Don't even know the dates...too many!

Sorry sorry sorry for not blogging at all! I am going to get back in the swing of it.

As a catch up: Feb 11-14 I was in Rome with Peter. This past weekend, Feb 19-21, I was in Madrid.

Rome was absolutely amazing. I had been there once before with my mother, 3 years ago. It had always been my dream as a child to go to Rome...I can't really remember why I had such a fascination with the city, but I remember telling my parents I wanted to go. After graduation from high school, my dream came true and we spent an amazing few days there.

They say that you throw a coin in the Trevvi Fountain because that means you will ensure a trip back to Rome, and I guess that works....because I was lucky enough to go again!

Peter and I spent 4 amazing but long days in Rome. I am almost positive we saw EVERYTHING. We skipped classes on that Thursday and flew out early to Romaaaaa. We sat next to a gross man on the plane with a face tattoo and gross body odor. It reminded me of when Mom and I went to Rome and carried deodorants sticks around with us to make sure we always smelled clean!

Once we got to the area, Peter and I bought our Roma passes, the touristy thing to get, and took a shuttle bus to our hostel. While waiting for the shuttle, we got some coffee and I stole some sweetener and stashed it in my purse. I hadn't seen sweetener anywhere before, so I had to. Anyway, after, we made it to the hostel but we were too early. We stashed our bags and went to explore. We stopped at this restaurant to grab some soup and map out our plans. Of course clumsy me, I spill water ALL over Peter. Our bags were locked up at the hotel and I felt awful. Being the good sport he is, we still carried onto explore. We walked around the city and discovered they charge for toilets...80 cents in euros. So stupid.

Then Peter and I made our best investment, the hop on hop off bus tour. We used it like crazy the whole weekend, way more valuable than our stupid Roma passes. Thursday, we wen tto St. Mary's and in the church, there was a cool service where everyone was sining. The church also had a beautiful candle dedication to Haiti. After awhile, I began to feel ill. Peter and I went back to our hostel and I had to lay down. An hour later, I was all better and we went back on the bus. We were on the bus all afternoon and evening, and as we were passing the Vatican, a gorgeous fireworks show started. It was like Rome was welcoming us for the weekend. It was like 20 minutes long and really incredible. We ended our night at the Trevvi Fountain and it was gorgeous. I had never seen it at night, and it is almost prettier than it is during the day. Then we enjoyed a dinner across the street from our hostel. We ate like kings with pasta and pizza and wine and dessert.

Friday morning, we woke up to shower, and the showers were literally freezing. It was as if the shower head was spewing out ice. Well it turns out we would be cold the rest of the day anyway because it SNOWED in Rome. Peter and I hadn't planned for that type of weather, but didn't think much of it, until we found out it was the first time there was snow in Rome in 26 years or something crazy! Breakfast at our hostel was really good and cheap. We had this great french toast with honey and bananas every morning we were there, 3 euros! Great deal. After, we went to go catch our bus, and they weren't running it anymore because they were afraid of driving in the snow haha. Lucky us, they extended our 48 hour pass for another 24 hours, which really ended up being useful! We took the metro to Vatican City and signed up for a tour. It was so much fun. Peter and I learned so much, and it was his first time seeing the Sistine Chapel. I'm such a lucky girl to have seen it twice. Our necks were so sore from starting up at the ceiling. The tour lasted quite awhile, and afterwards, we just walked through the St. Peter's Basilica...which was huge! Then we went to the Vatican City Post Office to write postcards home. I'm pretty sure they still haven't made it to the states. We were starving after the tour and had a large lunch. Then the snow was melted, but then it was raining, and of course as we are going back to our hostel because of the bad weather, it was sunny. Weirdest day ever.

That night Peter and I went to the Spanish Steps. Some guy gave me roses and then took them away. The vendors here are not very nice. We then took a cab to Hotel St. George, where I stayed with my mom a few years ago. We had a glass of wine and it was fun to be back. We then walked to Piazza Navona, same restaurant my mom and I went to before, and Pete and I had THE BEST meal ever. It was so good. And even though we were outside and cold, the whole night was amazing. Then of course we got lost, found a cab, and made it back to our hostel. That night, we had a new roommate....mind you there were 7 of us in one room, all complete strangers. This one guy's alarm went off 11 times in the morning! He was so rude I wanted to scream. And that is exactly why our hostel was so cheap....rude roommates.

