Why Facial Hair Rocks

5 Reasons why Facial Hair is Awesome
1) There is a bond between ALL men with facial hair
2) It's a great ice breaker
3) It really does keep your face warm (I didn't know this was true until I shaved my mustache after 3 months. My upper lip was cold all day.)
4) It's timeless
5) Hipsters love it



One of the greatest things about facial hair is the brotherhood of other facial hair partakers. There’s nothing quite like looking at another dude and getting and/or giving a nod of approval about the hair that is growing on each other's faces. That’s usually the base level amount of acknowledgement you receive from a fellow facial hairsman. Can I make that a word? Facial hairsman. Okay, thanks. Oftentimes, these nods of approval turn in to conversations. I have started more conversations around my mustache than I can count. My mustache also gives me mad street cred. Facial hair breaks the ice in any social situation. If you don't have anything to talk about, you can always say, "hey let's talk about that hair you have on your face. Why is it there? Let me tell you about the time I had a mustache. I wish I could grow one, but (insert poor excuse here, usually involving women)"

There are certain groups of people who highly embrace facial hair, and mustaches in particular. One of these groups of people I have come to know, are referred to as hipsters. Some may say that writing about them, makes the writer lose all hipsterness. This is a chance I'm willing to take. For those of you who don't quite know what a hipster is, I would explain them as the following: one who cares what they look like, but attempts to make it look like they don't care at all. I often attend live shows at a place in LA that is the hipster capital of the world, and going here without any facial hair is social suicide. The roles are reversed in this other world, and it is amazing. It gives me hope of a world where facial hair can be embraced to it's full potential.

One of the factors that makes the brotherhood so tight, is the skepticism received from the opposite sex. Every guy understands what it’s like to attempt to grow facial hair, but then get put down by a significant other, a caring mother, or friends that highly dislike facial hair and are not ashamed to voice their stance. When guys encounter girls like this, there has to be an excuse for their sudden change in appearance. This is when people run in to you and say, "hey, how come you have that mustache now? It looks bad, but you obviously didn’t shave it for a reason". I am currently writing this blog with hair warming my upper lip, but I will soon have to shave it off because the Laker’s season ended. I decided to grow a mustache for the Laker’s playoff run (tear…) It’s been good for me to have a fallback excuse for why I have a mustache when I run in to the skeptics in my life. Joining the brotherhood for a few more weeks has been everything I remembered it to be. Sadly, I will be a normal guy again, losing about four years in appearance, my pass in to the brotherhood, hipsters approval, and individualilty.

Next time you see a man with facial hair, know his struggles, and embrace the man behind the facial hair. He's not just a man with a mustache.
-Nate

Croatia

We spent a full week in Croatia. This was the longest time we had spent in any one place for the last six weeks. It felt great to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the large touristy cities. Croatia was also the cheapest place we have visited which made it an easy decision to stay.

Some of the highlights involved relaxing on the beach, swimming in beautiful waters, renting our own boat (even though it topped out at 5 mph), entering a croatia 3 on 3 basketball tournament, and riding vespas. We have all talked about renting a boat and riding vespas in nearly every city we've been in.

I didn't get any pictures from Hvar because I left my phone in Split, the city we were staying in, but we had a blast. We rode our mo peds to the top of the island and enjoyed a fantastic view of the Dalmatian islands. The dog got it's name from the dalmatian coast because there are thousands of tiny islands that line the coast of Croatia. We had appetizers at the top of Hvar as we watched a beautiful sunset.

Below is a picture of me driving our speed boat.



I was enjoying every second we got to spend on the boat!



We were able to dock and snorkel for a little while, thanks to Taylor buying some trusty goggles!

This last picture is of the 3 on 3 basketball tournament we came across along the port of Split, very close to the place we were staying.



There was no fee to enter this tournament, and there were 3 of us, so we had no choice but to enter. We were put up against three huge Croatians our first game! They stood, 6'5" 6'6" and 6'8"! We put up a good fight though and got a couple cheers from the crowd, losing 7-11. We didn't have any excuse for the second game we lost, we just played poorly. Being able to play basketball right next to the port like that in front of a bunch of Croatians was one of the highlights of the entire trip for me!

We are now in London and loving it! We are soaking up the last few days we have over here. We are staying with a great family, who have cooked us five awesome meals already! It is such a blessing to taste home cooked meals after 5 weeks of eating out.

-Sangu

Munich

I'm writing this post on the train from Munich to Berlin. We all enjoy the time on the train to be able to take a nap, read, watch shows on Taylor's iPad, compete against each other on iPhone and iPad games (we always have to find some way to compete right?), look out the window at the german countryside, or eat some bomb train food (not really, but you gotta eat something on a 6 hour train ride!)


