One week and counting...

 Weekend update? Friday night we tried to get into a bar but it was too packed (rare) so we met up with some friends at a place down the street. Katherine dumped a whole drink in her lap, which was pretty funny, and god bless her for being so cool about it. We ended up leaving and getting into the place we wanted to go to originally, but within a few minutes of being there we got to watch a kid puke all over the floor. My cue to leave. Uneventful evening. Saturday night a group of us girls went to our favorite Irish bar (haha) Molly's to watch FC Barcelona play Real Madrid. They're the biggest rivalry in the league, obviously, but not just because they're the two best teams in Spain. Barcelona is Catalonia, which has been trying to get independence from Spain for ages... so a victory from Barca is just a slap in the face to Madrid, the capital of Spain. Molly's was packed, and we found awesome seats on the ledge of the staircase, but the bartender kicked us off it after the first half. Of course Barca won... duh. It's because we're better. I had never been in sucha  packed establishment with such a rowdy group of people. Every time we scored (3-1 baby) the entire bar erupted in cheers and screams. So much fun.

Today at dinner Feli mentioned how this time next week we will be in the States, in our homes, eating dinner with our own family. That shook me a little. I can't believe I will be home in less than a week. Technically yesterday was our one week mark. Six days. What can I do in six days? Oh, besides take four exams and write a ten page paper. I know it sounds so cliche but I feel like it was last week I was walking to my first day of class with Katherine. I think time went by so fast because we were just so busy. I know I always wrote about how boring my life is here... but I've really accomplished so damn much here. Let's see... I've traveled to Girona, France (somewhere in the south, don't entirely remember the town's name), Mallorca, Sevilla, Ireland (Dublin, Wicklow, and Gloucester I believe), Italy (Florence, and technically Rome's airport), Amsterdam... woof. Ive been on wine tours, I've hiked mountains in Monserrat, I've been to the Dali museum, toured Guinness and Heineken's  breweries, went to one of Europe's biggest parties (Sensation White), I swam in the Mediterranean, went to an FC Barca game, I've climbed belltowers and toured cathedrals that are older than my country... and I think most importantly I met some of the most amazing people in the world. I can't even begin to describe how lucky I feel to have met the group of friends I made here. Some of the funniest, sweetest, wildest girls and boys I could ask for. This is a collection of some of my favorite pictures from this whole trip, all of which are of course packed with people I will never forget. I'll be honest, I basically hung out with mostly girls here, haha. Oh well.

If anyone ever asks me how my study abroad semester was, I can't even for a second doubt that it wasn't the best experience of my life. To anyone that worries they can't hack it, they'll miss home, they don't want to leave loved ones behind... listen to me: You will never experience something like this at home. I know I've complained, I've whined, I've cried harder than I ever have before... but I don't regret choosing to come here. Your home will always be there when you leave, and the people you love will still love you when you return. If not, well, then they probably weren't worth being in your life anyways.

I feel the need to get sappy on you all right now, because I honestly just don't think I'll have the time the rest of this week. I have muccchhh too much work to do. I actually shouldn't even be straying from it now, but there's only so much you can ready about inequality in economics in one day. I'll probably throw a "signing off" blog up here at some point... but for now, thanks for reading everyone! See you soon :)

Big Week

I have really been keeping up with my procrastination this week, just like I knew I would. Monday night, because we had no class Tuesday, we went to a holiday themed party at a friends apartment. I had actually never met the girl who lived there, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn she lives with a group of great girls, and she's friends with even more awesome people. It was nice to meet some people from IES for once, seeing as I know basically none of them. Having one class in the building is depressing. Anyways, the night was fun, everyone looked super adorable all dressed up and we all brought cava to celebrate the holiday season. Overall good night.

Tuesday was such a tourist day. We started the day off spending an hour searching for a magic sandwich place called Bo de B's. It stands for "Bocadillos (sandwiches) de (of) Barcelona" haha. Clever. It's literally a tiny little shack of a restaurant, big enough to hold four tables and a counter to order... but it might be the best sandwich you will ever eat. The bread is fresh made, they stuff it with either chicken, beef, tuna, cheese, what have you, then they have every fresh veggie topping you could ask for. Plus a big list of bangin' sauces. When the guy asked me what I wanted on my chicken sandwich I made the mistake of saying "todo".... everything. I don't like making decisions. The sandwich was effing amazing but I've never felt so full in my life after. I was mildly nauseous the rest of the day. Worth every second of it.

After sandwich heaven, Katherine took Erin and I to Montjuic to this fun little gondola-type thing that goes all over the mountain. Not only do you get an awesome aerial view of Barcelona and the park on the mountain, but at the top they let you off to explore a castle! I'll have to post pictures of it... it was pretty amazing. Such a  beautiful view. 
You would think after walking all over the city of Barcelona I would be tired... but the second we got home my friend Cristine messaged me and asked if I wanted to go to an FC Barcelona game. At first I didn't want to... it was a bit of monies... but she convinced me it was worth it. They are the best soccer team, ever... and it was the last time they played a home game in the time we were still here in Barcelona. Convinced. We met up at a bar on the Rambla to have a few drinks before the game, you know, to get in the rowdy Spaniard spirit, and headed out! The game was so fun! The stadium is beautiful, the team is amazing (I don't care if they only played the reserves) and of course we won! I'm so glad I got the chance to see my boys play. I would've been so mad at myself if I hadn't.

Today was just as busy. I had my one class... then headed over to UPF to take out a book for a paper I have to write on Les Quatre Gats (Four Cats) for my Spanish class. On my way back, with full intentions of reading said book, I ran into Katherine and Erin on the sidewalk and decided to go gift shopping with them. I managed to knock out a couple people on my gift list, yay! Then we all met up with more friends at George Payne's, an Irish pub close to school. We spent an hour or two there to wait out a FREE night of paella at IES as a sort-of goodbye party. They kept telling everyone how there was more than enough food for everyone there... but I think they underestimated just how badly a broke college student wants free food. Kids were shoving and packing around the tables, haha. It was ridiculous. Aaaand delicious.


Anywho, I have a lot of work to do so wish me luck! I can't believe I'll be home in a little over a week. Scarryyyy...

Peace out America, besos!

Weekend Update. My life is still boring.

Enjoy the random Christmas lights photos. Stole them from Kathy.


