mi_diario2006

Day 3
(sunday)
Today was a short day because everything in Europe literally shuts down on Sundays. We took the bus to an area of town, walked the streets and saw some statues.
Then later in the day we walked to the park, rented double bikes that were like next to eachother with a small canopy over it and rode that all around the park. We had a lot of fun and totally wore ourselves out that day.
Then we went back to Piazza Popoli caught the tram back, we were SO tired, and it was so hot that day.
We napped and relaxed before getting ready to go out. A min walk from our hostel was this party thing, with vendors and mini restaurants and a place to dance...so we hung out there for a while checking everything out. A lot of the guys were really gorgous, but a lot of them also plucked their eye brows WAY too much! it was def nice hanging out with the local Italians.
we went in early that night because we were so tired, and that was about it.

Day 2
(Saturday)
The first thing we needed to do this day was switch our hostels. We got up early, packed up everything, took the coldest shower of my life (and im not even kidding you) and asked the guy who worked there how to get to our other hostel. He said it would take forever to get there and that it was at the other side of town. So we got all our luggage and whatnot, left and 10 and took Bus 3 to the San Giovani metro stop and rode that to Flaminio and took the tram to the Olympic Stadium. We took bus 208 right to our hostel and it was already 12 by the time we got there.
We couldnt get into our rooms because the credit card machine was down so we checked our luggage and decided to still take advantage of the day and not worry about it. This hostel greeted us in more of a formal way and looked more like a youth hotel then anything. We walked outside and it must have been a hundred degrees out, but we took the tram down to Piazza Popolo and decided to walk down the main street (at a snails pace of course)and window shopped a little. I saw a big building at the end of the street and got excited because it looked like something important. Heather joked and said it was probably that Horse building that we kept running into yesterday. Corso street is filled with everything from little shops to huge ones, such as Zara and other department stores. We got to the end, and realized, that yes, it WAS the Horse Building. We could not escape this building for the life of us, and no matter where we were in the city, it would always appear. So we looked at the map and decided to go to the Trevi Fountain, a very famous emormous fountain. We threw pennies and made wishes and everything.
Then we decided to find the Spanish Steps. It took us seriously like an hour to find it because we kept just missing it, and when all a city has are small alleys and monuments, its kind of hard to find anything that your looking for. We finally made it to the Spanish Steps, which arent anything too special and found ourselves completely exhausted and ready to get back to the hostel.
We took the tram and then the bus back and were told to go to the second floor where the girls rooms were. This hostel was huge. It was a cross between camp, dorms and prison. We stayed in a spacious 14 bed room, with huge lockers to put our suitcases in. We settled in a little and decided it was time to look for something to eat. We asked the check in guy where a good, cheap place was to eat and he told us this place and which busses to take us there. We got on the 280 bus and rode it for a while until we got into parts of the city we didnt recognize. At first we were like, this is a good tour of the city, but after riding the bus for an hour we realized this wasnt such a good idea and got off at the next bus station. We asked 6 italian bus drivers which bus takes us to this restaurant and after standing there debating in italian, one of us motioned for us to get on his bus. He pretty much dropped us off in the middle of no where and we found a gelato place and had the richest chocolate gelato ever that we felt sick afterward. We gave up on finding that place to eat and settled for Pan and Co. for some salad and bread. This was one of the funniest nights because we got lost about a million times and still laughed our butts off, in fact we have pictures of us being goofy on our hour bus ride around the city.
We made it home safe and sound and went to bed in the 94 degree hostel. It was an awesome 2nd day.

Day 1 (Friday)
The first full day we were there, we originally planned to do sections of the city everyday, but of course, its Heather and I and we usually just do whatever we stumble upon. We set out at around 9 to the Colosseum, took pictures and started to walk down the street. It started to get really hot as we made our way to the most famous of the Roman Ruins. We took picutures (which ill put online soon enough) and then eventually ran into the infamous Horse Building which ill explain later. We got kind of lost, so we went into a coffee shop to look at the map. We wanted to go to the this one place, but i think this is the day that we ended up wandering the city, found ourselves at Camp de Fori, this open market where we got fruits in and veggies. I dont feel like this is the right day that we did this, but its all a blur because we pretty much ran around the city all day every day. So we then went to Piazza Navona, a little plaza with a fountain and artists go to sell their artwork. Then we walked to Sant Angelo, a famous castle type place, and we didnt go inside, but outside all around the pentagonal building, and there was vendors selling things like flowers, and meats and breads and we pretty much ate lunch with all the samples and almost walked right into the Vatican. this is when we realized that we had walked straight across the entire city without even knowing it. We looked at the map and couldnt believe it, Rome is the smallest city ever. We decided it was about time to go back to our hostel and figure out what to do for dinner.
We took the metro to Lapanto Station and took the bus right to our hostel. There werent many places to eat, but we found this cute little restaurant right down the street that didnt even open until 6, so we took a little walk around the block, came back and ate the first real pizza in Italy.
It was thin crust, uncut of course, and we figured it was the thing to do to cut into slices and eat it like we know how. Halfway through our meal, we figured out that it was uncut for a reason....in italy, they dont really slice their pizza like we do, and they use a fork and knife to eat it. Oh, and this was the first night that I lost my voice and that we realized that we had to learn a little bit of italian to get by, since neither of us knew anything. Wow, i cant believe that was our first day, we took over that city as soon as we got there, haha. So after dinner, we planned out roughly the next few days, so we at least had an idea of what we wanted to do.
Heather fell asleep at 10, and I stayed up talking to a kid that was new at our hostel til about 12, because Italy won a game and fog horns and car horns were going off constantly right up until i fell asleep.

