why? just because

Binta y la gran idea

2011-01-12T00:01:00.003+01:00

I just finished watching a really interesting short movie about the importance of childhood and happiness in the world. The only issue is that the video is in French with Spanish subtitles. Well, at least some of you might be able to understand one or either of them. Enjoy!!

Sweet independence

2010-11-04T00:01:00.003+01:00

It's already been two months since I emancipated, moving out from my parent's place and living on my own with a couple of friends (Aitor and Jakub). Well, so far so good, as it is usually said (and now that I have a place to myself, I want to invite any of you who wants to pay me or Pamplona a visit, because there are some extra beds and an incredibly comfortable sofa waiting for you). As I predicted, I have no major problems getting everything done and life is easy. Of course there are plenty more things to worry about, but that is the challenge, and hell yeah! I love challenges.

Overcoming them makes anyone feel amazingly useful and proud of him/herself. Life is full of challenges, because that is the way it should be. If sometime you find yourself with no goal ahead to fulfill or no challenges to get through, then stop, reevaluate, think for a while about what you want in your life, and finally, go for it. This will make you feel better, no doubt.

People find challenges in different places or environments. Whether at work, in sports, with people, in causes... all are valid and must be respected. Everyone is different and so want different things. Nevertheless, people also change with time. What thought to be a challenge in the past can stop being so, due to boredom, lack of interest or simply repetition. That is the exact moment in which you need to come to a halt and reconsider.

Me, I still find challenges in most things in life. However, same way as most people I know, the biggest and usually considered most important ones are work related. Is this the way it should be? or are we giving to much weight to these challenges compared to others? Well, honestly I believe that being at an early working age, as I am myself, we do in fact make this mistake often.

In this line of thought, turning upside down my career in a couple of years time sounds attractive. It would be the moment to go for it, give it a shot, and if it turns out to be a complete disaster, you could never say you did not try.

In the near future, I have challenges non-work related, such as the trip to Guatemala and other good intended projects in Pamplona. But some different challenges and projects for the future are also starting to take shape in my head. You will be hearing about them when the time is ready.

Since this was a pretty intense post, lets reduce the stress with some laughter. Because in Pamplona we also celebrate Halloween!!

Summer is over!!

2010-09-26T17:14:00.002+02:00

Hey all there,

Summer is over and with it the nice weather in Pamplona and the unscheduled life. Now, it is time to get back to routine, whole days at the office, followed by either German classes or basketball trainings. However, a huge change in life happened, which will eclipse all these monotonous tasks. Some of you already know, but for those who still wonder what the hell I'm talking about, I moved out from my parents' and I'm now living on my own. Since the beginning of September, Aitor, Jakub (a Polish student in Pamplona) and me, we are all sharing a flat in Pamplona. So far so good. I will be keeping you updated on this new start I just got on.

And well, summer went by. Even though I worked a lot, including late evenings, I also managed to enjoy it and hop on into a few little adventures on the way. I'm pretty sure a summary will do it, no need for details on each trip, specially if some nice and speak-for-themselves pictures accompany, which I don't have with me right now but will upload some time soon.

So first was it was time for San Fermines. Amazing as they always are, and made special this year by the Spanish World Championship. Yeah, that's right, we are soccer World Champions!!! Then the LowCost festival in Benidorm arrived, with bands like Placebo or Editors playing. So much fun with my wonderful friends Rober, Ion, Victor and Iban. Thank you guys. That was pretty much July.

Then August came around and we were off to Mallorca. A yearly tradition my friends from University have. We go off for a week to some place in the coast to enjoy the nice weather and the nightlife. This year it was a success again, but I won't be talking much about it, because what happens in Mallorca, stays in Mallorca, hehe. And after Mallorca, it was time for celebration. Celebrating what you may ask. Well, Emilio and Christine, old friends from Vermont were getting married in Munich, Germany. So there we went, to share that happy and lovely moment with them. The wedding was amazing and pretty different, to say the least, from what I'm used to here in Spain. Probably the fact that the groom was Mexican whereas the bride was German had something to do with it.

Because a friend of mine is crazy and I'm dumb for following him, the last weekend of August, we did puenting, as we call it here, or bungee jumping, as they do in English. So scary but also worth trying it. And after the extreme sport, it was time for another music festival. This time it was the Ebrovision in Miranda de Ebro, a much smaller festival but with great national bands playing and a wonderful atmosphere.

That's been my summer until now. I hope things keep happening and that I stay as active as always, because I love this trying-new-things-and-meeting-new-people thingy (almost as much as I like saying this last word, thingy, hehe).

The Blue Sweater

2010-06-27T23:13:00.003+02:00

I just finished reading this book and totally love it. I strongly recommend it and hope you read it, because it's truly inspirational.

Niños de la India

2010-06-20T22:39:00.005+02:00

Four lovers of India who felt like they needed to do something joined together and created this organization, Niños de la India. It is one of those I really like, because they do not do things the way traditional aid programs have been doing for years. That is, putting money into a project without paying attention to what the receivers of that particular project thought about it and without considering their ideas.

This is less about aid or helping, as we usually think of it, and more about investing. Investing on people's lives and believing in them. With this program, you can give the starting push to a student, so that he/she can make a living on his/her own. It is not about handing out money blindly, but about giving that particular person an opportunity. An opportunity to create a future for himself, one that he/she has chosen, that he/she likes and more important, that he/she believes in. So if you are eager to help, this can be a really good way of making a difference in someone's life.

http://ninosdelaindia.es/english/

Invictus

2010-06-20T22:26:00.005+02:00

After a lot of going and coming, this weekend I stayed in Pamplona. Meeting with some friends for dinner and beer, one night out the other planning not to go out but doing so anyway, a movie on Sunday afternoon... that is, the usual Pamplona style weekend. So I watched a movie today, and I usually don't share movie tastes on the blog, but this one I really liked. I am sure a lot of you had already seen it. Well, I hadn't and I loved it. It is Invictus, and despite being a blockbuster, I think it perfectly depicts some of the reality of South Africa. It is pretty inspiring and although the real life in that country probably is way harder than the movie suggests in the end, we can always use some inspiration, don't we?

The Cove

2010-06-15T00:18:00.002+02:00

Astonishing documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Japan, and which points out not only that specific problem, but exposes what a huge damage we are all inflicting to the Earth. I really like when he said, either you are an activist or you are an inactivist. It's not easy, but let's all try to at least be a little more activist in something near us. Then we can start thinking bigger.

BUV Index

2010-05-09T16:50:00.003+02:00

Because life is great, and traveling makes it even better, I suggest you check your BUV Index. It takes two minutes and is pretty interesting. It's a pity it's only available in Spanish, but I guess you won't have many problems since it appears to be quite intuitive. I honestly don't know the calcs behind it, but looks pretty accurate to me, hehe.

This is the link:

http://www.buscounviaje.com/indice-buv/paises_visitados

And this is my index (I see it pretty low, so I might have to start organizing another trip soon):

Patient Capitalism

2010-05-09T16:17:00.002+02:00

Really interesting talk you can find in TED from Jacqueline Novogratz. I believe it's worth twenty minutes of your time because in order to improve this world we need everyone. And if you have a little more time, I recommend you read her book as well. It's called The Blue Sweater: Bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world. Give it a shot!

SOS 4.8

2010-05-08T17:05:00.003+02:00

Every day that goes by I get more convinced that life is made by people. I mean, meeting new people, seeing really good old friends no seen for long time, chatting with random people in the street, never saying no to meeting someone, trying to see the best part of everyone, learning something from everyone's experiences and background...

I know a lot of you understand what I'm talking about. That excitement you get when you speak with a friend from group 2 (refer to a previous post), or the great feeling that walks you home when going back from meeting someone new that you really enjoyed talking with. So, please, take care of people and never shut anyone off. We are all worth meeting and being listened. Because WE has been, is and will always be more important than I, although a lot of people might have not realized it yet.

And after this deep feeling exposure, let's talk a little bit about an awesome weekend in Murcia we had a week ago. Rober and I took my car on Thursday and drove all the way down to southern Spain in order to attend a promising music festival. It was really cheap (40 euros for two days of festival) considering the magnitude of the bands playing. I'm talking about Franz Ferdinand, Delorean, We are Standard, Love of Lesbian, Dorian, Sunday Drivers, Anni B Sweet, Fatboy Slim and many others.

We stayed in a house in a village next to Murcia, with swimming pool and the whole thing. Really sweeeeeeet!!!! I didn't know anyone before going except for Rober, but after a few hours in that house, we were all like family. I told you, people are meant to be together and interact, it's just how we are. There was a great vibe in that house but also with the neighbors. We had the best ones, five girls from Barcelona, really sociable and ready to meet new people. So we were a perfect match and had a great festival with them.

And now we are back in Pamplona, routine, but already preparing the next adventure. I hope it takes place soon, because life is movement, and if you stop, it will pass you by. So enjoy it!!!!!

Thank you for the drawing Laura, I love it!

Easter vacation

2010-04-11T20:36:00.003+02:00

So Easter vacation is over, meaning we have to get back to work again. It is unbelievable how fast time passes when you are on holidays. The positive side of this is that it went really fast because we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves big time. Where? well, I was in need of crossing another country in my world map I have on my bedroom wall, so I flew to Sofia, Bulgaria together with four friends of mine.

Like I usually do, I'm not gonna give a detailed description of what we did because that will be boring for most of you. Just mention that Sofia is not that great to visit, although it seemed to me like a pretty nice city to live in permanently (kinda like Pamplona, not a big tourist attraction, but incredibly comfy). Plus, we had some inside information since two of our classmates from University are over there as Erasmus students. They took us out at night and gave some really good tips about the city and what to do around. Thanks to them we went visit a lovely city called Plovdiv, with a beautiful old town.

Partying was also an important part of this visit and we tried (because it was Easter time and a lot of people was out of town, making the nightlife less active) to go out almost every night. We were dealing with Erasmus students, so staying at home at night is always out of the question. Oh! and the food... the food was so cheap and delicious. And if it came accompanied by a half liter beer to refresh us, better still.

The weekend previous to leaving for Bulgaria, I went to Bilbao to visit some of those really good friends you rarely see, but that when you meet, it feels like there has been no time in between. You know which ones I am referring too, don't you? you meet them after a couple of months (sometimes even years) without talking or seeing each other and there is no awkwardness and feels like you have been together hanging out every day for those couple of months. Well, the point is that in one of those friends' house in Bilbao we met and enjoyed a wonderful weekend of catching up and laughing (really important to help with the daily crap all of us have to put up with). Bilbao was and is still a very important and industrialized city which has been improved greatly in the past years, leaving a really beautiful and worth visiting city.

And that's pretty much it since the last time I wrote here. Let me just give you a couple of hints about what I'll be doing in the next month. I have a week in Iowa, US starting next Sunday. Also a weekend adventure which I cannot talk about yet someplace in Spain and then whatever else has in store the randomness of this life, hehe.

Really interesting reading and a good idea

2010-03-23T23:15:00.004+01:00

Quick post to let you know about a really nice book I've read lately. It's called The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind and tells the story of a young boy from Malawi who defying all his village disbelief successes in building a wind mill that generates electricity for his house. I loved it because it starts describing his childhood in Malawi, which was a pretty harsh one and then continues with the different stages of creating the wind mill, taking place during his youth. Plus, it's even more inspiring because William Kamkwamba (that's the guys name) is the same age us me and a lot of you.

The second item I wanted to share with you is a link to a web searcher that I recently got from a really good friend and who is getting more and more concerned into saving the planet. It's a good idea and worth a shot from my point of view. I will just let you judge and decide for yourselves.

ECOSIA

Montana Adventure

2010-03-22T22:27:00.006+01:00

Hey there folks!!!

How's 2010 treating you so far. I personally can't complain, since I've got a pretty nice start. Continuing with the awesomeness I was living and that I already told in some way on the previous post, I jumped into a flight and went all the way to Montana, US (work related trip this time, meaning few expenses on my behalf).

Of course Montana is too distant from my home city Pamplona, so it was totally necessary to stop somewhere on the way. And what could be better than Chicago, a city I'd heard beautiful things about and which I'd never visited. So I spent one day on my way to Montana and another one on my way back. Despite traveling alone (as usual when I do it for work reasons) I enjoyed very much and it left a great impression on me. It was cold, so some attractions weren't working yet, but that also meant less tourists, which was kind of nice as well. So I did the usual, Millennium Park (with the giant iron bean), Navy Pier, Hancock Observatory... and I couldn't leave without going to a Bulls game. Being a basketball fan and having grown up looking up to Michael Jordan, I couldn't miss the opportunity to go. It was awesome!!!!!!

In Montana I stayed at Shelby since the wind farm I had to work in for two weeks was fifteen minutes away from this small city. Well, for those of you who have already been in the area, I have little to say. And for those who haven't, let's just say that Montana is ... well, Montana. Maybe some people doesn't enjoy it that much, but you know me and how I usually adapt to the circumstances quickly, making myself comfortable anywhere. This wasn't an exception, and after the first week and the help of some of my students in class we got to know most of the locals and their weird habits. Let's leave it there. The training I had to give went better that I had foreseen, so I left Shelby with a great feeling after the two weeks were over. Plus, during the weekend in between I got to go to Great Falls (the biggest city nearby) and skiing in a Vermont style resort (oh, how it reminded me of the good old times in that wonderful state) called Showdown.

