Here we are sliding into home plate...Adeu Barcelona!

So, oh boy what an interesting past week this has been. I have been traveling practically non-stop. I can't remember where I left off so we will start with sometime last week. lol

Sunday night, our internet ran out and we decide as a group that we were'nt going to pay for it again with only a week and half left. So, we decided we would just use the computers at school. Went to bed at 2 up at 9 on Monday morning.

Monday - Day 1 of my last 3 days as an undergraduate student and Exam #1. Exam went good, after the exam I booked my hostel for Lisbon, same brand as the one I was staying at in Granada. We had one more class in the afternoon where we had to give a final presentation. After class I decided that I had to do some last minute site seeing and gift shopping for people. Please don't ask why I have saved some of the main things to see in Barcelona until the last minute. lol When you actually live in a city you notice these things but you don't make it a point to actually visit them and I think it's probably like that when you live in any city. Your just busy with your day to day life that you don't go and visit the monuments and touristy things. I've seen and done a lot of things in Barcelona and most of them have been the things that when you come to the city as a tourist they are not the first things on your list to see. I've done stuff after school and stuff but I haven't been in Barcelona on the weekends because I have been traveling everywhere else and then the couple weekends that I planned to stay in Barcelona, I ended up traveling to other little villages outside of the city! So, I started by visiting the MACBA or contemporary art musuem, it's literally 4 blocks from my flat. It was a rather quick visit and I wasn't really impressed, it wasn't the type of contemporary art that I was expecting at all. After this musuem I headed to the Boqueria for a fruit juice one last time. I got some pictures of the market at christmas and had 2 juices. They were delicious as usual and I'm really going to miss them! After that I made my way over to the Cathedral and decided to go inside one last time, I love the Cathedral. Then I did the christmas market outside of the Cathedral and bought a few things and then I had some Basque tapas at a tapas bar, which were delicious, looked in some more shops and headed home. After I got home I went to the Carrerfour, my neighborhood grocery store, this place has also played an important role in my everyday life and so have the people who work there like Alfredo who I also say Hola to. lol He's from the Dominican Republic. After the store, I came home, started packing, and then the Finland kids, Sam, Vania, and myself all went over to the Black Sheep to have one last drink with Goncalo because he was returing to Lisbon on Tuesday to go to Prage with his family for the week for his mother's birthday. It was a good time and Mikko was trying to tell us all how they 'freeze' their christmas trees in Finland, turns out, the torch them just like we do in America. Mikko is absolutely crazy and his English isn't the best so he gets things a little confused sometimes. lol I also had to say goodbye to Outi too because she was going to Sevilla the next morning with Nina and I wasn't going to see here again before she left for Finland. She has been my partner in almost every group for school so we've spent a lot of time together and have gotten to know each other pretty well. I'm going to miss her. It's really hard to say goodbye to these people that I have spent the last 4 months of my life living with and getting to know. This past week has been full of tearful goodbyes and hopeful 'see you laters'. It's sad. I didn't get to bed till about 2 again this night.

Tuesday - Up at 9 am again, school early to study for the exam, took the exam and then headed home to run over to Goncalo's before he left to give him some of his stuff that he had at our house and to say goodbye. I'm going to see him tomorrow here in Lisbon so this goodbye wasn't sad. lol After dropping that stuff off I headed to Park Guell, a must see in Barcelona. It was really cold outside and being up on this hill with the wind didn't help the cause but I'm so glad that I went and I wish that I wouldn't have saved it for the last minute because if I had more free time this would definitely be some place that I would love to go and just people watch. Gaudi did an amazing job with this park and I was really impressed, one of the best things in Barcelona hands down. After the park I headed over to the Sagrada Familia, again, please don't even ask why I have saved this till the last minute either! lol I've been with the school but we didn't go inside and I wanted to go inside the church so I paid 9 euros and it was the biggest waste of 9 euros that i've spent. I went inside but I couldn't go up in the towers this day becasue they were doing some type of construction and keep in mind the entire church is still being built so I went inside and you can only see the ceiling past all the construction equipment. I was dissapointed and I felt like I had just wasted 9 euros. I hope that by the next time I come back to Barcelona they will have more finished and it might be worth seeing the inside. I took a bunch of pictures of the outside though and that's what's most impressive. It's going to be beautiful when it's finished it really is. lol After this I headed over to the Hospital Sant Pau, by this time it was nearly dark outside so I just got a glance and then headed back home because it was so cold outside! I had no idea it could get so cold in Barcelona but for the past week we have either been experiencing a serious cold front or it's finally gotten cold and it's going to stay that way! It came very suddenly and the high everday has been in the mid-40's. Brrrrrrr. After I got home I worked on my porfolio that was due tomorrow and then I went to bed around 2 in the morning again. 2 am was a pattern this week. lol

Wednesday - LAST DAY AS AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT!! AHHH!!! Last Exam, which also meant last time I will ever have to see the two dumbest teachers in the world. lol So happy about this one being over. After the exam I stayed after school and finished up my porfolio, I didn't finish it till around 5, I was in such a hurry to leave that I left my ID in the comptuer lab and had to have Alex pick it up for me Thursday. So, I turned in my portfolio and walked out of Sant Ignasi's doors for the last time. It was really heartbreaking. The only good thing is that I won't have to walk up that treacherous hill everday! lol I'm really going to miss it though, the school is gorgeous, it's like stepping into a fairytale everday, and the staff is equally as nice and I'm not gonna lie, I'm going to miss the Spanish kids too, sometimes they can get on my last nerve, but for the most part, I've enjoyed almost all of them. I took the metro home as usual and after I got home I relaxed for a while and then before I knew it, Sam had opened a bottle of cava to celebrate our last day of school EVER!! He is also done after this semester abroad so we celebrated the traditional Spanish way and had some cava. We drank this while watcing the Wedding Date, lame I know but it was too cold to be outside doing anything. lol After we finished the cava we opened up this really nice bottle of wine that Sam had bought and drank that! All this while I was trying to pack for Granada and Lisbon, needless to say, I forgot a few items. lol While the drinking was taking place, Sam and I were having a conversation and then before I knew it all four of us were in my room working on fixing the handle on Stephanie's suitcase. Drunk Sam had every tool out that we could find in the place, lol it was pretty hilarious. Even though I find Stephanie pretty annoying and well, I find all of my roommates annoying at some time or another, it was kinda nice to be spending one of my last nights with all of them this way.Together. We all agreed that we would have a pretty awesome time going to Walmart together in the middle of the night. lol My roommates - gezz, there is just so much to say, at one point after getting back from Milan I recall writing in a message to someone, and I quote, ''I'm so annoyed with my roommates and if it wasn't so freaking cold outside I would seriously sleep on the street tonight!'' haha. I look back on this now and realize that this was only when my experience in Barcelona was just beginning. Now, I'm getting ready to leave the city that I've lived in for the past four months of my life, the city where my daily life has been a challenge everyday, the city where I've grown with 18 other students and my 3 roommates from the US, the city where my Spanish skills have improved beyond what I ever thought possible, the city where I've had so many good times followed by so many bad experiences that I can't even count them anymore, the city that I've fallen in love with despite all the negative things that it has to offer, its a beautiful city and it took me a while to see it's beauty but now that I have, I never want to leave

I keep thinking about what's next and everyone has been asking me this recently. As the time is drawing near to go back home I've been thinking about this a lot in the past week myself. For the first time in my life, I don't have a plan for what's next and if you know me, you know that this is very unusual. I have a plan for everything. I've had a plan in place for the past 3 1/2 years and even though I've been pretty unhappy for the majority of this time, I've been sticking to the plan, because well, it's THE PLAN! Once I start something I have to finish it. As a taurus I am very stubborn and very determined. I do everything with passion and I always give it my all, and sometimes I can be pretty competitive when doing it to, it could be the smallest thing in the world. So, I don't have plan, back to that. I'm not sure what's next, I will wait until I see what the results of my LSAT are before really making a decision about anything. I should find out my results on the 26th of December or a little after that date. If I'm happy with my score then I will start applying to law schools for admission in the fall and if not then I might take the test again in February and wait to go until the next fall. Honestly though, when I left the states I defnitely wanted to go straight into law school or directly into grad school as soon as I fnished my undergrad because I didn't want to take a break and have to pay back any student loans. lol I still do want to go to law school or grad school but I'm not as stuck on the idea now as I was when I left. Europe has changed me yet again, although this time not so drastically and not in the same ways. I'm finally done with my Bachelor's degree and that's a big accomplishment and I've been in such a hurry to get fnished that I haven't enjoyed one second of the experiece and now I just want to slow down, reflect on what the past 3 years of my life have been like and then go from there. Life is too short to be unhappy, even for one day. Like I said earlier..It's impossible to be happy everyday but it's important to try to be happy everday. I'm sick of having unhappy days so whatever is next, it's defnitely going to be something that I enjoy, I don't care if I die trying to find that happiness in a job, a relationship, a law degree, etc. Right now I have so many doors that I could open, it's just a matter of taking that next step and opening one. I could do a lot of different things now, I could get a job, go back to school, I can do anything anywhere in the world. Ideas would be greatly appreciated, I know Julie would never tell me either way it goes what I should do, she never helps me make any decisions, she always says, ''you just have to decide for yourself I can't help you decided things like that.'' One of the main reasons that I chose to do this specific study abroad program was to see if I could really handle living overseas by myself, without my friends, my family, and my support group. This was just sort of a test run to see how well I could handle it because Europe is a place that I've seriously been considering living and working. Now that I've survived the past 4 months without feeling the need to go crawling home, I know that I can handle it, and I'm really proud of myself. I'm not gonna lie, it's a little scary to think about moving here and I can't belive that I'm actually considering it but, if I did move though and I didn't like it, it's not like I couldn't ever go back ya know. Plus, if I thought I was really independent before, I've become even more independent and learned more about myself in the past 4 months than I thought possible. For example, in the past 4 months I have learned how to cook actual food and I've done a lot of dishes and everyone knows how this is my least favorite thing to do in the whole world. Impressive, I know. I am also considering writing a book maybe? I like to write I could be a lawyer or a travel writer, or maybe even a disney adventure guide. Regardless,I despise writing and I love it doing it leisurely at the same time. I would give anything to be a travel writer but I feel like that would be a very hard job to come by. Now, my 'Let's Go Travel Book' has become my best friend on this trip, it gives me great recommendations for everything from hostels, places to eat, and things to do in specific cities. It's been very good to me but I would probably change a few things if I could. For example, if I wrote a travel book I would probably call it something like 'How to travel like you mean it' or 'How to get what you want when you travel'. I'm not sure but something along those lines, this is just so you can get the general idea of what the book would be like. It would be a step around all the bullshit in the travel books, full of tips like 'hey, don't go here and don't waste your time doing this, and here is where you can find dirt cheap food.' I think it would probably be a best seller with all of my sarcasim involved. lol So, here I am sliding into home plate with a million different opportunites just waiting for me on the other side. HELP ME decide what to do! I need a job or something!

Ok, back to the trip. lol I got to bed really late wednesday night obviously and had to get up around 7 or so to start my trip to Granada..I will post all about my trip to Granada and then to Lisbon in another post that I will probably be writing on the plane tomorrow! Wish me safe travels, i'm going to be spending the next day and a half on airplanes...blah! I'm not very excited about it!

Last week of school, The Costa Brava, and then the Flu. AGAIN.

This was our last real week of classes, we only have exams this upcoming week and I only have 3 days left in Barcelona because I am going to be traveling to other places my last week here. So, here's a recap.

Wednesday - The presentation that I put together turned out pretty good. We were the last group to go. The teachers were so ridiculous that I just wanted to slap them. They told us what the wanted us to do, we did it, and then the criticized us and it was not constructive criticism. I don't know, that whole class is just so ridiculous and I hate it with a passion. Event management = shit. I'm so glad that it's over and that we only have the exam left this week. After this class I was pretty mad and I went home with everyone. I did some grocery shopping and spent 30 Euros which I think is the most I've ever spent at the grocery store. I got a lot of stuff and hopefully I only have to go back for a few items this week. lol After the store I came home and then as soon as I got home Goncalo came over and I went with him to pick up his suit or something and then I ended up running a bunch of errands with him. He wanted to hear all about my trip to Madrid because he's been there many times and what not. After I got home I cooked dinner, I made chicken with rosemary, olive oil, oregano, mushrooms, and onions with pasta. It was pretty good. I thought it was kinda bland personally but everyone else swears it was good. After dinner I study for my Catalan exam for the next morning and then I went to bed.

Thursday - Woke up around 9 because we had to be to school early to take a picture. We ended up getting there right after they had taken it though. We drew names for secret santa because we decided that we should all get together this weekend and exchange small gifts. After this we went to Catalan to take our exam. I thought I did better on this one than the Spanish one. It was a little bit easier and I guess it didn't cover as much information so it was easier to study for this one. After the exam I went to the CDT with Alex and worked on my presentation for next class, we had to research a spanish painting and present it to the class. Before class Alex and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at this new cafe that opened up near the school. It was ok and it was a little pricey. As for class, I picked Goya's Shootings of May 3rd and turns out 2 other girls also picked this painting and I was the last to present it and I didn't really have anything to say because they had already said everything! So, whatever, class was boring and afterwards we came home and then I took a much needed nap and didn't wake up till almost 11!

After I woke up I got something to eat and then ran a quick errand before Alex and I went out to Sutton to live it up! We had a good time, the music was good when we got there but then it quickly turned into just house music and we left around 4:30. The entire night was quite the adventure and some nasty guy flashed his penis at us because we wouldn't buy drugs from him at the bus stop! lol That's Barcelona for ya! lol We got home around 5:30ish and I went to bed because I had to be up at 9 to get things ready because I was going to go to the Costa Brava for the day with Goncalo. Well, we had planned on catching the 11:13 train but we actually caught the 12:15 train and then it was about an hour or so train ride up the coast. It was a beautiful train ride because you could see the beach almost the whole way there. We stopped first at Pineda de Mar, ate lunch at a little beach-front cafe and lounged on the beach for a while even though it was a little cold it was just nice to be beside the waves with the sun shining on your face. It's moments like these that I wish I could capture in photos but it's just impossible. I've had a lot of those moments on this trip and it's so hard to describe this trip with words or photos because Spain, as well as other places in Europe, is just something you have to experience for yourself. It's beauty is indescribable. After this we headed to Llorret de Mar further up the coast and it was one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. The water was so clear and we got there right at sunset so it was beautiful to watch the sun go down over the sea. This town was very touristy, it was full of hotels and touristy things like casinos, arcades, mini golf, and other things but, at this time of year it’s completely empty and a lot of the business are closed or shut down for the winter season because there aren’t any tourists. The majority of the Costa Brava is like this. We stayed here for a little while, walked around, bought some stuff, and then we decided that we would rather stay at one of the quiter beach towns down the coast so we took the bus back to the station, caught the train and picked Arenys de Mar to stop. Well, turns out, this town only had 2 hostels and both were really expensive. We couldn’t understand why, I didn’t think that we looked that touristy but I guess maybe we did? We decided to try a different town and we ended up finding a place to stay that was reasonable. It wasn’t the nicest place but it wasn’t the worst place that I’ve ever stayed. It was very quiet which is what we wanted. After we found a place to stay we grabbed some pizzas for dinner. They were good except for the fact that I found a hair in mine. Gross, ugh. We were really tired and were unconscious by 12.

The next morning I woke up so thirsty around 8:30 in the morning. I was having a hard time sleeping all night so I was still pretty tired. I went downstairs assuming that someone would be there at the front desk or making breakfast in the restaurant but it was like a ghost town, there was no one in sight. I was so thirsty and I spotted a bottle of water on a table so I poured myself a glass, drank some, and went back upstairs and tried to fall back asleep. This time, I woke up around 11 and just simply could not sleep anymore. I got up, got a shower and got ready for the day. I had to wait for Goncalo to get ready. We ate some cereal, some oranges, and some chocolate for breakfast. Very healthy, I know. We left around 2 or 3, went down to the beach, checked it out and then decided that we wanted some lunch. Turns out, everything in this little town is closed on Saturday. We didn’t understand why but it seems as if there wasn’t a single restaurant open to eat at. We ended up eating at the hostel restaurant because they had paella and I really wanted some paella. And as the story goes…of course they didn’t have paella, and then the chicken that I wanted was going to take to long to make and the guy was speaking terrible English and terrible Spanish to the point where we couldn’t understand him so I just said, “I’ll have the same as him” in Spanish of course (and having no idea what he ordered.) After he left I asked Goncalo what he ordered, it was steak or something along those lines. We also had some wine and when it came he poured me a taste and I immediately found 2 little nats or fruit fly bugs floating around in it. I’m really hoping that they were already in the glass because if not then that was really gross. As you can tell, I was not having the best luck with food this weekend. Lol First a hair, and then a bug, I just don’t handle that kind of stuff well normally but here it’s different and you just have to learn how to deal with it. So, our food came out and it was pretty good. I really enjoyed it and after we had finished we stumbled upon a Christmas market on the way to the train station so we stopped and had a chocolate crepe at this little tent that was being run by middle school aged kids, they were pretty cute and the crepe was so good. We didn’t have to wait long for the train and we made one more stop in another town to walk along the beach and then we got back on the train and headed for Barcelona. I started feeling kinda sick about 15 outside the center of Barca. At first I felt really hot then like I was going to throw up everywhere, and then really dizzy like the room was spinning and then at this one stop some stupid girl got on with her dog and a bunch of crap and she started arguing with these guys on the metro and she was slapping him and then she kicked one of them, it was a very uncomfortable situation and they were speaking in Catalan so neither of us could understand what was going on. They all got off the train at the next stop though so it wasn’t a huge deal. So, we finally arrive in Plaza Catalunya and I’m still feeling pretty sick. We were walking out of the metro and we were almost home so I didn’t want to say anything to Goncalo about feeling bad but he kept asking me if I was ok and I kept saying yes and of course I felt bad for lying but then I felt like I was going to puke everywhere so I had to run to a trash can and then obviously he could tell something was wrong. I couldn’t throw up but it felt like it kept coming up ya know. He was really scared and wanted to go to the hospital but I told him it’s no big deal that I’m just sick. Well, we got home and I got into bed and at this point I was feeling pretty awful I was shaking uncontrollably, I couldn’t catch my breathe, my whole body was hurting especially my lower back, I had a migrane headache, and I had a fever of 101.8. I was in a lot of pain for some reason and I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I took some IB Profen and then I asked Alex to bring my computer back to my room so that I could call my mom and ask her what I should do… well she brings it back but the internet isn’t connected to it so I tell her to ask Stephanie if I can use it and she says well when I’m done with it and Alex in turn asked her and do you think that’ll be like 5 mins? And she said…well I’m busy doing something (AKA facebook) so whenever I’m done you can use it. I was pretty pissed off and when Alex came back and told me this I called her something really mean and if I would have had the energy to pull myself up out of bed I probably would have gone out there myself to bitch slap her and take the internet for myself. When it’s hooked up to my computer everyone can use it so therefore she could have continued whatever she was doing within a 2-minute period. She knew that I was sick and she knew I wanted to call my mom so that makes me even angrier that she can be such a bitch. I really honestly don’t like her and I only have to see her ugly, linebacker self for 3 more days! Thank goodness! So, I finally got the internet, called my mom and of course the first thing she says is swine flu. I wasn’t really sure and I didn’t want to pay money to see a doctor because here my insurance doesn’t work ya know so I decided to tough it out. However, I was really upset that I wasn’t going to get to go to the gift exchange/Erasmus party with everyone. I also still had to buy my person a gift so I sent Goncalo out with some money and he picked out a very nice t-shirt and took it to the party with my best wishes. When he got back from shopping he wanted to make me a soup so with the help of Sam they made the saltiest soup I have ever tasted. It was like sipping salt water and after I had finished it I probably could have had a heart attack from the salt overdose! I didn’t really care too much at this point though. I know they were just doing their best to make me feel better. Alex took really good care of me but, her and Goncalo both wanted to take care of me and there was definitely a little bit of clashing in this aspect. Lol Stephanie of course didn’t seem the least bit phased and Sam, well he’s a guy, and he asked me if I needed anything and he helped make my soup so he was helpful. After they made me my soup they all left for the black sheep where everyone was meeting and I passed out!

I was sleeping so sound until about 4:30 am when I heard my roommates come in. Everyone was very drunk and Alex came in to my room, jumped onto my bed, and woke me up and started telling me all these stories and crap, I just rolled back over and went to sleep but she ended up sleeping in my bed which was probably not a good idea on her part. I didn’t wake up until about 1 o’clock today. I was so tired and I think my fever finally broke around 11 because I woke up sweating really bad about this time, used the bathroom, and got back in bed. After I woke up at 1 I got a shower and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, probably not the best idea because I was still really nauseas and then after I ate it I felt even worse. So, Alex proceed to tell me all about last night. It was a pretty eventful evening and it sounded like fun but at the same time it sounded a little too crazy so I’m glad I wasn’t there for some of it. Alex was so drunk that she kept talking to people on the street, Sam got in a fight and has a nice cut above his eye to prove it, and then I heard that Stephanie was actually a lot of fun – I would have loved to have been there to see this one, so out of the ordinary for her! I didn’t really do much else today. I did some laundry to get ready for my last week here and then I went out to mail something and buy a new thermometer because I accidentally broke Goncalo’s (and let me just say, thermometer´s are not cheap!). He stopped by to see how I was doing and then him and Sam went to play tennis and when he got back I went over to his place because he made a wonderful vegetable soup and it was honestly one of the best vegetable soups I’ve ever had, plus he emulsified it so that I was easier for me to eat! I ate soup while I had to watch him eat pasta, salad, and steak. Ugh, It looked so good but at this point my stomach just can’t handle something like that. After this I headed back home and now I’m getting ready to head to bed, I have a very busy week ahead of me. I definitely feel better today but I still don’t feel 100% back to normal. I think that maybe it was just a 24 hour stomach flu but I’ve never had it come on so suddenly like that and be so painful. I’m not sure what was wrong but I feel better today so thank god for that! I’m glad that it happened right when we were getting back too or that could have really ruined my weekend. The Costa Brava was gorgeous and I would love to go back sometime during the summer.

As for this week…

The last 3 days of my undergrad career start tomorrow. It´s so weird to think that I´m completely done with my Bachelor´s Degree after wednesday!
Monday -We have an exam tomorrow at 12 and then a class at 3.
Tuesday we have an exam at 12.
Wendesday we have another exam at 12
Thursday – I fly to Granada to see the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada.
Saturday – I fly to Lisbon to sip port wine and to spend my last four days in Europe.
Tuesday – I fly back to Barcelona late, I will probably go out one last time, pack and then early Wednesday morning I have to catch a really early flight back to the US only to arrive there late! So, it’s getting close and I still have some things to see in Barcelona before leaving on Thursday!


And BTW: Here is a list of things that I would like to have in my house upon my arrival please – Some Kashi cereal the black currant and walnut kind. Some tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, olive oil, vinegar, and some fruits so that I can make smoothies, like bananas, peaches, strawberries, and orange juice.
IF it´s possible, I guess it´s not neccessary. Lol Thanks mom, love you!

Madrid

I didn't start my site seeing activities in Madrid until Sunday because my first two days there were reserved for the LSAT.

Sunday - On sundays, in Madrid, they have a huge market, something like a flea market, called El Rastro. It's a huge market that encompasses many streets and seems to go on forever. I decided that I would start off my day there and then work my way over to the Prado Museum and then see the park and some of the main downtown area. Well, easier said than done. Like I had said earlier, I understand that it was a holiday weekend in Spain but I honestly think that everyone and their brother decided to come to Madrid. It was so unbelievably crowded at this market, I had to fight a crowd with every step I took. At one point I just wanted to leave. The market was nice for the most part, it was full of a lot of junk that I didn't need and stuff but I bought a few items. I was there for almost 3 hours just because it was so crowded. After the market I tried to find a bite to eat and I ended up grabbing a doner kebab. lol It was ok and I was in a hurry to get to the museum since I had spent so much time at the market. Well, I finally make it over to the Museu del Prado and there is a huge, long line. Ugh, I probably waited a good 30 minutes in line. I ended up getting in free though which was nice. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum but, I really enjoyed it. The Prado houses the largest collection of Spanish art and has some of the world's most famous paintings like Las Meninas, which in person btw, is pretty amazing. I saw some great art but the museum was huge so I started to loss interested about halfway through. lol I bought a pencil and left. It was already dark outside by the time I finished so I was going to have to save the park for another day. So I headed for the main square Puerta del Sol in the very center of Madrid. As I was walking into the square I was greeted by a gigantic christmas tree and then, by the terrible crowds. It was like being at the human castles of La Merce all over again. It was seriously shoulder to shoulder like sardines in a can. It was terrible. I honestly wanted to stay and see some things but I was too frustrated at this point in the day with the crowds that I just left. I decided that if one more person stepped on my foot that I was just going to slap them. Therefore, I took the metro home, relaxed, and booked my flights for the last week of my trip!

Monday - So I thought that maybe the crowds wouldn't be as bad on Monday because it was Monday! But, I was wrong. I first decided to go to the royal palace. It's huge, I've never seen such a big house. The Biltmore in North Carolina is big yes, but, this is 10 times more impressive. So I get in line for the palace right, I couldn't really tell where the line ended and when I got in line it appeared as if it was moving so I was like ok, this probably won't take that long. WRONG again. I ended up waiting 3 1/2 hours! OMG! I wanted to shot myself. At one point I had to turn around in line and ask the people behind me if they spoke english. Thank goodness one of them said yes and I asked if I could run to the bathroom and if they could save my place in line. I was so relived when they said yes and then I made my way to a bathroom because I was about to pee my pants! lol I was really not happy about waiting that long to see the palace but the thing is, I couldn't tell where the line was ending and I kept thinking to myself, oh well it'll probably only be another 15 mins or so and after waiting for so long I wasn't going to just leave and go do something else after waiting over a hour. The palace was really amazing, as usual you weren't allowed to take pictures and I tried to snap a few but they had a person in almost every room so it was really hard but, it was like something out of a fairy-tale. It was so beautiful and detailed, I've never seen anything like it, it was truly a royal palace. There were so many different rooms and it was very impressive. It's something that you picture when you think about what a palace must have looked like in the 1700's or maybe even earlier. I really liked it and it might have been worth an hour wait but not 3 hours. If I would have known it was going to take that long then I wouldn't have waited! After the palace I grabbed a bite to eat and then I went to see Plaza Mayor which is beautiful at Christmas time, they had a market and there were so many people, it was packed. I did a little bit of shopping and then I left because I couldn't take the crowd any longer. I walked down some of the important streets and saw Plaza Vila something or other. I went back to Puerta del Sol again and it was equally busy so it must not have been just the weekend crowd. I went into El Corte Ingles and shopped around a little bit and then I headed home because again, it was so crowded and it was getting late. I didn't feel that I had gotten that much accomplished because I spent more than 5 hours at the Royal Palace but, it did see alot this day.

Tuesday - I woke up around 10, got ready, packed my things and went downstairs to check out of the hotel. They let me store my bags there while I went out to do some more site seeing. I started at the park, Buen Retiro, the park I had been trying to make it to since I arrived in Madrid. I finally made it and it was a beautiful park, the lake and the monument that you always see in pictures is just gorgeous, pictures don't do it justice and the atmosphere at the park is so lovely. There are people everywhere, families, puppet shows, they had people there telling fortunes, basically anything you could think of was a the park. It was very nice, I walked around for about an hour or so and then I decided that I would head down another important street, Gran Via. This street was full of so many pretty buildings. There was another market happening and I bought some really cool handmade gloves. After this I tried to find a bakery or candy shop to buy some violet candies that are native to Madrid. My professor told me that I had to get some so I set out hunting for them. I asked at one bakery but I don't think they understood what I was talking about. I thought that they came with chocolate but, turns out, they don't. It's just lavender candies. I ended up buying some at a candy store where this really nice girl informed me about all this. lol After this adventure I headed back to the hotel where I sat in the lobby for about an hour and worked on my powerpoint for wednesday's presentation. My lovely roommate didn't do shit for it, so basically I did all the work. She's just so pleasant.

I headed to the airport around 5 or so. My flight wasn't until 7:30. I got there, got checked in and everything and then when we got on the plane it was all decorated in Disneyland Paris stuff! It was the coolest plane I have ever been on. I thought, wow, I hope this plane is going to Disneyland, it wasn't but it was still really cool, the aisle was disney carpet and there were stickers and stuff everywhere and then the curtain between first class and coach was a curtain with mickey hands, it was awesome. The flight wasn't too bad, I tried not to think about it too much and kept myself busy with blogging. We landed at Terminal 1 which I wasn't extremely excited about because this means I have to take the bus over to Terminal 2 to catch the train and I just wanted to get home at this point. Well, I go outside to where the bus is to Terminal 2 and I get on the bus that is in the front that looks just like the bus that I always take to Terminal 2 and other people were also getting on this bus so of course I get on too. Well, I ended up taking a little joyride around the airport for about 30 -45 mins. I think I got onto the employee bus maybe because we went out to a desolate parking lot and I saw some employees get off at this stop but, there were also a couple of other people on the bus with me that didn't get off at this stop so I'm assuming they must have also gotten onto the wrong bus but they didn't really seem to be too phased by it. lol The bus took us back to the same exact place where we had gotten on the bus so I just got off and decided to pay 5 Euro for the Aerobus because I didn't feel like waiting any longer to get home and I was pretty mad that I just wasted an hour riding around the airport on a bus. I was relieved to get home and I spent most of the night working on my powerpoint and didn't end up going to bed until 3. I was pretty exhausted.

Overall, I really liked Madrid. The metro was very confusing at first but after I figured it out, it was ok. Madrid is also less expensive than Barcelona so I really enjoyed this aspect as well. The people in Madrid are very different from the people in Barcelona. #1 They only speak Spanish in Madrid and English is the second language. #2 I feel like the people are more accepting than in Barcelona. For example, in Barcelona they are Catalan and it's a very distinct culture and sometimes I feel like even if I lived here that I would never fully be accepted because I'm not Catalan and it's a hard culture to just blend into. and #3 People in Madrid are very nice and eager to help. I could definitely see myself living in Madrid. The only things I dislike about Madrid are: it's a very very big city and there isn't a beach nearby. When you really look at it, Madrid is located in the desert, there isn't any water nearby and I really want to be near the beach.

The hardest test of my life! Whew! Glad that's over with! :D

I am writing from the Madrid airport this time, seems like I get most of this blog accomplished on planes and in the airports. I guess that’s just traveling though! :D

To start with I must give a recap of this past week and then Madrid itself will be in a separate post.

As you could probably tell from my last post, the past few days have been more than hectic. I’ll start with Tuesday and I’ll try not to leave out any good details!

Tuesday – I went to Catalan! Yay! Turns out, I haven’t missed much; we were still working on the same things. Monday night I tried a couple of different options to get my video to work for class. Turns out, the only thing that worked was uploading it to facebook! My group met before class to look at it one last time and then decide what we were going to say for the presentation. As soon as we got into class Stephanie’s group had already volunteered to go first. Of course, their video had to be the best video ever made and then after they went no one else wanted to go! Lol I think we went 3^rd or 4^th. Either way, our presentation went good. For the most part all of them were good and during the class I think we all realized that this is all coming to an end soon. One of the girls actually sounded like she was going to cry when she was talking about her experience here and how sad it was going to be to leave. After class we were all relived because, not only were the presentations over, but this was also our last class with Marta. So, 2 down, 6 more to go! Lol After school on Tuesday I actually tried to do some studying for my LSAT but of course, as usual, I got distracted! At this point I’m sure you can only guess why! Lol It was a good night though, and later everyone went out to a bar while I accomplished one practice test!

Wednesday – We didn’t have events management this day because of the EIBTM conference. We were supposed to go to the conference and then write a paper instead of going to class. I was kinda dreading the entire thing and I wanted to go really early to get it over with so that I could do some site seeing around Barcelona. Wellll..I didn’t wake up until 10 and we got lost on the way to the conference so we didn’t actually arrive until 12:30ish! So much for a full day in Barcelona! Once I had arrived, checked in, and made my way to the main floor I found it to be very enjoyable. It was probably the most interesting conference I have ever attended. This was a meeting/event planner/conference planner conference. It was awesome and I really enjoyed myself. Almost every country was represented and people were there from all over the world. It was awesome. Each country had their own set up or stand or whatever, at Ireland they had people dressed up like sheep, Dubai of course went all out and had this entire adobe looking house built, Turkey had people making jewelry and other cool things from Turkey, Lyon had a model in a beautiful red dress handing out red roses, and Guatemala had people dressed up with incense, it was pretty outstanding! I was impressed with each country and they each had traditional food and drinks for the serious meeting planners. I spent an hour or two just wandering around and taking tourist info from each of the countries as well as eating all the chocolate that I could in Turkey! I also had to attend some stupid seminar; I went to this one for like 20 minutes and then left because it was so boring. I honestly just needed enough info to write a paper. Haha

After I made it home from the conference I decided that I would go to the Parc de la Ciutadella. The city park. I’ve been trying to go for a month now so I was excited to finally make it there! I took the metro and easily found my way. I started at the Arc de Triomph, which was very nice, a definite symbol of the city. It was built for the 1888 World Expo. – I’m not sure if that’s the right day or not. I continued walking into the park and went to the Geology and the Zoology museums. It was a cheap combined ticket and I actually found the Geology museum interesting. The Zoology one was a little outdated and kinda creepy. After these museums I went and checked out the botanical gardens and then made a loop around the park stopping at the fountain for some photos and then the lake. The fountain was beautiful, lots of detail and it was so much bigger than I had imagined. The park was very relaxing. For being in the center of the city it’s fairly quiet and makes for a great place to relax. I liked this area. I walked home instead of taking the metro because I can never pass up an opportunity for a stroll through the Gothic Quarter. I’m glad I decided to walk because I ended up in front of the Cathedral and right now they are having the Christmas market in the evenings so I checked out all the booths and bought a little something special to take back to my family so that we can have our own “Catalan” Christmas tradition. I’m not saying what it is though, and you’ll probably never guess! Just have to wait till Christmas! I also had to stop off and buy a pair of tights to replace the ones Stephanie let me have. They were cheap, thank goodness! After I got home I attempted to do some problems in my LSAT book.

Thursday – Started the day off with a nice Catalan lesson. We did a review of what is going to be on the exam next Thursday and then during break I had to go get the last of my traveler’s checks cashed to pay rent. This was the last time that we have to pay rent so I’m relieved! It was quite the fiasco trying to get them cashed this time though. I walked down to the bottom of the hill where I usually get them cashed but the lady that was at Barclays told me that the guy who usually does them wasn’t there that day and told me I had to go somewhere else. Of course, I’m mad because now I have to go find another bank that will do it. Now, finding a bank in Spain is not an issue, there is literally at least one bank on every block and most streets have a total of like 10 and I’m not exaggerating. They have so many banks here. So, I walked down the street and literally try 4 different banks before the people at one bank told me that I was just going to have to go to Plaza Catalunya. I was not happy about this because I was trying to make it back to school at a decent time to work on my event project with Stephanie because she is leaving for Paris. Well, I had to go to Plaza Catalunya and I ended up getting them cashed and having to pay 9 Euro and then I stopped at home really quick to get a water and then I headed back to school. While I was home I put my rent money in the envelope and the remaining 45 Euro in my wallet and left it on my bed because I didn’t need it at school. Well, right as I was getting off the metro at school I saw Stephanie leaving. I’m not sure why she was leaving at like 2 o’clock since her flight wasn’t until 7 something? But whatever, I’m really annoyed her at this point in my trip and the only good thing about leaving in 3 weeks is that I won’t have to see her everyday or clean her hair out of the shower every morning before I can take my own! Ugh.. So she emailed me the “updated” power point. All she did was add the budget slides that were already done and then inserted 5 new slides with titles at the top like..food?..where? hotel?....bike tour? I’m not sure if she considers this work or what but it certainly is not, so hey, I’ll just do the entire presentation???? Gezzz….again, not seeing her everyday isn’t going to kill me! So I decided that I would worry about that presentation after the LSAT was over with and I took the remaining time before class to double check on my flight & hotel reservations and to make sure I had everything I needed for the test. Class started at 4 and it was actually interesting. The last two groups gave their presentations and both of them were on southern Spain, a place where I’m trying to plan a trip to, so I was interested to hear all about them. I have become friends with the teacher and he knows that I’m trying to plan a trip so he kept pointing out things for me to do. I stayed after class to get some more advice from him about Madrid and we got home around 7. It was a long day to say the least…I was exhausted and as soon as we were walking up to our front door, Tiago and Goncalo were there! They came inside and stayed for a while and then shortly after our landlord came over to pick up the rent. This is where things got ugly. So, I counted my money and put it in the envelope, just like I said, all 290 Euro. Well, turns out, as I’m counting out the money, we are short 50 Euro. I didn’t want to assign blame immediately until we had talked to Stephanie and Sam but I was pretty pissed. I had to take the 45 Euro and the change out of my wallet to make up for it. I was not a happy camper. My funds tend to be dwindling fairly quickly and the fact that I probably just had 50 Euro stolen wasn’t going over well with me. I was angry and then upset there for a minute but then I decided that I wasn’t going to let this ruin the rest of my day and that I had to focus on getting packed and cramming in some last minute studying. The most important thing at this point was for me to remain calm because we all know how I can get sometimes. I tend to spaz out over the little things. The can be good and bad though. So Tiago left for work and we promised to come visit him later, Goncalo stayed and we made something to eat and I took what I thought was a small nap but I didn’t wake up until almost 1ish. I was packed for the most part so we all headed over to Tiago’s work and had a drink and then came home. I put a few more things in my bag and before I knew it, it was 4 am. I was supposed to leave around 5 or 5:30 for my 7:00 flight. No bien! I layed down for like an hour, basically I took another nap and then I woke up, headed to the metro, caught the train, and was at the airport by 6. Great timing really, it was all going good until I realized that I was at Terminal 2 and needed to be at Terminal 1. This was all due to expedia confirming that my flight was leaving out of Terminal 2. Well, it certainly was not and if I wouldn’t have made my flight I would have been really mad at expedia but they have been providing me with such great deals recently that I couldn’t be angry for long. I know your thinking, Terminal 1 or 2, probably close right. NO, it’s like a 10 – 15 min. bus ride in between the two. I got to the check in counter 30 mins before departure and the guy was like, well the gate closed 10 minutes ago. I was like ok, I just looked at him like, well what do you want me to say? So he asks for my passport and then he prints my boarding pass. I headed to security but as I approached the line I started to worry. Now, I’ve been to the Barcelona airport like 20 times, I know this place like the back of my own hand and I have never in my life seen it so busy. I know that it’s a holiday weekend in Spain but gezz, it was crazy! It took me forever to get through security but I made it on my flight in time and before I knew it I was on my way. I nearly got some sleep on the plane but I was too scared as usual. After we landed I made my way to the metro. I didn’t even have 2 Euro on me because of the fiasco with the rent money so I had to use an ATM to take out 20 Euro which I had to pay 5 dollars for. I finally got a ticket and got on the metro. I nearly missed my first stop. Their trains in Madrid are very confusing. Inside each of the metro cars is a map of each line not just the map for that particular line and also their metro’s here are really deep. I understand that in Barcelona they can’t be that deep because of the type of dirt I guess, probably some type of sand/dirt, but they were just so deep in Madrid. At one station I literally went down 4 large escalators to get to my train. They are so far underground that it almost hurts your ears. Like the Moscow subway, they could probably double as bomb shelters! Lol Nonetheless, after I figured out the metro it was all good, it’s also much cleaner compared to Barcelona. So after I exit the metro, I try to make my way to the hotel. It was definitely further away from the metro than I had imagined, a good 20 minute walk. I thought that I had made it to the hotel because I could see it in the distance but as I walked toward the hotel the street that I was on turned into a dead end. GREAT! So I turned around and went in the other direction and finally made it! It was probably about 9:30 in the morning but they let me check in early. The hotel was really nice and I didn’t have too much time to take it in because all I was concerned about was my head hitting the pillow. I got into my room, it was nice, took some photos, and took a BATH, first time since Finland that I have been able to take a bath, oh how I’ve missed that! After I got out I set an alarm to wake up and passed out. Well, I must have missed my alarm because I didn’t wake up until about 6 in the evening! I was so tired! After I woke up I broke out my LSAT book and did some studying and then I took a break to check out all the hotel facilities, the spa, the sauna, the hot tub, etc., and then I grabbed a bite to eat in the bar. I had a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich on wheat bread. It was so good! After dinner I got directions to the test center for the next day and some other touristy info from the front desk and then I went back upstairs and went over some more practice problems and the writing section of the test. I went to bed around 1 because I was still tired!

