don't need Mariona's 3 suitcases with all her things, let's leave it!". But after some few minutes we decided not to leave our lagguages, cause we thought that all this stuff might be somehow useful one day.... ;]

Mariona bro booked the ticket for us, from Amsterdam, on the same day.
GOD BLESS JORDI !!!!! Without him we would turn into homeless' sleeping on the airport for 24 hours, brushing our teeth in the Water Closet on the smallest Airport Nicole has ever seen !!!!!
That would be a nightmare indeed ;]
We had to go to Amsterdam and at 6:30 we had a flight. In the meantime we were the greatest attraction of the airport, sleeping on every table we found on the airport.
Oh I almost forgot, I wanted to kill somebody again with my pocketknife from Swiss, which about I always forget, carrying it in my bag. BUT ! They didn't throw it away, they let me send my own pocket knife to myself for ONLY 15 euros....(I received it yesterday btw).



It was as a miracle that we got on the plane. I felt like we will never sit down there...

Finally, after the most terrible day I could imagine we Landed in Barcelona, where the weather started to spoil us like a small children :)

Mariona entering the airport in Barcelona :)

After 24. we could say : GOODBYE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

LAST

The time has come. Everything ends. When we arrived to Lent we were not thinking about the end - everything the best was before us. The end of January was the time of many goodbyes and tears. Last dinners, last meetings, last parties.
Hey the garlic sauce is usually not that strong, but You have to admit, that it was better than any other green thing ;)

Girls had an exam on 1st of february, so after that we had a cake and wine and afterwards we joined the party in Alessandro's flat. Italian guys prepared delicious food for everybody :)

I dare to believe that this finger wasn't for the photographer :P I DIDN"T DESERVE IT !!! :P

yeah..well... paparazzi's everywhere, nothing won't escape my gaze ;]

Rasta Fabio [nieuw!!! send "RF" on 6464 to have it on your display]

Totally new, fresh Iwano's haircut :)

What else was LAST?

Of course last wednesday and cocktail night in Sterre. Was really nice!!!!!!!!

Robbie, Verner and Rene
Renee, Alessandro, some girl in the yellow shirt, Eleni and someone with a bow in the hair.

My favourite new erasmus students: the only Aussie on this semester Barney (prawn crackers' monster:D), Robbie and Robbie. Me and Robbie
Hey Hey! Sam and Mariona.

Now the turn for the last day in Lent. When we woke up the whole Lent was white and it was getting more and more covered with snow.

We had to pack our things, Mariona finally had to throw away her converse shoes, cause they were really really damaged. Wholes everywhere!

In the evening we organized the dinner, we invited people we liked the most, both from old and new semester, not planning anything big. The beginning was very polite and calm.

Polish girls
From Left: Mason, Barney's friend, Josh, Meredith

Antonio (orange jumper) and his friend from home.

My favourite American girl - Alex from Atlanta.

Eiiii finger again.... Mason !

On the next day we were supposed to fly to Barcelona. And so we did... but a little bit differently than it was planned...

to be continued.....

Exploring Nijmegen - De Stratemakerstoren PART 1.

Oh My gosh ! De Stratemakerstoren and Velorama were totally checked by Anna and me today.
First was DE STRATEMAKERSTOREN. It was really big bastion in the past, securing the gateway to the city (like a defensive tower). In the course of time it was damaged, so that what survived till this day is just the little remain. It was built in 16th century, made of stone and brick. In the end of 18th century it lost its importance. From the end of 18century the houses and many buildings were built next to bastion.

It is not big inside, but very interesting, also thanks to the wax figures which they put inside. They are pretty scary !

Let's go:

That's the model of the bastion

The corridor with a lot of loopholes and shooting holes for riffels and cannons. Walls are in some points even 3, 5 m thick.

FOr a few minutes we could feel as if we would travel in time. Everything was really scary, even the dog was so freaky and fuzzy :D

This guy and his friend were tryin to shoot someone ! Well dug by people in 18th century. The water is still there.
There was also small store-room, with lots of wines and food. Unfortunately for me - fake one.

One thing made to commemorate the plague of pest (the black death)...
Doctor and two victims of the plague, accompanied by rats.... :( Doctor wearing special mask, to avoid infection from ill people.

His eye was so violet, his feet were covered with some pieces of material, and his skin was really yellow.

They guy laying on the bed looked terrifying - he had open wound on his leg and was also yellow. This part of bastion made us feel like we would be really in 1666. We decided not to spend there too much time, just in case... ;)

As the guidebook says - the mystery of the name of the museum is still unsolved. Literally it means "Road Workers Tower"....

the song

(genre: Blending sweet, crooning vocals, and indie synth-pop electronic beats)

The Postal Service - "Do You realize"

Do you realize,

That you have the most beautiful face

Do you realize,

We're floating in space

Do you realize,

That happiness makes you cry

Do you realize,

That everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes

Let them know you realize that life goes fast

It's hard to make the good things last

You realize the sun doesn't go down

Its just an illusion caused by the world spinnin' round

Do you realize, Ohhhh Ohhhh - Woaaahhh

Do you realize,

That everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes

Let them know you realize that life goes fast

It's hard to make the good things last

You realize the sun doesn't go down

Its just an illusion caused by the world spinnin' round

Do you realize,

Do you realize,

That you have the most beautiful face

Do you realize