Nicole and I cheering on "La Roja" in one of their early world cup games.

How lucky was I to have lived in Spain the one year they make it all the way to the finals and win the world cup? I suppose some would consider it unlucky, with all the swarms of loud fans, honking car horns, and traffic caused by the games, however as a foreigner from Canada, where nothing exciting like the world cup ever happens, I was thrilled to be a part of the action!

Even though I had never sat down and watched a soccer game from start to end (shocking, no?), I found myself watching every single Spanish world cup game and even dressed up and supported "la roja" like a true Spaniard. Alicante was a truly exciting place to watch the game, where everyone rushed to the bars an hour before the game started to secure seats in front of the many new HD big-screen TVs bought just in time for the games, and sat outside cheering, drinking beer, and having a good time.

For the final game, I wound up in Toledo. After a disappointing first period watching the game in an almost-empty bar, my family and I rushed to the "plaza de toros" (the bull-fighting ring) where the action was at. The plaza was completely filled with people, all sporting the colours of Spain. It was as if everyone in that arena was linked emotionally; we all cheered, boo-ed, shouted, and screamed at the same time as Spain fought their way to become world champions for the first time in the history of the world cup.

Here are some pictures and videos to give you a taste of what it means to be Spanish and support the national football team!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Guide to Living and Working in Alicante, Spain as an EU Citizen After living and working in Alicante, Spain for almost a...
2. Winter in Spain It's sure been a while! Here's what I've been busy...
3. WordPress 3.0 Installed WordPress 3.0 has finally been released, and is now installed...

(Obvious) Lessons (re-)learned:

• Always back-up your files!! It's as easy as making a tar.gz archive of your wordpress directory and a simple backup of your MySQL database.
• Remember to disable all your plug-ins first (this may have caused my crash).
• Put your site into maintenance mode before updating.

I could not get anything to work properly, so I just ended up installing a fresh copy of wordpress and am now transferring all my files to the new installation.

Oh well, you live you learn..

The reason I updated WordPress was so that I can start attacking my back-log of unwritten posts! Here's my checklist:

• Trip to Florence, Pisa, Siena (May 28-30)
• The Curious Incident of the Angry Algerian with Two Knives in the Night-Time (June 3)
• Trip to Malta (June 11-12)
• Trip to Rome  (June 18-20)
• Las Hogueras de San Juan de Alicante (June 21-24)

What else is new?

• A big welcome to the new Canadian interns, Lucy Yin and Kasper Woiceshyn who have started working at CYPE Ingenieros in Alicante, Spain and are sharing the flat with us.
• I bid farewell to by far the nicest and most fun room mates I've had the pleasure of sharing a flat with: Conni & Sebastian! (You can check out their awesome blog here).
• The amazing atmosphere we've had in Alicante these past few days due to the feast of St. John and the World Cup (Spain is still in the running!!)
• My dear mother and brother are visiting a week from today. We'll be two road-trips: Alicante-Granada/Motril/Trevelez-Toledo-Cuenca-Valencia AND Valencia-Barcelona-Madrid.
• My Grandmother and cousin are visiting at the end of the month for a weekend.
• I head to Malta for 10 days from August 7-17, followed by a visit to Finland from August 18-22 and Gothenburg City, Sweden from August 28-29.

Stay tuned for the promised posts! Now that I'm on half-day summer schedule I have time to catch up

Related posts:

1. Buenos Días Wow! Time flies. On Tuesday I will pass the three-week...
2. Guide to Living and Working in Alicante, Spain as an EU Citizen After living and working in Alicante, Spain for almost a...

The attached flow chart describes how you can become a full, legal employed citizen in Alicante within just 7 business days! The information is current as of June 2, 2010.

Download the guide now!

Related posts:

1. One Week in Alicante, Spain It's been just over a week since I first arrived...

Cuando embarqué en el avión con destino a Altenburg, Alemania, el miércoles pasado para tomar unas vacaciones, nunca imaginé que el domingo siguiente, yo y otros miles no podríamos regresar a nuestras casas. En cuanto llegué a Alemania, empezó una de mis aventuras más curiosas en Europa.

