Definitely at the top of the list of The best places I’ve visited in my life; Marrakech of Morroco is an incredibly rustic and different experience. Although exceedingly infused by the hordes of tourists, it still remains the most beautiful place I’ve been in, especially of the desert trip. Stella and I spent a night under the stars (where we could actually SEE the milky way with our naked eyes), ate and danced with normads and rode on butt-destroying camels for hours. I have to say this one more time, Marrakech is simply breathtaking.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Marrakech"

I travelled to Amsterdam: the land of weed, mushrooms and prostitutes. And guess what? I went alone. Stella was in Singapore that weekend for her sister’s wedding and I had absolutely nothing to do and so I decided that Amsterdam it is! But alas, what a bad decision. It was a trip filled with rain and clouds, shitty roommates who snored like a train and weed that smelt disgusting after getting hit with it continously for a couple of days. But nonetheless, I met up with Cake and Andrew who made it so much bearable. The Anne Frank museum made it worthwhile too.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Amsterdam"

Bilbao ranks as one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to and it’s in Spain too! After the installation of the Guggenheim museum, Bilbao has gone through an evolution from an industrial city to one that is constantly pumped with the energy and inspiration of arts, beauty and colors. A friend said this to us while we were bringing him around Barcelona, "Why is everything of the same colors?". Bilbao is the exact opposite; a refreshing bundle of shades and hues that always brings out our happier innerselves.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Bilbao"

It’s been a while since I posted anything, guess it’s the final year syndrome. This is how I’ve been spending my time recently: 70% looking for a job, 20% having fun and 10% school work. Trust me when I say my work’s chui; 2 failed Management Accounting tests in a row and I really mean failed as in below the passing point. Well! Anyway, it’s time I finish posting the rest of my exchange pictures. This one is of Zaragoza, a weekend trip I took with Stella to a much colder part of Spain. Trivial question of the day: Is Zara from Zaragoza? Nope!

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Zaragoza"

I guess this would be my last post in Barcelona. Well, as I am writing this at the stroke of midnight 19th of December, I’m studying for my final exam the next morning; and I just got back home from a 4-hour bout of serious drinking. Would I do this in Singapore? Probably not. Why? Probably there’s no one crazy enough in SMU to do it. But I’ll try. It’s my last semester back in Singapore anyway.

Anyway more importantly, it had been an incredible time here. I had met so many people and made so many good friends that leaving seems so so difficult. To my Danish, American, German, French, Dutch, Swiss, and of course, Singaporean friends, thank you so much for making great times happen. Barcelona is one heck of a place to party but it would mean absolutely nothing without you all.

And even as I start to smile in anticipation of the amazing food back in Singapore, I know I’ll probably (and seriously) not meet some of you guys for a long time. Well, we’ll see what happens. No promises, but we’ll see. =) For now, I hope I’ll pass tomorrow’s paper and for my last night in Barcelona tomorrow, we’ll party. That’s not even a promise; that’s a guarantee from a Chinese.

Before I continue my photo updates, I’ll take a break here from the seriousness of it all and share some interesting conversations that have been stuck in my mind since the beginning of my time here in Barcelona.

I have to admit that Rome was visually astounding; the Romans really know how to build them big and grand. The St. Peter’s Church, the Colosseum and the ruins were just the few commercially incredible ones. Other magnificent buildings ‘not worth visiting’ to some people probably can easily become national monuments in any other country. Interesting stories in Rome include: Stella finding us the best ice-cream ever, Douglas and I getting stopped by fake policemen, all of us getting sick of impressivity and craving for normality, Alonso getting creamed by bird poo not once but twice, getting dissed by a tour guide, and more. What I didn’t like about Rome? The crazy number of tourists following those leading flags like rats high on flute music.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Rome"

Tarragona’s not an incredible place at all; Douglas and I just felt like going somewhere on a weekday and it’s less than an hour away. There were a mini-Colosseum, little artifacts of roman ruins, a very scenic beach with rocky cliffs and a nice church, and that’s about it. It was a cool place to go to though, seeing people going through their daily lives in a place that seems to have none. Probably these people would come to SengKang, Singapore and say the same thing about us anyway.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Tarragona"

So Berlin happened the next day after Oktoberfest and it was an utterly beautiful place. World War II may not be a happy thing to think about but the museums, walking tours and concentration camps did inspire me in reflecting on the actions and extremism men are capable of and how a country is able to deal with that past and advance. Kudos to Rita and her Europe guide, we found a couple of nice chill-out areas. One works rather interestingly where you ‘rent’ a wine glass and drink wherever you like in a very homey apartment with sofas and gilded tables. The other sells ice-cream and everything else, from the chairs you are sitting on to the retro-looking toys on the shelf.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Berlin"

Everyone heard of Oktoberfest, including me, but I hadn’t the slightest idea how big it would be. I have thought it would be only a square where people simply drink beer all month long; I was right in that sense but I didn’t know that it would that huge an area! Oktoberfest is not just about drinking but is a complete festival filled with roller-coasters, ferris wheels, haunted mansions, roasted chickens, sausages, music and more!