Things that are that I like about Rome the first day I was there:
Transportantion is free (your supposed to buy a ticket, but its not enforced
Everyone is nice, and they dont care that you dont speak Italian
There is pizza on every block
Open clothing markets are everywhere, nice clothes for cheap
Everything is really close together

Things I wasnt crazy about:
It was 32 degrees Celcius, which is about 94 degrees. everyday.
YOU CAN NOT CROSS THE STREET. they do not adhere to laws concerning red lights or stop signs...crossing the street is like running out into traffic risking your life, everyday.
There is graffiti everywhere, and trash; Rome is a very dirty city.
There is nothing to do at night but sleep.
Wine is very expensive.

Thursday night:
So we get to the Roma Airport at around 9:30 and pick up our luggage. We had no idea how to get to our hostel, but we had an address, so we figured someone would know what metro to take to get there. A guy that worked at the airport said to take the train to Termini (the main train station). We take the train and get off and have no idea what metro to take. this taxi guy comes up to us and ask if we want one, but we said no and asked him which metro to take to Porta Maaggiore. He said no metro would take us there. We walked around the station a little more to get some help, but there was no one around. So we went downstairs to the street and the same taxi guy was there too. We asked how much it would be for a taxi there, and he said 20 Euros. That was WAY too expensive, but at 11 at night, in a city we didnt know, we had no other option. We get into the most sketchy taxi ever (without a meter) and he drove us a couple miles to the strangest part of the city. He pulled up to the curb and opened our doors. We were like, this isnt it, theres no sign for our hostel. He assured us it was, and went up to a building that looked like an apt, and where the buzzers were, in red marker, was written "Hostel". We paid 25 Euros, which was a complete rip off, but we finally got in where we were to stay the night. We get in the door and written in paper in the hall was "Hostel 1st floor". So we got to the first floor, knocked on the door and a man wearing very short shorts answered. The hostel was just an apt that was turned into a hostel, and there were only 2 guys and a girl that worked there. He asked for Heathers passport, and because we had never been to one, we were really scared to give it to him. He gave us keys, and led us to our room. It was a tiny, 6 bed room with other travelers stuff everywhere.
We kind of just shrugged and unpacked some stuff and went out to try and get something to eat. Across the street was this little pizza place to some pizza (which is oval btw, not round). We went to bed and slept really well even tho it was about 90 degrees in the room.

okay, my friend just called, and i have to get ready to hang out with him. i was planning on writing more, but i guess it'll have to wait, sorry.

Ciao!

im fine. im just really really busy. more then you can imagine.
ive emailed dad, and ive returned everyones emails. ive talked to brian and nana.
i havent gotten one chance to be on the computer. for longer then 15 min.
sorry, i will update later.

okay, so i know I have like 4 days to update, but i dont have time because I am completely exhausted.
Friday night was the Sant Joan thing, ask me about it if your curious, it was out of control.
Saturday I dont even rememeber, but Heather and I went down to Jaume 1 to a bar called Princessa 23, which is an international bar and we had a great time chatting it up with these hilarious British guys, and we left at like 2, wait, ate mcdonalds (for the 2nd time that day) and went home.
Sunday...umm...Ill remember later. i honestly dont remember. wait! that was when I got really really sick and thought I was going to die.
Monday wasnt much better at all, but that night after class Charles, Ted, Kyle and I went to the beach to hang out and listen to good music because it was Charles's BD. I talked to Evan and went to bed.
Yesterday I went to the beach with Kyle...my last beach day. I def got some sun and it was beautiful out. I was feeling much better that day then I had been the last coupla days.
I didnt go to class so I could work on my paper (btw I got an A on my midterm, woohoo)
Last night was not only one of my all time favorite nights, but the most outragous of all.
First we went with my roommate Jason and his friends to go pick up his other friends on the other side of town. then, of course, we had to go to my all time fav club (for the last time : ( Club 13. As usual we had an amazing time and I danced it up like no ones business. I got some good pics and we left there at some point, I really didnt keep track of time.
Then we went to Ottozuets (i dont know how to spell it) and there was a pack of like 8 of us and I had never been but again, as usual we had a really good time. It was like "tiffanys last night out" so I pretty much danced with Ted the whole night and we finally left when the club closed.
There are other strange occurences as far as clearing things up with certain people and it was hilarious and nuts and I finally went to bed really really early this morning.
So Im now at school, just finished up my final paper and Im going to go to the apt to clean up the mess left by the 49 people that have been at our house in the last week, and take the biggest nap of my life before I start packing.

I just have to say that although the last week was really nutty for me, and I was itchin to get to Italy, I loved this city and felt like I did everything there was to do at least once.
Im really grateful that I got to keep this livejournal, otherwise who knows if I would have rememebered any of it, it all went by in a blur. It def feels like ive been here for a month, and tomorrow starts Heather and Tiffany's Big Adventure to Italy.
I love this city, and have met awesome people to hang out with....and I know Nana doesnt want to hear this, but the night life here was like nothing Ive ever seen and Europe in general is nuts. Im going to be a little glad to be back to somewhere more normal, and I dont mean that how it sounds.
OH! i forgot to mention the Most Important Life Lesson I have ever learned. But that I guess will have to wait, because it ties into what Ive learned as for as being in a different place goes.
Im pretty sure Im rambling on and on, but thats what I get for staying out so late last night.

sigh...alright, I need to go...