El aeropuerto de Altenburg es pequeñísimo, tiene el tamaño aproximadamente de una estación de autobuses en vez de un aeropuerto internacional. Mientras estábamos saliendo de la terminal, un oficial de aduana nos eligió para una inspección de nuestras maletas, probablemente porque nosotros dos somos extranjeros. La habitación para las inspecciones era como un armario, con nosotros y los dos oficiales, casi no cabíamos dentro.  Como tenía unos paquetes de comprimidos vitamínicos, también comprobaron que no eran pequeñas cantidades de narcóticos. Poco después, salimos del aeropuerto y nos encontramos con nuestro amigo alemán Miguel.

El primer día de nuestro viaje, fuimos a la ciudad de Dresden, que al final de la segunda guerra mundial, fue completamente destruido. Ahora, es una ciudad muy bonita con grandes edificios y un río que cruza entre la mitad de la ciudad. Comimos comida típica de Alemania (Schnitzel, salchichas, y patatas) y bebimos mucha cerveza buena. Por la noche, salimos de fiesta con estudiantes de la universidad de Dresden.

Al día siguiente, condujimos a Praga (sólo dos horas en coche desde Dresden), la capital antigua de la República Checa. A pesar de un poco de mal tiempo, ¡disfrutamos mucha de la ciudad! Ya que sólo estaríamos medio día allí, contractamos una excursión guiada por los lugares de interés. La catedral, el palacio, y el puente de Carlos fueron los sitios más importantes. Estaba sorprendido porque mis esperanzas sobre Praga no eran muy altas, pero es una ciudad mágica y tiene muchas cosas para disfrutar.

Nuestra siguiente parada fue Berlín, la capital de Alemania. A diferencia de Praga, estaba un poco decepcionado porque tenía mucha esperanza en ver la ciudad pero en realidad, no hay mucho para ver. Dado que mucho de la ciudad fue destruido en la guerra, es una ciudad muy moderna. Los edificios del gobierno y los edificios públicos eran impresionantes, pero el resto no fue muy especial. Como Alemania del Este fue comunista después de la guerra y antes de la caída del muro de Berlín, la arquitectura es muy sencilla. Pero, sólo por estar en un lugar donde hubo tantos eventos importantes en el siglo veinte, mereció la pena. Vimos los restos del muro de Berlín y el monumento construido en honor de los judíos que habían sido asesinados en la guerra, y sentí mucho respecto por ver todo lo que antes sólo había leído en libros.

La experiencia más potente en todo el viaje fue nuestra visita a un campo de concentración cerca de Weimar. No tengo palabras para explicar lo que sentí cuando vi los horrores del Holocausto directamente. Ahora el campo es un monumento. Era muy tranquilo y verde, reluciente debajo del sol y el cielo azul, pero la memoria de lo que pasó allí 60 años antes nunca lo olvidáremos.

Nos quedamos la noche en la pequeña ciudad de Weimar donde muchos músicos y poetas vivieron como Goethe, Schiller, y Bach. ¡Es una ciudad muy pintoresca! Fue un buen cambio de medio ambiente después de las ciudades grandes. Además, fue en Weimar donde descubrimos que a causa de la ceniza volcánica flotando sobre todo Europa, todos los vuelos (incluyendo nuestro) eran cancelados.

Por suerte, encontramos a un hombre que iba a conducir a Alicante desde Frankfurt la mañana siguiente en una página web para gente que quiere compartir sus coches con viajeros. El martes, al cabo de 28 horas en coche, llegamos a Alicante a las 7 de la mañana, nos duchamos, y fuimos a trabajar. Todavía hay muchos pasajeros que no pueden regresar a sus casas ya que los vuelos acaban de empezar, y todos los trenes y autobuses están llenos y súper-caros. ¡Que el próximo viaje sea más fácil!

Related posts:

1. Aventuras en Barcelona English translation to follow below. El fin de semana del...

The mood in the plane bound for Amsterdam was very energetic. Everyone, it seems, was excited to arrive and continue to fly high. The food of choice in Amsterdam is Steak (bistek) served with fresh fries and beer; all the restaurants offer this as their menu. We couldn't enter a Coffeeshop our first night because someone forget their ID (although we later discovered that there are some that don't check). The weather was unfortunately a bit rainy, but we still enjoyed the better part of the next day exploring the city, its canals and the famous Red Light District, which is just as active during the day as it is at night. Amstedam is of course world-famous for legalizing soft drugs and prostitution... it's quite a different world. If you're feeling adventurous and want to try some cake, from what I hear the one served at Goa is very strong, whereas many others are similar to what you'd find at your local bakery. We were lucky in seeing the tulips beginning to bloom, probably now, as I'm writing this, the city is much more colourful! Another curiosity about Amsterdam is that everyone gets around by bike or public transit. There was a three-storey structure near the central station stuffed with bikes belonging to commuters.

