Well well well... I suppose it is about time I got off my butt (or rather sit on it) and write about my trip. And as a special bonus because I took so long to write, I will be including a bunch of other things including but not limited to:
A Football Game!
A Ski Trip!
THE ZOO!
So our trip began on the 8th and finished on the 17th. To our collective surprise, we only had one chaperon: David. Before I say anymore I should say that David was/is the man. He let us do more or less what we wanted and we collectively responded by more or less behaving ourselves. That trip could have been terrible if he had decided to be a turd. But he was not, so it was good.
Our first stop was Granada. To be honest, I did not life Granada that much. Basically all we saw there was El Alhambra and the hotel. El Alhambra was very cool, but so huge that by the end we kind of just wanted to finish and go take a nap.
After Granada we went to Sevilla, but on the way we stopped in Córdoba to see La Mexquita. La Mexquita is a greek temple that was converted into a Christian church, then into a mosque, and later converted into a cathedral. So it is a huge jumble of every type of architecture that has existed in the last 2000 years. Probably my favorite thing that we saw just because the contrast between the different styles was so huge was so huge. Especially when we got to Cathedral part. When we got to Sevilla it was already late so it was not until the next day that we started our touring and my personal high point of the trip occurred: I successfully recognized the palace from the planet Naboo in Star Wars. No one believed me when I said it was there, then the guide was like "Hey! You kids know George Lucas?" I would not shut up about that moment for the rest of the trip. All in all Sevilla was my favorite city even though I am totally unable to say exactly WHY it is.
After Sevilla it was off to Portugal. We spent the night just south of Lisbon right on the coast in a 4-star hotel. It was sweet. That night of chilling on a peer on the Portuguese coast talking with great people was by far one of the best in my life. The next day we crossed the River Tajo to Lisbon and spent 2 and a half days there making day trips to the surrounding area. It was nice, but I definitely preferred Spain. Portugal was basically like Spain, only less interesting and Portuguese speaking...
When we got back to Spain we went to Merida, Salamanca, and Cáceres. By this time everything is kind of jumbled up in my mind due to a severe lack of sleep. However, I can say that it was a very good time, and I was extremely happy to be back in Spain where I could talk to the waiters.
A couple days after I got back we had our third game which was also our first away game. ...5 people did not show up... Many of which were starters... So we had people playing positions that had never played that position before and even some that had flat out never played before. Best part? We still won. My personal low point was the interception that I threw. Luckily the very next play I intercepted the ball and ran in back 70-ish yards for a touchdown to give us the lead which we held for the rest of the game. Other than that it was not quite as fun as the other games though. Boo that. Final Score: 18-10
The Monday after the game I went skiing with Guillermo and some of his friends. The second time down I fell bad and screwed up my knee pretty hardcore. It hurt. Bad. Walking was... interesting.
So after I back from the Rotary trip, I only had 4 days of school-3 actually considering I skipped one to go skiing-until vacations for Semana Santa which just ended this Tuesday. During Semana Santa I:
Went to the zoo.
Ate the best beef I have ever eaten.
Went to the house of the abuelos way out in the country which involved driving on an extremely long, curvy, and bumpy road when I was already sick
And much more.
Our next football game is on Sunday and if we win this one we will have won la liga madrileña. So it will a hard game. Maybe I will let you all know about it less than three weeks later. haha.
Good night world.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Later
So this isnt so much an update as a notification.
1) No game this Sunday. Apparently the other team had problems with their field. Boo them.
2) I am going to Portugal. And as such, I will not have a computer until I get back on the 17th.
Hasta entonces.
1) No game this Sunday. Apparently the other team had problems with their field. Boo them.
2) I am going to Portugal. And as such, I will not have a computer until I get back on the 17th.
Hasta entonces.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
2-0, 32-0, 1. Such Beautiful Numbers!
So we had our second game on Sunday and I am proud to announce that we won 32-0, makes our record 2-0, and I ran for a touchdown. Felt good.
