Monday, April 21, 2008

International Affairs

No, we would not like to go rollerskating with you...
(and no, those aren't the guys we live with, thank goodness)

For those who have seen the movie L'Auberge Espagnol about the French guy who studies abroad in Barcelona, Spain...that is a pretty accurate glimpse of my life this year. The dirty, messy flat packed with crazy international students, the coffee table constantly cluttered with beer bottles galore and hash ashes scattered around, loud euro trash music perpetually blasting in the living room, the boys who unendingly pass their time sitting on the couch watching tv all day, bathtub surprises, hazy adventures around the city into the early hours of the morning...oh man. Ridiculous.

A few weeks ago, we had a huge apartment dinner. The six of us each invited a friend, bringing the grand total to twelve people crammed around our dining table. I cooked 7 pounds of ground beef for burritos and made more chismol than I thought was possible. The French guys, Nico and Jon, baked a dish resembling potatoes au gratin on steroids. (It is supposedly a delicacy the mountainous peoples in Basque country eat during the wintertime justo antes de "hibernation," and judging by the caloric content of said entree, it should definitely only be consumed about once a year, if not once in a lifetime.) Tinto de verano, red wine, and beer were flowing like it was the Land of Alcohol and Honey. For dessert, we had ice cream and self-rolled hash cigs (don't worry, I just stuck to the helado de vainilla), and then everyone headed out to the neighborhood boho bar down the street for a live concert.



I've been spending quite a bit of time with Ellie, our German flatmate (who is coincidentally half-Chinese). Sitges and Castelldefels beach adventures and window shopping abound on the weekends. We occasionally cook and dine together, and sometimes after dinner, we spend a few hours Google Earthing our houses and looking up pictures of Offenburg, Germany and La Jolla. Mostly, I'm just feeding her propaganda on why she NEEDS to come to California to visit. She can't get over the fact that we really go to a school next to the beach and almost all of our friends surf and wear sandals year 'round. Heehee. Oh, California...



This past weekend, we had fried calamari for dinner and then went out to the infamous Chupitos Bar. They have an entire board of unique shots for 1.80 euros each, and it is quite the scene. Some of the available shots include the Harry Potter, which involves the bartender executing some sort of pyrotechnic magic trick before one downs the shot; the Boy Scout, where on the counter is lit a fire, over which you roast a marshmallow that you then dip in the shot and drink; the Orgasm consisting of a head massage with Neo's favorite spider-looking head scratchers; and the Mata Osos, which was definitely a bear killer. Other drinks in large pitchers are also available...

More to adventures to be documented shortly.

No comments: