Maybe that’s why I’d like to try something new; shake things up a little bit nothing big, just small steps at a time. This is how I came up with the idea of signing up for new activities. I go regularly to the gym, but all I do is weight lifting and running, and it never crossed my mind to sign up for other classes such as fencing, dodgeball or maybe even aerobic. After taking a look at the classes offered I decided for yoga. It always attracted my attention but I wanted a demanding activity and I didn’t know whether it yoga was too soft.

However, it turns out yoga is much more than a simple physical activity. As we can read in the wikipedia “Yoga is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on meditation as a path to self-knowledge and liberation.”

On my first class, I didn’t know what to expect, but as people were arriving I soon realized that there were easily more than 30 girls and only about 3, 4 guys. That’s not my typical scenario: being an engineer, the lectures I attend have the opposite guys-girls ratio; so it was a nice change to begin with .

As I said before, I didn’t know about the physical requirements of the activity, yet it turned out that half way through the class I was already sweating, so it was a nice workout and at the same time it was a very good relaxation technique. Even more, the next day all my muscles (specially the legs) were quite sore.

So far, it has only been two sessions, but I am quite satisfied with the change. From now on, I may try new stuff more often!

It’s already May and as good as I am here in Irvine I still miss my friends back in Spain. I am not a person who usually maintains a lot of long distance contact (except with my mummy , but that is mostly cause she’s calling me like all the time).

This is partly the reason why I started thinking about the summer and when I’ll be able to see them again. I was checking my schedule looking for spots when I can leave UCI and fly back home so we can maybe put a trip together like we did last summer. Yet, as soon as I started thinking, I realized how great it could be if the process were the other way around… my friends coming to visit me. Not because I am that important but because none of them has been in the USA and particularly in California: We could all have a great time California Dreamin’ !!

After some quick e-mail polling, I soon realized what I had in mind was not likely to happen due to budget constraints (to put it in a nice way). Yet, since we already did a trip together to Italy last summer and had a blast I may use that to my advantage. Last year we flew to Rome (via Ryanair), rent a huge van there and drove almost till the most southern piece of Land in Italy: the Puglia. Lucky for me, technology is everywhere, so there are plenty of pictures and even some video content of the journey. I have put together a small video with some highlights in a clear emotional blackmail attempt.

Here are the results of my work:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out !

What a scary title for a post, isn’t it? Don’t worry though, I’m just referring to the Death Valley National Park. I soon realized that California is mainly a huge desert. Once you leave the huge metropolis such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, there isn’t much there. There’s a huge surface of empty land where small lost town are scattered. This took me by surprise, and after the initial shock I learnt that this is one of the beauties of California. This landscape begins as soon as you move away from the coast; this is why there are so many national parks:

• Joshua tree
• Death valley
• Yosemite
• Sequoia
• Mojave

During the winter quarter I had the opportunity to visit the first two in the list, and from what I’ve seen, they all are different types of deserts; empty but pretty; very pretty. Each of them has its own charms. In the Joshua Tree National Park, there are the unmistakeable Joshua trees; a weird mixture between tree and cactus, which is probably known worldwide due to the famous U2 album. It is also a great place to practice your climbing skills. Besides the endless miles of trees and rocks, there’s nothing else.

A similar emptiness can be expected from the Death Valley. It is a place so fierce and erosive that not much can survive there. In the weekend we went there, we went from an arduous heat the first morning, to a windy cold as soon as the sun set, to an intense rain during the night followed by the corresponding flood, and then finally some snow. It was crazy!

In the valley itself, these extreme weather conditions lead to very different environments in such a small area. Most of it is formed by the typical empty rocky desert, but the place is far from flat, and there are many water trails which make the place bumpy and inaccessible. Nowadays, the water is scarce though, and although most of the valley is actually under the sea level, unless it rains, no water will be seen. There was plenty of water in the past though, and today only a vast salty white surface remains. To make the place even weirder there are also huge sand dunes that look like an African desert. Finally the whole valley is surrounded by tall mountains which on occasions have a reddish tone as if they were partly made of clay. The description may appear a little bit weird, but you cannot make a clear idea until you’ve seen it with your own eyes. It is certainly a really pretty spot, and by the way, I find its name really appropriate.