That score when you break it down equals out to 5 touchdowns and a safety. We dominated them. The only bad part was that it was raining buckets so we could not pass. Had we been able to pass we would have destroyed them because the other team always blitzes all but 1 linebacker and only have 3 DBs. (Sorry if you do not understand that.)
On defense we had all had an amazing game. I personally had a great game playing Free Safety with a recovered fumble and the two best hits of the game, although the second hit screwed up my shoulder and I was not able to lift it above my head until today. I was not the only one with an amazing defensive game either since there were two defensive touchdowns and a safety.
But the very, very best part was the last play of the game. Sebas (our offensive coach) called a passing play and gave me 500 other little instructions as to what I should do to. Then when I turned to run the play into the huddle, he muttered "Or just ran the damn thing if you want to." So almost immediately after I took the snap, I had to bootleg to the left because of the blitzing linebackers and suddenly realized that there was no one in front of me. At all. So, remembering the last words of Sebas, I proceed to prance 60 yards down the field for a touchdown that ended the game. That felt good.
And after the game I once again led the whole team in the Washington Fight Song (with minor adjustments). The field echoed with shouts of "Demons, Demons! Fight for victory!" like had never been heard before. So all in all it was just a great game.
Before I go I should tell you all that something is screwy with the time/date thing on all my blogs. It always says that I posted them two days before I actually did. So I think I have fixed it bit I do not know if it will come back. FYI. Toodles.
That score when you break it down equals out to 5 touchdowns and a safety. We dominated them. The only bad part was that it was raining buckets so we could not pass. Had we been able to pass we would have destroyed them because the other team always blitzes all but 1 linebacker and only have 3 DBs. (Sorry if you do not understand that.)
On defense we had all had an amazing game. I personally had a great game playing Free Safety with a recovered fumble and the two best hits of the game, although the second hit screwed up my shoulder and I was not able to lift it above my head until today. I was not the only one with an amazing defensive game either since there were two defensive touchdowns and a safety.
But the very, very best part was the last play of the game. Sebas (our offensive coach) called a passing play and gave me 500 other little instructions as to what I should do to. Then when I turned to run the play into the huddle, he muttered "Or just ran the damn thing if you want to." So almost immediately after I took the snap, I had to bootleg to the left because of the blitzing linebackers and suddenly realized that there was no one in front of me. At all. So, remembering the last words of Sebas, I proceed to prance 60 yards down the field for a touchdown that ended the game. That felt good.
And after the game I once again led the whole team in the Washington Fight Song (with minor adjustments). The field echoed with shouts of "Demons, Demons! Fight for victory!" like had never been heard before. So all in all it was just a great game.
Before I go I should tell you all that something is screwy with the time/date thing on all my blogs. It always says that I posted them two days before I actually did. So I think I have fixed it bit I do not know if it will come back. FYI. Toodles.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I should really stop being such a turd and write more...
Well life has been busy as of late with several interesting developments and, luckily for you all, this is the place where I write about said interesting developments... Just not all of them because that would take all day!
First and foremost, I shall address the subject of the chorus. For those of you who I have not told already, The Fayette County Select Chorus (basically Atlanta, GA) visited my school and stayed in Madrid for the weekend. Since I too am American, my vice-principle asked me if I would mind going places with them along with some other students from my school to help with translation/basic directions/etc. We stayed Madrid on Friday, took a trip to Segovia on Saturday, and tour El Escorial on Sunday. All in all it was a grand time with only one problem. Saturday night I was on the bus with Ryan (another exchange student), and I had to tell him that we needed to speak in Spanish. Not because I felt a great need to practice, but because I literally could not even think in English anymore after thinking in it all day. This thought scares me because I have NO idea what I am going to do when I get back to the US!
