The Spanish are friendly-ish

kind of...

14:43  Barcelona, SP

First- a photo of Alex being fruity...

Greetings from Catalunya.  I deeply apologize for my lack of bloggings recently.  I know that so many of you dine on my words for the inspiration and energy to make it through your days.  The first things you would notice about me if this were a video blog, is:

1) my lack of wearing street clothing 2) bed hair 3) the shades of my apartment being tightly drawn.  

At this point I will provide another list to help illustrate to you why it is almost three in the afternoon and I'm just getting out of bed.  Possible contributing factors could be:

1) pregaming (pregaming is dangerous and irresponsible, it should only be done around trained professionals, like Max)  2) Spanish clubs are awesome 3) Among other drinks- three I coined "The Elena" after the Bartender that was making them for me- I don't know what was in them.

The sun comes up early here, and Max and I can tell you about the exact time.  06:15.

In other news, life here really is rough, it's stressful, we get no sleep, there's no good cooking or wine here, no one speaks Texan, and we're forced to hang out with our friends just about 24/7.  Hate it.

I wish I were in Dixie, Hooray

9:44 PM   the Mount Ida, Arkansas

Hey guys I don't have any awesome pictures, or anything cool, really. There is a little guy from Honduras that I talk to in spanish sometimes, but thats about it. I have been taking out the trash for 6 days now and it gets better every day. Overview of my typical day

6:45 AM: wake up and drive food around camp

7:30AM: eat as much fiber as possible at breakfast so as to avoid death by constipation

8:00 AM: get in a crappy chevy pickup and pick up trash with a guy named Will Poly from Auburn

11:45 AM: go to bible study, scheduled for noon

12:03 PM: leave bible study to drive more food around

1:30 PM: eat lunch 

1:43 PM: eat dinner

1:45 PM: wish I was having "rest period like everyone else"

1:50 PM: resume picking up trash

2:29 PM: dump coke/skittles/root beer/powerade/little kid saliva/spiders/chili cheese sauce/napkin/daiper/sock/jelly/honey all over my legs after a trash can containing the listed items breaks while I carry it

2:30PM: laugh and be like "what the hell am I doing here, I should be in New Guinea"

3:30PM: finish trash run

3:31 PM: play NBA JAM on our 8 foot basket

5:00PM: set up some stuff including but not limited to Large inflatable bungee runs and velcro walls, haybails, little signs, tables, etc

7:02 PM: see a kid chaffing really bad because he has worn his swimsuit for 4 days straight

7:46 PM: watch Joe kill a poisonous snake with a log

9:00 PM: take down all the stuff we put up 4 hours earlier

11:00 PM: realize how hungry I am because dinner is 13 minutes after lunch here

11:21 PM: screw around with friends

12:12 PM: set my alarm

12:25 PM: Remember why I am here

12:26 PM: ZZZZZZZZ

      That's it. In conclusion, I have 2 odd connections that I have found

1) I met some girl that facebook stalked Rob Watson when we were in high school

2) I met one of Weezy's friends from high school, and yes everyone likes him as much as we like master wayne, and yes he is just as weird

All is well in Dixieland

the city of light

4:31pm- paris, france

bonjour

things in paris are wonderful.  i mostly just hang out in front of the eiffel tower, drink wine and a plethora of other beverages all while  enjoying exquisite cheeses.  that is really all i have to say. life is good. come to paris, we will have fun. much love.

andrew

12:54 AM- wonderful College Station

Despite the fact that the French and Spanish weather is currently in the 60's, I thoroughly enjoyed today's heat index of 105 with 86% humidity.

Despite the fact that my friends currently have a glass of wine with every meal, I am proud to be in a country where i would be arrested for holding alcohol by fat incompetent police officers

And Despite the fact that most of you "went out" last night, I love the fact that my parents are still enforcing my high school one o'clock curfew.......

Really I've been thinking and I've decided I am going to stay here for the rest of the summer

k

It's 2:00 p.m. in Branson, MO

Greetings world travelers! I hope this post finds you all well and having tons of grand adventures! As for me, I am spending a 24 hr period away from kamp (camp with a K is how we do it at Kanakuk) in the lamest town in the world, Branson. In case you were wondering Branson gets about 7 million tourists a year, why i have no idea, but you can imagine what that makes traffic like when there is only one main road that has two lanes. Also I am currently writing from Panera Bread and am literlly cornered by old people (they run this town). But that is ok because I have been able to check the blog, read about what ya'll are doing, and live my life through you guys. And I got to talk to Thomas and Cody in Barcelona and Kelly in Spain with Skype, yay!

