Veni, Vidi, Vici

I came, I saw, I conquered.

I still remember thinking, "Who in the world would have thought that this young Dominican soul would ever get to study in Madrid, travel Europe and have a blast?" I certainly never imagined it. Now I can't believe it's all come to an end.

As I look back, I cannot be more thankful to my host family that took me under their wing and shared their home, time and culture with me. Thank you for feeding me incredibly well; I will surely miss Paella Sundays.

To the great friends I made here. I will hold you dear to my heart and I hope we meet again. Thank you red wine, thank you Mahou, thank you tapas, and thank you botellon!

As cliché as it is, I am living testament that dreams can become realities.

Until next time Europe, until next time!

¡Hala Madrid!

London, Londres. Potato, Potahto!

My last european country visit before I head back to Boston. A place I originally did not intend to visit but when the opportunity arose, I couldn't say no. Pendle and Yami, two girls in my program had already booked their flight so Brandon (who lived in London as a kid) and I jumped on the bandwagon. We ended up booking a fairly priced hostel recommended by my host sister in Hammersmith, London.

After escaping death, as usual, on our RyanAir flight, we got to the Hostel and realized that it's on the second floor on a Bar/club. First thought, sh!t I won't be able to sleep at night. Second thought, I will probably be down here until they close. That second thought turned out to be somewhat accurate. As guests of the hostel, we took advantage of the deals on drinks/food and met a group of Russians while watching the Real Madrid Vs. Atletico de Madrid soccer game. Funny story: After finding out we were American, the Russians wanted to talk about Ice Hockey but due to their incredibly thick accents we thought they had asked about "Ice Cocaine." That made for quite a conversation!

We had to make sure we took advantage of the sunlight and explored the city as much as possible. Weird/depressing thing, the sun never did its full circle, it went up in the morning and then back down around 4pm. Along with the lack of sunlight, it was insanely cold. Despite all this, we made sure we got up early, had free hostel breakfast and took London by the horns.

How did we occupy our 3 day stay? We put our tourist hats, tried not to get hit by the cars driving on the let side and saw all the big time sights of the city. We went to see the queen's estate, Buckingham Palace, and learned that the changing out the guards was the following morning so we went back to see it. Took pictures by Parliament and my dude Big Ben. Walked across London Bridge, strolled down Hyde Park and saw the "Winter Wonderland" fair, saw Shakespeare's Globe, rode the Tube (most comfortable metro seats I've sat on), spent hours inside Harrods, saw Brandon's old house and had lunch as a nice restaurant near by. I must thank Brandon and his family for treating us to lunch at the "Enterprise," I had some delicious fish cakes (London's favorites).

All in all,  I had a great time in London. It's truly a european version of the US....Brits may not like that comment but that's what it feels like to me. I would highly recommend visiting if you're in Europe.

Mami, mami, I'm in London

Police: "Get off the queen's fence"

Buckingham Palace

Harrods teddy

London Bridge

Parliament 

My dude Big Ben

National Gallery

Hyde Park

Salamanca & León

Here we go again, another round of excursions with HCAYS. This time we got Salamanca and León on the line up. I had no idea what to expect but I had heard about the livelihood of both cities. First up was Salamanca; It's an interesting city because while it has so much history and old architecture, it is mixed with a modern, contemporary vibe due to all the young people that reside there during the school year. It's main plaza, Plaza Mayor, is almost identical to that one in Madrid but at the same time there are many modern restaurants (McD's...) and shopping stores on the outskirts of the downtown area. It's like the old and new are intertwined and simultaneously appreciated it.

León on the other hand was quite similar just that it felt more religious (more convents and cathedrals) than Salamanca but both have an incredible amount of history. The tapas system is unreal....because they are free. We went tapas hopping at night and it filled me up by the 5th bar. Its truly magnificent!

One thing about both cities that I did not expect was their night life. Yeah, I had heard that they were both lively places but I didn't expect to have such a great time. From the lay back culture, to the tapas, to the bars, to the 1 euro shots, to the women and the clubs, it made me wonder why we couldn't stay longer. The guys and I went out, took the city as we went and have a blast. By far the two cities in Spain where I enjoyed myself the most. I recommend it. Check out some pics below.

 Universidad de Salamanca

 Casually by the well

 Did I mention that the food was crazy good. #Cochinillo

 Shout out to the moon-man on the cathedral 

 Impressive Retablo

 Cathedrals on Cathedrals (León)

 Bro Pond

I AMsterdam. oh yeah, and Brussels

First off, if you ever plan on going to Amsterdam DO NOT..i repeat, DO NOT fly into Charleroi ("Brussels") and take the bus to Amsterdam. It is not worth it at all because you run a bigger chance of not even making it to Amsterdam. That being said: I'm going to continue a little rant about Charleroi....IT SUCKS! The airport is as small as the closet of a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan. The run way is like the top floor of a parking garage, they make you walk to the terminal. One might think that walking outside the plane is cool...unless its COLD...January at Hamilton cold. Now, when you take the 13€ shuttle to Brussels (yes, the airport is ways away from the city) they only accept exact change.....despite the fact that I see 5 or 6 people in front of my paying with exact change I ask the young man: "Do you have change?" He says no... unless you buy two. I give him a look like he's crazy (0_o) and then say I want two tickets but before I hand him a 50 euro bill I think to myself: 'that still doesn't make sense because I still don't have exact change.' I hand him the money anyway and he gives me change..........I was like: WTF!!! I could't fathom that entire situation and proceeded with my adventure to get to Amsterdam.