And after my American adventure, back to reality, with all my new responsibilities and a whole lot of work. But really happy with what I get to do and as always, learning a bunch. But you know work is not everything in life, not even close, so enjoying life is a must. One of the greatest pleasures I have discussed in this blog many times is the UVM reunions we try to keep organizing and performing. This time was Helene's turn and so we gathered some of our belongings and set out for Lyon, in France. We were fewer than usual, only four since Miguel couldn't go for working reasons (promotion and trip to China for 5 months) and Torsten couldn't either for monetary ones. Nevertheless, it was amazing to spend three days with these wonderful friends and realize that the magic is still there, making me believe that we can most surely stay pals forever.

Some 2010 action

2010-02-15T22:59:00.003+01:00

New Year usually comes with new adventures an events, and 2010 wasn't going to be an exception. A lot of plans are building up with some of them being already mature enough as to consider them final. What am I talking about? Well, let's see...

On Saturday I am leaving for a two weeks adventure in Montana, USA. Yeah, that's right, you didn't misread it, I'm crazy enough as to go over there in February. I believe the average temperature these days might be some twenty or so Celsius below zero. However, I count on my Vermont experience with handling cold, so I am little worried about that. This time is a work related trip, so I guess I won't enjoy it as much.............................not! (Seriously, love the "not" jokes). I think that even though I will have to work and all that stuff, I will really have a great time, or at least try. I promise to tell you everything once I get back.

More plans... oh, yeah, a trip to Lyon in March, which I will let you know how it goes when I get back; a possible but not confirmed Bulgarian adventure during easter; a music festival in Murcia in the end of April; and much more.

Moving on!! (if you watch "Greek" then you probably read this expression with the same intonation I do, copied from the blond girl of ZBZ enemies. But hey, I'm not weird, just different, hehe). I get too excited talking about future plans, so I'm gonna focus on past adventures, which make me feel more nostalgic and emotional than excited. What have I been up to lately?

Some weeks ago I went to Toulouse to visit Pascual, one of our classmates from Uni. So three of us jumped into my brand new Toyota on Friday and drove all the way. It's like four hours, although with the great company felt like minutes, hehe. It was my fourth time in that lovely city and it was heaps of fun (like my aussie friend would say). We never do the same things when we go or enter the same discos, so if feels like going to a new city, specially because I haven't slept in the same house twice. Either the people there move from one place to another or we go to a different person's house each time. Anyway, the thing is that it was awesome (thank you Alex for those hangovers we love so much) and I have to say that one of the best things is getting to visit Pascual, who we so rarely see.

And not this last one but the previous weekend, we, "the concert gang" as we like to be called, hehe, went to Barcelona for an Arctic Monkeys gig. We decided staying the whole weekend in our beloved "Albareda Hostel" was the way to go. So we arrived in Barcelona on Friday evening after a comfortable trip by train and went straight to a friends house. The concert was next day, so we chose Friday to be Razzmatazz night. Wonderful as always. Next day a little bit of tourism and an almost impossible quest: finding an euro6000 atm. Half the city we walked before we encountered one. And as usual, once we found one they were everywhere. Well, I'm gonna go to the point because this is already getting way too long for anyone to read. Plus it's loosing the spark. Saturday night was concert night. Awesome as well, and great sisters we met while waiting for the band to start playing. And after that the night got a bit crazy, I'm not going to lie to you. Nevertheless, that information is only known and will be kept by the people involved. Next time come with us if you want to know more.

And that pretty much all until now. As promised earlier, once I get back from my various trips I'll post something to share the experience and if there is any update in my life I will as well inform you all. For those of you who I don't see very often, Hello!!!!!!

Human Rights

2010-01-30T16:33:00.001+01:00

I want to share with you a really cool video which explains the history of Human Rights. I find it very well done and personally I loved it.

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-03T17:42:00.004+01:00

Happy New Year all!!! Again, it's been a long time since I wrote on this blog for the last time. There's no specific reason for it, just that I was leaving it aside and didn't find the motivation for it. But don't think I'm giving up on this precious blank sheet of paper on which I can freely express myself. That will not happen, at least for now.

So quick update on what I've been up to lately. Let's see. Oh, I went to another of those concerts I love so much. This time it was The Sounds in Madrid. Great gig and a lots of fun in the Spanish Capital, as usual. Sorry Mauro I didn't call you, but it was an express visit. I promise a proper one this year we just started.

I traveled to both Prague and Budapest with a friend of mine. Really fun, plus the cheap beer in both cities made it funnier indeed. It was a short trip since the free days at work are not abundant and I need to choose them carefully so that I can get to do everything I desire. So it wasn't long but definitely intense.

Another visit to Carlota's place in Segovia since it was her birthday and we have to keep the tradition alive. Party is always ensured when we talk about Segovia, and this time wasn't an exception. But the best thing, meeting up with friends I don't get to see very often but that the few times I do, make me realize why we are still friends. You know, I'm talking about friends from group two (if you remember from an older post in which I got quite emotional).

And in the meantime of these events and lots of others I don't bother to mention since they are not as exciting, work. A job which I love but that takes a lot of my time. And you know how much I love traveling. So now, whenever I have the chance I try to escape from Pamplona, whether it's abroad or in Spain. I can tell you, at least for me, that when you start working is when you value the free time you have. And it's then that you try all the time to make the most out of it, i.e. today I went to San Sebastian to an ACB basketball game, which I haven't been in a long time.

Oh, and I almost forgot about something really appealing. Ski season is open, and that means constantly checking the weekend weather forecast to see if it is feasible to go skiing. So far I've been two times and I'm counting on going many more.

One of the things I asked for this new year we just started, a UVM reunion. I think it's of vital importance to have at least one reunion this 2010. Why? just because... no, just kidding. I believe we should because it's a critical stage. We've been without a reunion for quite a long time and if I'm afraid we stop keeping in touch if we don't do something. I understand it's really difficult to stay connected living so far from each other and for so long, so that's why we need the reunions. At least me, I'm not giving up on them, not yet. So I'll keep pushing with new ideas and suggestions. Some will be abandoned and forgotten, but most surely a few will come true. The last we came up with is one sometime in summer and were thinking of meeting in Asia. Although any other idea or proposal is totally welcomed.

Buff, I think this post got a little bit too long. Well, I guess it doesn't matter, nevertheless it has been a really long time. So my wish for this 2010 is to keep doing what I love the most, traveling, but also and more important, don't loose contact with the people I care.

I leave you with a picture of New Year's Eve. Me and my brother all dressed up as a cook and Rocky, ready to hit the night in Pamplona!!!

Great concert of We are Standard in Pamplona

2009-10-25T22:46:00.003+01:00

Last Friday I went to a concert in a renamed concert hall in Pamplona. The band playing was We are Standard, a new Spanish one which is getting a lot of success lately. I don't know much about music, but I can tell you this is a band worth seeing in live. The music they play is really motivating and you can't just stay still while they are sounding. Plus, they are pretty enthusiastic on the stage and make the crowd enjoy the concert.

Besides the concert, it was a great night. Our friend Victor came to Pamplona for the occasion and because it had been quite a while since we had hanged out together for the last time, it was special. I leave you with one of their songs and it's for you to decide whether you like them or not. Enjoy!!!!

Carlota's birthday: a yearly tradition

2009-10-25T19:00:00.004+01:00

It's starting to become a tradition, visiting Carlota in Segovia during her birthday. Every year she invites us to go spend the weekend at her place in that tiny but beautiful city. And every time we go we have a wonderful time. We try to balance both the party time, which is quite extensive, and the cultural one as well. This time we visited the famous palace of 'La Granja', in the outskirts of the city. It was built in its times as a copy of the one in Versalles and even though it's not quite the same, I have to admit they made a great job. The gardens are awesome and specially its fountains. If you get the chance to go there, try to arrange it so that they are working, since they don't operate every day of the year, just in certain dates.

And well, spending the weekend with some of my closest friends is always amazing. We don't see each other that often because of different reasons so I always value some quality time with them. Hope this tradition doesn't die. As well as our UVM internationals' reunions. Those surely cannot end, so let's keep them alive guys!!!

How hard is it to get food to the poor?

2009-10-25T18:54:00.002+01:00

Honestly, I didn't know the answer to this question. But the other day surfing in the internet I found a pretty interesting and well done game which enables us to perform this task. It simulates the process of delivering food to the poor and the different stages we have to go through in order to accomplish it. I think it is quite entertaining and educational. Try it out!!

http://www.filefront.com/11868768/food-force-installer.exe/

Online Volunteering

2009-09-27T13:11:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!!!

Let me tell you something. Entering the working world has great advantages and challenges that make it exciting. However, it also has some not so good features. Being the most important of those (at least for me) the lack of a reasonable amount of free days at work. That's one of the main reasons I haven't been posting that much about trips and adventures recently. No free days at work means no time for doing what I love the most, traveling. Now, I really value my time at university, when you could skip classes without consequences, had three main holidays a year (Christmas, Easter and Summer) and, also quite important, could go out on Thursday night knowing that the next morning sleeping was an option. So as I'm not able to get out of my country as often as I would like, I divert the content of my posts in some way. This doesn't mean I will stop talking about my future adventures, just that I still feel the need of writing even when traveling is not involved.

Today I just wanted to share with you another great opportunity to help I got to know recently and which I'm already part of. It's called Online Volunteering, and as its own name suggests it consists of devoting some of your time (as much as you have available or want to, that's up to you) to helping the people in need through the internet. The basic idea is to help with small work, like translating, organizing paper-work, contacting sponsors, preparing material... from your home. So the best part is its flexibility and that you can organize your time however you want, as long as you finish the task.

I believe it's a great chance for those who, like me, don't have much free time left but want to help. There's a lot of opportunities out there to get involved. I'm just gonna mention the two I'm part of now, but if you type in Online Volunteering in Google you would find many others. The first one is part of the United Nations Online Volunteering program. In this case there's a bunch to choose from depending on your abilities, your free time and so on. I translate articles from English to Spanish for a pretty interesting magazine. The website is

So try and check it out. The other one is called International Humanity Foundation (IHF). It's a non-religious, non-political, non-profit organization that strongly believes in an equal opportunity for all and in preserving the cultures, traditions and beliefs of the marginalized communities it works in. They offer a bunch of different Teams, each of them focusing on specific tasks, that you can join. When selected, you choose the amount of hours you can devote every month and start helping. As simple as that. Their website is

I encourage you to at least have a look at what they offer and then decide. I believe it's a great way of helping and improving the world we live in, specially for those of us already working and with limited free time.

What can we do?

2009-09-06T21:14:00.002+02:00

Something is clear, we need to improve the world that we live in. But how can we contribute to this global goal as individuals? Well, here I present eight actions stated by Jeffrey Sachs in his book Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet that can guide us.

1. Learn about this generation's challenges: this basically refers to being informed and read about what's going on in the planet, being aware of problems we face as humanity.

2. Travel, to the extent that it is personally possible: seeing other places and cultures is the best way to understand the common interests and aspirations that unite us as well as the special challenges that are unique to different parts of the world.

3. Start or join an organization committed to sustainable development: you and your organization may change the world and inspire others to do so as well.

4. Encourage the engagement of your community and inspire others to join the cause of global sustainable development.

5. Promote sustainable development through social networking sites: this way we can take advantage and use the most popular and advanced tools of the internet for the spread and support of social activism. It can be Facebook, mySpace, Tuenti... you name it.

6. Get politically engaged: demand of our politicians that they honor our government's Millennium Promises.

7. Engage your workplace: every company can add to global sustainable development. This is where corporate social responsibility comes on stage.

8. Live personally according to the standards of the Millennium Promises: donate time, money and the energy of your social networks; seek out contacts across countries, cultures and class divides; lead among your friends and colleagues; act honorably as a consumer; act honorably as a citizen.

So remember, ours is the generation that can end extreme poverty, turn the tide against climate change, and head off a massive and thoughtless extinction of other species. Ours is the generation that can grapple with, and solve, the conundrum of combining economic well-being with environmental sustainability. Ours is the generation that can harness science and a new ethic of global cooperation to maintain a healthy planet to future generations.

Kiva

2009-09-05T23:00:00.003+02:00

Well, I'm starting to like the new style my blog is getting. It started out mostly with posts about my trips but now I feel comfortable posting a whole lot of different stuff I find interesting. This doesn't mean I will stop writing about my adventures around the globe, after all, its my number one passion (traveling I mean, not writing). However, I like sharing ideas, sites, books, opinions... which I believe are worth spreading.

Now it's the time for Kiva, a website that allows you to make micro loans to entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. Each of them has his/her own profile you can check in which you can learn about what they want the money for and how much they need. You don't need to lend them the total amount, since they can rise the money from different lenders. Then, if everything goes well they'll pay you back gradually.

I think it's a great way of helping and an amazing opportunity to change the life of someone. The amount they usually need is not much, but just too high for them to have it. And it's a shame that because of the lack of start up financing they cannot break the poverty barrier and out of the poverty trap they are in.

So please, give it a try. I already did myself and found out that it works perfectly. Let's try make this world a better place for everyone!!

Visiting Anca in Romania

2009-08-16T23:30:00.003+02:00

The Romanian Reunion 09 didn't get many attendants. It seems like the more time it passes since our American adventure, the more difficult it becomes to gather everyone in the same location at the same time. This time, we tried to promote a reunion in Romania, so that we could visit our friend Anca over there. For different reasons, most people couldn't come during those days and in the end it was only Miguel and I. So I'm not gonna consider it a Vermont Reunion but a visit we paid Anca. My hope is that this is just a could have been but wasn't, and not the end of our beloved reunions. I still need to meet you every now and then, no matter where.