Anyway, I am about to finish my first week of kamp. I have been residing in Teepee 4 with 11 ten year olds and my co-counselor Maggie. With the exception of a minor catamaran mishap where I got myself and 5 kampers blown half way across Tablerock Lake, all is well. The theme for my kamp this summer is Gladiators which is so fun because I get to see about 100 boys from the ages of 7 to 12 dress up like little killing machines and hit each other with their fake swords once a week for the next six weeks (if you have never witnessed something of this nature, it is very amusing). And my girls get to be princesses which is also quite fun. I am excited about being here for the next 5 weeks and will hopefully have a few more stories to tell. I love you all and cannot wait to be reunited back in C-Stat!!!!

Katie "I HATE Branson" McGrath

P.S. Write me letters!!! (please)

Katie McGrath
364 K-Seven Drive
Lampe, MO 65681

It's 11:11 A.M. in Barcelona, Spain.

Ever seen a postcard with the words "Wish you were here!!!" scrawled across the back? Excessively enthusiastic punctuation aside, I've never been much of a fan of the time-tested platitude. You see, when I take vacations, I'm trying to get away from you. It doesn't work so well if you're here with me. Vacations should be a time of reflection, meditation, and of course, room service. 

So, for two days, that was Spain. I lounged in a luxe hotel room: the photograph to the left is the view from my balcony, and, yes, if you look closely, you'll see a green icon at the street's end denoting the entrance to the American Embassy, which is, in some circles, known as Starbucks. I ventured out into Barcelona, slowly but surely, enjoyed some truly fantastic carbohydrates, and began blazing a trail for my comrades-in-coffee, Max & Cody. I was enjoying my own company, thanks very much. 

Then, everything changed. I had the pleasure of taking a thirty dollar - I'm sorry, thirty euro taxi to another hotel where our CEA orientation was to be held. Within minutes, Max & Cody interrupted my enjoyment of Sydney Bristow's butt-kicking (she lives in my laptop) to rub their freshly unshowered bodies all over me. This was truly sick/nasty, but probably not in the way it sounded in the sentence above. I was, if begrudgingly, truly glad to see them. 

For the next few days we enjoyed, but, at least together, the process of having our personal freedoms slowly stripped from us by the friendly CEA staff. They herded us around like cattle, or worse, like the junior high set at church camp for hours upon end, mostly warning us not to get too plastered. So far, we have succeeded in their eyes by avoiding the two evils: death-by-tequila, and speaking-too-much-English. 

After our fantastically fun orientation, we were escorted to our tres chic apartment, which we call, simply, The Pug. We have given the apartamento this designation due to the similarities it shares with the canine of the same name, that is, it's so completely unfortunate-looking that we can't help but love it. Pictures to come. The shower spews water all over the floor, and, by proxy, all over the apartment; we're at least twenty minutes from our classes by way of metro, and the charming air shaft, upon which our windows open, smells like a sweaty cigarette with an untreated foot fungus. But, The Pug, well, we loves him. 

Wish you were here. 

-A.

Same 'Ol Me..

..just missing you! At least I have my new camera to keep me occupied.



I know, I need something to do. Hope everyone is well!

Neema (Grace) in Nairobi and Welcome to Barcelona!

So we made it into Nairobi, Kenya after a long, hot, sweaty, and bumpy ride from Moshi, Tanzania. As always we had pretty much no idea what we were going to do once we got there. We had two days to kill in Nairobi and after hearing horror stories of NaiROBBERY we weren´t too excited. We tried to pull a Paige/Kelly and get them to move our flight up so we could goto London that night and spend a day in the city but to no avail... we even told them about Cody´s cancer... jerks...

God was good, as usual. The woman we had met only 2 weeks earlier that works at the baggage claim (sarah) that we had breakfast with welcomed us with open arms. We stayed at her fiance´s place in the ¨slums¨ as they called it, of Nairobi. We both thought it was nice and very extremely grateful. Sarah even took off work to show us the city.

