Estrella, I found you!

I thought this would feel more strange- sitting on the bed that was once mine, in the room that I lived in for a year and a half, in my old apartment. But it's all slightly detached from me, I feel absolutely no sadness at being back here, or anything like that.
This whole week since I've been back has been a sheer whirlwind- some good, some bad. Friday was overwhelming to the max. 9 hours in 2 planes, going through US Customs, hearing English all around me, attempting to stay awake and alternating between getting teary eyed the farther away I got from Barcelona, and twinges of excitement at being back in Boston and seeing so many people I love.

Friday Mack picked me up at the airport, and I was a bit of an emotional mess. We went to my favourite diner for dinner and I tried to pay in Euros, and said "gracias" about 45 times. Saturday was really kind of nice- took the T into the city and spent some time at the Boston Library (my favourite place) where of course there was a vintage travel poster exhibit, thanks so much. Met up with my friend Julia for a bit then ended up the day with sushi and mostly relaxing. Sunday I went with Mack to a scuba diving picnic, where I rotted on the beach for a good while and felt somewhat lost. I know it's all "part of the transition" and reverse culture shock, but I feel like I lack a community right now, having come from one. It's also mostly that everyone has their own things going on here in Boston and I get back, and I feel like I'm in the way a bit. So many emotions.

Monday I was able to come here to my old apartment as the guy I subletted my place to is out of town for the week (such good luck). Spent the week driving to CT to pick up my friend Meg who is moving to Hungary next week, and she and I hung out in Cambridge on Wednesday and I even found a place that stocks my favourite Barcelona beer, Estrella!! epic find. Drove her back to CT on Thursday, and went to check out an apartment which is going to work out, on my first try! Just a sublease through December but it comes furnished, near BC and in a really awesome big Victorian house.
I'm not going to be homeless!! Finally my life is starting to come together, albeit slowly. I just hate having to rely on other people to let me crash at their places, or help me move stuff, or give me rides, all of that. I'm so excited to head back to Chicago next Tuesday to see the fam, my friends, and to just really enjoy being home in the summer, I think it'll be really good.

Yesterday marked a week that I've been home, and while things have become a bit easier, I still feel very unsettled. I know it will pass but its just rough at times. I'm glad the weather is gorgeous today as I'm going to go to a used bookstore and a long stroll, I think.

from Barcelona to Boston, I've come full circle

Writing this on my last night in Barcelona, trying to ignore the rumblings in my tummy as my "roommates" shooed me out of the house while they make me a goodbye dinner. Today could not have been a better last day. Slept in a bit, headed to the Mar Bella which is the nude/gay/awesome beach where there were HUGE waves and loads of sun, and my friend Lauren trekked out there just to say goodbye to me which meant the world to me. We must have spent 4 hours on the beach, eating bocadillos and drinking Estrella, and stopped for wine and patatas bravas on the way home. I have to still pack and figure out stuff for tomorrow but otherwise, I feel physically ready to go. Emotionally is kind of another story.
Last night I went to a bbq at my TEFL friend Josh's place, and there was about 11 of us there- people that I met through previous TEFL programs and my friends, and it was wonderful. We hung out on a rooftop in Gracia, eating delicious chicken, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, and drinking loads of wine, and then hit up a Gracia bar called Ehh..? Gracia, and got drinks for free since Josh is such a regular. Very surreal saying goodbye to people, letting go, realizing that at this time tomorrow, I will be on a plane bound for Boston, and meeting Mack at the airport.
I feel ready, i really do. I wasn't before, but finally felt the stirrings yesterday during the barbeque and they've stuck with me. I know I have so much to look forward to going home. I booked my ticket to come home to Chicago from August 17-24, to see my family and friends and to just be at home for the first time in 8 months, and I couldn't be more grateful for that! Plus it will allow me to stop sucking up to my Boston friends so they will let me stay on their couches.
I have to get off this computer, but this will not be my last entry. I think I will need this to work out the transition from my Barcelona life to my new one in Boston, whatever that ends up meaning for me. I'm sad, I'm devastated, I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm every emotion under the sun, but mostly, I'm grateful for this experience, for the love I've felt here, for having had the courage to come here, and for how I'm already looking forward to my next adventure stateside.

