Last Post....

Well, I'm home home. In south Florida. And damn, does it suck. okay, it's really nice to see my parents and home again, but it sucks because you can't really compare being in the Colosseum one day and then sitting at home in front of your laptop a few days later.

Or being rewarded with amazing macarrones after running your ass home in 100 F weather and then having to run back on a ridiculously full stomach 30 minutes later. I miss Sevilla more than anything else, especially the fun we had as a group, Mama y Papa, Andre (soft), and the city itself.

My biggest regret is that we didn't go hard enough, enough times. I can count on one hand how many times we did it big, and that's not enough for me. At least Andre and I tried to explore the city a few times, but I feel like we didn't do it justice. Seeing the Betis game would have been nice, too, but my sleep got in the way of that. We were also at a disadvantage as 6 weeks, no 5 weeks is just not enough time to live in that city. I envy the people who got to study abroad for 3-4 months. That's real living. And that's real money, too.

A weird thing was how rich I felt in Sevilla(well not rich, but I didnt worry about money as much) as compared to now back at home. It's like every dollar counts, but for some reason the Euro doesn't.

Not that I'm upset about that. If I had been my normal, frugal self in Europe, I would have had a horrible time.

Another major regret is the lack of souvenirs I bought. For some reason I forgot like everyone. I am actually really sorry about that, guys. The fans would have been a great investment, as Andre said, but I just kept putting it off. Stupid.

Oh well, next time I go, I promise I will get shit for everyone I missed this time. Cuz I'm definitely going back. Fo sho.

And then I'll revive this blog...so don't sleep on me, guys. Actually, you can. It may be a while.

Hasta luego, tios.

Short one (thats what she said)

Awesome. Cinque terre was awesome.

What a great experience. It will probably be the highlight of the trip.

If i didnt have to rush to catch a bus to a train station and then take a train to La Spezia to catch a train to Roma I would upload a few pictures, but theyll come in time, dont worry.

This hostel, Ostello Tramonti, has been pretty sweet. I met bunches of people, like the Aussies (fiona and georgia), Lozza (lauren) and of course miles, my hiking buddy yesterday/tom cruise.

Seriously, he looks just like him without the dark hair. Good kid. We even hit up the nude beach, with all guys. Just how I like it.

The trip was very exhausting but definitely worth it. Seriously at times the sweat was like my next layer of skin.

A great day, topped off with dinner with Vito and Marie Laurence, whom we met on the trail to Guvano. He was really cool and seemed to like me a lot. He even rolled me an italian cigarette which was incredibly easy to smoke (not like americans).

So now Im about try and get on this bus with my insanely huge luggage and work my way to Roma.

Ill try and update soon again.

Hope everyone is doing well. Miss my Sevilla peeps, esp u andre ;) and MJ and Mario and Mom and Dad and Madi and Tai and all u hoes in gville and Abel and Yebi and Yesni.

And my friends from Sofla, i realized i might have missed someone, so that should cover it.

Ti amo,

Nikhil


Ciao bitches!

Lagos y Buddha

Hace un poquito de tiempo que no escribí y por eso, perdoname.

Lagos was last weekend. Really pretty place, really touristy, really sunny, really cold water, but reallllly short. I wish we had spent un poquito más tiempo como Brady, Wells y Raquel. Ellos quedaron un día más, pero I wouldnt have been able to. Missing a day of a 2 hour class is almost crazy, if u think about it.

Esp with that test coming up in Jimenez´class. oh yeah, thats tomorrow, crap.

But im not too worried, since ive taken his course before the and the authors are almost all the same. Cortázar, Borges, Quiroga, Lillo, these guys are my homies, so im not too worried in the least.

The indian restaurant at Lagos was pretty funny, though, because we were like 20+ people and the only ones in the place. The guy must have been ecstatic that these tourists decided to choose his Indian restaurant among the millions in Portugal(after talking to my parents, it makes sense since the Portuguese colonized part of India, especially around Goa, which also explains the last names like D´Souza and all). anyway, the point was that we asked for spicy food and the man made it spicy! interesting cambio de la comida de españa porque por alguna razón, la comida es tan picante como creía antes de llegar a este país.

Oh well.

Last night yo miré una película gratis a traves de Carmen quien trabaja con ISA. Se llama Machuca. Interesting movie, sad, and I liked it. It was interesting because we watched it at FNAC, like the Spanish version of Best Buy but much more upscale feeling. Afterwards, I was sorta late for dinner and Andre was waiting patiently as usual so we had our dinner of Puchero(sort of like a hot soup with jamon, carrots, an potatoes and other stuff soemtimes and also thin noodles) and then mashed potatoes y pollo baked, i think?

After getting really full, i just sorta passed out at usual at around 1230 after reading the story for hoy.

Today i feel so free, even though im not because i actually read the story in advance for the first time.

