Biddie Boat!

And finally.... the moment we had all been waiting for... drum roll please... FIELD TRIP CRUISE BLOG POST!!!!!!!!!!  Can I just say that this cruise was the most amazing experience of my life.  It had the perfect balance of visiting beautiful places and copious amounts of alcohol.  So much alcohol.  Unlimited alcohol.

So here's a quick run down of the places we visited:

VENICE: Beautiful, I'm in love with water taxis.  All cities should be planned like this.  I also got some delish gelato and pizza and a not so great 4 euro cup of coffee.

DUBROVNIK: I was so excited for Croatia, and it did not disappoint.  We took a mildly boring walking tour, where we found out that GAME OF THRONES was filmed there the previous week! I proceeded to take pictures of everything in hopes that I'll remember it when the episode comes on.  We also took a great glass boat tour.  Other people went swimming, which I personally was jealous of.  You win some you lose some!

CORFU: There really wasn't much in Corfu except for a beach (rocks where you can jump into the water) where Forrest and I skinny dipped and a lot of cute shops.  I bought a gorgeous grecian dress that was probably way over priced but hey, I liked it!

KATAKOLON: The original Olympic games were held here, which was pretty neat.  I found it funny when certain members of our group were hung over and puking in thousands of years old ruins.  Also we held Olympic games where David and I totally won the piggy back race (to be fair, our opponents boob popped out so we may have had an advantage)

SANTORINI: By far my FAVORITE island.  Not enough time on it though.  We hiked a volcano, which was sweet but since we're all lards from drinking and eating too much on this trip it was struggle city.  Then we rode some asses up the mountain.  The burros were probably my fav part of the entire trip, even though the one in front of me shit the entire time.  I didn't know an animal could contain that much shit at one time but ooh boy it impressed me.  Then we went shopping and had the BEST gyro I've ever had.

MYKONOS: This was the only place we went to at night, which was fantastic.  There were so many stray cats and shops.  It's essentially my heaven.  Also I ate octopus which was delish.

RHODES: This island was also fantastic, and probably the most fun.  We walked around the ancient city (MORE CATS YAY) but unfortunately most of the sites were closed due to a strike or something.  So we wandered towards the beach, which was probably the grossest beach I've ever been on but sooo worth it because in the ocean there was like a 20 foot staircase that you could jump off of! I pissed myself but I did it! So much fun.  I didn't actually piss myself that's gross.

KITTY

ATHENS: And finally, the last stop on our trip.  No one warned us that Athens was actually Antarctica and we were freezing the whole time, but it was awesome.  I've studied the acropolis so much that it was amazing to actually see it.  Also there was a strike at the time and the garbage workers didn't pick up the trash, so it was interesting to see the piles of trash on every street corner.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BOAT

So the real fun of the trip was on the boat with our unlimited drinking passes.  I'm pretty sure I drank no less than 5 piña coladas every day, mostly while jacuzzing (flajuzzing).  Here are some high lights:

• ALAN- the greatest/most awkward waiter that served us the whole time.  By the end he knew our wine preferences and also knew to just leave the bottles on the table since we would easily go through them all quicker than he could pour.
• There was another random waiter that would neigh like a horse every time he would walk by our table.  So weird.  We decided to meow back at him in retaliation
• The casino-  Probably the most dangerous part of the boat.  I only lost 20 euro, which is great considering I was black out while playing black jack.  This casino made some people sooo angry when they lost money that they threw chairs off of the boat.  Problem childs.
• MISS GRAND CELEBRATION: By far the hardest I have ever laughed in a while. This was essentially a beauty pagentish deal for our entertainment with participants from the boat.  No words can describe it, so here's a video I stole from Charlie Dale's blog:

There's more, but I'm too lazy to finish this now.  My body hated me after 8 straight days of drinking so it shut down and I'm currently miserable.  The only thing getting me through the next week or so and midterms is CHIPOTLE IN 7 DAYS!!!!!!!