This picture is of the famous Glockenspiel. I guess it's a giant cuckoo clock. Clock aficionados come from around the world to drool at the thought of being able to watch life-sized people spin around the opening right below the clock for ten minutes every hour! That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty funny to watch everyone wait for the clock to strike 12, and then when the people started moving you could feel the energy surge through the crowd. Haha. The Glockenspiel was in the main square where we usually started our trek for a good meal.

The first night we got to Munich, we were able to meet up with Taylor's girlfriend, Jenny, and his sister, Kacie. They showed us around the city and took us to the park. The park was really cool and had a ton of people hanging out (most of them clothed). We didn't see any naked guys when we were with the girls, but we saw like 4 the next day! I don't know what it was, but I guess it's okay to get naked and hop in the river at the park. I heavily considered joining the locals, but was talked out of it by myself. Haha
It has been hot every city we've been, so the rain we experienced in Munich was not fun. It really made it difficult for us to wander around the city and check everything out. Taylor, Matt and I went to the park the next day to check out the standing wave created in the river at the park. This was awesome to see. There were a good amount of people watching every "surfer" drop in to the wave. Matt really wanted to try it out and asked one of the guys if he could try. The German surfer seemed stoked to see someone try it out and lent him his board. So, matt hops in his soccer shorts (everyone else is wearing wetsuits) and rides the wave for a little. He said it was much different from an organic wave and didn't want to keep attempting to master the wave because he was getting dragged on the sidewalk when he attempted to get out of the river. Everyone wore wetsuits to avoid all the cuts that Matt got trying to get out of the strong current. So, Matt was a baller and can now say that he surfed in Munich!

Below is a picture of the wave.




We ate a lot of authentic German food (the schnitzel was my favorite) and enjoyed quality beer in the beer capital of the world.

I'm excited for Berlin and want to check out some memorials or tours of the city that talk about the state of the country and world during WWII.

-Sangu

Location:Somewhere between Munich and Berlin, Germany

Cinque Terre!

This place was beautiful!! We started our journey from Rome to Cinque Terre around 5pm without a place to stay when we got there. I was excited for the "adventure", but soon began to desire a place to put our stuff and lie our heads as it started to rain on the fourth of July. Luckily, everyone knows everyone in the small town of Riomaggiore so people were calling around to see if their friends had any rooms open. We landed a very nice room with an amazing view of the city and ocean.

We started off our time in Cinque Terre with a very long hike. We only skipped one part of the hike because it was closed. The hike started in Riomaggiore and ended in Monterosso, totaling about 6 miles. It was a tough hike because the trail would go up and down the mountain side as we arrived and departed from each town. It took us 6 hours to complete, but we could have done it much faster because we stopped a lot to enjoy the spectacular views.





The next day, we wanted to relax a little more and head to the beach. The trek to the beach wasn't as difficult as the hike the previous day, but it was no cake walk either. We ended up at a small marina-like beach. This sufficed for us because we were dripping with sweat and just wanted to get in the water. This place, Cognilia, ended up being a great find because they had cliffs that were perfect for jumping off! We saw a couple locals jumping off the nearby cliffs and decided to join them. This was something we all have talked about wanting to do so we were very excited to follow along. The locals, Simon and Lorenzo, were about 14 years old and reassured us it was deep enough by jumping first. We had such a good time in fact that we decided to go back the next day before we had to be on our train to Firenze! Simon and Lorenzo were there again and joined US this time! If you look close, you can see me about halfway through my jump!



There were tons of Americans and Australians in all the towns, so it was easy to meet people and hear about their adventures. We met a couple guys from Boston and I had to let them know about my love for basketball and the Lakers :) Our time in Cinque Terre has sadly ended, but all three of us are determined to get back there in the future.

We are currently on a journey, attempting to finish in Munich. We are just going with the flow and hoping for some open seats on a train from Firenze.

This picture was taken about a quarter of the way through our hike.



-Sangu

Location:Riomaggiore, Italia

Life in Lisbon and Madrid

We apologize for the sporadic blog posting! In each city we have had different availability to Internet. This entry will cover two cities, although it mainly focuses on one. From Barcelona to Madrid, we took an overnight train. It was not the best decision looking back as we didn't have beds and it was rather uncomfortable, but you live and learn. Madrid was the dirtiest city we have been in thus far and it was also the hottest! I think these two things may have tainted our opinion of Madrid as it was our least favorite city thus far. In spite of this, the best thing we experienced was a bull fight in an old bull fighting plaza. It was an incredible sight to see with the raging bull in the stadium being antagonized by the single matador in the ring. There was a certain sense of history and art that we felt a part of while witnessing this traditional sport. Well worth the price of admission!













