Day 1- Uno Dia
Hola a todos! We left on Jan 6th with an intrepid band of explorers..err Tech students. There were 8 of us on the flight from DFW to London Heathrow. As my first time ever to fly internationally, I was amazed by how many people could fit on an airplane. Being on a British flight is TOTALLY different than being on an American flight…Drinks were free and so were “adult beverages.” To quote Samuel L. Jackson in “Pulp Fiction”…It’s the little differences. For instance you could order a beer and not get carded. Also they passed out mini wine bottles with the meal! The flight itself wasn’t too bad, just super long. My seat mates were Ashlee, a Tech student who is on the Seville study abroad program, and a man from Wylie flying to India. I couldn’t really sleep because of the time change. I don’t know if i’m still in sleep or awake mode, my body is so confused. Heathrow is really confusing and makes DFW look like Lubbock’s airport. In addition to the hustle and bustle of Heathrow, the weather was typically English, cold, dreary, and rainy, sort of like the flights attendants that waited on us.
On the second leg of the flight , I say by Ashlee again and a girl from Penn State. In front of me was a girl from the University of New Hampshire. There are kids from everywhere. From a small world standpoint, there was girl who flew from London to Madrid who was from Dallas and we had friends in common. So you’re probably thinking wow this has gone really smoothly.
We wait, wait, and wait some more. Our bags never arrive and we are stuck in the airport for almost 3 hours waiting on lost luggage. We spend those hours bantering back and forth in English and broken Spanish trying to find out where the heck our stuff is. Good news it will be sent to Sevilla sometime in the next day or so.
The Madrid Airport is actually outside of Madrid and the airport is really modern and an architectural beauty. The city of Madrid is clustered in pockets and spread out much like Dallas. The landscape of flying into Madrid was much like Texas. Rolling hills, grasslands, mountains. It reminds me of home in a weird way.
That’s all I have as I write this from the AVE, high speed train to Sevilla which takes 2 and a half hours.
Be good and be safe.
Adios mis amigos,
Hasta luego!
Lance.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year y Feliz Ano Nuevo
I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then i could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back.
So this is the New Year
- Death Cab For Cutie, The New Year
Happy New Year to everyone! One week until I leave for Spain. At this time next week, I will just have arrived in Seville at my hotel with the rest of the study abroad students. I don't feel nervous at all about going, in fact I feel quite calm.
I'm more excited than anything else at this moment in time. I believe it's the prospect of going over to a country that I have never been before, speaking a language that I don't really use except at random times, and experiencing and living in a European culture for five whole months. The first leg of my journey takes me from DFW to London and the second leg takes me from London to Madrid and to Sevilla via train. The blog officially starts when I post in England during my layover hopefully.
I would leave you with New Year resolutions, but I don't keep them very well. So I will leave you all with my well wishes for 2009 and good luck for the upcoming semester at Texas Tech and everyone else's colleges.
Be safe and be kind to all.
Until next time...
Then i could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back.
So this is the New Year
- Death Cab For Cutie, The New Year
Happy New Year to everyone! One week until I leave for Spain. At this time next week, I will just have arrived in Seville at my hotel with the rest of the study abroad students. I don't feel nervous at all about going, in fact I feel quite calm.
I'm more excited than anything else at this moment in time. I believe it's the prospect of going over to a country that I have never been before, speaking a language that I don't really use except at random times, and experiencing and living in a European culture for five whole months. The first leg of my journey takes me from DFW to London and the second leg takes me from London to Madrid and to Sevilla via train. The blog officially starts when I post in England during my layover hopefully.
I would leave you with New Year resolutions, but I don't keep them very well. So I will leave you all with my well wishes for 2009 and good luck for the upcoming semester at Texas Tech and everyone else's colleges.
Be safe and be kind to all.
Until next time...
Friday, December 5, 2008
Viva Espana!: 1 Month To Go
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
- Mark Twain
"Why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?"
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 2, Ch. 6
I have one month to go before I leave for Sevilla, Espana or Seville, Spain to those unfamiliar with its Spanish name. You're probably wondering why I haven't posted about Spain yet and posted filler about football and other miscellaneous musings?