EDIT: Some photos from the costume dance party on the cruise just popped up.  This is the best photo I have ever been in.

Nature Day!

Originally the nature weekend was supposed to be a few weeks ago, but due to inclement weather we went to Segovia/Salamanca then and did the nature trip now!!! Now, calling it a nature trip is really stretching it. Since too many people in the past have complained about a hike it was more of a leisurely walk.  It was beautiful though, and we got to scale some rock walls which satisfied my need to climb things.

Nate figured out his panoramacamera!

Then came the actual fun part.  Since we complained that we didn't even get wine at dinner in Salamanca, we went to a vineyard! We had the most delicious lunch, and I got salmon for the first time in ever.  Also I ordered fruit for dessert to be all healthy and shit, but once I saw how much better the ice cream was I made puppy dog eyes at the waiter and got that instead.  Also, I had like 5 glasses of wine and a bunch of champagne and therefore was TRASHED for the vineyard tour.  Which was done by the owner of the vineyard.  

This is how we wait for the tour.

Blurry due to my camera or my inability to walk straight?

Then we took a bus home and since I am terrible at day drinking (see: Friday of welcome week this year) I passed out for the rest of the night.  YIPPEE!

@Adam Gallagher

So for those of you at American University who read the Eagle for more than just the Eagle Rants, there was recently a column entitled "The Real Madrid, an exposé."  A link for all who are interested.  Some choice quotes about my program include:

• Max, Goyo, Goggins, et al. vacationed en España for four months, yielding thousands of group photos at clubs and a few eating disorders based around something called a “churro.”
• In the School of Communication, we learn what makes stories newsworthy (seven times per class) and there’s nothing novel, unusual or significant about staying out until 5 a.m. drinking €1 wine. 
• While my nemeses in Spain were making memories they wouldn’t retain the next morning...

Most people in my program read this article and found it extremely insulting, and one person commented: I don't know what is more upsetting: his lack of respect for 1 euro wine OR the fact that in order to find this gem katie harkins had to be reading the eagle... 

People go to Europe or do Madrid and the Mediterranean for many reasons, and not all of them are because Madrid is the PARTY CAPITAL of Europe.  Personally, I'm having the time of my life practicing Spanish at my internship and with my host mom during the day, and getting crazy drunk and making bad decisions at night.  Not to mention the AMAZING trips we go on.  This program is one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I don't regret any moment of it.  Except maybe when I vomited all over my room, that was kinda bad.

MADRID-Y WEEKEND: Calmer than Expected

Classes actually are going really well, I switched out of the fairly work and reading intensive Mediterranean Politics class in favor of Mediterranean Cinema, where we spent half the class watching an awesome 1940s Hollywood movie called Blood and Sand about bullfighting.  My internship is also AWESOME, my boss is super attractive and I'm actually improving my spanish here.

DAY 26: DOING REAL SHIT IN MADRID!


For my internship with the Movimiento Europeo, which is essentially a lobbying firm for unifying Europe, my sexy boss sent me to a conference with the Polish ambassador to Spain.  Originally I thought this would be like a big conference, but nope! I met the ambassador standing outside, we kissed on the cheeks as per Spanish custom, and chatted.  So weird.  I ended up sitting one seat away from him, next to the Finnish ambassador to Spain in a small room with maybe 20 people.  Surreal.  And I actually understood almost all that they debated about!  My internship rocks.

DAY 28: BULLFIGHTING IS LESS EXCITING THAN IT SOUNDS

So a little explanation of the people on my program: We have very distinctly split up into two groups.  It is essentially Greeks vs. GDIs, but it's more like people who have mild alcoholic problems vs. people who barely drink.  I'm obviously a part of the former group, aka "The A-Squad."  We're less douchey than it sounds I swear.  Anywaysss, everyone from the A-Squad either went to Portugal or Mallorca, where I was going to go but it got pretty expensive and I couldn't swing it with how much I just spent on fall break.  So Madrid for the weekend for me!

