Tomorrow at 8 am I’m flying off for NYC.  I’m super pumped to be back in the city and it’s been a fun start already going to the Tigers Game tonight.  Stay tuned for new club and indie rock releases, I’ve got a bunch that I just found.  I’ll keep you posted and show some pics of the city while i’m at it.

At the conclusion of this trip, it has become very apparent to me that this will be an experience that will be impossible to replace and explain in its entirety.  Having both my sister and parents come and join me at the end was icing on the top and really put a great finish to the six weeks.  Spain has now become one of my favorite places in the world.  Barcelona, Madrid, and San Sebastian were the three places we had decided to visit, and I was very happy with this decision.  Of those three, I would have to say that San Sebastian was the best.  It is a picture perfect area, with a giant cove and an island in the middle.  It is a town you’d see in a James Bond movie, with old buildings and impressive landscapes.  We were also able to go surfing in the south of France, which is just at the border.  It was amazing.  The surf camp wasn’t anything special, but I almost appreciated it more become of its barebones appearance.  The tents allowed us to brave the rain, but that was only for a brief period of time, because between surfing on a variety of beaches and hanging out with a bunch of the other campers, there wasn’t much time to sleep.  We were only there for a small time, but it was a great experience to have, and I definitely want to go surfing in the near future.  It was everywhere in the northern parts of Spain too.  Back in San Sebastian they had two large beaches where competitions were held and where the locals would surf as well.
We were also in San Sebastian during Grande Semena, which is a huge celebration that had a firework contest at the end of every night.  This was easily one of the most enjoyable events of my life.  I thought I had seen every style of firework in my brief 20 years, but this contest had shown me things that I had never seen before in the firework arts.  The picture that is shown actually covered the sky with gold.  It was amazing.  It was a fairly appropriate representation of my entire trip, and I was able to experience it for the next two days.  All in all, this trip has set a high mark for all travel, and I hope to reach this level every time I take a trip.

    Coming to a new place you expect to experience new things and witness events that you’ve never seen before, but the Brighton PRIDE Parade far exceeded my expectations.  Signing up for this trip, I knew that the gay community in Brighton was large and well represented in all aspects, but I didn’t know whether or not the community as a whole respected them.  In America, homosexuality is a subject that is hard to talk about in most settings, because as a general rule it is frowned upon in the states, but what I found in Brighton is that the whole community is really proud of its gay component.  This made it very fun to be around.  I have never had an issue with anyone that is gay, partially because some of my family is gay, but I have never seen the interaction between gays and straights like I did in Brighton, especially in the Pride Parade. 
    The Parade started off with smaller floats, but still carried the same intensity as the later ones.  The crowd, which was massive, cheered from the beginning to the end.  I have been to a lot of parades in my life and I have never seen a crowd or floats and participants that are happier to be there.  It was really a great experience to see the communities mesh together to celebrate such an integral part of the city of Brighton, and the country of England as a whole.  It wasn’t just a walk through the city to showcase who and what is in the community, it really was a party.  Even the mayor of the city made an appearance to support the people of his town.  His float was massive and had a lot of prominent gay people in Brighton.  I think that American cities have a lot to learn about supporting the people of their towns and country regardless of sexual orientation, or any difference for that matter, and Brighton is a great example of what can come from a community that is accepting of all people.  It brings about a lighter air to the community, and from this you get happier people, which result in a town that is as interesting and fun as Brighton was for me on this trip.