So, i traded my nikes to a street vendor for Massai (a tribe) sandals. they are made out of old tires which they cut up and made shoes out of. Whats up TOM!? they cost about 3000TSH so i think i got ripped off.. oh well.. jk, i was going to throw the nikes away in spain so good for both sides. Then we told them about Jesus. Soles for souls right? not really but i think they already know him.

In the two and half weeks in Africa we did mostly everything we wanted to do.

Learn a bit of Swahili. Check.
Hang out with the locals. Check.
Find adventure. Check.
Drink the ¨Local Brew¨. Check.
Play with monkeys- i mean kids. Check.
Play with monkeys. Check.
Meet random people from around the world. Check.
Eat EVERYTHING. Check.
Poop in a hole. Check. Check. Check.
Not change clothes or bath for extended periods of time. Check.

We have pictures of everything. Coming soon.

So now that we´re in Spain. Which we still have no idea what we´re doing, we made a new list.

Go to the beach. CHECK!
See topless women. Check.
See topless women at the beach. Check.
Get an education. pending

We have pictures of this too! well, the last one.

We´ve already spent 160 USD (about 85 euro) and we´ve been here for like 8 hours... how the heck are we going to do 4 weeks?? swipe swipe..

We met a french couple today and they are very nice. They invited us out tonight for drinks with their friends. They speak french and spanish. we speak english. Communicating with them so far has been a lot of chirades. Tonight will be fun.

Alex & Zach, Cody and I are SOOO pumped to see you two. Zach, we know you´re birthday is coming up soon so we have a surprise for you. It involves candles, Alex, and the beach. And alcohol because i wont go through with it unless I have a few drinks first. But thats enough for now.

We LOVE all of you guys and are soo excited for all of your travels! See you sooner than you know!

American women are prettier than spanish women,
Cody and Max

Plano, TX 1:48 am

There are rules to blogging, especially in a group setting such as this one. I suppose one obvious one is that this blog should not be used as a college version of AIM. The disclaimer to this post is that it is not that.

FOR MAX ONLY:

This is Shyler and Paige. We really really really miss you a lot. Shyler says that she is glad that you are not eaten. I think we are not sure because you have not posted in awhile and last we heard from you, Cody was biting you. You are probably eaten. 

Max, tonight, Shyler and I sat outside of Starbucks for 3 hours, all of which occurred after Starbucks closed. Did you know that it closes at 10pm in Plano?? Ridiculous, huh? Max, I know right now you are feeling left out, but know that we talked about you the whole time! Shyler and I have nothing else in our lives. We just love you thats all. Our conversation about how wonderful you are came abruptly to a halt, when a strange man with a backpack came and stood right in front of our car at 1 am. He seemed unhappy/constipated. VERY VERY SKETCHY.... so we drove away fast in Shyler's car. However, I forgot to lock my car and get my wallet, so we made several drive-bys. Shyler tried to point out that now she was unsure of who was sketchier- us or the unibomber backpacker? The choice seems obvious. US. 

Now we are sitting in her room, writing you in Africa! unless you are eaten.

Max come home to us!!!! seriously!!!! i cant do anything without you!!.. such as simple math.. using a computer.. double clicking :/ .. eating at sonic.. laughing.. living in general :( i miss you!!!! 

We love you.

FOR EVERYONE:

This blog is not a free for all. Use it wisely.

Paige

and Shyler 

Don't Talk About Bottled Water.

It's 12:32 in Prosper, TX. 

And in less than twelve hours, I'll be in the air. Thankfully, I'll be protected by a pressurized cabin, really big engines, and, of course,  The Immutable Laws of Physics. I hope to be fine. Tonight, I just wanted to share a quick piece of advice before storming the continent like B List celebrities at an Obama campaign rally. Ready? 

Don't talk about New Balance shoes. 

There's a lovely little blog called Stuff White People Like. And, no, it does not concern the newest Eddie Murphy film. It's a charming, sardonic sort of treatise, on, you guessed it, the odd proclivities of caucasians. And, for our purposes of European travel, 'White People' can pretty much be translated as 'Americans.' If you want to survive in Europe, do not, under any circumstances, discuss Scarves, Grammar, Music Piracy, or Not Having A TV. Any of these topics will cause the natives to verbally, or, if you're Max or Cody, perhaps literally, rotisserie you. Friendly advice. 