Actually, I should be studying, but I have a little screwing around to do on the internet. Its such a luxury, damn.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I met a girl, or woman, on the bus to Lagos from Sevilla who is backpacking across a lot of Europe. it was funny because our entire group was sitting together on the bus to Lagos until we had to change buses for some reason and then while leaving, Andrea (from our UF ISA group) got her bag stuck in the back part of the bus, like her zipper was stuck on that mesh type rope-y thing u put things in on the back of each seat, and i was doing my best to get it undone, but neither andre or i could, so we had to get the bus driver to come back with scissors and get it, so when we finally ended up making sure our bag was in the second bus and eveyrthing, i ended up being the odd man out without someone to sit with, so i sat next to this girl, but andre told me to ask her and the girl in front of her to sit together so he could sit with me, but i didnt really get it so i was like, whatever, ill deal.

and then i sit down next to the backpacker, and she asks me ¨Do girls have gyms?¨ and I was like, huh and she repeated that, and i was stuck in this sorta no-mans-land where u dont really know what the person said but u sorta feel bad asking them to repeat for the third or fourth or fifth or however many times because u dont want them to get mad or feel bad, and beyond all this im still not sure if everyone on the bus speaks english, portuguese, spanish or even czech or whatever so im trying to just figure out what language shes speaking, but in the end i sorta figured it out when i said, ¨gyms¨?? and she was like, GERMS.

finally i understood and said, no no i just wanted to sit with my friends, and then we began speaking. she told me she was backpacking for about 3 months, had already seen a lot of italy, spain, and a few other places, and i was instantly jealous. she was from australia and 26 and doing some pretty cool shit. she gave me a few recommendations about what to do in italy and france so that was great.

also, last thing is that theres this chinese restaurant, jardin oriental that andre and i always pass on the way to class and even on the way back and theres a statue of a wooden buddha outside that has just become a ritual to stop and rub his belly. actually, theres usually a chain-type fence that we have to reach thru(like at the mall when a store closes), but its always worth it.

and finally on sunday night when we got back from lagos, our familia no estaba en casa, y teniamos muchisimo hambre, y al final we were able to get some grub on.

check it out¨:

6.5 euros, which is almost 8 dollars, for:

cruzcampo beer,like the heinie of sevilla
flied lice(forgive me, asian friends)
hot and sour soup
and a chicken dish, i got chicken with mushrooms, and asked for it picante, but as usual not that spicy. either way, though good deal
and also, flan for dessert

the only negative is that im positive they use msg, so i got a little fucked up and tingly and not feeling so good which sorta ruined it, because that shit sucks a lot. so about an hour or so later i felt okay, but it was still not fun. even askin the waitress about MSG proved futile, since she didnt know what MSG or emme esse hay or monosodium glutamate(if thats even the right formulaic thing or whatever) or anything was. so my guess is they just use it nromally as like a recipe made in advance or something. either way, it sucked.

but ill end up going again.

okay tios, im sorta beat after this gigantic update so ill chatear despues.

espero que todos are having a great summer, by the way.

love,
Nikhil

Leer

Leer leer y leer.

Actually, im complaining over nothing.

Its really not the fact that we have reading, its just the fact that we have to read at all. The stories are sorta annoying, but once u understand all the words, it isnt too bad...

We ended up buying the bus tickets today for Lago, Portugal this weekend

It was 34 E for a round trip and then the hotel will be like 17 E. Hopefully Papa will make us some bocadillos to help the cost of the food for the weekend. But Ill do my best to take some breathtaking pics, or at the very least steal them from Wells.

Yesterday wasnt too bad, we hung out by the Rio which was nice and calm, until my stupid clumsy ass dropped a glass off the table we were sitting at and broke it. Luckily they´re probly just used to dumb gringos doing shit like that all the time.

Tengo que hacer una lista corta de todos mis mishaps...en serio

I´ve almost died at least 10 times while misunderstanding the walk signs and the beeping that goes along when its almost done for crossing. It sounds like a bird chriping and soemtimes the man in green starts fucking sprinting. Its bpretty cool I gotta take a video of it so i dont forget how it is.

Anyway the lista:

1. Ran into a pole (andre was talking with a friend behind me and called my name as we were walkin one direction, so I turned around to say what and....BAM!)
2. Spilled water at dinnertable...not just a little, like a full glass. what a fucking ´gaffe´...thats the spanish word for klutz, says papa
3. Spilled fanta limon at dinnertable....but luckily papa was able to use his fav phrase, ´no pasa nada, no pasa nada´ and then recount a story abotu when he went to the piscina with mama and her friend and they were both wearing black swimsuits and papa was under the water and pinched mama´s ass until he realized it wasnt mama....funny shit right?
4. Almost slipped and broke my head open right outside the isa building with tiphanie and missel...that dirt road will probably kill me soon enough
5. When on a fake boat at Huelva, I almost fell twice on these metals things on the ground, and it was bad because the the boat was on a slope, so i literally would have fallen all the way down the damn thing, titanic style....

i know there are more but class is in 6 minutes and i still havent finished all the way(not that i will) but thats all i got now.

peace and much love to ya!