On a related topic, because of the fact that I was the only one on the above trip who is fluent in both English and Spanish, I had to translate for Spaniards sometimes with the end result being that I met a lot of really cool people who go to my school who I had never met before. In fact, several of them I had never even SEEN before... This may seem odd at first, but you have to remember that here in Spain the students stay in the same classroom the whole day and the teachers move from room to room. So I spend the whole day with the same people and do not meet new people to often. But I met two or three people on the trip who keep introducing me to other new people that I never knew existed. It makes for an interesting day!
So tomorrow is my next football game and my coach informed me that I will be starting once again as quarterback even though the starting quarterback (although I guess I cannot call him that anymore, anyway his name is Alex) is perfectly fine. Needless to say, when he told me this it was greeted my a large amount of swearing on my part and and great deal of smug happiness on the part of Alex. (He prefers being receiver too.) This should be a hard game too because apparently the team we will be playing likes to blitz 3 of their 4 linebackers every down. Boo being QB.
Today, in geography I was able to successfully argue that true love does not actually exist. (Technically I was arguing that only God can truly love us because only can is capable of truly knowing our complete being) Calm down, it had nothing to do with geography class itself. I must say though I was rather impressed with myself because I was able to catch my opponent in several verbal traps. Hurray for being able to argue about irrelevant topics again! Welcome back being a smart-ass! I have missed you dearly!
Well there you all have 4 interesting developments. That should be enough for at least a bit.
Hasta luego.
First and foremost, I shall address the subject of the chorus. For those of you who I have not told already, The Fayette County Select Chorus (basically Atlanta, GA) visited my school and stayed in Madrid for the weekend. Since I too am American, my vice-principle asked me if I would mind going places with them along with some other students from my school to help with translation/basic directions/etc. We stayed Madrid on Friday, took a trip to Segovia on Saturday, and tour El Escorial on Sunday. All in all it was a grand time with only one problem. Saturday night I was on the bus with Ryan (another exchange student), and I had to tell him that we needed to speak in Spanish. Not because I felt a great need to practice, but because I literally could not even think in English anymore after thinking in it all day. This thought scares me because I have NO idea what I am going to do when I get back to the US!
On a related topic, because of the fact that I was the only one on the above trip who is fluent in both English and Spanish, I had to translate for Spaniards sometimes with the end result being that I met a lot of really cool people who go to my school who I had never met before. In fact, several of them I had never even SEEN before... This may seem odd at first, but you have to remember that here in Spain the students stay in the same classroom the whole day and the teachers move from room to room. So I spend the whole day with the same people and do not meet new people to often. But I met two or three people on the trip who keep introducing me to other new people that I never knew existed. It makes for an interesting day!
So tomorrow is my next football game and my coach informed me that I will be starting once again as quarterback even though the starting quarterback (although I guess I cannot call him that anymore, anyway his name is Alex) is perfectly fine. Needless to say, when he told me this it was greeted my a large amount of swearing on my part and and great deal of smug happiness on the part of Alex. (He prefers being receiver too.) This should be a hard game too because apparently the team we will be playing likes to blitz 3 of their 4 linebackers every down. Boo being QB.
Today, in geography I was able to successfully argue that true love does not actually exist. (Technically I was arguing that only God can truly love us because only can is capable of truly knowing our complete being) Calm down, it had nothing to do with geography class itself. I must say though I was rather impressed with myself because I was able to catch my opponent in several verbal traps. Hurray for being able to argue about irrelevant topics again! Welcome back being a smart-ass! I have missed you dearly!
Well there you all have 4 interesting developments. That should be enough for at least a bit.
Hasta luego.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Run Forrest! RUN!
I have two stories for you all tonight.
The first story I have to tell about needing to run fast is the story about when I got (sort of) mugged. It was about 5 in the morning and I was coming home from Madrid on the night bus. (N903 if you must know.) Now the night bus stops about 5 minutes from my house, and I have to walk from there. I have two routes to go home: The long way, which follows the more populated roads but takes 5 minutes longer; and the quick way, which is shorter but no one else is ever there. Anyway, I got off the bus and decided to take the quick way because I was tired. Three other guys got off the bus too, and-as soon as the bus left-they start pushing me around a tad and asking me if I had anything of value. However, I like my things. So pushed one outta the way, took off, and did not look back. Interesting experience. The thing that is most interesting is that they got off the bus BEFORE me, which means that they live around here... I have decided to take the long way from now on...