I LOVE YOU

okay, so the last 4 days have been really busy, except for today, and i dont have time for a long update, but monday at school i will elaborate.
tuesday night i went out to my favorite place, Club 13 and had a blast. wednesday heather and i met up with Charlie to talk about places in Rome to visit, and exactly what to do while we were there. then at 3 was the midterm (dont worry i studied) and i did really well on it. it was on Gaudi and Picasso!
wednesday i stayed in, and so did Ted and music started to play outside our window. Ted and i went downstairs to the street to see what was going on, and a live spanish band was playing. some songs were pop, some funk and some jazz, it was good. then this other chick came on after them and she was only decent. i went to bed early and i think went to the beach before class. then that night was our farewell dinner and it was awesome.
we went to this really modern restaurant and ate the best food here so far (i ordered curried chicken, haha it wasnt even spanish) we all had a great time. then after we all went to Carpe Diem a club on the beach, and went home early.
Friday we went to Sitges, a town south of barcelona and it was SO hot!!! the beach was great, and the town is cute and stylish. heather and i left early and slept a little before the big night. last night was Saint Johns night and i have NEVER in my life seen anything like it.
we got on the metro at 11ish to go down to the beach and the metro was so packed, peoples arms and legs were sticking out of the metro. ugh, i have 7 min left.
ill explain the rest of the night later, it was so insane.

someone tell evan to miss me.

I LOVE YOU

Hustle Bustle
And so much muscle
Ourselves about to separate
And I find it hard to concentrate
And temporary, this cash and carry
I’m stepping up to indicate
The time has come to deviate and

All I want is for you to be happy
And take this moment to make you my family
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found…

Death defying, this mess I’m buying
It’s raining down with love and hate
And I find it hard to motivate
And estuary is blessed but scary
Your heart’s about to palpitate
And I’m not about to hesitate

And want to treasure the rest of your days here
And give you pleasure in so many ways, dear
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found…
Here we go.

Do you want me to show up for duty?
And serve this woman and honor her beauty?
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found yourself
With me
Will you agree to take this man into your world?
And now we are as one

My lone ranger,
The heat exchanger
Is living in this figure 8
And I’ll do my best to recreate.
And sweet position.
And soft collision.

Our heart’s about to palpitate
And I find it hard to separate.
And all I want is for you to be happy
And take this woman and make you my family
And finally you have found someone perfect
And finally you have found

All I want is for you to be happy
And take this woman and make you my family
And finally you have found someone perfect
And finally you have found…
Yourself.

so lately life has slowed down a little, which is good and bad at the same time. im no longer going off adrenaline, but at the same time, life here is not as exciting as it first was. ive seen SO much in 2 weeks and its all been amazing. the last week ive stayed in every single night, and im usually alone. its good because i get a lot of sleep, but im also missing out on a lot that i cant do in the states.
last night....okay, ready? I MADE MY FIRST REAL DINNER, ALL BY MYSELF.
not instant crap, or premade, i bought raw chicken and an onion and garlic, and a fresh bagette, and a green pepper and made a chicken dinner. Charlie and Ruth told me how to make it and gave me these little hot peppers to add into it. Ted tried a bite of my chicken and said it was "damn good." all i could think of it how excited evan will be when i make it for him.
and this morning, i made an egg, and it wasnt even scrambled. and i made onions too. i could eat onions all day, haha.
im just really glad that all my money isnt going to food, like it is going to be in Rome. that, and im ALWAYS hungry.
Im really scared for Rome right now, because we're going to have to stay in hostels everynight, so cooking wont be so much of an option. ive got the flight paid for, and the hostels booked, but it was still all more expensive then i thought.

so today we're going on a field trip to the Picasso Museum. Our midterm is on Wednesday on Picasso and Gaudi, both who i have gathered much respect for.
tonight the group is going to a spanish film, but i havent decided if i want to go yet.
this week has been really cloudy so far, so i end up coming to school and being online for like 2 hours because at any second it could rain. i was going to go to the MACBA museum, but theyre not open on Tue. I really wanted to go to the beach, but that isnt going to happen this week. Friday we made the plan to go to Sitges, pretty much P-Town of spain, and im REALLY excited. then friday night is this all night party in the city that celebrates Saint John. its actually called LA NIT DE SANT JOAN, but in any case, its going to be insane.

i think thats all for now. its 1 oclock, and i have 2 hours before class, i dont really know what to do with myself. i guess ill research Rome. Im meeting charlie for coffee so he can show me all the best places to go.
ugh, im hungry again.

I LOVE YOU.

so i totally and completely forgot about the ballet heather and i went to on friday night. when i say that this was one of my favorite things ive done so far, it was that amazing. it wasnt like ballet in the states, it was the "grace of ballet with the stlye of flamenco" says heather. the dresses the women wore were so pretty. they were like pastel leotards that went down to a dress...and the music was amazing and very spanish. the choreographer did a great job.
i think i already wrote about the Dali museum, and sunday...umm..oh! we went to the winery. it was an adventure trying to even get there...because nothing in spain is ever easy. it was the first winery i ever went to, and it was very enjoyable. we went into this aroma room that they filled with the different aromas of the stages of the wining process. then we went around the fields of plants, then went into the room with 6,000 barrels. finally, we tasted some wine, which was delish.
i was SOOOOOOOO tired last night, well pretty much from 3:00 on. when i got home i pretty much hung out with Vib and we talked and she made me feel a lot better. when her dad called, i actually fell asleep on the couch and when i woke up i was so confused. so then we made dinner and i went to bed at 9:30. literally.
so today i have promised myself that i am going to be in a more optimistic mood, even tho between being with the group 24/7, PMS, and getting up at 8:30 and ending my day at 11 or 12 with hardly enough food in my system, ive been a wee bit cranky.
i think i want to go out tonight with Vib and the girls because i havent gone out since last tuesday, ive been in bed so early lately.
im going to take it easy a little.

so about the people here (the locals) you hardly see natural blondes, but its nothing that you would hardly notice because everyone dyes their hair. it is true that people under 50 are a lot slimmer here. i havent noticed that their more friendly here, but then again i dont speak spanish. the only city that it is most similar to is boston. i ride the metro a hundred times a day, and when i do interact with people, i am usually with a spanish speaker or play charades.
the one thing that does really strike me is that when we go to clubs, the guys arent as sketchy as in the US, same as with the beach. i went to the beach the other day alone, and no one even blinked. guys i guess are just more repectful maybe?
this is a very metropolitan city, so its not that different from the US. today i am going to look up some important spanish phrases and words, so i can at least make an attempt. haha, today i went to the market and asked if they had any garlic, but i didnt know the word garlic, so it was completely useless. and how the heck would you even try and describe garlic to someone?
i def didnt have expectations of what spain was like, but i didnt expect it to be so...americanized. theres not a whole lot to describe besides the amazing architecture here.
so i think thats all for now and i hope everyones having a good summer!!!
miss you


