This isn’t just the end of the year; it is the end of a decade. Ten years ago I was a ten and a half year-old kid and had absolutely no idea what I had in store for me. If you were to tell me then that I would grow up to be the captain of my high school wrestling team, go on a service trip to Guatemala, matriculate to Boston College, and then spend five months in Spain and traveling around Europe I would have told you to stop smoking whatever it was you had in your pipe. So much has happened throughout this decade and I am forever grateful because it has helped make me the man I am today. But I think that my time abroad has had the biggest impact on my life. I now see everything with the utmost clarity (hence the name of the blog), have a tremendous amount of confidence, and am not afraid of anything.

If there is one thing I learned the most in my experience here (other than the language) is how to live. I can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen. There is no such thing as destiny; there is no such thing as fate; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s laws of mechanics). I’m not going to stumble upon my dream job. The girl of my dreams is not magically going to knock on my door. I’m not going to wake up tomorrow with millions of dollars in my pocket. My health and well-being doesn’t come with a guarantee. If there is one thing that I learned from my time here in Madrid, is that I need to stop fearing failure and rejection and just go for it. I can’t keep waiting on the world to change, I need to go out and change it myself. I will be turning 21 in February, and I think its time for me to start my life. That is why I have made a list of priorities (not New Year’s resolutions) that I WILL accomplish and/or hold true to in 2010.

1.) Family. If there is one thing that I learned most about being away from home, especially for Christmas, is that you cannot replace your family. They should always be number one in my life and I love them tremendously. They are the reason for my existence. I am forever grateful for my loving family and in 2010 I will make sure they understand my love and thanks for them.

2.) School. More than halfway in to my Boston College career, things are starting to fall into place. I know what I want to study; I love Spanish and Psychology. My classes are starting to get deeper into my major and into more specific topics. I only have 3 more semesters left here and it is time to buckle down and keep my ear to the grindstone. I have ideas of what I want to do after I graduate, but that part of my life plan is still unclear. I will make more of an effort to seek out career opportunities, especially now that we are in the current economic crisis.

3.) Music. I would love music to be my career, but I know in the current economic situation along with the modern music industry and iTunes, it is very difficult to make it as a musician. Music is the love of my life; it is practically my religion. By May of 2011, I will have finished my own record of my own songs. In this new decade I plan to grow not just as a guitar player, but as a musician. The only way someone can truly know who I am, is to listen to my music.

4.) Social Life. As I stated earlier, I only have 3 semesters left at Boston College. Next semester I will be living off campus with a great opportunity at autonomy. I love my friends and they will always be my partners in crime. As I finish my time here at BC, I will make more of an effort to meet new people and share my life with them. Also what Europe has showed me is that its time for me to mature my style/wardrobe. No more sweatpants and dirty t-shirts to class; it is time for me to look good. If you look good you feel good they say. It is time I take control of my social life and be the life of the party, not the random attendee. It’s time to go out with a bang.

5.) Physical Health. Last year I attempted to run the Boston Marathon. I did not finish and ended at mile 17 with serious leg cramps. This year it WILL be different. Not only will I finish the Boston Marathon, but I will be in better shape than I was during my peak years wrestling in high school. I got my hands on the P90X workout routine and I plan on not just changing my physical health, but my lifestyle. Living off-campus will give me the opportunity to cook for myself and be more health conscious with food. I have all of the materials needed for P90X, I just need to stick to it. In 2010, not only will I finish the Boston Marathon, but I will be in the best shape/health of my life.

This isn’t going to be easy. It will take lots of time and effort to accomplish all of my goals, but it WILL happen. My time abroad has helped me see clearer and I know exactly what I have to do. In 2010, I will be a different man. I’ll still be myself for you who know me, just a more confident, driven, and clearer man.

Bring it on 2010!

“Oh but if I take my heart’s advice / I should assume it’s still unready / I’m in repair, I’m not together but I’m getting there.”

Now a special treat for you all...

Next I'd like to talk about a game that I absolutely love: American football. As a Detroit Lions, Boston College Eagles, and Michigan State Spartans football fan, it has been hard trying to follow my teams across the pond, but I have done my best with ESPN360.com to try and watch and read about how my teams do. One point I'd like to discuss is Matthew Stafford, the quarterback and #1 overall pick in last year's draft of the Detroit Lions. During week 11, Stafford came back into the game with an injured left shoulder with :00 left on the clock to lead the Lions to victory. Stafford finished with 422 yards and 5 touchdowns. Not only does this kid have tremendous athletic ability, but his leadership skills are well beyond his age. The following video shows the swagger this kid has. The real heroics start at around the 3:00 minute mark.