As for me, well, be thinking of your dear friend while he's confined to a chair for nearly twelve hours tomorrow. And, in the event that his plane goes down, just pray that J.J. Abrams doesn't hear about it. In that instance, his life will quickly become

ONE! PLOT TWIST! AFTER! THE NEXT!

-A. 

Ain't no party like a c-stat party

Just rolled into college station. It looks a lot like Europe, so I think I will consider myself studying abroad. That was me being completely and utterly facetious. The weather is good though, and there was a friendly rabbit in the backyard waiting for me when I pulled up. Also, there was an army of ants in the kitchen here at the Prestige, but I fought them off bravely without sustaining too many injuries. Summa (i would like everyone else to start spelling it like this) school starts tomorrow so I would like to tell you that I will be crashing soon, but you just never know. Ummmmm, what else has been going on...Ooooh, I saw the new Indiana Jones movie twice and it is FREEEAAAKING tight!!! Uhh, well that about sums up my summa. Hope everyone is doing amazing. I miss yall and you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Good night and good luck,

Mutt Williams

Kloster, Burg, und Ort

20:55 Bonn

This morning I got up at 6:30 am, an hour and a half after sunrise, to meet up with my fellow study-abroadees for an "excursion" into the Eiffel region of beautiful North Rhine-Westphalia, Deutschland. At first I was rather reluctant to overcome my cynicisms of "excursions" - who wants to go see a bunch of random stuff with a bunch of random people and have no input to the schedule? However, I quickly realized that you can easily enjoy the guided tours, split with a smaller group, or be alone all together on your own schedule governed only by the bus' departure. So don't be afraid of excursions, I saw some absolutely beautiful things today and had a great time, despite my awkwardly large group.
I don't want to bore anyone so I will just comment briefly and let the pictures do their thousand words each.

Kloster Maria Laach
We began with mass at the Monastary of Mary Lake. If you're Catholic and you know it, clap your hands, because this place represents! The monks here have devoted their life to God and live off the land, repair the Cathedral, and sell stonework and flowers to provide for their needs. The plethora of Latin with the baritone monk choir produced a very ancient aura.
Schloss Buerresheim
One of the few castles in the region to have survived the French Revolution, Buerresheim Castle is unique in that the northern half was constructed as a Burg, or fortification, in the 1400s, and the southern half was constructed as a Schloss, or Palace, over 300 years later. It had been passed down through families until 1932 and all of the furniture is original, some of it over 500 years old. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside but there was some amazing stuff.

Monreal








This little Ort, or town, was recognized as the most picturesque town in Germany. It's buildings are crammed together among narrow alleys and boast the traditional Fachwerk style. A river runs through the center of town, and a ruined Castle watches from atop the hill. Definitely the best stop of the day.

















I learned two things today:
1. Germany is more beautiful and its history more alluring than I thought it would be.
2. No matter how many amazing things I hear and see, I can't help but wonder how much better it would be with some of you here. So those of you who at least have friends enough with you that every conversation is not surface oriented chit chat, enjoy them.
And skype me!

Auf Wiedersehen,
Thomas

p.s. does anyone remember the 20 word name that we almost had for the blog...?

Hope that's not too many pictures

The Time Has Come...

11:00 am last blog from Arlingfun

Fellow Ags,

The time has come for my departure from normalcy. No longer can I watch Carrie Underwood's "All American Girl" music video and comment on how incredibly sexy she is...ive been called to be above that.

The time has come for me to live 3 months with 8th and 9th grade children, wow.

The time has come because Pan just got here and we have to go. Please write and keep in "touch my body" with us. Feel free to send inappropriate things through mail, it's not checked. Just think WWMD? I would send it...will you?


As Julie Andrews sings,
"What will this day be like? I wonder.
What will my future be? I wonder.
It could be so exciting to be out in the world, to be free
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, what's the matter with me?
I've always longed for adventure
To do the things I've never dared
And here I'm facing adventure
Then why am I so scared

A captain with seven children
What's so fearsome about that?