Saturday – TEST DAY - So, the next day I woke up around 10. I had to be at the test center no later than two so I made it a point to be there by 1. I left the hotel around 12, stopped and got some breakfast and a snack for my test break, and hit the metro. I easily found my way around the metro and once I had gotten over to the general area I had to wander around for a while before I figured out where I was. I kept thinking that I was late because I wasn’t able to bring a cell phone with me or anything and I don’t have a watch so I felt a little rushed. Turns out, I showed up with like 45 mins. to spare! I had to wait in a long line to check in and I was surrounded by American students. The were all talking to each other for the most part about where they were in Spain and such, the majority of them were working or teaching English and were taking the test for the 2^nd, 3^rd, and one girl a 4^th time!! I was like woah! I would never take this test 4 times, if it doesn’t work out for you after the 2^nd time and it’s something you really want then yea maybe I’d take it 3 but chances are your score isn’t going to improve THAT much! After I got checked in I used the bathroom and then headed into the testing room. I was definitely a little nervous because I felt like I had to wait around so long before the test actually started. After it started I felt like it was never going to end. There were no breaks between sections at all! The 1^st section was arguments and I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on these so I’d say it went fairly well but I ran out of time at the end, you’ll see that this is a reoccurring problem! The 2^nd section was Games or the Logic section. This section pretty much ruined the entire test for me. It was so confusing, I think I got maybe 2 or 3 questions right, literally out of like 23? At one point I was just staring at the questions for divine inspiration. It’s so tricky, when the proctor called 5 mins. I just bubbled everything in C because I didn’t really know what else to do! I think this section ruined all my hopes of having any legal career! Lol The 3^rd section was reading comp, again the questions that I answered I felt confident about but I ran out of time at the end. At the end of section 3 we got a 15 minute break. I had time to recoup because after the games section I was definitely feeling a little bit intimidated and I was having trouble concentrating because I felt like I had already failed. The Games being 2^nd really messed me up! After break all I could think about was getting through the next 2 sections and writing that essay so that I could leave! Next were another set of arguments and then another reading comp. Now, the LSAT always throws in an extra test to “test” the questions for future tests and such and one of the reading comp sections was their “test.” I honestly couldn’t tell which one it was though. Both were equally hard and I ran out of time on both sections, like I said, a reoccurring thing! After the last two sections were over I was relived because next was the essay and to me this kind of stuff is no sweat. I finished in twenty minutes with a good solid essay. I was so happy to be done!!

A recap of the test in general – This was honestly the hardest test I’ve ever had to take. It so tricky and the people who make the test word everything in extreme ways. I felt bad for the few Spanish students that were taking it! The games section was the worst and after taking the test for the first time I completely see why most people have to take it twice! The LSAT prep books prepare you a little bit but honestly until you actually take it you don’t know what to expect and now that I know what to expect I think that I could probably do better the next time around. Who knows, I guess we’ll find out in 3 weeks if I need to take it again, I might not though, there are a lot of other things I have on my mind.. a lot of other options for what to do next…Law school is definitely something I’m interested in BUT, it’s not the only thing ya know…

I went back to my hotel as fast as I could after I left, I was so mentally exhausted that I couldn’t even think. I don’t really remember the walk back and as soon as I got back to my hotel I took a bubble bath and then played around online all night and planned my Madrid site seeing activities for the next day!! I went to bed around 12 or 1 after having a sandwich in the hotel bar again.

Madrid will be in a separate post…. Coming soon!!