So all this week is going to take a lot of effort. I literally have three classes. All week. No, not three different classes... I GO TO CLASS three times over the course of 5 days. Allow me to explain. December 6th and 8th are bank holidays, the Spanish version of Labor Day, except they have them about 10 times a month. Lazy. Anyways, again with the theme of laziness... because the 6th and the 8th are Tuesday and Thursday, most Spaniards see absolutely no reason to go to work or class on Wednesday, because its right between those days. But then why take a mid week break? Why not take Monday off too? AND FRIDAY?? God, sometimes I really love the Spanish lifestyle. Unfortunately IES doesn't agree with these motives. So the one class I actually take that's not at a Spanish university (my Spanish language class, ironically), is not cancelled. This means Mon, Weds, and Fri I will go to class for an hour and a half. Boo hoo.

What's going to be especially difficult about this is the amount of work I actually have to do. I have four exams the following week (Spanish exam is this week) and a ten page paper due. Did I mention 3 of those 4 exams are all on the same day? No, it doesn't work like UVM and no I cannot change one. Shucks. I also have to at some point go to a World Press Photo Exhibit at the CCCB in Barcelona, then do a write up on it for my Journalism class. I'm actually pretty excited about this one though, its a collection of award winning photojournalism from around the world during 2011. Some really moving pieces. I digress. The reason this is going to be so hard is because I have SOOO much free time. Meaning I'm going to want to put it all off 'til the last minute, like every college student ever. Plus its my last week of freedom before finals, so I'm going to want to play with my friends and shop (still need to buy gifts for some of you!) and see the pretty Christmas lights.... Go ICE SKATING in Plaza Catalunya. They set up a whole rink, right in the center of town! It's probably costing them a fortune to keep up and running, seeing as its like 65 degrees in the shade every day... kindof a waste... slash not at all.

Anyways. This weekend was relatively uneventful. Uncle Carlos was in town though! That was fantastic. (Refer to very very old post about our Mallorca trip to visit Carlos... not my actual uncle). Friday night we pregamed at one of our favorite local bars, then went to meet him and his friends on La Rambla. They took us to an even more unknown local pub miles away from our apartment. Unfortunately, I don't learn from my previous mistakes, and Thorndyke convinced me to drink absinthe with her (refer to even OLDER post about Costa Brava). I'm told a portion of my journey home was done on Carlos's back. I made it home safe, no worries. But Christ. Never, ever... ever.... again. Saturday night was a night in for everyone. Apparently we all had similar experiences.

This morning I was rudely awoken by being violently shaken with a "GOOD MORNING!". Carlos and Katherine were going for a run. I feel I don't even need to tell you that I did not partake in this. When they got back and cleaned up, we all went out for lunch. Carlos took his skateboard and we couldn't find him for about 3 hours. Then we journeyed to the Christmas market for round 217... still doesn't get old. Those Caganers are TOO funny. We got some cool photos of the Christmas lights in Barca-town, then headed home for dinner with Feli. She's such a treat. Her passive-aggressive attitude has really hit some new highs.





I hadn't updated this ishh in about a week so I thought I would update you all on my life. It's clearly just as boring as it's always been. Hope I didn't bore you all to sleep.

Oh hey and also, follow my beautiful sister's blog about going to TEXASSSS! She got an awesome opportunity with her job to move to Texas for a year and wear cowboy boots and go to rodeos and eat fried everything. Follow her, she's probably much funnier and more interesting than me.

http://rawbarstorodeos.blogspot.com/

<3 Goodnight America, I love you with all my heart. Only two more weeks until I am in your warm embrace.

Spain is crazy. Oh and I'm not going back to UVM.

Well. Now that the Thanksgiving rush is over... not that Spain celebrates it, its CHRISTMAS TIME! Like any normal person, I of course love Christmas, but the time leading up to that chaotic day of traveling, eating, and gift giving is my favorite. I love getting a tree and decorating it, I love Christmas music (Katherine and I have been playing it non-stop on Pandora), I love snow and playing with the pups outside, I love warm fires and hot chocolate... Christmas is the best! Everything smells like cinnamon and joy. It's my favorite.

WELL. Enter the Barcelona Christmas spirit. These people are mildly insane. Its a Western cultural thing to have a tree so they don't do that (some do, but it's not too popular), so Spaniards usually put up an elaborate nativity scene. There's a cute little Christmas market downtown in Barcelona that has about 100 stands all selling cool stuff to add to a nativity scene. It's a little out of hand. BUT... get this, Barcelona is a bunch of perverts. Catalans actually. They believe it is important to put a "Caganer" in the nativity scene. Caganer is directly translated into "shitter". Its literally a little figurine of a man (or for the creative, a George Bush, Spongebob Squarepants, or a member of FC Barca) taking a dump. These statues are pretty vile. They show everything. And I mean everything. The little Christmas market is FULL of them. Any famous celebrity can be made into one. Obama is pretty popular actually. The tradition is apparently because they believe it "fertilizes" the next year with luck and happiness. Not exactly what I would associate either of those things with.

Oh and it gets better. There's a tradition for CHILDREN where they take a tree log with a face painted on it (it's actually kindof cute), and children get to beat the living daylights out of it with a cane or a hammer and sing a song asking for it to literally "shit out presents" for them. The quote in the song translates into those exact words. I'm not kidding. I think inside the trunk is little toys for the kids. When they're done they throw the log in the fire. This is absolutely ridiculous, I don't care who you are.

Spain does a bunch of other G rated stuff for Christmas too but that is completely irrelevant after hearing about this Caganer business. Spain is wild.


.....


COMPLETELY FORGOT to mention the rest of Vicky's stay in Barca, post food poisoning. First of all, one day we found the most adorable little puppy sitting on the metro. I'm being serious, his owner let him have his own seat. He clearly knew Vick and I were oggling over the little nugget, probably from the smiles and squeals of delight coming from the seats across the metro-car. The guy let us pet him, then when the metro stopped he put the little pup back in (literally) a shopping bag that looked like it came from a fancy shoe store. It had bedding it in and a few toys, so he seemed to enjoy himself... but it was awkward. The dog store gives you your new pup in a shopping bag? What?