I believe this kid has the leadership ability to be the face of our franchise and the missing piece at the quarterback position since Bobby Layne. Currently the Lions are 2-12 and find themselves again in the top 5 positions in the NFL Draft, but if we can get some protection from the offensive line and Stafford will be a star in this league. Defense is still a huge hole on this team, but I believe we are only a few good drafts away from competitiveness. This team cannot be built in a year; it will take many, and Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Louis Delmas are some good pieces to build around.

"Go hard, win the game / With honor you will keep your fame / Down the field and gain / a Lion victory!"

One thing that all of the guitar idols have in common is a signature guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughan had his #1 Stratocaster, Jimi Hendrix had many, including his famous upside down right-handed Stratocaster and his Monterey Pop Festival Stratocaster. John Mayer uses many, but most of the time he turns to his "The Black One" custom relic Stratocaster. In the future, I plan on building my own guitar to my own personal specifications, that way I will have a guitar that is a part of me and can output the exact tone that I am looking for.

There is an opportunity before me that I can hope to help me out on my quest for a custom guitar sooner rather than later. Rittenhouse Guitars is hosting a giveaway on www.RittenhouseGuitars.com for a custom relic guitar. I do want to win a relic custom guitar from Rittenhouse Guitars. I have entered many guitar gear contests in the past and I really hope this is the one that falls through. This would be the one that could help me get the guitar of my dreams and help me achieve the signature sound I am looking for. If not, I'll just move on and continue my life as a musician.

Music is my life and I will do anything to further myself, not for the money or for the collection of expensive equipment, but for the love of music. This was just a little thought I had on my mind that I wanted to share with you. Keep tuning in for updates on my musical endeavors.

"Oh but are you experienced? / Have you ever been experienced? / Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful..."

The next morning we got up and bought some metro passes to get around the city better. The first thing on our list to do was to the the Church of the Holy Family (La Sagrada Familia). This church is a massive and beautiful example of the architectural style which is Antoni Gaudí. The church was not finished in his lifetime and is still currently under construction by architects who wish to finish the spectacular work that was started by Gaudí. They say that it will probably not be finished until around 2040. We had to pay to get in to the church, but hey, we are supporting the construction efforts. We took an elevator to the top of one of the church towers to get a beautiful view of the city before heading down and moving on to our text objective. Next we made our way to Park Güell, built on a hill. Park Güell was also constructed by Antoni Gaudí as you can clearly notice from my photos. It is an amazing park with so many different beautiful aspects there are too many to name in my post. You'll just have to go look at my photos and see for yourself. We kept climbing a trail through the constructed "caves" and eventually worked our way up to the top of the hill it is located on. From there we enjoyed a beautiful view of the entire city of Barcelona.

After sitting on top of the hill, we walked back down and made our way to the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. It was so nice being able to walk down a beach in the middle of December. We walked down and found a fun Eiffel Tower looking jungle gym and climbed on it for a while. One thing we wished we didn't see was two naked men walking down the beach (Apparently they thought it was a nude beach or something, NOT). After our childish fun on the jungle gym we continued to walk down the beach and saw a sand castle competition. Some of those were phenomenal pieces of art. After the walk down the beach we had a quick lunch and went to go check out the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia and some of the Christmas markets in the plaza near the cathedral. After dinner, we went out into the city for the night.

The next morning we woke up early to catch a train to Montserrat. Montserrat is a mountain about 1.5 hours by train from Barcelona which is the home to a Monastery which has been the home to many pilgrimages throughout history, including the great St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignatius went to Montserrat for a spiritual reflection and there he received the revelation to write the Spiritual Exercises and found the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). First we followed a trail on the mountain with spiritual monuments devoted to the important Biblical events which led to a chapel built into a cave in the mountain. After that we took a trolley ride up higher in the mountain to have a picnic basically on top of a mountain.

After that I found an opportunity to climb even higher and farther than the designated trail and I ended up basically in a remote spot on top of Montserrat looking down at the world. I sat there, and listened to Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of "Little Wing" and looked down at everything. I felt completely at peace and one with everything.



It was a magical experience and I just sat there for a good 10 minutes listening to my most inspirational music feeling so real and organic. Then John Mayer's "3x5" came on and it made me think about my entire experience here. It is impossible to put into words or catch inside a picture frame what I have gone through; it is something that you must experience with your own eyes. I do hope that my descriptions help you understand what I am experiencing but it really isn't the same as facing it face to face. Eventually the rest of the group followed me but I went a little farther than they were willing to climb so I went back to join them. After some reflection on the day we went back down to the Monastery and visited the beautiful basilica before heading back to Barcelona.

