Fleet Rec

So tonight I got the wonderful chance to work at the Fleet Rec Center. The place itself is interesting enough to write about. It is a random building out by the docks with a pool table, ping pong, foosball, free laundry room, movie theater, and nternet for the people on the ships while at port.

For some reason the building is decorated in mideval theme. Here are some pictures:

For most of the night my job consisted of serving beer to sailors. Lucky for me they tip well!

I ended up making close to $30 in tips from only $115 in sales for the night... Not bad!

Camping in Tarifa

This past weekend was my first trip with the MWR Outdoor Program. It is camping unlike anything I have ever done with the BGSU Outdoor Program. We took three 15-passenger vans an hour from Rota to Tarifa, which is supposed to be the big place to go wind sufing (which I will try eventually!!!). Two vans of participants and one of gear, the gear included sea kayaks, beer, tents, some liquor, grills, and a few other necessary items.

The ability to drink on trips is definitely something that will take a little bit to get used to...

The weekend pretty much consisted of hanging out on the beach, which I am definitely not complaining about. There were options to pay more to go horseback riding or on the quads, but it was something I didn't really want to pay extra for...

I wish I had some kind of cool story from the trip, but it was seriously just hanging out at the beach. Fun, but nothing super exciting or unusual to write about... Ok, maybe my boss getting pissed that noone was eating the olives he brought and throwing them at people. But I swear, other than that there was nothing. ;)

I took some pictures, there isn't really anything spectacular, but I did get some of the people I will be working with all summer.

This is Will and I.
He is the current intern and will be leaving at the end of this week.

Nacho and Ken. (I'll give you one guess who is who)
These are my summer bosses.

This is one of the four campsites we occupied...

I don't have any pictures of the beach because last time I attempted that from the states there was a terrible disaster which forced me to purchase a new camera directly before I moved to Spain...

That is all for now, its about midnight here and lucky for me I am off in the morning. We do have a ship coming in tomorrow night so the base should be busy for at least a day. I get the pleasure of working the Fleet Rec Center which has a bar, free movies, free laundry, and a bunch of other activities for the sailors while they are in port. The good news to this is that because I will be selling beer I am allowed to accept tips...

and because sailors are not allowed to drink of their ships,

Here's to hoping for some alcoholic sailors tomorrow night!!! ;)
(or at least drunk sailors who tip well!)

the Sanlucar Ferias

So this post was meant to be put up this time last week, I apologize for the lateness and lack of posts. It should get better for here on out!

Last night marked the best night in Spain thus far. Erin and I decided to hang out with a group of people we met here and we ended up going to the Ferias in Sanlucar. For those who don't know, imagine a county fair, minus animals, add Spaniards and alcohol and a never ending closing time...

Upon asking a Police Officer (on Thursday night) when the drinking ended, our response was "Sunday..."

On that note, its 10:20pm currently and I was up way to late last night due to the never ending party (which is apparently a favorite Spanish pastime!) and has to wake up for work. Running on two hours sleep is tough, so if nothing makes sense, bear with me! :)

So anyway, back to the story...

Erin and I were heading to walk to downtown Rota when we got pulled aside by a couple people hanging out and drinking. They told us they were on their way back from Iraq and their plane was broken down so they had a few nights there before leaving.

Believe it or not, half the planes heading back from Iraq seem to "break down" in Spain leaving troops stranded until parts arrive. This is probably the third time I've heard the story from three different planes...

So anyway, the guys wanted to know the good places to go out in town and figured we'd know. We were a little hesitant at first, but decided Erin and I would stick together and headed to town. Luck seemed to turn my way because this is officially the first group of peope who didn't immediate ignore us when we sad we were officially off the market when it came to guys and just wanted some friends. I spent most of the night talking about Andy, school, Iraq, Andy again, their wives, cars, and what they were excited to do when they got back to the states.

The group pretty much hung out at the Ferias until late or so (time flies when you don't speak the language!) and headed back to our hotels. Believe it or not, I was sober the whole time and had a blast... which is a feat most people my age can't accomplish ;)

Now here is the kicker (and picture!)... as we walked through the Ferias there were tons of stands to buy food, beer, cheap trinkets, or play games. One particular stand had suff to have your picture taken. Four of us decided to have our picture taken with a particular "object" they had... a small monkey wearing a dress. Sorry the picture is so blurry, it is actually a picture of a picture...

That's right, there is a small monkey sitting on my lap wearing a dress. Spain Rocks!

Getting Better

Today at work was definitely better than yesturday, and best of all, my back is feeling much better. It still hurts, and it definitely affected my climbing today, but the most important part is that I am still able to climb...

I understood wha was going on, annoyed less people and finally set a meeting with my boss for tomorrow about this summer. Hopefully I will be able to tell him that I don't really want to sit in a gear rental shop all summer and that I could've stayed in BG all summer to do that.