Adios Barcelona, hola Boston!

More San Sebastian fun times- late entry

Ah. Finally sitting in one place, eternally grateful once again for my friend Carolyn allowing Sari and me to crash at her apartment until I leave on Friday. I leave Barcelona for Boston on FRIDAY. Surreal doesn´t even begin to describe it.

I had such an amazing last weekend in Spain, though. Sari and I took a night bus to Zaragoza on Friday and stayed at my friend Nate´s place, and we all valliantly tried to stay awake until our bus ride at 7 AM which was probably a terrible idea as I was super crabby. We then took a bus that stopped in Pamplona (didn´t see any bulls, sadly) and brought us into San Sebastian around 12 on Saturday, and it was gorgeous almost immediately! Our hostal was 2 blocks from the beach, and I think every single other traveler was Australian, with 2 Canadians thrown in. Those Australians are the biggest travelers I have ever met, taking off for 8 month stretches just to see the world, it´s really kind of awesome.

We immediately ran to the beach, which was nestled at the foot of 2 huge mountains, with sweeping views of rolling hills, gorgeous buildings, and a very large Jesus statue, which I didn´´t really figure out. We spent a few hours at the beach which was jam packed and really lovely, and then ended up going pinxos hopping. Every bar has their own pinxos, which are basically little pieces of salmon on a piece of bread, or my favourite- red peppers stuffed with crab or cod MMM. They are always different and always delicious, so that was wonderful. We sampled the nightlife which was filled with dancing to Lady Gaga and Shakira in every single bar we went to, it was a total blast!

Sunday was disgusting, in terms of weather. Cloudy skies, brisk winds, and of course Shannon forgot anything remotely warm, because silly me was expecting SUNSHINE. We ended up stumbling upon a funicular that creakily took us up a mountain to this giant castle that was surrounded by trashy arcade games (why do I always find these places?) We took a random boat ride around the mountain, and otherwise just basked in the lovely landscape that made me want to start singing the Sound of Music soundtrack. The rest of the day was spent roaming more around the city, making dinner and generally chilling out.

Monday was another gross rainy day, but we salvaged it by having coffee and reading, hunting for bracelets, going pinxos hopping, making dinner, playing cards, and eventually somehow ended up going out and dancing again. Really an awesome last weekend in Spain with two of my favourite people. The only downside was the 2 4 hour bus rides from San Sebastian to Zaragoza, and then from Zaragoza to Barcelona. Barcelona is always so ridiculously wonderful to come home to, can't even begin to describe that feeling.

Basque-ing in San Sebastian

I have very much neglected this little blog for the past week,as I was a bit consumed with coming back to Barcelona last Sunday and sweet talking all of my friends to let Sari and me crash on their couches. and everyone completely came through and were so wonderful to us! Coming back to Barcelona was almost like coming home. Familiarity, the best metro in the world, loads of people that I love, and of course, patatas bravas (which are sorrily lacking in Boston, I hear). Sari and I stayed with our TEFl friend Carolyn at her apartment, which was beyond amazing of her. She lives about 4 blocks from my old apartment which was somewhat surreal, but I immediately felt myself relax as I realized I knew where I was going for the first time in a few weeks!

Monday was spent in a bit of Barcelona nostalgia( how can you have nostalgia if you have only lived in a place for 4 months? apparently its possible). We roamed around near La Rambla, Gothic Quarter, hit up our favourite gelato place for some wicked tiramisu gelato, and generally just enjoyed the energy of one of my favourite cities on Earth (thus far). We ended up going out Barcelona touristy style that night with Carolyn, her cousin Katie who is also staying at the apartment, and Carolynś Peruvian roommate Liz. We went to the most ridiculous bar called Chupitos which features over 500 different kinds of shots. I think the best was probably the Boy Scout, which featured an exciting method of roasting a marshmallow on the bar and then taking a shot that tastes like butterscotch. A little ridiculous but a hysterical night, and we actually stayed out until 3 AM, I was so proud of myself!