Saturday morning, after sleeping a little bit later because of the annoying guy's alarm, we went and had breakfast again and made our way to the Colosseum. It was a GORGEOUS day in Rome, the sun was shining the birds were singing. It was perfect. We found yet another cheap tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Definitely worth the 10 euros. We had a great time, and now I need to watch the movie Gladiator. Then we went to Campo de Fiori and walked around. We stumbled upon this pizza place with GREAT pizza from the last time I was in Rome too! Went to Trevvi again, had gelato, walked around. That night, we went back to Trevvi....again to find this gelato that was supposed to be amazing, San Crispini. Finally found it. Pretty. Darn. Good. We were so exhausted from running around that we called it an early night.

Sunday morning, we had our last breakfast at the hostel and just enjoyed the rest of the day. We tried to squeeze in ANYTHING else we could possibly think of. We went to the keyhole, Circus Massimus, top of Castel Sant Angelo, Via del Corso, blah blah blah. We found a bookstore with books in English...Peter, continuing his fascination with Roman history, bought a HUGE book on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I opted for the romantic tear jerker book, Dear John. The rest of the day was spent cruising around the city. We had a weird encounter with a child blowing spit bubbles, and then the spit flew onto me. It was really weird, but the mother was SO embarrassed. Whatever, it was pretty funny. Since that Sunday was Valentine's day, Peter and I went and found a very fun restaurant. It was outside but it was in a patio looking thing. I don't know how to describe....like a closed in patio. We had a great meal and it was quite romantic being in Rome on Valentine's Day. Exhausted, we went to the airport and got in very late to Barcelona. It was an incredible weekend. Peter and I couldn't move for the next few days. Literally. So sore. So tired. But oh so content. It was a weekend I will NEVER forget.

So last week was literally spent recovering from this trip. The week went fast though. Before I knew it, I was going to Madrid Friday morning. We took the AVE train, which goes 300 km/h and it was really fun to see the countryside of Spain. Once we got to Madrid, we spent the afternoon walking around. We went to Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Parque de Buen Retiro, etc. Michael, Beth, Steve, Peter and I sat on a bench in the park for a long time just enjoying the company and sun. It was a really fun time just relaxing in this gorgeous park. Some how we made it back to our hotel and relaxed. That night, we attempted to go to dinner at this great restaurant, but it turns out it was booked solid. We found "Nebraska Cafe" which reminded me of Steak N Shake minus steak burgers and all that other yummy stuff, but it was a good dinner. Hung around the hotel and went to bed.

Saturday morning, we had a tour for 3 hours of the city. We saw it all. We ended up spending the afternoon walking around again, and headed to the Palacieu Real, the palace in Madrid. No one has lived there for a long time, but it was really cool. There were lots of bright and vibrant colors! After, went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with an old family friend, Monica, who lives in Madrid. She and I had such a sensational time at dinner....we talked for over 3 hours. I hadn't seen her in 7 or 8 years and it was such a treat! That night, exhausted, I went to bed earlier than everyone else.

Sunday, we went to the Prado Museum. Peter, Michael and I saw some of the most influential and substantial and remarkable paintings created in this world! You could've easily spent hours there, but as we needed to catch the train, we had to go.

Sorry I had to skimp on the details about Madrid. Literally, I have been typing this for way too long, as I'm sure all of you understand, because this is the longest post in the world.

In other news, when I got back to Barcelona, my dad is here for the week!! So I went to surprise him at his hotel, left him messages, went to his room, called him, etc. I decided to go to my apartment and wait for him to call back. When I walk in the front door, there he was! We tried to surprise each other. We went to dinner at Attic last night, good food and desert and conversation. It is so nice to see him. I haven't seen anyone from home (Peter and Michael DO NOT count) since I left over a month ago. This week I am sure we will see a lot of Barcelona and have a really great time.

I have to end this post now before my fingers cramp. My legs have already fallen asleep under the computer. And I have a midterm in Spanish tomorrow that I really need to study for. I will write more this week!! If you made it this far to the end of the post, congratulations. You are a true friend. Haha.

Besos!

Delinquent....

So I do need to apologize for my lack of blogging recently!

I was in Rome last weekend for 4 days, and since then, I have been trying to rest up and stay on top of the MASS amount of homework I have this week.

I want to post all about Rome, considering it was the best weekend ever. However, I have had to do school stuff. It's been crazy! And I leave for Madrid tomorrow, and my dad comes this weekend (shout out)! So life is speeding up.

I promise...I will post soon. Until then, happy weekend!

Besos!

2.8-2.10

Well this week went by quickly. Somehow I cannot even remember what I have done.

I had gelato twice on Sunday. I didn't watch the superbowl. But the saints won, so that's cool. It's been raining a lot here, but today it is pretty and sunny! Got some mango yesterday at Boqueria that was yummy. I got a new roommate! I ordered a t-shirt for one of my sorority's functions...that I obviously won't even be there. So sad. Let's see....got a package from mommy today! Lots of t-shirts...and project runway season 1! THANKS MOMMY!!!

Today's agenda...pack for Romaaaaa. It is supposed to rain all weekend. So I am thinking about investing in some rain boots.

I'm beginning to miss home. I'm craving CPK thai crunch salad, knowing where everything is, not converting everythign to euro, not spending as much money, riding in a car instead of the metro, sweetener, not paying for water at restaurants, eating food besides pasta, a fireplace, fountain sodas, a dvd player, kappa in general, manicures/pedicures, walgreens, texting, and so much more. Not to complain, but its the weird little things I miss. Now with all that being said, uhhhhh hellllllloooooo, I'm in Spain. Life doesn't really get much better.

I was just talking to my roommate about how fast its already gone! I left home January 12 and it's Feburary 10th! Almost a whole month. I cannot even believe it. If it is going to go this quickly, I'm not sure if I will ever be able to leave.

Got to talk to Connor last night for a little bit. I cannot believe he is a second semester senior. So excited for him.

Well not much else is going on. Courtney is sick with pneumonia so keep her in you prayers for fast recovery!

Oh I saw a Vanilla Ice lookalike on the street today. I wanted to bust out singing ice ice baby. I really really need to pack.

My new favorite thing....nutella and pretzels. Just wanted to throw that out there. Pretty darn good. I also miss ice. People do not use ice here, and I just think that is really strange. I guess I'm gonna get some stuff done. I probably won't be able to post anything until I'm back. I'm really pumped, yes pumped, for this weekend! ROMA!

I cannot forget to put the Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack on my iPod. And maybe that Dean Martin song...don't know what the country's coming to, but in Rome, do as the Romans do...and from when Mom and I went to Italy a few years ago...I still have "In-Flight Italian" to listen to. Gotta brush up on my Italian skills once again.

Ciao bella!

2.5-2.7

I absolutely adore not having classes on Fridays. Everyone in the world should not have to do anything on Fridays! This past Friday in Barcelona was so gorgeous. The weather is really warming up here, into the 60s, and no 30 inches of snow like I hear Maryland has right now. The wind makes it a bit chilly, but no complaints here. We walked up to Montujic and Olympic Village all afternoon. The views from up there are amazing. I am still so shocked about how large this city is, but then again, I still get lost, so it isn't too surprising. Everything was really green and lush on the mountain even though it is winter. We walked through Olympic Village and saw where the baseball fields, track fields, swimming pools, etc. are from the 1992 Olympics. Got some really great pictures there, and I will make sure to post them later!

Friday night was fun. We had Divan for dinner, which is this great to go restaurant with kebabs and wrap things. I'm not really sure what they are called, pitas maybe? But they aren't on pita bread. I'll take a picture the next time I have it. I've had 3 times since I've been in Barca....so yummy! I really need to remember to take pictures. So anyway, after that, came back and ate our Divan wrap thingies and play TV Scene It while enjoying some yummy Catalan wine. Then a big group of us all went out to the bars by the beach. People here don't go out until like 1 pm (because they don't start eating until 11), so it has been an adjustment. The bars all play American music, which is hilarious. If it weren't for the ocean outside, I would swear we were in Columbia, MO going to Harpo's. While coming back from the bars, I hopped out of the cab and who did I see, none other than my sorority sister Jordan. She is studying in Alicante for the semester, and I knew she was in Barcelona and we had been trying to meet up. How funny to run into her on a random street in Barcelona at 4:30 in the morning. (On another note, my mother is very concerned about how late that is, and I very well know it is, but I've had to adjust, and I'm being safe MOM!) It was so fun to bump into her.