That being said, I have to admit that Miguel and I had a wonderful time in Romania. Thanks to Anca and her family we were able to move around a lot and visit many beautiful places, like Sibiu, Bran, Brasov, Sighisoara and many more. There was time to relax in the Danube river Delta, in a small town you can only reach by boat. So yeah, that's right, we got the chance to swim in the Black Sea. And of course, there was time for partying. For my, personally, one of the highlights of the trip and one I will always remember was the day we spent at the music festival in Bucharest (Bestfest). The music was awesome, I got to see Franz Ferdinand, which is one of my favorite bands and Miguel and I were teasing every one (in a nice and respectful way of course). Real fun!!!

It was a great trip. I have to thank Anca for making it possible, for being so nice and welcoming and for treating us so well while we were there. Also to her family, they are incredible and most of the things we did and adventures we experienced (little detour in the mountains for example) wouldn't have been a reality without them. THANK YOU!!!!

So, as I said before, I just hope we can manage to organize another reunion (maybe in Spain) to which most of us can attend. I really wanna see you guys!!!!!

Invisible Children

2009-08-02T21:44:00.004+02:00

I want to share with you a documentary which s pretty interesting. It was made by students who created a NGO called Invisible Children and in the video is everything explained. My friend Julen already posted it in his Making Poverty History blog, but I wanted to do so as well, so that more people got to know it. If you have one of those lazy hours you don't know what to do, learn about the child soldiers in Uganda.

And if you want to know more, get involved or so, visit the website:

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php

Interesting readings for the summer

2009-07-30T16:47:00.002+02:00

I want to share with you a couple of books I have recently read and which I found extremely interesting. Some of them are not that easy to read, but I can assure you you'll learn. Not only that, but they'll make you think, something really important in the world that we live in nowadays. So enjoy!

1. The Shackled Continent: Africa's past, present and future by Robert Guest

2. The End of Poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime by Jeffrey Sachs

3. The Bottom Billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it by Paul Collier

4. Common Wealth: Economics for a crowded planet by Jeffery Sachs

5. The White Man's Burden: Why the west's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good by William Easterly

HOME

2009-07-28T23:49:00.002+02:00

I invite you to see and enjoy an amazing documentary. It's not only the facts it tell us, which are really interesting, but the breathtaking images shown. It's just spectacular, and should get people to think a little bit about where we are going like this. We need to change this, and for that we need everyone!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

Thank you Rober for the link.

Nordic Adventure

2009-06-30T23:19:00.004+02:00

I realize it's a bit late to tell you about the trip we did during Easter to Sweden and Norway, but the reason is that I didn't get the pictures until recently. I didn't wanna write and write about what we did and how much we enjoyed our time over there without presenting you some photos.

As many of us are working already and now free days start to be rare, we need to use every holiday to get out of Pamplona. So that's what we did. We took three days off and made a ten days vacation. I'm not gonna go into much detail about the itinerary and what we did in each place, just mention. However, I really want to comment a little bit about the highlight of the trip (there were a lot of anecdotes, like when we almost got arrested, but those are not as important as this one), which is the three days we spent in Kiruna.

Kiruna is a small town in the Northest part of Sweden. We went there by plane and then came back by train (in which we had a rave, I mean, we didn't sleep much because we kept meeting crazy people ready to party). Anyway, the thing is that up there we did an excursion to a remote area by both snowmobile and dogsled. We spent the night near a frozen river in a small hut and living next to a pretty weird Inuit (I believe that's the right name for the native people of that region). He was in charge of the tiny camp and cooked us reindeer twice. Well, it was an unforgettable experience I'll always remember. Oh, and I almost forgot, we also visited the Ice Hotel, which is located near Kiruna and which is astonishing.

Before we had been in Stockholm, really beautiful city. And there I met up with Marie, my Swedish friend whom I hadn't seen since our last reunion in Vienna. After Kiruna we headed down again and visited Aitor, our friend who is studying over there his master degree. He is living in Gavle, a small and nice city in which the party is granted, even in a dorm basement, hehe. And from there we went to our final destination, Oslo, which is also nice but I just didn't like it as much as the others. For me, personally, Sweden was better than Norway, but that's just my opinion.

My flights

2009-06-15T19:12:00.003+02:00

The other day I discovered this amazing website. I know some of you might think is silly but I really love it. Basically it enables you to enter all the flights you have taken in your life, so that you can keep the record and create statistics, as well as maps with those flights. Here are my statistics and maps. I encourage you to create your own too.

http://my.flightmemory.com/Abarcia

And the website is:

http://www.flightmemory.com/

Enjoy!!!

Annyunghaseyo!

2009-06-11T23:50:00.003+02:00

Hello my friends. I came back from South Korea about two weeks ago and I can tell you it was one of the best experiences of my life so far. I had to go there for work reasons, but saved some free days for discovering as well.

I had to give a one week training in a really rural and small town called Yeongyang. That's where the wind farm is located. And that's where I experience the real Korea. I tried really different food, ate sitting on the floor, became an expert in the use of chopsticks... but most importantly, met great people. Everyone working there was so welcoming and honest that you could not avoid falling for them. They treated me like I was someone important but always with this charm and closeness that made me feel at home. And that I truely appreciate.

The training was a complete success, and I was completely pleased with how it went. I believe people learnt, at least something. But I'm sure, some of the forty students there understood and enjoyed most of it. What I know for sure is that I enjoyed giving the training and that I had a great time with them. Although I was exhausted by the end of the week, after talking 8 hours for 5 days, non-stop.

When the training was over I went to Seoul for four days, so that I could visit the city before heading back to Spain. There, I met some Korean friends I made in Barcelona during the weekend we went to The Killers concert. We didn't know each other very well since we had only spoken for like ten minutes, but we soon got confident and had a great time. So basically, my days in Seoul consisted on sightseeing, going out and catching up with some friends. Well, and of course meeting new people, but that's out of the question, hehe.

Oh, I almost forgot. I know Julen and Mauro are gonna love this one. I went to the North Korea - South Korea border, sneaked into one of the infiltration tunnels the North koreans built... Isn't that exotic?

A brief update

2009-05-10T22:15:00.005+02:00

I haven't written much in quite a long time here, so I thought it would be a nice idea to make a brief update on what's going on in my life at the moment. Don't worry guys, I don't pretend for this to become usual and I will continue with my one-trip, one-experience... posts (in fact, I still have to tell you about my trip to Sweden in Easter).

So as most of you might know, I'm going to South Korea next Saturday. I have to give a one week course over there and then I took four free days so that I could enjoy the culture. When I was in Barcelona for the The Killers concert I met some Koreans. Well, I already talked with them and we'll meet so that they can show me around. You can imagine this past week has been crazy for me and I expect this one not to be less. I have to get everything ready.

What else? Oh, yeah. Today, Miguelcho and I, we booked our flight for this summer. We are going to Romania to visit Anca and also to see anyone else who wants to join this reunion. We leave on July the 2nd and get back on the 12th. It's not much, but it's the most we could do taking into account that both of us are working already. We don't have that many free days anymore.

That's all for now in the traveling section, which you know it's my favourite. In other topics, we already finished the basketball season and it hasn't been a very good ending. But anyway, the important thing is the good atmosphere in the team and among the teammates. Almost as good as the one I'm living at work. I really like what I do and what is more important, I feel really comfortable going to work everyday.

And well, I believe that's pretty much it for now. I really hope I can write more often because I enjoy it so much. Oh, and my Deutsch is going great. I'm starting to like it a lot, so Deutsch speaking friends, we'll be able to have a conversation in your mother language soon.

I leave you with one of my favourites songs these days. I hope you like it.

Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors

Rito de Acero: La union de un pueblo

2009-04-19T18:15:00.004+02:00

This is the title of a documentary a friend of mine realized. After a year and a half of hard work he saw his dream become a reality. So us, his friends, had to go to the premier and support him but also enjoy with him his success. We all stayed in a "rural house" in his village, La Seca, which is fifteen minutes from Tordesillas. It was not the first time we visited it, since we usually go every year over there to attend its festivals. We are members of a Peña called Tatocao in which we had good friends. Anyway, that's not the point of this post and I'm loosing focus here. The thing is that we spent an incredible weekend in La Seca.

Of course, the main event of the weekend was the premier of the documentary and it was a complete success. But we had way more fun the next day during the barbecue at my friend's place. His family organized it and lasted the whole day. Great fun! There was time for everything: eating, drinking, karaoke, dancing... When it got dark, we took some pretty big and nice speakers outside to the frontyard and created our very own disco. Some neighbors told us the next day that they could hear the music from the other side of the town, it was pretty sick.

But most important, it was a good excuse to visit my friend, who I don't see as often as I would like. And I believe this weekend they had some kind of party around there as well. I wish I could have gone but I couldn't make it. Have fun guys!!!!!

Casta Comunicacion

The Killers in Barcelona

2009-04-15T22:54:00.005+02:00

Yes, believe it or not I'm alive. I know it's been a really long time since the last time I wrote something here, but I've been busy as hell for the past month and did not even remember I had a blog to update. I will update you on things I've been doing for the last month and a half in different posts. This particular one is gonna be about the craziest and funniest weekend I've ever had in Barcelona.

I went there in order to see the Killers. We bought the tickets some time ago and were now ready to have real fun. The friends I went with got into Barcelona a day before me, since I could not get Friday off at work. Anyway, I arrived there on Friday night and after meeting with my friends we went out to Razzmatazz disco. It's a pretty big one with awesome music. Great night. I even met some Korean girls who I will see again in May when I go over there, but that's another story I will tell some other day.

On Saturday, I met my cousin who is working in Barcelona and spent some quality time with here. Since I see here quite randomly, it was really nice talking with here. She even invited me for lunch. And at night, CONCERT. It was sweeeeeet!!!!! They started playing Human, and the whole crowd went crazy. All the best songs followed, and they did not missed any of them. I had not sweat so much in my entire life. We bounced, yelled, singed... during every second of the spectacle.

And afterward, we went to a house party of someone my friend knew. The best part was that we did not even know we were going to a party. We thought we were going to that guy's place in order to drink a little bit before going out. But when we got there, we found it was a crowded and weird (in the good way) party. I became the Underground organizer of the party, gaining the name of "Under" for the rest of the night (don't even tell me how I did it or try for me to explain the whole thing because I don't even know for sure myself)

So all in all it was an awesome weekend with lots of partying and fun. I really needed it and I can't wait to my next excursion.

Scientist claims CO2 increase 'Good' for Humanity

2009-03-02T23:12:00.002+01:00

I was just checking some blogs I like to read about alternative energy when I found this unbelievable video. How can someone think that in these days we live in?

Dinner w/ the Baluarte crew

2009-01-24T19:19:00.005+01:00

Everyone knows that Christmas is the time of the year when people get together. Many dinners and parties are organized in order to gather friends around a table. I attended some of them, but I want to point out one I really enjoyed. A couple of days before New Year's Eve I was invited to a dinner with all the Baluarte crew. I hadn't worked there for a while which means that I hadn't seen most of my colleagues for quite a long time. It was a perfect occasion to keep up with what they were doing and how things in Baluarte where going on.
Besides, another good thing that came out of that dinner is that I got to work again in a wedding in Baluarte last weekend. I had a lot of fun and it's an extra income that helps cover one of my passions, traveling.

New Year's Eve

2009-01-13T19:53:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure if I have talked about this before in my blog, but if so please forgive me because I keep forgetting things. And that's definitely not good, believe me. Anyway, I wanted to introduced you to a tradition we have in Pamplona on New Year's Eve. Well, of course we perform the grapes ritual as in the rest of Spain. But we also dress up with costumes and go out at night. Yeah, exactly like in Halloween, expect for the fact that in Pamplona pretty much no one does it for Halloween but for New Year's Eve.
So it's very usual to see groups of friends with the same costumes. That night the party is in the streets and the fun is assured. This year, me and my friends we were dressed as those Jamaicans in the movie about bosleigh. Do you know which one I am talking about? Well, I think it was called Cool Runnings. I'm sure most of you have seen it. Not only did we dressed up as the guys in the movie but we built up cart "like" the one they used. You can judge by the picture, but I think we did a good job. So we drove that thing around, sometimes with more danger than others, the whole night. It was heaps of fun and a great feeling to be in it.

First serious job

2008-12-28T15:41:00.002+01:00

Most of you already know that I'm doing my Final Project (I need it in order to graduate) through an internship in a company called Ingeteam. Well, I wanted to tell you that I'm not gonna be an intern anymore. A job opportunity appeared in the very same company and I was interested, so I asked my boss if he could take me into account for the selection process. He did and eventually I got the job. He called me when I was in my trip back from Vienna. I was so excited.
My main purpose will be to train people, both from Ingeteam and clients. It's called Head of Training. This means that I'll be organizing the courses we'll offer and teaching most of them. I think it's a great opportunity to come to know everything about what we produce. Also, not only will I be teaching in Spanish but in English as well. With the advantage that I might have to travel to teache some courses abroad from time to time, which sounds perfect to me.
So now I'll have to do both things, finishing my Final Project and working. But I think I'll survive.