We don’t have this type of landscapes where I come from; you can get away from the city but you will probably be surrounded by some kind of plantation and the next town will be probably less than 15 minutes away by car. However, here the immensity and vacuity of the landscape is overwhelming. I really felt so small and superfluous…

Since I don’t know how long I’m staying in California, we are already preparing our next trip to Sequoia. I’ll keep you posted.

Sorry about the silence from my side ; since Christmas I haven’t been around much although I’ve consistently been in front of my computer for more than 5 hours a day for sure. In the beginning I had to adjust back to Irvine coming again from Barcelona and then it soon got busy. But here I am again! The spring break is over, we have a new quarter and I finally have some free time .

Don’t feel sorry for me though, cause during the winter quarter I got to do stuff too… et me tell you about the time when we went to the Staples Center. I love sports in general, but back in Barcelona, I played in a basketball team since I was quite young and till college. So I love the game. In many occasions I used to stay late until 3 in the morning (due to the time zone difference) to watch NBA playoffs games. I particularly remember the Lakers vs Sacramento Kings series. It had to be great to be in the Staples center in one of those defining moments when Horry scored a 3 pointer for the victory in the last second.

So, me and some friends bought tickets and went to see a Clippers vs Grizzlies game. Yes, I know they are last! This is a crappy match, but tickets are cheaper and Pau Gasol plays in Memphis, so it works for us. Actually, the game itself was boring and I think we were the only ones supporting Memphis. But I got the Staples feeling . what a great pavilion! In Spain we don’t spend that kind of money in basketball. I’d like to come back to a real basketball game when I can allow to spend a hundred bucks in tickets.

After the game, we went for a walk for downtown LA, and guess what… they were shooting a Jackie Chan movie right there. There were more than 20 police cars alone in the scene, so you can imagine what type of it was… I think it was for Rush Hour 4. I’ll definitely watch it when it to comes out. These things only happen in America…

Click here to view the embedded video.

That is why when Marcel and I had the chance, we drove up to Santa Barbara to visit the famous wineries. We were invited by Alberto and Isabel, two Spanish (Catalan?) students studying in UCSB.I want to thank them for welcoming us, cause before this trip we didn’t know them that much. They showed us Santa Barbara which turned out to be a small town very cosy and really pretty.

Despite being late November, the weather was really warm during the whole weekend that had we had brought our swimsuits we would have gone to the beach. There, we had the chance to rediscover our roots when visiting the Spanish mission in SB. There are many catholic misiones in California, most of which were founded by the Catalan fray Juníper Serra. The simplicity in which people led their lives in the past always shocks me and how removing a few things we take for granted, life can become extremely harsh.

The visit to the wineries was the last (and main) event of the weekend. It turned out to be very pleasant. I had the impression of being back home. Catalunya is a land famous for its quality wines and being in the middle of all those vineyards was really familiar to me. We had a wine taste in the Firestone wineries. This is the region which was featured in the movie Sideways. I don’t know much about the wine industry by I really enjoyed the experience. However, I felt like wine was the indicative of a fancier lifestyle. One I can assure you I don’t belong to. Maybe in the near future once I start working .

]]> http://vito.es/blog/posts/163/santa-barbara/feed 0 http://vito.es/blog/posts/153/deja-vu http://vito.es/blog/posts/153/deja-vu#comments Fri, 12 Jan 2007 23:38:33 +0000 ViTo http://vito.es/blog/?p=153 I guess most of you are familiar with that expression. I would say, it reminds me of one of the Matrix scenes, where a déjà vu is linked to a bug in the system. However, this time I’m not referring to the Matrix; all of this is because the new Denzel Washington movie. After watching it, I would have to say it is the typical thriller; with lots of action and a complicated plot which does not make a lot of sense. Nothing extraordinary. I got the chance to watch it for free though, so I’m not going to complain about it. On the contrary, thanks for inviting me to a pre-premiere screening.

Yes, you heard it right. I got to watch the movie before its official release. How did I manage to do that? It’s not like I have a lot of contacts (I have none) or I am in the show biz or something. It turns out that ASUCI (the UCI students association) organizes private screenings once in a while. Again, needless to say they are completely free for students. This time, Marcel, Pol, Allie, Edith and me (I have the feeling I am forgetting someone) were lucky enough to attend the event.