Tuesday was a wonderful chill day, as we went to the Castelldefells beach which is about 15 minutes outside the city but of course we got on the wrong train and ended up in the opposite direction, so 2 hours later when we finally hit up the beach, it was bliss. Loads of gross seaweed and some bratty kids who kicked sand at me, but otherwise a really nice day. I then went back to my old apartment to visit with my roommates and to pick up the rest of my junk, and it surprisingly wasnt weird at all to see them, or to be back in my old stomping ground. I felt.. nothing, no attachment to the place, which is definitely a good thing. I did realize my pack rat tendencies have followed me to Spain as I definitely have an entire suitcase of things I need to go through and throw in the street gutters.

I actually will have to finish this at a later date, as I currently am in San Sebastian, which is a GORGEOUS town on the northern coast of Spain, in the Basque region, and am here for 3 days with Sari and Nate. Hasta luego!

Oh! Valencia

Currently in Valencia: city of paella, a ridiculous hostal, and the most amazing aquarium that I´ve ever visited. Sari and I met up with Jenny on Thursday night, after we took a very meager bus ride from Alicante, only 2 hours compared to the hellish bus ride of 8 hours that we´d had from Malaga to Alicante. Score!

Upon first glance, Valencia is gorgeous. Light coloured buildings, and its the 3rd biggest city in Spain but feels completely accessible by walking everywhere.Thursday found us mostly roaming around the area of our hostal and checking out the numerous plazas with fountains, and ducking into a cathedral or two which are always breathtaking. Jenny arrived a bit later than us on Thursday and we celebrated being back together with a wonderful meal of nachos and a brownie sundae that made me want to cry, at this tacky American style restaurant. A bit weird to be in an American place and then to step back out onto the spanish sidewalks, but kind of amazing. We had an early night, just kicking it with some fellow travelers at our hostal bar. There are about 200 people staying here, its kind of out of control! But there´s air conditioning at night so who really cares.

Friday was a delightfully cloudy day, so we walked from our hostal through the Central Park of Valencia all the way to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (city of arts and sciences) to check out the supposed best and biggest aquarium in Europe. And it was AMAZING. Some of the many aquatic sights we saw were seahorses and dwarf seahorses that were the size of my thumbnail, sea dragons, tons of sharks that swam over your head as you walked down a tunnel, beluga whales, penguins, walruses, and loads of amazing fish. It was enough to make me contemplate learning to scuba dive! maybe..

Afterwards we continued our exploration of the city, which is fairly compact, and made a lovely dinner of lentils and veggies in the hostal kitchen. We then went to this hole in the wall cafe called Cafe del Duende, where it seemed like nothing special until this rather heavyset gentlemen came onto the tiny stage and started playing a haunting flamenco melody, and a flamenco singer began singing and there was a man and a woman who alternated flamenco dancing, inspiring all sorts of emotions from the crowd, unbelievable. We stood there, mesmirized for 2 hours before we realized how much time had past. It made me ache for Spain, although I am still here. It was the strangest, most bittersweet feeling. The flamenco show was definitely one of my top ten favourite Spanish experiences.

Today we didn´t really have a plan so we checked out some markets, more plazas and cathedrals, chilled here at the hostal, and are planning on heading out later to the bohemian, funky neighborhood called Barrio El Carmen. Really a wonderful weekend, but I´m starting to vibrate with tension about heading back to Barcelona tomorrow for a few days. Ole!

