Well, I have been back in the good ol U.S. of A for a month now and it seems like nothing has really changed. I seem to be accustomed to everything again but every now and then something wil l remind me that it is a whole lot different here than in Spain. I constantly have Spain on my mind because it was an incredible experience but I am glad to be back and anxious to see what is going to happen next. Well, this is the end of Jamal in Spain, for now at least. But one day (soon hopefully) I will be back with Jamal in _______.

Today Vincent, our little Frenchman, left. The flat is down to two, Ward and I, but I will be leaving tomorrow and Ward is going to move out as well but he is staying here for 2 more weeks. We miss our Frenchy already.

Friday was la fiesta de San Juan because it was the first day of summer. People began arriving at the beach during the day to set up camp to spend the night there. There were people and bonfires covering the entire beach along the entire coast. I have never seen so many people in one place at the same time in my life. It was literally atleast half the population of Valencia on the beach. The estimate on how many people that were there is 300,000. Twice as many as the year before. At midnight everybody ran into the sea then came out and dried off by the fires. I can't think of anything else to help describe the event, so check out the pics. Hasta Viernes

Today Travis (Maryland) a.k.a. Trapster left. 2 down, 3 left

well it's official, back to reality June 30th.

This past weekend I went to Madrid with Sara, one of my best friends from high school. We had to take the 6 hour train because all the early trains were already full. This actually worked out because it gave us plenty of time to sleep and we still got there at 2 in the afternoon. Once we finally made it out of the subway and to our hostel, we saw somebody that went to high school with us, but he was in the grade below us. We didn’t stay at that hostel because they overbooked and we made our way to the new hostel they booked us at. Once situated, we explored one-half of Madrid until around 10 pm when we went to a bar and watched the U.S.-Italy soccer game. There were actually Spaniards cheering for the U.S., I though I would never see anything like that. After that, we walked around some more and then went to the hostel to get some rest for Sunday. We hit a couple of the same spots again before heading to the other half of Madrid. In all we visited cathedrals/churches, museums, parks, a lot of Burger Kings, more parks, a huge palace and a few more parks. It was a lot of fun and the pics are up on webshots: http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424 ¡Hasta Pronto!

Happy Father's Day! sorry for the one day delay, I was in Madrid.

Sam, my Austrailian brother, left today. He is the first to leave from our piso. We will see him again if we can make up to New York when he comes in October.

No more school for me... until August atleast

Happy 21st Nick

Cumpleanos Feliz a mi primo Dre and belated cumpleanos feliz a mi tio Anthony (April 26)

Happy Mama's Day to all the mamas out there!

Cumpleanos Feliz a mi sobrina Cierra. Ella tiene siete anos hoy!

Not too much has been going on here, just taking it easy like I always do. We went to a futbol (soccer) match between Valencia and a team from Madrid. It was pretty cool but the fans were not as crazy as I thought they would be. It was the last match at home for the season and since we had not been to one, we decided that going to it was a must. The stadium was pretty big but it definitiely doesn't have anything on Neyland Stadium. This was pretty much the only pic I got before my batteries in my camera died. ADIOS

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS A MI

Yesterday it rained so we went to the aquarium. Go look at the pics. http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424

Well tomorrow is Easter and the culmination of Semana Santa (Holy Week) I think, it might actually end on monday. Anywho, Pascua (Easter) is another huge holiday for the Spanish. They spend the whole week parading around neighborhoods in the same attire as the KKK. I believe I read somewhere that the wear that attire so that thier identity is known only to God, or something along those lines. They have been doing this for probably hundreds of years so the KKK had to take it from them. I have been trying all week to get a good picture of them but I was only able to take some at night and they did not come out well. At midnight, this place went crazy. There were two fireworks shows on the main street by our apartment and people were throwing plates onto the sidewalks and into the streets. I don't know the significance of this but I do know that there are going to be a lot of cars tomorrow with flat tires because people just drove through the shattered plates in the street as if they weren't there. It was crazy, Spaniards get wild at every chance they get, even Easter. Adios and Happy Easter... go to church

Feliz Cumpleanos a mi tia Imogene and mi hermano Priest. This pic is from 1990, I was in Kndergarten. Tennessee has made Spanish news twice in the past two weeks for all the tornadoes.