The same day Vicky and I accidentally stumbled upon the 4Cats, this really really old cafe in Barcelona. It was really popular during the turn of the modernist movement in Spain for art. Picasso actually started there, getting inspiration from the likes of Ramon Casas, etc, etc. It has this great painting of two men on a bicycle, Casas and Romeu actually, then after a few years they painted themselves again in a car instead to symbolize the modernization of Spain. It's truly a cool experience to be in a cafe where these artists once hung out and put on presentations of art, music, poetry, and theater. So excited we found it! The rest of our week was pretty relaxed... lots of shopping around and stumbling on cool places. We went to some really cool vintage shops in Raval with Mel, then we took Vicky to La Boqueria (that wild market). I already miss her :(

Also... I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to move to Ireland. I don't want to live in Barcelona, that's for sure, Spaniards make me feel too unwanted. Ireland though... nicest people I've ever met. Best country ever. I want to go back to Connecticut and steal Tory and Ginger, my family, my CT friends... then just move them all to Ireland. I'm too scared to go back to Burlington and try to pick up the pieces of what my life used to be. I can picture myself there, like a lost little puppy, bundled up in my bright blue parka and snow boots, wondering what the hell I am doing there. I'm going to freeze to death, first of all. Its still regularly above 60 degrees here. How do I go back to -15 degrees with snow and ice? The classes I'm enrolled in are jokes... thank you UVM server for crashing right as I was supposed to register for classes. Oh and I'm unemployed. Awesome. Ireland here I come. I'll put up with the cold if it means I get to be surrounded by thick Guinness and thick accents. I'll bartend in one of their cute little pubs and spend every night dancing to Irish jams. I could live like that.

Head Down Power Through (Part 2)

(I uploaded pictures from Amsterdam onto the previous blog, so go check 'em and enjoi.)


Well, Vicky and I have been just about useless this week. Amsterdam really took a lot out of us, so all day monday we kindof just lazed around. I took Vicky to class with me, so while I was in Spanish class at IES she could use their computer lab to work on her paper for UConn. Of course though, when I got out of Spanish, I found Vicky passed out on the couch in the lounge haha. Then we both went to my next class, where I made her come in with me and learn about Al Jazeera. Look it up if you don't know what it is, it's actually really worth your time. It's a news station coming from Qatar that broadcasts real news about third world countries, not just the bias, "infotainment" news we get from US based agencies (this class is probably my favorite class, so useful to our world today).

Monday night Vicky and I were very generously invited to dinner with Katherine's family. Katherine's mama and her aunt came to visit her in Barcelona... with surprise guest Charlie Davis! Her brother had been telling her all semester he couldn't come visit because of his new job, but they surprised her and brought him along. So cute! Her family is such a riot, they completely explain why Katherine is so loving and funny herself. Well, it happened to be pouring rain monday night, so we made a hasty decision to get out of the downpour and jumped into the first restaurant we could find off La Rambla. Mistake number one. Granted it was a bit late for dinner, but they were completely out of everything. Regardless, we all managed to order delicious meals... or so we thought. We spent the rest of the evening at l'Ovella Negra, the bar that feels like the cavern-bar in Beauty in the Beast (in the words of Kim, Katherine's mom), where we met up with our friends Lila and Mel. It was a fun evening, we all had a few drinks and even made friends with a group of people sitting by us.

The next morning was where it all went south. I woke up with what I thought was a mild stomach ache from maybe having a few drinks the night before. I decided to skip my first class and sleep it off... but there was no sleeping. Things got worse, and fast. Vicky and I both started to experience the worst food poisoning I've ever had. If any of you know me even a little bit, you know throwing up is by far my least favorite thing in the world. I don't do it. I simply just don't. I repress it. I hate it so much. There was just no choice. Unfortunately, I'm so awkward and inexperienced at it, I don't know how to do it correctly... and over the course of the day I managed to actually blow out one of my ear drums. It still feels weird, every time I breathe through my nose I feel like air is going through my left ear. Probably not healthy. Over the course of 12 hours, Vicky and I basically just died. Thank god for Katherine and her mom, who stopped by and gave us a crash course in taking care of ourselves. Katherine played Mama Bear and got us Gatorade, crackers, water, and Pepto. By about 9 pm, we were starting to feel better. At one point, we were both sitting up in our beds, facing each other... all I could say was "What the hell was that?" and Vicky's response was "Bones. We made it." and we pounded it. It was awful, but I'm actually really glad I wasn't alone. I probably would have cried a lot...

Anyways! Feeling brand new today (still a little uneasy and scared to eat, but that's expected), Vicky and I are going to go see some sights. We're actually sore from being sick, so we're hoping that getting some walking done will stretch our muscles. Tomorrow is thanksgiving! Maybe if we're feeling adventurous we'll go out to dinner... HA.

Love you America, love you whoever actually takes the time to read this... see you oh so soon :)

PS. Quick shout out to Iggy - I hear you've still been keeping up with this thing, proud of you! Let's skype again soon, I want to see you in that spaceship again hahaha

Head Down Power Through (Part 1)

Vick Nish (one of my best friends from CT) touched down in BCN Tuesday afternoon with a hot head and stories to tell. Was barely over international waters and homegirl was starting trouble. She had taken her computer out on the flight to work on a paper due for class, and the rude man sitting in front of her reclined his seat back too quickly, completely destroying her computer. The screen literally snapped in half, the whole thing is warped. I'll spare the details... but words were said. The plane company Iberia offered to pay for repairs, but Vicky claims Iberia will be named "Nishball" by the time she's done with them. I don't doubt it. Not one bit.

Anyways, despite that drama, Vicks stay has been relatively flawless. The first day we got some tapas, did some exploring (in the pouring rain) and eventually meandered into a bar by the end of the night. Wednesday and Thursday were just exploring days for the most part. Thursday night Vicky got to meet some of my main ladies at our favorite bar.. the one you get to pour your own drinks. We ended up getting in for free to a club down the street... where we basically just danced a lot. Clubs, you know how they go. Vicky and I did have a drinking contest with the bouncers though hahaha. It was actually really funny.

This weekend was absolutely ridiculous. Vicky and I went to Amsterdam to meet our friend Michael who is studying in Germany for the year. It was so nice to see TWO faces I know from the states. Our trip started off with mountains of stress though. Backtrack to last week when our laundry was being hung up to dry... it rained on our clothes about 4 times and Feli just let them re-dry... so when we got out stuff back they all smelled like mold. I didn't even notice until I put on the one pair of jeans I was planning on packing for the whole weekend and realized they smelled like moldy goat cheese (that specific). I thought it would go away but no perfume could cover it, so instead of going right from class to the airport I had to run home first and change... then these occupy wallstreet protests Spain-version were blocking our bus so we were late for our flight. I would say something about this but it would literally take up all the space I have to type... so I'll leave it at the basic facts. We almost missed our plane. I would've been so angry.

