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.