Alicante, I´d rate you an A

Alicante! First stop on the Spain adventure tour of Sari and Shannon. After taking a horrendous 8 hour bus ride from 1 AM until 9 Am (my idea, thought it would save money. Which it did, but I just lost my sanity instead). We landed in Alicante, bleary eyed but excited to be in a medium-sized city that is blissfully right on the Mediterranean sea. We lucked out and ended up in this amazing hostal, La Milagrosa, with our own room and AIRCON. Plus lots of sinks to do laundry in, and a terrace on the roof complete with a kitchen and views of the mountains.

Our first day, Tuesday, was spent meandering through the streets, sleeping on the beach, and attempting to stay awake.Alicante isn´t that big so we were able to get a good feel for the city, and how relaxed the atmosphere was there. We made dinner for the first time in weeks, which was a huge plus. Wednesday had us feeling much more rested, so we checked out the castle (not sure what castle, but just a castle) that loomed over our hostal on this sandy coloured mountain, very gorgeous. Views of the clear water and all of Alicante from the castle, too. We spent some much needed Sari and Shannon time, each chilling on the beach for a bit, before reconvening and walking down the beach promenade where all these market stalls offered various wares, and stumbled upon a bandshell that was playing all of these old Spanish songs, and hordes of old people with fans were sitting in chairs or getting up to dance adorably with their partners. We must have stood there for about an hour, feeling giddy at being back in Spain and seeing all of these incredibly happy people, dancing to Spanish oldies. Fabulous. We ended the restful day with some white wine and a ridiculous salmon dinner that we made ourselves. Loved Alicante!

Back to Spain, mi patria!

Felt like I should write another quick post after the last debbie downer and ungrateful sounding one. We are currently killing time before heading to the RyanAir airport and going to Malaga, Spain. Our plan as of now is to take a midnight train (going anywhere?)from Malaga to Alicante and then make our way up the coast, heading to Barcelona where we can crash with some of our lovely friends for free for a few days.
I have less than 3 weeks left in Spain, and although it has crossed my mind from time to time to head home early, the amount it would cost to change my ticket would be equivalent to how much I would be spending here, so I think the best thing to do is stick it out. Yes, things have been difficult, but I expected that. I did not expect the pounding of my heart when I stood in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, or the way I got goosebumps when I realized I could see all the way down to the bottom of the sea in Cinque Terre. This is worth it, this is one of those trips you dont get to experience very often, so Im going to enjoy every last second.

This has been such a learning experience, one that I will ALWAYS remember. I have learned so many things, some things that probably wont manifest themselves until months later, when I am in my new role as a poor, sweatpant-clad grad student(just kidding about the sweatpants, gross).

I am beyond grateful for the support, love and virtual hugs sent to me. I am also so ridiculously excited to be back in a country where I can speak the language, eat patatas bravas, and maybe see Gerard Pique from Barca who will realize we are soulmates and marry me immediately.

Hasta luego!

Bologna has a first name, its s-k-e-t-c-h-y

Succumbing to huge pangs of homesickness that have threatened to overwhelm me for a few days now. This city is merely making it worse. We cme into town today to try to find something to eat to no avail, only found about 3 or 4 places besides creepy kebab shops, and we are in the center of the city! Both Sari and I keep getting continually creepy vibes from some of the sketchy men roaming around. Normally I would just forget about sketchy men (story of my life in Barcelona) but after being followed the other day, and feeling as if we were just being followed before we ducked into this internet cafe, I am very done with Italy. I want familiarity, I want Spain, and I want a really big hug.

We got to Bologna (supposedly renowned for its amazing bolognese sauce, but have yet to find that) yesterday afternoon and it seemed very promising, with all these walkways with high archways and relly pretty red buildings. We are staying in this ridiculous place called the Citta della Camping, which has chalets, bungalows and places to park your camper, should you have one. Sari and I are playing the perfect married couple and staying in this tiny bunglow that has AIRCONDITIONING and is immaculately clean, score! Theres a swimming pool, pizzeria and bar in the little camp ground, and to get into the city we have to walk through cornfields and take a bus. Not the best idea ever, but its saving us some money, I suppose. After checking in, we went back to the center of the city which is really beautiful, but everything was.. closed. at 8 PM on a Saturday night. what?! We were also slight idiots as we didnt bring the bus schedule and ending up walking back through the cornfields in the dark.. really fun!

Both of us are trying to make the best of this Gringo Domingo and to appreciate being in Italy, but its slightly difficult today. We went to have lasagne with bolognese sauce, and found the lasagne was completely frozen in the middle. I dont thnk Ive ever laughed so much about ridiculous situations in my life. VERY much looking forward to getting on a plane tomorrow and heading to Malaga, Spain, and then figuring things out from there.

I wish I was more optimistic and sounding incredibly excited to be here, I just cant find it in me today.

Trashy beach town in Italy? yes please!

Quick sidenote: I just wrote a very lengthy, amazing blog post and clicked post.. and it was completely erased. This might not be as good, just a disclaimer.

Alright Rome, I got the point. You clearly wanted me to get on a train Wednesday afternoon and head for the gorgeous yet slightly Jersey Shore-ish coastal town of Riccione, I got it!

Changed our plans late on Tuesday night and decided to check out of Rome early and head somewhere near the water. Currently are staying in this tiny, very trashy beach town of Riccione which is on the sea and filled with vacationing Germans and Italians. Our hostal is wonderful, complete with AIRCON and 2 blocks from the beach. Our friend Stacy arrived last night to spend 2 days here with us, which is super amazing! She just moved to Switzerland last week to be an au pair for a year, and I've missed her so much since I last saw her in Barcelona 3 months ago. The past 2 days here have been so relaxing, exactly what we all needed. Plus I've been able to do more laundry in the sink, which is a huge plus.

Tuesday was a lovely day in Rome, despite the sweltering heat, and we made the most of it. After our wandering around Vatican City and figuring out our next move. We walked from our hostal through the city and passed by this area with huge Roman ruins, where all these cats live. Supposedly it's where Julius Ceaser was killed, and the cats are protecting his soul. Kind of creepy, but totally adorable cats. We crossed the bridge into Trastavere, the lively and funky part of Rome with lots of neat bookstores and outdoor restaurants, where we indulged in farfalle and icy cold white wine before decided to walk to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night. On our way, Sari realized she lost her camera but when we went all the way back to Trastavere, it was nowhere to be found. Put a slight damper on the evening, but just chalked it up to another traveling experience so as not to get incredibly frustrated about it.

Wednesday Sari went to the Sistine Chapel while I was a bit overly ambitious and went to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon and Piazza Navona. I was really glad I had the chance to see all these things, even though it was about 95 degrees outside and I was walking everywhere. I really love the city of Rome so much, and I wish that I could have maybe done something different to enjoy myself more, but I think we made the most of it. We then got on the wrong train and ended up in a random station for 2 hours before getting on the right train for another 6, finally ending up where we are now, Riccione! REALLY glad we changed our original plans of going to Perugia and came here instead, as being by the water and being in the same place for 3 nights is wonderful.

Yesterday was a lazy day of swimming, eating, more swimming, gelato-ing and waiting for Stacy to arrive, when we then got an amazing dinner of spicy sausage pizza and salad, and ended up wandering the beach at night, marveling at how GORGEOUS and clear the sky was. I feel very relaxed, very happy we have another night here. I think our big plan consists of going to get gelato tonight, and then renting one of those 4 person bike cars to explore the town some more. Big plans!

Tomorrow Stacy heads back to Switzerland and Sari and I are going to Bologna until Monday, where we fly to Malaga in Andalucia, Spain. Oh Spain, how I miss you! I miss Spanish, I miss the country, everything. But as much as I'm excited to be traveling more, I'm beginning to feel the stirrings of being ready to go home in exactly 3 weeks. I can't believe I wrote that, but it's true. I think just all the moving around, living out of a suitcase, makes me want some sort of stability and familiarity, so I will be very ready to go back home and see so many people I've loved and missed this entire time.

Better go decide which gelato flavours I'm going to enjoy, ciao!

Rome-ing around in the ridiculous heat

Apparently the secret to staying cool in the ridiculous Roman heat is 1/2 liters of ice cold white wine and pounds of gelato. As well as hiding out in bookstores, internet cafes and hotel lobbies.

Arrived in Rome yesterday and after jumping for joy for a few minutes, we went to our first hostel which immediately made us stop jumping. Really gross, really hot (were promised air con but no such luck, only a barely working fan) and the room was about the size of my foot. We dumped our stuff and set out to see the beautiful city of Rome (which is so much better than Florence its not even funny). We managed to make it to see the Colloseum, Roman Forum and the Victor Emmanuelle(sp) before we started feeling dizzy from the heat and had to head back to our hostal to take cold showers (or at least I did. Sari had to go to a town outside of Rome to pick up her lost passport, yikes). I felt sick all day because its over 100 degrees, and we tried to be such good sports about it but its very miserable here. Miserable, in Rome! It,s like an oxymoron. We did have a really wonderful dinner last night where a man seranaded us in Italian and Spanish. Everyone thinks we are Spanish and keep congratulating us on Campeones del Mundo! I miss Spain.

Today we moved to another hostal, going to check in there soon and hope they also weren,t lying when they said they have aircon as well. We checked out Vatican City, said a big hello to the Pope who was probably hanging out in aircon himself, and had a delicious margherita pizza and white wine at this little hole in the wall pizzeria. Tonight we are buying some paninis and heading to the Trevi Fountain as it gets dark, and a tiny bit cooler

We had originally planned on staying in Rome until Thursday but its so unbearable that we are attempting to change our plans and go to the coastal town of Rimini for the next few days, keep you posted on that.

A fun occurrance: yesterday, upon arrival of Rome, a very drunk man with the longest cigarette ash ever proceeded to push his pelvis against me on the sidewalk. I threw some choice words at him, but had to laugh. Welcome to Roma!

I really do love this city. The feel of it- its so welcoming and historical and you can walk EVERYWHERE. Not as many Americans and Australians here as were in Florence, that was unbelievable. I do like running into fellow travelers and sharing stories about where we have just come from, and where we are going. Most of the Australians I meet are traveling for over 6 or 9 months, its insane! I,m super glad and grateful to get the chance to do this, but it does take some getting used to. I felt very homesick for familiarity yesterday but that has since passed, which I am glad about.

Off to check out our hostal and enjoy Roma (and some more gelato, let,s be honest!)

I,m a Plus Girl

Taking reprieve in another internet cafe to escape the stifling heat of Florence once more. I think this Gringo Domingo will be a pretty good one, considering there is a swimming pool at our hostal, we found a place that is showing the movie Eclipse (don,t judge) and there,s the ridiculously exciting Spain vs. Holland game tonight! Viva la Furia Roja!

Florence is beautiful. We,ve walked nearly everywhere since its a pretty compact city, and saw all the mains sights like Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, random piazzas, cheap panini,s, loads of turists, and reveled in the gorgeous colour of the buildings. Everything is so light looking, painted in creamy colours and light green. That being said, we,re definitely looking forward to hitting up Rome tomorrow and staying there for 3 days, with a day trip to Siena sometime in there!

A slightly ridiculous thing: last night Sari and I were placed in 2 different hostal rooms on the Plus Girls floor. Now, that basically means we were lucky enough to be placed on a floor designed to protect our feminity. Pink hallways, a vanity desk in each room, places to put your makeup, and little kits that consist of makeup remover, nail files and anything else we might need to stay as girly as possible. Annoying to my feminist side, but also very comfortable, clean and air conditioned so I,m totally down with it!

Off to another air conditioned venue of some sort, ciao!

Sketchy Pisa, lovely Cinque Terre, and sweaty Florence

As I write this, I,m trying to figure out this italian keyboard and to not focus on the sweat dripping down my back. I,ve probably thought this before, but honestly i can,t remember when i was as hot as this. Just got to Florence last night amidst a bit of Italian drama. Let me back up a bit..

So, left Paris on Wednesday to jet to Pisa, luckily with no passport problems. I was a little worried because technically you can only stay in the Schengen countries of Europe for 3 months and I,m well over that, but there have been no problems, hopefully it stays that way! Got to Pisa and walked from the airport, which was a little strange since it was right in the middle of the town, and met up with my travel buddy Sari at this somewhat decent hostal that was only about, oh 88 degrees F inside. We walked down a sketchy deserted street to this nondescript pizza place to watch the spain vs. germany game, and then hustled home. Pisa is not great! We didn,t even make it to the Leaning Tower since it was on the other side of town and we decided to just get to Cinque Terre instead. Apparently we didn,t miss much, or at least I,d like to think that!

Thursday bruoght us to one of the most lovely, gorgeous places I,ve ever been- CInque Terre. We stayed in the first town, Riomaggiore, and the towns are exactly what you,d imagine- rows of pastel coloured houses staggered in the mountain rocks, overlooking water that is almost torquouise, you can see right down to the bottom and see all the schools of fish. Everyone was so HAPPY looking there! not a huge town by any means, maybe only 10 restaurants or so, and all uphill! Our hostal was a tiny little apartment that we shared with people from Australia, China,England and Montreal, and had steps right down the cove where you can rent kayaks and snorkels. Thursday we did a bit of the Cinque Terre hike, with which you can hike to the other towns of Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso, but we only made it as far as Manarola. You have to walk high up on a sort of cliff walk, breathtaking. We swam in a cove in Manarola, and there were all these tiny blue fish at our feet, so ridiculous! Rest of the day was spent eating loads of fruit, and eating pizza and wine on a cliff to watch the sunset. Both Sari and I were in disbelief pretty much tne entire day.

The trains went on strike from Thursday night til Friday night, which somewhat wrecked our plans to leave for Florence on Friday morning, so nistead we went kayaking in the morning which was the highlight of this trip so far. Apparently I have some pretty diesel arm strength, who knew? We then went swimming in our town of Riomaggiore, jumping off some cliffs into the amazingly clear water. After a lunch and another sweaty hike up through the town, we decided to chance it and went to the train station to see if anything was running, and lucked out! Grabbed a train to La Spezia and then miraculously got on a train to FLorence, getting in by 8 PM! Most trains were cancelled, so we were seriously grateful.

Our first couchsurfing experience in Florence last night was.. interesting. It was free, and trhe mission behind the YMCA type place we stayed was that its a hostal during the summer and houses homeless people during the winter. Love the mission, hated the place. Took us over an hour to find it. No fan, our room was in this weird compartment type thingie with a sliding door, and there was like 20 of them.. and people left their shoes outside the door. Creeped us both out, so we tried to ply ourselves with Italian beer to go to sleep but instead both spent a sweaty, sleepless night. Fun!

Today finds us both in better spirits, having moved to a somewhat swanky hostel called Plus Hostal that features a swimming pool, 2 bars, laundry (!) and my bed is a full size, which feels gargantuan. Here for 2 nights then probably going to Rome. Hoping Florence manages to enchant me, so far all I,ve noticed is how many tourists there are, how crowded it is, but did enjoy seeing the Duomo and the market again.

Off to air conditioning, ciao!

Merci pour les crepes, Paris!

Bonjour! My mom is currently on her way to the CDG airport to fly back to Chicago, while I spent some quality time on the internet, until my flight to Pisa leaves at 6 PM. A day in Paris, what to do, what to do..

