Boz (37:20)
Anyway, America, I love it here. If you can't tell, I'm getting really close to leaving this country. I need to. Anyway, what happens next? More in Paris? I'm just gonna kind of bounce around here now. I don't know if I have like a per se, like in order. Any specific moments. Maybe in my journal I have more that I've written. But let's fast forward a little bit. Let's actually, if something comes up, I'll snap back in time for a second. But let's go ahead to Barcelona. So I book a trip to Barcelona the day before I was supposed to leave to fly to New York. This is how last minute this stuff is. And this is, this is how beautiful life can be. There was a years ago when I lived in Chicago, we're talking like 2016. There was a girl I used to see who, brilliant girl, Ivy League educated, worked really hard, made a pretty good amount of money. And at one point, you know, I'm teaching on the south side, I'm making dog money. And you know, she's saying this to me. She's like, she's always been a yogi, a holistic person. She's like, look, I'm gonna, in few years I'm going to save a bunch of money and I'm going to move to Barcelona and open up a Yoga studio in me at 2324. Hearing that, I'm like, I don't know what I'm having for fucking breakfast tomorrow. Like, I don't even know if I'm going to finish this Teach for America program. Like, how the fuck are you thinking that far in advance? I'm a dumbass. Sure enough, she did it, and she lives there now. And because of that, I was able to reach out to her and I DM'd her and said, hey. And I did this because I knew that she rents her spot out. I said, looking for a place for a week. About a week. Are you in town or do you know anybody that would rent their apartment for me to me for the week? And mind you, this is like last minute, super last minute. I think I had booked the flight before I found a place to stay. So she puts me in this WhatsApp group. Thankfully, within minutes, I had like 50 people hitting me up, offering their places, offering rooms. I was like, I'm too old to have a room. I need my own space. Ended up getting this beautiful apartment, two bedroom. I tried to convince a friend to come down. So I was like, I have space right in the city center. And I was like, all right, bet. Run it. So I go take the flight and land in Barcelona. And immediately, again, like, not adjusting time zones. I'm pretty good on that already because I, you know, I'd been there for a little bit. Same routine, though. I took an earlier flight, put my bags down, and then I just, like, go out. Because now I'm like, new neighborhood, new people. And in this city, I'm truly alone. I have no friends, I know nobody, which is fine. I don't mind traveling like that. I think this is. This is quite exciting for someone like me. And I. Day one is just mapping the city, walking around, grabbing more and more espresso, of course, and just really, just again, living as local as much as possible. I'll speed through some of this grab, go to the museum, the Picasso Museum. Beautiful, fantastic. Had a blast there. A lot of the sightseeing in Madrid in Barcelona is outdoors. So there's a lot of cathedrals, churches, walking path, things of that nature, like a row of buildings that are historic and beautiful. So I did a lot of walking and biking to those moments as well. I did treat myself. I'm not much of a beach person. I did go to the beach one day. One afternoon, um, while I was there for the week, I went to the beach twice. One was just to walk it. I believe it was on, like, the second day. I Just walked it. And then the. The, Like, I don't know, the fourth or fifth day, but maybe. Maybe even like the sixth day, I really pushed it to the end. I actually brought a towel, laid on the beach, and I could. I probably laid out for like, maybe an hour and a half, two hours at most. I do have some shells that I brought back, which are cute, but that was my beach experience. The food in Spain. Let's talk about it. Okay. So the food is. Is incredibly fresh. It's. It's just. Honestly, I like the food there more than Paris, which. Which made some people mad that I said that, because I told my Parisian friends that, and they're like, you're insane. But I will say this too, about Spain, because these streets themselves are like. These little alleyways are so thin. They're like. And it gives off like a labyrinth, like this maze of sorts that you're just kind of just like, where does this all lead to? And where does it begin? Where does it end? And some. Most of the streets don't look like cars belong down them. And then you see a car whizzing by and a moped squeezing by it. And it sounds like chaos, but it's quite. You know, it's. It's pretty well run. And I. And I want to say, like, I went out a lot. I went out a lot, spent a lot of nights out, and around the same time every night. I remember the first time I saw it. It might have been like the first night I got there, seeing these sanitation trucks drive through these little. These thin, really thin cobblestone streets. And these people