Sea Urchins...

My junior year of college I studied in Versailles, France. I was very lucky and my trip was partially funded by a generous relative. We had our classes in the old stables across the street from the palace. It was a magical year.

Part of our curriculum included "Travel-study breaks" where we were supposed to go and sketch famous buildings. For the most part, these breaks were vacations with a little bit of sketching mixed in. One of my trips was to Spain, one of my favorite European countries. We happened to be in Cadiz along the southern coast during their huge Carnival festival. There was an outdoor market selling all types of seafood. One stand was selling halved sea urchins. Someone in my group said they had heard sea urchins had psychedelic properties, so we bought a plate of them. There is very little meat inside, but what there is is quite nasty - a purple-ish slime with a gritty texture. Sadly, it was a dirty pack of lies. There were no trippy side effects whatsoever.