Only in Spain can you go to a party that involves a ranch in the middle of nowhere and have people in a ring with a little bull calves and after hours of that, have a group of Spanish guys start a fight with our people. iQue Loco! Feliz Cumpleanos a mi primo Damon (April 1)

Cumpleanos Feliz a "Gran-Gran" (March 29th) and "Grand Daddy" (March 31st)

My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424

Las Fallas ended early monday morning following the crema (burning) of the main falla. The whole Fallas experience was insane. The only thing that I can compare it to would be what I imagine a warzone being like. The whole week all we heard was contniuous firecrackers/fireworks 24/7. And these were in no way small firecrackers. They were definitely extremely loud and occasionally would shake our apartment. People in the States would be amazed to see kids in strollers rolling down the street throwing firecrackers while their parents push them. This is definitley a city full of pyros. March 1st through the 19th there was a huge fireworks show (mainly just loud firecrackers) everyday in the city along with about 5 big ones at night. The last couple of days all neighborhoods seem to have their own mascleta that would be almost as big as the main one in the city. There were plenty of tourist here and the city was packed no matter where you went. On the other hand, Fallas took a 180 degree turn after the crema when a riot started 10 feet away from where we were standing and talking with some people we just met. Some people were acting wild and jumping into a garage door and the police came and one of our flatmates friends who was visiting was pushed into the the group by one of them and was arrested by the police along with only 2 of the maybe 6 or 7 that caused the scene. This is probably the best example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time that I know of. He has spent the past 2 nights in jail and they won't let him go. They are holding him for resisting arrest which is the complete opposite of what happened and he is finally in court right now. FREE BETS!!!

We went to a Corrida de Toros (bullfight) yesterday and it was probably one of the most incredible things I have seen since coming here. It is definitely one of the best ways to experience the Spanish culture. There were three matadors and they each got to kill two bulls. The second matador could not kill his first bull and the Spaniards got mad and the third matador got taken out by his first bull (which I have on video) but he was fine and finished the fight. It was a crazy 2 1/2 hours. -I have the pics on webshots-

I really like this picture for some reason so I put it on here

I just got in from a parade for Las Fallas and a midnight Mascletà. A Mascletà is a fireworks show that is held from March 1st through March 19th everyday at 14:00 and are known for their loudness rather than display. The one I went to didn't start until about 12:45 am and I really liked it since it was the first one i've seen and it was at night (early morning). I'm pretty sure I will finally make it to the Mascletà during the day and I will definitely see the rest of the night Mascletàs. Buenas Noches

This was our first weekend taking a road trip. Our destination was the cities of Toledo and Cuenca which are both further inland in Spain. We got to Toledo Friday night and found a hostal to stay in. On Saturday the weather started out sunny and windy but quickly turned to pouring rain and extremely windy. Before we headed in because of the rain we went to see this huge cathedral that was there. The pic above is the Lord's Supper that was on the outside of it. We walked around some more and were let down when we found out the castle (pictured above) was closed for renovations. Later that day we went around to see some museums and to explore the area outside the castle. On Sunday, we drove around Toledo a little bit more before heading off to Cuenca. To our surprise, it was snowing in Cuenca. It started off as flurries but by the time we had reached the top of the mountain we were in around 8 inches of snow. We made our way back down the mountain and went to this bridge that connected the different sides of the city. In the parking lot we saw a nice Jaguar S-Type so I had to take a pic of it for my moms :) Anyway, the bridge was fairly high and it was really windy, two things that are not that great of a combo. After a several hours of driving, being lost in the cities, many great quotes/memories and a few scratches on the car, we made it back to Valencia and its warm weather. I am mad that it is warmer in Knoxville than it is here but I AM practically living on the beach so no complaints here. Feliz Cumpleanos to my Aunt Sherry (March 4th) and Uncle Wayne (March 7th). Hit up http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424 to see all my pics from the weekend. PEACE