I LOVE YOU!!

alright, so its been 16 days or so, and its not that im homesick really, but certain things are starting to get old. i felt in a weird mood all day, and people def noticed. for one, the being with the other people in our group is getting a little weird...40 girls hanging out for a week straight is turning into the Real World. there is gossip galore and so on and so on. one thing i have def improved on is trying my hardest not to be so judgemental (and im not compared to some girls...) another thing is our apt its only Vib and I that actually clean up for ourselves, so needless to say our apt is a wreck, its gross. THANK GOD i have my own room, because if someone needed to turn on the light and get ready for bed at 4 in the morning, i would FREAK. i guess the third and most annoying thing lately is food. i was cranky all day because im always hungry, and all the food is starting to get worse and worse by the day. for breakfast is cereal, then a pastry, then a gross sandwich for lunch, then pasta....like everyday :(

so enough about complaining, days are pretty good. class is AMAZING. thursday for half the class we started Picasso, then went on a field trip to some Montaner and more Gaudi buildings. friday we did more Picasso. ::love::
today the whole group went on a day trip to Figuras to the Dali museum. melting clocks is not even the half of the things he painted. the things at this museum i couldnt have drempt up in a million years...it was so bazaar, often twisted, and EXTREAMLY incredible. heather and i pretty much died because it was like sensory over load. after the museum we had tons of time, so we went to this cute bakery and had the most disgusting cake i have ever eaten. i got one post card and left for this other place (i have no idea where we were) there were roman ruins, but i was all museumed out for the day and heather and i actually wanted to do something typical, go to the beach. after hassle for 45 min, we finally got to the beach at 445, hardly worth our time. we then got back on the bus for an hour and a half busride and got back around 8.
i just finished my pasta and im meeting heather at her apt at 1130 because we actually might go out for a change. ive been staying in everynight, so we decided that we might try this club that everyones going to tonight.
tomorrow is wine country then relaxing!

things are good, and im enjoying myself, but lately there are times that i wish that i didnt have 3 more weeks til i get home. other times, im really glad, but oh well.
i cant wait for Rome!! and to come home to see Kait and Evan!!

k, gotta go!
LOVE YOU

okay, lets try this again. these are only about half the pictures ive taken, and their in random order.

http://uml.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006317&l=baaaf&id=50201315

<3 enjoy!

okay, after i loaded my pictures on facebook, i realized that i dont think the general public has access to the site.
so you can try this link, but i will try to post them on live journal tomorrow at school.
all facebook users can, so check it out!

http://uml.facebook.com/profile.php?id=50201315

Okay, so this is going to be a very long post, but a confusing one, because to be honest, the days run together.
First official news: Heather and I are going to Rome for the whole 5 days. It was the best decision and affordable. Even though we were not even going to go to Italy, everything else would have been to rushed, crazy and expensive. We're both really excited that we could finally decide and we bought the tickets.

So second, this is what Ive been up to the last few days.
Tue Heather and I got up early and went to Hospital Sant Pau, a hospital designed by Montaner, a famous spanish architect. Heather had class, and my class was moved til later, so I decided to call the couple that I met on the plane. They live down at the marina, and when I say that i mean they live ON A BOAT. They are so awesome! we drank ice tea and they took me to this really awesome chicken place for lunch. It was great to have chicken in my belly. then they treated me to gelato, which is a combination of ice cream, frozen yogurt and itialian ice. it comes in a million flavors and it was SO good.
wait, did i update about the crepe place? was that monday? I cant even remember. wait, okay monday I think I went to the beach and had the most amazing crepes but I dont remember if that was in the last update.
ANYWAY ill check that later. So we went back to the boat and talked about Rome and Charlie said he used to live there and we're going to meet for coffee next week so he can tell us exactly where to go. I left there boat around 4 to go online for like 2 seconds, then I was off to another field trip for class. We went to La Pedrera (otherwise known as Casa Milo) which is another one of Gaudis houses that he designed. This house impressed me the least of the 3 we've been too, but thats not saying much. it was still nice and the roof had these insane sculptures that looked like white warriors and soft serve ice cream combined. sometimes I think Gaudi must have been under the influence when he came up with his ideas, haha. After class....umm...I dont rememeber what we did, it might come to me. WAIT! no after class my roomate Vib and I met some of the girls at a bar to watch the World Cup, Brazil vs Croacia (sp?) It was called the Wooden Spoon and it was PACKED. Im not much into soccor, but since it is here, i figured i had to check it out. (side note, its going to be SO weird not going to be able to go out because Im not 21 yet)
Okay so Wednesday I woke up and no one was home even tho Ted promised to go to the beach with me. He got in at like 11, he slept at his friends apt and we ended up meeting one of the Laurens at the beach. EVERY DAY IS BEACH DAY. im so spoiled, i love it. I went to class as usual and we learned about Montaner and Cavadash, or someone and it was just a regular class.
At 530 we left to go sailing, and oh boy was that an adventure. There were 6 of us on a boat and the sea was so rocky that day. It was definitly really nice to see the city from the ocean but after about a half hour, i wasnt feeling so good. A friend of mine, Ali ended up getting sick , so the 2 of us got picked up by the motor boat, but we had to tug ALL of the other boats into the dock because the waves were so bad.
After the sea expedition, Heather Cami and I went back to the crepe place and instead of blackberry jam, I got raspberry.
I really dont think I wrote about Monday, but I dont think it was that important? haha
So last night I just stayed in and FINALLY did laundry (Evan I tried to call you) and went to bed early.
This morning we got up early again and went to the city park and the chocolate museum. It was really interesting and we had the THICKEST cup of hot chocolate of my life.
So now Im back at school, and I have a million things to do.
I feel like I have so much to write, but as soon as I get to a computer my brain goes blank.
The good thing is ive been getting more sleep. Ive been making pasta like its my job and i LOVE it. I cant wait for a real meal. I feel like no matter how much I eat, Im still always starving.
Today in class, we're taking a walking tour back to the Hospital and other Montaner places.
I need to book hostels in rome, read the articles for class and other things.
Heather comes up to me yesterday and says "okay, so I planned the entire weekend, i hope you dont mind" i laughed, shes hilarious. good thing we both want to do the same things.
Tonight we're going to this fountain show, with lights and music and it should be a good time. tomorrow I think we're going to a ballet, saturday the group is taking a day trip to Figures (sp?) and sunday Heather and I are going to wine country. So I have no idea when Ill be on the computer next.