Vienna Reunion 2008

2008-12-26T17:14:00.004+01:00

Wonderful, awesome, amazing, breathtaking, really really nice... those are some of the words that come to my head when I think about the reunion we had in Vienna about three days ago. Continuing with the great tradition we have already stated of gathering together at least once a year, some the internationals from my year at UVM met in Vienna for an incredible weekend. It was just awesome to see and talk with my friends from all around Europe who I hadn't seen in so long. Weird as it may sound, it was like we were never apart. I was kinda nervous because I thought there would be some awkwardness since most of us hadn't seen each other in more than a year. However, it felt like we had never been apart. From minute one I felt at home and really comfortable talking with everyone and hearing about everyone's updates. No matter how much our lifes had changed or how much we had changed and grown up, our relationship stays as healthy as it always was.
The reunion was a way thanks to Christoph, the great Austrian guy, who pulled it out and put everything together. It wasn't easy to lead a group of twelve people around Vienna, but he did a nice job. In the three days we stayed there we had time to visit and tour the city, drink lots of glühwein in the Weinhnachtsmarkt, party in a planetarium and enjoy the company of people we don't come to see very often. So for all these things, Thank you Chris!!!!

So now we must keep organizing these wonderful reunions. Some names and countries already appeared during this one. Sweden (Marie), Croatia (Maja), Rumania (Anca) were some of them. Guys, I think that as most of us agree, what we have here is something very special that we have to take care of. So let's keep it up!!!!

First skiing of the season

2008-12-14T19:19:00.002+01:00

Finally, after a lot of waiting we were able to go back to the mountains and do what we like the most in winter, skiing. This year there's snow everywhere, and plenty of it. It's not winter yet but the ski resorts are jumping in excitement with what's coming. The past years they haven't been very lucky. There was lack of snow and so no business going on. However, now the mountains are packed with snow and people are really wanting to go back to the slopes and enjoy some great rides.
I did it myself last weekend. Monday was a holiday in Spain, so some friends from class and I decided to go to Jaca. We stayed at my place there and skied two out of the three days we were there. The day we did not ski we just enjoyed ourselves playing with the snow and making huge snowballs. We decided we had to get a taste of Jaca's nightlife during the skiing season, when the city is full with people like us. We had a wonderful time and the party was better than expected. I totally recommend it.
Now we are planning our next trip to the snow. We really want to hit the slopes again some time soon. The main problems are time and money. But I'm sure we'll get around them and organize a few more adventures this winter.

Burlington, simply the best

2008-12-02T16:22:00.002+01:00

Today I was looking around the UVM website trying to find L/L address. I want to send something to my brother because he's not coming back for Christmas and I could not remember what the address was. Anyway, the thing is that I saw a link that seemed pretty interesting. And in fact it was. It's about Burlington, VT, our beloved city being considered the healthiest city in the States. I feel now more proud than ever of having spent one year of my life in that wonderful city.
I love Vermont!!!!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859507,00.html

Working life

2008-11-30T17:36:00.002+01:00

Those of you who follow my posts already know that I started working as an intern in a company called Ingeteam placed in Pamplona. In order to become an engineer I need to fulfill a final project, and that's exactly what I'm doing there. I've already been working in Ingeteam for over a month and a half and everyday I feel more comfortable. Like the guy who works next to me told me, starts are always difficult, no matter what you start. I mean, it's not like super hard, but the truth is that the first time you have to deal with a proper job, you are kinda lost. You don't know anyone and you are not familiar with working procedures or habits. But hey, that's the reason why the invented internships, so that you could learn. Well, that and to get the job done for half the price. However, I can't complain about this, because in my case, they don't make me overwork. They let me work on my project and learn, which is great.
The truth is I would like to be doing more for the company, but since I'm not an engineer yet, the final project is the priority. Sometimes it can get pretty boring, but it's something we have to go thru. Anyway, the good news is that the atmosphere in the office is great. People are awesome and so friendly. As I said, it wasn't easy in the beginning, but now I feel like part of it all and get along with all of them.
Sorry for the lack of structure of this post, but you have to understand it's a Sunday in the Carpa's (biggest party at my University) weekend, so it's quite a lot that I'm even writing something here, unlike others (Anita, yeah, you are the one I'm referring to, lazy blogger). Oh, and talking about feeling comfortable at my workspace, they have organized a padel tournament called Ingepadel. Guess who's gonna win!!!

Julen and Mauro

2008-11-23T18:07:00.002+01:00

Every now and then I feel the urgency to go to Madrid and pay my two friends there a visit. Julen, who I met on my trip to Australia, is working there in a very important consulting firm. Whereas Mauro, who I met on my Interrail trip around Europe, is studying Engineering there. We are pure travelers material and love planning and going on trips together. The truth is it keeps getting more and more difficult to do so since we are starting our grown ups lives. We have less free time due to working schedules and money isn't exactly something we have in abundance. Nevertheless, hope is the last thing that should be lost and I'm sure we'll manage to go on more adventures together, sooner or later. And in the meantime, this little, short but intense, weekend-length visits is what we have left and the best way to stay in contact. Phone is really handy and everything but it just isn't the same. We are, as Julen always likes to point out, friends of the second group. He refers to a post I wrote while ago where I tried to explain the different kinds of friends people usually have. Being second group friends doesn't imply being less friends than the first group ones, it's just different.

Anyway, all this is just because last weekend I went to Madrid to visit these two friends and I had an amazing time, as usual. I guess they are one of the reasons why I like Madrid that much. Thank you for the weekend!!!

workin' vs studyin'

2008-11-09T19:40:00.004+01:00

What's better? working or studying? One thing I know for sure, the answer ain't easy man. Each activity or "way of life" has, like most things in live, its advantages and disadvantages. I'd like to clarify something here, when I talk about working I mean a real job. In this discussion I'm not considering work-study jobs or the like. I'm referring to when you have a full time job which enables you to survive in this society of consumerism that we live in. Having cleared that I will continue with what I wanted to express.
Recently I entered the working group. After twenty years of studying I'm finally done with it. I did not get my degree yet because I still have to hand in and present in front of the tribunal my Final Project, but I already started working. So what do I prefer? Well, it's hard to choose. However, I believe it's just a matter of attitude. If you enter your working adventure thinking that you know everything because you have studied a degree in whatever in whichever university you are gonna be disappointed for sure. University gives you the knowledge so that you have a base to build a more specific and thorough understanding on top of it.
One of the things I value the most about being a student is the flexibility. You could, more or less, skip classes, go on vacation, visit friends abroad, etc whenever you felt like it. But once you start working that changes dramatically. You have a certain amount of vacation days and probably you won't be able to place them exactly when you need them, since you have to take into account the rest of your colleges vacation days as well. Believe me, that's something I really miss.
On the other hand, when you start working you always have free weekends. Some people don't really achieve it, but I try and make the effort of leaving work at work. Meaning when I'm out of work I want to enjoy myself and definitely not worry about work at all. I'd rather come out of work half an hour later with the everything tied up than worrying around. So when you're working you don't have to worry about finals, mid-terms or anything like that. Of course you'll have a thousand things more to worry about than a student, but they'll wait for you in the office the next day, they won't probably chase you home. Anyway, I think I got out of track here and started digressing and rambling. What I wanted to say is that, at least me, I enjoy more weekends now than I did before. And I can plan getaways for any given weekend since I don't have any exam on Monday.
Well, and I did not mention it here but of course the main advantage of working is that you get paid. However, I believe it's better to be paid less and love what you do and work the right amount of hours rather than being a workaholic or a work slave. Instead of working that much in order to get more and more, why don't you just get out and enjoy the nice weather or put your free time into good use helping others?

Back to Balu

2008-10-26T17:41:00.003+01:00

That's right, yesterday I went back to Balu (I borrowed this expression from my brother who once wrote it on the whiteboard we have on the fridge). They called me because they had a lot of work to do on Saturday and barely enough people. And since I had been three weeks without going there I decided it would be cool to see the "Baluarteros" again. The truth is that I miss it. I like working there because the atmosphere is so friendly and I usually have fun, specially when I work as barman in the wedding disco. Yesterday I went to work as a waiter serving just the wedding reception, but ended up doing a double shift and thus being at the disco. I had a lot of fun. I was exhausted by the time I finished working, but I must admit it was totally worth it. Plus, we can all use some extra income in these times of worldwide economic crisis.
I want to finish this post greeting all of my collegues in Baluarte. I miss you guys!!!

Segovia, Segovianaaaaaa

2008-10-24T21:08:00.002+02:00

Carlota's birthday, that was my excuse this time to get out of Pamplona and enjoy a nice weekend with friends I see rarely. Yeah, that's right, last weekend it was my friend Carlota's birthday. For those of you who don't know her, she is a tremendously funny friend of mine who is studying in Segovia. That's the reason why we went over there to celebrate her birthday. She invited us over to spend the whole weekend at her place. So Iñigo (he was a last minute participant since he decided he was coming the very same day) and I caught the train to Valladolid on Friday afternoon right after I got out of work. Javi and Raquel (his girlfriend) picked us up in Valladolid and the four of us together we headed towards Segovia. Juan (Carlota's brother) was already there. They had prepared sangria (long story, but Iñigo and I were responsible) so we were forced to go out that night and the next, and the next... hehe. Anyway, the point is that we had fun. We played Trivial Pursuit and although Iñigo and I lost, we made quite a game. On Saturday we went for some tapas for dinner. Really nice and cheap, totally recommended.
And that was my last weekend. I hope there's more of them this year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLOTA!!!

Birthday with a French taste

2008-10-13T22:42:00.002+02:00

I am aware that this post might come a bit late since my birthday was almost a month ago, but time flies and I haven't had the chance to write it before. It all started when Etxarri told me he had to go to Toulouse on September the 19th in order to defend his Final Project. So I turned to him with an idea in my mind, celebrating my birthday over there. I suggested him I could go, I mean, he could use some company.
And that's how on the 18th, without much organization or planning, we left for Toulouse in Etxarri's car and carrying our sleeping bags. We had arranged to sleep in the room of a guy who also studies engineering a year younger than as and who is erasmusing over there right now. The room was pretty small and we had to sleep on the floor, but since we always got home really tired or drunk we didn't care much. Besides, it was for free so better not to complain.
I believe I already talked about Toulouse on a previous post so I'm gonna keep this one short. Let's just say I had heaps of fun on my birthday. Of course we paid the guys in the tea-shop a visit. And this time, on Saturday the 20th (my birthday for those who didn't recall) we had an amazing and tasteful lunch. We went to a place which served typical French food with cheese as the main ingredient. I don't remember the names of what we ate but I can tell you it was yummy.

Ingeteam it is

2008-09-29T15:10:00.003+02:00

So I finally made a decision about my future. After wondering about what I was gonna do with my life for over two months, I made up my mind. As some of you might now, I was pretty excited thinking I could do my Final Project in Germany while doing an internship for a company there. Well, my contact over there was a really nice woman who helped me a lot and did all that was in her hand in order to get me a spot there. The problem was that the guy who I was supposed to work with, a senior manager, didn't seem that enthusiastic. I waited for his call but never got it. Meanwhile, Ingeteam, a company with a division in Pamplona offered me to fulfill my Final Project working with them. What they were offering seemed quite interesting to me and more important, they were showing a lot of interest in me. Conclusion, I decided I'm gonna do my Final Project with them here in Pamplona. This means I ain't going nowhere at least for a year or so. But I think it is ok. I can always try and work abroad once I'm a proper engineer, and not just a Project-less one. When I graduate I'll consider if I still want to work in another country or not, and I'll figure out a way to do it. Until then I'll be around Pamplona, so if any of you want to pay me a visit you must know you are always welcome. I could use some company from my dearest international friends. At least that way I wouldn't forget my English.

Mexico lindo y querido

2008-08-16T18:10:00.003+02:00

Because this was going to be my last summer as a student I decided I had to enjoy it. It was the last time I would have the time to go for a month somewhere since in the future when I start working it will become really hard. So nothing better than spending a month in Mexico surrounded by some of my best friends. Last time I saw most of them was over a year ago, so I was really excited with the idea of meeting them again and spending some time together. The result, a great reunion I will never forget and the growth in strength of our friendship.
You can imagine in a month we had time to do plenty of things. A sort description of the itinerary we did (since I don't wanna bore you with details). First we went to Valle de Bravo, which is a very nice town in a lake where a lot of Mexicans go on vacations. After those relaxing days we went to visit both Kike and Magda's family. With them I tried the best Mexican food ever and experience the warm welcome of the Mexican people. After that it was time for some beach and partying, so we went to a place next to Cancun called Playa del Carmen. We stayed in a really nice all-inclusive hotel, pretty cheap by the way. We rented a car there and drove down and then all the way to Merida, where we took a flight back to Mexico City. Afterwards we stayed in Queretaro and the surroundings. And suddenly the time to go back home arrived without even realizing it.

Overall it was a great trip, but most important it was a great reunion. I couldn't thank Kike and Magda enough for all the orginizing and for being the best hosts ever. They showed us around and took care of us. I hope they can make it to Spain soon so that I can return the favour.

San Fermines '08

2008-08-11T20:00:00.003+02:00

OMG!! I just realized how long it's been since the last time I posted something here. Well, I guess this time I have totally lost the few readers I had. This things happen, so I'm gonna keep writing anyway in case there's some lost internet surfer who accidentally enters my blog.
This time the scene takes place in my nice hometown, Pamplona. I had two friends staying over during San Fermines for a couple of days. They are Americans and their names are Laura and Jamie. I tried to make their stay here as funny and entertaining as possible, and I honestly think that they had a good time. I'm pretty sure they ended up really tired since we didn't sleep much and went out a lot. But it was totally worth it. I showed them the running of the bulls from two different perspectives and also the nightlife in everyway.

