Fuck Lisbon

Jake here-it has been way too long since I last posted and I'm sorry... but I've been way too busy having a great time here. For example: http://www.facebook.com/ice.monster.tw/photos_stream Imagine any of those deserts .... best deserts I've ever had-famous place in Taiwan. So yeah, basically I've been enjoying a lot of the food all over Taiwan, particularly in Taipei. I've been having a lot of traditional Taiwanese dishes like Stinky Tofu, Hot Pot (http://tinyurl.com/cwlpsg7), 包子-pronounced baozi (http://tinyurl.com/cxsu8eh), and 小籠包 (xiaolongbao) which are steamed dumplings filled with meat or veggies with soup. If you love food and ridiculous weather (it was 82 today in Taipei) you would love it here. I've been doing tons of work for my upcoming final along with my research into Chinese Medicine. I received acupuncture for the 4th time two weeks ago... it was underwhelming this time. I had received such relaxing treatments before, this one just kind of left me feeling the same. My research has revealed a few American and European studies that prove acupuncture's analgesic properties (it doesn't prevent pain but changes the way your brain interprets them... people can actually have surgery with nothing but acupuncture for anesthetic, really cool!), but I wasn't in particular pain beforehand, so it is no surprise I had no drastic aftereffects. 

I've picked up a lot from my meditation classes here which have been really informative if not heavy-handed with the Buddhist undertones. I feel like a lot of people out West (used to include me) say that they buy into Buddhist philosophies... and there are some really great ideas on forgiveness, impermanence and all that jazz... but don't think that because Buddhism has great ideas doesn't mean that a lot of its followers combine it with a lot of superstitious behavior that is usually associated with Daoism. 

Also-being in a foreign country provides a unique opportunity to get into habits you thought you didn't have the time or motivation to start at home. I think I've worked out more often this fall than the past two combined in preparation for wrestling season this year. Weird. Sorry it was so long since my last post, promise it won't take that long again.

Quick Post Sevilla and Córdoba

Last weekend Andrew came in from Amsterdam to join our weekend excursion to Sevilla and Córdoba in Andalusia. The weather overall was very nice. We saw a cool gothic church and garden with peacocks in Sevilla. In Córdoba we saw a Synagogue and la Mezquita. La Mezquita was probably one of the cooler tourist destinations I've been to. It was a huge, unique mosque converted into a church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba. The nightlife in Sevilla was very unique as people piled into the streets to hang out when the bars got too packed. Overall a great weekend and a great final excursion for our program. Works starting to pile up and the semesters winding down, which is a little depressing. This thursday we are having a thanksgiving dinner and then Max, Ilir, Matt and I are taking off on a 6hr road trip to Lisbon. Then we have final exams Dec 3, 4 and 5. Then I take off the next day for Amsterdam to go visit Andrew

Joey.

Copenhagen for the Week

I missed classes on Wednesday and, despite losing points,  do not regret it one bit. I took my flight at  730am to Copenhagen, Denmark for a Sensation White concert on Saturday. The other members of my group stopped in Berlin first, which I decided to skip. On Wednesday I got my whole plan down on all the tourist attractions I wanted to visit on a list, where they were so I could be as efficient as possible. We took it easy that night and, while my friend was in class all day Thursday I got going tearing apart Copenhagen given my limited time for tourist activities. Despite the expected dreary weather of the city, it never set me back from doing any of the activities on my list. I took the train early in the morning and stumbled upon the canal tour of the city. The boat was covered and heated, which was awesome. I decided it would be the best to start off with so I could get an overview of the city and then go from there. It was a great decision, as I got an amazing perspective of the city from the canals, as well as, a boatload of history from the audio. The tour made multiple stops that you could get off at for an hour and fifteen minutes until the boat came back around again with another tour. I got off at all, but one stop and basically saw every section of the city. I went to a church and the royal palace along the way. This took up the whole day and I got back at night, made some dinner at the dorm and headed out for the night with my buddy and his friends. Now that I knew the small city pretty well, the next day I got out midday and climbed to the top of the Rudetaarn and saw the whole city. Then I walked over to the second amusement park ever, Tivoli. It was closed so I didn't pay to go in, but it was something out of a Hans Christian Andersen story. I then went back to the dorm to meet up with my friend to head over to the Carlsberg beer factory. We took a self guided tour and bought some cool Carlsberg shirts. The man at the desk informed us that at night they were going around the city to drop off the Christmas beer, which was apparently a big deal. After going back to the dorm my friend made sure to take me over to Christiania. This was a tiny hippie sector of the city with an interesting history behind it. It was pretty crazy and sketchy, especially at night. It was definitely worth the trip. We then ate and went out for the night, obviously getting the Tuborg Christmas beer.  The next day my friend has a juijitsu tournament so I slept in and then met up with some Wesleyan friends. We got lunch and coffee. Walked around the city for a bit before I headed and back to meet back up with my friend. We chilled for awhile and then headed over to the concert. I was supposed to not stay in his dorm that night because of a bad situation last year. There was no security so I was easily able to crash in his room after Sensation. I'm hanging in the airport now waiting for my flight to Frankfort. We're boarding in a second so I got to get going, but overall it was a great weekend and am very proud of how well I was able to "conquer" the city in the few days I was in Denmark. Just realized my 21st birthday's in two days and this weekend Andrew Cohen comes to Madrid for our trip for Sevilla/Córdoba.
Until next weekend,
Joey