Independently from the quality of the movie, this is going to be one of the mainstream releases this year. And students in UCI got to watch if for free 5 days before the official premiere. I am shocked. I didn’t know universities had those kinds of privileges. Just so you know, this would never happen in any Spanish university.

It was OK, but the best was yet to come… Walking back home we saw this group of people gathered in the street waiting for something to happen. It immediately caught our attention, but didn’t know what to expect. About 5 minutes later, when we were about to leave a group of black people carrying torches arrived. It was a ritual; a weird one, like a tribal thing. Four men, were the focus of attention, dressed in a kind of military uniform they were dancing and chanting all the time. It was a test, an initiation ritual in to get into the AΦA fraternity.

I was shocked to attend an event like this; I was under the impression that these things only happened in the movies, but it turns out that most of the stereotypes I had about America are true. By the way, if it were up to me, the four newbies should make it into the fraternity cause they showed a complete submission for more than half hour.

]]> http://vito.es/blog/posts/153/deja-vu/feed 1 http://vito.es/blog/posts/148/uci-home-opener http://vito.es/blog/posts/148/uci-home-opener#comments Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:29:55 +0000 ViTo http://vito.es/blog/?p=148 It amazes me how popular sports are in UCI. I get the feeling it’s not just UCI though; this is what goes on in most American universities. As I mentioned in one of my other posts, sport facilities in the campus are endless. I have to admit that with every student paying more than 8000$ of fees each quarter, maybe it’s not that hard to do, but the point is still valid. Besides, I’ve come to know people which are exempt from these fees because they receive sports fellowships. It makes sense to give money to people who deserve it, but with all due respect, I know people back in Barcelona who have been practicing sport for years, they are amazing and they don’t get a single dime from anybody; it’s even worse, they have to pay to play the sport they love.

I started thinking about this, the other day, when I and Marcel attended the Home Opener game of the UCI basketball team in the Bren Events Center. It was a nice game. They played against South Carolina and it was a disputed match with no clear winner until the end. I was really impressed with the whole thing. The price of the event is 15$ which many people pay despite being “only” a university game. For students, the entrance is free though. From what I saw, people really support UCI, and as the speaker said, we were more than 2000 people there. Not only that, but they were also giving away free Completely Insane Anteaters t-shirts for all students.

This was the first game we attended, and we did so, just to see what was going on, but I have to admit that as soon as we arrived, we got linked into the feeling and started supporting out team. Needless to say, we enjoyed it very much. From what I saw people really love UCI. It’s all about the anteaters!

I’ve been playing basketball in Spain for more than 10 years, and never saw anything close to what I saw in the Brent events center. The pavilion was great, they played with 3 referees, there was a band, cheerleaders, a speaker, etc. To me, it looked more like a professional game than a college competition. In Spain, there are professional teams in the top division (known as ACB, which after NBA is probably the best one in the world) which do not have those kind of resources nor support. It made me thing about the differences between both countries…

Click here to view the embedded video.

By the way, in case you were wondering UCI won that match.

With such resources, it is no wonder why people are so fit. As I see it, when you’re at home doing nothing, you can always go hang out in the ARC and play something. At least that’s what I do! Besides that, every quarter several leagues and tournaments are organized in many different sports. This is how we entered the indoor soccer intramural competition. In Spain, Soccer is the main sport; I guess it would be something like football in USA. Since it is the most practiced sport, I would say people are generally not bad at all, especially when compared to people from other countries where soccer isn’t that popular.

So, we joined this internal UCI league. The matches take place once a week during the whole quarter, and then the best teams make it to the playoffs. The game is short but intense. Since our team consisted exclusively of catalan people, we came up with the original name. The Catalan Guys. Yes, I have to admit we are not that bright… The thing is though, that with a name like this, you feel more like a national team representing your country It is a very diverse team though; all of us are UCI (ex)students ranging from 22 years old to more than thirty in some cases. The fact is that despite the diversity, we managed to create a nice team. It turns out, we did quite good throughout the competition. We won every single game during the regular season (you can read short summaries in here –they’re in Spanish though-). Since we already played against all teams during regular season we got the chance to see all of our future rivals, and the truth is we beat all of them.