Saturday morning and the rest of the day, Peter and I walked around my new neighborhood. We went to this delicious restaurant right by Sagrada Familia. I had pizza that I could cut with this metal mallet. I really should take pictures of these things because I am having a hard time describing them! It was very cool. Bad news....5 euro coca colas!!!!!!! Peter and I were SHOCKED! Literally, 5 euros EACH! Insane insane insane. Never again. Now we have a joke about what sounds best right now....a 5 euro coca cola. Since we were going to the Barca game with our program Saturday night, (for clarification, Barca is the soccer team here, FCBarcelona), I decided to purchase a soccer jersey. They normally wear this really ugly red and blue ones, BUT, they also having an alternate jersey that is the hot pink/orange color that I LOVED! So I went from shop to shop, bartering with these souvenir shop owners about this stupid jersey. I think we went to around 8 different stores until I got the price I wanted.

That night, we met at the guys apartment to go down to the game. Having just been in Venice last weekend, I am still on a bellini kick. So I made my own with 1 euro champagne and peach juice to enjoy before heading down on the metro to Camp Nou (where the soccer game was). With my peach champagne in hand wearing my hot peach colored jersey, I was pretty cool. It took us awhile to get down to the game, and I have never seen so many people fill a stadium. Since we went with the program, our seats weren't very good, but they were at the top of the stadium, and it was cool to basically get a birds eye view of the whole place. I also enjoyed a hot dog! It was on a huge baguette and was absolutely worth the 4 euros. The game was exciting....actually not really. It was kind of boring. It was exciting because it was my first (and probably) last soccer game to ever attend. We won! Which made it even better. But two 45 minute halves never passed so slowly. I really did enjoy it though. Afterwards, we were all so tired that we just called it an early night.

Today was also a fun day. I met up with my other sorority sister who was in town, Kiley, and a big group of us went to the Picasso Museum today. Now, I love art. But some of that in there, was not art. It was erotic and sexually explicit Japanese drawings Picasso did at the end of his life. I was really grossed out and did not enjoy that part. BUT! The permanent Piccasso collection was amazing. I love art and always have, and I could have stayed there forever, but I was holding everyone back, so eventually, I had to leave. I really do love looking at some of these paintings he made when he was like 14! It really was incredible, and I now have an even bigger fascination with Picasso. I hope I can trick Michael, Peter and Megan to go to the other Picasso Museum in Paris, when we go in March!

Attempted to go to church tonight at La Catedral, but since we were at the museum so late, I didn't make it in time. They do have services during the middle of the week, so I will probably go then. Until then, my Pastor Jeff podcasts from iTunes will do the trick for my church dose.

As for this week, I have a lot of school work, but I go to Rome on Thursday morning! Only 3 days of school this week :) I'm really really excited. I will write more tomorrow...my fingers are tired from typing haha. So lame.

Besos!

2.4

Lost was so good! Ended up watching it until really late and I passed out on the futon.

Made it back to my place Thursday morning to get ready for class. Had class all morning, went and took photos in El Born (a district here) with my photography class, and had to run to make it to the volunteering orientation. I was really pumped about volunteering with the hospital, but the orientation left me with a bad feeling. Not only is it an hour away, one hour there and then another hour back, I just didn't have a great feeling about it. I'm pretty bummed. But I have a few days to think it all over before I apply.

Then I had class again, and after that, went to go buy sheets and a pillow and the necessities for my bed. My roomies made me dinner! It was so sweet, and we had a little sit down dinner. I really like them! Then I met Peter and his roommates for dinner at Rosa Negra, and had Mexican sangria and a chicken burrito. So tasty. I was so exhausted that I couldn't even make it out. I went back and fell asleep for the next 12 hours!

This weekend should be fun. Although our plans to go skiing were cancelled (I have no snow gear here and can't find a place to rent it), it's going to be so much fun. I have 2 sorority sisters in town! YES! And tomorrow night, Saturday, I'm going to the Barca soccer game. I'm really excited. Now I am going to go be a tourist in my own city. Happy Friday!

