The place is here, the time is manana

Plenty of time on our hands. Do you have to ask why? Waiting for the blue devil’s posse.

After spending part of the morning prepping the exterior of our building to paint, we combed through some youtube highlights to bring you these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsNFxOOnjgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3qL4UG1TI

The joke is on us, no IKEA today but don’t worry because tomorrow they’ll be here between 10-2. Just go ahead and wait around.

We watched the roast of Flavor Flav last night, if you haven’t seen it yet then its probably because you’re a little pimp in a thimble. I hope you enjoying beating all your bitches with a daffodil stem.

We also watched The Simpsons Movie. I would write about the parts I like but we’re too busy playing with our Spider Pig.

Who doesn't love a party?

And the Buddha said, "You are patience personified."

The IKEA saga continues. After finally reaching the devil's lair via telephone, my pathetic attempt at Spanish coupled with Satan's helper's valiant attempt at English resulted in massive strides forward for the delivery of our kitchen table.

After hearing that we missed the delivery and explaining how that couldn't happen because we waited for it ALL DAY LONG, I asked when the items could be redelivered. After confering with Lucifer, the helper responded, "un otro dia" (some other day). I said, "manana". She said "no es posible, manana fiesta" (its not possible, tomorrow fiesta).

And the Buddha laughed.

And so did I. Of course no deliveries can occur on a Wednesday because anyone with a brain realizes that Wednesday is a party. Thanks anyway stupid. See you on Thursday.

And the Buddha rubbed his belly and said, "What's to eat up in this bitch?"

And we said, "enchiladas."

And the Buddha said, "hook a brother up."

And we said, "chill Buddha, we'll start getting things ready."


If you haven't watched it yet, check out this youtube clip of Stephen Colbert roasting George Bush last year.
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s&mode=related&search=

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOYZF3It848&mode=related&search=

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvFM4TYQKU&mode=related&search=

And if you want to see brilliance in comedy, check out Colbert on the show of his arch nemesis, Bill O'Reilly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJvY_RftA4I&mode=related&search=

Hell has been renamed

What karmic holocaust have I perpetrated to deserve this? Was it the great bee mud wars of 1986 where all bees were systematically destroyed through crushing mud balls? Was it the wronging of those friendly and likeable "butt brothers" whose video games seemed to constantly disappear? Or was it the period of despair between Jr. High & High School that force me to admit that whatever happens to me is "well deserved?"

There are two great stampede's in Spain. One is well publicized, occurs every year in July and for an unlucky few, includes being trampeled or gorged. The other happens in a giant blue building, a happy fascade, a mazelike interior and has crushed more than one couple. Pamplona has nothing on Big Blue. Why so blue you ask, ever seen a really hot flame? Hell looks at IKEA and grins at its genius. After our first IKEA experience, I vowed never to return. In my book never means 6 days. Thus it was that yesterday Tessa and I, desperate but hopeful returned to face the masses of hell-spawn. They are not of this world. We went in with smiles, we left with tears. Mission partially accomplished. Purchases made, price paid, souls gone. Delivery time is today between 10-2. No problem we'll be here. But wait, its 5:30pm, the devil's delivery service sure takes its sweet ass time now that its got our souls. Hurry up you bastards (imagine shaking fist) hurry up!

Damn you devil, damn you straght to...um...IKEA!

Cats & Dogs

Its 11pm in Barcelona, the rain is dropping like my pants to relieve myself after enjoying an evening of revelry at Oktoberfest which by the way we booked our tickets to today and will witness in person the 21st through 24th of Sept ought 7. Terrible writing structure and style you say??? Who are you anyway? Leave a comment, otherwise I feel as though I am writing for myself and my self is not too concerned about grammar at this stage in the game. I'll just keep listening to the crooning of Van and Astral Weeks while watching the darkness flash to light amid millions of drops of the wet stuff. Our friend Magnum wishes you a good eve.

If you have the time, perhaps you can pass some of it while playing the simple yet excruciatingly intoxicating game at the site below. I have not beat 26 seconds but expect to soon.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

The story behind the game is:

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes.

I don't believe for a second an Air Force pilot can go for 2 minutes but hey I'm just a guy heading to Oktoberfest, what do I know?

Trip to Montserrat

As Tessa is once again immersed in the last Harry Potter book and I find myself completely ignored, now is a great time to add a post. Two days ago my classmate Charles and his wife Laura went with Tessa and I on a gorgeous day trip 50km outside of Barcelona to the Monastery at Montserrat. Originally founded in 1050 and with an incredible history, Montserrat was carved into a narrow valley high above the surrounding plains.