So thirdly I wanted to talk about the biggest small differences between Spain and the States.
1) You cant eat in public, but the PDA is insane. people make out on the metro like their IN THEIR BEDROOM. but people look at you like your insane if you eat an apple.
2) ive already mention the randomness of foods, but good lord its gotten ridiculous. EVERYTHING is a mystery meal. you NEVER know what your getting. and its not because i cant understand the spanish, its that every place makes something different.
p.s crossants are AMAZING here.
3) there is hardly anyone with tattoos, but monroes and lip studs are the CRAZE. MULLETS ARE EVERYWHERE, and you cant tell spanish people from people who speak english. about one third of people "look spanish" but because we're in a city, everyones mixes colors. hearing english AMAZING when i ask for directions of how much something is.
4) cars will RUN YOU OVER. here, vehicles have the right of way, so watch your step.
5) when guys look at you, often times they dont look away when you catch their eye. and its not just me, all the girls have mentioned it.
6) beaches are SO casual. speedos and breasts are all the rage. doesnt matter your age or body type, no one looks at you. yesterday two chicks were playing UNO topless on the beach, it was hilarious.

i think thats all for now, but none the less its the smallest things that catch my attention here in spain. its very very much like Boston, except when people open their mouth, spanish comes out, sometimes i even forget.

hope everyone is doing well.
Adios!
LOVE YOU

Thursday night we left for Granada on an over night train. Granada is south of barcelona, about 12 hours on a train. I didnt sleep at all, but after we arrived at the hotel, i still went out with heather to explore the city. The area of the city we lived in was nice. there were a lot of shoe stores and it was pretty comercialized. We walked around for about 3 hours, ate at this cute cafe and I finally bought a shirt! I completely underpacked and at the apt we STILL havent been able to do laundry, so a clean shirt felt amazing.
At 3:30 was the walked tour and at first we werent even going to go, but it was totally worth it. We went to this church where Isabella and Ferdinand were buried and then this other church adjacent to it. I have never seen anything like it. I soaked up a lot of history but couldnt take picutures unfortunatly. Then we went to the oldest part of Granada and we saw this enclosed properties (from the outside) and the small streets.
When the tour was over and we had been walking for like 6 hours that day, we went back to the hotel to hang out and do some homework. Dinner was at nine and when I tell you that I have never eaten so much in my entire life, im hardly kidding. I got an entire plate of Spanish food and another of American. Wow did it feel good to be full.
That night we went to this place that used to be a cave, but now was turned into this dance club. We got there at 12:30 ish and we were the only ones there. The owner said that people dont start coming until 2:30, so we just hung out there and left shortly after.
the next day we took a tour of this amazing place which was originally a muslim city. It was abandoned when the spainsh kicked them out, but was in really good condition. I took a MILLION pictures that I will TRY to post (i still havent figured out if I can do that on these computers yet)
The tour was supposed to be 3 hours, but after an hour and a half, Heather and I had to go back to relax. We ate at the same cafe but couldnt lay down because we were already checked out of our hotel. the rest of the group came back around 7:30 and we were one the train again by 9. Saturdays nights sleep on the train was the BEST IVE HAD SINCE IVE BEEN HERE. I had been averaging 5-6 hour, but I actually slept like 8 full hours, it was amazing.
Sunday we got back to Barcelona, and went to the city hall square to see these teams of people climb on eachother to make this human tower, it was impressive. Then Marc, Heather and I went to Port Olympic to go to the beach, and it was great to relax and soak up some sun. Heather and I started throwing around ideas for the last week in Europe, but after talking to Nana, Lyon sounds like a great idea. In fact right now, Heathers in the other room researching stuff.
So back to last night, the 3 of us made plans to treat ourselves to Tapas and we went to this restaurant on Passaig De Gracia. It was the BEST FOOD IVE HAD SO FAR IN SPAIN. Spain is NOT known for its food. in fact everything that ive eaten so far has only been okay. they have a tendency to throw a bunch of mystery meats and random sauces and condiments (such as mayonnase) and call it a meal. its always something strange, and doesnt have much taste. but last night everything was delicious.
OH! and I actually DID LAUNDRY yesterday, woohhoo for me. Ive never been so happy to be in clean clothes in my life.
I went to bed at 12 and had another LONG nights sleep last night, how amazing is that?