To vent our frustration about the bus situation, we developed a strong hatred for the guy in front of us in line at the airport. Everything he did was really rude... he cut us off for the bus first of all, and then DIDN'T pay for the bus, then cut us off in line to check it, made his girlfriend hold all of his stuff... there was a big list. That's the benefit of people not speaking your language. If he did hear us... I hope he did. Then we met the COOLEST guy next to us on the plane. He joked with us about this one poor kid trying to fit his luggage in the overhead, we joked about car names, tourists, everything. He was the man. People in Holland are A+. They are so nice. One guy at the airport in Amsterdam bought Vicky a train ticket (for 4 euros) because he saw her card wasn't working... and when we asked a security guard for help he led us right to our train and even let us sit first class. Nicest people ever!We even got a free taxi ride to our hotel... one because we had been looking for about an hour and couldn't find it and the driver felt bad, but also because even though we had been looking forever, the hostel was only about a minute down the road. Whatever. Free taxi! 

Seeing Mike was the best. He was asleep in the hostel when we got there... his flight came in at 8am and he had had a pretty rough travelling experience as well, but seeing us woke him right up! We went out to explore the city, got some dinner, and played around hopping from bar to bar all night. Amsterdam is such a crazy city. The people are so nice, the rules are pretty relaxed, obviously... it was just such a good time. Don't worry Mama and Papa, we did touristy things. We saw a lot of beautiful canals and architecture, and even did a Heineken Brewery tour. Not gonna lie, it was way cooler than the Guinness tour. Don't tell them! There was a virtual "Brew You" ride, where you get to see and feel like you're being brewed into beer. Awesome. Most of the rest of the weekend was spent wandering around the city, stumbling on little wonders. We managed to see the Red Light district... that was wild. All in all though it was a great trip... lots of bonding with Mike! Saturday night on the walk home we saw some guy punch through a taxi's window because he was having a dispute with the driver. It was hilarious... slash horrifying. What a city.

Anyways... I'm still exhausted and we even got some good sleep last night. Sadly I won't be on a plane until I fly home now... got all my trips out of the way :( But Vicky is still here for another week, and then the weekend after that Carlos comes to Barca for a visit! Less than a month til I'm home, America!

Here's some mindless nonsense...

I can't really say this week has been very "calm". I had a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation due for my "Poverty, Inequality, and Globalization" class, and a huge Spanish exam. I've also been stressed finding hostels in Amsterdam for when Vick Nish is in town... apparently we made the mistake of choosing the one weekend Amsterdam has a huge festival, meaning hostels were booked up, and if they weren't, you pay through the nose for a (probably dirty) place to lay your head far from the city center. We found one that wasn't too too awful looking... but I guess I shouldn't complain, I'm not going to be in the hostel for anything more than to sleep at night. And to be honest, this festival looks pretty fun.

Other than work and stress, this week has been relatively low-key. I know I probably should be out raging every night and experiencing Barcelona to its fullest... but it get's tiring. We went to this really fun bar Weds night actually, called l'Ovella Negra (translation: Black Sheep). They give you these giant steins for about 3 euros, which is pretty cheap for Barcelona. The thing is, you can buy a mug as a souvenir, and then pay for them to fill it from the tap, or you can do what all college students are famous for and just buy a drink then subtly snag the glass before you leave. In my defense, they're really cool looking. And if it makes anyone feel better, Karma already got me back for it, so no worries.


Feli has been a REAL treat this week. She's come up with this game... to teach us vocabulary about the house. All week she's been teaching us vocab from the kitchen... things like silverwear, pots, pans, fridge, etc. She writes them all down on little papers and makes us run around placing them on the correct items. Now she's written down verbs on little papers and makes us create sentences using the verbs and the vocab. Poor Katherine got so frustrated at the table last night she just put her arms up and said "JESUS!" (in Spanish, of course, haha). Feli also, the other night, lost a tiny itty bitty little piece of an antique door knob somewhere on the street. Homegirl restores old furniture as a hobby (along with doing yoga, pilates, cooking classes... busy woman) and she had found some antique doorknob for a cabinet she's fixing up... but in the process of digging out her keys from her purse, she dropped it on the street and lost the tiniest piece she could possibly lose. She came running upstairs, all flustered, and make Katherine, Alejandro, and I come down to the dark street with flashlights and literally get on our hands and knees looking for something we probably wouldn't have recognized if we saw it. She's a hoot, that Feli.

This weekend is the first weekend in over a month that I've been able to sleep in. First I was with the Gabrees and playing tour guide (a poor one, at best) in Barca, then I was in Seville the next weekend, then Florence, then Ireland. Woof. Traveling the world in a hurry. Needless to say, it was nice to roll around in my bed for an hour this morning instead of getting up to an alarm, earlier than I would for class, and hiding all my valuables in my purse so my fellow hostel mates don't steal them. Tuesday miss Victoria Nishball will be in town! I cannot wait to see her :) It will be so nice just to even see a familiar face. I haven't seen someone I know from the states since I've been here, which, obviously is going to be the case, but a lot of people I know here have friends studying abroad that have visited or similar things like that. A kid from my high school is here, but we both kindof just do out own thing, I've yet to see him. Oh well.

On another note, I just wanted to let a miss Mary-Ann a fast and healthy recovery! My mom mentioned how much you liked my blog, so I figured I would give you a shout out, and also say thank you for all of the useful information about Barcelona you gave me before I left. Some of the cultural stuff has really come in handy :)

See you in 5 weeks America... so soon! Kindof...

PS. I Love You

Well, I've talked about it enough in previous entries, but in case anyone didn't know, I was in Ireland this past weekend with Katherine and our friend Jess! And let me tell you... I have never fallen in love with a place the way I fell for Ireland. I wish I had studied there ha. Of course, we were only there from Friday to Sunday, but we managed to see a lot. We flew in to Dublin early in the morning Friday and caught a double decker bus (!!!) to our hostel. Our hostel, by the way, was immaculate. I've never seen a cleaner, cooler looking hostel. Everything was purple, they had murals all over the walls, and the common area was sooo nice. As we were checking in, two Spanish women were trying to communicate with the reception desk but there was a clear language barrier, so we volunteered to translate for them. I've never felt so useful with my Spanish knowledge.




Anyways. First order of business was to get  a cup of coffee to prepare for the day. We found a coffee place that gave us the biggest cup of coffee we've seen since September. We were so used to tiny little shots of espresso with maybe some milk in it, it was such a shock to get a big Central Perk sized cup of coffee. And free water! That's non-existent in Barcelona. We then toured around our side of the river, seeing the buildings and shops, and stopping for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. After lunch we walked across town to the Guinness factory to do a tour! It was actually really interesting, and the entire museum was shaped like a tall glass of Guinness. We learned how they make Guinness and why its so dark and rich, and how to pour the perfect pint. At the top of the museum was a bar called the Gravity Bar, where you get a free pint and and a chance to see the whole city from above. The entire outer wall was pane glass, and you could literally see all of Dublin and the mountains in the background. It was so beautiful! Plus, sitting enjoying our free Guinness we were faced with the fact that everyone spoke English for the first time. In Spain, no one really understand English, so you can talk about whatever you want, as loud as you want, and not have to worry. This is not the case in an English speaking country. I'll spare you the details, but we seemed to really surprise/entertain a fellow museum go-er. I'll leave it at that, haha.

