Day 5

Today has been unbelievable! Spain is as different from Oxford as it is from the US. Breakfast was coffee & croissants and then it was off to walk the city and shoot video.

Last night proved interesting as having a hotel nesteled between two beautiful cathedrals has a drawback. Cathedrals have bell towers. Bell towers are loud. One cathedral is about 5 minutes ahead of the other. So every hour, on the hour, and then 5 after the hour, I was awakened by a loud BOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG! Haha. Today I've tuned it out as I walk the city so I'm sure I'll sleep better tonight. I awoke to a heavy amount of marijuana smoke pouring into my window from the street below. If it's not illegal here, people make no attempt to hide it!

I ate lunch with Ronnie Ruiz (photographer), Kris Evans, and Ronnie Morgan. We ate at a little outdoor cafe in a sort of town square. The way many restaurants work here is there is a set price, say 10€, and then you have 10 choices for a first course, 10 for a second, 5 for a dessert. A bottle of water are also included. It makes ordering very simple! The appetizer was an amazing salad complete with STRONG bleu cheese chunks and fig dressing. My main course was thinly sliced grille beef ribs. Once again, amazing, though I sampled some of Ronnie Morgan's octopus and regretted not ordering it! Dessert was a chocolate crepe. Perfection.

The students get in at 10 and we'll head off to what is supposed to be an amazing traditional meal. I'll report back with a video and a review either tonight or tomorrow.

Attached is my ADD look at the city from today. I tried to get as many scenic shots and "transition shots" as I could before students arrive so I can spend the next 5 days focusing on them and not filler shots. This video basically highlights my day. From my hotel balcony & lobby, to the grandiose cathedrals & mountainscapes, to food, to pigeons eating the leftovers on the ground. It doesn't make sense. It's not supposed to. It's rough, it's not color corrected, It's not pretty. There's way too many pigeon shots! It's simply an overview of what I saw today through my camera lens. I hope you enjoy it though! This place is gorgeous and impossible to fully grasp without being here. Hopefully my video will give you a taste of what is Girona, Spain.