So Im at school right now and a lot of things have dawned on me in the last couple days. Barcelona to me in another challenge that ive already over come. I can easily get around the city, and for the most part is like boston, NY and LA combined into one. there are small differences in the culture, but nothing too outragous. I used to think I was going to regret coming for only a month, but Im already thinking I cant wait to come home in 3 weeks. Sometimes it feels like I just got here, but days like today I feel like Ive been here forever. The food here isnt amazing, its quite random and a lot of people speak english anyway. The architecture here never fails to amaze me and Ive definitly have found a new appreciation for history.
I walk around with a new sort of confidence, I really think that in such a short time Ive changed a lot. I woke up this morning really homesick for Evan. Im usually on the go 24/7 but whenever I have a chunk of time, I feel totally aweful and miss him a lot. I REALLY REALLY hope he thinks about me, and notices my absence. I have no idea how things are going to be when I get back, if he will have a new kind of appreciation for our relationship.
well anyway, wah wah wah, haha, what else?

Its so weird getting around with so little spanish. It makes me SO MAD that I learned so much my junior year of high school but Ive virtually forgotten it all. I can understand GREAT, but speaking back is a challenge. I feel like Ive only picked up basic sayings and questions, but Im still not nearly as good as i was 3 years ago.
Okay, im going to get a snack, Ill be back later.

LOVE YOU

im leaving for granda in one hour for the weekend, so i have half an hour catch you up on the last 5 days.
Sunday I did nothing. I was so tired, i slept and hung around the house.
Monday I got up really early and met Christina and Heather and we walked all the way up to the tram to go to the highest point in Barcelona. Up there is a really old church and it was really unbelieveable, it almost makes you want to be religious. So instead of taking the tram back down the mountain, we hiked down and it took us a little over an hour to get back to the metro. I have pictures and at first I didnt want to hike because I was getting tired, but at the end of the day im glad I did it. So we got off at the Jaume 1 stop and ate some PIZZA. it was the best pizza, probably because it was so filling. (hey dad, the food here isnt as good as you probably imagined. its different, but nothing to write home about) We then met up with Christinas friend Brie, her roomates Ashley, Charles and Eric. Our next adventure for the day was to take the metro down to the beach and take the air cable car so we could see the whole city. it was really quite amazing being that high into the air. It brought us to the other side of the city called Montjiac. We started walking and found ourselves again, climbing hundreds of stairs to the top where there was a castle. It is an old Spanish castle from a million years ago, and we had a blast goofing around. We decided that we were going to meet up for tapas later so we all went our seperate ways , i grabbed my roomate Ted and met around 9:30 at Plaça Catalunya. That metro stop is like the center, all the lines go out of there. we found a really cute place and I got sliced potatos with alioli, and heather got fried bri and we shared everything. i really loved that group of people.
Tue Ted, Eric and I went to the beach for the first time. I forgot how much I loved the beach, and believe me, its a lot different here then back home. Class was at 3 and my professor is AWESOME. shes this adorable spanish lady and i really enjoy her. She gave us a quick run down of the history of the city and how it related to the architecture that we will be learning about.After class, I went and ran errands with Charles and Eric and we again decided to meet at their apt and go out later. I grabbed Ted and we were at their house my 10:30. I really didnt know what they had planned for the night, so i just went with the flow. They said they were meeting people at Catalunya at 12 and something about dancing. We got to the place and met up with a bunch of people I know, including Rachel and Ali (who are heathers roomates and they rock) and some other people. We were the first ones there so some we talked a while, then we went into this other room with a sofa and a dance floor. the place was really small but very quickly it filled up and we DANCED THE NIGHT AWAY. That was definitly the best night Ive had so far. It was so familiar; American music, great people, and i got to dance, haha. Most of the people left early, but a couple went to other places when the club closed.
Was that last night? No, haha...all the days are running together. So yesterday was wednesday? ya, I woke up and Ted had a note on his door saying he was too tired to go to the beach, so I went back to bed and slept until 12. I had NO idea how tired I was, running around the city had once again caught up with me. It wasnt until Vibika came home that I finally went grocery shopping and made lunch. Class was at 3, but we werent meeting at the room, we were going on our first field trip, to Sadgrara Familia. Its this GIGANTIC church that Gaudi made that absolutly blew my mind. I took pictures but no one will ever understand it until they see it for themselves. After class I rested a little, then the whole group (like 35 of us went) went to a Flamenco Dance thing. It was this small stage with 4 guys singing and playing guitars (nothing like mexican music but the dancing was) first this beautiful spanish girl did her dance, then a guy came our and did his, this was def another one of my favorite things. I got chills watching them. So after that Ted and I decided to stay in because we were so tired, even tho the rest of the entire group went out.
I was so glad to hang out and even tho I went to bed kind of late, I still slept really well.
So that brings us to today. This morning, we went to the beach and it was so relaxing. We took another field trip to Park Guell (which I had already gone too) but it didnt matter, it was Gaudi and he is amazing. I can not believe that someone could dedicate his whole life to so many intricate buildings.
I cant even remember what Ive been doing since 5. Vibika and I came back to the house, made dinner and I packed for the weekend. We are taking the 9 oclock train to Granada and we wont get there til tomorrow morning. No one has any idea what to expect this weekend, but Im sure it will be an adventure.
Every day seems to get better and better, but I do have my worries about when the program ends. I know its only into the second week, but everyone is going to different countries after and I dont know what to do because I dont want to travel alone.
I will have to worry about that later (but Nana, if you want to, FEEL FREE TO COME AND SPEND 5 DAYS WITH ME IN SPAIN!!!)

alright, see you monday!
I LOVE YOU.

p.s. I hope Evan was happy to talk to me yesterday, but he sounded like he wasnt : (
i miss him