would jump out, do the trash. I'm like, oh, cool. It must be trash night. Like, sick. Like, it's gonna be all clean and pretty tomorrow, which it already was, by the way. It's not like the city looks filthy by any means. And then they would spray, like, the walls, the streets, like, the sides of the buildings, the streets. And then out would come more people from new sanitation trucks, and they would have these giant scrub brushes, and they would. It's. And now they're scrubbing the streets, every cobblestone, hosing down all these little cracks and crevices, like a. Like a dentist, you know, doing a routine teeth cleaning. And I was like, damn. Like, this is thorough. Like, I'm like, what day is it? Oh, it's a. I got in on a. Did I get on a Monday or a Sunday? I saw a Monday. I'm like, maybe it's like a Monday night thing. They did that shit every Night. Every night I was there, these city sanitation workers, they do the trash and scrub that fucking city like it was. You know, you're. You're a boy law, like, scrubbing the fucking house or the bathroom, you know, it was quite incredible. And I said to my. I was like, this is. I don't. I've never seen American tax dollars at work from just like a city living consumer. It's actually been cool. Now that I've been back, I've been catching up. I've been seeing, like, Mom, Donnie did the whole, like, he does whole, like, March Madness thing that he created about, like, filling potholes at an insane record rate and fixing, like, little things, like cosmetic things throughout the city that just, like, should be fixed but are often ignored because it's like the city's like, who the fuck cares? They're already living with this giant crater in the middle of the street. Who. Who's. Who's who. Like, why should we fix it? They're just going to go around it. So, like, I'm seeing stuff like that for the first time in my life, adult life, at least, see those changes happening here in real time. But, like, there I was there, mind you, for a week. And in that time, I saw, including Paris and bar, certainly Barcelona. I saw no rats. I saw no cockroaches. I saw, like, no, just like, infestations of any kind of just street sanitation. Like this literally, like, brushing the teeth of the city on levels that I just didn't even know existed. And just, like, just. It seems like money working on behalf of the people that are calling the city home. Just something I wanted to note because I feel like there's not much of that going on here. Armani, our money is going somewhere. Yeah, in the side of a children's school. But, you know, it's not. We're not there. We're not cleaning it either. We're leveling things. But, yeah, it's just really. It's just different to be there. Also, it's funny to be there when, like, shortly after, Spain had basically told Trump to go fuck himself. So to be an American, like, the week of that happening was interesting. And I was told, like, going there, like, they're not too fond of Americans currently or really ever. So I was like, all right, maybe I'll be a little more, you know, guarded or on guard in this city. Barcelona was incredible. I mean, I had. Again, maybe it's just because I look ambiguous enough and I'm just, like, confident enough or. But I had no issues with anybody Everybody was super nice. Just some good travel advice. The way I like to travel is, again, outside of museums, I don't really frame my trips around touristy things. I'll again live as a local. But what you do is you get food wrecks, find a good restaurant or bar. Here's. I'll just give an example. One night, one of my friends from Paris recommended a spot that he DJs at in Barcelona because they also have good food. So I went there, ate dinner, and it was kind of early, and I said to the bartender, my server and bartender, I was like, hey, man, like, because I'm traveling alone, I'd like to sit at the bar if they have bar seating, because it allows you to just be social with all the servers and bartenders that are kind of coming in and out of the bar space. Just a tip to like, also just stay sane. It's just talking to people and just getting to know people that call the city home. Instead of looking at my phone and finding a place to grab a cocktail, I'll just ask them, like, hey man, like, what's a good spot to grab a drink over here? You know, set some kind of vibe. Like, I'm looking for like a lounge. I love a good Negroni. Great music would be sick. Got recommended a spot. And then this is the key. The server goes, hey, when you get there, tell him. I forget his name, but he's like, tell him so and so sent you. Ask for this person and tell him so and so sent you. I was like, bet. Thank you so much, man. Left, went to that spot. Guess who was working. The guy hit it off. He gave me a couple drinks on the house. They were playing like, it's so cool how much these places like embrace like hip hop culture. They're playing like Black Star and like all the shit that I grew up on, like early, like college dropout cuts from, from Kanye and like all these like hard knock life J and shit. It was really just like kind of felt like I stepped into like my developmental years of hip hop and just drinking a great cocktail and just talking to this guy that I just got referred to. So I left, went back there, like two nights later. The guy remembered me, had my Negroni already ready to go on the, on the bar over there. Like, ended up at this really sweet dinner. I treated myself really well. It's his one spot. Met a couple that actually lives in la and we actually. I recommended that spot to them. And then later that night I went there alone and ran into them there, like Just a good time. But yeah, I mean, I, I, I will say, I mean, I'm happy to be back. I, I miss New York. I miss home. I miss my space. It's nice to be back in my apartment. Honestly, I had to come back to water my plants, but I, I have, like, the bug, the itch to, to go back and to continue to explore. And I really focus. I'm, I will say, like, I'm, I'm. This sounds, whatever sounds gay, but I'm proud of myself for committing to extending the trip and not having a plan and just going off of the feeling of what felt right in my, my heart, like in, in my soul. This was good for me and I didn't want it to end when it was initially supposed to end, which was after, like, five days. So I'm really happy that I extended Paris, and I'm really happy that I extended to. It was a coin flip between Barcelona, Madrid. Honestly, boss had dm, me was like, bro, go to Madrid, go to Barcelona. Be near the beach. Like, it's a. You'll have more fun. And I'm glad I did. Like, these are things that, you know, younger me, or it's easy in your adult life, certainly young adult life, to push things and be like, oh, one day I'll do it. Or, you know, there's always something I know I'll do eventually, but when that time comes and that eventually is happening, you do the thing or push yourself to do the thing. I'd hate to miss out on something that I've always wanted to do because I thought it would just happen at some point because I've thought about it so often in situations like this, you have to make those realities, you have to make those plans a reality. And shout out to my parents. My mom in particular was very, very pro. Stay out there, enjoy it. My mom used to live in Europe for a bit, and she was like, very, very pro. Keep going, keep discovering, keep walking, keep writing, keep reading. And I did. I mean, I just showed a glimpse of my, my journal earlier, but I, I wrote a lot. Like, I carried this everywhere I went. I had times where I would dedicate, I would block out again. I was there for, you know, enough time that I could block out my days to do certain things. I would have, you know, a specific time to write and specific time. The few times I wanted to, is to listen to news and catch up on things that were happening globally. And it just was a really fulfilling. I feel like, rich in spirit after this trip. And I'm super happy to go back. As of now, my plan is to go back to Paris in June for the summer solstice. But yeah, I'm just, I. I would encourage, as I would imagine, a lot of the people that consume the show and other podcasts alike are like me in the sense that you've always wanted to do something like this. And it's just. It's always easy to find the excuse to find the reason for timing, to not commit to something or do something and just continue to push things off. And that was my entire twenties was that, you know, I'm not like a spring chicken anymore, but I still have those urges and still have those dreams of doing certain things. And it's not like necessarily I want to live a lifestyle where I'm like Mr. International. Like, it's not even in the stunt to flex. It's more just in the stunt to expose myself to more things to learn and to grow and to just challenge myself to be in an outsider. Because you don't know until you experience it. So much of what we're told here and what we're learned, told to believe and, and you know, it's just not true nor accurate. And it's supposed to make you want to just lean more into being a patriot and, you know, defending this country by any means necessary, when in fact it's just. Just go places and you'll see for yourself how ridiculous this fucking place is. But yes, I. I am happy to be back. I. Yeah, I'm planning on. I did get some emails for people that would like to come on the show. I have some artists from Sweden that are here for about a month or so's time that I plan. I'm currently in the process of coordinating time with Boz is actually coming to town. I really want to get him on here too. I know I briefly touched on our time together in Paris, but I want to have him come on and discuss that. And if you'd like to discuss more of the Kohl's album and process for that, I know I didn't get into. I know I missed episodes during that whole era and I do plan on addressing all that stuff at some point, but I think it'd be better suited to have him on. I just texted him today, trying to map out his schedule and see if we can find some time to discuss this stuff together. But yeah, I don't know. I came into this just hitting record and just letting you all know that, hey, I'm back. And also, this is what I've been Up to. And it's. It's been a learning process. I think I'm like. I think I. I'm just, like, addicted to just, like, discovery, if that makes sense. Like, I just. It just feels good to just do new stuff and. And just to lean into new customs and cultures and just expose yourself and. And to expose yourself beyond this and just go somewhere and just do it. Try it. Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's not for you. Like, just do something different, because why the fuck not? Anyway, I will. I will quit rambling. I'm thrilled to be back. I do love New York. New York is home. This is my city. But I've got the itch, the bug, and I will. You'll probably see me out and about more, hopefully this summer. I really want to travel alive. Just got to figure out some things. Personal level as well. But we'll get there. Anyway, I love you guys. Thank you again for your patience and rocking with me even through these quiet few weeks here. Stoked to be back. Oh, I didn't even tell you the insane Uber story. Holy shit. One last story, then I'm out of here. Last day in Barcelona. Last morning of the morning, I'm leaving. I'm coming back from somewhere to, like, my apartment to where I'm staying. And there's, like, the fences, like, riot not right for whatever they're called. Like, the fences. You've seen festivals that people, like, kind of funnel through are built all over the city. And my Uber driver cannot get to my spot. He's. Every time. He'd go around the street, go out, come back, round street, go out, come back, cannot get in. And I'm in the city center, mind you, which I mentioned. So I'm like, what is going on? So I tell the guy, I'll just. It. I'll get out. I walk, I go walk. I walk like, 20 minutes. Get back home. I'm finished packing, and now it's like, I have a little bit of time. So I'm like, all right, whatever. I'll grab something to eat and then I'll call an Uber and go to the airport, Leave the apartment, lock up, do the whole key thing, go to a little spot to eat, have a nice little breakfast, enjoying myself as I'm getting the bill. Call the car. Like, man, look at. I got this shit down pat. Car says 25 minutes. I'm like, what the fuck? It's insane. The car cannot get to me. I'm seeing it on the map. Gets same deal as the way on the one that I just got out of, that I ended up walking. You can't get to me. So I'm like, something funky is going on. So I leave the restaurant. I'm like, whatever. I'm in the busy area. I'll just grab a cab. Walking out of the restaurant, see a young cab, these guys flying down the street. I'm like, that's the guy I want. Stick my hand out. He's like, yo, what's up? I'm like, I gotta go to the airport. He starts laughing at me. I'm like, I'm sorry, what's going on, man? He's like, you know, it's marathon Sunday. It's the Barcelona marathon. I was like, what the fuck? He goes, look. Pulls up the map on his phone and goes, this is where we are, city center. This, like around us is. He's like, this is where the race is. It's just, all of it's just consumes the entire city. Like, we're in the middle. We're in the middle of the race. And he's like, it's all barricaded off. You cannot get out of here. And so I was like, dude, I don't really have a choice. Like, I don't have a place to stay here. I. This is the only flight I booked. Like, this is it. This is my. This is my ticket home. So he goes, well, here's what I'll do. Okay. So the airport is down here, like south by the water. The race. Say where the microphone is is where we were. He's saying we have to take a car from the center, go all the way out away from the airport, and then loop around either on the top side or the water side of the city to get to the airport, which is down here. So I'm like, man. And he goes in. It's the race. So there's a premium fee. I'm like, bro, I already know what you're saying. I. I'm gonna get fucked on this price, but I don't have a choice. Let's go. So he's like, okay, bet. So I get in the car, we're leaving the city center. Thankfully there's a clearing. We can get out to the freeway. And now we're on like the freeway. And at one point we're in the left lane. There's like a truck, like a 18 wheeler on our right hand side. For some reason, my guy tries to merge into that lane. I don't know why, it was a dumb idea truck. Like, we almost swiped the truck. On my side. I'm in the passenger side. I'm like, oh, that was close. And because he moved into that right lane, somebody tried to pass us on our left. It was a guy, middle aged guy with his girlfriend in the car. And we, our driver, out of instinct, tries to swerve back into that left lane, nearly hits the guy with his girl that was passing. So now they're both pissed at each other. The truck goes on. The truck's out of the story. This guy that we almost hit or he almost hits us, who's to say? I don't fucking know. It happened so quickly. He pulls over. And mind you, this is a freeway. There's