Now story number two about needing to run fast has a much happier ending. It is, of course, the story of my first Spanish football game. We played Los Osos (The Bears) and going into the game they were the all around, overwhelming favorites. The optimistic predictions had us losing by just a few points. They had more people, more size, and more speed. So it gives me great pleasure to announce that we won 13-6. What you cannot see from that score is that not only did we win, we (in the words of their own web site) dominated them. We led the whole game, and the team as a whole had (at least) 10-15 sacks. It was a great game and when it was all over and we had won, I led the whole team in the WHS Fight Song. (With some minor adjustments because-although our mascot is the Black Demons-our colors are red and black and we do not live in Washington.)
As for my individual performance, I did better than expected. We ran the ball a lot which is kind of what saved me. We actually only ended up running 3 pass plays, although far more than that were called. Every time one was called, there would be a penalty or something and the play would get changed. But I was 1 for 3 (one of which was NOT my fault because it hit the guy in the chest), but that one was run for 30 yds and turned into a TD. My only really big mistake was when I open up to the wrong direction on a reverse, but considering that I started learning this stuff five days ago I feel like I should be pardoned.
Well those are my stories of running, and now that I have no more and my legs hurt quite badly, I am going to hobble off into the sunset. G´night.
The first story I have to tell about needing to run fast is the story about when I got (sort of) mugged. It was about 5 in the morning and I was coming home from Madrid on the night bus. (N903 if you must know.) Now the night bus stops about 5 minutes from my house, and I have to walk from there. I have two routes to go home: The long way, which follows the more populated roads but takes 5 minutes longer; and the quick way, which is shorter but no one else is ever there. Anyway, I got off the bus and decided to take the quick way because I was tired. Three other guys got off the bus too, and-as soon as the bus left-they start pushing me around a tad and asking me if I had anything of value. However, I like my things. So pushed one outta the way, took off, and did not look back. Interesting experience. The thing that is most interesting is that they got off the bus BEFORE me, which means that they live around here... I have decided to take the long way from now on...
Now story number two about needing to run fast has a much happier ending. It is, of course, the story of my first Spanish football game. We played Los Osos (The Bears) and going into the game they were the all around, overwhelming favorites. The optimistic predictions had us losing by just a few points. They had more people, more size, and more speed. So it gives me great pleasure to announce that we won 13-6. What you cannot see from that score is that not only did we win, we (in the words of their own web site) dominated them. We led the whole game, and the team as a whole had (at least) 10-15 sacks. It was a great game and when it was all over and we had won, I led the whole team in the WHS Fight Song. (With some minor adjustments because-although our mascot is the Black Demons-our colors are red and black and we do not live in Washington.)
As for my individual performance, I did better than expected. We ran the ball a lot which is kind of what saved me. We actually only ended up running 3 pass plays, although far more than that were called. Every time one was called, there would be a penalty or something and the play would get changed. But I was 1 for 3 (one of which was NOT my fault because it hit the guy in the chest), but that one was run for 30 yds and turned into a TD. My only really big mistake was when I open up to the wrong direction on a reverse, but considering that I started learning this stuff five days ago I feel like I should be pardoned.
Well those are my stories of running, and now that I have no more and my legs hurt quite badly, I am going to hobble off into the sunset. G´night.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
"Lucas Asbury: Quarterback" Something I though I would never see. Or what to!
So my football team has problem. Our starting quarterback has hurt his meniscus and might not be able to play in our first game on Sunday. Soooo the only other person on the team who has any really idea of how to throw is me, thus I am the back-up. That should tell you something about just how bad they are! My only hope is that he can play and does not get hurt halfway through the game because if that happens I am SCREWED! (actually we all are!)
