closing time

well, it's here. the time i have dreaded. it's finally hitting me. all my bags are packed and i'm uploading the last of my madrid photos to my computer. i cannot fathom that i'm waking up at 6am and leaving madrid. up until this point there has been a little bit of excitement about going home but in this moment i actually don't feel any. the worst part is i'm not even crying, i'm just literally the saddest. not even a final purchase at zara could make me smile.

last night could not have been more of a successful last hurrah. the girls decorated their apartment like christmas, got a gin bucket together, and everyone that i could have wanted to be there was there. we went to pacha and danced the night away together. twas fabulous. i think the people on this program are a big part of what made this semester so fun and memorable. we have our own lil fambam. saying bye to people tonight is where the tears are gonna start flowing. we had a final lunch today with our entire program and the IES faculty. that's when it sunk in that i'm not gonna see these people ever again. these people that have had a pretty large impact on my life for the past 4 months. sharing an experience like this together created such interesting friendships. we'll always have madrid.

this blog has definitely served its purpose. and i'm proud of myself for sticking with it. i know years from now i'll love the fact that i can read it and reminisce. i might even keep writing it back home, just because organizing my thoughts and writing them here really is nice. and because when people read it i feel popular. obvi. 

i feel like i should be writing more but i really can't even express the million things running through my head right now. deciding to spend my fall semester here was one of the best decisions i have ever made. the highs were so high, and the lows were devastatingly low, but i can honestly say that i'm leaving here with no regrets. there's nothing i would go back and change. everything that has happened this semester has happened for a reason, even though i might never know what those reasons are.  i've learned so much about myself. i've traveled throughout europe. i've formed wonderful friendships. and i've appreciated it all.


it's been real, madrid. thanks for giving me the time of my life.

sunset from the best rooftop in madrid

48 hours

i don't think i have ever been this emotionally unstable in my life. i change my mind literally every hour about coming home. i'm not sure if it makes any sense, but i am excited to go home, without wanting to leave. i know being home for the holidays and going back to school to reunite with my friends is going to be so nice. i am looking forward to iced coffees, being able to choose when and what i can eat for lunch, driving a car, and even doing school work in english. i want to decorate my christmas tree, go to my favorite cafe, and get drunk with my best friends.  but i always forget that things at home aren't the same as when i left. while i've been living in this dream world everyone else has carried on with their normal lives. i'm sure they've grown and changed just like i have. i'm a little afraid to have to adjust in a setting where i'm normally so comfortable.

also, leaving here is unlike leaving anywhere i've ever been. i've never really lived somewhere and had to leave knowing that i'm not coming back. at least not for a long time. this experience has been in my head since freshman year of college and now i'm about to be done with it. how is that possible?

today i walked around and tried to take everything in. i snapped pics left and right and enjoyed every minute of it. also, we had our last lunch with marisol and eduardo. they really are the most loving and genuine people. my relationship with them feels unlike any other adult relationship i've had. it's nothing like a relationship with parents, grandparents, or friends. i don't know what it's like but i know i'm going to miss it and be forever grateful for it. i love madrid. i cannot be more happy with my experience here. sometimes me and kim try to think of how we're gonna respond when people ask us "OMG how was spain?!" and i still don't even know how i'm going to begin to answer that question. words can't describe it.

on a less depressing and sentimental note, i gotta make my hair get dry before we rageragerage on our last night to do it big in spain. wish me luck.

procrastination

so i'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that i'm gonna be leaving in four days. i only have one more exam left and i really am not the least bit motivated. so instead i will sit here and stare at my suitcase that i'm gonna start filling. as excited as i am to use my iphone, see my amazing friends from home, and lay down on a couch with my feet up (yep, haven't done that in almost 4 months), i don't think i'm completely ready to leave.  it's a bummer because i feel like just as i'm getting totally settled into my routine here, it's over.

random things that i'll miss most:

• the hustle and bustle of the city. i can now definitely say that being surrounded by people and always having somewhere new to go is the kind of place i can see myself while i most likely most definitely continue to be perpetually single after college.  
• the friends i have made on this program. lucky for me two of my closest new friends go to school at f&m, only about an hour from nova. but i really did get lucky with the people i got to know this semester and i know i wouldn't have had such a positive experience without them. 
• the food. i know everyone raves about italian and greek food, but i'm telling you spain is where it's at. the fact that i won't see pig legs hanging from storefront windows and consuming croquettas on a daily basis is going to take some getting used to. 
• the freedom i have to travel. the fact that i have visited four countries other than spain this semester is crazy to think about. and it has turned me into a total travel junkie. i have added so many places onto my bucket list and appreciate the importance of travel so much more after this semester. 
• the random street performers. yes, sometimes they drive me insane or freak me out, but at other times a cute old couple playing the accordion and singing warms my heart. 
• the night life. obviously. madrid is one of the only places in the world where it is entirely socially acceptable to stay out until people start going to work at 6am. where am i supposed to go out in america? a bar? with only one floor? and no live dj? discotecas should migrate over to the USA.
• marisol and eduardo. doing a homestay was risky. it could have made or broken my experience here. i definitely lucked out by getting put with marisol and eduardo. they are the sweetest couple in all of spain and they really do treat me like one of their own. i need to make a conscious effort to try and keep in touch with them after i leave. 

sorry if this is sappy or whatever, but sins i want to live abroad forever. and by forever, i mean starting after villanova starts to get old around mid february and ending before christmas again next year. time to pack.  

final countdown

i just turned in one of my spanish final papers and took my second exam of the week. two down, two to go. this is a form of procrastination for me, along with watching youtube videos of my acapella group 24/7. i'm waiting for eduardo to get home from fixing the elevator (yes i just walked up six flights of stairs) so that we can have one of our last lunches all together. depression.