Stella, Rita and I couldn’t get accomodation there (at last minute, nobody could) and so we booked our tickets to Munich and a subsequent flight to Berlin the morning after. In all, we spent around 4 hours at the festival and had the time of our life. Sleeping at the airport’s cafeteria was one of the strangest thing I did in Europe as well. Never had I slept on a couch and woke up to a crowd of 30 hungry people around me having breakfast.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Munich"

One of most favorite travels so far: Figueres. It’s a little town about an hour off from Barcelona and what does it have? Nothing, except one of the greatest painters (in my opinion) in the world, Salvador Dali! Before, I didn’t know much about the guy except for his saggy clocks but this museum simply took my breath away. Dali’s more than eccentric; he’s crazy, bold and absolutely talented. Sorry to the other great Spanish painter Picasso, but Dali have rocked my right brain in more ways you can ever imagine.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Figueres"

By the way, the blood-red heart in the middle of the pendant above actually beats.. beautiful, amazing and eerie all at the same time..

This is where I spent $110 SGD for entrance tickets to SPACE, an incredible club. Ibiza, an island of party, alcohol and craziness where I became majorly burnt and where beautiful sights persist the wildest of my imaginations. I simply can’t say more.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Ibiza"

Sitges: A well-known beach town an hour off of Barcelona; perfect with the sun and sand of summer 2007. Got a chance to catch a glimpse of yet another festival happening in this little rustic town too.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Sitges"

Well as you know, I’m way due on my Catalunya updates so I’m creating this Flashback series of my adventures in the sunny coast of Barcelona. First up chronologically, is my trip to the crazy town of Buñol in Valencia where tens of thouands of tourists would come each year to witness the greatest tomato fight in the world,  a strong tradition since 1944 or 1945. This year, 29th of August 2007, 40,000 revellers gathered in Buñol to throw 115,000 kilograms of tomatoes.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Tomatina"

And here’s how the story goes. We had a day of Spanish class and some of us were talking about taking a trip down to see the tomato festival which will happen the next day morning. We said to contact online and I promptly went out for a day of househunting with my mates, Rita and Douglas. I was not sure that I would go or not but told them that it’s all up to fate. As we reached our hostel at 11:45pm, I went on to Facebook and saw a message by Dan saying they’ll be at the bus station at 1230. I thought really hard there and then. It was so easy to say to myself, "Oh well, maybe I’ll do this in the future" or maybe "It’ll not be that fun anyway" but I knew I was wrong on both counts. There would be no future trips to the tomato festival and I can’t say something is not fun when I haven’t been there. So I took my bag and left, not bothering to change or pack.

I rushed there in a taxi that cost me 6 euros, waited 15 minutes and watched as my friends, Daniel, Kim and Anna arrived in another.

"Alvin, ya here!", Dan cried. "Have you got the tickets?"

"Oops I didn’t. I’ll just see you guys off if they don’t let me on the bus yeah?", I replied, hoping for the best.

"You’re coming with us!", the three of them exclaimed.

And so it was, I sneaked up the bus while the driver was looking at his list of passengers. I sat down, heart pumping fast, wishing that they do not do checks. To my relief, they didn’t.

The rest of the story doesn’t matter anymore. I have seen something incredible in Buñol, had a wonderful time with the trio, lost my clothes to the tomatos, screwed up my mp3 player and my Freitag bag and to this day, I have never regretted a single minute of it.

I'’m glad I stuck to my belief, a motto that I created for myself more than 7 years ago.

You’ll never know until you try.

..since I made any entries on this space of mine. Time is an absolute rarity here. Either I’m traveling, eating & drinking, in a fiesta, or simply sleeping and relaxing. Never have I the time to sit and organize my pictures and this, I apologize. I’ll make sure to reignite alvie.net once I’m back in the land of chicken rice, homework and sweat.

For the sake of it, here’s a recent photo of Stella and I in Marrakech for our birthdays.

Ait Ben Haddou - Russell Crowe was here for The Gladiator