Paris and London!

February 18-20 I went to Paris to meet up with my dad who was there on a business trip. We saw all the normal touristy things like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. It was really nice to see and spend time with him. He also spent a lot of time teaching me photography techniques and how to use my new camera. The highlight of the trip was definitely the 9 chocolate croissants and 3 nutella crepes that I ate in 3 days...yummy! The weekend after that we had a four day weekend but since I was running low on money I decided to go hang out with my family friends in Madrid for some peace and quiet. I didn't do much except for eat and relax but it was nice to be able to get a good night sleep for once without any kids screaming and crying in the background.

The next weekend I went to London to see my friend Alix Kraft who is studying there for a semester. I couldn't stop grinning when I first heard every one speaking with their British accents. Finally a language I could understand!! The London nightlife is also very different from Spain. The night starts around 8 or 9 p.m and ends around 1 or 2 a.m. In Spain the night doesn't start until 11 or 12 and people don't come home until 5 a.m! My 33 year old host uncle usually stays out until 7:30 a.m on the weekends. Next weekend my program is taking us to Morocco! This is going to be an exhausting next couple of months!

Granada

"Umm guys the door won't un-lock!?" Gail said laughing nervously. After each one of us tried to unlock the door we found out that yes we were definitely locked in our room. Ten minutes later after yelling out the window for help, the same annoyed hostel manager who had to help us the night before when our power went out came up to let us out. "Yeah guess you guys won't be able to lock your room while your in there" Oooo the joys of hostels....

This was how our first full day in Granada started, foreshadowing how the rest of the trip would go. First we went to see the Alhambra ( A palace constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moors) since that was the thing "we had to see" while in Granada. After the visit to the Alhambra we had the afternoon free to walk around and explore. This is when the third incident happened. While in a shoe store one of my friends got her wallet stolen right out of her purse. After all that drama we decided to make our way back to our hostel where the 4th incident occured. We stopped at this little shop really close to the hostel, and we were all looking at these tapestries. The man who owned the shop was really friendly and spoke a lot of English. After a couple of us had made some purchases the man comes out of the shop and says "Me Has Robado!" (I have been robbed). I understood what he was saying right away but no one else did so I figured maybe I heard him wrong, after all we had just bought a bunch of stuff from him. He pulled out his phone and threatened to call the police. We all looked at each other the confused. He then pointed to a display of earrings (none where missing) saying that he knew we had all robbed him. We didn't, we protested offering to empty our purses, pockets and bags. No he shook his head saying he was going to give us one last chance to give him back his stuff or he was calling the police. So he called the police while we stood around in shock, not sure what to do. After calling (or pretending to call) the police he told us to get out of his shop and to never come back and that we were a disgrace to our country. After escaping from our almost run in with the law we decided to shower and take the beloved siesta. I somehow fell asleep even though my mattress was in the middle of the central walk way between our two rooms...and my pillow was a misshapen piece of foam (actually the most comfortable pillow I have ever had) and woke up in the middle of somebody talking about how their dad had a gun to their head...but thats another story. That night we ended up going to a discoteca that was inside a series of caves up on a mountain, which had a lovely view of the Alhambra all lit up at night. If only I had brought my camera. The rest of the trip went smoothly except for when Noelle and I noticed that we had bought our bus tickets back for 3 a.m not 3 p.m. Whooops.

Barcelona

On the beach in Barcelona!

