My take on Spain, no pictures

I think Scott did a really great job talking about Spain, and his is illustrated, so I will try not to be too redundant.



[bold type has corrections made after Olaf's comment]

24 Hour Comics Day, a Saturday, started for us in Newark, New Jersey, close to the airport so that we could fly out easily and leave the car there. Instead of hanging out for the day, we went into New York City to try to say hi to the SVA students toiling away. This didn't work very well in the end, because SVA (School of Visual Arts) had not managed to get anything going (started planning too late) so there was nothing to find. We wandered aimlessly for a while, then found an art supply store near the school and Scott stopped in to get stuff he would need for his class in Spain. While we were there some of the employees recognized him, and came up to say hi. It does not happen often that Scott is recognized, in fact I could tell you the story of each time, as they are so few, and so memorable. It was cool.

After that it was back to Newark and the airport, then the plane and then Spain. When we arrived, on Sunday morning, our hosts were there to meet us and take us to Sitges where we were actually going to be staying. There was a bus waiting for us, and a whole lot of people who worked for Egmont and were to be taking Scott's class. To our surprise, it turned out that it was not a class full of Danish Duck writers, but instead, a conglomerate of many nationalities who wrote stories for Donald and friends. There were many Americans, Brits, Finns and more I am sure[According to Olaf, there were only two Finns, and more Danish]. There were about 45 people and most spoke English.

The half hour bus ride to Sitges was filled with lively talk, and new friendships made. That first day we hung out in our rooms (they had given us two) and waited for the evening party. Dinner there was very late, starting usually around 9pm and the party started then as well. (There are so many people I want to mention, that I am afraid to, as I am afraid I will leave someone out, so if I do leave someone out, please forgive me.) At the party we got to meet olafmoriarty which was cool as he has been a frequent presence on this board and it is always neat to meet someone you have been talking too. Terry Laban was there as well, which was especially cool as we haven't seen him in ages. Winter made a friend at the party with Laura (and her husband Mark, one of a few husband and wife teams that were there) and stayed close to her the rest of our time in Spain.

On the second day, Monday, Scott started his class and the girls and I mostly hung out. We decided to go into town, and walked. This was when we realized we really were in another country. Very lovely and very not America. One of the biggest differences was the fact that everything was closed. We are not early risers, and didn't make it into town until after lunch. It turns out that the stories about siesta time are real and everything closes in the middle of the day, which was the only time we seemed to make it into town.

Egmont were amazing hosts, they fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner and (though the girls and I skipped most of these) there were two breaks during the day, and when we went to the first one there was food served then as well. The second day they took us into Barcelona in the evening which was made more amusing by the fact that they took us to two beautiful and odd churches that both had scaffolding and were both closed when we had gotten there. They brought us to each place to let us wander around, but we didn't have much time there, so in the end we had an enormously fun time, but didn't see many sights. Our evening in Barcelona ended with a dinner at a very Spanish restaurant where course after course was presented to us. I was sitting next to several people from Denmark and one from England and we had a grand time. The one from England was Gail, and I can not begin to say how much I enjoyed meeting her. She is a British Comedy writer, smart and fun and funny and she knows so many people that I admire. I so hope we get to see her next month when we are in England.

Wednesday saw the last day of Scott's class. During the lunch break we dragged him to Sitges so that he could see the city, which was, of course, sadly closed yet again. and since we had started our journey late, Scott arrived back at the hotel to teach late and hungry. It was sad. I won't tell you where Winter and I ate lunch that day out of sheer embarrassment.

When Scott had finished teaching his last class, Sky came in with her computer and tried to show interested people the first episode of this season's Veronica Mars. There were a lot of technical problems, but we finally just watched it on her laptop instead of the big screen. We were joined by my Finnish friends from the previous night (I think they were Finnish)[Nope, according to Olaf, they were Danish, sorry] Thomas, Lars and Maya, also Olaf (who, I believe is also Finnish, just hadn't sat with me the previous night)[Boy was I wrong on nationalities, Olaf is Norwegian], also joining us were Sarah and Stefan who lived in Amherst (which is where we had just been staying for a week) and who I really hope we keep in touch with, as they were kindred spirits. It was much fun. When it was over, we talked Sky into giving her presentation. Right before she started one of our hosts, Byron, came in, so he too, got to see her talk.

We had taken so long that by the time we were done, it was time for dinner. That evening's dinner was fun, but kind of sad knowing that we were leaving the next day. When it was over, they had not served us dessert and we didn't want to end the day like that, so nine of us, the four McClouds, Stefan and Sarah, Gail, Lars and Olaf all walked into town to get ice cream. I think for all us that will be what we remember most of our trip. The walk up was pleasant and in good company, it wasn't until we were buying the ice cream that the skies opened up on us. The downpour was sudden, but we were under an awning at the shop and safe. But after we had all finished eating and it was still pouring and we had no reason to stay we had to move. I think we would have done some sight seeing if we could have, as things were actually opened when we got there, but it was too wet to be walking anywhere other than back. The run from awning to awning was filled with laughter, and the walk on the boardwalk when the rain ceased, was awe-inspiring. The lightning on the water was a light show put on just for us. We even applauded periodically at the beauty. It is a sight I will not soon forget. Olaf mentioned that he got a few shots, so maybe he can send them our way so that we could post them. It really was amazing.

The next morning some of the people were up early enough to say goodbye to us. They had another day of meetings, but we were off to Maryland (via Newark). Our hosts Maria and Byron were wonderful, they treated us better than we have ever been treated, and the trip was truly wonderful. Sarah and Stefan even gave us some maple candy (from home of course) for the plane. We had a great time, and I hope we get to see many of these people again. I miss them already. The only thing we brought back with us was a dark chocolate bar made by monks and a whole heap of memories.

Thank you, Egmont. Thank you, Spain.