i can't believe this past weekend in madrid was my last. after my disaster of a friday night, i overcame my hangover and made it out to a super crowded bar to watch el clasico. i'd rather not discuss the fact that barcelona won, it wasn't a highlight of the night. however, i'm so glad that i got to experience what such a big game is like! i can get competitive pretty easily so even though i don't know the names of more than two real madrid players, the fact that i've lived here for almost 4 months basically makes me a lifelong fan. sunday morning i woke up early to go to my last rastro ever. got myself some nice spanish decorations for my room next semester. then i unfortunately had to finish my 7 page spanish film paper and study for the exam i had today. only one short paper and two finals stand in between me and libertad. once wednesday gets here i'm probably going to have more than one mental breakdown about packing, leaving, and trying to get everything in before 10:45 saturday morning.

not thinking about it until then. ttfn.

iamsterdam

i have unfortunately been bedridden all day due to my first and hopefully last paralyzing hangover of the semester. it was bound to happen eventually, but it's far less of an annoyance when the night that caused your head to be throbbing and stomach to be turning was of epic proportions. of course, because my life is a broma, the pregame was as far as i got. #winning. i'm hoping tonight will make up for it though cause its the real madrid vs barcelona futbol game and its going to be insane. its the perfect distraction from my seven page paper that i've barely started. never have i ever been less stressed about finals. something about this countdown (seven days) makes me realize how unimportant my grades are in the grand scheme of things.

amsterdam stories:

we flew on an actual airline into amsterdam after a day of classes on monday and it was amazing. my chair reclined, i had legroom, and i even got food! dream. we arrived at our hostel which was more or less an irish bar that had a few bedrooms upstairs. we were located right in the red light district, which was an experience to say the least. prostitution is legal there and although there weren't any on our street, there were a ton throughout the entire district. they literally stand in storefront looking windows in their lingerie and men can just walk up to them all night long. a lot of times the windows were connected by a door and a couple o prosties would just be casually chattin while they wait for their client. it was very strange to be around. i probably would have felt a lot more uncomfortable if i was sober or something. moving on...after crashing monday night we woke up and ate a yummy breakfast in our bar and went off to find the house where anne frank lived while her family was in hiding. it took us a while and there were casual sporadic hail storms but we finally made it. this house turned museum was one of my favorite places i've been all semester. nazi germany is so interesting for me and this museum was so well done. anne franks story is humbling, devastating, and inspiring all at the same time. i obviously bought her diary at the bookshop and i plan on reading it during my trek home next week. we wandered to a pancake house for lunch to get some traditional dutch food and went to go on a canal tour. after floating down the many many canals that make amsterdam one of the most unique cities i've seen in europe, we went to check out some coffee shops. how could i blog about amsterdam without mentioning drugs? coffee shops are places all over the city where you can get food, drinks, and pre-rolled joints. they all have different atmospheres and crowds of people. on our first night there we hopped from shop to shop for like 4 hours. it didn't feel like real life.

the next day we decided to rent bikes like every other human that has ever been to amsterdam. i literally saw more parked bikes than cars over the course of the weekend. i have to admit that i'm not the most coordinated on a bike and cars/people make me nervous while riding. amsterdam didn't cater to me whatsoever. there were a handful of times where i thought a bus was going to kill me, i got separated from the entire group, and i walked my bike halfway home. however, i think it was worth it. when i wasn't being a spaz, it was a beautiful ride. we rode to the van gogh museum and to take pics at the iamsterdam sign. i never realized how much i really like van gogh's style. so. many. colors. we found a magical bagel shop for lunch before returning our bikes. i'm worried this bagel separation i've been having might result in bagel overdose when i get back to america. once it got dark, which is at like 4:45 in the netherlands, we went to the heineken factory! shannon's dad werked his connections and got us in for free. holllllla. this tour was super fun and it included two beers. also, since we're pretty or something, lenart the bartender gave us a few free ones. i still don't totally understand how water, yeast, barley, and hops can make me blackout, but some things must remain a mystery. after dropping some stuff off at the barhostel we took to the streets again to coffee shop hop. just like in belgium, amsterdam provided such a chill atmosphere. everyone was laid back, spoke english, and promoted drug use. i knew i wanted to experience amsterdam from the minute i decided to study abroad and it lived up to every expectation. i couldn't think of a better place to end my travels.

strolling over canals

coffee shop life

welcome to the red light district

iamsterdam

brewin some beer

hai

a little late...

so i haven't exactly gotten around to blogging about my amazing trip to brussels until now. my bad for making two trips to and from the netherlands in one week. poor planning of course. also, i have a spanish final that i missed the final review of and have not even began to start studying. clearly, this semester abroad has really made me a more responsible student. anyway, i finally have the time and brain power to give the dirty deets on my trip to belgium. (amsterdam post to come.)

the flight to belgium was the last ryanair (aka cheapest but worst airline company ever) flight of the semester thank god because i'm getting sick and tired of packing three days worth of trendy clothes into a backpack and sitting in seats that don't recline. also, i realized after taking the bus, then metro, then walking 15 mins to our hostel that i'm really looking forward to getting off a plane, and having someone there in a car to drive me home. the public transportation and walking in the rain was worth it though, cause our hostel slash bed and breakfast was better than i could have imagined. it was an actual cozy home, complete with a dog. Karel was the man who owned the house and he lives there with his nugget sixteen year old euro child. he was actually the sweetest little man and very helpful throughout the weekend. me and kim got put in the old master bedroom of the house. it had the most comfortable bed i've slept on in months. with an actual down comforter. imagine that. however, there was an aussie couple as our roomates, traveling the world romantically together for 9 months. nauseatingly living my dream life. they were nice...until they started cuddling and me and kim had to use facebook chat to communicate across the room and avoid awkwardness. 

early the next morning, we set out to see the city. we totally lucked out with weather and managed to get around being stuck in the rain. we walked all over and found the royal palace, grand palace, and most importantly, the famous statue of a little kid peeing. no joke. its the size of a toddler. oh, and it gets dressed up for special occasions. 

after eating our first of many amazing one euro waffles of the trip, we wandered to find the christmas markets! the entire city was decorated with lights and trees and even a live animal nativity scene. we picked the right time of year to visit. we finally spotted the giant ferris wheel and walked up and down the blocks of booths. most of them were food and alcohol, but of course i managed to purchase three new pieces of jewelry. oh, and we stopped for lunch at a burger place, being true americans. they were surprisingly the bomb.com. after going back to the bed and breakfast to shower and lay down for a bit, we went back to the plaza with the grand palace to see a christmas light show. choreographed to music from the nutcracker obvi. it was actually one of the only and best light shows i've sat through. then we started drinking glasses of hot, spiced, red wine (a drink that i will be making many a time next semester.) we managed to meet up with some of kim's friends i had met in barcelona and we went to a bar called delirium, known in brussels for having 2000 beers on tap. YUP. 2000. i drank some dark beers, tryin to be adventurous. and a mysterious spanish man, who spoke french and english, told me i was guapa with good smelling hair and bought me a strawberry beer. i was beyond satisfied. belgian beer is a lil stronger than i thought. nothing like natty. 

the next morning we slept off our slight hangovers and actually went on a spontaneous day trip to brugge, a small town about an hour away from brussels by train. this was probably the best decision we made all weekend. this town was the definition of quaint. actually adorable. all the streets are cobblestone and complete with chocolate shops on every corner. there is a canal that runs through the whole thing, inhabited by a million swans and ducks. we only planned on being in brugge for a few hours, and we ended up staying the entire day. we didn't have a map and just wandered until it got dark and we found more christmas markets! we treated ourselves to an actual sit down dinner for the first time all weekend and then headed back to brussels for our last night. this trip was just the relaxing vacation from a vacation that i needed. of course, less than 24 hours after returning to madrid, i headed back up to the netherlands to spend my last free days in amsterdam. but that's a story for next time. i need to start studying for the first of my exams tomorrow. hooray. 

rofl's for waffles

ferris wheel selfie

light show!

beautiful brugge.

gingerbread lookin houses. 

25 days of christmas

happy december 1st! i had to buy my last monthly pass for the metro today...not gonna lie it was a strange feeling. 25 days of christmas starts now and i'm kicking it off buy hoppin on over to belgium for the weekend. i'm sitting in my school's cafeteria writing this cause i got here aggressively early, and i'm one class away from a winter wonderland. bad news is: it supposed to rain all weekend. OF COURSE. but i'm not gonna let it ruin mah trip. also, i may or may not be staying in a hostel that is a little old man's house complete with a tiny dog. Karel (the belgian man who owns the house/hostel) has already sent me a few emails about my stay and i am very anxious to see what this weekend has in store. i predict eating my body weight in waffles and spending too many euros on mini santas. welp, off to one of my last days of grammar class.

lazy girl problems

i am officially done being ms tour guide for my family and now i think it's socially acceptable to spend all afternoon watching laguna beach online. can't stop, won't stop. this week with the fambam was actually really great. i showed them all the typical madrid touristy things: museums, parques, templo de debod, and a royal palace. i also managed to introduce them to a wide variety of spanish foods. it was so nice to be able to eat out at restaurants cause i'm usually too cheap to buy anything but tapas. i even survived a lunch with marisol and eduardo where me and kim were translators the entire time. it was surprisingly less painful than i had anticipated.

while it was great having my family here, it was still so weird for me to be away from home on thanksgiving! i am so grateful that my immediate family was able to be with me, but i still missed everyone getting together at grandma's house and watching football. and of course all the food. (i'm trying to convince my mother to cook all thanksgiving food for christmas. i'll let you know how it goes.) however, after eating a dinner that did not include potatoes, turkey, or pumpkin pie, my family and i headed to an irish bar in the center of madrid. why? because they were broadcasting american football obvi. this place was packed with american college students and even a few of my friends showed up. it was the perfect taste of america that i needed. even though the niners lost. plus, who doesn't love an opportunity to get shmammered with their parents? it was sad to see them leave yesterday morning, but not really because i'll be on a flight home in just less than 3 weeks.

while i was running all over madrid showing my family around, i got a chance to remind myself why i chose here to study. i got a chance to appreciate things here like i did for my first few weeks. i feel like sometimes madrid feels like such a home base that i forget all the cool stuff it has to offer.  highlight of this week: all the christmas lights are finally up! madrid is even complete with an oversized tree in the middle of sol.

other things:

• i got my nose pierced! sins mom and dad. 
• i got a caricature of myself in plaza mayor and i now have self esteem issues. 
• i kissed a boy wearing a giants hat. can check that off my abroad to-do list. 
• i posed for 395876 christmas card pictures. i hope one turned out okay. 
• t minus four days till i'm off to brussels. 
• i'm terrified of how fast these next few weeks is going to pass. 
• the holiday season has begun and i'm thinking about anthony more than ever. praying to ya every night and missing ya everyday. so extremely thankful to have had you in my life. 

christmas time is here!

happy thanksgiving from dubliners

eduardo's american gift from my family was a snuggie.

lookin good. 

reunited and it feels so good

so i would start off by telling you about my day trip on friday to chinchon, but that would require me to remember anything other than the fact that i woke up an hour late, still drunk, ran to my bus, made a fool of myself to everyone on my program, was hungover all day, and then ate a huge lunch in a cave. cool life? this weekend we balled out because it was our last weekend all together before finals. welp, that's the saddest sentence i've typed all day. i wish i could say i did more than go out all night, sleep in late, watch tv online, rally, and then go out all night again...actually i don't wish i could say that. this weekend was a great time. but the best part of it was surprisingly not my fleeting romance with my dream spanish husband alberto, but last night when my family arrived in madrid! believe it or not, i miss the poop out of my crazy family, especially with thanksgiving coming up. i'd be lying if i said i wasn't jealous of the fact that all my friends are at home, driving down 280, smoking their medicinal marijuana, drinking in garages, making smores, and catching up. but then i remember that that will be me in 26 short days. and then i remember how much i'm gonna miss this semester. and then i cry inside. jk. but seriously.

today i skipped my last class of the day to meet up with the rents and lil broski and we went to the royal palace of madrid. i can't believe it was my first time there all semester! this place was almost as big as the palace of versailles and had a crazy armory room as well. i'm sort of a palace brat at this point so it was refreshing to have my family there, with their jaws dropped, to remind me of how incredible it really was. just because i've seen three enormous palaces in the past 10 days doesn't make them ordinary. after that we went to plaza mayor and ordered some traditional spanish food. and by we ordered i mean i ordered. did i mention none of them can speak spanish? no pressure or anything...

tonight i will attempt to explain the metro system to my mom and we're going out for tapas and sangria with some friends in la latina, the only place we take parents to eat because we don't ever spend that money when it's just us. sins. and tomorrow we take on parque de retiro and the museo del prado. wish me luck!

we'll always have paris

so, starting where i left off. as we were sitting sipping on french onion soup, a group of five pretty darn good looking men were sitting next to us. we were obviously american because we had USA written all over us, and the easy conversation starter was "rough loss huh?" after that, we were talking for the next hour and a half. they learned all of our names and where we were from and we did the same. there was yves, peter, richard, toby, and one more but he had a girlfriend from home so, he doesn't count anyway. they drove from switzerland to paris for the weekend and were the friendliest people i've met in europe thus far.  i honestly wanted to marry each one of them. oh, and they were all fluent in english. and german. and french. and chinese. since being here i have become pissed at america for not making us learn more languages. in some countries in europe, you can't graduate high school unless you're fluent in THREE languages. THREE. i've been working on spanish for six years and i'm still not fluent. talking to people that are from other countries, yet speak your language perfectly, makes me feel so inadequate sometimes. however, long story short we had to catch the metro home at 130 so we couldn't continue our romantic flirtation but it was a great way to end the evening.

saturday morning me and shan got up early and went to find the eiffel tower in the day time (cause we had tickets to go to the top that night.) i will never forget the feeling i got when i turned the corner and saw this enormous monument staring me in the face. i may or may not have almost started crying. i know it sounds dumb, but i really didn't realize how big it was! we got some great photos and stared into the distance for a solid 7 minutes, but then we had to rush to catch a train to versailles for the day. me and kim decided to pay for a tour because i honestly am so much more interested in things when i know the history behind them. #nerdygirlproblems. our tour guide once again was fab. we started outside the incredible palace and spent almost two whole hours in the gardens of versailles, learning everything about louis XIV and XVI. oh, and marie antoinette of course. that part of french of history is officially my favorite. after the tour was over me and kim went inside the palace to see it in all its glory. i have never seen so much marble and so much gold in one place. and the hall of mirrors was by far the coolest part of the palace for me. it was where the treaty of versailles was signed, just casually ending the first world war. ain't no thang.

after our day in versailles was over, we hopped back on the 40 minute train to paris where i met up with molly and the gehls to get an authentic french dinner. it was the best idea we've ever had to get fondue. not only have i never had fondue before, but i have never had wonderful french fondue before either. i had french onion soup round 2 to start and then we got four cheese with bread, potatoes, and steak strips to dip in it. oh, and i had a snail right out of the shell. i can check "eat french escargot in paris" off the bucket list. after dinner we headed over to the eiffel tower to see it all lit up! again, my breath was literally taken away (as nauseatingly cheesy as that sounds) because it was just as amazing as i expected it to be. the view from the top was frightening at first, cause i'm not the biggest fan of heights, but i have never seen the world from that high up before. i didn't even take many pictures because i knew that they wouldn't do the view any justice. believe it or not, we spent almost two hours gawking on top of that tower. but i think it was the only way i would have wanted to spend my last night in paris.

i know that you're wondering how i survived not going out for an entire weekend. my response is that i will make up for it this weekend in madrid, which i have slowly realized has a nightlife unlike the rest of europe.

other exciting news:

• i booked my flights to brussels and amsterdam for my two remaining trips this semester. 
• my mom sent me a package that i finally received today! even though i'll see her on sunday. 
• i got to spend my night last night drinking sangria with michaela instead of doing my homework and i want her to come back to madrid. 
• i finally bought new black tights. 
• its sunny! 

this is my pretty friend shannon 

posing as gargoyles in front of notre dame obvi

hall of mirrors

solo shots.

bonjour, merci, au revoir.

i have 7 goddamn minutes left on these photos i have been trying to upload for an hour and a half. throw me a freakin bone, mark zuckerberg. 

anywho. it's time to talk about my trip to PARIS. paris is a place that people literally dream of going to for their whole entire lives, and i am fortunate enough to have gone at age 20, more or less on my parents dime, with the company of my friends. how did i get so lucky? i began my trek to france in the middle of the night, leaving my apartment at 345am. after bussing it and making it through ryanair's nazi baggage rules, i was taking off at around 7 and landed in france a couple hours later. of course, we flew into the airport that was 2 hours outside of paris, forcing us to pay 15 euro for a bus where i sat next to a man that might as well have been a pack of cigarettes. after a total of seven hours of travel, we had arrived in the city. i am super proud of us for figuring out how to use a metro system in a city where none of us spoke the language. #runninshit. and as soon as we dropped our stuff at the hostel we nommed on some quiche and headed off to the louvre. 

okay so this place was actually unreal. obviously i heard it was big but i wasn't expecting a damn palace! there is no way a human could conquer this place in one day. i was there for almost 4 hours and i was more or less only on one floor. i've learned that i'm a huge nerd when it comes to art. my class in the prado has become one of my favorites because i think it's insane that i get to look at real, original, paintings by such influential artists. annnnd i'm turning into my mother. the louvre is home to so many famous pieces of art, not just the mona lisa. 35,000 pieces of art to be exact. i think it was the perfect place to start our french adventure. molly met us after we were done and walked us down the champs elysees, home to some of france's best shopping  too bad i'm poor  but we didn't have time to stop. at the end of this famous street is the arch de triomphe, where we got to see some kind of special military ceremony, because that weekend was their version of veterans day. *fun fact about the arch de triomphe: the flame that is always burning under it represents an ambiguous "fallen soldier" of various wars and one of the only times it was been put out is when a mexican guy peed on it and got banned from the country of france forever.* thursday night was uneventful and we passed out after drinking wine in our hostel's bar. 

friday morning we woke up ready to take a 3.5 hour walking tour. only in paris would i be excited about this. especially when it was FREEZING. thank god patty agreed to bring my coat to madrid this weekend. lord knows i'll need it in brussels and amsterdam. digressing...our tour guide was phenom and he was actually from amsterdam, making him automatically cooler than everyone ever. we saw the entire city and he had crazy stories about the history of every monument. i honestly learned more on friday than i did in a whole semester of history class. after the tour was over we ate an authentic french meal and then headed to the notre dame. the architecture of this place was even better than in the disney movie. inside was so different than the other cathedrals i've seen thus far simply because it is so old. in 2013 it will be the notre dame's 850th anniversary. that's like, more than twice as long as america has even been a country. friday night we went to the USA vs France soccer game and had legit seats for only 10 euro. i guess no frenchies wanna sit in the american section. even though we almost got lost on the journey there and didn't have any time to pregame, i had a great time. just being in that atmosphere and being able to be patriotic for the first time in a long time cured a little bit of america-sickness. france won though, and we were all sore losers, so we drowned our sorrows in french onion soup after the game. here is where we met our future husbands. BUT that story is gonna have to wait. this post is getting too long and my hot water is gonna get turned off in an hour. for the next two days. wtf. 

more on paris later bye. 

weekend recap

it's finally freezing! leggings and boots and sweaters are in full force thank gosh. side note: i can see the sunset out the window of my apartment right now and it's sick nasty. i digress, my friend alexa's parents are here this week and we're having a lil get together at her apartment tonight to meet them. and they're bringing wine. that costs more that three euro. when other people's parents come it makes me extra anxious for the rod fam to take espana. 13 days!

after miss jade hamilton left madrid to go to russia or something dumb like that, our weekend continued. friday a great discovery was made. mexican food in madrid. the memory of finding it is bringing tears to my eyes. i miss mexican food SO much. just so you know, it's entirely different than spanish food. same language, different cooking habits, who woulda thunk? i was in too much of a food coma after enchiladas that i didn't do much else friday night. but then saturday i had to go to a play for my literature class. not only was it in spanish, duh, but it was in the middle of nowhere. we asked people on the streets and even cab drivers where it was and they had no clue.  hence, why we were forced to wander the in dark for quite some time, look extra american, and arrive 30 mins late. it was a play by lorca and had a ridiculous plot as always. also, in spanish theatre, talking doesn't exist. EVERYTHING IS YELLED. actually though. and this is coming from a girl who could be heard in the quad from my room in sheehan. #truestory. three acts and two and a half hours later, we got out of there to start the main events of the night. we had another friend's guest to show around, so we had to drown our livers in alcohol and stay out until 5am again. clearly. we decided to mix it up and try a more authentic spanish club though. the bouncers at the first one we went to were poop heads. they didn't let us in just because we were americans! or they didn't think we were pretty...but what are the chances of that happening c'mon. it was my first encounter with discrimination. twas scarring. but after being shot down in spanish, we weren't discouraged. we walked to this other club tucked away in a place that i didn't even know existed and after our friend mac was forced to change his shoes (apparently this was a classy institution) we dropped 12 euro and danced the night away.  it was actually really fun being the minority for the night, well, more so than usual.

on sunday kim came back yay! and i went shopping cause i realized i don't own sweaters or clothes i can layer. how have i survived two years at villanova? lord only knows. oh, i also went to mass on sunday. i haven't been since easter but i'm trying this new thing where i look to a higher power to help through shit. i'll let you know how that goes. i do have to say, i'm proud of myself for remembering the our father in spanish. guess my high school education wasn't for nothing.

one more day of school till i can focus on packing for paris. rough life right?

rest of the vacay

on sunday, everyone was back in sevilla and we decided to do more sightseeing. (by the end of this semester i will be proud to say that i can actually read a map and navigate any freaking city to find sights.) we got to this one street where we ate lunch that actually for the first time reminded me of something in california. there wasn't any crazy spanish architecture or fountains. it was a street that looked like a promenade in venice beach with palm trees everywhere and so many people biking and rollerblading. it was actually kind of nice to feel at home for a little bit.  after treating ourselves to steak tartar and sangria, this is diva weekend we're talking about, we headed towards plaze de espana. on the way there though we took a pit stop and had a spontaneous photoshoot in a garden. normal. plaza de espana was UNREAL. honestly, one of my favorite places i've been in europe so far. there was a mini river to row boats and hand-painted mosaic tiles all over the place.  i could have sat there all day probably. oh, and apparently they filmed part of some starwars movie there, which makes it famous. and cool. on the way back to the hostel we made a quick detour to the river and checked out the torre de oro.  seville had so many random sights to see and since it isn't a big city at all, it was possible to do it all in a few days. that night we went to an international festival happening for the weekend.  there was a booth for every country with respective food/drinks. it was fun to bop around and check things out, but i obvi spent the night eating tacos and drinking coronas like a good mexican should.

american lookin street

plaza!

our last day there was halloOoOoween! me and shannon decided we wanted to rest up for the night out so we treated ourselves to some good old fashioned arabic baths. spaaa daaayyy haaayy. it was so nice and much needed. sorry for being a betch, but i get a mani pedi at least a couple times a month but here it's just not a part of the culture. i need some pampering time. and this was perfect. there was hot/cold baths, salt water baths, massage baths, and a sauna. the hour and a half flew by. after being so relaxed, all i could handle was food and a nap. that night, i realized that as much as i loved seville, i'm so glad i chose to study in madrid. we paid 12 euro for an open bar which is a super good deal. there were a ton of nova kids there and we all trecked over together, but we had to be there by midnight. (ugh so used to going out at 2am..) once we were there, i realized that we weren't at a club or discotecca, but in the warehouse district. who knew those even existed in europe? after getting in, i also quickly realized that we were the only americans there, there was no running water in the toilet...sanitary, and that in spain, people dress up fucking scary on halloween. not trying to make out with you, zombie frankenstein. you're gonna haunt my nightmares forever. BUT obvi i danced the night away and took full advantage of the open bar. it was just no comparison to what us madrid brats are used to.  