Besos!

2.2-2.3

Yesterday, I finally moved in somewhere! YES!!!!!!!!

My new apartment is near Sagrada Familia in a really cute area. There are lots of parks and it seems pretty safe and quiet. Bad news is...it's quite a haul to school and to Peter and Michael's place. My roommates are really really nice, a couple from Long Island. The apartment is pretty spread out, and I have my own room. It is so nice to not be living out of a suitcase anymore.

So yesterday I had class all day, moved in during the afternoon, went to get a blanket to sleep on, went to Peter's and cooked dinner, then came back and crashed. I do need to go get more items...like a pillow, a comforter, blah blah blah.

Lou has been sick. He went to the vet. I think he ate something bad of the street. He got some shots and is doing much better. Thanks for the prayers Court!

Today, he and I just walked all around Barcelona. My feet are tired for sure. Tonight, I am going over to the boys' place to watch the new episode of LOST!!! I am so so excited. So everything is shaping up well here. I just went and bought some groceries. The place was kinda sketch...don't know if I'll go there again, but I have the basics...bread, olive oil, tea and jelly. So I'm good for now. But I definitely need more.

Alright, time for a siesta. I'll post pictures of the room once I get it looking cute. Right now, it looks like an insane asylum with two pictures of tigers (go mizzou!) and 2 pictures of leaves. I need to print out my own to stash in the frames.

Besos!

1.28-2.1

Brace yourself because this is going to be a long one!

Thursday: Had class all day, don't remember much about this day. All I remember is being so excited for my weekend of traveling. Louis got picked up to go off for his version of a weekend vacation (I really do think he had a good time, he has been sleeping ever since he was dropped off today). That night, I went and had a fun dinner with my friend Briehn who is studying with Mizzou in Pamplona, Spain. I got to meet some fun new

girls who go to Mizzou as well. We went to dinner at Attic, a restaurant right off Las Ramblas with a really cool terrace view of the street. Had this yummy seafood ravioli and apple tartini for dessert. It was so great to see a familiar face and catch up with some midwest folk! After that, I came back and packed up for my trip. It wasn't a very restful night of sleeping because we had to wake up early and catch our plane to Milan.

(The restaurant Bri, her friends and I ate at)

Friday: We arrived in Milan around 12ish. I am becoming a phenomenal flier, well phenomenal is probably a huge overstatement, but comparing myself to last year at this time, 10000000X better. Anyway, we couldn't check into the hostel right away, so we just decided to explore the city. Oddly enough, we were all so hungry and enjoyed a lunch at a Japanese restaurant around the corner from the train station. I had sushi and miso soup for my first meal in Milan....strange? Yep. Then Beth and I went from hotel to hotel trying to get directions to the Duomo. We finally got there and the plaza was breathtaking. The Duo

mo is the largest gothic cathedral in the world. We went inside and it was gorgeous. My favorite part was when people would light the candles and pray. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I love seeing faith in action like that.

(woman praying in Duomo, Milan 2010)

After that, we decided we wanted to walk up to the roof of the Duomo, which was absolutely worth the money! We climbed stairs for what seemed like forever, and had the day been a teensy bit clearer, it would've been amazing, but it still was! The architecture was amazing and so detailed. You could see the Plaza and all the people around.

After we were on the roof for awhile, we went to venture off and find our hostel. Well jokes on us, after walking for a long time, the hostel turned us away to a different one...Sweet Hostel, which was not sweet at all. We had to find our way to the Sweet Hostel and then we were not happy when we got there. It was so gross, but when in Milan, do as the Milanese?? Anyway, we were all just so exhausted but didn't want to walk anymore. We ended up going across the street to this really great pizza place. The 5 of us each had an entire pizza, and yes, I ate just as much as the boys, and faster than they did. Michael is the only one who ate faster than me. Maybe not something to brag about. But the pizza was great! Buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes. Went back to the hostel and it was SNOWING! It was gorgeous. I tried to shower...gross. But I did. I'm growing up! Went to bed because we had a 7 am train ride to Venice in the morning.