Oh, I must stop these doubts, all these worries
If I don't I just know I'll turn back
I must dream of the things I am seeking
I am seeking the courage I lack
The courage to serve them with reliance
Face my mistakes without defiance
Show them I'm worthy
And while I show them I'll show me

So, let them bring on all their problems
I'll do better than my best
I have confidence they'll put me to the test
But I'll make them see
I have confidence in me

Somehow I will impress them
I will be firm but kind
And all those children (Heaven bless them!)
They will look up to me
And mind me with each step I am more certain
Everything will turn out fine
I have confidence the world can all be mine
They'll have to agree
I have confidence in me

I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides which you see
I have confidence in me

Strength doesn't lie in numbers
Strength doesn't lie in wealth
Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumbers
When you wake up -- Wake Up!
It tells me all I trust
I lead my heart to
All I trust becomes my own
I have confidence in confidence alone(Oh help!)
I have confidence in confidence alone
Besides which you see
I have confidence in me!"

Make this your anthem this summer my dear friends.

Until we meet again,
Matthew Tyler Pierson

high and dry

12.16 pm, london... there is a beautiful version of Radiohead's High & Dry playing in the background

well for the past 24 hrs i have been stuck in london.  my flight to paris got cancelled and i could not get on another one until tonight.  ba (british airways) was kind enough to put up in a great hotel for the night and provide taxi to and from the airport, so overall it has been a very pleasant experience. there was one thing however...

buffalo shrimp quesadillas! a terrible thing to order at an airport and an even worse thing to think about eating an hour before you are to sit in a seat for eight hours 30,000 ft off the ground.  i am feeling the effects of this decision to this moment, and regretting it ever more.  i am sure that i have food poisoning ( i wont go into detail).  at one point in the flight a nice 30-some year old britsh flight attendant tapped me on the shoulder and said "excuse me sir, are you feeling alright?" i replied no. she then inquired further "well i hate to ask you but do you have diarrhea, you look very pale?" i replied yes.  she then proceeded to give some medicine that taste horrible and did not really do much.

aaron, the british people are great.  look forward to that. for all of you, there is free wine on airplanes, take advantage of that! it gets much more expensive once you land.  i am off to have a large brew and some fish & chips before i leave. i hope you are all doing well.

cheers mates

andrew    

 

life after steak and ale

Dallas, 3:32 am

 

I wish I could I report that I am writing at this late hour because I have been up all night parting like its 1999, but unfortunately the steroids from my wisdom teeth removal have abruptly awoken me at 2 am and I have been unable to fall asleep again, so I thought I might blog instead. And yes, I look like a complete chipmunk, or not so "glowey" as Alex would put it. 

For the record, that surgery is scarier than one would think. I knew the doctor was putting in my IV that would eventually knock me out, but not as quickly as what followed. Literally, the man had just told me that his son, who is a senior at HP would be attending Texas A&M in the Fall, and I of course was in the midst of my auto response: "tell him to try out for Fightin' Texas Aggie....." (I passed out). I woke up alarmed. I didn't have enough time to tell him about Fish Aides....or the Lord!!! What if the doctor thinks I was telling him about Aggie Fish Club instead? Whoa is me! (no offense to over half of our friend group). 

In other news, the Jude has a B12 deficiency, which explains why she can no longer tell the boys apart, and thinks that LD stands for Lauren Daniel, which is now written on the back of Chi-Omega embroidered plate meant for our house next year. What is worse is that we made the discovery, while showing it to Bret, who asked, "Who is Lauren?" For those of you who are concerned that you may also have the condition, its symptoms include memory loss, mood swings, and difficulty with the English language. Unfortunately, the treatment for this condition is a shot that you must inject daily for a week and once weekly after that. My dad now thinks its hilarious whenever my mom forgets somethings to tell the boys, "quick hold her down! Get the injections!" My mom doesn't think it is funny yet. If you or a loved one struggles with this deficiency, please talk to your doctor and know that you can find solace here at camp smiley. 

I was going to try and be funny and add that another symptom of B12 was poor driving, but I was afraid the comments on this blog would come back to bite me later. Although, in that department, I have one small victory to announce. While aaron and Bret were over earlier this week, both aaron and JD thought it was really funny to bring up all of my driving fiascos both from high school and college (Thank you afran!). Jd got a real kick out of reminding me that I hit Dad's car twice in our own driveway in high school (it was not my fault). He was laughing and going on and on. Well, tonight, when I awoke from my surgery, I was surprised to see JD hanging out the family on a Friday night, even as cool as we are. The truth finally came out...he was grounded. For what, you might ask? For hitting Dad's car in the driveway. Two Points for Paige.

With much love,

Paige

P.S.

I made Bret watch Steel Magnolias, and he loved it.