Zac

**//__(Raspy Voice)__//** I was at home sitting on my butt watching ANTM (If you don't know what it stands for you have a life) and all of a sudden a news broadcast came on. He said "Are you tired of sitting in front of the T.V. watching it?" "Yes." "Well then I have an all expense paid trip to Europe. Just call here or get your closest W.C. teacher and fill out a form and give us your credit cards and bank account number. " I called them and got my trip to Europe. **//__Spain__//** **//Day 1 (Trip to Madrid & The Guitarist)//** **__(Normal Voice)__** Hello everyone reading this diary of mine, I decided to go to Spain as my first country. I flew in with Luke Berends and we split up at the airport. The first thing I did was check into my hotel. After that I went around town checking out buildings and sight seeing. While I was walking around I saw a place called Univeridad which is on Calle del Conde Duque. After that I walked down the road and saw this guitar player. He played great, but no one gave him anything so I sat down on the curb and listened to him for over an hour. Spanish has a long history in the development of western music around the world. The music of Spain is often associated abroad with traditions. Spanish music diverse from region to region.. Spain has also played an important role within the history of western classical particularly in its early phase from the 15th to the 17th centuries. As he was packing up his guitar I gave him several of my Euros.media type="youtube" key="ejreYfKMOkU" height="283" width="378" align="right" Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep maritime roots. Spain's extensive history with many cultural influences has led to an array of unique cuisines with literally thousands of recipes and flavors. It is also renowned for its health benefits and fresh ingredients.
 * //__How I got this lucky trip to Europe__//**

// Why not, // I thought // I'm not paying for this anyway. // I walked away down the street. After I walked back to my hotel. Jumped on the bed, turned on the T.V. the Spanish shows. Spain has ANTM too. I'm happy. //Today was a good day, but tomorrow hopefully will be better.//

**//Day 2 (Sky diving)//** I went on a private jet to Mallorca on the trip the pilot mentioned me sky diving. WHAT! I asked Apparently the plane Wheel of Fortune booked is a sky diving only plane so I have to jump into Mallorca. So I spend the rest of my helicopter trip learning how to jump out of an airplane... great. So when we got over Mallocora I went through the procedure: When I told the man that it looked like splat it quick looked up at the board and erased it. Oops he said typing mistake. Spain is surrounded by the Mediterranean,Balearic, and Alboran seas. Other things are mountains. The Pyrenees lie in the northeast. The Pyrenees form a solid barrier and a natural border between Spain and both France and Andorra that, throughout history, has effectively isolated the countries from each other. Passage is easy at the eastern and western extremes of the mountain range. In the central section of the Pyrenees, however, passage is difficult.
 * Squat [[image:3328324834_450007c709.jpg width="225" height="159" align="right"]]
 * pray,
 * leap,
 * Ahhh!,
 * Touchdown.

I squatted, prayed, leaped, Ahhhed!, and pulled my parachute. Touchdown!!!! I landed right on a doughnut shop. So I was hungry and I went in. The shop was called Donaspor la montaña and while my spanish is bad I think it means Doughnuts Over The Mountain. I bought some doughnuts and a coffee and walked out. I walked to my hotel, checked in and watched T.V. till morning.

**//Day 3 (Deep Sea Fishing)//** Hello Everyone, Welcome to Day 3 of Spain. Today I'm going to go Deep Sea Fishing. So after I woke up and breakfasted (eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and waffles) I got in the car (no, I'm not driving its G.P.S. auto-drive) and left to the boat. We were off at 0900 and I got to the fishing spot at 1000. On the way I got told that this isn't like lake fishing. If the fish are equal in strength in the beginning cut the line cause we ain't fishing joo out, buddy the fisher told me. //Such nice people// I thought. A man came up to me on the boat and said Bud you want a beer? The Captain came up, snatched it and said stay above the influence. That's what the Spanish lifestyle for young in's. To top off the day I got sick, pulled in once (they held true to they're word and didn't fish me out. Then I got on my plane to Rome and left.