The views from the monastery were good but a few hours of hiking took us to the highest peak in the area and into the depths of some great rock formations from where the view was spectacular.

Charles and Laura are both architects from New York but Laura is originally from Peurto Rico. They were both very interesting and have an appreciation for things that allows us to see a completely different perspective from our own.

This trip also served for info gathering as our climbing guide notes close to 200 climbs in the area. The pic below shows two climbers on seperate sides of the same huge rock. Can you see them?

Back at the Monastery, the main draw is the Black Madonna aka La Moreneta, or Black Virgin, she has a baby Jesus seated on her lap. The chambers leading to the statue are adorned with marble engravings, carvings and statues. For many reaching the Madonna is very special and a huge highlight religiously. I can see why, the time and effort required to build this structure and the beautiful condition of everything shows an attention to detail that one would expect of a monk.
Exterior of cathedral is shown above, note the exterior of the stained glass.

In addition to the multiple statues on the area leading into the cathedral, everything is painted beautifully and the floor is simply too nice to eat off. Not many can say that.

Can you say "Lord have mercy...Jesus have mercy?" If so, now's the time to say it. Don't forget to cross your heart at the right nanosecond or you will spend an eternity with some not very pleasant people.

The view of a virgin. Haven't seen that for a while have you? You hopeless sinners!

Is there really something up there? Tessa seeks the answer. Stay tuned.

So that's what they're for...

These Europeans have very crazy ideas about transportation. They use big metal boxes that are underground to transport people from one area of the city to another. They refer to this as "taking the metro". They also have very big metal boxes above ground that they call "buses". No one is afraid to ride these buses as the typical customers are usually completely without mental instability and free of a "shady" character. To be fair, the typical customer falls on the "not stinky" to "walking cadaver stench" spectrum closer to not stinky although we have had the unfortunate encounter on several occasions with specimens of walking cadaver stench.

We were further puzzled by the Europeans' use of things called "Legs". Apparently people use these legs to travel from one place to another. At first I thought they were playing a joke on me but after using my own legs for transport for an ENTIRE DAY, I knew there was no joke. I actually use MY OWN BODY for transportation. In fact, there is a direct correlation between using legs and eating cheese. The more legs one uses, the more cheese one eats. After visiting the grocery store's cheese section - which easily would take up a whole isle of an American grocery store - I see that there is very compelling rationale for utilizing my own legs. Blue cheese, I will see you soon.

In case you missed the moral of the story as you salivate over the cheese gamut, make sure you bring some good walking shoes as we walk everywhere out here. Especially if you're doing the tourist stuff, expect to be on your feet for hours and easily walk 5 miles a day. Good preparation is to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill until you can do at least 2 hours, make sure you include an incline as Europeans are big fans of steps. To give you an idea of how much they like steps, I had to walk up a step just to post this message.

Coming To Visit

For those considering a visit. You'll just need to tell us when you want to come and we'll make sure no one else has reserved the room. Don't even think about coming from the US for less than 7 days, it won't be worth it. The flight is almost 18 hours from Arizona but maybe around 12 from the East coast. 7-10 days is a good time frame. Just keep in mind that both Tessa and I will be in class during the week and I probably won't see you at all until Friday rolls around. But no matter, there are millions of things to do in this city and it is so easy to get around. You can take the metro everywhere you want to go.

For those interested in temperatures, follow the link below:
http://www.world66.com/europe/spain/catalonia/barcelona/lib/climate

July & August are supposedly the "hot" months but anyone coming from Arizona or Florida would kill to get weather like this. Yes it is a bit humid here but shorts in the summertime are fine. You'll get sweaty walking around but at least you can go outside without being incinerated. At night I wear jeans and a short sleeve shirt. How many in Arizona can say that? May is supposed to be lovely and the best beach months are May through October. That is also the peak tourist season and there are somewhere around 3 skillion people here. Those wanting to see the Bulls Run in Pamplona should come the first week of July.

But really just plan your trip around when you have time because there are festivities and events going on year round here and there is always something to do. And now its off for la cena (dinner) with some IESE class mates.

Put the cool in School

Many have shown an interest in the specifics of our schools. Hence I will give a synopsis of both programs.

Tessa is going to attend the University of Barcelona (UB) and study Spanish. She is going to take a full course load and all credits are transferable. She is enrolled for the entire year and classes begin around the end of August. She has never taken a Spanish course before but has been told that one year of studying Spanish all day should get her pretty fluent. The plan is to take Spanish courses the first year then do a masters degree while we are here our second year. Almost all masters degrees here are taught in Spanish. UB has 70,000 students and was founded in 1450. It commemorated its official foundation 555 years ago in 2005. The school has been moved several times but has been housed in the same buidling for over 135 years. Pictures of the building are below and a history follows if you're interested.