When they left for Barcelona to continue their own adventure around Europe I myself started my own adventure around Mexico. Yeah, that's right. Some of my best friends from my year abroad in the States were already waiting for me in that wonderful country. A new reunion was organized and I was definetely assisting. But that's another story worth a different post.

The end of finals

2008-06-23T13:35:00.002+02:00

Last Thursday I had what will probably be the last exam of my academic life. Yeah, that's right, this is my last year of university and I finally finished with finals. I still don't know the results of three of them, but I'm pretty confident I'm going to pass them. And that means I'm done, done forever. Even if things don't go as expected, the worst thing that will happen is that I'll have to redo one or two exams in September.
So now, the only thing left to do is enjoy a wonderful summer. First I get to organize things for San Fermines since I'll have visitors. Laura is coming to experience the most known and amazing festivities in the whole world. And then, without time to rest, Mexico is waiting for us. Speaking of Mexico, Miguelcho called me yesterday and told me he bought his tickets, so he's finally coming with us. Great news!

El que la sigue la consigue

2008-06-10T20:03:00.002+02:00

So we have this saying in Spain that goes like: "el que la sigue la consigue", which basically means that if you are persistent and keep fighting for something you want you will finally get it. That's what happened to me today. Yeah, that's right, I got into a new Erasmus Program which gives you the opportunity to go to another European country and do an internship in company over there. It's like the well known by all Erasmus program but you don't go to any University, just to work in a company for six months.
Most of you know that I wanted to go abroad again next fall and that I couldn't find anything (btw, thanks Anca and Paulina for your support and help concerning this issue). But I finally got what I wanted. And it's even better than what I hopped. I mean, it gives me the chance to experience the working world of another country and to get to know a new culture, something always good.
From all this I have learned that when you want something in life it's really important not to give up. The difference between those who do and accomplish lots of things and those who don't is just the attitude and effort. Some blame it on luck and often quit excusing themselves on this factor, saying they are unlucky or that they have bad luck. Well, I'm not gonna refuse the fact that luck plays its role in all this, but you can't just let things in the hands of luck, you have to fight for things. There's always a way, and if it seems there is not, a change of strategy might be needed. Of course there's a lot of harsh moments, and those are the ones in which you have to get on your feet and battle. And it's in these moments when friends and family are the most important support.
OMG!! I didn't expect this post to get so deep and serious. I just wanted to share with all of you my happiness about all this. I still don't know where I'll go. I applied for either Denmark, the Netherlands or Czech Republic. Anyway, you are all invited to come visit me wherever I end up in.

Emilio and Eva in Pamplona

2008-05-27T23:57:00.003+02:00

It's been a while since Emilio and Eva came to visit but the truth is I forgot to write something on the blog and then I just didn't have enough time. You know, I start my finals next week and it would be great if I could pass them all because that would mean I'm over with exams for the rest of my life. Man, I can't wait!
Anyway, the thing is that Eva and I had talked about meeting someday with Emilio and Laura since they are both studying in Spain this year. Yeah, I already know, we are a disaster and even though they had been here for about seven months we hadn't had the chance to meet. We planned on meeting during the holiday of May the 1st because we were all free. But in these kind of situations you always have to count with the unexpected, being in this case that I had to work in Baluarte on Friday and Saturday. So I thought we weren't going to meet at all but on Thursday night I got a call from Eva saying they were coming to Pamplona on the next day. Of course I said there was no problem although there was a slight one, I still had to work. So at the end we managed and organized it pretty well I must admit. They got to know most of the city, I mean, Pamplona is quite small and in one morning you can cover most of the interesting parts of the city. And they also visited some of the towns and villages that surround Pamplona thanks to Miguel who took them on a couple of day-trips.
Things went really well and we even got the chance to go out at night both days. I couldn't be with them from the start of the night (stupid job) but would meet them as soon as possible, enjoying Pamplona's "great" nightlife. And as fast as they came they left on Sunday, leaving me here with an awesome feeling, the one you get when you see and talk with important people in your life you haven't seen in a long time.

2nd reunion of the year

2008-05-23T16:26:00.002+02:00

It seems that this is working. I'm really glad to see that the relationships I made last year in Vermont are in great shape. It hasn't even been a year since we left that beautiful State and we have already organized two reunions. I think this is great news. It's incredibly difficult to gather all of us in one place in a given time, but it's relatively easier to meet people at different times and in different places as it's been proven here. I first met some of my European friends in Switzerland and now I'm going to meet some of my Central and South American friends in Mexico. And of course Adrian, who, like me, doesn't miss an opportunity like this and he is the only one who is gonna attend both reunions. So this Mexican reunion sounds great and seems like a great continuation of the previous one.
But there's still a lot of other friends I would like to meet. So even though I'm going to Mexico in July, I would absolutely be up for another European reunion during the summer. This is most probably my last summer as an student, meaning is the last one I'm going to have time for traveling since we all know that when you start working seriously summer is reduced to a month at most. So what do you think about august?

Ok guys, I need a reunion

2008-05-13T22:45:00.002+02:00

That's the truth guys. I know all of us are really busy both with studies and work, including myself. But for this very same reason, I need a reunion. You (UVM gang) all know how I feel about you. I like to believe we have a friendship which neither time or distance can ever destroy. As I expressed in a previous post, no matter how long have we been without talking or seeing each other I know you are there and that you care, because I do too.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't to get sentimental, it was more about expressing my desire for a new reunion like the one we had in Switzerland. I don't care where we do it, whether it is in Spain or in any other country. I take the opportunity to inform you that you are all invited to Pamplona whenever you want. Anita, Rachel, Emilio, Eva, Taylor and so can tell you if they enjoyed it or not, because they told me they did but I'm not sure if it was true or just to make me feel good. hehe. Just kidding!
Although I'll most probably go to Mexico in July to meet up with UVM internationals from the other side of the puddle, I'll really like to meet the european ones who didn't attend the easter reunion, who are a lot.
So tell me, what do you think guys? I think it'll be simply great to see you again.

P.S: I talked about UVM internationals all through the post, but I also include you americans, you know I love you and that I really wanna go back there soon.

Today, not such a good day

2008-04-30T21:32:00.004+02:00

So it's been a while since the last time I wrote something here. Well, at least I do not feel as bad since I have noticed that my friends, I'm not going to give any names here but they know, update their blogs even less. Anyway, I guess you might be wondering why the title of this post is so not optimistic. The thing is that today has been the breaking point for me. The whole academic year I have been trying to go abroad next fall by any means. So today was my last shot. After applying to the erasmus program through my university, on my own to the Swedish masters, and finally to the special edition of the erasmus program with all the left-overs, I've been told I ain't going nowhere. I somehow knew it from the beginning, but always thought there was at least a small chance. So even though I sensed it, it wasn't real yet and I had that little hope lasting. But today, today it has just slapped me in the face. The fact that next year, and probably more to come, I'm gonna be stuck in Pamplona is something I didn't fancy. Anyway, I guess the sooner I get used to the fact the better. I just need a slight change of mentality and a change on how I pictured my future too.

My Swedish dream vanishing

2008-04-14T22:49:00.002+02:00

Hey guys! As most of you might know, in my desperation to get away from Pamplona once again I applied for a one-year master program in Sweden. I was gonna do a master and, with it, a project that would be the final project I need in order to graduate. Well, today I found out that I wasn't qualified for three out of the six masters I applied to. I know there's still a chance of getting into one of the other three, but I see it as very unluckily considering the reduced number of free spots. So one of my great plans for next year has fallen apart. As my Austrian friend Christoph would say: "it sucks".
However, I tend to think than when a window closes another one opens up, you just have to be ready and look for it. So this time that new window has the shape of an Erasmus program in Bruxelles. Some crazy (there's no other way to describe her/him) person rejected their spot in this program. So there was now a second round, meaning a new opportunity to fulfill my final project abroad, which I want so hard. I'm totally concern that the odds of me getting these leftovers are rare. But if you don't take the chance you will never win.

Weekend in Madrid

2008-04-08T10:10:00.004+02:00

After a long time saying I was gonna go to Madrid to visit Julen and Mauro I finally did it. I couldn't find a free weekend before. Either I had to work, to study, a basketball game or all of them at the same time. But this time I saw it clear. Everything was fitting perfectly. As you know I went to Switzerland during my Easter vacation (or Spring break if you're American) to visit some of my UVM friends and my flight was landing in Madrid on its way back. So I talked with both Julen and Mauro and they agreed on the dates. I hadn't seen them for over a year and was really excited.
I arrived at Madrid airport at around 8.30 in the morning and after saying goodbye to Eva I got in the subway to go to the city center where I was meeting Mauro. I wasn't gonna see Julen until late evening because he had to work all day. Yeah, you know, he has now become one of those businessmen without time for anything. But I have to admit he did a really big effort to get time to spend with me while I was there. Well, so Mauro, who also did a great job maintaining me entertained during the weekend, picked me up and took me to play a soccer game at his university. We had lunch in the university dinning hall and then walked the city. We went to almost every touristic spot in Madrid enjoying the really nice and warm weather. Before meeting Julen we crashed down in Mauro's place for a while since I was totally destroyed after the trip and all the walking. Julen couldn't go with us so Mauro and I went out on our own. The truth is that we had a great time first in Patatus, then in La Via Lactea and finally in Ocean (really weird but nice and cheap bar). In the last bar we went to we found a frisbee and we walked back home throwing it and inviting people to play with us. It was great fun!

On Saturday Julen and I woke up really late and went directly to have lunch with Mauro in an indian restaurant in the neighborhood of Lavapies. After walking around for a while we headed back to Julen's place where we had dinner. That night we went out to Malsaña area again. It was a funny night too and we ended up in a place called Sala Sol or something like that. Next morning I thanked Julen and Mauro for their great hospitality and went to the bus station where I was meeting Juan before taking the bus back to Pamplona. Juan is a friend of mine who is also working in Madrid and who I hadn't seen for a long time. Apparently he is really busy but doing well.
Julen, Mauro, it was a great weekend. I really wanted to meet you and see how you were doing in such a big city. I checked that you got used to it perfectly. Thank you for everything and you know, I'm here in Pamplona so you can come visit whenever you feel like it.

Easter vacation with a Swiss taste

2008-04-01T23:11:00.005+02:00

There we were, Eva and me, waiting for the slightly delayed flight to depart from Barajas Airport in Madrid. Both of us really excited about meeting some of our international friends from UVM. After a night in the bus in which I couldn't really sleep much I felt a little bit tired. Nothing better to cure it than the fresh air of Switzerland. I must admit I was nervous in a way because I didn't know how comfortable things were gonna be. I mean, some of the guys I haven't talked with them for such a long time I wasn't sure we still shared that connection that made us good friends back in Vermont. But I was really glad to check that after the first couple of minutes, which are always of expectancy, it seemed like we had been together for the past months. There was no sign of that break in our relationships we had gone thru.
So after all this philosophical thinking I did as introduction I'm gonna go through what happened in the reunion. I'll try to make it short because I don't want to bore the few people who read my blog. Anyway, Eva and I arrived at Geneva on Sunday at around noon and decided to stay there till dinner. Since none of us knew the city we wanted to explore it for a while, so we went for a walk. Most of you might know that the main attraction of Geneva is the huge artificial geyser they have in the lake. Because it was windy, a guy told us they weren't gonna turn it on. It wasn't fair! we wanted to see it. So as if the people in charge of it had heard us they made it work and we could take some pictures with our faces showing all our excitement.

Anita and Adrian went to pick us up at Fribourg train station. Since it was already "Swiss dinner time", you know, about 6 or 7pm, Adrian invited us to have dinner at his place. He invited, but we had to do most of the cooking and the dishes, I don't know about you, but that's not what we call an invitation in Spain. hehe. Just kidding Adrian! According to our detailed program written by Anita next day plan was: "hanging out in Fribourg waiting for Torsten to arrive". So after meeting Cristoph we followed the program and did as it said. We visited Fribourg and killed some time here and there until Torsten arrived. This time Anita invited us to have some risotto at her place, delicious! And of course, we went out at night. Come on, how could we skip a "Crazy Monday"? the party day in Fribourg. It was actually really fun and I ended up sleeping and having some spaghettis at Adrian's, even though all my stuff was at Anita's. On Tuesday we went to visit Bern. I had already been there, but it was worth going a second time.

On Wednesday we got cheap day passes for transportation, which was a relief considering transport in Switzerland is extremely expensive. We used them to get to Luzern, beautiful city located in the shore of one of the numerous lakes in the country. And finally, on Thursday we went to visit Gruyere, the town were the world famous cheese is produced. We had a look into the factory (guided by our beloved and sexy, sooooo sexy cow) and then got to the typical village of Gruyere. But the best part of the day was still to come. Adrian drove us to a spa in the alps. It had everything, an outdoors warm pool, turkish baths, saunas, etc. And for students like us with our discount it was pretty cheap. After getting relaxed it was time for the most famous dish in Switzerland: Fondue. The cheese fondue we prepared at Adrian's place that day was jammy. It was really tasty and soooooooo good. Greatly complemented by the toasts we all did in our different languages. My flight left Geneva airport at 6.25am so we stayed up until three or so and then got the car. Thanks Adrian for the ride, it was very nice from you.

I got to Madrid at 8.25am and spent a great weekend with Julen and Mauro there, but that will be the topic of another post. I believe this one is already too long and maybe kind of boring to read. At this point you might not even laugh if I say: "chicken likes oil, everybody knows that" (don't worry if you don't get it, inside joke again). I just want to thank Anita and Adrian for making this reunion possible. We all had a great time and it was just awesome seeing and being with you again. I hope this is the beginning of lots of other reunions that will bring us together again from time to time forever. So the only question is: Where and When will be the next one?