After the museum, it was starting to get dark (ohhh winter) but we still wanted to see the sights, so we had a nice night tour. We wandered around with our cute little maps and saw as much of the important Dublin sights as we could with the darkness. For the most part, everything was lit up, except the St. Patrick's Catherdral, which was a little disappointing. We still managed to see the Dublin Castle and plenty more. We eventually made it back to the city center, where Temple Bar is. Its a big cluster of real Irish pubs, shops, and restaurants. We did some gift shopping and got dinner at a cute little Irish pub/restaurant. I had Guinness and beef stew, keeping with the theme of the day. As we left the restaurant we ran into some street performers playing some happy Irish tune, and about 30 people were dancing to it in the middle of the road, getting really into it. One little girl actually started step-dancing. It was so cute.

Feeling a little tired, we decided to head back to the hostel to rest a bit, grab a few drinks, and meet some fellow travelers. While we were getting ourselves together in our room we met one of our dorm mates, a nice kid who was also studying in Spain (Salamanca?). He was tired and wanted to sleep, but we convinced him to come out with us. After all, you're only in Ireland once... though I hope I can return as soon as possible. We ended up going to a karaoke pub down the street from the hostel, and Katherine impressed everyone by belting some classic songs (homegirl can sing). We came home to meet one of our other roommates in only the best way possible. Naked. Nice to meet you too sir. And your other naked friend. She seems nice. That's what you get for being in a room with 12 people you don't know.

Saturday was my favorite day... ever. We woke up early to catch a tour bus/van to Wicklow and the surrounding area. Its just outside of the city, and has some amazing Irish landscape. I'm not sure if you've ever seen the movie "PS. I Love You",  but we literally saw the exact spot they filmed when the main characters meet for the first time. The romantic little bridge overlooking the Wicklow mountains and big green fields of heather. It was absolutely incredible. Not the movie part (though that was cool), but the view itself was unbelievable. From one point on the tour, we stopped to see this big black lake (black from peat), with a white sand beach. It was called Guinness lake because it looked like a glass of Guinness. They really love their Guinness there.

We made a few stops for photo op's in similarly beautiful areas before coming to a small town. We stopped to visit a monastery and had time to view not only some of the oldest monastery buildings in Ireland but also the surrounding grounds. We hiked down to a beautiful lake with a waterfall, where I literally ran around like a little kid because I was so excited. It felt so good to be out in the country and out of the city. The air was so fresh and clean, all the leaves were changing, and it had never felt so good to get my boots dirty in mud and grass. I love Barcelona, but being so far from trees and nature was getting to me. It made me realize I could probably never live in a city, at least not for long periods of time. If I did I would need to have a getaway option of mountains and trees handy. There was a small market of local goods and products, and I of course treated myself to a big wool sweater. First of all, I was freezing even in my 8 layers and legitimately needed it. And I just wanted it. They're so comfortable and warm. I love it. The guy knew our tour guide so he gave me a good deal :)

Our last stop was in another small little town. Population 2,000... pub count 10. Hahaha. I love Ireland. We got some lunch and a tour of a weaving factory. It sounds dumb but it was actually pretty cool. Jess learned how a weaving loom works! We would've gotten some fine wool products there but it was sooo expensive. So we played in the gift shop and then just wandered around outside for a while. I could not get over how good it felt to be out of the city.

That night we made nice with the naked man from the night before. He was French (but he looked like a Jonas Brother), studying in Galway, and in Dublin with two friends from home on holiday. We all joked about the girl from the night before and eventually made it downstairs to the common room to meet our other friend from the night before and his buddy that flew in that morning. We all hung out and had some drinks, getting to know each other. Jonas's friend from France had an awesome Robert De Niro impression, despite barely being able to make a full sentence in English. Poor Katherine had a weird allergic reaction to something we ate (I think I poisoned her by making her try Digestives with chocolate and caramel, which I was ecstatic to find in the grocery store because Barca never has them)... but we got her Benedryl and she was ok. We all went out to a pub in Temple Bar and heard some great live music. A guy sits in the back of the bar with a guitar and sings, and everyone just dances and enjoys good company. A nice Irish gent schooled me in dancing, spinning me around about 100 times, dipping me, tossing me around. It was so fun. So DIFFERENT than Barcelona. People in Ireland are genuinely just nice people.

I almost cried at the airport this morning. I am madly in love with Ireland. Everyone is so nice to you, everything is so beautiful. I love the country side, I love the atmosphere of the city. I love that people will dance on the street with strangers, that every pub plays live music (Galway Girl being a very popular song), I love the accents, the culture, the food... everything. I am moving to Ireland at some point in my life. I already miss it. Who wants to come with me?


Only six more weeks in Barcelona. I can't believe how fast it's going by. It makes me sad... but I also think I'm ready to go home. I miss ya, America.

PS. I love you ;)

Adventures in Firenze Land and Halloween Spain-Style!

So there are literally too many pictures to share... so please feel free to click the following links to see some picture albums of Florence. The first is mine, the second is Katherines. She sortof has a lot better pictures, and much more that her nd I are actually in. So enjoy!

* http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2239310097389.2109459.1087110167&type=1&l=fb0a5be663

* http://www.flickr.com/photos/69342369@N08/

So this past weekend was spent in the most romantic way. Alone with Katherine Davis in Florence, Italy, seeing the sights, eating Italian food, and shopping! We took an early early early morning flight, per usual, so we would have the whole day in Florence to explore. Within seconds of walking out of the hostel post checking in, we stumbled upon this awesome wall made of local art, graffiti, newspaper clippings, etc. Feli was right... you can't go ten feet in Florence without seeing art. We walked through the tiny winding streets, past all the big name shops any city in Italy would have (Gucci, etc), through the Piazza della Signoria with the giant arch as an entrance, and to the Duomo, a gorgeous cathedral made of white and green marble. It was truly stunning. We stopped to have lunch and coffee at a small pizza shop on a side street, where we become friends with the waiter (of course) and asked for some good bars to go to later that night. After wards we found the leather market! That was unbelievable. It was a big market that stretched through multiple streets, packed full of people admiring and haggling for fine leather goods. Florence is big into leather. I mean big. Even the wild market has genuine hand-made leather goods. I got the Gabrees some good gifts :) Oh, and Papa Bear if you're reading this... I wore that bead necklace you got for Grandma in Italy when you studied abroad in college, and they were selling the SAME necklace in the market! It looked like I had just bought it, haha.

  
After the leather market, we toured the Santa Croce Church, which is apparently considered "the Westminister Abbey of Florence" because it hold the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, and Rossini. Connected to the church is a famous leather school where students learn to make leather goods the right way. We got to see some of the work being done too! One of the younger guys working let us take a bunch of pictures of his work station, including the fires they use to heat their tools. Fun! By this time we were pretty beat, so we toured the streets a bit more then headed home to the hostel (of course stopping at a store to pick up some beer). We moved our bags from the luggage room to our room, got cleaned up, and headed downstairs to the common area to see if we could meet some fellow travelers. As we passed the front desk we heard an Aussie girl trying to explain how to spell her last name to the clueless front desk clerk, we laughed at how awful that must be, and commented on how she seemed like a really nice girl. As luck would have it, this girl Tegan and her boyfriend Dan were the people we met later on! We all sat in the common room, sipping drinks, and getting to know each other while another couple from Australia joined in while eating their dinner. They were traveling after school pretty much blindly. They had already been all over Europe, and intended on seeing more, plus the States, and Mexico with no time constraints or set flights/hostels in mind. How lucky. When it became too much to bear to watch the other couple eating their delicious food, we all decided to join forces to find a restaurant. We managed to find a pretty rustic looking place and had a delicious dinner, complimented with wine that I later (upon return from the bathroom) would dump an entire glass of into my lap. Classy, Grace. By the end of dinner it was clear we were just too tired to go out to the bars, so we all called it a night and got some good sleep for the next day ahead. Unfortunately, due to poor planning, Dan and Tegan didn't get the hostel the next night because there were no vacant beds :(

Saturday was the day we basically saw the whole city. Literally. First order of business, running/cabbing it to see Michelangelo's statue of David. We were very late for our tour, and very far from the museum, so we had to take a cab to ensure we'd actually get in for our time slot (they're pretty serious about it). Let me tell you though, it was worth it. The museum of Academia itself is beautiful, and has a lot to offer, but the statue of David really is just amazing. Apparently it was made from a stone that was declared "unworkable" and left to waste away in a courtyard, but Michelangelo, in his infinite genius, made it work. The intricacy of the statue is flawless, David's carefree pose and intense gaze actually makes you develop a little bit of a crush on him. not saying I did. It's just a marvelous piece of art. We weren't supposed to take pictures but Katherine and I of course did... so creep those for sure.

After David, we got breakfast and continued to wander the streets with no real goal in mind. We ended up getting back to the Duomo, and we decided to climb the bell tower next to it. It was like climbing a mountain to get to the top... and those of you who have ever had the pleasure of hiking with me (the names Ben Hyde and Cesar Osuba come to mind) know I am just a TREAT when asked to physically exert myself. I did the math... we climbed the equivalent amount of stairs as it would take to get to the 17th or 18th floor of a building. I have almost no muscles... so by the time we got to the top I was dead, but it was worth it. The view was incredible... you could see the whole city and the surrounding mountains. Amazing.

The rest of the day was spent meandering around, seeing some sights, we toured a small cathedral, hit up the leather market again to snag some more gifts for our American loves, and eventually made it back to the hostel. We made friends with a guy in our hostel dorm, who introduced us to his large group of friends he was traveling with, and ended up getting dinner with them. the group was split 50/50... half of them loved us, hung out with us at dinner, shared common interest, the works. The other half did not feel the same. I think we were intruding a little on their vacation. That's fine. After dinner we again decided to be a lame and tired, so we just went right to bed. Granted it was like 1am. Our last day we spent having a long lunch and being reeeaall relaxed. We spent an hour sitting in one of the plazas, eating gelato and people watching. Actually, it was more like dog watching. We found one little baby nugget pup that was just so excited to meet new people, new dogs, and see new things. Soooo cute. I wanted to cuddle him.


LAST NIGHT was Halloween! Barcelona has recently been getting very into Halloween because of all the tourism it gets, so there was a lot to do. Katherine and I had bought mascarade masks in Florence for the occasion, so we paired them with cute dresses and called it a costume.We spent half the night at our friend Lila's apartment just hanging out with friends, and ended up going to a club called "Opera", which was hosting a big party for Halloween, free entry. Of course though, this means every American and his/her mother was there. It was so packed and out of hand, they had to call a cop in to control the crowds. At that point, we decided to bounce. Overall though it was a good night. Good weekend.

 
Next week is Ireland! And then the week after that Vick Nish comes to visit! So so so so soooo excited!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

This week has been/will be relatively uneventful.... so I thought I'd entertain you regulars with things I've come to learn and accept about the Barcelona culture and its people.

                          Good:
- Everyone has amazing fashion sense. Well, almost everyone. Men wear scarves and sweaters, and the occasional fitted suits to work. Women always wear heels, even to the grocery store. Obviously there are sub-cultures, but even those adorable little bohemian Spanish girls look better rolling out of bed than I could with years of fashion school under my belt (which I don't have).
- All of the streets have big recycling bins that look like Disney's "Wall-E", with separate ones for paper, glass, plastic, and even compost! Tourists, however, throw their giant hangover sized water bottles in the trash can like they get paid for it. Rude.
- They nap. EVERY DAY. Stores close down a few hours every day so people can go home to eat lunch with their family... AKA nap. I've taken to this custom, even though I technically don't need it because I don't get lunch at Feli's, but sleeping is one of my favorite past-times.
- Dogs are so well trained half of them don't need leashes on the streets. They just follow their owners like, well, puppies. Tory and Ginger would be long long gone if we ever tried this (bless their little wandering hearts).
- Food here. Tapas, perfect. Cafe con leche, perfect. Pan con tomate, perfect. Sangria, perfect. Beer and wine is cheaper than water... are you seeing a trend? They're going to have to roll me onto my plane home.

                          The Bad..
- I think it's a law that as you get older, you have to be more of an asshole on the street. Teenagers dodge around the crowds like bullets, middle aged people will stop in their tracks and at least wait for YOU to move out of their way, and the older citizens tend to just walk right through you if you don't move. Some sort of self righteousness these Barcelonians have. No matter how determined I look, how loud my boots are stomping on the pavement, a Spanish woman waddling down the street people watching will still see herself as more important than me, the American listening to her ipod and hauling it to class. I've even seen them do this for cars. CARS, that have a green light and the right of way. They don't stop for anyone. Oh well. At least they respect themselves.
- They really really don't like Americans. No matter how hard I try to speak Spanish, they will always just roll their eyes (something I still find the most condescending move ever) and speak in English. My Spanish is not that bad. If anything it's proper. Sorry I don't speak a mile a minute, but I know I'm saying it correctly. Let me try to get better by responding to me in Spanish!
- Everyone is also really skinny. Like stick skinny. I don't understand it, with all this delicious food here, and they eat like 7 meals a day. And I never see people running on the streets, unless its Katherine (or just Americans). Maybe it's because they all go to the gym? Or smoke cigarettes. I vote the latter, because everyone and their mother has a cig in their hand at all times.
- Public displays of affection. Couples in this city are not afraid to show they are in love, which is fine... but at least keep it above the belt on the metro, eh? It's hilarious, heart wrenching, and mildly disgusting at times. I'm over it.

                          The Ugly
- The city itself is very safe, but pickpocketing is a big issue. Of course, you just can't be stupid about it and you'll be fine, but the fact that you have to hug your purse in the center of town makes me sad. They're good too. They'll brush past you and bam, your wallet's gone.
- The Spanish economy is failing miserably. Probably because of all the napping and partying they do. Beggars on the street break my heart. There's one guy outside of my apartment who is so adorable I just want to give him everything I own. The one's that come up to you while your eating outside or waiting to cross the street are pretty bad too... I wish I could help them all but I just cant. Spain needs jobs!
- Spanish men have this idea that every American girl in a bar immediately will go home with them. I don't know who's giving them this idea, but they should probably go back to the states, because I'm trying to enjoy myself without getting mauled. Poor blondes too... they LOVE blondes. They've never seen them. Poor Katherine gets told at least twice a day that someone loves her. Actually I guess that's not so bad, but in the context they mean it, it is.


I'm sure I have more. Maybe some time I'll add them.

Peace out America! (And Spain! And London! And Germany? And Russia? I figured out I can see when people from different countries read my blog... people in Russia are into it I guess? Awkward.)

Love in Spain is wild

So yes, I do have a story to elaborate on the title of this entry. But let's backtrack a bit to tell some tales of the weekend. First of all I had the worst week, two exams in my two hardest classes as well as a presentation of War Correspondents in my journalism class. Yikes. The presentation actually opened my eyes to a whole new view of the world though... those guys that go to foreign countries and give news reports on the war, ones that actually travel with soldiers and witness it first hand... they're nuts. I really want to read the book The Bang Bang Club, its about a group of war correspondents, mostly photo journalists, that have seen the worst of the worst. It just tells the stories of their lives, how they deal with the stress, etc. It seems really interesting. I learned about it while researching for my presentation.

Anyways, with all that junk out of the way, I went to Seville with the parentals and Emily this weekend. Apart from the stress of traveling by my lonesome, it was a really great weekend. Seville is such a quaint little city, very relaxing. We did a tour of the cathedral, wandered over to Plaza Espana, which was beautiful, and even went to an international festival with little trinkets, food, and beer from all over the world. I got a beer called Judas (haha) from Belgium which was like 9% alcohol. It was delicious! If you all can find it in the states I recommend it! All in all it was a great weekend. Last night we all came home on the same flight, and the Gabrees spent their last night in Barcelona. We went out for dinner down by the water, and our waiter kept a constant supply of sangria coming all night, including one made with champagne. Delicious.

Today might have been the oddest day ever for me in Barcelona. For starters, it has been raining all day... something that was not conducive to my outfit of a light t-shirt and leather boots (nice try Weather.com), but has pretty much not happened since we got here. It was cloudy one day last month, and apparently it rained one night of Merce (something I missed somehow)... but it really just hasn't rained here in months. Maybe its the start of the wet season? I almost forgot what it was like. It still sucks, that's for sure. I mean I love rain for playing in when I have the right clothes for it, and I love nothing more than cuddling in bed when its raining outside... but I think it just made everyone crazy today. This leads me to my story...

So I'm standing waiting for the metro, soaking wet after running from my class to the station... and its packed. Everyone is riding the metro today because no one wants to be outside. Anyway, this guy comes running up behind me and ducks around my shoulder, slamming me into the guy behind me, grabs a woman in front of me by the shoulders (which I at first though was a cute boyfriend/girlfriend interaction until he does what comes next), rips her from the crowd and slams her into the wall behind everyone. You could hear her head crack against the cement. She obviously crumples to the ground crying, all while he starts screaming obscenities at her about being a whore. The guy who I slammed into during the process grabs him by the back of his shirt trying to catch him but he wriggled free and took off down the corridor. Some rando who must have seen the whole thing happen came bolting out of no where and caught him, dragging him back to the scene of the crime. I tried to stay and see what was going to happen, but the guy who I fell into previously told me I should probably just get on the train. Turns out hes an American student studying in Barca too, he was just trying to be a hero by stopping the guy. I told him it was probably good he didn't get too involved, but I thanked him for letting me use him as an airbag, haha. We figure the guy was mad at an ex-girlfriend for cheating on him and/or just moving on, but YIKES. He could've handled that wayyyy differently. Spaniards are crazy.

Spain steals the Gabree family

As I've mentioned a thousand times previously, the Gabrees are in town! Dave and Sandy came in friday morning, with Emily following soon after. When I got out of class I anxiously waited to get a call from the hotel (I must love them) telling me they had arrived. When the time finally came, I went to go see the parentals for the first time since August. Of course by the time I get to the hotel, they're already down the street, buying candied almonds from a street vendor (Dad.). I tried to show them around their part of town, stopping in at a cafe to get "clara"s... a combination of beer and lemon fanta (and or lemonade depending). When Emily called from the hotel, we went back to greet her as well and give her a big "Bienvenidos a Espana!". I made them truck some goods over from the states for me, including my favorite organic body wash, some make-up, and a few long sleeve shirts, but Papa Bear and Emily went over the top by going halvsies on a new camera for me!! Its just a little digital camera, perfect for fitting into my purse and whatnot. Apparently I made it obvious I wanted a camera over here via my blog haha. I intend on buying myself one of those nice Nikon ones once I can actually get a job and afford things. Not to try to pretend I'm a photographer, but simply because I like taking a picture of something and having it actually look like what it was of, without red eye and weird lighting (aka the camera I used to have from sophomore year of highschool haha).

                                                 Casa Batllo

                                                   Sangria and Tapas!