no shoulder like this road, this road in Spain. Like, it's a freeway with, like, no shoulder. So he basically just parks on the freeway on the side, though, on the side. And my guy pulls up behind him. The guy that we almost hit gets out from his car, comes through the driver's side door. Now the dude is just standing in a lane on the freeway and just starts punching our window, kicking the door and just grill is cussing so much in Spanish. My guy lowers the window. My driver starts cussing too. He's about. He literally gestures to take his seatbelt off. He wants to get out the whip. I grab him from the back. Pause. I'm like, yo, bro, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because now I'm really on a time crunch. I don't have time to kill like that. I'm like, we gotta go, go. Like, no. They do this, like dance, argue, throw, like, you know, hitting for like three to five minutes, which felt like an eternity. I didn't have much time to kill. I'm flying Air Monaco. It's not like I know this airport. It's not like I know the. It's just I'm like, stressed the out. It's like the show beef. This is literally the intro to that show beef, which season two, I guess, is about to start. And the guy eventually gets back to his car with his girl. So he's still parked. My driver, the taxi driver pulls up beside them. My guy rolls down the passenger side window. That guy rolls down his window because he thinks they're just gonna start arguing again. My guy underneath the console opens up a full bottle of water, takes it, throws the whole bottle of water. Absolutely nails the shot, drenches drenched. The guy and his girl soaked both of them. They're fucked up. So then that guy is like, fuck you, mother. So then my guy speeds off dry, like gassing it down the freeway again. Here we go. Guess who's right on our ass. So now they're brake checking. Now they're doing the brake check game. And it's like honking and like light flickering and like all that shit. And I'm literally in the backseat like this. Like, fuck, fuck. Like, bro, like, just go. So I don't know how at some point there that car gets in front of us. And my guy's being petty as fuck. Like he's not wanting this to go at all. He truly doesn't give a fuck that I'm like, let's go stop this shit. He didn't care that I was like in honest on him about it. So that guy gets in front of us and my guy is like calling his friends, talking the, describing the car, saying the plate, like about to get the drop on this dude after I get dropped off. And he's like throwing stuff from the car again. So mind you, like, we're still going away from the airport and we have to loop around. So this is like, it's like a 30, 35 minutes of this. It's. It's almost. It's the most stressful half hour of them just break checking each other like, pump faking to pull over. At one point, the guy did pull over again. I told my guy, if he gets the fuck out this car, I'm taking his car. And then he. We kept going, but they just wouldn't. They. There wasn't. They wouldn't separate. The one car wouldn't go. One was that like we were just in this together. So fast forward, after all this fucking dance and shit, we get to the exit for the airport, which is where we need to go. This guy lives. He's with his girl. He's not going to the fucking airport. We're behind them. They're in front of us or the car in front of us. And we're in the far left lane, so we got to go to the right side. My guy turns on his signal to gesture to go to the right. The car in front of us. The guy and his girl also turns on his signal. And then he veers as we veer. And then where the V is like where the road splits at the exit, the guy, the guy in front of us just parks in that and gets out of his car, waiting like, bet like this is our ring. Like this, like where the stripes are and where the exit is. We're about to throw hands because at least we can kind of park here. My guy goes, oh, it's on and then like gestures to take off the seat belt and get out the whip. And I was like, bro, we are at the exit. Get the fuck off the exit. Let's go. I do not have time for this shit. So I like, I grab him again and like, say, dude, if you do not take this fucking exit. Thankfully, he continues and then like just curses and like says the whole thing. Looking at him in the rearview mirror the entire time. Do not know what happened to them, but that was. It was the most stressful ride to the airport. I hated every second of it. And it was too early in the morning and I was too hungover for all that shit to be happening, but got out of there, Got out of the marathon, got out of there and yeah, had a 10 second layover in Morocco and then it was on back to New York. So anyway, thrilled to be here, guys. Happy to be back and I love you all. And to all the DMs and people ask me where I'm at tweeting at me, where the fuck's the episode? Here it is. I hope you enjoy and yes, you'll. You'll obviously hear more from me soon and I appreciate you all love and support. Ciao. Nothing wrong with the pussy. Nothing wrong with the pussy.
