March Rocks!

So I haven´t been up to much lately besides getting excited for back to back weekend trips and the girls visiting me over Easter weekend. My friend Mal is having her brother, his two friends, and her best friend Julie visiting this week and honestly it´s been amazing. We haven´t really hung out with that many guys because 1. They´re really creepy Spanish men 2. The American guys here are basically the cockiest sons of guns I´ve ever encountered....the east coast stereotype if you will. But, we went out ot eat and I had the best paella I´ve had since in Spain, and then went to Hook again (seriously love Pirate bars) and Sports Bar...not A sports bar but that´s the name of the place and had a great time because all the Americans were at the tourist Spanish places so we hung out with British people the whole night. Saturday, I went with Lorel, her sister and her friend visiting to Tarragona which is about an hour south of Barcelona by train where there are a lot of Roman Ruins. It was nice, but you had to pay 3 euro to get into every ruin, so we opted to look from a far.

This weekend I´m going to an IES sponsored trip to Costa Brava with Linda and Nicolette which should be amazing. We´re going to the Salvador Dali Museum, Girona, and other costal places, hopefully the weather will be warm enough to lay out. Then the next weekend I´m going to London to visit Lauren and Maddy (eee!) and then they´re coming to visit me easter weekend along with Lindsey and her friend! Phi Mu in Barca! Then 3 weeks til I come home. I´m both disappointed and excited to head home. I´ve made lists to pro-con why. (you can stop reading here I´m just killing time)

What I´ll miss: public transportation, cafe con leches, beautiful architecture on the walk to class, the awesome people I´ve met, the cool gimmick bars successfully attracting tourists, tapas, cheap good wine, cooking on a gas stove, traveling, easy classes, olive oil in everything, living next to a grocery store, seeing the crazy people, the beach, the random protests, my RA Anna, my awesome suitemate Linda, speaking another language, how change is actual functional money, no real busy work

What I will not miss: almost getting hit by drivers all the time, getting my butt grabbed in public and the creep guapa whisper cat call, smelling like cigarette smoke all the time, not having a dryer, not being understood all the time, getting lost, pick pocketers, taxis ripping you off, the exchange rate, the majority of the people on my program, 9 am classes every morning, how everything is super late, not being able to see people I care about for extended amounts of time.

When I get home I´m looking forward to seeing everyone, Obama speaking at Notre Dame, new car. But not applying for a jobs, law school, studying for the LSAT. boo.

K sorry for the long post. bye!

I love Barcelona!

So our fight is over. I had a fabulous week/weekend in Barcelona. This week I decided to be independent and walked around Barcelona and take pictures. I took them in black and white because I wanted to see if they would still capture the city. It was also a muggy day outside lol. It was really enjoyable to walk around by myself and just appreciate how lucky I am (sorry to brag). 

Friday, Elizabeth, Missy, Nicolette and I hiked up Mt. Tibidabo. This large mountain with an amusement park and church on top. You can see the church in a distance all around the city so we hiked for maybe 3 hours? I'm pretty out of shape. But, the hike was completely worth it, we got there at exactly sunset and could see the entire city. We picked the nicest day as well. Pictures can't describe how amazing it was. After, Nicolette, Mal, Missy, Elizabeth and I ventured around my neighborhood to a bar and a club. It was fun, but american-infested. I completely know why spaniards hate us. The majority of them were loud, rude, inconsiderate, and don't make any effort to relate to Spanish culture. Whatever, I still had fun.

Saturday, Nicolette and I were going to hike up another mountain, Montserrat, but we were sore so we joined Mal and Jess to Sitges (the scene of my robbery) for a day on the beach b/c it was glorious weather. I got to wear shorts! The sand castles were amazing. There was one that had a sand fireplace with an actual fire going! I got a little color, ate our packed lunches, creeped on Spanish families and then headed home for a relaxing evening.

Today I looked for what I'm doing during Spring Break and I found a cheap flight to London! So I'm coming to visit you Maddy and Lauren! yay!

Until next time,

Muchos Besos

Navarre

This past weekend we had a mandatory "study trip" to the Basque Country, named Navarre. It was surprisingly a really good time. It didn't start off well however because directly behind Linda and I at 8:00 in the morning....there was this girl who is to be referred to as "drunk girl" for the remainder of the weekend by everyone on our bus because of her drunk yelling at 8 in the morning. But, moving on. After our 6-7 hour bus ride (I don't remember, I was asleep) we stopped in Olite where it was snowing, cold, raining, and high velocity winds. The castle was still pretty and I met some cool people, 2 of which were from TEXAS! We bonded because everyone on our trip was complaining about everything. But, we got to our Hotel....it was called Hotel ABBA! HOW EXCITING! I stole a lot of amenities. 

Day 2: We went to a winery and got some wine out of a vending machine. It was delicious! We then explored a monastery, a church, and a castle. It was good times. Later, me and some of the girls had a heart to heart in our hotel room.

Day 3: We explored Pamplona, where our hotel was, and saw the route the bulls run during Running of the Bulls and the bull fighting arena. If you don't know what happens to the bulls after they run...don't read on. THEY KILL THE BULLS! what? Why? It's pretty terrible. So, then we got on the bus watched Penelope Cruz's first movie...strange Jamon Jamon. and TITANTIC. I haven't seen the whole movie in such a long time. I cried a little. 

But, I took my last of my midterms today and then made dinner and started doing some work about Law School, LSAT, and what I'm doing this summer. 

Maddy and Lauren are visiting in two weeks!!!! I'm so excited!