Every ending is a new beginning?

This time I’m writing a bit more serious. That’s because this week has been really, really controversial for me. There has been a lot of things going on. Things, that have gotten me really happy and then things that have gotten me really sad… It feels like every up is followed by down that is twice as hard. You feel like you’re on the top of the world and the next moment you feel like sh*t. Feels like whenever you get happy you get punished for that. And it really gets you. It makes you think about things. Think about what’s important in life and what is not. Think about the directions you’re going to take, decisions you’re going to make, think about the future, the past, the present… It all gets you!

Earlier this week we were having a home going party of one my best friends here in Spain. Of course, it was fun, but then these kind of happenings have also very sad aspect in them. Saying goodbye is never easy. And although you know it’s not probably the last time you see, you also know that things will never be same. It reminds you about how all this is here only for a while, temporarily. Of course you “know” that beforehand, but still you get surprised how it hits you. You meet so many new people, make so many new friends, have fun together, enjoy the time and the people… and then it’s all taken away and you have to go back to how it was… Except that nothing is how it was anymore.

 

"McAuto" :D I'm gonna miss you McFriend!

But with every ending, there’s a new beginning! Suddenly, at the very same home going party. I met someone new, maybe someone I had been looking for, maybe someone more than a friend! Maybe, just maybe someone who totally changes my direction! So, like I said, it has been really controversial week! The feelings go up and down all the time - in a blink of an eye.

When you think of it more, I think it’s like that with everything, when you are in here… or anywhere else away from “home”. The thing is, in here, you haven’t got anything stable, nothing familiar and so you have a “fresh start” (like I mentioned in my earliest posts). But in the same time, you have to build everything new: routines, relationships, everything. And just when you’ve done that, it’s all blown away! So nothing is certain, you can’t trust on anything. But at the same time you are still reliable on just the things that you have at that moment, just the people you have at that moment! It all makes you live on edge. All the time, all the time. I can tell you, mi amigos, it’s heavy!

But still, in the end, I guess that’s what this should be all about? Living in the moment. Carpe Diem!

See the mirror in your eyes
See the truth behind your lies
Your lies are haunting me
See the reason in your eyes
Giving answer to the why
Your eyes are haunting me!

Falling in & out of love
in love, in love
Falling in & out of love
your love, your love

Armin van Buuren ft. Sharon den Adel - In and Out of Love

Only in Spain!

I’m going to tell you guys about a festival here in Sevilla this weekend! During the week I heard that a local event management company is going to arrange a small festival here in Sevilla. The festival, Primavera Open Air, was advertised to be the “Spring Break Festival” with up to 8,000 participants! This was all thrilling: a festival in Spain should be pretty cool. I was going to go to the festival with a German girl I had met earlier. She was going there to take some pictures as a freelance photographer and she wanted some company. And by the way, she is the one to thank for all these pics as well... Thanks!

We decided to walk there. From the map, it didn’t look like the venue is far away… But it took us an hour to walk there! But still, the journey was pretty much fun: at one point, we thought we were close as we started to hear some very loud music… But when we got closer to the source, it turned out that there was just some guy at the parking lot with a car full of audio, playing really loud and about 100 people dancing around! Johnny, la gente esta muy loca, whatta f*ck? :D Back in Finland, police would end something like that immediately. But not in here, not in Spain, it’s so cool!

As we continued, we eventually got to the actual festival site. And this festival, I’ll tell you, was something really weird from the beginning to the end! First of all, in the entrance, the security guys were dressed up in uniforms, as if they were police or something! On the other hand, the guy taking the ticket was just an old guy smoking cigarette with just normal clothes :D And the 8,000 people? More like 800 people... Anyway, we got in and headed out to the stage where there was a band playing. The music was really good, really different from what I had heard! It was really weird but cool mixture of electro, funk, rock and house -music! Really good mixture!

The music was playing really loud, and all of a sudden, about a half of the sound disappeared! I thought: Did I lose part of my hearing? Or am I that drunk? What happened?! Then I saw these guys lifting up a fence that had fallen down (and probably unplugged some wires)… “OK, this doesn’t look good” I thought. But the band continued playing and the crowd didn’t mind… Then, after about ten or fifteen minutes, there was a big bang and all the electricity from the stage went off! I was thinking, “This is not happening, it’s not possible!” :D The band was confused, the organizers were going desperate and the crowd started singing football songs! Now this is Spain!

The show was pretty wild one... intentionally and unintentionally!

Eventually they got the music and lights back on and the show continued! The stage show performed by the band was really crazy, Loca! Lastly after all these happenings during the gig, a guy came on the stage… Dressed up in a full body costume of penis! :D AND he had rollerskates! I just can’t stop laughing when I think of all the things that happened and in the end there’s a huge penis spinning around the stage with rollerskates! Hahaha! Only in Spain can this happen!