Inside the Sagrada Family

Step 1: Pack as lightly as possible. Step 2: Figure out how to get to the airport. Step 3: Figure out how to get to the hostel. Step 1 was pretty easy for me from all the traveling I have done with my dad. Malawi also taught me how little you need when my suitcase got lost, and I had to wear the same shirt for week. Getting to the airport proved to be a little more difficult. We arrived a hour early to the bus stop where the airport bus was supposibly suppose to stop. One passed, but it went right on by us. After watching the people around us we realized that we were suppose to wave them down, but at this point it was too late and and the next airport bus wasn't for another hour. So after waiting an hour and a half we had to take a taxi. We arrived in Barcelona a little before midnight, thankfully Noelle knew how to get us to the Hostel. The hostel was actually really nice; 12 stories high with CLEAN sheets (you never know with hostels) and a nice common room for everyone to hang out it. We hadn't booked together so we got split up. Luckily Jenessa and I where in the same room with 6 other girls from Hungry. They had taken over the room before we got there and their stuff was everywhere. It was very interesting talking to them though, meeting different people is one of my favorite pars about staying in hostels. Friday we visited La Sagrada family a temple designed by Gaudi and was started in 1882 and still in the process of being completed. I have gotten a little tired of visiting building after building but this was one was by far the coolest I have seen so far. The inside took my breath away, and I could have stood in the middle staring up at the ceilings and stained glass for hours. After this we decided to make our way to the beach along Las Rambalas (It is the central most Boulevard which cuts through the heart of the city centre which ends at a port.) We ended up getting very distracted by the shops and food and didn't make it to the port until sunset. After the sunset we decided to make our way home. An hour later we limped into the hostel thankful to sit down. My feet have never hurt so bad in my life! That night our hostel took us out clubbing for pretty cheap so we decided to tag along. I met a kid who went to Annandale High School! It's such a small world! Then Lauren got her blackberry and a diamond necklace stolen hence having to spend the next morning in the police station. Because of this little incident we didn't get as early of a start on our day as we wanted but we still ended up going everywhere we had planned. First we went to Parque Guell, also designed by Gaudi! It has a long winding bench covered in mosaics. We then met up with a really good family friend of my cousin from Venezuela that now lives in Barcelona. His name was Alexander and at one point he had lived with my grandmother in. It was so strange meeting this random guy in Barcelona who knew my entire family in Venezuela. He took us to a magic fountain show and the place where the 2000 Olympics where held. That night despite how exhausted we were we decided to give Barcelona every last bit of energy we had. We went clubbing and then at 5 in the morning we ran back to our hostel to change quickly and grab our bags and then headed to the airport. I have never been so exhausted in my life. I can't sleep on planes very well but I was out before the plane even took off. I'm not quite sure how I made it home with all my stuff. I have never been more thankful to climb into my bed in Sevilla where I passed out for 9 hours straight.

New Years Day!

Here I shall record the stories of my travels and adventures around Spain and Europe for all those who are interested. I wasn't planning on making a blog but I was finally persuaded into it...so I'm a little behind. Well I guess I should start from the beginning. January 1st 2011; What a better way to start the new year then on a plane to Spain! Four weeks ago (wow I can't believe I have been here that long!) I said goodbye to all my friends, hugged my parents goodbye and swallowed all my fears as walked off alone toward the security checkpoint at the airport. I'm not gonna lie I was scared shitless and wide awake despite the fact I hadn't slept the night before. After an eight hour plane ride (where once again I didn't sleep) I arrived in Madrid at 7:00 a.m January 2. I had now been awake for over 40 hours. The family friends that I would be staying with for the next week picked me up from the airport. After an awkward car ride where I attempted to speak in Spanish, I took an amazing 9 hour nap and woke up around 5 p.m extremely confused about what day it was. Nothing to exciting happened this week. I was stuck helping shop for presents for el Dia de Reyes (three kings day). On January 6th the three kings leave presents by your shoes. Their entire family came over to celebrate. It was a little awkward being the random American girl there. Whenever people would speak to me in Spanish the grandma would yell "Ella no entiende, ella no habla espanol!".

The next morning was my flight to SEVLLA; my home for the next 5 months! For the first two nights I stayed at a hotel with all of the other Americans in my program. I had two roommates, one of which I became really good friends with. Her name is Jenessa (she looks like Taylor Swift! ). On Sunday our families came to pick us up. I'm living with a single mom with a 2 year old boy named Antonio and a 6 year old girl named Lola. I was so excited about my family having kids...now I'm not so sure. Ha I actually love my family except for the fact that for the first two weeks the 2 year old HATED ME. But after being kicked, hit, called stupid and ugly I finally had a break through the other day. Antonio grabbed my hand and asked me to play with him and I was in such shock that despite the fact that I only had 30 mins to get ready for class I did, (I ended up going to class with my pjs still on) and then he gave me a hug when I got back! Phew it was a rough two weeks living in such small quarters with a kid that hated me, glad thats over with... for the most part. O and guess what my "mom's" job is here!? She hosts sex toy parties.