**//__Italy__//** **//Day 1 (Percy Jackson)//** Dearest Diary, The plane trip was uneventful except that I got to see a coke spilled, coffee dropped and a baby crying. When I got out two guys got in fistfight about which Roman god is best. They pulled me in and keep talking about them. Good thing I read Percy Jackson. I said that Jupiter was the king of the Roman gods. When I was tired I went to the Coliseum. Guess who I saw there. Luke! I said hi but he didn't hear me. The Romans took the idea of the Greek gods and changed several things about them, but didn't change what they were gods of.

**//Day 2//** I decided to stay Rome for the entire time in Italy and learn about everything about the Roman gods and how they are the same as the Greek gods. I learned from a local person that that media type="youtube" key="wvjiLjFfgzI" height="175" width="232" align="right" they basically are only the same except that the names are changed and the Roman gods are more war-like. Plus the Romans always use land travel when allowed so Neptune the sea god is not worshiped. The only god hated more is Pluto the god of death and gold. Greeks use sea travel whenever it is allowed and Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades and the big three

gods, or the brothers of Olympus. Out of the three Hades is still the most disliked. Greeks always try to fight solo or in pairs of two or three.

**//Day 3 (Relax)//** I decided to go to Pompeii to meet up with Luke and take a water plane to Greece. We decided to go sky-diving and that brought back memories. I meet with Luke and we got on the plane. On the flight there Luke had to be taught how to sky-dive.
 * Squat
 * Pray
 * Leap
 * Ahhhhh
 * Touchdown

__//**Greece**//__ //**Day 1 (Deja Vu)**// First thing is that Greece has many mountains. Mt. Olympus (mountain of the Greek gods) is but one of them. //We're jumping in two minutes! 1 minute to jumping point. 30 seconds. 20. 10. 5 seconds. 4. 3. 2. 1. All skydivers get on your parachutes and other gear. Sky diver one at the first ledge. Two at the opposite side! Jump! Next! Jump! He kept doing this until it was me. I was one of the media type="youtube" key="KZxjNiygWqU" height="187" width="252" align="right"more experienced divers so I went nearly last. Jumping out I did a front flip then went into 'Free Fall'. I saw Luke below me flailing about. Luke pulled his parachute and landed on another doughnut shop.// How many doughnut shops are there? I pulled my shoot and landed next to him. We fell through the roof. Not again! //Deja Vu.//

//**Day 2 (The gods)**// Greece is the home of the Greek gods. The gods had to overthrow there Titan fathers to rule over Olympus. In Greece I learned that there are about twelve greek gods each ruling over one or several sections that is a main part of the culture of Greece which involves Greeks are particularly proud of their culture and speak of their country with an intense passion, feeling that their Greek culture is a definition of their national and ethnic belonging. Traditions, religion, music, language, food and wines are the major composites of the Greece culture. Traditions in Greece and Greek Islands are either of a religious character or coming from paganism. Furthermore, most of the traditions and festivals still followed and celebrated today are religious. Religious celebrations of saints followed by traditional music and dance in the square of the village. Main gods (Big Three) Zeus-king of the gods and ruler of the sky-minions are cloud nymphs Poseidon-god of the seas and ruler of the seas-minions are neriads Hades-king of the underworld and god of death-minions are the fury's Others Aphorodite-goddess of love Artemis- goddess of the hunt, and moon Apollo-Sun god Hera- Queen of the gods Hephestus-god of the forge Ares-god of war Demeter-goddess of harvest Persephone-goddess of springtime Dionysus-god of wine Athena-goddess of wisdom