I'm working, all week long,
I dream the days away,
I wanna... sing my song
so let the music play
I have to get my fix, and fly tonight
and when the clock strikes 6, on Fri-day Night
I need to blow it all away
 
I Can't wait.. for the weekend to begin...
Michael Gray - The Weekend

Travelling in Andalucía: Gibraltar

The second day of our travel started pretty early at Marbella. We headed southwest towards this huge rock known as Gibraltar. A small city in the south end of Spain… Except that it is not part of Spain, but the UK instead! While driving there the view was – again - more than nice and it got better all the time we were closing Gibraltar! When we were almost at the border, a huge queue of cars started to gather ahead of us: I guess it is popular for Spanish people to go shopping in Gibraltar as they have no VAT (ALV) at all in there! And so then we stood in the queue for an hour or so…

Gibraltar, here we come!

Finally, we reached the border and the Spanish customs officers who couldn’t care less changed into these very polite British “Bobbies”, which was funny and also a nice change at the same time! After the customs we encountered something interesting! You see, Gibraltar is a pretty small piece of land and most of it is covered with the “Upper rock” – a huge rock that you can’t build houses on – so there is not a lot of land to use in there. And so the weird thing was that when we were driving the road leading to the city we came across an airfield… Like literally: drove across a fully sized airfield! There’s not enough room otherwise, so they just made an intersection right in the middle of the field!

A road crossing the airfield? I would say that DON'T pass when the light is red!
Also, a pointer for the pilot when landing: do not break late! :D

After getting through the airfield we got our first look at the city of Gibraltar, home for some 30,000 British and also some Spanish (I think). Altogether, Gibraltar didn’t differ from the Spanish cities a lot. The streets were as narrow, there were as many scooters, people were driving on the “right” side of the road and architecture was pretty much the same. Anyway, it is still another country and for example all the signs were in English, the currency was pound and so on. By the way, the prices were the pretty much the same as in Finland, except that they were in pounds! So basically a beer was 4,50£ which is like 6 Euros!

So after having some f*cking expensive beer we decided to head up to the Upper rock! There are a lot of things to see up there! First of all, the view in there is amazing! You can see all over to Costa del Sol in the northeast, city of Alcerigas in the north and Morocco, Africa in the south!  Besides the views there are some cool caves on the rock, including some old British fortresses. And then of course the Makakis, the little monkeys! :D Those little fellas are really a fun to look at and even hold in your arms!

I will definately recommend anyone visiting Andalucía to also visit Gibraltar, it is quite amazing!

Sun is up
Move your body
I got moves and all the night I will not sit, yeah.
I came up
For this party
I wont stop till mr.dj stops the beat, yeah sun is up.

Inna - Sun Is Up

Travelling in Andalucía: Ronda and Costa del Sol

Two months in Spain has now passed and last week I got my first visitors here as my parents came to Sevilla to see the city. As they were visiting, we decided to travel a little bit here in Andalucía. So, when it comes to travelling, the public transportation is pretty good and not extremely expensive. However, if it’s possible, I personally recommend renting a car instead! Renting a car can be actually quite inexpensive if you get it for a few days at least. For instance, a small car for a weekend (3 days) can be only 70 euros + gas, which for example 3 people is not bad at all!  Also, renting a car gives you a lot of liberties when it comes to deciding where and when do you want to travel.

 Andalucían landscape... One picture is more than 1000 words!

So I rented a car for me and my parents for the weekend! This was actually the second time in a week that I made such a trip to the coast. Earlier I went to the Costa del Sol with a friend of mine to scout the area little bit… The scheduled travel plan for Friday was to drive from Sevilla to Ronda in the mountains and then continue to Marbella in Costa del Sol.  So, after a short adventure in the dense traffic of Sevilla we got to the highway leading to Cadiz and on our way to Ronda through the towns of Dos Hermanas and Villamartin. By the way, this road: 371 to Villamartin, is really nice! I wish I could someday come back here with a motor bike – the roads and views are just amazing!

Ronda is an old city from the Moorish times, located in the mountains between Sevilla and Costa del Sol. The town is built on a really steep and high cliff with an amazing valley in the middle of it. There are also huge bridges crossing the valley, uniting the two parts of the town. I had already visited Ronda earlier, but it was still as impressing as it was the first time. Definitely a place to see in Andalucía!

Unfortunately just when we arrived to the mountain town of Ronda it started raining. So after we left Ronda and headed to the mountains it was raining and we basically drove inside of a cloud (täysin pilvessä) and so the views were not that good :( However, when we got out of the cloud, we saw some magnificent views before we eventually arrived to the sunny coast aka Costa Del Sol.

Costa del Sol, some 350 kilometers slice of the Spanish southern coast from Tarifa to Almeria is very beautiful region of Andalucía with hundreds of beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. Also, it is the most touristic part of Spain together with the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Marbella is one the numerous tourist cities along the coast. The city comes alive especially in the summer when the weather is at its best and all the tourists come to the town. Marbella is also the place where the rich people of Spain want to spend their time. Such places like Nikki beach and Puerto Banus boast with the Jet Set life and some nicest hotels and casinos on the coast! In the end, in my opinion, Marbella is a nice little town to visit, but maybe not during the high tourist season. 

Vamos! A la playa!

Stay tuned for the next post where I’ll tell you about the rest of the travel: Gibraltar and Cadiz!

You know we go
where the feeling is right!
You know we go
where the groove is hot!
You know we go
when the feeling is right
feeling is right, feeling is right..

Vamos a la Playa
A mi me gusta bailar
el ritmo de la noche
Sounds of Fiesta!
Loona - Vamos a la playa