The next day, we woke up, ate breakfast, and left for the airport. A few hours later we landed in Geneva, rented a car, drove to France, and were skiing in the Jura Mountains by noon. After a satisfying day, we drove to Lausanne in Switzerland where I met up with a long-lost second cousin for dinner at his beautiful house. We later returned to Geneva where we were staying with a friend. The next morning we returned the car, only to receive a 280 CHF bill for a one-day rental! Apparently.. the antenna on our car was missing and since we didn't think to check if the car came with an antenna when we picked it up, we were responsible to replace it. We also paid through the nose for insurance and a barrage of other fees. With gas considered, the one-day rental cost us 308 Swiss Francs (roughly equivalent to Canadian Dollars).

We spent the remainder of the day wondering around the city of Geneva. The downtown area was full of very professionally dressed people as it was a working day. We window-shopped at the many expensive boutiques there are, and had a very expensive, but filling, lunch.

The next morning, our flight back to Alicante was delayed one hour in departure due to the striking French Air Traffic Controllers, and was delayed another hour in landing because of bad visibility in Alicante. In fact, we ended up landing in Valencia instead and had to spend another three hours to get back to Alicante. All things considered, it was an enjoyable trip. I'd like to return to both places to see more of the country-side outside of the cities, but for now my appetite for travelling to Switzerland and Holland has been satisfied.

Related posts:

1. Winter in Spain It's sure been a while! Here's what I've been busy...
2. Buenos Días Wow! Time flies. On Tuesday I will pass the three-week...

El fin de semana del 12-15 de febrero, viajé a Barcelona para explorar la ciudad y celebrar el Carnaval. Había una oferta muy buena de Spanair para volar desde Alicante a Barcelona directo por solo 25€ ida y vuelta. Ya que estaba muy acostumbrado a Ryanair (donde haces la facturación en Internet y puedes llegar al aeropuerto media hora antes de la salida) mí compañera, Nicole, y yo llegamos al aeropuerto cuando el mostrador de facturación se acababa de cerrar. Ya que Nicole no había podido facturar en Internet, no pudo pasar por la puerta de seguridad ni embarcar en el avión. La mujer de la taquilla de Spanair dijo que no podíamos hacer nada. Ya que solo 25 minutos quedaban, corrí a la puerta de embarque y después hablé con otra mujer de Spanair, Nicole pudo embarcar porque antes, yo había llamado a Spanair para verificar la reserva, ellos habían realizado la facturación. Por fin, llegamos a nuestro hotel en Barcelona a medianoche. Encontramos un bar que cocinó una pizza preparado para nosotros (todos los restaurantes ya habían cerrado) y tomamos una cerveza para olvidar todo.

El sábado, fuimos primero a la famosa Casa Batlló de Gaudí. ¡Era impresionante! Nunca había visto un edificio tan creativo.  Todas las habitaciones se habían diseñado de forma completamente única y con mucho detalle. La casa se había diseñado sin líneas rectas, porque en realidad, no hay líneas rectas en la naturaleza.  Además, cada habitación tenía luz natural. Luego, fuimos a mirar escaparates por la avenida principal de compras (Passeig de Gracia). Descubrimos una tienda muy interesante que se llamaba Nespresso que vendía expreso de mucha calidad en cápsulas de colores diferentes. Había una mesa con cafés de degustación donde tomamos un café gratis (Ahora he descubierto que hay una tienda de Nespresso se acaba de abrir en Alicante cerca del Corte Inglés). Poco después bajamos a la Plaza Catalunya y encontramos un restaurante japonés de buffet libre. La comida estaba muy rica, y sólo valió 13€. Para digerir la comida, dimos una vuelta por las Ramblas donde había mucha gente y tiendas de mascotas, flores, y libros. También había un mercado con muchas frutas y zumos exóticos, frescos, y llenos de colorido. Por la noche, fuimos a un desfile de Carnaval. A pesar de que estaba lloviendo, había mucha gente y los participantes tenían mucha energía y ánimo.