The last 2 days have been totally out of control. somehow heather and i have managed to completely pack our days to the max, with an average of 5 hours of sleep a night.
So let me catch you up a little.
after oriantation heather and i walked around La Rambla and tried to find a shirt (i brought like nothing with me) and we went into H &M and she found a shirt and we basically just walked around very relaxed way and chilled until we went back to her house. Her apt is in a busy place at night, so we wanted to check out the night life. We left her place around 12 and walked down the street to this bar that was muy preoccupado and for the drink we bought we got a free t shirt. we talked to some locals and met some spanish girls in the bathroom who were going to this club a couple streets away. we left with them and walked down to the place and they ended up meeting people they knew. i must have kissed a thousand cheeks that night (suzanne you were right) and we met this kid Rafeal, his brother and his friend Carlos. they invited us upstairs and at that point the place was getting packed. we went upstairs and was invited to their work party and they were really patient with my spainsh. i DEF learned a lot that night, and spoke frequently in spainsh. they spoke english, so it was a really good experiance. we left around 3 and I slept at heather apt and looking back, that was the most fun ive had since weve been here because we actually hung out with locals and not tourists or weirdos.
We got up at 10 the next morning, grabbed some food and left for Museu De Historia De la Cuitat (historical museum) it was AMAZING. it was the roman ruins of the city that was before Barcelona. The whole bottom floor was literally old stones and remains of their lives in 400 AD. nothing that old comes close to existing in the US and it was all so interesting. We grabbed some coffee and got the metro to our tour of Parc Guell, Gaudis old home that is now a park. I took TONS of pictures which i will hopefully post soon. I forgot to mention that beginning yesterday my body hates me. between walking the day before, going out in heels all night, and walking that day, i was really really tired, but the coffee helped.
So now that brings us to last night. One of my roomates and I went back to the flat to rest before going out, if i was even going out. it was like 7, and my body and mind were just completely dead. i tried sleeping, and that helped a little, but i was still too tired to do what the rest of my roomates were doing, going to a club. heather met me at my place at 9, and we decided to go to this cute tapas bar near port olympic. half way there, the red line closed down, so this pakistan guy, who spoke english, showed us to the Tram and he ended up accidentally getting on the wrong direction. so by the time we got to the other metro line it was like 11:45, it was ridiculous. we didnt go to the place we wanted to go because we were starving, so we went to a little diner type place and got some food and Cava (champagne) we met these guys and went to a Princess 23, a forign bar where most people were not native spaniards. We tried mojitos and LOVED them! its like a minty type drink.
Anyway, we stayed out really late (because thats the thing to do) and today i am just so tired. in the latst 5 days ive gotten like 20 hours of sleep, its time to relax.

Things here open really late and stay open really late. some of the bars dont open til11 and close at 4, so getting used to going out that late is a real change.
So here are some weird things that are happening, everyone here knows Bruce Springstein (which is horrible sorry), we speak choppy spanish but between me understanding the other people and heather speaking, we get along pretty well. twice yesterday we starting speaking ENGLISH in a spainish accent, it was so weird. all of a sudden we would pronounce a word like we were the spainsh ones who didnt know english, haha. we have adventures where ever we go, and we are constantly laughing.
i am def having a much better time then in the beginning of the trip, but ive realized that i am hardly eating anything (we dont even pay attentin because we are so busy) and i am really money concious, and im feeling really weird about it. we havent had a set schedule since we got here, and everything cost money. most of it goes to food : / i cant go to the market today because its sunday, so once again i will have to spend money on dinner. hopefully tomorrow i will get a bunch of groceries and eat a lot at home. we bought community groceries our second day, but its already almost gone.
since everyone is SO spread out its almost impossible to meet up with people. a lot of people bought cell phones, but in spain they are much more expensive then in the US. its SO inconvientent to not have one, frustrating at times. there are prepaid phones i was considering getting because it might create a problem, i mean weve only been here for 4 days and ive been with heather, but say i want to take a nap at the flat, theres no way of getting a hold of anyone later esp if they havent made plans 15 hours in advance.

to most people here, this is such a backwards strange place, but to me, its not that different. its very very similar to boston. ugh, i have so much to say but my hour is almost up on the computer.
there are so many details ive left out!!

we woke up so late today, like 12 and today i want to go to the beach, and relax a little, weve been running around the city like CRAZY. i havent had time to hardly breathe. i pretty much have no clue what today has in store for us, but hopefully i wont be spending it alone. i wish i had more time to talk about all the funny things weve seen and done.

¡Adios!

I LOVE YOU

So where did I leave off last night? I took a tour of the city, which was beautiful and amazing. Dont worry, I took pictures. It took us like 2 hours and we were all exausted by the time it was over. Heather, Cami and I went to Heathers apt to get ready to go out. We had to eat because we were starving, but it was only 8 so it was only snack time for us. Cami is extreamly homesick, and Heather reminded her to get a phone at El Corta de Ingles (a big department store) and I said that we didnt have time if we wanted to go the beach area. She HAD to go, so Heather and I went to her neighborhood and got some tapas and a coffee and met her at the store down in La Rambla. By then it was 10:15 and we didnt have time to go anywhere else because the metro stops at 12, and it was too expensive for a taxi. We were hungry and It was dinner time so we decided to stick around and find a cute bar or restaurant. Cami was still a mess and we didnt know what to say or do. We found a cute place and I ordered "stuffed" peppers and THIS AMAZING bread with tomato. thats what its called and its served everyone in spain. We ordered more sangria because they didnt serve just a bottle of corona and we had a good time. At first I almost didnt go with them because I would have to take the metro alone, but I grew some balls and we ended up parting ways so I could take the red line. Getting to my stop was fine, but OH BOY did I get lost. It took me 45 min and asking 2 people where my flat was. I got back around 12:30 and hung around with my roomates and some other girls. My apt is interesting...Its not nearly as nice as heathers but at least its familiar (lowell). one of the bathrooms has flooding showers and one of our couches is broken. One of my girl roomates is REALLY nice, but the other one I dont fit in with and I feel like she treats me different. The one MAJOR difference between me and EVERY SINGLE OTHER GIRL here is this: Prada, Gucci, Coach, those crazy black pants things, huge glasses, designer jeans, polo shirts. Im very open to everyone and very friendly, but its hard because I just feel like I dont fit in. Esp with that one roommate who goes to Cornell. they're typical girls and I am not.