*camera died before halloween. sins.* 

overall, this past weekend was amazing but i was itching to get back to madrid on the 6 hour bus tuesday afternoon.  i had a whopping three days of school this week and now it's already the weekend. after pulling my hair out and registering for my classes last night, we went to kapital for the first time in a few weeks (google this place so you can be jealous.) of course, we didn't leave the hip hop floor. i will have sean paul and 50 cent stuck in my head for the next 48 hours. 

ttfn ta ta for now. 

home sweet madrid

after a much needed five day weekend i am happy to report that i made it back to madrid in one piece. break felt long but also so short because i was filling each day with a ton of activities. the six hour bus ride to sevilla wasn't terrible (on the way there at least) because it was in the middle of the night. the only terrible part was waiting in the bus station for hours because we couldn't check into our hostel until around 11. which actually ended up being 1. at least i had my gehls by my side.

after wandering the streets for 45 mins, we found our hostel and dropped our diva suitcases there before exploring a little bit. one thing that is so rare compared to madrid is that in seville, you walk everywhere. i thought i walked a lot in madrid but then i remembered i take the metro everywhere before i walk. we wandered for a little but then found the cathedral (standard in every spanish town) and alcazar. i loved alcazar because so much of castle was outside and it was beauutiful weather. just 78 and sunny the entire weekend. on halloween. no big deal. also, alcazar, as well as almost all the things we saw this weekend, have insane detail and the architecture is influenced so much by arabs that it's very different from anything i've ever seen. after chilling in a castle all afternoon, we found the BEST place for lunch. i'm salivating just thinking about all the food we ordered. we always try to ball on a budget in madrid, meaning we eat one euro sandwiches as much as possible for meals outside the homestay, so eating at real restaurants all weekend was a treat. friday night i didn't want to drink myself into a coma because we were leaving for the day to granada at 6am so me, shannon, katherine and alexa went to a super authentic flamenco show! and by authentic i mean we were the only americans there and people thought we were lost. it was amazing. and i'm also a huge nerd when it comes to dancing/musical performances. it was such a different atmosphere then our typical friday night, considering we weren't grinding on a dance floor or chasing shots with yogurt....that was only one time. sevilla is known for their flamenco and i'm so glad i got to experience a little bit of it.

alcazar.

flamenco bartenders.

on saturday, me, shannon, alexa, and katherine, spent the day in granada, only about a 3 and a half hour bus ride from sevilla. everyone on our program had been raving about it so we figured we had to go. the biggest deal in granada is the alhambra and of course, we didn't make a reservation. who knew betches needed reservations? so after somehow finding a cab next to the bus station located in the ghetto and waiting in line for a solid 45 mins to get in, we didn't make the morning cut and were ticketed for 5 oclock. obviously we put our time to good use. by eating a lot and shopping a lot. this weekend i bought gifts for everyone and their mother. sevilla/granada have such a different shopping scene than madrid. much more hole in the wall places and amazing ceramic shops. after being divas and spending too many euros, we finally trecked back to the alhambra, and quickly realized it was worth the wait. this place was 1. enormous and 2. beautiful. like i said, there is a huge arabic influence on all the major sights in the south of spain, and the attention to detail is mind blowing. like it actually blows my mind. we had such a photoshoot and i know i will always remember walking through it with my jaw dropped the entire time. 

so detailed.

shitty weather right?

okay so i realized at this rate, buy the end of this weekend post i will have written a novel. imma break it up into two days for ya. i'm also a grandma and i'm falling asleep at 11pm. 

random thoughts blowing my mind: 

• i have to register for spring semester at nova tomorrow. 
• my parents are coming so soon! 
• i'm gonna be packing for paris this time next week. 
• i got an A on my spanish midterm the semester when my grades don't count. of course.
• i haven't eaten cottage cheese in two months. 
• i only have six more weeks here....

back on track

to say that this week has caused me to be entirely too stressed, homesick, and just sad is extremely accurate. it feels like ages since i've posted anything and i know it's because nothing has seemed worth typing about. to fill you in on what i've been doing the past few days: studying, crying, eating, and sleeping. so exciting, i know. i'm fully aware that i shouldn't be wasting any time while i'm here, but i think with the universe throwing shit on shit on shit at me, i had to have a minor "i hate everything" phase.

but i'm pretty sure that's over for now. and since midterms are done i have five days off WOOHOOO! me and some gehls are leaving at 1am to ride a bus through the night and arrive in seville bright and early tomorrow morning. we're gonna be there for four full days and are in the midst of planning day trips to granada and morocco that i really really hope work out. this is going to be my first hostel experience, so wish me luck. although, i'm sure nothing can be more of an experience than the german tents. it's been raining all day so of course i've been in bed watching tv and sleeping since i got done with my one class this morning. haven't exactly packed yet. haven't exactly showered. should probably get moving.

random things:

real madrid game hay hay

ladies in toledo last friday

"don't forget that i love you" 

can't wait to have stories when i get back. halloweekend spain style. bring it.

worst time for midterms

this poem is my only motivation for attempting to study for midterms and be a functional human for a while. i'm taking this all day by day. i'm up one minute and down the next, but i guess that's normal. counting my blessings, actually praying, and reminiscing, are my main distractions at the moment. but honestly, if i fail my exams because if that, i'd say it's well worth it.


Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
                                        -Frye

may angels lead you in

i never thought when i opened my eyes this morning that after my shower, my life would be greatly effected.  i felt like i had been hit by a truck when i was reading status after status about the loss of anthony, the most genuine friend i could have ever asked for.  my first reaction: this is a joke. my second reaction: denial and disbelief. my third reaction: an inexplicable feeling that has yet to end. he and i had our high points and low points during our friendship, but we were always there for each other and he has undoubtedly had an impact on the past 6 years of my life. i cannot wrap my head around the fact that he's gone...

no one can see something like this coming, especially to a person like anthony. to say he touched a million people's lives is probably an understatement. everyone i know at home is grieving this loss, and i would give anything to be able to be there, or at least in america, with them. being this far away and disconnected is awful. finding out about a friend's death via facebook is hell. i don't wish it upon anyone. nothing like this has ever happened to me before and i'm not sure how to handle it. i can't pick up the phone and call anyone that knew him. they're all sleeping. and i don't even have a phone. i'm sure day by day this weird, inexplicable feeling will fade away, but until then, forgive me for being emotional.

unfortunately, i was reminded today of how incredibly short life is. 10/19/2011 will be a date i always remember. anthony and his family will forever be in my thoughts and prayers.

 rest in peace bud. 

long time no type

i haven't blogged in a few days, but maybe that means i actually have a life? maybe?

not too much was goin on this week so i guess i wasn't inclined to fill you in on meaningless details. well, until now. what did happen this week?

• i made guacamole...twice. and i loved every bite of it. i feel like it's gonna become a regular pregame routine. you give me alcohol, i'll give you smashed up avocados. 
• i got screamed at by an elderly man on a bus. was i the only one talking? no. was it a bus with silent rules? no. did this man have a stick up his ass? obviously. #loudgirlproblems. 
• i was pursued by not one, but two middle aged men this weekend. one may or may not have been married. good to know i can have a career in homewrecking to fall back on if communications and/or being the voice of a cartoon character doesn't work out. 
• i found my new favorite spot to do homework. just in time for midterms. yay. it's a famous book store (complete with autographs from antonio banderas, penelope cruz, woody allen, and natalie portman. and a bunch of spanish estrellas that i've never heard of) and there's also a cafe connected to it. shout out to mol bakes cause she'd love it there. almost as great as the grypon. 
• went to el rastro (the greatest open air flea market ever) this morning and bought yet another bracelet. my collection will be absurd by the time december rolls around. i was really tempted to buy myself sun flowers, but then realized that's semi pathetic. 
• i bought a ticket to a real madrid game for tuesday night. cannot. wait. obvi i'll blog about it. 

ta ta for now. time to go to starbucks and do homework. so euro right? some things never change. 

mobile blog

written yesterday at 6:52pm:

this isn't gonna make any sense because my mind is on a million different things right now.

coming to ya from my iphone in the garden of the reina sofia museum.  i've gotten worse than my dad at typing on this keyboard. it's almost 7 and the sun is still shining strong. this is the first time i've been in this garden and i feel like i'll be back. i'm just sitting here. attempting to read. but instead i'm just thinking.

thoughts:

• i simultaneously feel like time is flying by and like i have all the time in the world here. 
• i'm starting to miss amurica a little bit even though i feel like i can't admit it. granted, i mostly miss certain foods, but i also miss my family, friends, and fall. 
• the pda going on here, literally on that green bench in front of me, isn't making me sick. it's actually making me a little jealous. boyfriend applications are now being accepted. 
• i wanna go back to sensation. 
• i'm committing to being a madrid tourist this weekend and seeing more of the city. 
• i feel bad that i didn't eat mariscos at lunch in the paella. apparently they're expensive. sins i didn't want to stick a lobsters head with eyeballs in my mouth. at least i spared marisol and eduardo some projectile vomiting. 
• i really should get back to reading.
• the adorable spanish nugget in a polo and sperry-like shoes looks like a frat star in training. 
• i miss kids. 
• people watching is my favorite. 

barthelona

the shimmer of my birthday is slowly wearing off but i do have a fiesta tomorrow to look forward too. it's eduardo's birthday today, so tomorrow we're obviously having a joint party at pilar's house next door. what else would i be doing on my day off from school? getting drunk.

my weekend in barcelona might have been my most enjoyable weekend yet. since we flew out on friday morning, it felt like we were there for so long compared to last weekend in germany. and of course the fact that it was my birthday weekend made it exponentially more exciting. well, for me at least. here's a quick run down of my #weekendfromheaven. 

friday: BIRTHDAY DUH. 

• me and kim arrived at her friend's BEAUTIFUL apartment where we're staying for the weekend. the fact that it had a shower where i could outstretch my arms made it an upgrade from marisol's house. sins. 
• my besties from madrid were staying in a hostel so after droppin off my shizz i met up with them and we headed to do some sightseeing. we saw la sagrada familia which was designed by gaudi, but he died before it was finished. the architecture of this church was completely different from any other church i've ever seen. so so beautiful and well worth the 13 euros. 
• friday night we went to a restaurant for dinner and then were planning on heading to a shot bar and a club on the beach. let me preface this by saying that the club we wanted to go to was rumored to have a dress code of all white, as a theme sensation white weekend. therefore, i wore white all weekend. continuing...we made our way to the shot bar and it was BEYOND crowded. i quickly realized that there was no way i was gonna get birthday drunk standing in a hot, sweaty bar, so naturally i went to the completely empty bar next door and took three shots chased with lemon wedges. then we walked through the ghetto where we screamed colt 45 lyrics and i bought 1 euro beers from a street walker until reached the white themed club. SURPRISE, hardly anyone was wearing white. (yes, i sacrificed my adorable bday outfit for nothing. bitter.) we ultimately ended up at the club next door which was a great decision because i ran into probably 12 people i knew, two of which were from high school. either i'm really popular, or the world is too small. loved this place because you could get a stamp and walk right onto the beach. where you would buy more 1 euro beers. obviously, that's where i spent most of my time. i got the perfect amount of intoxicated and got to be with all my friends. what more could a birthday girl ask for? 

saturday:

• i was actually functional on the day after my birthday for the first time in two years which was good, because i needed to continue to see barca. we headed to parc guell, another place influenced by gaudi. this was a treck to say the least but it was worth it. when we were at the top there was a crystal clear view of the entire city. thus, making it a great photo opp. and what else would i care about. jkbutseriously. 
• saturday night was sensation white. basically the entire reason i was in barcelona for the weekend. i bought my ticket in june and had been counting down the days since.  after planning an outfit and worrying about if i would be too overwhelmed by my first big raaaave...i am glad to report that it was one of the most fun nights of my life. i have never and probably will never experience anything like it. besides the part where my ticket wouldn't scan and i was all alone outside trying to communicate with spaniards to let me into the damn venue, there were NO problems the entire night. everything was as amazing as i had expected. things were lit on fire, people were floating from the ceiling, blue neon foam things were being swayed in my face, bass was shaking my entire body, and when i say i didn't stop dancing for 7 hours, i'm not exaggerating for once. we were on the main floor and at one point, in the front row. i could have touched the artichoke shaped stage! and the best part? in a crowd of 17,000 people, i managed to see so many familiar faces from my madrid program and even from nova. i could not have asked for a more successful night. 
• to top it all off, i ended my night with a falafel. #winning.

sunday: 

• i was the TIREDEST GIRL IN SPAIN. my legs were sore and my back was aching, but still completely worth it.

i honestly wasn't ready to get back on a plane to madrid because barcelona was so amazing but now that i'm back, i'm really looking forward to having the next two weekends here. minus the part where it's still 87 degrees and doesn't seem to be cooling down any time soon. I NEED FALL. 

pics of course: 

birthday betch. 

view from parc guell.

inside of sagrada familia.

sensation. 

gehls. 

real. life.  

no more teens

i know, i've been slacking on the blog front this week. but honestly, nothing too exciting has happened. i went to a cooking class and actually made delicious paella with no help at all the help of a professional. and i also learned how to make sangria, which my roomies for next year should look forward too. i think i'm getting the sniffles (just in time for my birthday weekend of course) so i haven't done much lately unfortunately. minus last night. where i drank enough to think i was a video vixen on the dance floor. let's just say i left a large part of my dignity at club gabana. sins.

tomorrow is the most anticipated birthday of the year though. unless you count jesus' birthday. yep, that's right, i will finally be out of my teenage years. overcome the epidemic of teenage pregnancy. one step closer to not breaking the law every time i have a beer. and what's better than turning 20 abroad? turning 20 in barcelona with all your friends from all different parts of life and then going to a european rave the next day. my life really is rough. my mother might have a heart attack this weekend because she is convinced that i'll die. but i'm really hoping to prove her wrong and if this weekend is anything like last weekend, it should be a success.

before i siesta i need to give a shoutout to the villanova supernovas, aka the greatest acapella group in existence. after class today i checked my mailbox and saw that i had a package. i immediately thought that my parents sent me a bday gift but i was surprised to see a fed ex envelope. and that the postmark was from bryn mawr. i opened it to find a pile of letters, one from each member of my acapella group. obviously, i started to cry a lil bit because you can't deny that that's the most thoughtful thing ever. they weren't even letters saying happy birthday. they were just letters saying "hey we miss ya" and it will undoubtedly be the best present i get this year.

ps: in order to make this a surprise they managed to get a hold of my little brother on facebook and get my address. i can't believe a group of people likes me enough to make such an effort. baffling. couldn't be more lucky.

you know you love me,
xoxo
spanish girl.

oktoberfest chronicles

disclaimer: trying to sum up my oktoberfest experience is going to be nearly impossible, but i'll give it a shot.

we didn't leave madrid until friday evening, which got us into the munich airport at around 9pm. i wrote down the directions to where we were staying from a student travel website so i figured they'd be safe and accurate. we were successful at finding the train we needed to take from the airport and following directions, got off at the Daglfing stop. little did we know that this train station was apparently abandoned and surrounded by...um...nothing. we luckily chose the direction farthest from the train tracks where murder scenes are filmed and found the bus stop. we of course had to ask 13 year old drunk girls if it was the right one and had no other choice but to trust them. after getting off the bus, there were no signs directing us toward weisn camp. no, thats not the name of a random german concentration camp, thats the name of where we would be residing for the weekend. lucky for four girls living in madrid, we stumbled upon a german man who spoke spanish rather than english and he pointed us in the dimly lit, but right direction. after walking for what seemed like forever, we finally made it.

after checking in and being laughed at when i asked if we could lock our tents, (the woman assured me if anyone wanted to steal anything, they would use a knife,) we threw down our sleeping bags and attempted to get a few hours of sleep. key word being attempted. 45 minutes was about as good as it got. waking up at 5am to get to the festivities early enough may sound absurd, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. i did not pay 300$ for a flight to munich just to sleep. we decided to go to the german tent rather than the american one for the purpose of really immersing ourselves in the culture. we sat at a table with some new american besties we made while standing on top of each other in line and the drinks started coming. at 9am. with pretzels. the next 6 hours of my saturday are a blur of beer, lederhosen, and german songs. needless to say, i wish i could have stayed there forever. after realizing that my body, and my wallet, couldn't handle another 10 euro beer, we went outside into the sunlight for the first time since we had arrived in munich. (believe it or not, the sun is barely up at 6am.) i wish i would tell you i remember eating pretzels on sandwiches on sausages, and riding an enormous german ferris wheel, but i honestly didn't know any of that transpired until i looked at pictures the following day.

after a solid 7 hours of drinking and frolicking around, we made our way back to weisn camp. that night's sleep was practically a beer induced coma, and it was just what i needed. sadly, the next morning we had to wake up early and make our way back to the munich airport, thus ending the longest and most unreal 24 hours of my life. i honestly don't know how people can do the whole oktoberfest thing two days in a row. i for one wouldn't be able to hang, because i'm pretty sure i'm still recovering. #strugglebus.

all in all, i left my heart in munich. but i'm pretty sure this weekend in barcelona i'll find it again.

photos courtesy of shannon because i know you've already stalked mine:

munich!

chug a beer. or four. 

felix, my german friend. 

professional to say the least.

humble abode. 

my weekend in a nutshell.