When we got back we watched a beautiful 10 minute fountain show in front of the city hall. After the fountain show we had Mexican food (Finally something spicy!) and then went out for the night exploring the city. The next morning we got up and went to Montjuic, the Jewish mountain, of Barcelona and explored the old Jewish castle. After the castle we visited the Olympic Stadium that was home to the 1992 Olympic Games. We then headed down Montjuic and visited some other impressive architectural buildings built by the famous Antoni Gaudí before heading to the airport to return back to Madrid.

This was probably my favorite trip my entire time in Europe and I'm glad it was the last. Barcelona is a magical Spanish city filled with culture, architecture, and history. It is amazing to say that I went from a beach to the top of a mountain in less than 24 hours, and I found my favorite place in the world. If you want to see photos from my trip to Barcelona visit http://picasaweb.google.com/djruemenapp.

"You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes / It brought me back to life / You'll be with me next time I go outside / No more 3x5's."

After a quick bus and metro ride, we arrived in the center of the city. We walked towards our Hostel, near Old Prague Square (the older main plaza) and saw Christmas everywhere. There was a giant Christmas tree in front of the beautiful Basilica and little shops and Christmas markets filled the plaza. Later that night Steve and I dropped our stuff off at the Hostel, met up with our friends, and walked around the city before calling it a night. We even met some new friends, Josh and Milli, who were visiting from Australia who hung out with us quite often.

The next morning we decided to explore the city on our own until our other friends, Sean and Michi, arrived later that afternoon. We saw the tombstone dedicated to Jan Palach in front of the Natural History Museum. Jan Palach was a Czech who committed suicide by setting himself on fire in protest against the communist rule of the Soviet Union. We also visited the Church of Our Lady Before Týn, which is the main church located in Old Prague, and also one of the most recognizable buildings in Prague with its heavily Gothic architecture. Then we walked around visiting the Christmas markets throughout the city seeing what each one had to offer. We then took a trip up to the top of the Astronomical Clock of Prague. The Astronomical Clock is mounted on the southern wall of the Old Town City Hall. The Clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the sun and the moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of the Apostles and other moving figures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. After the Astronomical Clock, we walked through the Jewish ghetto of Prague and the Jewish cemetery which is a monument to the many Jews who died in the Holocaust. We then went to the Cubist Cafe which is located in a building with a very rare architectural style known as cubism (think Pablo Picasso).

Later that afternoon our friends Sean and Michi arrived and we then made our way out to a traditional Czech restaurant. This would be the closest I could get to traditional Polish food (my heritage) without spending a ridiculous amount of money travelling to Poland. I got to eat some dumplings stuffed with ham and onions topped with some sauerkraut. After dinner we enjoyed what Prague had to offer during the night before heading to bed and beginning the next day.

The next day we took a walking tour throughout the city from our awesome half-American and half-Czech tour guide from Boston, Katka. She made lots of American jokes and I don't think many of the other English speakers there really understood them fully. After our tour through the city and a lunch pit-stop at Bohemia Bagel (I haven't had bagels in forever and it was amazing!), we joined another English tour of Prague Castle. We started at the Charles Bridge and worked our way up the hill town until finally reaching the castle. On the way to the castle we stumbled upon the John Lennon "Imagine Wall." When Lennon was shot and killed in 1980, young Czechs started an impromptu shrine to him on the wall of a garden. At first the police got upset, but eventually they let it grow and let it become legal to graffiti this wall. I scratched my own little saying into the paint myself saying, "Live Love Music," leaving my little legacy behind. We then made our way to the Prague Castle and witnessed the changing of the guard. After visiting the castle we walked to the cathedral at the top of the hill and it was one of the most impressive Gothic structures I've ever seen.

After our tour we made our way back down to the Old Town Square and enjoyed a cheap dinner before spending the end of our night walking down the Charles Bridge and reflecting on how magical this place was. Being in Prague was like being in a magical fairytale land with Christmas everywhere. It is probably one of the most beautiful cities I have seen in Europe, and what is also great is that the entire city is in walking distance. It really was a great trip and one of my favorite trips I've made this semester. I highly recommend visiting this Eastern European city if any of you have the opportunity. Photos of my trip to Prague are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/djruemenapp.

"Alright already we'll all float on, ok / Don't worry we'll all float on / Even if things get heavy we'll all float on."