Yesterday was the one month mark for my Spanish journey. I finally went to the gym to shoot around since I now have my student card for UPV (la Universidad Politecnica de Valencia). After shooting for awhile I decided to watch some of the Spaniards playing. The only comment that I have to make is that soccer is the national sport in Spain for a reason. After leaving the gym we were told to get off the tram. As we walked down the street we realized that something had happened. A little bit further down we saw that one tram had t-boned another tram. I think it’s crazy that as wild as they drive here, I saw a tram wreck (kinda rare) before a car wreck. The tram situation was pretty bad and 23 people had to be taken to hospitals. Today was big for me because it was the first time since last Thursday that I was able to have/spend money. After many phone calls and trips to banks I got a Spanish bank account open. Hopefully there will not be any more money drama for the rest of my trip/learning experience/vacation.

Yesterday we took a 45 min train ride to a town called Xativa. The town was cool and and had a really nice cathedral. We went into the cathedral and I made sure to tell everybody to cut their flashes off on their cameras but after a couple bad shots I changed settings on my camera and forgot to cut off the flash. I felt pretty bad having my flash go off during their service after I had reminded everybody else to cut thiers off. The castle, dating back to the 10th century, was amazing and provided us with plenty of photo opportunties. We stayed there for a couple hours before trekking back down the hill/mountain to the city. This was by far the best 7 Euro (5.70 for train, 1.20 for castle) I have spent since I have been here. I only put a couple pics on but hit up webshots for all 45 of my Xativa pics.

Today was a bittersweet day. Bitter becuase David left us because it was time for him to return to France. David was really cool and by far spoke the most spanish out of everybody in the flat. I guess it is time for all of us to step up our game when it comes to spanish since he is gone. David will be back next month for Las Fallas and may be coming to Tech in the fall. The sweet of the bittersweet is that I moved into his room. It fel so good to finally unpack my suitcases and set my room up, which is like none other. As you can see, I have cork-board walls, a nasty brownish-gray carpet, a ceiling made of disco ball material and a lovely floral comforter. All I have to say is that this room is very unique! In the pic above are all of us from the flat. From left to right: Sam, me, Travis, Vincent, Ward and David.

I just bought a Scarface calendar for 2 euro, holla at ya boy

Happy Valentine's Day!
Tengo Mucho Amor Para Todas!

Yesterday was a pretty good day (minus running out of food and everything being closed for the weekend). I watched a good basketball game on tv, then we actually went and played a couple games, and finally watched another game on tv. David, Sam, Ward, and me (Team Jaime- named after our landlord) went down to the outdoor courts to play. We played an interesting bunch of guys. They had this huge guy, probably around 6'7'', who was wearing a Jordan jersey that would probably be too small for me to wear. They had another guy playing in his church clothes, including the shoes, and another guy that seemed quite normal. The guy I guarded had on a LA Lakers Shaq jersey but the name on the back was Culpepper??? It was crazy. We won the first game and after a pityful effort lost the second game. They walked every time they got the ball but we never called it and I definitely had more blocks than the 6'7'' guy. The goals here are lower than in the States. We all were hanging on the rim before we actually played but nobody capitalized on chances to throw one down during the games. Ward and I got asked to play on an intramural team, so now we have a game on wednesday and something else to do. Adios

Quote of the day: "I am better at drinking Heineken than playing basketball."
-David

After 19 hours of traveling by plane, train, and taxi (the most dangerous) I finally made it to my final destination: Valencia, Spain. It has been several days and I am kind of getting used to the sleeping and eating schedule here. In our apartment there are 2 guys from France (David and Vincent), 1 from Australia (Sam), and 3 Americans (Travis, Ward, Me). Conversations in our apartment consists of french, spanish, english, broken english, broken spanish, spanglish, and the crazy words Sam uses. It's pretty crazy but it's fun and I can only see it getting better as time goes on.