En nuestro último día en Barcelona, fuimos primero a la Catedral de la Sagrada Familia (otra obra maestra de Gaudí) para ir a misa. Después, no pudimos entrar por la parte principal porque había una cola de horas. Entonces, desayunamos y fuimos al Tibidabo, un parque de atracciones encima de una montaña donde pudimos mirar toda la ciudad. Más tarde, bajamos a la Plaza Catalunya otra vez para comer en una tasca y después, dimos otra vuelta por las Ramblas. Por la tarde, fuimos al puerto de Barcelona y fuimos de tiendas a un centro comercial allí.

El lunes, tuvimos que despertarnos a las 4 de la madrugada, y a las 8, llegamos en Alicante y fuimos a trabajar.

Barcelona es una ciudad muy antigua y muy impresionante. Me gusta mucho más que Madrid, y tengo que irme otra vez para ver más. La arquitectura, la cultura, la comida… ¡toda está muy bueno! ¡Qué suerte tuve que Nicole pudo ir después de todo!

In English:

On the weekend of February 12-15, I travelled to Barcelona to explore the city and celebrate Carnaval. There was an amazing offer from Spanair to fly directly from Alicante to Barcelona for just 25 euros (round trip). Since I was quite used to flying Ryanair where you check-in online and can arrive at the airport a half hour before the departure, Nicole and I arrived at the airport just as the check-in desk closed. Since Nicole wasn't able to check-in online, she didn't have a boarding card and couldn't pass through security. The lady working at the Spanair ticket counter told us there was nothing we could do! Since only 25 minutes were left before departure I ran to the gate and after speaking with the staff there, Nicole was able to board since I had called a few hours before to confirm the reservation and Nicole was checked in over the phone. When we finally arrived at our hotel in Barcelona around midnight, we found a bar that cooked us a frozen pizza (since all the restaurants were already closed), and we drank a beer so as to forget what had happened earlier.

On Saturday, we first visited Gaudí's Casa Batlló. It was incredible! Never before have I visited a building so creative! Every single room was uniquely designed and with great attention to even the smallest of details. The entire house was built without the presence of straight lines, since there are no straight lines in nature. Moreover, every room was designed to allow natural light to enter. Afterwards, we went window-shopping along the principal shopping avenue (Passeig de Gracia). We discovered an interesting store called Nespresso that sells their coffee in small, colourful capsules. There was a tasting station were we enjoyed a free shot of espresso (a Nespresso store recently opened up in Alicante and I now have my own machine ). Next, stopped by Plaza Catalunya and found an all-you-can-eat Japenese buffet. The food was very good, and only cost 13€. To digest the food, we took a stroll down the Ramblas of Barcelona were there where many people selling pets, flowers, and books. There is also a colourful market were you can find fresh, exotic fruits and juices. At night we went to the Carnaval parade. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, there were lots of spectators, and the participants had a lot of energy and spirit.

On our final day in the city, we visited Gaudí unfinished masterpiece, the Sagarada Familia Cathedral and heard mass in the newly renovated crypt. Unfortunately, we couldn't enter the main part of the Cathedral since there was an hour-long line-up to get in! So instead, we had breakfast and went to Tibidabo, an amusment park located on top of one of Barcelona's mountains from where you have an excellent view of the whole city. Afterwards, we returned to Plaza Catalunya for lunch in a tasca (tapas bar) and went for another walk along the Ramblas and waterfront.

On Monday, we had to wake up at 4 in the morning, and by 8, we had already arrived in Alicante and went to work.

Barcelona is a very old and impressive European city. I, in fact, enjoyed it more than Madrid and will have to return to see more! The architecture, the culture, and the food... everything is amazing! How luck we were that we were able to board the plane in Alicante!

No related posts.

Congratulations as well to Megan Lund, the new Vice-Chair, Henry Shi, the new Finance Director, Thariq Shihipar, the new Communications Director, and Peter Badea, the new Athletics Director.

You can look forward to an incredible and exciting year ahead with your new Exec Team!