Anyway, So we just had oriantation and they explained SOME things, and we just got a little presentation on renting cell phones, and it was outragous. but none of us have cell phone and its literally IMPOSSIBLE to comunicate with the other people in our group. this whole thing is madness and feels unorganized.

Heather, Cami and I sat with different people because I want to meet other people. Camis getting on everyones nerves because shes a wreck and all she talks about is how miserable she is, it really brings me down. I dont know what to say because I am not really homesick or hate my roommates. Hopefully I will find more people to clique with so Im not with Heather all the time (she might think Im clingy) but there are only a few of us with the intentions of things other then getting trashed everynight (like museums and tours and the culture)
Im at the computers on campus and Heather and I are going shoppping later because I did NOT bring enough t-shirts...thats what I get for not checking my bags.

I think thats about it and people are getting closer and I dont want them to eaves drop on my LJ, so
LOVE YOU

wow, so I have 17 min to update
basically last night i met some really nice people. heather and I have been spending a lot of time together which is nice. last night the whole group went to a restaurant and guess what I ate? SHRIMP! It was with our paellas which was only okay. I had some really amazing apple chicken (which doesnt taste like apple at all, more like indian food?) then about 20 of us walked down La Rambla, which is like 3Rd Street in CA or a Bostonish kind of strip with shops and restaurants and things. Heather was leading the way and we got to this bar that reminded me of an english pub, but i guess was supposed to be australianish? at our table was 7 of us, and we ordered 2 pitchers of Sangria (like a sweet wine type of drink) we left and the group was deciding what to do, but a few of us wanted to go back to the hotel area to see what was there. I tried to rush people to get the metro, but we were too late and had to take a taxi. Heather, Cami and I were tired and made plans for the morning, so we went to bed around 1.
Today we ate breakfast, which was wicked awesome, so many cool foods, and the 3 of us planned the museums and activities that we wanted to do. At 12 I met the rest of my roommates and we took a taxi to our apt. THIS is when things started to get REALLY interesting, haha. The 5 of us walk up with our CEA person, and she cant open the door. the keys are shaped old fashion like and there were 2 locks and it was insanity. we had to get the concierge to open it and it was nuts. We got our room assignments and mine is the smallest room, but i dont care because i hardly brought anything with me. All of my roomates are nice, some I clicked with better then others, like Ted and Vibeka, hopefully they feel the same.
When the Cea lady left we decided to all try our keys because she has such trouble getting in. It was a DISASTER. 3 of us were outside and 2 on the inside trying to get in. we ended up locking the inside people IN, so we had to go back downstairs to get the guy (who didnt speak english) and I was trying to explain and everyone else ended up talking to him because I dont know any spanish. 20 min later we FINALLY can work our keys but it still takes us a while. the keys are weird, and you only use the bottom lock, and you have to turn it like 3 times so the dead lock doesnt lock, it was nuts.
So we drop our bags and decide to go to the market to get food and things. It was so scattered, we were all ridiculous. of course i wanted us to be orderly and think togehter as a group, but everyone was just wandering around getting stuff. Ted and I started to think together, getting sandwich meat since neither of us have a ton of money. Ive noticed that most of the people that came to study abroad have relatively wealthy parents, so what they buy doesnt matter as much. Ted and I both have class at 3, so we got meat because we´ll be eating at the apt, and not out every day. 60 dollars later we lug it all up to the apt and decide to jst hang out.

Okay, I gotta run and hopefully Ill get to write tomorrow. Oriantation is at 930! thank god the metro is easy to use.

I LOVE YOU

Right now Im at an internet cafe, so I have 30 min to tell everything since 9 last night.
The first flight was good, slept a little and got to Heathrow in one peice. In the line for the second flight, I met the most adorable couple ever. A man that was in line behind me said that he was going to Barcelona also, and he introduced me to his wife, Ruth and himself as Charlie. All three of us had a 3 hour layover, so we ended up just hanging around the airport. They are from the US but live right on the ocean here in Barcelona. I was so glad to have met them. The second flight I met a girl who was visiting for 10 days here in Spain. It wasnt until 20 min before we landed that we both realized that we were finally here.
The couple gave me their card with their address and their number and I am going to call them when I get down to the beach.
I got picked up at BCN airport and met Laura and Hope. Laura is my roomate in the hotel tonight.
We grabbed a taxi to the hotel and got to know eachother a little, but after a while, we all just looked out the window trying to take everything in. Its unreal.
At first it looks just like a combination of other places Ive been. Palm trees like Cali, buildings like NY...but it soon sunk in that I was far from either of those places. The only thing I recognised the whole taxi ride was Pizza Hut.
We got to the hotel about an hour ago, and we met Margo who had arrived earlier. Laura went to go call her mom, so the 3 of us now are at this little place that looks like a mini computer lab, right on the street. The women had a hard time trying to explain to Laura how the phone card works, it makes me really wish I knew spanish better.
17 more min...my mind is racing and I cant even go into detail about the rest. Im not even tired, which is amazing. Margo´s been here for 2 weeks so shes not tired, and Laura went back to the room to take a nap. I cant wait to meet the rest of the group, im so nervous. I feel like I dont fit in with these girls that well...but I dunno.
Oh! I had the smallest bag out of all the girls. They were like ¿How on earth did you fit everything in?
I have no idea what we´re going to do between now and 8:30. It only cost 60 cents to be online for 30 min, and this crazy computer is weirding me out because none of the keys are in the right place. I dont know when the next time Ill be able to use a computer but I wanted to let everyone know that I love them and miss them!!!

Im relly glad that everything went pretty smoothly, except I almost couldnt bring my bag on carry on because it was 24 pounds. it is supposed to be 13 but she let me go anyway.
other then that I still dont feel like this is real and everything is moving too fast, It feels like I dont have control over anything.

Adios!
I LOVE YOU