We took a train from Madrid to Lisbon next. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I fell in love with Portugal and it's people while visiting Lisbon. It is a beautiful country with the friendliest people. We stayed in downtown Lisbon in an apartment we rented from a local. We used airbnb which is a website that allows people to rent apartments, rooms and houses to travelers. Matt found the website and it has worked out incredibly well for us.

We rented from a person named Pedro who is our age and turned out to be an awesome host! He gave us a ride to the beach the fist day we arrived. It was an amazing beach with lounge chairs, umbrellas and a little restaurant area. We had lunch and drank the best white sangria. We felt like we were in paradise!







After we headed back to the city. We were surprised by how clean everything was. It has been the cleanest city we have visited so far. There is minimal graffiti, clear skies and a clean metro system.

Some of our favorite nights in Lisbon were spend having a late dinner (around 10pm) as the sun is setting in an area of town called Barrio Alto. In English this literally means high neighborhood. It is a neighborhood set on a hill with narrow cobble stone alleys winding upward. At night the streets are filled with people talking and eating at restaurants and pubs that line the alleys. We had some unbelievable seafood! Some of the best meals we have had so far were in Barrio Alto.


Other places that we experienced while in Lisbon were Caiscas and Sintra. Caiscas is a small fishing village just north of Lisbon while Sintra is the former vacation spot for Portuguese royalty set atop a hill. While at Sintra we toured the castles that kings and queens formerly inhabited. There were some spectacular views!

All in all, we found the people in Portugal to be incredibly kind and cordial. Most people spoke English which was very convenient. Pedro, our host, introduced us to his friends and made us feel right at home. We certainly made a friend in Pedro and will keep in touch with him. We were all sad to leave Lisbon, both the place and the people. We are off to Rome next but, I think I speak for all of us when I say that if given the chance, I would go back to Portugal in a heartbeat! More stories of the journey to come soon.

TCR


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Lisbon, Portugal

Last day in Barcelona

We have done a lot in our time here in Barcelona! We went on a bike tour on the first day that showed us the famous parts of the city. This also gave us a nice base for understanding where things are and allowed us to not get lost too often.




People were protesting in one of the main squares in the city. There were hundreds of people camping out and sleeping in the tents! Our guide said that there is so much wrong with the political and economic state of the country that the people are basically just protesting against everything at once. The protesters destroyed the center. Matt and Taylor suggested trying to spend the night with them. Haha




During the bike tour we saw a lot of cool things, but my favorite was Sagrada Familia. This picture does not show it's true beauty, but it was fascinating. It was designed by Gaudi and started construction in the 1800s. They stopped construction because of his sudden death, but began again in the early 1980s. They have been working on it since then and have plans to keep building until 2040! It is very intricate and the outside of the church tells the story of Christ. The church now shows his birth and crucifixion. They have yet to build the scene of the resurrection. I can only imagine how beautiful they are going to make this scene look! I really want to see it if they ever finish.




We saw a lot of other cool building designed by Gaudi in the gothic district too.

Since there were no futbol, games we could attend during our stay, we decided to take a tour of the stadium. My favorite part was walking from the locker room on to the field. The same place that Lionel Messi walks every game!!





The food has been good, but expensive. Tay and I are going to try and figure out a cheaper way to eat. This is a picture of some mini cheeseburgers I got. When the Spanish say mini, they mean mini! Haha. Definitely got a good laugh out of these little guys.




There were many other funny stories, bit I'm just going to share one more. I got yelled at pretty bad when we were at park Guell, which was beautiful. There were probably about 30 people taking pictures of this lizard thing right when you walk in to the park and Matt looks at me and says, "hey, you should go sit on that so I can take a picture." Of course I did it, and once I got on top of it this guard started blowing his whistle like crazy and yelling at me in Spanish. I had no idea what he was saying so I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and said lo siento. Matt told me he said, "how would you like it if I came to your town in Italy and say on your monument?" So, at least I didn't bring shame to the U.S.! Haha

We are washing our clothes right now and then heading to the beach to relax. We are leaving for Madrid tonight in an overnight train. We weren't able to get a sleeper car :( But it'll be fun still!

Location:Carrer de l'Hospital,Barcelona,Spain

Barcelona Bound

I'm writing this on the train from Beziers, France to Barcelona. It is June 20th. Taking the train is great because it allows us to view the beautiful countryside of both France and Spain. We have been able to see the mountain range that separates Spain from France, the ocean and some cool rivers.

We all had a good time relaxing in Beziers, but we are excited for the four nights we're going to spend in Barcelona! I don't know much about Barcelona, but I do want to take a tour of the fútbol stadium. Everything else will be a new experience that I am very much looking forward to. Being able to speak Spanish instead of French will be very nice. Since we were in a small town in France, there were no English speakers anywhere. We used a lot of pointing and smiling. Needless to say, we are relieved to be able to use the little Spanish we know!

-Sangu

Location:Barcelona, Spain