Related posts:

1. Raphael Sammut is running for EngSci Club Chair! If you haven't heard already, I'm running for EngSci Club...

View my Facebook group, comment on this post (ask me questions), and vote in the EngSci Club Elections this Friday in the Common Room (if you're on PEY, you can vote by e-mail).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what I've done:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• EngSci Class Rep (twice)
• Former Director of Communications for the EngSci Club
• UTEK/OEC/CEC Champion for Engineering Communications
• EngSci Leadership Working Group
• Head F!rosh Leader and F!rosh Week Chair for Leadership Development
• Faculty Representative for the National Engineering Summit
• TA for Praxis I & II

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what I bring to the table:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Strong relationships with key university administrators, professors and option chairs from the Division of EngSci as well as the Faculty of Engineering.
• Loads of experience running and planning club events
• Excellent leadership and communication skills
• Enthusiasm, Creativity, and Spirit!
• Fresh Ideas (see below)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what I will do for the EngSci Club next year:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Set Office Hours for Exec Members to be available in the Club Office
• New Events to enhance the student experience for EngScis
• Scheduling to ensure the Pop Machine is always full
• Better collaboration with EngSci Student Groups including NScientia, the Leadership Working Group, and NSight
• Creating new opportunities for student input and involvement on club decisions

IN SHORT: A more active, more fun, and more accessible EngSci Club!

Here are my posters, which have already been posted in the EngSci student space:

Related posts:

1. Preparing for a Professional Experience Year… in Spain! It was two summers ago when visiting my family in...
2. (Almost) Virtually Exploding Buildings This past summer, I had the opportunity to work with...

Raphael skiing in Sierra Nevada, Europe's southernmost ski resort, at an altitude of 3000 metres above sea level.

It's sure been a while! Here's what I've been busy doing over the past few weeks:

• Spent Christmas and New Year's with my family in Malta
• Continuing to study Spanish (stay tuned for original Spanish content)
• Weekend trip to Barcelona for Carnaval
• Weekend trip to Granada to check out the city, eat tapas, and ski in Europe's southernmost ski resort
• More skiing fun in the Aragonese mountains near Teruel
• Learned how to drive a manual car

The last item involved me getting stuck in a small town and having to reverse up a one-lane cobbled-stone street with a 15 degree pitch in front of an audience of smirking residents, touring my neighbourhood multiple times to find parking and eventually racing another car to a parking spot by reversing down a one-way street, and driving up a snowy mountain road in a car without snow tires or chains.

Raphael on Mount Tibidabo, with the city of Barcelona spread out below.

This weekend I'm heading off to nearby mountains to do a biking-mountain climbing race, and next week I'll be heading off to Amsterdam and Geneva (including a skiing stopover in the Swiss Alps, of course).

That's my quick update, as usual, stay tuned for more details! Don't forget to check out photos.raphsammut.ca for new pictures!

Related posts:

1. Home for a Rest It's been sixteen weeks since my arrival in Spain, and...
2. Preparing for a Professional Experience Year… in Spain! It was two summers ago when visiting my family in...
3. The race is on! If you're in Toronto this weekend, you might want to...

On December 22, the fun starts with the "Sorteo de Loteria Nacional de Navidad". It is a day of anticipation when everyone in Spain tunes into a local radio or television station to watch the selection of prizes for Spain's National Christmas Lottery. For three hours, children from an old private school in Madrid call out the winning lottery numbers and prizes. Everyone in Spain buys at least one ticket in the hopes of a big payout. The grand prize is 300,000 euros, but there are many, many prizes of smaller denominations as well. Each ticket is quite expensive, priced at 2o euros. It contains 5 numbers and there are at least ten tickets sold with the same number. If your ticket has the same last number as the ticket of the grand prize, you get your money back (20 euro prize). I don't usually gamble, but I split three tickets with a friend of mine and have my fingers crossed. Here's a video of last year's Sorteo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

December 23 is the day of health, because when asked if someone won the lottery they most often reply "No, but at least I have my health".

December 24 is "Noche Bueno", Christmas Eve. It usually includes a big dinner. December 25 is Christmas Day and usually spent with family. A very typical Christmas treat in Spain is Turron. It comes in many different forms but usually always contains almonds.

Most interesting is the tradition of New Year's Eve. People typically gather in the main square of their town and await the toll of the clock. When the moment arrives, everyone pops a grape into their mouth at the sound of each gong. Eating twelve grapes in rapid succession is a celebration of the twelve past months and provides good luck for the coming year. In the southern-most pueblo (town) in the Alicante province where I live, there are grapes very late in maturing, and it is from this region that everyone has their grapes for New Year's Eve.

This year, on January 6, Spain celebrates Epiphany (the coming of the three kings bearing gifts for Jesus Christ). It is on this day that all the children in Spain receive their Christmas gifts and spend the day playing with them. The next day, similar to Boxing Day, marks the official start of the sale season.

That's all for now. Two posts in one day to make up for my 10-week absence!

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family all over the world!

No related posts.