On Friday, our constantly high Cinema teacher took us to a bull fight! I'm not normally the one to get pleasure from the killing of innocent animals for something other than tasty, tasty meat, but I figured when in Spain!  We were sitting maybe 20 rows from the arena, but in the sun so it was wicked hot. 

Then the bullfighters and their various teammates came out in extremely flamboyant attire, and eventually when they cleared out the first bull came out!  Now, there is a very specific way that they kill the bulls. 

1. The three matadors and some various others wear it down in the beginning with some fancy cape work, mostly to show how vicious and dangerous the bull is.
2. Once it gets more tired, a man comes out with a giant spear on a blindfolded, extremely padded horse and spears it in the back.  This is always grotesque, and the bull starts bleeding a lot and ramming into the horse.  This is to lower the head of the bull.
3. Three guys show how tough they are by sticking what look like bowling pins into the bull's back while the bull is charging at them, without the safety of a cape.
4. The matador who is going to kil the bull then comes out, does some fancy cape work, and then once the bull is ready sticks a huge, skinny sword into a particular spot in its back.  The bull then dies like 5 minutes later after the matadors awkwardly do some cape work waiting for it to die.  This gets real gory if the matadors miss the spot, and have to stab the bull multiple times
5. Repeat.  6 bulls in total.

I gotta say, it was an experience but it was pretty terrible.  It's fine most of the time, but once the bull's been stabbed and they're just playing with it waiting for it to die, it gets kinda weird.  But I'm still glad I went, and I'm pretty upset that the bulls didn't at least gore one matador.

We got tapas afterwards, and one person from the other group had an apartment rented for the weekend since her friend was visiting, so Nate and I went there and chilled.  That was a great change of pace, because normally if we all want to pregame together we have to go to a park or something.  The biggest downside to homestays.  Anyways, since I'm not really friends with this group, when they all came over it was kinda weird so I downed a box of wine and called it a night.

DAY 29: ZOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

On Saturday, me and Nate Bronstein went to the Madrid Zoo Aquarium! That's right, a zoo AND an aquarium!!! If you know me, you know I love zoos. And aquariums.  It was pretty expensive to get in, but we had a coupon! We knew this wouldn't be your average zoo experience when we walked in, looked to the right, and saw flamingos straight up walking out of their exhibit.  People in Spain seem to not care so much about animal safety.  People were also just throwing food at the animals to make them more active, which was actually great.  I've never seen bears so active.  BEST DAY EVER!!!

Bird better step off.

MY FIRST RHINO!!!

Playful hippo!!!

Actually the cutest thing I've ever seen.

That night, my friend from Bedford who's studying abroad in Barcelona came to Madrid, so we met up for some boozing, some Dubliners, and the best part of the night, CHURROS! David went to Madrid before on a school trip (france and spain? france and spain! france and spain.) and he showed me the GREATEST place where they have freshly fried churros and a cup of melted chocolate.  I'm going back to this always.  I slept at his hotel, and awkwardly snuck back into my apartment at 9 the next morning without waking up my judgmental señora.  SUCCESS!

DAY 29: EL RASTRO/ SOUVENIR TIME!

Every Sunday, there is a huge open air flea market just south of Sol, where they sell everything and anything.  I wasn't really in a shopping mood, so I just went there to browse and see what they had.  Some of my favorite things: boxers with the Spanish flag all over them, gas masks, and a street performer who used water glasses a la Miss Congeniality.  Definitely coming back for gifts for people and a leather jacket.