Once in Brussels, my good friend PappaG and I had to take a tram or taxi to the bus station where we would take the bus that will take us to Amsterdam. It was taking us forever to figure out the tram system so we decided to take a taxi...best thing we could have done. We got into to find a young French guy blasting french rap and driving as if we were filming the next Bourne movie. We were flying through the streets of Brussels and lucky us because we made it just in time to catch the next bus. Once on that bus, we watched an awful movie ("Hunter"..don't google it) to pass the time.

To continue with our crazy day of traveling, once we got to the great dutch land of Amsterdam, we had to take a bus to the Hotel, which was another experience because their transportation system is very different (in a cool way) and we didn't have the full directions. Luckily I was able to get my international  SIM card working and called our friends who were already there. After waiting in the cold, we managed to make it to the "Amigo Budget Hotel" safe and sound.

Once reunited, our friends greeted us with an authentic, home grown present that helped us relieve some stress. We used the next day to try and enjoy the city as well as we could by doing typical and authentic Dutch (Amsterdammer?) things. We rented bikes and rode around to see the Van Gogh museum, the Ann Frank house, the Red Light District, Gray Area coffee shop, drink the best Amstel beer ever and more. All in all, Amsterdam was amazing, Brussels sucked except for that delicious chocolate Belgium waffle. Check the few non-incriminating photos below.

Green Budget bikes 'round the 'dam

 This place is beautiful

 A little Instagram action at Gray Area

 Probably the nicest memory I have of Brussels

Total bro.. 

 I AMsterdam 

Aspiring photographer...fail!

Lisboa is almost free living!

Where do I start? Lisbon was everything my friends and I hyped it up to be, if not more. We were fortunate enough to stay in a "party hostel," a business that I did not know existed. Our hostel is called the G-Spot (mom & dad, don't ask), like I mentioned it's a party hostel, which means really cheap per night, drinks are 1 euro, all you can eat pancake breakfast, dinner for 5euros with free wine, free pub crawl (1 euro shots), free entrance to the club, free beerpong and countless discounts around town (i.e free beer with the purchase of a burger, free walking tour etc.) At one point I started calling the city FREEboa cuz everything was incredibly cheap. There were tourist from all over the world at our hostel, which made for plenty of conversation. If you want more information, come see me cuz I don't want to incriminate myself.

Now, the city is beautiful. The first thing I noticed was the street art (huge fan); there were several pieces from "Os Gemeos," two famous brazilian twins that recently painted a controversial mural in Boston. The architecture is very european, plenty of cobblestone and memorial statues. The people are great, better than spanish people in my opinion. I got a chance to practice the little portuguese I know but it also motivated me to become fluent. The women are gorgeous of course, love the diversity unlike Madrid. We came across two Swedish guys that have been living in Lisbon for 3 years so they showed us around the infamous 7 hills; Bairro Arriva was amazing, simply hundreds of young people looking to party. Can't forget about the beach either: even though the water is really cold (damn Atlantic), it's incredibly beautiful and the waves make me regret the fact that I don't know how to surf.

All in all, would I recommend it to a friend? Yes.
Would I come back? Hell Yeah!

 Posted up in Lisbon

 If it doesn't work, mind a well turn it into art

 1/7 hills

 Sun is hot a hellll

PappaG n I breaking the law 

 Praia Carcavelos

Yeen..

Barça!

I believe Catalunya as a whole is a different world within Spain. Barcelona has an incredible amount of history and culture but after being there for only 3 days, I can see why some people want to separate themselves from the rest of Spain. They sell history, culture and vibe, which is nothing compared to Madrid or Galicia (the two places I've spent the most time). Our hotel was located in the center of the city so it was very easy to get to touristy places (i.e cool architecture and tapas) where things are popping!

The nightlife is also incredibly different compared to Madrid. I was fortunate enough to have friends that are studying abroad close to Barcelona and they came out to hang out Saturday night. They know the secret authentic places to go and they showed me around. By authentic I mean I they took me to the most Dominican bar/club I've ever been to in this country. I literally felt like I was either in DR or in a club in NYC. This place was in a small neighborhood and everyone in there was Dominican or Latin-American and the music was straight Merengue, Bachata, Salsa and Dembow....it doesn't get more Dominican than that. I had plenty to drink that night so it may have amplified the experience. 

All in all, Barça is an splendid place with rich history and very interesting atmosphere. Weather was unbelievably wonderful; cannot complain. I would recommended it 100%. Check some pics below.

 Yami & I overlooking the city

 Bro-ing out at lunch

 baRcelona

 Casa Batlló (by Gaudi)

 Outside La Sagrada Familia

Under Construction for 140yrs...

 Inside La Sagrada Familia

 Oh sweet Jesus