LSAT's this weekend! I'm scared! :-0

The past six days have been extremely busy filled with fun, culture, and traveling to new places. The countdown has begun for me to come home and it's very depressing so I have been trying to soak up as much as I can recently. I'm trying to make everyday count to it's fullest and have decided that instead of sleeping at all for the next 24 days that I'm just going to sleep when I get home, there's too much to see and do and no time for sleep!! The next couple weeks are going to be jam-packed but I'll tell you more about that at the end. Let's start with Wednesday...

Our presentation went well on Wednesday. We were the first group to go. The other groups' presentations were also good. After everyone had gone Katherine ended the class with a few words. This was our last class even though we still have 3 weeks left. This one just ended earlier. It was really sad because she was talking about a going away "thing" and told us to check our inbox for details, I just can't believe that the end is so near! It seems like yesterday that we just got our street assignments. This was by far one of my favorite classes so I'm kinda sad that this one is over. I'd much rather prefer event management to be over with! After school I decided to go to the MNAC museum, it's supposed to be one of the best art museums in Catalonia. They gave me a two day pass when I got there because they were only open for another 2 hours. I ended up seeing the whole museum though. I went through it pretty quickly. They had an excellent collection of art. They are well-known for their renaissance, gothic, and baroque art from Catalonia but I found their Modern art collection to be my favorite. Overall it was a good museum and I'm glad I went.

Wednesday night was pretty eventful, there was a flowing of emotion this evening and at the last minute I decided to go out to Shoko with Alex, same place that I had gotten my friends from Amsterdam into for free. We like Shoko so we decided to go have a night on the town. We met up with my friends and we had a good night. They are due to go back to the States soon and hearing about their adventure around Europe was pretty entertaining. We didn't get home till 6 in the morning. Something I realized this night: I've met a variety of different people on this trip, some that have changed me for the better, some that have changed me for the worse, and others that I know I will remain in close contact with and hopefully see again in the future. I've done a lot of networking and have really enjoyed meeting new people, it always help you grow as a person.

Thursday - I had another really important presentation this day. I missed Catalan again this morning, I was too tired to pull myself out of bed and decided that it would be better to get a little extra rest for my other class, considering I got home at 6 in the morning and had to present a project later! So, I did the logical thing and slept in a little longer. I'm not going to miss anymore classes though! Honestly! I went to school really early and worked on the presentation before class. We didn't communicate very well as a group on this project and we had two different power-points so we had to combine them and then makeup a handout for class. It was a lot to do but with 3 hours we made it happen! Our presentation went ok, the teacher was a little nit-picky about what he thought could have been better, I found this annoying but, we ended up getting a 7 out of 10 so I'm not extremely disappointed. It's so weird giving presentations here. First of all, we have one due in almost every class every week. I'd rather do powerpoints everyday though compared to writing boring papers and stuff. It's definitely a different style of learning over here. During the presentations the professors will also stop you to talk or to elaborate on whatever you might have just said and sometimes they will correct you and critize you! It's very different from what I'm used to but then again there are so many differences in their classroom etiquette compared to ours. After class I felt a wave of relief come over me! I was dreading this week because we had two big presentations due and this was our last class of the week and I was definitely ready for the weekend to begin. For a number of reasons, this week was a hard week and I felt so much better when I was walking down to the metro, it was a little chilly outside but I was taking in the freedom of the fresh, cool air and it just felt good to be alive at this point! It seems like a hassle some days but I love my metro rides too and from school, there's just something about waiting for your train combined with the smell of the Barcelona metro (mainly, oil, piss, and sweaty people) that just lights up my life sometimes! lol Minus the smells obviously, it gives me 15 minutes of peace everyday and I enjoy the variety, the metro truly does have it's own culture. When I first started college the best piece of advice that they gave us at orientation was to take 10 or 15 minutes out of your day for yourself whether it's during breakfast, while your driving, or even taking a bubble bath, it's so important for you to have 10 minutes to reflect on yourself and whatever situation you might be in. I doubt anyone else was listeing during this part because the majority of the students were sleeping or talking but, this was the most valuable piece of advice that I've taken from college, that and how to present yourself when getting a job. I guess maybe I did learn something at Johnson & Wales? lol Hard for even me to believe!

After I got home I ate something and talked to my family because it was Thanksgiving. I tried to give everyone a call but I had a hard time getting in touch with everyone. We didn't do anything for Turkey day really. My roommates cooked a little meal but I only had some leftover potatoes. lol It doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving here for us, they don't celebrate that here so I didn't really feel like I was missing out on much. However, after my mom sent me a picture of the pie's at my Nan's house I really had a craving for a homemade pumpkin pie! My roommates always tease me about my eating habits and not having any real cooking skills but I told them on Thanksgiving that one thing I do now how to make is homemade pie crust - All thanks to my Nan and my sister Julie!! My roomies wanted to make a pecan pie but after they realized how much work it was going to be and how hard it would be to locate all the ingredients in the grocery store they quickly changed their minds! lol Alex and I took a nap after this, we planned on only sleeping for an hour but that turned into 3 and we didn't wake up until midnight. Everyone else from Erasmus had gone over to the black sheep so we went over to check out what was going on. We didn't want to drink when we got over there and everyone else was pretty drunk from playing drinking games so we left and decided to go over to Burger King to use the free wi-fi because our internet wasn't working. They were closing when we got there so we came back and just decided to go back to bed! Stephanie was leaving for Rome in the morning so she packed while we talked about different things and Alex read the English Cosmo that I brought back from Dublin for her! We went to bed around 3.

Friday - I woke up early with plans to go to Girona and the Costa Brava but soon realized I was too tired and I was going to go with Sam and since he didn't get home till about 5 or 6 in the morning I knew that we weren't going to catch that 7 a.m. train! lol Instead we decided to sleep in a little bit longer and go to Montserrat instead! We left around 11 am in order to catch the 11:36 train from Plaza Espanya. I had read that the line R5 was a little hard to locate so I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time. Turns out, it was hard to find but using my Spanish skills I asked some people and they pointed me in the right direction. We finally made it there and then we saw some booths where you could buy tickets. We wanted to get an all combination ticket for lunch, the trains, the funiculars, and the museum. The lady marked down the ticket we wanted on a piece of paper and said to buy the ticket from the people wearing shirts just like her. I was very confused and never saw anyone with a special shirt on. We just hopped on the train and assumed that we paid when we got there. WRONG. The train ride was much longer than I thought it was going to be, it took almost an hour. After we got off at the right stuff we followed the crowd to the cable car that you take up the mountain. We got in line to get on and when we got up to the front we realized that we didn't have the same ticekts as everyone else in line. We couldn't figure out where they had gotten these tickets from so the guy that was taking tickets told us we had to buy tickets. Well, he finished putting everyone else in the car first and THEN came to help us buy tickets. I handed him the paper that the lady had marked at the train station and he looked at me like I was crazy! lol We obviously missed buying the right tickets so we ended up paying for everything separately but I think it got evened out in the end. We finally made it up the mountain, the cable car ride was a little scary. I'm not scared of heights but cable cars can be a little scary, they just don't look very sturdy! The views were amazing and I remember snapping 500 pictures!!! As soon as we made it to the top we took in the views and stopped at the information center to get a map and some info on what there was to do. Montserrat is home to Europe's oldest boy's choir and they were singing at 1 o'clock so we ran up to the Monastery to catch the end of the performance. It really was amazing. I only heard them for a minute or two but it was worth it. After seeing the choir we took pictures in the church, which was beautiful, and then we got in line to see the crypt where the famous "Black Madonna" is located. I've heard different things about this statue. I first read that it was carved in 50 A.D. by St. Luke and then discovered in the 12th century. I also learned that she wasn't originally black and that the smoke from the candles in the church slowly turned her this color over time. Regardless, there was a very long line to see it. I only got to see if for a few minutes and my picture came out pretty blurry unfortunately. After the church we snapped some photos of the mountains. We were really high up so it was very foggy because it was still a little early. The rocks in this area are very unique and very similar to the rocks in Kastriki, Greece where I also visited some monasteries. We were starving so we headed to the cafeteria for lunch. I had calamari and some Catalan potatoes with an ice cream! After lunch we did some souvenir shopping and then decided to take the funicular a little further up the mountain for a little hike. When we got to the top I was literally just blown away by the view. I felt like we were at the top of the world! I could see everything, we were in the clouds and I felt like we were in an airplane! We went for a hike around the mountain, the pictures that I got just can't even show the true beauty of this place. Ruins of little churches and coves like something off of a postcard. We hiked up and down some scary paths and just took in the views. Sam and I also took some black and white photos which was pretty fun! I find myself doing a lot of things with Sam. He has the same type of "exploring" mentality that I do. He said that I made a great exploration partner. I'm not scared to try new things or venture into the unknown, everyday is an experience in itself and I'm determined to find something new everyday. If you never try then you'll never succeed. You have to try new things to keep things fresh and new and because I hate nothing more than to be bored with a situation, I'm constantly keeping myself entertained by trying new things. I don't like dull moments. After our hike we descended back down the mountain a little ways back to the monastery. We checked out the museum gift shop and book about the museum but decided that we didn't want to pay 6 Euro to go inside. lol We got some souviners and headed home. I slept on the train and when we had made it back to Plaza Espanya I headed over to Sants Station to get a train schedule for tomorrow because we wanted to go to Figueres and Girona since we won't be able to see the Dali museum this week on the school trip. After I got home, I went to the store to get stuff to pack a lunch for tomorrow, relaxed all evening, and planned our route for the next day. I was exhausted and went to bed around 12.

Friday - We got up super early, 6:30 to be exact. We got ready and headed out the door around 7ish to catch our 7:46 train to Figueres. It was going to be about a 2 hour train ride so we decided that we would sleep on the train. As soon as we got on I was passed out with my mouth hanging wide open as usual, (same way Julie sleeps)! I woke up about 10 minutes before it was time to get off the train. To avoid another detour like Tarragona we decided to map out directions from the train station before leaving this time! lol We took pictures of the map just in case we got lost! We started towards the Dali museum but got distracted by all the fresh markets on Saturday morning, something you can find in almost every city in Spain. DELICIOUS! We got a little lost and just so happened to be in front of the tourist info center when we realized this. We stopped in, got a map, and easily found the museum. We needed a little pick me up so we sat down at a cafe next to the museum for a quick coffee drink. It was a very unique place. We went into the museum around 10:30 or 11 and I quickly fell in love. There is just so much to say about the way this museum made me feel: free, quirky, passionate, interested, confused, etc. My personal opinion, Salvador Dali was a multi-talented, genius He is one of the most twisted, intriguing artists of our time and seeing his museum was worth getting up at 6:30 and paying almost 24 Euro for train tickets there and back. I'm so glad that I was able to have this experience and anyone who travels to Barcelona MUST make the trip to Figueres to see this, it's worth every penny and all the time in the world. The museum was very interactive and I saw some of the strangest, most beautiful things I have ever seen. Truly the most unique, and my favorite art museum in ALL of Spain AND Europe. Don't get me wrong, Van Gogh and Picasso were amazing but nothing compares to Dali, he's just inspiring and talented. We didn't leave the museum until 1 o'clock and then we grabbed a bite to eat. As we were eating I realized that I had read the train schedule wrong to go back to Girona and that the next train was leaving in 10 minutes!! We housed our food and practically ran to the train station and as we were approaching the station we saw our train taking off. It was bittersweet. I was tired from running and now we had to wait almost 45 mins. for the next train!! UGH! We relaxed at the train station till the next train arrived. It was a short ride to Girona. We were very close to the French border in Figueres so we were definitely more than a hop, skip, and a jump from home! lol We made it to Girona and got some directions at the train station. Things to see in Girona: The cathedral, the old Jewish quarter, and the Cases de l'Onyar. I really enjoyed Girona and if I had to pick two words to describe this small, traditional, Catalan town they would be, "Quaint and Picturesque." We first saw the beautiful houses lining the canals, took some photos, and then found the Cathedral. The Girona Cathedral has the widest gothic nave in the world and the second-widest of any style, first is St. Peter's Basilica. It was an amazing church, it was huge. You weren't allowed to take pictures but if you know me, you know I was snapping them left and right. It wasn't busy so it was very peaceful. They also have one of the best collections of religious art, they house the 11th or 12th century tapestry, "The Creation of Life," which was very impressive. It was only 3 Euro for students and we got an audio tour so I was pleased. After the church we tried to see the Arab Baths but they were closed! UGH! I was so dissapointed because this was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Girona! They are only open from 10 - 2 on Saturday!?!? What kind of hours are these anyways!? Instead we wandered around the Cathedral area and saw the old Roman walls and a very pretty area with excellent Roman ruins and Gothic Architecture. Girona is a wonderful city full of hidden treasures and corners just waiting to be discovered. After this we wandered around the old Jewish Quarter looking at all the little shops and alleyways. We did Girona pretty quickly actually and after we realized it was only 5 o'clock we were pretty shocked!! I guess this is what happens when you start the day so early!

We decided to grab dinner somewhere and in Girona siesta is strictly observed so we had a hard time finding something. A guy recommended a place to us so we went there. I had a pizza with goat cheese, spinach, and pine nuts. It was very tasty. After dinner we decided to head home in time to get a nap so that we could go out later! We walked quickly to the train station to catch the train but it turned out that the scheduled train wasn't running that day so we had to wait another 30 or 45 minutes for the next train! UGH! I know I'll figure it out with these trains eventually! We slept on the way back to Barcelona and we decided to get off one stop earlier than usual because we thought it was closer. It was, very seamless process and from now on I'll probably take the airport train from this stop. After we got home, I grabbed a bite to eat, relaxed and then got ready to go out! We had some of our Spanish friends over before going out to drink and then we met up with the Portuguese later on. We tried out a new club this evening called Elephant, it was very classy but it was pretty dead for a Saturday night. Regardless, we had a good time with good conversation. We got home around 6 in the morning and Sam and Kevin had made french fries and left us some. We quickly devoured those and then passed out!

Sunday - On top of being sleep deprived (as you can tell from my recent schedule) I was also just tired from being out so late so I slept in until 4 o'clock in the afternoon!! AH!! I don't think I've ever slept in that late in my entire life! Crazy, I know! I woke up and felt like the entire day had been wasted away. HOWEVER, here in Barcelona, that is never the case, which is something that I love! I made something to eat, showered and started to work on my powerpoint for Monday's class. The big FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game was on at 7 and they were playing here in Barca so we left around 6 to get a spot somewhere to watch the game. We tried 4 or 5 different places before settling on this modern bar. We had some waters and some patatas bravas. We saw that they had chocolate fondue so we decided that we would go back before we leave because we were too full to eat anymore! Barcelona won, it was exciting. We live right off of the Ramblas, the main street that everyone flocks to after the games, so it was a very lively walk home! People go crazy here over Barcelona but I absolutely love the spirit and enthusiasm! It's great! I took a video of the action and a few photos. Alex and I stopped at Starbucks on the way home and I had a piece of carrot cake and a mocha praline latte which was really good. I've been wanting to try their holiday drinks recently and it was a chilly night out so the timing was perfect. After we got home I uploaded my Ireland pictures ( I know I'm a little behind!) and just hung out, Alex and I had girl time and we didn't go to bed until almost 4 in the morning because our sleep schedule is obviously a little messed up right now! lol

Monday - Today we had class at noon. We gave our last presentations, our free presentations. My group ended up doing ours on the Gothic Quarter and it went pretty well. The other groups did a good job and now everything is completed for this class except for the exam which will be on the 14th! AGAIN, it's crazy to think that this is almost over, I'm already starting to get sad, I know it's going to be tough to say goodbye!

During break I meet with my street group which is the same group for our class presentation's tomorrow on our Barcelona slogans. We started making a video on my Mac and decided to meet at my place after the next class to finish it. Our next class was so boring, I ate my lunch and went to the snack machine for a candy bar I was so bored! After school I rushed home, went to the ATM and then to the store really fast before my whole group got here. We worked on our project for nearly 3 1/2 hours! Ugh, it took forever. I really hope that it works tomorrow on the computers at school. I called my sister Julie spazzing out about how to get it to work tomorrow! It's very frustrating having a mac sometimes when it comes to this stuff but then again, everyone with a PC is also having trouble getting powerpoint and video's to play on the school computers, so it's not just me! :D Luckily I have an amazing sister who is a genius with these types of things and hopefully the stuff that she recommended works!! If not, then I'm going to get a big fat, "F." (and I would not be okay with this!) After my group left I felt very relived and I got to video chat with my other half tonight (Chelsea)! It's been a while since we talked and I've missed her!

As far as the next couple of weeks go - here is my jam packed schedule!

Tomorrow- presentation for Marta's class - then her class ends, study session for the LSAT

Wednesday - EIBTM Conference in the morning and a couple of things around Barcelona in the afternoon and then study session for the LSAT again

Thursday - Class, pack for Madrid, study session for the LSAT

Friday - Early flight to Madrid, probably going to spend all day in my hotel studying! AH! That sucks! It's hard to be in a city like that and study! BLAH! I'd like to have a nice dinner this night!

Saturday - THE BIG DAY! (no silly, I'm not getting married - this happens to be more important!) LSAT test and then afterwards I'm going to do some crazy sight seeing!

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - Madrid - leaving late tuesday

Wednesday - Event Management presentations, gotta work on this project sometime?

Thursday - Catalan Exam, last day of class

Next Weekend - BARCELONA sight-seeing and fun parties with the Erasmus students since it will be some people's last weekend

Following week - Exams and then hopefully it's off to see southern spain and lisbon, Portugal!

23rd - Flying back across the pond!

The next 3 or 4 weeks are going to fly by and between all this I have to finish my event management project, write a paper for that class, and actually make plans and book stuff to travel around southern spain!! So much to do, so little time to do it in...See, I told you there isn't going to be any sleep until I leave!! ;)

Ugh, Pray that I make it through all this alive and that I do muy bien on the LSAT!

Adios!

Back to my daily grind - anything but normal!

So when I woke up Monday morning to go to the airport I had planned on taking the bus because it was the cheapest way for me to get to the airport - only 7 Euro. I woke up, packed up my things and headed downstairs to check out. It was around 4:15 in the morning so I was allowing 30 minutes to locate the right bus. Well, it just so happens that a guy was taking 2 other girls to the airport and as I was walking out the door he chased me down to ask if I just wanted to share a ride with them since he was going that way anyways. I reluctantly said yes thinking that it couldn't be more than 10 Euros and it was cold outside so I didn't really want to walk that far anyways. Inside the hostel it said on the "Options to the airport" page that a taxi was about 25 - 30 Euros. Well, I took the taxi and when we got out at the airport this guy said that it was 15 Euro each!!! I was pissed. How can a taxi ride to the airport seriously cost 45 Euro? We didn't even go as far as we would have from the center of Barcelona and it's about 30 Euro to the airport there! The other girls didn't even have enough money to give him and they said, "we thought that it would cost 20 Euro tops, can we give you pounds?" He looked hesitant so I handed him my 15 Euro reluctantly and just walked off quickly because I didn't want to get stuck paying the rest of the fare because they didn't have the money. I was really pissed off because I could have easily just taken the bus and saved 8 Euro. I didn't have enough money to even get something to eat at the airport. I tried not to let this ruin my day but I felt really ripped off and then because I was there so much earlier than planned, I had nothing to do in the airport and they obviously didn't have any heat in this place because it was freezing cold. I did buy a Cosmopolitan in English though and I got a free clutch and laundry softener sample so I was excited about this. I read that while I waited for my plane and let me just say that the British version is not the same as the American one so I was a little disappointed. We had to walk on the plane and the flight back was a little bumpy but it wasn't nearly as bad as the flight there. I had to sit behind two spoiled little brats and their british parents so I was annoyed for the majority of the flight. I just dislike children on planes altogether. There should be some type of medicine that you should be required to give them to knock them out! lol The decent into Barcelona wasn't the greatest considering a day later I still can't hear out of my left ear. My flight did come in 20 minutes ahead of schedule and in my head I was trying to remember the train schedule from the airport. There was a train at 10:08 and we landed at about 10 till. So, thankfully I was in seat 6B so I was one of the first people off of the plane and through passport security, which btw I FINALLY got a Spain stamp in my passport book!! :D Very exciting! I was practically running to the train and I ended up making it with 1 minute to spare! After I made it home I had to get a shower before I could go to school. I didn't know whether or not we had hot water so I had to wake up Alex to find out. Turns out, we still don't have hot water BUT, Alex had gotten the key back from John after locking it upstairs so I was able to get a hot shower. I took a long shower and decied that I was just going to be late for class because I was tired and wanted to unpack and start some laundry. I made it to school right as my group was presenting so I join in on the presentation and then shortly after the class was over! On break I met with my group and then I took a nap in the sun on a bench outside the school. It was such a nice day yesterday, a perfect day for just a light jacket and the sun felt so good! I've been thinking recently, it hardly ever rains here and when I walk to school everyday I realize how lucky I am to be here. The sun is constantly shining, and although Barcelona is stinky and kind of dirty at times, there are other things that make it beautiful and my walk to school always makes me appreciate this city. It's just perfect in it's own unique way. Our next class was so boring, we had more presentations, ours went good and then after school I headed home, Sam and I went to the Carrerfour (grocery store), and then he cooked this wonderful chicken dish and we showed each other pictures of our weekends. He liked my pictures from Ireland! After dinner I devoted all of my time to finishing my presentation for Wednesday and then I went to bed around midnight- early for me but I was 4 hours away from going on 24 hours! I was exhausted. I was a little upset last night before going to bed..It was just a hard, long day in general and I think the fact that yesterday marked the 30 day countdown to my return home was a little more than heart-wrenching. I miss my family and my friends but I honestly wouldn't mind never coming back. I'm also used to being away from the people I care most about now anyways so this doesn't really feel that much different, I'm just living a different life now. I like living here and although everyday is a challenge I enjoy it and I have fully embraced another culture and have learned how to live here. It's going to be hard being home at first, it will take some time for me to adjust back to life in America, believe it or not, and I'm just not looking forward to that hard transition OR that awful flight back.

Today I missed my Catalan class because my alarm didn't go off at the right time or something. I feel like I remember it going off and then maybe I turned it off, I'm not sure I was so tired I couldn't recall exactly what had happened. lol I decided that I would take the opportunity to sleep in a little bit longer, get up, get ready, and then go to class refreshed and in a better mood. I haven't missed one language class yet so I didn't really feel that guilty for missing. I went early to meet with my group on break, I showed them our powerpoint and some of the pictures were missing. A lot of us are having this problem with our presentations and movies. It's annoying that our computers aren't compatible. So I'll have to fix that tomorrow morning. After break we went to class and in Marta's class she told us that they will be having a visit to the Dali museum in Figures next friday. I can't go because I'm going to Madrid and many other people can't go either because they have also booked things because it is a long weekend. Many people that are from other countries are going home to see their families and everyone, except Alex, from America is traveling somewhere because we have 5 days off from school! So, she wasn't very smart in planning this visit. After that news, on a happier note we got to go to the top of the school to look out onto Barcelona and identify as many things as possible. Really I think this was more for us just to see the city from the top of the school, something we've all been wanting to do since day one. Our school is absolutely beautiful and i got some good photos while I was up there. It was fun. After class I meet with Outi in the library and worked on our project, our other two group members didn't show up so we had to compromise and make some decisions on our own. I left school around 3:30 because I had to go to the tourist information point at Plaza Jaume to get a brochure for our presentation that I accidentally lost this week. I got my brochures and then I decided to walk down our street one more time. We have a street that used to be in the Old Jewish Quarter of medieval Barcelona until the Inquisition in the 13th century. Well, after much research on the Jewish Quarter last night I wanted to find the Synagogue that I keep hearing about. So, I took the brochure, read through it, and wandered around the Jewish Quarter. The history in this area is amazing, this part of the city is so old and I'm sure if the walls could talk, they would tell so many stories. I found the Synagogue and decided to go inside to find out if I could find any information on our street. The woman inside spoke fluent English and was happy to answer my questions, she gave me a lot of valuable information and let me take pictures of the Synagogue. It was a great experience and I would recommend anyone coming to Barcelona to check out the Jewish Quarter, very interesting. After this I headed down to the Maritime museum to check it out. We have a presentation due next Monday on the Barcelona Port: Past, Present, and Future and I thought that the museum might have some good information for me. It was only 1.25 for me to visit with my student ID. Turns out, as soon as I walked in they had an exhibit on the Port - the past, the present, and what they are doing for the future, I thought this must be my lucky day! I took pictures of everything and then I checked out the museum itself. It's under construction right now but they stuff that they did have available to see was pretty cool. There was this large replica of a Spanish ship that you could actually walk up into. It was a little on the boring side but the exhibition that they had was very interesting, it was about the history of deep sea exploration around the world and I learned some interesting facts. It emptied into the gift shop of course, where I purchased 2 cool pencils. After the museum I headed over to the Christopher Columbus monument and took the elevator up to the top. I got some great views of Barcelona at night and the ticket was only 2.50! Very nice. After this I headed back up the Ramblas, tonight is the Barcelona vs. Milan game so there are many fans out tonight singing and chanting in the streets. I made a stop at the Boqueria, the market, to pick up something green for dinner. Sam bought a live lobster at the market earlier so we are having the salmon that I bought yesterday at the store and lobster for dinner. I ended up having two fruit juice smoothies and I bought some persimmons for dessert instead! After the market I came home and I'm going to work on presentations all evening after dinner. My friend that I met in Amsterdam is getting in tonight around 8, I'm not sure how long they are staying but I might grab a drink or tapas with them later.

With only 29 days left here in Barcelona, 5 of which will be spent in Madrid, I have a lot to do and see, I'm so sad that I'm going to be leaving soon but I'm looking forward to meatballs Christmas Eve. BTW If anyone wants to give me an advancement of my Christmas gifts, it'd be nice.

Tomorrow we have our big street presentation so wish me luck! :D

Hasta luego!

Dublin in a day!

Technically I saw some of Dublin Friday after I arrived but I didn't get to do as much as I had planned because my flight got delayed by about an hour. So, I saved the main things for today! I had no idea that there was so much to see here, I wish I could stay just one more day but unfortunately I have to go back to school! Blah!

Dublin is home to so many unique things for example: Guinness, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, St. Patricks Cathedral as well as many important people in history such as James Joyce. I started my day around 8:30, I got ready as quickly as possible, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to my first stop of the day - The Old Jameson Distillery! It was close to my hostel and easy to locate. As soon as I walked inside I felt like I was at some type of luxurious gentleman's bar! It was so nice and classy inside. They were very welcoming and polite, I bought my ticket and the cashier told me everything I needed to know and gave me the time of the next tour. I had about 15 minutes to kill so I used the restroom and bought a chocolate bar enhanced with flavors of Jameson at the gift shop. Whenever I go somewhere and they don't have a pencil I usually just end up buying food! lol Probably not the best alternative but it sure is a tasty option most of the time! I saved my chocolate for later because I had just had breakfast! Unlike the Heineken experience, at the Jameson distillery you get an actual guided tour as opposed to a self guided tour. I like these types of tours better, you just can't beat a personalized experience. - Another thing I've learned in the tourism/hospitality industry!

So the tour started out with a short film about the history of John Jameson and how and when he made the Irish Whiskey. It was very informative and I was interested! After the film ended our tour guide said that he was looking for 8 volunteers, 4 girls and 4 boys. I had read in my travel book that they ask at the beginning for people to taste whiskey's from around the world at the end of the tour so I was already prepared to volunteer and my hand was probably the first one in the air! There weren't many people on our tour so I got to be one of the test subjects! :D So glad I got there at 10 A.M.! What better time to taste some whiskey! (Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere!) So I got to hold a round tube throughout the whole tour and after we had picked all the volunteers our guide took us through the old distillery and explained to us the process that they use, the ingredients, and what makes Jameson different from other whiskeys! Our guide was funny and I really enjoyed the entire experience! Jameson is so unique compared to other whiskey's because of the way that the malt is made and because it goes through the distillery process not once (like all American whiskey's), not twice (like all scotch whiskey's) but three times and this is the key ingredient to the recipe. These two main reasons, the 3 time distillery process, and the fire in which the barley is malted is what gives Jameson it's smoothness combined with a sweet honey, vanilla flavor! I actually learned a lot on this tour! After the tour ended the doors opened up into this fancy bar area! The volunteers (including me) were lead to a special tasting table where each of us got to taste three whiskeys, the first and most obvious, Jameson, second the top selling scotch whiskey, I can't remember which one and then the top selling American Whiskey which was Jack Daniel's - yuck! My favorite was the Jameson and my least favorite was the Jack Daniel's. The tasting was fun, our guide told us to smell each one, and then say what we thought it smelled like and when it came time to smell the Jack Daniel's he said ok now smell the Jack, - It probably smells a lot like college but what else can you pick out? hahaha, I thought that was pretty funny. No one else is probably laughing right now so maybe you just had to be there but I was cracking up! After tasting all of the whiskeys we each got a complimentary drink (everyone on the tour did). I took my Jameson with cranberry and it was surprisingly really good! I'd never had that combo before and I also learned about all the combinations around the world. For example, in Asia they drink it with tea and in London they drink it with Ginger-ale and in America we drink it with Coke! So after bringing us our drinks our tour guide also printed up a certificate for each of us with our name on it saying that we were expert Jameson Whiskey drinkers or something along those lines!! I felt pretty special. After I finished my drink I left the Distillery and headed for the next attraction. Overall the Jameson experience was awesome, I really felt like they appreciated me being there and treated me like I was special! Our tour guide was awesome and Jameson is actually pretty good whiskey. I definitely liked this better than the Heineken experience but that could also be due in part to the fact that I'm not a huge beer fan and I actually do enjoy whiskey! SoCo is my preferred shot in case anyone is buying me a bottle of anything for Christmas! lol My first preference though is ultimately Rum!

So next on my list of things to do was the Guinness brewery. No trip to Dublin, or Ireland for that matter, would be complete without a trip to the Guinness brewery, the #1 tourist attraction here in Dublin! It was very windy outside today so the walk over wasn't very enjoyable but after I had made it inside and gotten my ticket I had regained my composure and was ready to sample some Guinness! The tour starts with a view of the original 9000 year lease that Mr. Guinness himself signed 250 years ago! Pretty impressive. The Guinness storehouse was also a self guided tour and remined me a lot of the Heineken experience. It's pretty much the same concept, I mean, it's not like you can stray from the beer making process a lot! So I saw the main ingredients, it went through the process of how it was made and the history behind the Guinness family as well as the history of the advertising and marketing. It was interesting but it was really crowded so people kept running into me and it was hard to take pictures without getting a bunch of bodies in them! They had a cute little cafe with really good looking sweets and stuff. I wanted to get a muffin but I was saving room for the restaurant which I had been told had excellent Guinness Irish stew! It was on the 5th floor right under the Gravity Bar, which is the top floor with a 360 view of Dublin. The museum itself is shaped like a pint of Guinness, pretty awesome architectural design if you ask me! So I finally made it to the restaurant, got seated, and order the stew! My waitress was really nice except for the fact that she was a little slow when it came to getting my check. I got a whole basket of bread to myself and it was some of the best bread I have ever had, it even topped the pretzel bread at Le Cellier at Disney, and that's saying a lot! There were three different kinds, I have no idea what they were, they were just really good! My Guinness Irish stew was even better. It's honestly some of the best soup I have ever had, better than the seafood soup I had in Finland, which was pretty excellent! I would pay 50 dollars to have a bowl of that shipped back home with me! It was that good! It had tender roast beef with carrots and mashed potatoes right in the center of the bowl. Soo good! I wanted to lick the bowl clean! Probably the best, whole, meal that I've had since I've been in Europe. My patatas braves aren't really a meal, they are more like an appetizer! So after I finished at the restaurant I headed up the Gravity Bar for my complimentary pint of Guinness which was equally as tasty! The bartenders even made a four leaf clover in it for me! Very cool, I love when I see people do that with Guinness, you aren't a good bartender if you can't do that! So as I was getting my pint I looked out the window and realized that there was a rainbow outside!! How much luckier could I get!?!? How awesome is it to see a rainbow in Ireland while drinking a fresh Guinness? Perfecto! Lovely touch! I took as many pictures as I could. It was packed so it was hard to maneuver through all the people. I couldn't finish my whole pint because I was so stuffed from lunch already and beer isn't really my thing. I will say this though, before this trip I wouldn't even go near a beer and now I've found that I almost enjoy some beers! If I had to drink a beer I could probably manage to get down a Heineken or a Guinness. Guinness is very heavy though. Regardless, I'm definitely more open to the idea of drinking a beer now and the taste is growing on me, slowly but surely! So after the bar I headed down to the gift shop, bought another chocolate bar because they didn't have any pencils and then walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Again, it was terribly windy and it was slightly raining. My umbrella went to hell last night on the way back from dinner with Melissa. We both shared a hysterical laugh and took some photos of my broken umbrella! So I didn't have an umbrella and even if I did the wind probably would have destroyed it anyways! So I just had to walk in the rain. I was relived when I finally found the church, it was tucked back on a side street. It was pretty big and similar to the Christ Church so I wasn't too impressed and in Ireland you have to pay to enter the church's which I think is weird. I haven't had to pay to go inside any other church in Europe so I was a little shocked that it was almost 5 Euro just to go inside to look at it, it's a church!

After the church I walked over towards George street(I think that's what it's called) It was another main street for shopping. In Dublin they already have up their christmas lights and music playing so I got some pictures of the decorations! It's very Christmasy here already and I love it! I went in a few shops but I was in a hurry to get to the Book of Kells, which I have been wanting to see since day one and was one of the main reasons that I wanted to come to Dublin aside from Jameson & Guinness, my newfound friends! I finally made it up to Trinity College, they have such a beautiful and historical campus. I walked around a little bit and then I went into the library to see the Book of Kells. If you don't know what the Book of Kells is, it's the first four gospels of the new testament in Latin written by some monks of Ireland in the 6th century. The first part of the museum is dedicated to the history and decoding of the book as well as other important medieval manuscripts from the same time period and then it opens up into this room where the actual Book of Kells is located! After seeing the pictures in the museum I had an idea about what it would look like but pictures don't compare to the real thing. The detail is just amazing, very intricate. It's an unbelievable masterpiece and I was taken back by it's beauty. It's amazing to see something THAT old that's so important to our religious history. So after the book of Kells I walked in the opposite direction from which I entered the college and took some pictures of some bridges and the Custom's house. By this time it was starting to get dark and I don't like walking around in the dark by myself sometimes so I started to head back and stopped on O'Connell street where some special Christmas lighting activity was going on. They were singing Christmas songs and the road was blocked off but I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I stayed for a little while but it got boring fast. After this I stopped for a hot tea, which btw I like hot tea now, and a Cherry Almond Pastry and then headed back to my hostel! I'm in my room now and even though it's only 9 o'clock I think I'm going to go to bed! I'm so exhausted! Today has been a full day and I was already tired when I woke up this morning. I'm going to figure out how to get to the airport in the morning for my 6:40 flight and then hopefully I'll be having dreams about leprechauns, rainbows, and Guinness!

Overall my trip to Dublin has been great. I've had such an amazing time, I've seen the breathtaking Irish countryside, experienced the culture, tasted some great whiskey, beer, and Irish stew, made a new friend, and braved the wind. Usually at this point in my weekends I'm ready to get back home to Barcelona, and while I miss my city, I also wish that I could have just one more day here in Dublin! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Rome, Milan, Finland, and Amsterdam and I'm so lucky to have seen these amazing places but, I think that Dublin has by far been my best weekend trip so far and this is one city that wasn't even on the top of my list to see! Funny how that works out...I've really enjoyed my time here and I'm sad to leave. I hope the Irish have brought me some good luck! :D

See you in Barcelona!

Goodnight for now but tomorrow it's back to my Spanish/Catalan, Buenos dias/ Bondia!

Another thing- P.S. Can anyone tell me why I've made 4 posts in the past 3 days and I am yet to see a comment on one of them? lol I'm disappointed! Is anyone still reading out there? Hello?? I guess I must be posting too much and now you can't keep up!! Don't forget to read all of them!

"Ireland's Garden" - Wicklow & Glendalough

Ireland is absolutely beautiful! I simply do not know any other way to describe it.

Yesterday after arriving at the hostel, I immediately got settled in. The first thing I did was get a shower, I know that I probably should have been sight seeing but I start to feel really disgusting after 24 hours. - That's my limit! My hostel is really nice. I'm in a 14 bed room but it's very spacious and each of us have our own little area, it's very clean, and the beds are comfortable and warm! This hostel is supposed to be one of the top 10 in the world and from what I've seen so far I can understand why. The bathrooms are always sparkling clean, they have free wi-fi, free breakfast, a very social atmosphere, and the people at the front desk are great at giving advice and will even book tours for you!! They also have a elevator! I'm really happy I decided to stay here! I'm only paying 40 Euro for 3 nights, which is a really good deal! :D

So after I got ready I decided to talk to the people at the front desk about tours and then do some sight seeing. I really wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher but the guy at the front desk discouraged me from doing the tour and gave me ample reasons to back up his statement. Instead he recommend this other tour through Wicklow and Glendalough. The other tours were almost 70 Euro and the one he suggested was only 25...so I took his advice because he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. So, I booked it! I was so excited! Next, I thought I should do as much sight seeing as possible since I was going to be on a tour all day Saturday and I would only have Sunday for seeing everything else. I went to see the Christ Church which is very close to where I'm staying. It was beautiful. Old yet well maintained. I got some great pictures and then I proceed to this cafe recommended in my travel book for some Fish and Chips! I have been craving them ever since I saw a sign for them in Amsterdam! This cafe was supposed to be a good value and some of the freshest in Dublin. It was almost 9 Euro but it was huge! It probably weighed more than 3 pounds! I couldn't finish all my fries but I finished all my fish! I had to pick out some bones towards the end and I accidentally swallowed one but Mom said that I'm going to live! haha After fish and chips I went inside the city hall which was pretty. All the attractions close early around 5 or 6 so I didn't a chance to see anything else so I just started walking around and before I knew it I was in Temple Bar!! This area is full of pubs, restaurants, and cafes. Great night scene. I wondered all around this area and then I found myself at O'Connell street so I started walking in that direction. O'Connell is the main street here in Dublin. They have everything, it's sorta the center. They have monuments galore as well as plenty of tourist shops, and other great stores to shop at. I walked all the way up it and then I turned down Henry street where they great shopping is located! Shockingly I didn't buy anything other than 2 pencils for my collection! I saw so many things that I liked and I wanted to buy them but I'm starting to run out of money and I'm trying to save some for Madrid and other things I want to do in Barcelona. I wish I could have an advance on my Christmas presents so that I could do a little bit of shopping without having to worry so much about every penny that I spend!! So after going in 100 shops I headed back to O'Connell and got a great juice smoothie at this juice bar! It was so good and the guy in the shop was really nice. It's a little strange to hear people speaking English on the streets here. To be honest, it's shocking how nice the people are! The guy at the juice bar was so nice and when someone runs into you in the street here they stop to give you a sincere apology! It's crazy! They are just so nice, it's totally different from Spain! I made my way back to my hostel and I got some great pictures of the city at night. The Liffey river splits the city in two so it's lined with bridges and at night they have green lights underneath all of the bridges and they are so pretty! After I got back I messed around on the internet and made friends with some of the girls here at the hostel. The majority of everyone is from the US, 5 girls are studying in Paris, 2 in London, and a couple more. We were all talking about going home soon and how we are all sad to leave! A couple of the girls are very excited to go back though....I went to bed around 1.

This morning I woke up around 8:30 to get ready for my trip to the Irish countryside! Our tour was leaving at 9:45 so I wanted to have ample time to get a shower, get ready, and eat a good breakfast. Five other girls from the hostel were also going on the trip, including a friend that I made last night named Melissa. I convinced her to go on the tour! lol So our tour guide arrives and he is an older man, average height with white hair, and his name was Ed. He said, "I'm Ed, that's an E and a D!" lol He was really funny and as soon as we got on the little bus he got acquainted with each one of us and when I told him I was from West Virginia he was very excited! He said that when he was in the navy and when they were getting close to the East Coast that the first radio station that they could pick up was WVVA or something out of Wheeling, West Virginia!! We shared a laugh and I thought that was pretty cool! lol We were all from the US except for 1 Australian and 2 Danish girls. We meet 4 other girls that were from New York that were staying in a different hostel. So after we all met each other the tour began. It was pouring the rain so the visibility was pretty much zero! I was a little skeptical at first, he took us down the coast which was pretty even in the rain. He also showed us where the rich people live in Dublin, they live in huge castles on cliffs that drop off to the sea! It's like something out of a movie. So after we go through this ritzy neighborhood we head into Wicklow where the scenery completely changed within a matter of 5 minutes! The Irish countryside is just absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen anything like it! It's just unbelievable! So lush, green, and full of sheep! Our first stop was on top of a mountain and the bus ride there was a little scary! It was raining so hard and there was water all over the road! It was also very bumpy and I was joking around with the girls on the bus that we were on an Irish Safari!! lol We all thought that it was fitting! So we pull into this little gravel lot and the tour guide turns around and asks if anyone is going to get out. We all look at him like, "well of course we are." However, after going out of the bus I soon realized why he looked at us the way he did! He made us coffee and hot tea while us crazy students went out the the edge of this cliff! As soon as I got out of the van I was immediately pelted with rain. It was so windy!! It was also very muddy and slippery. Once I had made it out the edge I was literally almost blown off the mountain! I've felt (I think 50 or 70 mph) winds at a science museum before and these winds were much stronger. I couldn't even take a step without the wind moving me four steps! I was a little scared because we were all really close to the edge and the gusts were definitely strong enough to blow someone over the edge. On a couple occasions I felt like the wind was picking me up! I decided that I wasn't going to go any further and started to turn around but then I was pelted in the face with rain. When it hit my face and my ears it stung, it was very painful! It was not a good feeling and by the time I had made it back to the bus my face hurt pretty bad and I was soaking wet! I looked like I had just taken a shower! The fog on the mountain was so heavy that you couldn't even see the lake below you or the old Georgian main that the Guinness family owns! So, I was a little disappointed but I ended up getting a view of the lake while driving down the other side of the mountain. We had wonderful hot tea and coffee on the bus along with a biscuit! It was lovely! After we had left the mountain he took us to the sights where they filmed the movies, "P.S. I Love You," "Braveheart," and "The Reign or Ring of Fire." He said that many movies are filmed in Ireland because there is no tax for artists here. So, that's why "Braveheart" was filmed here even though the actual setting was Scotland, only 10% of the whole movie was filmed there. (I learned many interesting facts on this tour!) After seeing the movie sights we stopped at this amazing waterfall!! Again, breathtaking! It was huge and the rain had finally let up so it was much more pleasurable getting out of the bus this time! lol We took some pictures even though it was really windy and then we walked down the mountain where our guide picked us up and then we headed for lunch in this cute little Irish town! We ate at Anna's cafe and I had a vegetarian panini with red peppers, onions, and goat cheese. Mmmm...it was so good and then I followed it up with a Cadbury bar! Perfecto! It was nice to order my food in English for once also! :) They also had a little hotel there as well as a gift shop so I looked around a little bit before we had to be back on the bus. After lunch we headed to Glendalough where St. Kevin's 6th century monastery is located. Very impressive. Irish ruins are not at all like Roman ruins. They are so much prettier, covered with moss, stoney, and everything has a celtic cross! Don't get me wrong, I love me some Roman ruins BUT, it was interesting to see some other ruins! I got some great photos here and learn some interesting facts about the crucifixion of Christ as well as some Irish history. After seeing the monastic ruins our tour guide left us to walk through the woods, past two lakes, and told us that he would pick us up in the parking lot at the other end. Glendalough means "Glen of two lakes" and that it was. The forest was gorgeous and I took so many pictures! Ireland has so many waterfalls and I'm glad that I came during the fall because the forest was very colorful and it made for a nice walk! We got a little lost in the forest, no one was really listening when our tour guide was giving us directions on where to go. We thought we had taken the wrong path so we walked back to this little fork in the road and went the other way. This path was basically like a bridge because it was crossing a river that was flowing out of the lake, well we all started walking across the bridge and then in the middle of this river, halfway across the bridge, the other side of the bridge was flooded and water was halfway up the side of the bridge! There was really no way for us to get across so we had to turn around and go back. We asked a guy for directions and he told us that we could also go the other way. Still, we were a little shocked to see a bridge like that, I mean, I've seen stuff like that on T.V. when there are floods but to see something like that in person kinda makes you panic at first. It's a little scary because water can be a very powerful force at times and the bridge could have broken! We made it to the parking lot just fine on the other path and it turns out that that was the right way to go anyways! We got back on the bus and made one other stop to look at the Dublin reservoir and the hydrowater plant. It was interesting to learn about both. I was looking at the window pretty much the whole trip back, it was so beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off of the scenery! I started feeling sleepy when it started getting dark outside and I took a nice little nap until we had made it back to the hostel. After we got back Melissa and I debated on wether or not to do a pub-crawl. We couldn't find one with a free T-Shirt so we decided that we would just grab something to eat and maybe go to a pub instead. We walked over to Temple Bar and had dinner at this Gourmet Burger place. It was really good and affordable. We ended up staying there for almost 3 hours just talking about everything from boys, school, boys, our lives, boys, being independent, boys, life experiences, boys (you get the idea)!! We have sooooo much in common it's crazy! She's from California and she's studying in London right now. I'm excited to have made a new friend! She's coming to Barcelona this upcoming weekend and I told her that I would show her around! I'm anxious to show someone around the place that I have been living for 3 months ya know!? I've already told her so much about Barcelona, my roommates, and the other people there. So, it was a great day! I've made a good friend and I saw the countryside of Ireland! (this is why I like staying in hostels) What could be better!?? When I see such beautiful places like this, I know there must be a God to have made something so breathtaking! I'm a very lucky girl, not just today, everyday!! :D

I must get some rest now, I'm exhausted, it was a full day today and I have to see all of Dublin tomorrow!!

Goodnight!

Going Dirty to Dublin....!

So Sunday I wake up around 1 in the afternoon. I was pretty exhausted from my adventures in Tarragona! As I make my way into the kitchen my roommates inform me that there is no hot water and of course, at this point, all I want is a nice hot shower. Lol Sam tells me that the pilot is lit but the water is not hot. I said, well we’ll figure it out later. In the meantime, I had to wash dishes in order to eat anything that morning because every single dish in the house was dirty. To prove this – Sam drank water out of a creamer dish!! Well, we all know that you can’t wash dishes without hot water so I started boiling some water and one pot at a time, slowly but surely, I washed every single dish in the house! By the time I was finished I was starving so I made myself some poached eggs and toast! Mmm! After breakfast I decided that I would try to figure out what was wrong with the hot water issue. First I sat down and emailed our landlord to let him know that we didn’t have any hot water. Then, I went to the hot water heater thing and decided that I would just blow out the current pilot light and try to light it again! I did this and I guess while I was making all this noise on the back patio our landlord heard me and I look up and he is staring down at me from the balcony above us (they also own the flat above us)! He scared the crap out of me. I said, “Oh, there you are! I just emailed you, we don’t have any hot water.” So, he came down and told me everything that I already knew about the situation, like he didn’t believe me when I said there was something wrong, and said that he would call someone first thing in the morning and that it wouldn’t take long for someone to come over and then he mumbled something about leaving town Wednesday. In the meantime he gave us a key to the flat upstairs and told us that we could take showers there. As for the rest of the day, I got a shower and after Sam and Goncalo came home from playing futbol I hung out with them for a while. I got ready for school, did some homework and went to bed. Not too exciting!

Monday – In class we had to give a presentation, like usual. My first class was pretty boring and my group is ahead of the game because we did next weeks presentation this week! So, that’s one less assignment that I have to worry about this weekend. In our second class we got our assignments up until the end of the semester. It’s so weird to think that my time here is almost over and that I’m almost done with college. It’s extremely heartbreaking. After school Monday I was determined to get some things accomplished because I felt like I hadn’t gotten anything done all weekend. So, I went to the grocery store, I cleaned our bathroom, swept and cleaned our room, swept the rest of the house, and took out the trash. I don’t think my roommate Stephanie knows HOW to clean a bathroom and I’ve come to the conclusion that that HAS to be the reason she hasn’t cleaned anything or washed a load of towels since she’s been here! She’s pretty messy and we all know how I feel about messy people – it’s just disgusting and there’s no excuse for that type of laziness and disorganization. So I come to find out, Alex told me, Stephanie told her that she had cleaned the bathroom a couple days ago. So Alex being the cleanly person she is asks her how she cleaned it and Stephanie proceeds to tell her that she cleaned it with soap and hot water and that she scrubbed it with the toilet brush!! – I almost choked on the cereal I was eating when she said this. #1 – When she says soap, I’m curious if she used my bar of soap in the shower? Because we don’t have anymore shower cleaner and Gel de Bano, or shower gel isn’t shower cleaner. #2 Who the hell uses a toilet brush to clean a shower? That’s just nasty! It’s common sense that you don’t put your shit where you take a shower! EW! Again – the stupidity of the average person amazes me sometimes.

After I had given the bathroom a thorough scrub, I did some homework and I FINALLY uploaded my pictures from Rome – which btw took forever so I want to hear that you enjoyed every last one of them! :D Went to bed around 1 or 2 – pretty normal day, wait, I take that back, there is never a normal day in my life!

Tuesday – Catalan class was challenging. Over the weekend we were supposed to study so that we could have a “party” in class. A “party” is when we get up and mingle around with our classmates and only speak in Catalan. I survived and I learned some new words! Com et dius? Ehm dic Leandra. Soc de Estats Units. Tinc bint anys! After Catalan we finally had a class with Marta after her class has been cancelled for the past month and a half! I swear we’ve only had her class I think 3 other times since being here, only one of those in which she actually taught us something! So, it was a surprise to see her actually conducting class because we usually only see her when she has something to tell us about a schedule change or something going on at the school. And another thing I want to mention – I can completely see why Johnson and Freaking Wales does an exchange program here because they are almost just as equally disorganized. Now, the cultural boundaries aside, I think they do a better job here at Sant Ignasi as far as school things go BUT, in every single class this week when the teacher’s have been taking roll and they call out the names of the Maastricht students (who keep in mind left last week) we had to tell them that they left! And every teacher this week was like, “Oh my, they left already? Marta never mentioned anything about them leaving.” (AKA they obviously have some communication issues, and the Maastricht students lucked out by not having to take a final!) So After Marta’s class was over I had to meet with my group to put together our PWP for next week’s street presentation. The meeting didn’t last long before I realized that I was going to be doing the majority of the work which I don’t really mind that much because that way I know it’ll be done on time and done right. I despise group projects and I blame being a hospitality management major for this. At this point in my college career I know how these “group” projects work out – they usually don’t. If JWU has taught me anything about the management industry it’s to not rely on your co-workers! – I’m not sure if that was one of the objectives on the syllabus or not? I can’t remember… lol

We made the outline and then I went home and just started adding pictures and stuff. Tuesday night I managed to get my pictures of Amsterdam uploaded and I washed some towels. That’s about it really.

Wednesday – John, our landlord, told us that the maintenance guy would be by sometime between 9-1 and that we should just stay there to wait for him. He came around 10. He came inside, went back, played around with the water heater, turned on the water a couple times and what not and then came out and gave us an invoice for 335.65 Euro! Now, I wasn’t home when John had come by Tuesday night but, Alex told me that he left us 150 Euros and said that it should cover the cost. I’m assuming that he left town but I’m not sure. So I wasn’t downstairs when the maintenance man left but Alex said he came into the kitchen, said that it was fixed, gave them the invoice and when Alex said they didn’t have enough money he said, “That’s ok, just have John call me and I’ll come by and pick it up whenever!” – It seemed like such a painless process! Well – when we got home that evening we tried to do dishes but there was still no hot water! I was so mad. After talking to a Spanish friend of ours she informed us that he didn’t fix it and won’t fix it until we pay him the full amount of money, that he probably just came over to assess the problem! –GREAT! So I sent John an email but of course he hasn’t responded. It’s currently Friday when I’m writing this and we still don’t have any hot water AND on top of that, Alex locked the key in the flat upstairs that John had given us to take showers. So, I couldn’t get a shower this morning before leaving for Dublin, so I’m going dirty to Dublin! Lol I also find it really rude of John to go out of town, for who knows how long, when we don’t have hot water. As our landlord, and for the amount of money that we pay every month, he should have made sure that the problem was being taken care of.

As far as the rest of my day - Ugh, Events Management – enough said! I honestly used to be interested in doing events and working in that area but after BOTH of my event classes I’ve come to despise the entire idea. I think I’ve just had some shitty teachers. Luckily we had a guest speaker this week. Her English wasn’t perfect so it was hard to follow along and I remember bits and pieces but for the most part I was dozing in and out the whole time. In this class we are going to go to a conference of some sort called the EIBTM first week in December. We were all supposed to register online and then they send you a badge in the mail. Well, Alex and I, registered as soon as they told us about it over a month ago and we still haven’t received our badges! Stephanie and Sam registered like 1 week ago and got theirs in the mail this week!? Please tell me how that is logical? So, just to make sure I get one, I registered again! Hopefully it will come in the mail soon!

After events, I met with my group for Thursday’s class, had a quick lunch, and headed to Katherine’s class. My group will present next week, which will also be our last class. I got to see the other 2 groups present this week and their presentations were good! After school I took the metro home like usual, grabbed something to eat and went out to shop for a coat. I also looked around a little bit Tuesday night. After shopping Wednesday I had it narrowed down to 2! I decided to sleep on it and try them on again tomorrow. After I got home I felt exhausted! I tried to work on some stuff for school but I didn’t get much done! I went to bed around usual Spanish bedtime, 1 or 2.

Thursday – It was so hard to pull myself out of bed yesterday morning!! I really debated just not going to Catalan. I haven’t missed any classes at school yet and I so badly wanted to take a personal day!! I tell you what – I’ve discovered that I’m a pretty dedicated and motivated college student! Back home at JWU we obviously have a strict attendance policy so I’m pretty much forced to go to class but now when I have the luxury of being able to miss a class and I still decide to go – that’s dedication! I actually enjoy school PLUS, I’m footing the expensive bill for this education and you would be stupid to think that I’m going to pay for a class and not attend or fail at that! I know so many students that pay for classes, don’t go half the time, don’t try, and then when they fail them, they’re upset because they are out an average of $1200 for that class, and they FAILED – both are bad but, the money part is non-refundable and usually they have to retake the class. What a waste of time and money. College is such a money making scheme in America for this reason- STUPID PEOPLE! They thrive on young, irresponsible teenagers who think they are adults! So I decided that I better go to class because I only have 3 more weeks left as an undergrad and I need to take full advantage of it! I show up to class and there are only 4 other people in the room. I guess everyone had the same idea that I had! So many people miss Maria Jose’s class and I think it’s just plain disrespectful. Plus, if you don’t go to class you really can’t learn the language. After Catalan I headed straight for the CDT, or library, and started working on my project. I was determined to finish my “To-Do” list that I had made for myself at the beginning of the week. #1 on that list was to book my room for Madrid! I’ve been trying to accomplish this for weeks now! #2 was to finish up all my homework for next week before the weekend so that I can be stress free for a few days! I need it!

The room I booked for Madrid is really nice! I will be staying at the Hotel Husa Nuevo; it’s located in the business district close to the school where I will be taking my test, St. Louis University. It’s a brand new hotel with flat screen TV’s, a sauna, modern rooms, and most importantly FREE wi-fi! AND because I have booked so much stuff through Expedia lately they have been sending me coupons for travel left and right. I had a $50 off coupon and a $10 off each night stay coupon; I used my $50 coupon. For a 4-night stay I only paid 330 Euro, which is $82 US Dollars a night! That’s pretty good from what I’m used to seeing! I was excited to find such a good deal. After I booked my room I worked on some of my project and then headed to my last class of the week! We watched 2 presentations and then I headed home. After I got home I went out with Sam to help him look for a new hat. He wanted a female opinion so I took him to H&M and picked him out a nice hat and a nice sweater. I was his personal shopper and I made the process painless for him. After that I went to buy my coat. I decided to go with the more expensive one at Zara because it was of better quality and it’s classier. The coat at Bershka was 20 Euro cheaper but it was more casual, not as heavy, and I knew that I would have to sew the buttons back on probably 5 times! Plus, the classier one I can wear anywhere. It was a good investment. Merry Christmas to me! UGH – growing up sucks. It’s sad when you have to buy yourself a coat as a Christmas present to yourself…I’d much rather have other things…but I’m thankful that I can buy a coat…that’s what’s really important, well that and the fact that now I won’t freeze in Dublin or Barcelona!

After I got home I decided that I was going to plant myself in a chair and that I wasn’t going to move until our power point for next week was done. It worked out! I only got up to make scrambled eggs with cheese and toast and to socialize when Goncalo and his cousin, who is visiting from France, dropped by. It seems like all the students from Europe have a family member or a boyfriend coming to visit. Every week there is a different girl in our class whose boyfriend is visiting! I guess if I lived close I’d visit too but us American’s don’t get any visitors. I feel kind of left out because I don’t have anyone to show the city too! So, if anyone would like to come visit, just let me know, I’d love to have you!!

I finished the majority of the presentation and then I started packing! I decided that I was going to take my laptop and my LSAT book with me this weekend because the hostel has free wi-fi and a safe deposit box to store my laptop in. I have become an expert packer over the past few months, not that I wasn’t a great packer before hand, because I was! Ask anyone; I always have anything and everything you could ever need. I come prepared for almost any situation. Austin had 2 reasons for dating me - #1 was because I always had everything he needed when he needed it and #2 was because I had a big butt! Lol So, I’ve always been a good packer but I have recently learned how to pack perfectly, in 20 minutes time, for a weekend getaway without having to check a bag at the airport. Believe it or not people, this does take skill, and no, JWU did not teach me this!

I got to bed around 3 last night and woke up around 8:15 this morning. I didn’t make it on the train to the airport so I had to pay 5 Euro to take the bus. Then, after I arrived to the airport they informed me that my flight had been delayed by 30 minutes. So, I grabbed some breakfast at the airport, found my gate, and then it was off to Dublin! It’s so weird to think that I’m flying to a place where they will be speaking English as a first language! I’m kind of excited in a way but I’m still in Spanish mode so I wouldn’t be surprised if I start asking for things in Spanish, I’ve done that in Rome and Amsterdam! I’m just so used to it now! The flight was extremely bumpy. I was panicking as usual. I thought we were going down! I asked the flight attendant if this was normal and she said that when flying do Dublin there is always a lot of turbulence because of the tailwinds but going back will be nice and smooth. I hope she’s right! We made a safe landing and since I was in seat 2C I was practically the first person off the plane! It was weird to see the signs in English at the airport and even though it's my first language I was still roaming around lost! Don't even ask how! I finally figured out where I was supposed to be going so I bought a bus ticket, hopped on the bus, and made my way to the Four Courts Hostel, rated one of the top 10 hostels in the world! I'm safely at the hostel now and I am already pleased with it! I'm off to see the sights in Dublin and I'll update tomorrow!

P.S. (don't forget to read about my trip to Tarragona, I posted both of these posts at the same time!)

Hopefully the Irish will bring me some luck!! :D

Tarragona

So late Friday night Sam, Goncalo, and myself decided that we were going to take a day trip down to Tarragona last Saturday. We didn’t want to get up too early but we didn’t want to get up to late because there is a lot to see in Tarragona and because it starts getting dark so early now you have to get up early to see stuff! We made it a goal to leave by 9:30. We left more or less on time and didn’t really have a plan or an idea about what we were going to do. I knew how to get there but I didn’t really know too much about Tarragona other than it has nice beaches and well preserved Roman ruins. We get to the train station and I think that we had just missed a train going in that direction because 2 run per hour and we had to wait almost 45 minutes for the next train after we arrived. In the meantime, we occupied our time in the train station’s cafeteria. Goncalo bought some sandwiches for later and Sam and I had croissants. We caught the train around 11 I think and it took about an hour to get to Tarragona. The train ride down was beautiful because it was right on the beach and the beaches outside of Barcelona are real beaches and they are beautiful! After we arrived we weren’t really sure what to do! We decided to go left out of the train station, which we would soon come to find out, was the wrong way, we should have taken a right! Lol That’s ok, we took a nice walk down the port, stopped at the maritime museum and got a city map and navigated our way to the center city. This is about the same time that we started getting hungry and Goncalo realized that he had forgotten his sandwiches on the train!

Tarragona is a smaller town so it was easy to walk around. We made our way to the main Ramblas of the city where we ran into this really cool statue/monument. As you have read in my early posts, human castles are part of an important tradition here in Spain, especially in Catalunya, and here in Tarragona they actually made a human castle into a statue. It looked so life like that it was scary! It was very cool; you just have to see the pictures! We made our way down the rest of the Ramblas to the sea where the view was amazing! We took some pictures and then we spotted the ancient ruins of the Roman Coliseum. It’s actually very well preserved and it’s right on the beach so it makes for a great photo. We walked down, took some pictures and decided to grab lunch before heading to the famous aqueducts. We ate at a nice café where we each had different paella. Sam had seafood, I had vegetable, and Goncalo tried the arroz negra (black rice, this is when they use the squid ink and it makes it black) mine was really good, the service was slow but that’s normal.

After lunch we decided to make our way to the aqueducts. This is where the real adventure begins…I’m assuming everyone knows how to use a map, well as you know, most maps have the sights marked, especially touristic maps, and this one used numbers like most maps. Well 22 was the number of the aqueducts on the map but it was partially cut off at the top so we weren’t entirely sure where they were located. So, we start walking in the general direction that we think we are supposed to go in. We were definitely going the right way according to the street names and I’m pretty much an expert now at navigating my way through these European cities but then, the sidewalk starts to taper off and all of a sudden we are in the middle of a major highway (the highway between Barcelona and Valencia)! So we decided to stop and ask for directions. The people we asked told us that it was too far to walk to and that we should take the bus. So, we then went about trying to find the bus. We waited at one bus stop for about 15 minutes and then decided that we would try another one. We finally got onto a bus, which was difficult. Thank goodness we had Goncalo with us to speak Spanish because if not then we probably would have gotten onto the wrong bus! We told him that we were trying to go to the aqueducts and when he pulled off along side of the highway and signaled for us to get off I think we were all a little confused! Turns out, the bus stop for the aqueducts is in reality, on the side of the highway! Very dangerous. So we finally made it there and we proceed to walk towards the sign that says “Roman Aqueducts.” They are actually located within a park so we analyzed the map and just started walking towards what we thought was the right direction, again. We made it to the aqueducts and they were amazing. I had no idea that they were going to be so huge! I thought it would just be some arches in ruins but almost the entire thing was still in tact! It was definitely a sight to see and worth the trip. After we took some photos I think that we made a wrong turn. We thought we were following the right path because we kept seeing signs like their was a path marked but somehow we got lost. We were walking and Goncalo stops because he saw some thing attached to this bush, almost like a hair clip. We have no idea what it was but we’re calling it the “Catalan symbol” haha we took a picture and moved on! We stumbled upon some more ancient ruins in what used to be a garden for some member of the royal family. We walked a little bit further before we admitted to being lost! Lol We started seeing bullet casings on the ground and then we saw some yellow signs in Spanish that symbolized a gas line and we started to walk down this huge hill and then we saw signs in Spanish that said, “hunting grounds.” So, I guess we could have been shot! We had wondered from the park with the aqueducts to a hunting ground! I’m not sure how it makes any sense to put a park next to a hunting area but we all agreed that it seems like a very “Spanish” thing to do! So after we made our way out of the woods we were still lost. Somehow we had ended up next to the highway again but this time the bus stop was nowhere in sight! In order to get back to what we thought was the path we had to walk through a field that had been tilled up like they were going to plant something in it, maybe corn? (Picture an empty fresh, dirt field the size of 2 football fields) As we started to walk through this field, again we are probably lucky that we didn’t get shot, the dirt was so soft that we were practically sinking in it. Sam and Goncalo had the bright idea to run, full speed across the field. I tried this but it actually made it worse and I had so much dirt in my shoes by the time that I had gotten to the other side that it was disgusting! We made it back to a path finally and then it was like the shining light at the end of the tunnel, we were back at the entrance! We had to wait along side the highway for the bus for about 30 minutes. The sun was going down and it was starting to get cold and at this point we were pretty tired. After a long bus ride with stinky sweaty people we made it back to the civilization! We decided to walk through the old city and then go to this point on the beach to get a picture and then we would leave. Plus we were starting to get hungry again. We bought a ticket to see the old Roman city walls. It was dusk outside but the walls were beautiful at night! The lights on the walls made for some excellent pictures. We were the only people there so we took tons of pictures and played around. Sam picked an orange off of an orange tree, we thought it was lime though because it was small and green but, after being in my purse for a while we immediately knew it was an orange. When we were at the Castle of Montjuic he also picked a piece of fruit off of a tree, we think that one was a lime though. So, it has now become mandatory for him to collect a piece of fruit off of a tree every time we visit ancient ruins! After the Roman city we headed down to this point on the beach called playa de miracle. We thought that it would be nice to see the city at night from this point. It took us a while to walk there but we walked back to the train station on the beach and the weather was so nice that we only needed a light jacket, so I didn't mind. I think the high was around 73 or 74 during the day, perfect temperature. We made it to the station on time for the 8:40 train so we grabbed a sandwich and took a nap on the train on the way back. Overall it was a great day, it was quite the adventure, of course, traveling with two men I didn’t expect any less! One thing is for sure, after we got home it wasn’t long before we were passed out! We were exhausted!! Great day trip though, I'd highly recommend it although next time I'd prefer to do some more research on the area I plan to visit. BUT, sometimes those Sporadic trips are the best ones! ;)

My life ...a never ending adventure..

First let me start off by saying that I honestly need to write more often to avoid such long posts. I know this. I've just been lazy about it and I really need to get on the ball. The longer I wait, the harder it is for me to write and the more details I leave out. So, I vow from now on to do better with this issue.

Second...I forgot to say something else about my flight from Amsterdam last time. At the check in line at the airport these stupid people acted as if they had never been through airport security. Stupid people and airport security do not mix well - this is also one of my biggest pet peeves. So there is this husband and wife and then there are two security people on the other side of the walk through archway beeper thing. So the wife walks through and it beeps and the husband starts walking through before the wife had really even exited the other side of the arch. Now, these arches, as you know, are not big!! So then they each had to go back through and they repeated this same stupid thing seriously 3 times before the security had just about had enough of their shenanigans. They security arch was beeping like it was going to explode, I wanted to smack some sense into these people because they were holding up the entire line. If they wanted my opinion - these people were either #1 hiding something, or terrorists trying to get through security by going at the same time to cause confusion, OR #2, my personal favorite, JUST PLAIN FUCKING STUPID! Aaaaaannnnnnnndddd guess what folks, it was #2! They finally made it through and then it turned out that they were on my plane and acted just as stupid on the plane. Everyone clearly knows that on a plane the flight attendants are going to come up and down the aisles with their carts so if you need to use the bathroom you should plan accordingly. - The average person knows this. Well, the flight attendant is trying to move back through the aisle but this stupid lady (same lady) wants through to her seat and the flight attendant had to tell her not once, not twice, but three times and then literally move her into an empty seat in a row to get by and this stupid lady didn't even seemed phased by the fact that the whole plane was staring at her like she was mentally ill. I mean seriously? These people acted like it was their first time on an airplane and I clearly could tell that they were of Philippine or Asian decent and were not from Amsterdam because they spoke zero English. Therefore, I know that they have been on a plane before! lol

The point of all this - I'm constantly amazed by the stupidity of the "average" person. Sometimes I just can't believe how cluelessly people move through life. It just never seizes to amaze me!

Alright, now that I've got that out of my system..on to more important things. I think I left off with last monday so we will start with tuesday!

Tuesday - First day of Catalan!! Now I'm not sure if I've explained this before so I'll go ahead and go through it again just in case someone has been a "lazy reader" *cough* Julie *cough*! Spain has 9 or so Autonomous communities and Barcelona is located in Catalonia, probably the most important one. It's similar to us having states in the USA, we have federal laws and then each of our states kind of governs itself with its own laws and stuff. It's similar to that concept. So in Catalonia they speak two different languages. First they speak Catalan which is spoken by almost 7 million people most here in Catalonia, Andorra, the Balearic Islands, some parts of France, and some parts of Italy and then they speak Spanish. They are both nationally recognized languages. All of the signs, museums, even McDonald's is in Catalan here!! It's similar to Spanish in some ways but it is also similar to, and sounds like, French. A mixture between Spanish and French would be the best way to describe it. Therefore, Barcelona is not the BEST city to learn Spanish in because everything is in Catalan and sometimes when I think I'm learning a new Spanish word, I'm really learning a Catalan word! It can be very frustrating at times.

So we stated learning Catalan in class on tuesday. It's a very hard language but it sounds very pretty! I don't think that I will master this one but it's useful to my everyday life here in Barcelona! Our second class was cancelled again on tuesday. We have literally had this class I think 3 times since we've been here. It gets cancelled every week but I honestly don't mind! The less work I have to do means more time to party and relax for me! After school on tuesday I can't even remember what I did. I probably just procrastinated about doing homework and was lazy.

Wednesday we had, the always dreadful, event management. The class ran over and I felt like just getting up and leaving. I didn't take a single note all class I just surfed the internet on my iphone! lol I hate this class with a passion, it's just so poorly taught that I can't even bring myself to pay attention anymore! We grabbed a quick bite to eat after class and went to our research class with Katherine. We got to watch one group do their street presentations and then we voted on who was going to go on the 18th and who was going to present on the 25th. My group got the 25th, thank goodness! My group decided how we were going to split up the paper and our presentation and then class was over! After we got home from school I went to the store for a few things, Sam and I made homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese! It was okay. The soup was a little to tangy for my taste in tomato soups and the cheddar cheese that we bought for our sandwiches tasted like crap. lol It's not the same here at all! I worked diligently on homework this night for Thursday's class. I got one of the assignments done. I laid down at 10:30 to take a short nap and ended up sleeping all night until I woke up at about 7:30 the next morning!! I guess I was really tired! **

Thursday - A very busy day -My day started off pretty good, I had plenty of time to get ready and enjoy my breakfast and then it was off to school! We practiced our Catalan in class, learned our alphabet and numbers, as well as some useful phrases. After class we had a 3 1/2 hour break but I had to meet with my group members for Thursday's class at 2pm to put together our parts for our "Basque Country" presentation. So, I had to quickly do my part!! I hurried through it and when I went to meet with my group at 2 only one other girl showed up and she wasn't even at the meeting last week! I was ticked off! Our other 2 group members could have at least called or texted us to let us know that they weren't going to be coming ya know!? We worked on the project anyways since we were there and had nothing else to do! I felt like we got something accomplished and then 10 minutes before it was time to go to class our other group member shows up and says "oh hey guys! Sorry i'm late!" - Suuurreee, try 2 hours late!? Like WTF? How can you be that late? She just didn't want to come but she could have had the decency to call and let us know!. I thought this was pretty rude of her so I just ignored her. I packed up my stuff and headed to class because I didn't want to be late. We got to watch two groups present and I'm so glad that my group didn't go first because after the presentation I wanted to change everything about our project!! This class is really tough, it's probably the hardest one that we have next to Catalan! The class is mostly Spanish students and then there are the Americans, the Norwegians, and two of the Finnish girls! The class is in English and the professor, Joseph LOVES the USA and basically told us the first day of the class that we are there to help the Spanish students with their English! How lovely! So before the groups started their presentations he went around the class and handed certain people a piece of paper to "judge" one of the four people presenting in each group. I thought, ok so it's just a 1 - 10 scale and some comments BUT, at the end of the presentations he made the students stay standing while each of us "criticized" their presentation skills and many of the students where harsh and the teacher was too!! I was in shock! I couldn't belive that he was actually saying these things. I don't consider this "constructive criticism" I consider it insulting and rude!! I guess this is another one of those cultural boundary things. I'm really nervous to present anything though after the process I witnessed! We don't do things like that at my school! I mean speech class was somewhat similar but it wasn't even that harsh!

After school was out we rushed home to get everything ready for all the Erasmus students to come over. Five of the girls on our program are from a school called Maastricht in Holland and their semester system runs something similar to our trimester system at Johnson and Wales. They have 3 terms just like us and their new term was starting on Nov. 16th so they were leaving earlier than the rest of us to go back home to start their new semester. Sooo, we had a little get together at our house and we made pizza's for everyone. They supplied the ingredients, we supplied the venue, and we had a lovely party! It was great and then after the pizza party was over we all went out to club it up at this fancy discotec called Suton. It was really nice and I had a good time. Alex accidentally tripped me at the club though and I now have a massive bruise on my knee because I hit something on the way down and it's pretty painful. However, at the time I didn't really notice because we were all pretty drunk! lol It happens! We didn't get home till around 5:30ish, I had a pastry and a banana and called it a night! I was exhausted physically and emotionally. It was really sad having to say goodbye to a big chunk of our group! The Maastricht girls were sooo much fun! We called them the 'professional party-ers' because they would go out every single night to the hottest clubs, stay out till 6 am, and then come to class the next morning looking perfect like they had gotten plenty of rest! I'm really going to miss them and their partying abilities! I'm telling you these European girls are professionals, I really need to step my game up!

Friday I slept in until about 2 in the afternoon!! I had a very lazy day on Friday. After I woke up....well, let's just say I enjoyed a honeymoon type whimsical state all day! :) Dinner was good and then afterward I went for a walk around the Gothic Quarter. Late friday night we made plans to go to Tarragona the next morning. We choose between Tarragona and Montserrat. I'm obviously going to do both, it was just a matter of deciding when to do them! I called it a night around 1 am in order to get some rest for my adventure!!

Tarragona and the beginning of this week will be in a separate post...! :D

Such a free people - The Dutch

Where to begin? Hmmm, I have so much to say about my weekend in Amsterdam. First of all, we need to back track to last Thursday night before my early departure. It was a fairly long day at school, I was definitely feeling very tired and still had lots to do before my trip. Well, that evening, I went to the ATM around 10:30 to take out the cash that was needed to pay for my hostel because they only accept a cash payment upon arrival. So I insert my card at the same ATM that I use every time, I type in my pin, it takes me to the next screen, I select the amount of money I want to take out, hit "continuar" and then the screen says something along the lines of "your card isn't coming back out, please contact your bank for further info." I nearly had a heart attack in Plaza Catalunya at this very moment. After everyone that I've talked to, no one seems to be able to tell me why the machine kept my card, just that it did! I guess it was just feeling frisky!? lol WHO KNOWS! So I immediately come home and call Bank of Freaking America...another screw up company that the government gives money too! Anyways, I explain the severity of the situation to the lady and she says that the only thing to do is to mail me out another card in standard mail and it should arrive in 10 -14 business days. I tried to kindly explain to her that 10-14 business days in America isn't the same as 10-14 business days in Spain and that i'll be lucky to receive it by the end of the month with the way their mail system works here. (This was during my "nice" phase.) She had really ticked me off by the end of the conversation mainly because she just acted like she didn't really give two flying fucks that I was living in a foreign country with no access to my money which I "trustingly" put into their hands because they said they could "offer me a lot through their international banking options." So, later on when I had calmed down and looked at all of my other options for cash, Alex and I decided that we would call back and talk to someone else. Luckily, we got a guy on the phone this time and he told me that they have options for this and that I could also call VISA 911. Gezzz, who knew this? Obviously not the first idiot that I talked too. So he says that it is possible to send the card through FED-EX (another option the lady insisted was impossible) and that they could also wire me my money, free of all charges, through western union and that I could just pick up however much I needed to hold me over until my card got here. So, TA DA!!! I felt a little bit better about the situation but I still had no cash, so I had to cash two of my traveler's cheques the next day in order to have enough cash for the weekend. So, point of this story is Bank of America and I are finito (finished) upon my return to America (if I come back!) Before I knew it it was past midnight and I was supposed to catch the bus at 3:30ish to get to the airport so I decided that instead of sleeping for about an hour that I would just go ahead and finish my packing, get a shower, head to the airport, and sleep there just to make sure that I didn't miss my flight. I'm glad I left when I did because it took the bus forever to get us there. I got checked in, went through security and tried to take a nap before my flight. I didn't get much sleep because I was nervous as usual before I fly but miraculously I got some sleep on the plane which is rare! I guess I was just THAT tired! I slept through the descend into Amsterdam so when the plane hit the ground at full speed I woke up scared to death!! I thought we were going down. (probably not a good experience for someone who is already scared of flying!)