History of the Building
In the 1860s work began on Elies Rogent's splendid new building and 20 years later the building which houses the University today was completed. The first lectures were given in 1871. The clock and the iron bell housed in the tower in the Pati de Lletres - the Arts Court - were installed in 1881. Parallel to the building work, sculptures and paintings were commissioned either directly from artists of repute or awarded in open competition. The architectural work and the quality of the building's works of art meant that it was declared a national monument of historic and artistic interest in 1970. Yes it pales in comparison to Scottsdale Community College but its nice...if you like that sort of thing.


IESE: University of Navarra


Only one picture as we were not at the school long and the campus is actually quite small. Unlike UB's size of 70,000, IESE (pronounced like saying the letters "E" "S" "A") has only 440 students. Our campus could fit under one of UB's big arches. Our class is made up of 220 first year students and the same amount of second years. IESE is a Master's of Business Administration (MBA) school. No other degrees are offered.

Classes are given in Spanish if one is fluent, those not fluent take courses in English during the first year with Spanish language classes everyday from 3:30 to 5pm. Each month we are tested in Spanish to see if we should move up to the next level. Level 1 is for absolute beginners and those who complete level 12 can test to receive a bilingual degree. I've been told that if level 12 is completed by the end of year 1, I will be able to take courses during 2nd year in Spanish, if not, I will continue taking Spanish language courses every afternoon. The benefit of finishing the Spanish requirement is more free time every day + a number of our elective classes 2nd year are taught in Spanish. Only those fluent in Spanish may enroll in the classes.

Our schedule is quite intense as we have a group meeting every morning at 8:30 where we discuss the day's cases. Classes from 9:30 to 3:00, Spanish from 3:30 to 5pm, then we have to prepare 3 cases each night. A case is actually a case analysis where we study a 10-20 page synopsis of a business and what is occuring at the business then put together a summary of what we would do in that situation, why we would do it and have to back up our rationale with financial justification.

IESE is ranked the #16 MBA program in the world by The Financial Times (The international competitor to The Wall Street Journal). Outside the US, only 6 schools rank higher. In the US only 9 schools rank higher.

Here is the profile of last year's class:

Number of students 216
Average age 27 (Age Range, middle 80%: 25 - 31)
Average years of previous 4
work experience
Average GMAT 670 (GMAT Range, middle 80%: 620 - 750)
Percentage of women 25%
Percentage of international students 77%
Number of countries represented in student body 55
Countries most represented Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, UK, USA
Average number of languages spoken by a student 3.8

Spanish courses start at the beginning of September. Academic courses begin in October.

Classmates arrive everyday and Tessa and I have been joining them for dinner, drinks or at the beach. Some very interesting people so far.

Found a flat

After a solid week of checking Loquo.com and the plethora of websites attempting to help renters and rentees meet, Tessa and I have found a supercool and oh-so-hip flat. Yes it took longer than saying Peupty poopty pants but it was worth the wait. Great success! High-five. Worry not as there is plenty of space for guests and guests's guests. If you need to remember the address you can simply click on the link below and know that us finding this place is quite auspicious.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/schfiftyfive

Our street is Septimania, our flat is number...you guessed it: schfifty five. Shout out to Matt's big head for sharing the movie - we knew before even entering that it had good things about it. What you say? Good things about it. Matt, your feet can stay in our flat but your head will need to stay out on the terrace.

Moving was easy as we simply moved 600 pounds of stuff down three flights of the narrowest staircase you ever saw. Want to live as our Barcelona cab driver for a second? See pic below.

Each bag weighed at least 40 pounds and represented one trip down (and up) the stairway from hell.

What is hip & super cool you ask? Come visit and see for yourself or else take the 5 cent tour below.

The flat is 3 bed / 2 bath & a loft + terrace. You will notice our kitchen is below the loft and is (read in a high pitched voice) very very tiny. But it is actually bigger in person than it looks in the picture. Also notice that our washing machine is in the kitchen. That is how they do it over here. No dryer as clothes are dried on a line. Also the way they do it.

Today we did our best to get moved in, we spent the morning at the huge market only 10 minutes by foot from our place, then we went to every broke college student's dream; IKEA. After 6 1/2 hours we were asked to pay rent for the building and instead decided to check out. We have all the candles, pillows, sheets, etc we will need for the duration of our lives. That is until next week when everything disintegrates as is known to happen with IKEA products. And now it is time to count fourteen teen Z's as its past midnight and time for bed. Hope everyone enjoys their evening as we know you like to do the sax.