Saturday: met the other girls at the train station and got on. We were running a little bit late as we had no idea where we were going, but made it on time. Sad news...no snack cart, so we were stuck with no food or water until like 12 in venice. The train was pretty fun though. Despite the cramped leg room (for Peter not for me), it was gorgeous. All the snow on the countryside took my breath away. It actually went fairly fast for a 3 hour train ride.

Once we got to Venice, I gasped it was so gorgeous. It was even prettier than I thought it could be. We got on a water taxi (yes a water taxi because there are NO cars in venice), and it took us through the canal to our hotel. It was like 35 minutes, but it was great to see the whole city despite it being so chilly. We dropped our things off at the hotel and went off to see the city. We walked to San Marco Piazza where St. Mark's Basilica, the Bell Tower and Doge's Palace are. They were setting up for Carnaval there...2 weeks early. They take it pretty seriously. We walked through the basilica, which although it wasn't as big as Duomo, was still gorgeous. Very ornate with gold ceilings. Then we walked around to Rialto Market. Most of the day was spent walking around. We were starving, so we stopped in this resaturant and had a delicious lunch. We had coffee and water and 5 different types of pasta, I had pesto. It was delicious. And we hadn't eaten all day. More and more walking until the rest of the group got to Venice from their later train time. After that, the whole group just walked around and met up with some other people they knew from Wisconsin. Bought some postcards, did some window shopping, etc.

Our hostel in Venice was a million times better than our hostel in Milan! It was perfect, and as a wonderful surprise, Peter's family friend, Jill who used to live in Venice, sent us a bottle of delicious champagne to our room! It was so sweet. We got ready for dinner and drank the champagne. Jill's ex-boyfriend owns a cafeteria/bar right in town, so we went there before dinner to have the famous "Venetian Spritz." You can get it bitter or sweet, so I got sweet of course. It was delicious, but I'm such a wine gal now. Then we went to another pizza place for dinner, per Jill's recommendation. Peter and I ended up splitting a pizza, and it was a good dinner. After that, we went towards Rialto and found a fun little bar to hang at. We had a really good time, but it was funny because they were playing all American music, and ALL the italians knew the words.

(PDA couple on top of the Duomo, Milan 2010)

Sunday: woke up and started walking around the city. A lot of attractions were closed in the mornings because of church services. We just walked around and took some pictures. We decided to go into Doge's Palace which was amazing. I learned so much, and even though we couldn't take pictures, I still remember it all. If you ever go to Venice, I highly recommend paying for that! After that, we went to the Bell Tower in the Piazza and went to the top, another view that was worth the money. You could see the mountains and the entire city and the canals from the top. It was like being in heaven, and it 100% took my breath away!! We had some hot chocolate, cookies, gelato, a cube of chocolate (yes I bought one) and coffee around the plaza. We were tired and cold! Oh, and I almost forgot---a bird pooped on my new pretty red coat. It was absolutely disgusting, but when my mom and I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun," birds pooping on you were a sign of good luck in Italy so yipee! After we had seen most of the tourist attractions but were too tired to walk, we got lazy. Real lazy. We went to BURGER KING and hung out there. And yes, I caved in and finally had some real American fast food, but it was so worth it. Then we decided to go back to Rialto market which was wonderful because I found a Lush store and decided to get some solid shampoo...it's amazing and smells like cinnamon, I've had it before and left it in STL. It will be perfect for traveling! And Peter got an awesome leather-bound journal. Everywhere in Venice was out of stamps. I'm not even kidding. So I didn't even get to send the postcards from Venice...note to self, get stamps ASAP! Then we went to the airport and had a long night. We didn't get back to the apartment until 3 am this morning and had class all day. Today I have been catching up on work. I move into my apartment tomorrow! Yayyyyyy. I will finally have an actual bed to lay in at night!

We are staying in Barcelona this weekend, with a possibility of a day trip to go skiing on Friday!! I would really love that. A day of skiing I can do...a week...absolutely not! Kiley is coming to Barcelona from Madrid this weekend and I am SOOOOOO excited to see her! There is so much I still need to see in Barcelona, so I am pumped to see it all with her and her friends. I can hardly wait! The school work is starting to pile up, but I'm trying my best to stay afloat.

(I wanna go back! Venice, 2010)

Also, happy birthday to Baba! I was able to talk to her for a few minutes tonight, and it made me so happy.

Wish me luck on the move tomorrow.

Besos!