I have been lucky enough to travel to many countries in Europe and around the world in my life, but Ireland seemed to be the first time I was really shocked by a country I thought I knew so much about.  I am glad we went on a tour around the country, because it allowed me to see so much more than just the big cities of Dublin and Galway.  I found out how much space and land such a small island has and can still have so much history and tourist appeal.  With just over 5 million residents, it manages to have a robust economy and still avoid the busyness of all of the other European countries I have been to.  In Ireland, you managed to never seem crowded, even in popular spots like Galway, and it was nice to have that be the case, instead of the hectic streets of Paris or the even the pier down in Brighton.  And once you get into the country, you see why Ireland was so surprising to me.  In a country that is so popular to visit, and at the same time very small, the amount of beautiful landscapes and fields are tremendous.  In the states, we have our national parks and protected nature areas, but it was different here, because you didn’t see huge communities next to each park, you saw a small town.
It was like I was taken back in time, to a much simpler area, much more community based, with a single meeting spot like a pub, and where everyone knows everyone.  It was also interesting how Ireland follows their own ideas when it comes to culture.  Their sporting games and music are not conventional, with Gaelic football being their number one sport, followed by hurling, but anyone in any bar would teach you the ins and outs of the sport.  It just felt like you were included here, which is such a contrast from the anti-personal treatment you get in the metropolis cities like Paris or London, where you just blend in to the masses.
In Ireland, you are part of the city, the scenery, and the country.  It didn’t hurt that I have a lot of family history there, and I spent a lot of time reading up, which made me feel more connected, but with or without this family connection, it is easy to say that Ireland is by far my favorite country I have ever visited in the world.

To be honest, there have been very few nights on this trip that have lived up to my expectations of what Europe would be like, but our Thursday night in the Temple Bar of Dublin went above and beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of.  Our hostel, which was located in the Temple Bar district happened to also be located directly next to the Temple Bar, which quickly determined our location for that nights entertainment.  Upon enter this small doorway into the Temple Bar, I found myself disappointed by the size of it, being about 15 feet by 15 feet, with a single bar, something you would find in an American city like New York, but then I was quickly cheered up once I realized that this really was only acting as a foyer for the massive bar that flowed back into the building.  There were all sorts of people there singing in hundreds of languages, something that I had been hoping for this entire trip.  I wanted to see a mix of cultures different that just the Americanized versions.  I wanted to try and break through the language barrier and get real perspective on the different places around the world.
I was lucky enough to come into contact a group of French people, English people from Leeds, and Spanish, which allowed me to really get to talk to a diverse group.  I had the most fun talking to the French group because we talked about everything.  I asked what type of music they liked, what they thought of Americans, what sports they liked, everything I could.  They spoke very broken English, but that is what made it so fun.  I got to understand their perspective on America, which isn’t what most people think.  They generalize Americans as all George Bush clones, which they were happen to find out wasn’t true when talking to me, and when we became better friends they taught me all their soccer chants to sing in the bar.  I really felt like a global citizen when I was singing French songs in an Irish bar wearing an English soccer jersey, and at that moment I really started to appreciate what this trip has done for me.
That night broadened my view of the world so quickly and intensely that it was all I could think about for the next few days.  I have never felt so out of place culturally, but so at home personally in my life, and that is why these trips and experiences are so important and educational.  Sure, we learn in the class Monday through Thursday, but there is so much more to learn and take in over here, and the Temple Bar is my greatest example of what you can learn with a diverse group of people.

What a wonderful place in the world.  I’ve never really experienced a foreign amusement park, but now I can say that I have successfully survived a french one.  It was funny to see an American invention in a foreign place like this.  We went in to do some research, but instead made the decision to have the time of our lives.  I can honestly say that I’ve never been much of an amusement park person, and to go further I had never been on a roller coaster or thrill ride in my life, but I made the decision to remove that from my list.  We came into the park MGM and were quickly bombarded with the options of Krush’s Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Rockin Roller Coaster, which we were determined tackle.  So we did.  With our brilliant minds the guys all got fastpasses to Krush’s Coaster and made our way to the most intense ride of our lives…The spinning Cars ride.  Great way to start of the trip.  Although we were old than any other rider by 10 years, we certainly had the most fun, in fact we evoked a request to place our hands inside the cars in both french and english.
It was then time for the Tower of Terror.  Very rarely in my life have I felt this uncomfortable.  It is not like me to enjoy elevation changes at a rapid pace, and I suppose I just had to prove it to myself.  It did spark the rest of the day including only roller coasters and souvenir shopping.  All in all, EuroDisney was both hilarious and a let down, which sounds like a contradiction, but i suppose you’ll have to go there to really understand what I mean.