Switzerland there I go

2008-03-22T23:17:00.003+01:00

So here I am. In front of my computer waiting for the clock to say it's one o'clock in the morning. Today I'm leaving for Madrid because in the morning I'm meeting Eva in order to catch a flight to Switzerland. There I'll be meeting some of the best members of the wonderful UVM internationals gang. Because there's few feelings in life greater than that of seeing the people you care about again. As I was walking around the city center of Pamplona this morning I realized there's two different kinds of friends. None of them better than the other but both amazing.
There's these friends who live in the same place you do and with whom you share most of the time. You go out with them, talk with them all the time both in person and on the phone, etc. They are usually considered best friends and in fact they are. They know all about you and you know all about them.
On the other hand there's those people who live far away. They are your friends because you shared great moments during a period of time in some place where you met by chance. Once each of you are back to where you belong, contact becomes difficult. I believe long distance relationships don't work but friendship does. The basis of a relationship aren't the same of those of a friendship. In the first one you need to share almost everything with the other person and you have to be with him/her all the time or at least know he/she is still there. Time and distance makes this really difficult. However, in the second one you don't depend that much on the other person. You can be long periods of time without hearing from him/her and it's fine. Each of you have different lives and you know and accept that. But you also know that person is still there and cares about you. It's not necessary to be checking on her/him all the time. Sometimes it's enough with a message from time to time. And that's in fact what makes it so special. Don't tell me you don't get excited when you receive an email or facebook message from someone you haven't heard from in a while. Well, I do.
To sum up, I believe everyday friends are a really important part of our lives and that we need them. But I also think the other kind of friends is worth having. They can make your day on one of those days you're down.

Licenciatura

2008-03-16T18:30:00.003+01:00

So this Saturday was a day of celebration for me and my classmates. It was our day. We were celebrating our graduation. I don't say we were graduating because we haven't achieved that yet. Some might not even graduate in the next two years. But it didn't matter at all. The point of the whole thing was to have a great time all of us together. The day also had its serious part in the morning with the graduation "ritual", and then it got crazy. But lets start from the beginning.
Eleven o'clock in the morning. I'm meeting Gartxen and some others at the health studies building of my university. Yeah, I know I'm not a health student, but that's just the place the ceremony was going to take place. It didn't start until noon, but we were supposed to prepare and arrange everything so that nothing went wrong. And well, in the end nothing did. I don't want to bore you with the details of the ceremony, just mention that the room was packed with relatives excited about us getting some non-official diplomas. Mario and Bea, two of my classmates performed a pretty funny speech which of course included teasing some of the professor, but always respecting them.

After having lunch, each one of us with his/her family, we all met in a bar in the old part of the city that we had booked. You should have seen us, all suited up with ties and everything in the bar. But the best part was that two bands from our class played at the bar. One of them is already relatively consolidated, meaning it wasn't their first gig. Whereas, for the other band it was their debut. They had warned us in advance: "we don't know if it's gonna sound well, but we can assure you it's gonna be an spectacle". And hell it was! We had a great time with them.

So without even noticing it was dinner time. It was in fact Spanish dinner time, because we appeared at the restaurant at 22.30. This time there was no food fight, probably due to the fact that we were all wearing nice clothes. I have to admit the food wasn't delicious at all, but at least I got full and put some food in my stomach to survive all the drinking done and still to go. The disco was part of the same restaurant so we didn't have to go far. We invited three professor to have dinner with us. One of them, Antonio, who had been in the morning as well left right after dinner. But the other two stayed a little longer with us. Gurutze and David, the professors are great. David even shared with us some joints. Can you believe it? That guy you respect from class who is supposed to be all serious and so turns out to be a pothead. Well, not that much, but almost.

Anyway, the night went on and the fun did as well. It was one of those nights you get lost the whole time, then find some of the people you were with but all of a sudden get lost again. You know what I mean, don't you? Well, yesterday it wasn't difficult to find my classmates since we were all wearing suits. So when the night was over, around 6 in the morning, we took a bus home. We had to wait for a while because the previous bus was completely full. In fact there was a fight to get in and some people got punched. Don't worry, I wasn't involved. You know me, I'm not the fighting kind of guy. Instead of going directly home, some of us went have breakfast before. Of course, it consisted of Spanish omelet, hehe.

And then it snowed

2008-03-04T21:43:00.003+01:00

Yeah, that's right, it's snowing in Pamplona today. Who would have guessed it couple of days ago when we were suffering a pre-spring weather. Temperature was mild and sun shined every single day. But today, suddenly, the sky fell over our heads and started raining first and snowing after. Finally it feels like we are in winter. You know, it's been such a change from last year. I was used to really low temperatures and waking up everyday to a white city in Vermont. And since today, temperatures here in Pamplona were pretty high given the time of year and it didn't rain or snow in months. But what gets me more excited is the fact that if it's snowing here means it's snowing in the mountains too, so I can finally ski. I went a couple of times before and during Xmas, but that's all. And again, last year I got used to go skiing really often so I miss it now.
Well, leaving the weather news aside, I just wanted to mention something on my blog. The other day I downloaded the series of documentaries made by the BBC called Planet Earth and I just wanted to share with you all how good I think they are. I heard of them while I was in the States but never got to watch them. They are really amazing. The photography is astonishing and the whole structure of the series is appropriate. Check it out!
Oh! and I almost forget to tell, I passed all my courses. Well, that's not totally true since there's still one grade we haven't heard anything from the professor. But all in all the semester has been a great success and I'm now closer to the end of my studies. I just read on Facebook a message from Adrian telling me that he has also passed all his exams, so from here I want to congratulate him, Good Job Swiss Guy!!!

First saturday of Campus Trophy

2008-02-25T15:09:00.002+01:00

So this past weekend the worldwide (no, just kidding, only in Pamplona) known tournament called Campus Trophy started. As some of you might know, I'm part of the staff that organizes the event. It takes place every Saturday in one of the two universities in my city. Any student or person related to both universities can participate. The different teams compete during the whole morning in various activities in which they get points depending on how well they do. Conclusion, by the end of the morning there's a chart with the classification. Some of them are then eliminated and others get to play the semi-finals and then the final. Anyway, it's a pretty funny championship and I have a really good time working there. The only problem this past Saturday was that the guy who is supposed to read the questions in one of the quizzes couldn't go, so I had to do it. Me asking questions to a bunch of people who know me from university, it was pretty embarrassing. But well, I didn't care much, just did it.

The end of finals party in Toulouse

2008-02-20T16:37:00.004+01:00

Yeah!!! They're are finally over. It's been more than a month of hard working and few going out but it's come to an end now. The moment we have been waiting for so long has finally arrived. There's even some time left to get bored, something unimaginable few days ago when we were still fighting for a good place in the library, silent enough to get all those tons of information into our almost dried brains. But last wednesday was the day. So after the last exam we decided it was time to celebrate. Most of my buddies from class and me we went for dinner to a typical Northern Spain "Sidreria". Here you get to eat pretty well and the most important thing, you get all the cider you want to drink. So even before we started getting some food in our empty stomachs we were already a little bit tipsy. Well, you have to understand, we weren't used to drinking booze anymore after nearly a month of abstinence. Anyway, the night went on really well and most of us had a hell of a time even though there weren't many places open until late since it was a wednesday.
On thursday Taylor arrived from his trip to Italy. So I went to the bus station to pick him up and bring him home where his suitcase was waiting for him. He didn't have a place to crash down that night so he stayed at my place. But of course, after having dinner over here we went out so he could say goodbye to the city that was his home for about a month.
And without time to even realize exams were over or to feel tired, on friday we headed north to France. More specifically we went to Toulouse, where our friend Etxarri and some other classmates are studying. It's like a five hours ride so I guess it can be considered an small spanish road-trip. Again five of us in a car with plenty of time to spend in the road. Oh! it felt like being back in the States. However, they didn't really get it when I shouted "Shotgun"!!!! well, I'll explain it to them someday. So first thing we did when we arrived in Toulouse, after getting lost for a while, was to rent some bikes. It was gonna be our main mean of transport for the weekend, both during the day and at night.

I have to mention what a great host Etxarri and the others were during our stay. They showed us the city and took us out at night, besides letting us sleep at their place, a not too luxurious dorm but which was just enough. We got there late on friday so after having some dinner in Etxarri's place we started drinking and catching up with what they had been up to lately. They offered us their most precious discovery, Bastion beer. It's a ridiculously cheap brand sold in Aldi supermarkets. It's quite strong and the cans are half a liter, so you can say it kicks. Despite being such a strong beer, it's drunk easily. Consequence, that night we were all wasted. There's even videos, all of them hilarious, to prove it. I'm not gonna get into the details of that night. Just mention that we ended up in a bar which was actually a boat in the river of the city.
Next day we couldn't sleep to much because we were supposed to visit the Airbus factory. I don't know if you have heard anything about the company. Well, it's a european plane maker which competes with Boeing. The elements which compose the plane are made in Britain, Germany, France and Spain and then assembled in Toulouse. So what we visited was the assembly line. It was a nice visit, and of course we had to make ourselves being noticed during the tour (you know, spanish people always making noise).

Later that day we visited Toulouse and ended up in a tea-bar I guess you would call it. You know, one of those places were you go, sit on mattresses all over the floor, drink tea and smoke some shisha. Really cool place Pascual knew and to which he usually goes. And that night we went out as well, just not to loose the habit. It was a peculiar night too. With me being bitten up (just kidding Cenicero) in an elevator (well, maybe not kidding that much because my head and ear still hurt), Davidin getting lost and then god knows how managing to come back to the dorm, Mariñas crashing with his bike when racing with Etxarri and so on.

What I wanna say here is that it was a cool and fun end of finals and that I'm really glad we finally visited those in Toulouse. And who knows? maybe it's not the last time and we pay them another visit someday. I mean, we have till september to do it. Oh! and changing the topic. I already got my flight tickets to Switzerland, so my attendance to the reunion in Anita and Adrian's country is more than certain. Btw, Eva also got her tickets, same flights as me so we will be traveling together. Sounds good to me! hehe, I love that expression and the one about the plan, you know, Sounds like a plan! just love to use them. Anyway, I can't wait to see you again guys!

What's wrong with people?

2008-02-09T15:50:00.000+01:00

Yesterday night I went out of Rober's place after having dinner there and pretty tired because it's been a rough week with a lot of studying involved and few hours of sleep. So I'm really looking forward to getting to my house and hit the sack (as Anneke would say). I go to where my bike is parked and unlock it. But surprise!! I can't ride it because I have a flat tyre. So I take a look at it and realize it doesn't have a hole or anything but that someone had left the air out of it. Conclusion, I have to walk all the way back to my place carrying the bike with me but unable to ride it.And now I ask myself, why would someone want to deflate it? I mean, what's the point in doing so? well, I guess I won't find an answer for that because only the person who did it knows.

Bye bye Taylor

2008-02-08T20:14:00.000+01:00

Hey, first thing, I'm sorry I haven't written anything in such a long time. I believe there's not that many readers of my blog out there, but this apology goes to those ones I know they usually check on it. The thing is that I'm still in my long exam period, but it's almost over now, just one exam left. Yuhu!! Can't wait for Wednesday to arrive and be able to go out at night without feeling guilty and saying to myself, 'you should study, you know'. Anyway, the reason I haven't updated much my blog is not because I don't have time. I mean, it takes like fifteen minutes to write something here. The thing is that during finals, nothing special really goes on. I didn't have much to tell, except for the finals themselves. And I didn't wanna bore you with all that kind of shit. Taylor's visit was the most exotic (yeah rober, you were right, I liked this word today and I'm definitely using it the whole time) thing these past weeks.
It was a pleasure spending this last month with you Taylor. I really mean it. After Christmas break, your face was the last one I expected to see around my university. So when I ran into you in El Sario I was shocked. We had a great time, or at least I did. Despite my lack of time due to all these never ending exams, we managed to meet every few days and get some beers. Not only in the most 'typical Spanish' bars in town but also in the irish ones. My parents really liked you and they told me you seemed a nice guy. I hope you enjoyed the 'typical Spanish' dinner you had at my place. I mean, it wasn't like luxurious stuff, but was pretty good. Or as you would say, it was 'la puta crema'.
Well, and now Taylor is gone discovering Italy before heading to Vigo. And I'm almost done with exams. So after next week I'll write more, because there would be things to write about. All the partying following the end of finals and the trip we are gonna do to Toulouse to visit our friend Etxarri. That should be enough for at least a couple of posts. hehe. And then I will have to lay on my great imagination again in order to keep you entertained.

One over, five to go

2008-01-23T22:38:00.000+01:00

The first exam is over, finally! It didn't go as planned but I hope I'll pass, if not the exam, at least the course. The course is Science and Technology of the Environment. Yeah, I know. It kind of sounds like pretty easy and not complicated. But the truth is that it is really boring to study because you have to get to know all the devices used to treat dirty water, polluted air and so. The problem is that after getting everything in my head, with quite a lot of effort, the fucking "Bencenos" (that's the way we call our professor) asked about things he didn't give importance in class. And there was nothing about all that we memorized. So I'm a bit pissed and pretty mad at him.
Anyway, exams go on and the next one is on Monday (with our beloved Pepe). So I better get to study if I don't want any surprises. I guess this post is not of much interest but I just felt like writing something after the exam because I won't write in a while now. It's still study time over here!!