UPDATE:

My fall break plans are finalized and I literally could not be more excited for the trip.  Nate Bronstein and I are off to London on Thursday night for some pub drinking and visiting some cool people (eek!).  The next day we're touristing (apparently that's a verb!) around London and taking silly pictures while at high tea before leaving that night on a bus to EDINBURGH! We have a trip booked, where they take us on a tour around Scotland, visiting castles, the set of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and most importantly the LOCH NESS! Then we're off to Dublin for Halloween, where we have booked a ghost tour and will be getting very rowdy.  The only downside is that Nate did not accept my proposal to pretend to be engaged so we can get upgrades on our various trips.  Lame sauce!

SEGOVIA AND SALAMANCA: Shit guys.

So after a relatively tame week in Madrid with only a little bar hopping, with a trip to Gabana for the free alcohol and sweet dance music, and class (HA!), our program went on a trip to Segovia and Salamanca.  And boy was that an experience!

DAY 19: NOT THE DRUNKEST ONE AT GABANA AGAIN!

This club day is only notable because 1) we got two free bottles of vodka at our table and 2) when I left that night, I happened to see two wonderful people on our program passed out on a bench, and when I woke them up they both started vomiting.  HILARIOUS <3

DAY 22: AQUEDUCTS AND FIST FIGHTS


Originally this weekend was supposed to be a calm nature weekend with two vineyards tours, but unfortunately apparently it rains somewhere in Spain (it hasn't rained once since I've been in Madrid), so instead we went to the ancient towns of Segovia and Salamanca!  Segovia is where one of the oldest Roman aqueducts is, and that was actually pretty cool.  Unfortunately I couldn't climb it though.

I tried.

We also visited a church that was built by the Muslims, then taken over by the Jews, and eventually converted into a Catholic Church! This sounds cool but it is approximately the 35th church we've seen like this.  We also saw another gorgeuousss cathedral and  CASTLE! I have an obsession with castles, so I was pretty excited, especially when we went up a tower to see a great view of the city.

Then we left to go to Salamanca, which has one of the oldest universities in the world.  It is essentially a college town now, which means we were pretty excited to go out at night.  BOY WERE WE WRONG! The night started off fairly badly when the teachers told us we wouldn't be getting wine at dinner because AU wouldn't pay for it, which is weak sauce because at a paella lunch I'm pretty sure we ordered 4 bottles of wine along with countless pitchers of sangria.  In retribution for that we drank EVERYTHING out of the mini bars in the rooms.  

Sufficiently drunk, Stacie and I set out to find the rest of the group, and ended up lost in the main plaza screaming their names until we found them in a magical bar where you could buy 5 shots for 3 euros.  THAT'S RIDICULOUS. We immediately downed 5 shots of tequila.  

We then went to the fabled club Camelot that many websites and travel guides said was one of the best in Salamanca.  In comparison to Madrid clubs though, it was weakkk.  But we made the best of it, dancing on the stage and on the speakers.

Rob walked into the club, took this pic, and said "Typical Katie."

That's when the douchebag kids from Salamanca University started getting in our faces.  They made fun of how we were dancing (sorry we're not sorry) and when I yelled at them they made Asian faces at me. At the time I thought a good comeback was that I'm probably better at math than them.  I left the club for a bit to cool off, and when we walked back in, we see Grant storming out, followed by like 7-9 guys.  I chug my beer and went outside, and I just see my friend Rachel go DOWN.  These assholes were punching girls! What the hell.  The details of the fight are pretty blurry, but eventually it ended with one of their kids knocked out, and Grant bleeding in a puddle.  Really awkward walking into the hotel later all bloody and muddy.  Salamanca:1 Us:0

DAY 23: MUCH LESS EVENTFUL DAY IN SALAMANCA

On Sunday, we took a tour of Salamanca, which was pretty funny because everyone was just super hung over and miserable.  The Plaza Mayor here looked exactly like the one in Madrid but smaller.  We toured the University of Salamanca (without running into the douches from last night) which was founded in the 12th century.  The benches looked really uncomfortable.  We toured another cathedral but they all kinda look the same now.  And then we took a much needed rest on the bus ride home!