day 49 (2.21.09)

Yesterday I took a tour of the Estrella Damm factory. Its the Budweiser of Spain, they actually have a contract with Budweiser and they brew it there as well. The factory itself was sooo modern and so clean! I felt like I was in Willy Wonka's factory but instead of Umpa Lumpas there were robots doing all of the work. They werent operated by humans at all, they were completely run by computer systems that showed what needed to be done when and where and then radio waves are sent to the robots. They only have 5 people in the whole factory that are "brewmasters". Other than that they have a few other people running around basically as extra hands. It was wierd because there just wasnt anyone there, except for us.
Afterwards, we did a beer tasting. We learned about different colors, textures, flavors-- it was a lot of fun. (especially considering my love for beer!) They gave us all sorts of take home bottles and cds and cell phone holders. The best part was it was a field trip for my management class. My professor is from Dublin, and all he ever talks about is drinking. So, we have done two cases one on South African Brewing Company, and one on Old world wines vs. californian and australian wines. The other day we played a jeapordy game in that class, and my team won. Our prizes were suckers, (chupachups brand) and cans of cold beer that we drank during the rest of the class. It is still wierd to me to be able sit in a class here and drink a beer.
Right now Carnaval is going on so everything is crazy and everyone is running around in costumes its hilarious. I live across the street froma huge elementary school and it was so cute to see all of this kids in costume after school yesterday. It is like Halloween but way more excentric-- kind of like halloween meets mardi gras. On tuesday night I am going to sitges to celebrate at a huge carnaval festival. We bought a bunch of crazy stuff to wear-- fabric that has reflectors like a disco ball, huge feather wings, wigs, masks, etc. I have a feeling its just going to be a bunch of drag queens there though because I think carnaval kicks off in sitges with a gay parade. Should be interesting. Im sure I will have lots of pictures worth posting!
Hope all is well in OH. Love you!