The Library

2008-01-20T22:56:00.000+01:00

The Library at my University (or as I like to call it these days, my second home) is full of life. Exams are here and people are getting pretty worried. Or at least some of them. Today I went to the library first thing in the morning, which was around nine o'clock. That's the time they open on Sundays. Outside the building I joined Rober and Victor who were already waiting for it to be opened. But they weren't alone, there were like millions of students (yeah, right, I'm exaggerating a little bit but the point is that there were a lot of people there). The funny thing is what happens when they open the doors. Everyone gathered there starts getting in really fast, some even running, in order to get a good place in the upper part of the building, which is where you can really study without being bothered. If you think about it you'll see how weird it is. I mean, there's actually people rushing to study. Well, it's not quite like that because most of them just place their things there and then go have a break before they properly start studying.
All these came to my mind because lately and for the next three weeks I'm gonna spend most of my time in that crazy building. Freaking exams!!!! So I guess I won't be posting much, although I'll try to because, you know, I have to keep my english level. hehe. Wish me luck in my exams, I'm afraid this time I'm gonna need it in some of them. And to those of you who are also going through this shitty time of year, GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Pretty busy around here

2008-01-16T22:40:00.000+01:00

Hey guys! How are you doing these days? I'm sorry I haven't written in a while but I guess most of you might have figured out the reason. Well, yeah, you are right, exams are here and they've come to stay for some time, hehe. I start exams on the 23rd, which is...exactly! next week. So you can imagine how busy things are starting to get around here. And to the normal pressure we have to add the fact that after a year in the States I'm not really in my best studying shape. However, this year I'm not getting any nervous or anything. Usually a couple of weeks before exams I would be pretty worried about it all and feeling the pressure of having to study the whole semester in some days. But not this time. I have an exam next week and I'm calm even though I haven't studied much yet. I think this lack of worry is due to experience. Come on! it's my fifth and last year at university, so I guess it's ok not to feel worried anymore about all this shit. What really sucks is that exam period lasts about three weeks. And I'm one of those people who have exam the very first day till the last one. At least we will eat well that last day thanks to Rober (the "Sidreria" is a really good idea).
Well, and changing the topic I'm gonna talk a little bit about what I did this past Saturday. As I said in my last post, I met Taylor (from UVM) at university the other day. We've hanged out a couple of days and I've had the opportunity to meet some of the new international students. They seem really nice and I think I'm gonna get along with them pretty well this next semester. The point is that I went out with Taylor and some of the others on Saturday because they invited me over. And we had a great time first at Jenny's place, then at "Los Portales" and finally at "La Traca". I have to mention that the Americans except Taylor didn't last long. You know, they are not used to partying all night and get tired to early. But well, I really enjoyed it and I think so did Javier who finally got his chance to practice some English. I'm afraid this was the last weekend going out. Now it's study time!!!!

The world is so small

2008-01-08T21:00:00.000+01:00

You won't believe what happened to me today. I mean, at first I didn't believe it either. Are you one of those people who think that the world is really small and that one way or another people meet again? well, I wasn't a true believer of this theory (if we can call it a theory) till today. Something incredible, even insane I would say, happened. Let me tell you the whole story.
I was coming out of my German class this morning on my way to another class I had. I stepped out of class into the hallway and started saying: "there's no way, there's no way". I was looking right at Taylor. You know, the tall salsa guy as many of you will know him. That's right, it was him. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Suddenly it was like being back at UVM again. So I went talk with him and ask him what the hell was he doing here. It turned out that he's gonna study the second semester (in Spain the second semester starts in mid-February) in Vigo, a city of Spain, and he is now taking a one-month Spanish course at my University.
So, who said the world is not small? I think that the Spanish saying is right, "the world is a handkerchief". This gives me hope and makes me realize that seeing people again is way more luckily to happen than I thought. I'm sorry to say it again, but I'm still so surprised about the coincidence. The world is amazingly small!!!

New Year's Eve

2008-01-06T13:43:00.001+01:00

I guess many of you don't know what we do during New Year's Eve in Pamplona. Well, we have this really weird recent tradition of dressing up in costumes. "Spanish are crazy", as a good friend of me would say. So after midnight, the streets of the city get full of romans, human-pencils, human-bananas and the most ridiculous things you can come up with. It's a magic night because you go out there trying to meet people you know to discover what they are wearing that year. And of course, every group of friends usually goes with the same costume, which is great when you get lost. This year, we were human-mops. Yeah, that's right. I know it sounds a bit odd, but it was a complete success. People even recognized we were mops!! You can judge by yourselves with the picture. It was fun and annoying at the same time because we kept hitting things with the stick on our heads and getting stuck in places like the branches of some trees.
See, now you have another idea for your Halloween costumes next year. It's really easy to make (it took us like a couple of hours to finish it) and pretty cheap. I mean, it's true that it's not very elaborated (the yellow stripes on our t-shirt were stapled) but it does look funny, doesn't it?
And speaking about traditions. In Spain we have the tradition of eating a grape with each bell at midnight. When midnight comes, we gather in front of a TV showing a famous clock in Madrid and like every other clock, bells twelve times. Well, so we eat a grape with each of those sounds and at the end just wish Happy New Year to everyone in the room. Try it!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2007-12-30T20:46:00.001+01:00

I know I'm a bit late for the Merry Christmas thing, but at least I got in time to wish you all a Happy New Year. This year has been really wonderful. I would say that the end of last year and most of this one has been the best time of my life. During this time I have discovered a great number of places and cultures, met amazing people from all around the world and probably made friends who will last forever. Now, when I get all these emails and cards wishing the best is when I go back in my memories and recall all the great things that I have been through. Well, not everything has been perfect or good, but after taking all into account I can say the good moments and memories of this year ending win the battle to the sad and bad ones.
So let's celebrate. Let's celebrate how lucky we are of having a life like we do and of having such wonderful people around us, because most of the time they are the ones who make life so amazingly special. This is why not only do I want to wish Happy New Year, but also thank everyone around me and those who are far around the globe but close to me at the same time. Keep being as wonderful as you are. As my awesome roomie once said, "Alberto, you are not the sentimental type". And I guess he was right. But we all have our moments from time to time in which we get sentimental. This was mine.
Have fun and enjoy this special time of the year. As I told Kike a few minutes ago, if the new year is half as good as this one has been, then I'll be glad, because it would mean it is incredible.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

First days of skiing

2007-12-26T17:39:00.000+01:00

Yeah, ski season is here at last! After spending last year in Vermont I got used to skiing three days a week or so. But here things are different. It's way more expensive and the mountains aren't that close. So here you need to get the most out of every time you go hit the slopes. And that's exactly what I did this past weekend. I really wanted to go skiing because I had been without doing it for so long.
I went with my brother and a couple of friends and skied for a couple of days. The weather was wonderful, all sunny and not particularly cold. And well, there was a fair amount of snow. I mean, it wasn't at full capacity but most of the runs were open. Besides, there were few people so we didn't have to wait in any line, making it really worth it.
But I realized it wasn't as skiing in Vermont. I missed a lot of things but in special the people I used to go with. I really missed driving up to the ski resort with Adrian in his green Subaru and then yelling at him in the pistes. Also Anita talking about snowboard and how wonderful Burton is (which by the way is from Burlington), Helene with her cute hat or Torsten getting down fast as hell. Yeah, I have to say I missed the conversations we used to have on the lift while getting frozen in the Vermont cold weather, usually discussing what was for dinner in the famous Harris/Millis.
I have to say I love it. There's few things funnier than going skiing with your friends. There's always a lot of laughing involved. Hopefully I will manage to go again a couple of times more this season. Although it's not easy considering the money it costs and the few free time I have this semester. Last thing: try it and go hit the slopes!!!!!!!

Visiting Iru

2007-12-17T11:31:00.000+01:00

Despite all the work and study I had and still have to do these days, I found the time to go and visit Iru in Germany. He's studying there his last year of University and is having a hell of a good time. So Peña and I took a flight from Santander to Frankfurt in the morning. After catching a bus to Darmstadt we finally met Iru. Perfect timing I have to say, because that night there was this big party organized by the Spanish crew there. It was called Spanische Party and was a complete success. Everyone got a little bit crazy and the party got really funny towards the end, specially with Iru (he knows what I mean).
And well, the next day was hangover-day. So we didn't do much. We woke up pretty late and visit Darmstadt in the evening. On Sunday we went to Frankfurt and checked on its Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt). And of course I tried that hot wine (glüwein) which I thought was gonna be horrible but actually liked. The rest of the days we visited different cities like Mainz. I don't really remember the name of the small towns we went to, but they were all pretty nice.
I had the chance to meet some German people and it just confirmed what I already knew. They are great guys. The problem now is that I want even more badly to go do my final project abroad. But my stupid University wouldn't give me the chance because I already went to the States. So now, my only option is to do it on my own and hope my Uni will let me. Whatever happens in the end, you can be sure I'll accept it and fully enjoy it.
Thanks Iru for making our stay at your place so pleasant and fun. You were a great host.
Tchuss

UVM memories

2007-12-04T00:14:00.001+01:00

As most of you may know, I spent last year studying in the US. To be more specific, I studied in the tiny state of Vermont, which hosts UVM. I have to be honest, before they told me I was going to Vermont, I didn't even know this was a state. I mean, I had never heard of it or anything. But once I knew, it was everywhere. I started to notice it on TV or in books I read and of course, I did some research. It seemed to be a cool (and really cold) state, different in a lot of ways to the rest of the US. I met a guy from my home university who studied there the previous year, and all he told me was: "you're gonna love it up there". And I really did.
After the end of summer, fall came. Just beautiful! with all those colors in the trees. And the campus was lovely. I lived in a dorm. Maybe a house off-campus would have been better, but I personally think the experience of living in an american dorm was worth it. My column in the building was D-Low and I can assure you it was the meeting point if you ever wanted to go out at night. There was always movement and something going on there. I'm not really gonna talk here about the people or suitmates because I think I already did in other posts, but don't worry, I'll do it in future posts when you had already forgotten about it. The thing is that during first semester it was mostly about discovering. Discovering the country, the state, the people, the university, and really important, the culture. Classes at first seemed weird to me, but after a while I got used to the silly questions, the lack of respect towards the professor, etc.
One of the things I really loved about UVM was the vast amount of clubs there were. I mean, you had from salsa club to outing club going thru ski club and so. I was member of the ski and snowboarding club (I even have a t-shirt), the salsa club and went on a couple of outing club trips (have you ever wondered what would it be to build a snow shelter and sleep there? well, I did it in Vermont). And I've never skied so much in my whole life. In part thanks to Adrian and his car rides to either Bolton Valley or Jay Peak.
And of course I have to mention the American parties. First time I've ever been in one and I loved it. I enjoyed talking to everyone in the party and meeting new people there, specially if they were of the opposite sex. But also hanging out in the bars downtown after a late shift at the library. Oh, and working in the library. So many good memories with Devin and Alex (the supervisors) who were crazier than any other employee. I shouldn't forget about Angus, who made it possible for me to work there, although in the beginning I didn't like him that much.
So I guess I'm gonna miss all that. At least I have my photo albums to remember that great year I spent in that beautiful little state called Vermont. And thank you everyone there for making it so wonderful. If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate to visit it. And gosh, I have to say it, UVM is aweeeeeesome!!!!

Don't cry for me Argentina

2007-12-01T17:23:00.000+01:00

The end of my study year abroad is almost here. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do afterwards. But one thing is for sure, I'm definitely not going home yet. The road-trip through the States isn't gonna happen so I have to find something soon. And Miguel (Miguelito if you studied in Vermont) comes to give me the solution. "Why don't you come with me to Argentina?" and I'm like, yeah sure, it's not like far or expensive at all you know. But the idea stays in my head and keeps coming up. So I go to Miguel and ask: "ok, what's the plan and budget then?" After talking with him I've already decided I'm going to Argentina and eventually to Chile as well.
So when school is finished we take a couple of flights and land in Buenos Aires. Incredible city I have to say. There we stayed with Mikel and Aitziber, lovely guys from Pamplona. He's friends with Miguel and are doing an internship there for six months. Tracey has the best idea ever. Catching a plane to Iguazu and stay there for two days in order to discover the astonishing waterfalls. I don't even have words to describe it. Being there surrounded by the jungle and with those gorgeous natural wonders is just one of the best feelings in live. It starts raining while we are there, so the falls carry five times more water than usual. Just awesome!

It's time now for a different kind of natural wonder: The Glaciers. We get a flight to Bariloche and there rent a car to drive down most of the Patagonia region to end up in El Calafate. The car ride is two days long thru a desert land with extreme weather. Always having to be careful with wild animals crossing the crappy road or with Aitziber driving, hehe. Once in El Calafate we go to Perito Moreno Glacier and to some more. Wonderful! Well, I think the pictures speak for themselves.

After staying a couple of nights in Mendoza on our way to Chile (crossing the Andes by bus) we arrive to Valparaiso. There Paulina is waiting for us and makes us feel at home. Her family is so nice and sweet that our stay there is perfect. We visited that beautiful city and partied a lot (just like during the rest of the trip). And finally, our last stop, Santiago de Chile. Here we stayed at Santi's place. Another guy from Pamplona so helpful and kind who showed us the whole city.
I have to thank Miguel for offering me this opportunity. It was a great experience. I feel like I'm forgetting so many stories and experiences, but I don't like huge posts. I rather prefer people to explore these places by themselves. I just give some hints about what I did and how I enjoyed it. Then is each one's decision to try it or not. But if I were you I'd try to travel us much as I could. I know a lot of people who think like me (Julen, Mauro, Anita, ...). So just do it!!