//** Day 3 (Parthenon) **// The greatest temple to Athena ever built is found in Athens//**.**// It's called the Parthenon. The Parthenon was elaborately decorated with marble sculptures both internally and externally. These survive only in part, but there are good descriptions of most of those parts that have been lost. The western pediment showed Athena's battle with Poseidon for possession of the land of Attica. These showed, on the southern side the battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, on the east the battle of the gods and the giants, and on the west the battle of the Greeks and the Amazons. It is not known what was depicted on the northern side: it may have been scenes from the Trojan War. The cella was lined on three sides with a frieze showing the great procession of the Panathenaia, the main annual festival honoring. I met Luke up at the airport and we got on our flight to Romani a. Day 1 (Dracula's History) Tomorrow I have decided to vist a historical vampirical castle site, so I decided to do some research. The castle belonged to Bran Stoker when the first vampire book, Dracula, known as Count Dracula emerged. Stoker wrote this book because a form of rabies (now named after vampires) was common among people. Many dead had their hearts cut out and burned because of this book. Why? The eyelids dropped giving the deceased a sleeping looking, and clothes got small in the damp area giving them the look of being full. What are vampires? Vampires are immortal blood sucking creatures of the night, they are killed if caught in sunlight unless they have a sapphire ring, which protects them. While they can go in sunlight they prefer to hunt at dusk or twilight when the animals or humans that don't have nocturnal vision find it hard to see. Vampires have a 'god-like' creature that was born from a human mother and vampire father. The creature is called the Pravus. The Pravus is immune to sunlight and can compel nearly and living creature to do his bidding. The prophesy behind the Pravus is that it will come to rule over vampire-kind and enslave the human race, so vampire's can feed at will. Dracula was the last Dracul - or the last vampire in his bloodline (bloodline is the 'creator' of the vampire or the person who bite them not to be confused with life line or family tree). Dracula lived several hundred years in peace  until a man named Buffy (now nicknamed Buffy the vampire slayer) uncovered the truth about vampires. He set out after Dracula, killing his 'children' (vampires Dracula made) and learning about him. He learned that a wooden stake to the heart- which would kill anything anyway- was one of the only ways to kill them. Protection from a vampire is garlic, which if gets in mouth or an open cut kills them. Also while it is not mentioned in the Dracula book vervian is a herb that stops a vampire from using mind control. Buffy made several stakes, collected garlic, and set out after the creature. Buffy found him in his castle that he owned in his human life. Searching for Dracula in the castle Buffy found him in the coffin in the cellar. Dracula heard him, and was ready to fight. Buffy brought out the garlic, Dracula backed away. Next while Dracula was distracted with the garlic Buffy ran up, and staked Dracula through the heart. Buffy returned and created the Slayer Society, teaching them how to identify vampires, and kill them.
 * //__ Romania __//**

**//Day 2//** Today is the day I go to Bran Castle. I'm taking some pictures for all of you who would like to see parts of the great castle. When I get there I decide to take the extensive tour of the castle so I need to wait several hours before I can go to this place. Finally it's time to get in, I've been waiting for three hours. Inside I see a suit of armor, a table and several chairs. First I get to go upstairs. I see the view of the place. I go down stairs and see the coffin of Dracula. I see coagulated blood on the floor near the coffin, a bloody stake and I smell the stench of death, decay, and the rotten metallic stench of blood. //Probably fake, but maybe not.//

**//__Day 3 (Running of the Bears__//**__**//)//**__ Today I decided to go on a hike near Bran Castle. I packed up some protein bars and water bottles along with several candy bars for a sugar boost should I wipe out or faint. Getting to the hiking point I see Luke. I wave but he's media type="youtube" key="TewqUmbiHUs" height="219" width="294" align="right" already out of it after hiking ten feet. 1 hour later. I've climbed a mile and I see Luke running back down a bear fast on his heels. Another is coming and I quickly grab a chocolate bar and throw it off the cliff. The bear jumps after it. Luke comes running back 15 minutes later and I give him a candy bar. He throws it off the cliff. "My chocolate!" Luckily Jakob comes and gives me all his chocolate.

__//**America (Home)**//__ Well I'm back! Dear Diary, Best trip ever I got to do almost everything I wanted. I decided to bring the bear back to give to someone. One month later I got a trip to a Mexican city called Tampico I decided to give it to Avery Armstrong so he can see something in Mexico. Well now that I'm back home I have no use of this diary so I think I'll post it to a Wiki or something and keep the diary for memories.

This is Zac signing off.

**//__Bibliography__//**


 * "Culture of Greece." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .**


 * "Geography of Spain." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. []**


 * "Greece Culture, Greek Islands." Greece Culture: Information about the Culture of Greece and the Greek Islands. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .**


 * "Music of Spain." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .**


 * Smith, L. J., and L. J. Smith. The Vampire Diaries. New York: HarperTeen, 2007. Print.**


 * Stoker, Bram, and Tudor Humphries. Dracula. New York: DK Pub., 1997. Print. **//