Anyways. We took to the streets, new camera in hand! I walked them down Psg. de Gracia, where all the rich people used to live in the 20th century / still do now. The architecture is really amazing because everyone wanted to show off how rich they were, so a lot of people hired Antoni Gaudi to design their homes. We then stopped for some tapas and sangria at a place where all the tapas on the menu have corresponding pictures. I thought it might be easier for them to understand what they were ordering, because half the time even I will just blindly order something I think sounds good. It ended up being delicious, typical of anything in Barcelona. After our bellies were full, and our heads a little cloudy from overly strong sangria, I took the fam up to Plaza Espana, where the big castle on the mountain is, and took them to the top of the old bull fighting arena. Its now a heinously overdone mall on the inside, but the view of Barcelona from the top is pretty gorgeous. We took a break for naps and showers, and then met up later for dinner with miss Katherine Davis at a restaurant the hotel recommended. Like I said before, I don't know where the nice places are to eat. I don't eat out unless it costs me under 6 euros. Bargain dinners! Dinner was fantastic, as was the wine. Two of the Gabrees' favorite things, me included in that stereotype.



After dinner we all had intentions of going out on the town. I wanted my friends to meet my parents, and vice versa, but the place my friends decided to go to was wayyyy to packed for Mama and Papa. They politely declined the offer and headed to an outdoor bar to sip some wine before jet-lag crashing. Emily on the other hand, stayed out all night with me! The bar that was incredibly packed was a place where you literally pay 3 euros for a glass of ice, a bottle of soda, and they put a big bottle of alcohol on the bar for you. You are free to pour at your leisure. Now... if they did this in the states, that place would get shut down in seconds. People would be in the streets vomiting and or dead. Spaniards though, can handle their alcohol. The American tourists... not so much. Thankfully we were not those people. Well... maybe Drew. Emily got to meet all my friends and some! Then we took her to La Fira, that circus themed bar with the big tent over the dance floor, got some free drinks from the bartenders (how nice), and danced to the American songs all Barcelona bars/clubs play. Apparently the Spanish entertainment industry just isn't up to par with Beyonce and Kid Kudi.

The next morning everyone slept in. Mama and Papa bear didn't even wake up until 12:30! When we were all finally out of bed, we rambled on down to Plaza Catalunya to get coffee and see some sights. Katherine and I's friend Erin joined us for some play time on las Ramblas. We stopped at La Boquerria, the huge market tucked away in the side streets of La Rambla. Its apparently the oldest market in Europe, and the coolest. There's just so much fresh food, fruits, veggies, chocolates, break, meat, fish, candy, smoothies, wine... you name it, they have 30 different kinds of it. Of course the parentals loved it. Dave especially. We lost him about 8 times because of his famous move of disappearing into a side alley to look at something and not telling anyone. But he always came back wielding something yummy he shared with the group, chorizo, cod fritters... oh yes. We then did a short tour of the Gothic area, saw some cool art, bought a few gifts for people who will remain nameless seeing as I don't know who reads this thing (god love ya for doing it). Then I took them to Sagrada Familia, the giant cathedral designed by Gaudi. It really takes your breath away. I hope they liked it.

This day was the longest... after Sagrada, we walked down towards the water in hopes of finding an art fest/market, and ended up stumbling upon the Occupy Wallstreet protests going on in Barcelona. Of course it was called something else... but they had the same concerns. Jobs were a big part of it. Whats funny (or maybe not so funny) about Spain, is it looked like a parade. People were dancing and playing music... something you wouldn't see on the US. We ended up finding the art fest, which was incredibly cool and had lots of handmade crafts (and a techno DJ, which was weird), and then had dinner at an Argentinian style restaurant. Not too shabby. Afterwards, Papa Bear dragged us into a jazz club for a beer and a listen... we only heard about 2/3 of one song before the band packed up, but it was still pretty fun.



That night we took Emily to the bar Chupitos, the bar that only does shots. Glamorous, wild, shots. We made her take one where you roast a marshmallow on an open flame from liquor being lit right on the bar surface. We were all so exhausted we decided to have a relaxing night at a casual bar, where there were no places to sit so we awkwardly stood at the bar until three Spanish boys invited us to sit with them. The language barrier was pretty rough but they loved Katherine for throwing out a few phrases Santos taught us in Mallorca... mean, crude phrases. Also hilarious. They loved it that we knew slang bad words in Spanish.

Añadir leyenda

The next day we were up at dawn for a tour to Montserrat with Mama and Papa Bear. We had to ride in a van with a few other random tourists and a driver that must have been on cocaine... but it was worth it because Monserrat was beautiful. We took a tram up to the top of the mountain and hiked around, saw the cathedral, got lunch, and bought some fresh local cheese at the mini farmers market. Spain is so cute. I'm so glad I live here sometimes. Then we got to go on a wine tour at a vineyard that is completely organic. It ended with a tasting, of course, and it was so interesting to hear about how different soils/climates/fertilizers create different wines. Also fun... free wine. Lots of it. not only the tasting, but somehow due to confusion at the end of the tour, we got two free bottles of Cava (Spanish champagne)... Not mad. I also got a bottle of wine! My first bottle bought solely for me. Nice wine, that is. Wine to enjoy with friends. Not 1 euro wine to drink straight from the bottle while I'm doing my make-up with Katherine before we go out. Ohhh my life. Of course we ended the night by going to dinner on the Rambla and getting gelato! Yay! Emily almost got mugged by a crazy person, but homegirl knew to grab her bag as he threw himself into her. He definitely tried to steal something from her but she's a champ and wouldn't allow it. Sucks to suck, crazy robber.

Yesterday was the last full day the Gabrees spent in Barcelona. While I was in class they went to the beach, shopped around, ate tapas... then we all met and did a tour of Casa Batllo, which was just as absolutely gorgeous on the inside as it is on the outside. That night, we made the hasty decision to eat at a random restaurant Emily found on her iPhone... turned out to be the best restaurant in Barcelona. No, really. Bill Clinton eats there when he's in Barca. As does Eva Longoria. We ate like movie stars, basically. And... presidents? The waiter was adorably funny, and we even got a live acoustic guitar show during dessert. Oh Spain, you really know how to treat a lady and her family. Today the Gabree family minus me are all going to Valencia, and I will meet them in Seville on Friday.

More to come on the fabulous adventures of Dave, Sandy, Emily, and Grace Gabree... oh and Katherine, because she's the third child now.



WOOOOOOOOOOOF! I keep saying I won't ever write such long blogs but so much happened in one weekend. It's like the first week I was here... all over again. Sorry America! If you read this far I'm proud of you <3