Tag Archives: Spain

Off to France and Spain

I’ve never traveled before. Ever. Unless you count that brief two day trip I took to Damascus last December and the one before to Northern Syria in July.

Well, if you do, let me tell you this: if you don’t go to your destination in an plane, then you haven’t really “traveled.” At least that’s how I understand it to be.

But I digress.

In a few hours, I will be taking my very first airplane ride to Southern France where I will spend four days before heading out to Spain for a thirteen day excursion.

I’m definitely excited. But also quite anxious. It could be that I haven’t packed yet. I just look at the suitcase and decide there’s still time.

My stay in Spain will involve three cities: Toledo, Madrid and Sevilla. No Barcelona for me, sadly. But I guess there’s a time for everything. And with a Schengen on my passport, it’ll be easier to go there some other time.

While in Spain, I will be participating in the international Catholic Youth Day, formally known as JMJ: Journee Mondiale de la Jeunesse, which will be an opportunity for me to meet the pope – although I have low hopes about actually “meeting” him unless you consider spotting someone in a sea of a million people “meeting.”

While I’m definitely not the most religious of people, I think this will serve as an opportunity for me to meet lots of new people. Let me tell you a secret though, my group is going to miss out on most of the religion sessions and we’ll be going touring the cities we’re in. Awesome, right?

France should be great as well. I’m not doing the cliche France trip of going to Paris and staying there for the whole vacation, which I honestly would have loved to do – there’s just something about Paris, right? My French stay will give me an opportunity to practice my dying French skills. Yes, AUB, I blame you.

A woman in my travel group is of Argentinian origins and she was giving us Spanish lessons the other day in order to get around in Spain. Apparently the people who speak something other than Spanish are rare over there. Who would’ve thought? Needless to say, only one sentence got stuck in my head. And no, it’s not good morning or good evening.

“No habla espagnol, habla inglese?” will be my motto for the upcoming two weeks. I’m sure you can deduce what it means quite easily.

As for now, I’ll leave you and hope you come to read the posts that I’ve written and scheduled to be posted. There will be a book reviews, a short story split in seven parts, among other things… And if I get the chance to tell you how my French and Spanish adventures are going, well, why not, I guess.

Manchester United Fail!


I am a big football fan (not the American one, the regular international one). I do not follow every single thing related to it simply because I get way over excited, especially when it comes to teams I care about.

For instance, in Euro 2008, when Italy was playing Spain in the quarter finals and Buffon blocked a penalty shot, I shouted so loud in the restaurant that the owner still remembers me. Yes, I support the Azzurri. Another instance that comes to mind was the game Germany vs Argentina in the latest World Cup’s quarter finals. I wasn’t originally a supporter of either team but I decided to root for Argentina – and ended up doing so more vigorously than the original Argentina supporters present.

So I do understand how the game works and when a team doesn’t play well. I do understand most of the technicalities as well and after tonight, I know most of the players as well – even for teams I don’t root for. I mean, one glance at a substitute and I blurted out his name. Awesome, no?

So the Champions League Finale was on yesterday and it set Barcelona against Manchester United. I had no idea how the odds for each team stacked up but I honestly dislike Barcelona (the team, not the city) so I decided to root for Manchester United instead. Glory, glory Manchester United, right? Absolutely not, apparently. It should have been “pity, pity Manchester United instead”.

I was so horrified by how bad they played that it wasn’t even funny. The only goal they got in was due to a mistake from the other team and it wasn’t even a stellar goal for you to think that lots of work was put into it. Their possession of the ball was 33% and they got only 3 shots the whole game.

On the other hand, Barca had a 67% and had more than 15 shots, 3 of which resulted in goals. See? I’m not always biased. I give credit where credit is due – although I still think they’re not the best team in the world and I vehemently do not approve of the notion that Messi is the football incarnation of God.

So yeah, for all matters and purposes, Manchester United were a big failure tonight. They were absolutely atrocious. Their first half was less than stellar but it kept them in the game. The second half, however, was a disaster. You can’t even begin to fathom how bad it was! When the only team you see playing is the other team, dear Manchester United, you should maybe get a hint to pick up your game? Or maybe it was that the players had enough money and not enough motivation? Either way, I almost felt shame for deciding to root for them. Even more ashamed than the time I supported Argentina in that quarter final and they lost 4-0. At least back then I was more involved and therefore more pissed off than able to see how bad Argentina really was. And yeah, they were worse.