He already told me some project that he would like for me to get on top of, I will clarify more tomorrow when I know for sure before I get my hopes up! I do think I am going to be focusing a lot on the climbing aspects of things though!

Erin and I are going to try and get out tonight and see some more of the town, so it should be fun. Also this weekend I am on a camping trip for 3 days and may be riding horses on the beach or riding quads. You pay extra for each activity, so I am pretty sure that I am just going to be hanging out on the beach all weekend! There is also a chance that my boss, who is an AMA certified climbing guide is going to meet us out there and take some us climbing in the area. Hopefully this will be my first chance at some real lead climbing!!! I gave him the heads up that I know my stuff with anchors and how to climb, but my technique is that of a beginner, so he's willing to work with me. Wish me luck!!!

Here's to things looking up already!!!!

First Day of Work

So first days always suck right? The not knowing what to do, the feeling like you are in everyone's way, the training that you have to attend but don't understand because they are designed for current employees, the pulled back muscles that make every body movement more painful than anything you've experienced...

Oh, I guess that's just me.

So anyway, today was the first day of work, and I guess you could say that it didn't quite go as planned...

Work itself was fine, I honestly think it's the fact that I'm beginning a job with no idea whats that's setting me back some. I've never been in a place to have to relearn everything. No training, just expected to jump in. I feel like it is going to take half my internship to learn half the stuff I need to know. Hopefully I learn quick.

I think the toughest part is going to be fixing gear. Today I learned how to fix a mountain bike, and I'm still even confused on parts of that...

I guess I should start at the beginning. So work started at 10am. I began by going in and hanging out and getting to know the people I will be working with. Everyone seems pretty cool, but I definitely think that I am going to have to prove I actually know what I'm talking about in the outdoors...

Around 11 or noonish I was out helping the other current intern (who is leaving in a week) put seats back in the 15-passenger van and made the terrible mistake of lifting with my back while hunched over. I dropped the seat, sat on it, and absolutely could not move the lower half of my body for the next 20 minutes... I still barely can, and thats after 2 tylenol, 2 ibuprofen, and a beer... So I guess we will see how I feel in the morning....

Anyway, the rest of the day was kind of downhill from there. I'm pretty sure it looks bad the new intern hurting her back the first day, but they can get over it I guess...

I'm learning some new stuff, I have a horrible feeling that this summer is going to put me behind a desk, but I guess c'est la vie, life goes on... (crap, wrong language!)

Oh yea, one last thing before I go... I do get the chance to go on the trip this weekend. 3 days of camping with quads and horseback if I feel like paying a fee. Sadly, if my back doesn't get better I may have to skip...

Great first day huh?!?!?!!?





On a side note, in a few days, today probably won't look as bad as I'm making it seem. But my back hurts and I'm annoyed, so I'm allowed to be frustrated. And I do have full faith that things will get better as time goes on. It's just been a long day and positive thoughts isn't so easy to achieve right now. But I promise, I will be fine...

First Trip to the City (without Spanish help!!!)

Addition from earlier that I didn't have time for before.... some more from my first couple days here!!!


Rota is the small town located right by the base. Its a 20 minute walk from the gates to the beach there. While there hasn't really been free time to actually go to the beach, Erin and I did walk around for awhile, here are some pictures that resulted...







These are just some pictures of the beach down in Rota, the next few are just cool things or buildings around town...

The last one is a picture of the first place that we manged to order without the help of someone from here. We managed to order, and get exactly what we wanted!!!!

That is all I have for now. Work starts at 10am tomorrw, so hopefully everything goes well! Wish me luck!!!

Not Typically a Blogger...

Hi Everyone!!!

So I am not normally into this type of thing, but I thought I would set one up for the summer as opposed to filling everyone's inboxes with pictures and stories that you may or may not want to hear. I will get more pictures and things up as the summer goes on, but with running into the slight glitch of being unable to take pictures on base, this is all of I can post as of now...

This is the entire Summer internship class on one of the "required outings" of training. Their summr locations included: Spain, Cuba, Hawaii, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and maybe a few others. Out of all of the locations, I think mine wins!

Training was long and boring, but we survived and are now at our foreign locations!

This is Erin and I on the plane to head to Spain. Little did we know we were in for an 8 hour plane ride with no temperature control or leg room. This was probably the most uncmfortable 8 hours of my life, but I survived and all is well again in the world of my life!

Next are some pictures of my hotel room, while it isn't the nicest place I've ever stayed, it is definitely better than the last few!!! And I am definitely not complaining about the daily maid service... I need to hire one for at home!

This is really all I have for now, when I have more free time I will add our first solo trip off base and into the city. Who knew that not knowing the language of the city I'm living in would make things difficult!