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...