I have to admit we were probably overconfident and already saw ourselves as champions. I mean, who wouldn’t after a perfect season. But then, when the first serious match came, one of out best players Marc (see video) had finished his master degree in UCI and went back to Barcelona. We should have taken that as a bad sign; we didn’t. And as you can imagine we lost the first playoff game and were out of the competition. It kind of reminded me of what happens to the Spanish national team in every world cup

Click here to view the embedded video.

From my side, despite the loss, I am just happy to be part of a team again. I love sports, and being able to play again after my knee surgery and my back problems is just all I needed. Anyway, the next quarter the championship will be ours, so, watch out for the Catalan Guys!

However, the event is not that formal, it is just a gathering so you get the chance to meet the other people involved in some way in the fellowship. The idea is to introduce the new fellows (us) to the others… previous fellows (which we already know since they are the ones that helped us all the way), people from the catalan Casal of California, Roger Rangel who is currently in charge of the fellowship, and obviously Pete and his wife. But all of this takes place in a relaxed atmosphere…

This event is hosted yearly so most likely the next fall I’ll be there again. However, in some editions there are special perks. For example, I think it was 3 years ago when the former president of the Generalitat attended to it. It would have been quite an honor to meet him! Again, the next year a well known catalan reporter was there working on a documentary known as Afers Exteriors (External Affairs) about catalan people living abroad. Actually, you can find this video in one of my other posts.

It was quite fun actually, we got to hang out in a very nice house, attended a hawaian show, and could eat all we wanted. By the way, we also had a quick bath in the jacuzzi . With no doubt, I can say that the hawaian thing was the central point of the event. We were all quite impressed, and some of us even joined the performers…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Awesome! What a rhythm Xavi! Who says engineers don’t know how to dance…

For now, let me just say, that I had to do many paperwork and since no car was available to me I had to walk everywhere. I’m positive that for the first 2-3 weeks, I was walking more than 4 miles a day. Open an account in the bank, buy an american cell phone, go to the supermarket, walk around campus from one building to the other, etc. Don’t take me wrong, I like walking, but there’s a point where you simply have to stop. On the other end, I’ve seen some (American) people asking for a ride to their cars which are less than 400 feet away . For some items, like furniture you definitely have to get a ride, but you can’t always force people to drive you around. The public transportation option is not that recommendable, since it is not like in Europe where big cities are really tight and you can easily distinguish the downtown where there are many transportation options. In California, since the space constraint is negligible, cities tend to expand into sparse populated areas and it is difficult to reach everything with a public transport network.

That is why a car is almost required. So, I started looking for one. Since my budget is limited I had to go for a used one. And again, since my budget is seriously limited I’ll have to share the car with somebody else, so the costs are split by half. Since I am a student and my classes are on campus, I don’t really need a car all the time, only for particular moments like when shopping or maybe on weekend trips, so sharing is not such a big inconvenience. A good place to look for cars is Internet. There are several pages which focus on buying and selling stuff such as the craigslist. For cars, I found specially useful the autotrader web page. Having in mind a 2000$ budget we started looking. For that price, most cars will be pretty old, but we where able to locate a 2002 vehicle. It happened really quickly. We found the car on internet on Saturday, and the next Monday it was ours. I think we were quite lucky.
This is the first car I’ve bought on my own. And so far, I’m very proud of it. Let’s hope it won’t let me down!
Here in America all cars are very big. I think SUV‘s are the most typical cars, and an engine with 6 cylinders or more is a must. Do people really need a 3000 kg hummer or is it just to brag? Our car is a Hyundai Accent 1.5. Compared to other cars it looks like a toy, but it has its advantages: such a small engine gets a great mileage. Being a corean car, it has a manual shift which is pretty rare in California, but that’s what we are used to in Europe.

The next step was getting a drivers license from California. Apparently, my spanish one is only good for rented cars. I was concerned, since back in Spain it cost me more than 600$ to get it (it is such a scheme), but here things work the way they should. Getting it cost me 26$, one night study and going to the DMV a single afternoon. What a difference! At the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) I found out that everybody can personalize their plates, so I think I’ll get my own:

What do you think about this?