I had the geography test from hell the other day over the different sectors of industry and agroculture in Spain. I was able to fumble my way through most of it, but totally failed the definitions part. (I have some doubts that "trashumancia" was actually even in the book...)
Physical therapy for my finger will finally be over over on Thursday which will finally put an end to this whole finger business. And if you ask me, it is about time because this "injury" happen the 18th of November. Which means that when this all over, it will have been 2 months and 10 days. Ugh.
Well I believe I might be getting sick so I am going to bed early tonight. Buenas noches.
I had the geography test from hell the other day over the different sectors of industry and agroculture in Spain. I was able to fumble my way through most of it, but totally failed the definitions part. (I have some doubts that "trashumancia" was actually even in the book...)
Physical therapy for my finger will finally be over over on Thursday which will finally put an end to this whole finger business. And if you ask me, it is about time because this "injury" happen the 18th of November. Which means that when this all over, it will have been 2 months and 10 days. Ugh.
Well I believe I might be getting sick so I am going to bed early tonight. Buenas noches.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
"Enjoy The Little Things"
So the first few days back in school just flat out sucked. Getting up early, sitting for long periods of time, listening to lectures on things that-to be honest-I have absolutely no interest in. For example, I just cannot bring myself to be interested in psychology since I had a hard enough time paying attention when it was in English! Ugh.
Speaking of school, I had to give my presentation in philosophy the other day. I can honestly say that was the most nervous I have ever been in my life. My whole body was shaking. It is best if we did not speak of it although I was able to successfully defend my ideas through the whole class debate so it was not a total disaster.
So apparently it has been decided by my host parents that I have to pass all my classes this trimester. Now that may appear fairly easy, but you have to realize that there is a difference in the difficulty between American and Spanish schools. Thus, passing all your classes in Spain is about like getting better than a B in all your classes in America. With the whole foreign language complication thrown in there, it just flat out sucks.
As you may remember I was feeling a little down because my English was getting worse and my Spanish was not improving much either. The upside is that I now able to understand basic Italian and French as a result of the fact that they are very similar to Spanish. I find this awesome.
(Warning: Contains awkward metaphors)
Another grand achievement is the realization about my feelings about Spanish. Before coming here, Spanish was like the hot girl in class. It was a lot of new, exciting, and just all around awesome. However, a couple weeks after arriving my feelings about it had shifted so that it was like the clingy ex. I wanted nothing more than to escape it back into the (relative) sanity and familiarity of English. But now it is like a best friend. Sure it pisses me off at times, but we know each other so it is all good. If these metaphors made no sense, I apologize.
I had a lot more to write, but I lack motivation to actually do it. So that is all. Good Night World.
Speaking of school, I had to give my presentation in philosophy the other day. I can honestly say that was the most nervous I have ever been in my life. My whole body was shaking. It is best if we did not speak of it although I was able to successfully defend my ideas through the whole class debate so it was not a total disaster.
So apparently it has been decided by my host parents that I have to pass all my classes this trimester. Now that may appear fairly easy, but you have to realize that there is a difference in the difficulty between American and Spanish schools. Thus, passing all your classes in Spain is about like getting better than a B in all your classes in America. With the whole foreign language complication thrown in there, it just flat out sucks.
As you may remember I was feeling a little down because my English was getting worse and my Spanish was not improving much either. The upside is that I now able to understand basic Italian and French as a result of the fact that they are very similar to Spanish. I find this awesome.
(Warning: Contains awkward metaphors)
Another grand achievement is the realization about my feelings about Spanish. Before coming here, Spanish was like the hot girl in class. It was a lot of new, exciting, and just all around awesome. However, a couple weeks after arriving my feelings about it had shifted so that it was like the clingy ex. I wanted nothing more than to escape it back into the (relative) sanity and familiarity of English. But now it is like a best friend. Sure it pisses me off at times, but we know each other so it is all good. If these metaphors made no sense, I apologize.
I had a lot more to write, but I lack motivation to actually do it. So that is all. Good Night World.
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