I love the internet

2007-11-30T10:40:00.000+01:00

Isn't it great to talk with people who live thousand miles away? I really think it is. I don't quite know if it's just me or others also experience it, but there's a feeling I love. You know, when you're a bit down after a crappy day at uni, work or wherever and you get home. You start your laptop, without which you couldn't live and sign in to skype, messenger or the like. And, oh yeah! someone talks to you. You haven't talked to that person in a while and, at least me, after the chat I feel really excited. I usually even go clapping and cheering if the conversation deserved it. Sometimes it really makes my day. I mean, isn't it a great feeling you get. I don't know, it's just that I love knowing that those people are still there and care about you. And the fact that they don't live close to you makes the sporadic chats even more special. Well, and all this is possible thanks to the world wide web, created in Switzerland (at CERN, Geneva by Sir Tim Berners-Lee), despite what a lot of Americans might think.
I'm telling this because in the last weeks I've had the chance to talk with some of my dearest international friends. And god, it just feels so good! First it was Adrian, the crazy Swiss guy (with all my respects); then Helene with her lovely sense of humour; Anita, my little sister and most recently Anneke with whom I hadn't talked for so long.
So this short post goes for everyone who feels the same way I do. I wouldn't change that great excitement I get for anything.

Madness in Conil!!

2007-11-27T13:44:00.000+01:00

Today I didn't have anything to talk or discuss about, so I figured it was the right time to tell a bit about the crazy week I had in Conil with my classmates. I just arrived in Pamplona from my South American trip and my classmates invited me right away to go with them to Conil, a beach town in the South of Spain. I hesitated at first because I was already going to the Balkans and didn't have that much money. But after cutting some expenses here and there, I decided I could go. I don't regret it at all. In fact, I'm really glad I did it. It was madness there with all the crew: Etxarri, Asin, Kike, Rober, Beruete, Victorcito, Corta, Gartxen, Asiercito, Berrio, Davidin and me. Of course we missed the rest, but they had the opportunity to come if they had wanted to, so screw them!!! no, just kidding (oh god, I really love this expression that enables you to say whatever you want and then do as if you didn't mean it).
We had a great time because not only did we party a lot, but we went to a different beach everyday; visited places like Cadiz, Tarifa, Gibraltar, Zahara de los atunes, etc; and of course had fun the whole time. True we ended up exhausted, but we can tell we got the most out of everything there. There's so many stories and anecdotes. Like Berrio climbing the wall to enter the apartment when some guys apparently wanted to kick his ass; some others stealing bread and getting caught; meeting Julio Salinas in a bar there; playing the musical chair game; climbing to the fountain in downtown Conil and so more.
Yeah, I think I will remember this trip forever. It was awesome (yes, I finally found a spot to put this great word in my blog) to spend this time with my old classmates after not having seen them for almost a year. I believe we should do it again this year. What do you think guys?

why is life so hard? just because!

2007-11-23T12:09:00.000+01:00

Seated in my small computer lab, looking at a computer screen and wondering: why do I feel like shit? that's what's happening right now. Let me explain myself a bit more. I went yesterday to a classmate's house to have a couple of beers and then go home rest after the exhausting project which kept me from sleeping the previous days. But you already know how this nights end up. You go like, just for a little bit and you appear at home at 5.30 in the morning and pretty wasted. Well, that's ok if you don't have to work in the computer lab at 11 in the morning. So after sleeping for about nothing, I got my bike and came here. So while the lab is full with people yelling at each other I have to stay here and deal with it. This is when I wonder why is life so hard? And the only explanation I find is just because! Some of you might say I deserve it and that is my fault because I went out knowing I had to work. Well, I respect those opinions but prefer the just because way of not blaming anyone. So enjoy your day while I die in this small class full of computers and noisy people.
P.S: Excuse me if my spelling or grammar is not its best, but I'm not in my best moment either

The Balkans tour

2007-11-22T00:01:00.000+01:00

Now that I finally finished my project, I'm gonna write a short post about one of my trips. I could write page after page about this trip. Well, in fact we did in Julen's diary. But instead I'll just write a short description and let whoever wants to visit the Balkans discover them by him/herself.
It all started when I was in Patagonia, in that beautiful country named Argentina. After some days without internet, I manage to get a wireless connection and check my email. And there it was, some emails from Mauro and Julen inviting me to go with them to a Balkans trip in July. It took me like ten seconds to make up my mind and send them an email saying that they could count me in. But just going there didn't seem enough, so I suggested them to come spent couple of days before leaving at my place. I think they hesitated for like about another ten seconds. I mean, how are you gonna refuse an invitation to the world famous festivities of my marvelous city. Yeah, some might have already guessed I'm talking about the San Fermines in Pamplona.
So with a huge hangover and pretty tired after two days of partying we got on a train, then a taxi, then a plane, then a bus and so much more to finally get to that lovely place: the Balkans. We did a wonderful tour visiting every country in the area and not spending too much time in the really touristic and crowed places of Croatia. I loved all of them, but the one that surprised me the most was Bosnia i Herzegovina. I don't know, I think I just didn't expect it too be so gorgeous. We started in Italy and went to Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro (which I believe it was the youngest country in the world, just 1 year old) and Slovenia. There was time for everything. We visited the cities, got relaxed in the beaches, swam in the warm and clear waters and of course explored the nightlife.
I went on this trip with two amazing guys and friends. Sometimes we were like, what the fuck! we have been traveling together for a week and we hadn't argue at all about anything. So we'll just pretend to argue about some random thing. And we wrote a really interesting travel diary which by the way I still hadn't seen since then. I just wanna say: thank you guys!!
Well, in the end I didn't talk much about what we saw during the trip, but I believe this is much more interesting than reading about an itinerary. There's travel guides for that. And the anecdotes of the adventure are kept in the diary and maybe one day they'll be revealed.

This project's gonna kill me!!!

2007-11-20T12:11:00.000+01:00

I know, it's been a while since the last time I wrote something here. But the thing is I didn't have much time. As I mentioned in my previous post, last Friday the Carpa took place. I'm not gonna loose time here explaining what is it about because I already did before and if you wanna know more, just check the internet! Well, it went really well and we had a lot of fun during the whole day. There were some hilarious moments. You can follow all we did in one of my classmates' blog:
http://borrachosylocos.wordpress.com/
The only problem for some of you would be that it is in Spanish. Well, you can practice some.
But after the fun, the commitments come. Now I have to hand in a project on Thursday and of course it's not even close to be finished. Always leaving everything for the last minute. Oh yeah, we love it! So what waits ahead of us is some nights with few or even no sleep and lots of hours in front of the computer. And then they might wonder why more and more people need glasses. I mean, isn't that obvious?
Shit! I don't know what's happening to my posts, but they get worse and worse each day.I struggle to find topics for them and when I find one it just sucks. I believe the explanation is that my brain is drying up from schoolwork. From now on I'll try to water it a little so that I get back my inspiration. However, I'm pleased because one of my purposes is achieved, I'm writing in English and I freaking love it!
Take care out there friends

"All around the world"

2007-11-14T22:50:00.000+01:00

Like the Oasis song goes, "all around the world". You may already know by now that one of my passions is traveling. I love discovering new places and cultures. And till now, you can say I've done a pretty good job. I've been in many places in different trips done during the years. It all started with my first trip to the US when I was just 14 years old. I stayed with an american family for a month, you know, one of these summer exchanges people usually do. Well, after that I went somewhere every summer for a month and staying with a local family. I've traveled with different people each time, but there's two people I've gone with more often. The thing is that both of them, Julen and Mauro, share this passion. As Mauro wisely commented on the blog, I'll post something about almost each trip starting from the latest one. I'll add some pictures so that you can have an idea of how places look like and the kind of trip we did.
But this will have to wait for a while because as some of you may know, on Friday we have this great party at my university called Karpa. And of course, I'll post something about it and about what happened in it. For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, and I think it'll be most of you since few are from Pamplona, here's a short explanation: Third year students always go to a trip as a class to have fun and as part of a tradition well established in our uni. Well, in order to do that they need money so they organize this festival in which each major has a small bar. They raise the cash by selling drinks to people who go to it. And it lasts 22 hours or so. It starts early in the morning and ends early in the next morning. And the whole university goes there, even some professors attend (and a couple of them even get wasted, hehe. no, seriously, they do).
Well, I'm sorry if this was a bit long or boring. I know a lot of people won't give a shit about all that Karpa issue, but I just had to at least mention it. For those who are attending it, ENJOY IT!

"Bullshiting"

2007-11-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

This post is about that, saying some bullshit here. As so many things, I discovered this in the States. You know, americans, as much as I love them, tend to do this in class quite often. I don't know the reason of it, but in countless occasions a guy will interrupt the professor and just talk nonsense. When people do this, I'm like, so after all that, what did you wanna say? I've been listening to someone for like ten minutes and I still don't get his point. Me myself, I'm not very good at bullshiting around. I don't know, when I wanna say something I just say it, and if I don't wanna say anything, I just shut the fuck up. But today is different, I'm feeling like messing around a little bit. As you can see, the post is getting longer and longer and I hadn't really said anything yet. Well, that's partly because I wanted to write something but didn't know what. So this is what I came up with. I admit it doesn't have the quality of my previous posts. It's basically because nothing interesting happened in the last two or three days. Except that I finally got some news from my dear friend Julen. Incredible! oh, and also got a phonecall from Sebastian. It was really nice talking to him and discovering that the facebook application to call cellphones in other countries does work.
I think this was enough randomness for today. I promiss my next posts will be more interesting and I'll actually talk about something. Maybe I'll even post pictures someday.

Busy in Herre

2007-11-10T17:00:00.000+01:00

"It's gettin' busy in herre, so lets get all to work", hehe. Do you like my new version of Nelly's song? yeah, I know it's not as good as the one Virgil and I used to sing in Burlington. But it's the best I could come up with given the topic. Well, the thing is that we're starting to get pretty busy here. I nearly forgot what it was to have a considerably big workload. Used to UVM where schoolwork wasn't a problem, now I'm overwhelmed by all the projects and studies I have to do these days and till the end of the semester. But well, those of you who know me well can tell I don't usually get too worried. I mean, it's not like I don't do what I have to do, but I simply don't start complaining about not having enough time or the like. I will just try to do it and if at the end I didn't have enough time, well, I did all I could.
All this thinking occurred to me yesterday after spending what seemed to be half my life at university. I was trapped there for at least 12 hours. Even had to eat there! After a month of calm, now professors start asking for projects, attendance to lab classes, exams,... and they all do it at the same time. So I guess it's gonna be a harsh month of November and part of December. But don't worry, I'll survive. And if not, you know I love you all!

Missing the States

2007-11-08T10:37:00.000+01:00

These days something is going on at my university. It's the period for students to apply if they wanna go study abroad next year. Everyone is considering their chances of being selected for a program, people are studying english for like the first time in years so that they can get a good grade in the language exam, etc. All this makes me remember my good times at UVM. Even more when younger friends of mine who wanna go to the US ask me about my stay there. Then all the memories come and I can't help to feel nostalgic. I get really excited telling them some of the adventures and stories that happened there. I could be talking for hours about what I did and the people I met. I made really good friends who I hope will last forever. Some of them I hope to see pretty soon and some others time will tell. But that's the great thing about internet. Just using Skype I can talk with some of those friends that live to far to go and visit. And if I don't meet them on Skype, I use another fabulous tool called Facebook. I discovered it in Vermont and I'm now addicted to it.
I wish I could be back at UVM now. Here it's like getting back to normal boring life. Although this year seems to be more interesting, nothing compared with last year. I miss skiing with that crazy Swiss guy and yelling: "Go Swiss go" like a madman. I also miss working at Bailey/Howe Library with Torsten and others, going out wiht the impredictible group of internationals, or the amazing trips we did. And of course, I miss my sweet roommates (and suitmates). Both mexicans but so different from each other.
Well, I think that's enough moaning. If there's something I learnt during my US adventure is that the importance of things is relevant, and what we have to focus on is enjoying the moment and the people we are with each time. So that's what I'm gonna do. Enjoy Pamplona and then go to Switzerland to meet my international folks during easter. And let's be optimistic, maybe I go do my Final Project abroad next year. Wish me luck!

My first blog ever

2007-11-06T11:11:00.000+01:00

Hey you there!!!
This is the very first blog I've ever created or written on. I don't really know why I did it, but as I learnt in the US, you don't always have to answer this question. As the title of the blog says. While I was in Vermont, I found really funny and enjoyed how I would ask why? to someone and he/she would only say: just because. I was like, you didn't answer my question. But I got used to it and even started using it.
I have to admit I'm not a blog reader or anythin', but I just like the idea of writing about whatever you want whenever you feel like it. It was my dear friend Anita who inspired my to do it. I read her brand new blog and said: why not? it looks like fun. But of course, there's another reason. I miss english. I love the language and as you can imagine, there's not many chances to practice it here in Pamplona. So I like the idea of writing a blog in english, so that my international fellows can understand it.
I'm not sure what I would be writing about in the future in this blog, but I guess I will just comment on things that happen to me or my people or on things that I'll consider important about the world.
Well, I think that's enough for my first post. I'll try to post often but I don't promiss anythin'. Oh, and comments are very welcome.

Cya around