Starting NOW I am writing about Spain, the trip before, the journey during, and the experience afterward. So it's one month to go and I am in the midst of finals week, waiting to get my passport back and get things tied up before I leave. A month from now I will be on a plane, Dallas to Seville, Spain. As of right now I don't know who I'm living with or who my roommate is, but I will update that when I receive that information. I will update later.
Estoy muy cansado.
- Mark Twain
"Why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?"
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 2, Ch. 6
I have one month to go before I leave for Sevilla, Espana or Seville, Spain to those unfamiliar with its Spanish name. You're probably wondering why I haven't posted about Spain yet and posted filler about football and other miscellaneous musings?
Starting NOW I am writing about Spain, the trip before, the journey during, and the experience afterward. So it's one month to go and I am in the midst of finals week, waiting to get my passport back and get things tied up before I leave. A month from now I will be on a plane, Dallas to Seville, Spain. As of right now I don't know who I'm living with or who my roommate is, but I will update that when I receive that information. I will update later.
Estoy muy cansado.
Friday, November 28, 2008
There's No Place Like Home...
Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.
The above dialogue from 2004's Garden State definitely echoes a lot of my thoughts and people my age's thoughts. This is definitely a transitionary period, a changing of the guard. My best friend from childhood and I were back in Dallas for Thanksgiving and the day before decided to visit the grave of a mutual friend of ours and one of my best childhood friends who passed away this summer at age 20. While we were waiting on someone to find the gravesite, we thought about what home means to us now.
Home in every sense of the word means a place of your own, a safe haven. However you definite it, has it own significance to every person and it's own meaning. Home will always be the house i grew up in Mesquite, Texas. No matter how the neighborhood changes, it's still the place I was raised. However, Dallas as home and where I spent the majority of my days feels completely different. Every since the passing of my friend, Dallas has certain memories both good and bad I will always remember and I will never be able to let go. Every street in Far East Dallas, Lakewood, and places in between has memories associated with it. I just dont feel right here anymore though. I know i'm not supposed too- I'm 21 years old. It comes with being an adult. My friend said he felt at ease being out on Lake Travis away from the busy, noise of cars and the traffic at Austin. I feel at ease being in my adopted home on the South Plains of Lubbock,Texas. My friend and I both said things have changed because friends disappear, home just doesn't have the same kick as it once did.
It's such a dichotomous relationship, the duality of it all. Our need to be among people and relationships, yet at the same time we crave solitude, serenity, and silence. The feeling of achieving this was almost two years ago. I drove with a friend out to New Mexico one night to just get away for a few hours. I stood on the border of New Mexico and Texas on Highway 114 at dusk. You can't here anything. Silence is incredible sometimes.
I love Dallas and I love Lubbock. Just Dallas isn't for me right now. I'll come back eventually because my family is here, just I'd rather enjoy a different pace of life out in West Texas.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.
The above dialogue from 2004's Garden State definitely echoes a lot of my thoughts and people my age's thoughts. This is definitely a transitionary period, a changing of the guard. My best friend from childhood and I were back in Dallas for Thanksgiving and the day before decided to visit the grave of a mutual friend of ours and one of my best childhood friends who passed away this summer at age 20. While we were waiting on someone to find the gravesite, we thought about what home means to us now.
Home in every sense of the word means a place of your own, a safe haven. However you definite it, has it own significance to every person and it's own meaning. Home will always be the house i grew up in Mesquite, Texas. No matter how the neighborhood changes, it's still the place I was raised. However, Dallas as home and where I spent the majority of my days feels completely different. Every since the passing of my friend, Dallas has certain memories both good and bad I will always remember and I will never be able to let go. Every street in Far East Dallas, Lakewood, and places in between has memories associated with it. I just dont feel right here anymore though. I know i'm not supposed too- I'm 21 years old. It comes with being an adult. My friend said he felt at ease being out on Lake Travis away from the busy, noise of cars and the traffic at Austin. I feel at ease being in my adopted home on the South Plains of Lubbock,Texas. My friend and I both said things have changed because friends disappear, home just doesn't have the same kick as it once did.