So after I landed I had to wait around in the airport for about 30 minutes because Kevin and I were on different flights. I located some directions and such and when he arrived we caught the train to Central Station. Our hostel was a short walk from the train station, easily locatable pretty much in the center of the red light district! How pleasant! The hostel...hmm...I'm not sure where to begin on this one. My book recommended some good ones but they were completely booked and we would have gotten into this one hostel if it wasn't for Kevin wanting to wait and see if we could get a house boat? So instead, we had to stay at the White Tulip, Kevin also found this place. The name is a little decieving. There was nothing pure about this place. Granted, it could have been worse but the showers weren't the cleanest, and I had originally requested to stay in an all female dorm but upon arrival the stoner at the front desk was like, oh well I'll just put you guys in the same room together! I didn't want to come off rude and ungrateful because he probably felt like he was doing us a favor when in reality, he wasn't! So, I had to sleep on a top bunk in a room with 2 other girls and 7 other guys! It was a sausage fest in the room and guys are disgusting and loud. It's like they don't know how to sleep peacefully. They snore and they make noises, i don't know its just not the same as a room full of girls. I was not happy with this situation but it seemed like the hostel was pretty full and you can't really do much complaining at these places. Also, the guy who was sleeping on the top bunk perpendicular to mine, his feet were in my bed pretty much the whole night. It was so nasty, I couldn't sleep because I was scared that my feet were going to touch his. EW!! AND another thing - right across from our hostel was a shop called *Ohmibod - The most vibrating shop in town* if this gives you any idea about the area that we were staying in! lol We were surrounded by sex, sex, and more sex!!

Aside from the hostel, I had a great time in Amsterdam. Oh the Dutch! There is just so much to say about them and their way of life. They are such a free people. Anything goes in Amsterdam is my observation. It's a beautiful city with a rich, rich history and it's equally full of an extremely diverse population. Everything is very laid back in this city, at first, like other people, I wanted to contribute that to all the ganja they smoke but after a weekend there I don't think that's the only reason! lol The canals are so soothing and peaceful and everyone rides bikes, there are hardly any cars. Therefore, the city is very quiet. So quiet from the normal hustle and bustle of Barcelona that it almost seemed eerie at times. I thought that Amsterdam was a non-stop party kind of city but now I'm on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and I've decided that it would be really nice for a peaceful weekend getaway, as long as you don't stay in the Red Light District! lol So here are a few essential things to know about Amsterdam. Like I stated previously, almost anything goes here. It is legal to smoke weed here as well as do other "soft" drugs (Mushrooms were banned in June of 2008). Any place that you can buy weed is called a "coffee shop" and a bar is well, a bar. The government put these terms in place in order to differentiate the type of establishment in which the weed is actually sold. Some restaurants and bars are smoker friendly meaning that you can smoke weed inside but not cigarettes in most cases, obviously in some bars you can smoke either. Amsterdam also has many sex shops and smart shops. A sex shop is well...basically a porn store or a sex shop and a smart shop is where you can get all sorts of different herbal enhancers and hallucinogens as well as vitamins, aphrodisiacs and things of that sort. You can also buy space cake in amsterdam otherwise known as "weed brownies!" Ok, so now that we have the basics down....let's start with my adventure.... :D

The first thing we did after dropping off our bags was head straight for something to eat. We first made a stop at a "coffee shop" so that Kevin could buy some "laughing buddha" (the name of the weed that he bought) and then we ate at a small cafe that was smoker friendly. lol The food was really good, I had a banana juice with a raw salmon, cream cheese, and tomato sand-which on a white bagel. It was delicious! After lunch we headed for the Anne Frank Huis or House. We had to wait in line, it was pretty crowded. I have never read the book! (I know, don't judge me!) I've always wanted to but I've just never found the time (It'd probably make a good christmas gift!) I've heard a lot about it though and I know the story so it was still interesting for me. It was also sad and just seeing the actual journal that she wrote in made the whole thing so much more realistic for me. It's really terrible what happened to her and her family. Unfortunately you weren't able to take pictures, which is understandable, so I don't have any photos to show you. The house was really amazing though. It was so small and the stairs were incredibly steep. It has been renovated somewhat but for the most part, it's in the original condition. It was a really moving experience. I'm glad that I did it.

After this we headed back to the hostel to take a nap because we hadn't gotten much sleep obviously and we were really tired. After we woke up later we headed out for some dinner. We ate at a chinese restaurant and it was also good. After that we went to another coffee shop called El Guapo, it's pretty well-known. I bought an already rolled joint here and Kevin rolled one of his own. (Now don't act so surprised, I know what some of you are already thinking, OMG she smoked weed and she's writing about it in her blog for everyone to read!?! --- NEWS FLASH - #1 I'm in Amsterdam - Like they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans - Same goes in Amsterdam!, #2 I'm not ashamed of anything I've done - no regrets - if you don't live like this then your cheating yourself, and #3 This is MY blog about MY trip in Europe and I'm not about to not write something in here just because someone might not agree with it, these are MY memories and I gave everyone a fair warning with my email invitation.. *It might be rated "R"*) Deal with it!

So we stayed for a while and watched some pool on TV and then the international timber chopping championship came on and guess who was representing the USA? A husky looking mountain man from...you guessed it...WEST BY GOD VIRGINIA!! AH!! lol I was pretty excited! After all this we stopped and got a sweet treat at this little cafe, it was basically a small waffle with chocolate topping with nuts and whipped cream - served hot! Delicious!

Saturday we had a lot that we wanted to accomplish so we started out the day at the Heineken Experience. Now, I'm not sure if you are aware but Heineken isn't actually brewed in Amsterdam anymore, they recently moved the brewery to some other town in Holland so they converted the brewery into a museum basically and called it "The Heineken Experience." With admission you get 1 free taste and 2 beers so basically you get 3 beers. For 15 Euro though, I'd better get a gold beer mug! lol It was expensive but it was a pretty cool place. I'm not a huge beer fan but after the tour, I definitely liked Heineken a little bit more. I'm trying to expand my horizons to drinking beer and I'd say that I've definitely pushed the boundaries and improved my tolerance on this trip. Beer is just such a big thing here in Europe that it's hard to not partake in drinking it! I took lots of pictures here!!

After the Heineken experience we headed to the Van Gogh Museum. It was a whopping 12.50 Euros to get inside. Now, I know your thinking oh, 15 Euro here 12 there isn't really that much, but let me spell it out for you.... E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E! Here is a nice calculation to go by 15 Euro is equal to 22.50 US Dollars! So, these admission fees add up and in Amsterdam not many places offered student discounts so I was kinda disappointed in this aspect. The Van Gogh Museum was really great. I got to see many of his famous pieces but the one that I really wanted to see Starry Nite wasn't there! Come to find out, it's in NEW YORK! UGH! I was really sad but, I got to see Iris's and some other really good works. I also got some cool pencils for my collection here! :D (The best ones are always found at the museums.) After the museum Kevin and I went our separate ways. I did some shopping and he did some seed shopping and frequented some more coffee shops. He likes to smoke in case you haven't gotten the hint! lol I met up with him later at the hostel and we went out for a quick bite and went to another coffee shop to hang out. Afterwards we took a nice stroll around the famous Red Light District! WOW! I've never seen so many prostitutes in one concentrated area in my entire life. There are seriously 100 on every corner. It's rude to take pictures so I didn't but it's just like in the post cards, half naked women in little rooms with a door with red lights framing the door. It's truly something to see before you die! It's a little outrageous. There were some pretty girls and then there were some really nasty girls! lol

Sunday - We slept in and after we woke up we went to the Cannabis College, Hemp Museum, and Hemp Gallery. All together cost 9 euros. Not too bad, I learned some interesting facts so I wasn't totally disappointed! I learned a lot about hemp and I had no idea that it could be used for so many different things. It's such a versatile product. I was really amazed. AND, I bet you didn't know this but, the USA is the only industrialized nation in the world that refuses to use hemp or allow it past it's borders!! I don't want to go into how stupid America is AGAIN so I'll spare you the misery of another rant and just go ahead and say it...we're pretty fucking stupid in America. Who's really in charge anyways. Also, did you know that the US jails more people per year than any other country in the world!? Again...I don't even need to say it..you already know what I'm thinking... Overall it was a pretty educational museum and I got to see some serious weed plants which was pretty cool. The Hemp gallery was equally as cool and did you know that they make hair and body products?? Hemp is supposed to restore dry and damaged hair and since I burnt some of my hair last week on my stupid roommates straightener that she melted, I decided that I was going to try it. So, after the museum we headed over to this shop that the lady at the museum recommended for Hemp products and I bought some conditioner to try it out! After that we stopped and had breakfast/lunch. I had a pancake which was really a crepe with bananas and chocolate! It was really good. After all this we decided that we were going to take a canal cruise since this is one of the "must do's" in Amsterdam. It was educational. I learned about all the different types of houses and the history of the canals. It was very picturesque. After the canal cruise we grabbed a quick bite to eat. A traditional dutch snack, French Fries with some type of sauce that is similar to mayonnaise. They were really good and then after this we split up again to do our own thing, I went to do some more shopping and he went to some more coffee shops. lol Afterwards we met up at the hostel. I got back around 8 and decided that I was going to go ahead and pass out because I had such an early flight this morning.

I got up around 4:30, checked out, and booked it to the train. I was trying to wait for Kevin but he was taking forever so I told the guy at the front desk just to let him know that I couldn't wait any longer. I couldn't afford to miss the train because then I'd be cutting it a little too close for my flight! I'm glad I left when I did because the airport was busy when I got there, Amsterdam has a great airport as mentioned earlier. I find myself spending a lot of time there too. This is my 5th trip there in 2 months! lol Soo....I pretty much know my way around. They also have a casino which I plan on checking out on my way back through. Both of my flights were with KLM, which always exceeds my expectations usually, they always give out great sandwiches and little dutch cookies!!. The flight back was a little bumpy when we got to Barcelona. I've noticed that coming into Barcelona there is always so much turbulence, I'm going to attribute this to the wind coming off of the mountains and also the wind coming off of the sea. After landing I made my way to the train station, and eventually I was home around 10:30!! So, it was quite the morning of traveling! I unpacked, got ready for school, and then when we arrived to school today we found out that class had been cancelled! It was great!! So I had an entirely free day. I spent most of it just lounging around, cleaning up my room, getting ready for the week too come. I also had to go to Western Union today to get the money that Bank of Freaking America sent me. That was awfully nice of them and then, my debit card also came today!! They said it wasn't going to be here until friday but it arrived today! I activated it but I haven't used it yet, honestly I'm a little scared to put it into the machine!! lol I'm going to give it a few days! Tonight we had some friends over for dinner and stephanie made halibut and pasta and of course we had some wine! It was a great time and we also got into some great conversation about Jewish people, Catholic vs. Christian, USA values vs. European values, politics, more politics, and even more religion! It was a very heated conversation at points but it made for a good night!!

So, I have much more to tell you but I'm going to end it there because I'm exhausted. This week I really need to work on posting pictures of my trip to Rome and Amsterdam. This weekend I'm taking a break from traveling unless it ends up being somewhere in Spain and then next weekend it's off to Dublin!! :D

Hasta Luego Amigos!