It's such a dichotomous relationship, the duality of it all. Our need to be among people and relationships, yet at the same time we crave solitude, serenity, and silence. The feeling of achieving this was almost two years ago. I drove with a friend out to New Mexico one night to just get away for a few hours. I stood on the border of New Mexico and Texas on Highway 114 at dusk. You can't here anything. Silence is incredible sometimes.
I love Dallas and I love Lubbock. Just Dallas isn't for me right now. I'll come back eventually because my family is here, just I'd rather enjoy a different pace of life out in West Texas.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Trail of Tears,Grapes of Wrath
Okie use' ta mean you was from Oklahoma. Now it means you're a dirty son-of-a-bitch. Okie means you're scum. Don't mean nothing itself, it's the way they say it.
-John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects... - PBS. org
Nov 22 is a day that will live in infamy. Not just for the 45th anniversary of JFK's assassination, but the virtual assassination of Tech's bid to win the Big XII conference championship out right and the chance for a National Championship bid at the Orange Bowl. Tech came riding in on the coat-tails of success and floundered. The University of Oklahoma just played better and did everything better and exposed weaknesses not seen in Tech since the early part of the season. OU turned Tech's offense and defense in too Swiss cheese. Many factors were attributed to Tech's poor performance on a national stage. Leaving the game it was hard and angry, the next morning was even harder driving back 6 and a half hours back to Lubbock. I'm glad Baylor is last on the schedule.
- Homefield advantage in Norman, record is 60-2 with Bob Stoops coaching.
-The Bye Week
- Lack of tackling
-Questionable calling by Mike Leach
- A bad night in general.
I still support my team. GO RED RAIDERS! WRECK 'EM!
-John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects... - PBS. org
Nov 22 is a day that will live in infamy. Not just for the 45th anniversary of JFK's assassination, but the virtual assassination of Tech's bid to win the Big XII conference championship out right and the chance for a National Championship bid at the Orange Bowl. Tech came riding in on the coat-tails of success and floundered. The University of Oklahoma just played better and did everything better and exposed weaknesses not seen in Tech since the early part of the season. OU turned Tech's offense and defense in too Swiss cheese. Many factors were attributed to Tech's poor performance on a national stage. Leaving the game it was hard and angry, the next morning was even harder driving back 6 and a half hours back to Lubbock. I'm glad Baylor is last on the schedule.
- Homefield advantage in Norman, record is 60-2 with Bob Stoops coaching.
-The Bye Week
- Lack of tackling
-Questionable calling by Mike Leach
- A bad night in general.
I still support my team. GO RED RAIDERS! WRECK 'EM!
Raiders of the BCS Polls
A week later and the day after my 21st birthday. The "Pokes" of Oklahoma State University traveled to Lubbock to take on the ranked Red Raiders. OSU was #9 in the nation and were expected to give the Red and Black a gamble. Armed with a lethal quarter back and a wide receiver who according to Lee Corso, "is better than Michael Crabtree."
The game started off tense with a fumble by Tech quarterback, Graham Harrell and OSU easily scored seven points. However, the rest of the game proved to be all Tech. Tech easily took charge of the game and won 56-21 with a commanding lead of the Big XII and a bid for the conference title. Tech's offense and defense could do no wrong and OSU was held to one of their worst performances all year.
The game started off tense with a fumble by Tech quarterback, Graham Harrell and OSU easily scored seven points. However, the rest of the game proved to be all Tech. Tech easily took charge of the game and won 56-21 with a commanding lead of the Big XII and a bid for the conference title. Tech's offense and defense could do no wrong and OSU was held to one of their worst performances all year.
West Texas Cookout Part Two
I've never seen a mood so tense as the one I saw in Lubbock on Nov. 1. When the Longhorns came to town they were ranked #2. When they left, they left heartbroken, dejected and aghast at the end. 39-33 was the final score, won on a one second left, Michael Crabtree touchdown.
Shaking off a Longhorn defender, Crabtree darted into the end zone. The fans literally went crazy, rushing the field not once, not twice, but THREE times. Yes, it was that suspenseful and the emotions had to come out. Fans poured the field in a frenzy like a school of Piranhas. I rushed the field last year against #3 ranked Oklahoma, but this by far was the most intense thing I have ever witness in terms of a victory. Not too bad for a little team from West Texas on ESPN College Gameday Night.
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