This week has been wonderful. The dinner party we went to on Sunday night is called "Dinner at Jim's", and is run by some American who has these dinners every Sunday and has for the past 30 years. There are usually some 50 people there, all strangers eating and mingling. We went, and it turned out to be pretty alright! met some really interesting people- a group of Parisian ladies who were there mostly to practice their English, an Australian guy who comes every so often to meet "the ladies", a couple who are traveling through Paris before moving to Scotland, and this neat girl Olivia who is actually going to Mt. Holyoke in Mass in the fall, and is a fellow feminist and travel addict. The food was mediocre but the ambiance was really neat, I would definitely reccommend going if you are ever in Paris on a Sunday!

Monday was another crystal clear day, not so hot, so we headed to Montmartre, where the huge Sacre Couer is on a hill, and wandered through the slightly run down neighborhoods. The highlight of Montmarte was the butter and sugar crepe we bought from a street vendor, and walking past the seedy Moulin Rouge. We had Croques Monseiurs with Roquefort cheese near the Opera house, and it was beyond words. After a quick trip into Galeries Lafeyette (a department store complete with stained glass windows), we headed home for a quick nap. We thought about checking out the elusive Deux Magots or the Cafe Flor, where all the literary types used to hang back in the day (like Satre, Scott Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir) but they seemed lame and touristy so we didn't partake. We ended up on the Ille Sant Louis, the little island behind Notre Dame, where we had the best crepes of our life and met this woman named Dorothy and her boston terrier, Kennedy, who has been living in Paris for 30 years (the woman, not the dog). On the way home, crossing the bridge over the Seine, we got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower all illuminated, really beautiful.

Tuesday began with a trip to the Le Parisienne boulangerie so I could continue my obsession with macaroons- got cafe, pistache, vanille, chocolat, framboise and citron and they were AMAZING. We went to the Marais district, which is supposedly the gay/jewish/funky area but it wasn't at all, at least what we saw. Kind of disapointing- we saw tons of chain stores, a few falafel places and Jewish bakeries, and the English bookstore The Red Wheelbarrow which was neat, but otherwise it was kind of like we were in Lincoln Park, Illinois. To cheer ourselves up, we went on a boat ride on the Seine with a HUGE group of British teenagers behind us, and a HUGE group of French 4 year olds in front of us, who were better behaved than the teenagers. Saw the Eiffel Tower from the water, up close and personal, and it's just so gorgeous. We then stopped in a creperie for a salted caramel and nutella crepe with 2 Kirs( our favourite tiddle here), and then after a quick packing/nap time, we hit up an italian restaurant near St. Michel that was fabulous. Some gelato on the Ille Sant Louis, and a walk over the bridge to see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower at night, and we were ready to say au revoir to Paris and our really wonderful time here.

Today I'm heading to Pisa to meet up with my travel buddy, Sari, and starting to feel the stirrings of being ready to be on the move move move. I heard it's wicked hot though in Italy, not so stoked for that.

Paris is an amazing city, not sure I could ever live here- apart from the language part, it just seems a difficult city to integrate into. But I did successfully order stamps in French, so maybe..

Au revoir, Paris. Ciao, Italia!

p.s To make your own Kir, mix either Chardonnay or Champagne with Creme de Cassis (blackberry liquer, I believe) until it looks dusty purple. Delish!

Paris, je'taime!

Quick update as I am in PARIS and we're on our way to the Rodin museum and then to a dinner party at this guy named Jim's house (more on that later). Happy 4th of July!

Some quick highlights- got here safe and sound on Friday after being up all night and seeing a cockroach in the Girona airport. No customs at the Paris Beauvais Airport (!) and after taking an hour bus ride from the airport, met my mom at a cafe near St. Michel, where we are staying! We're staying in this amazing Parisian apartment that is a block away from Notre Dame cathedral and we can hear the bells every hour, and get to the Seine river in about 1 minute.

Friday was spent meandering along the Seine, trying not to die of heat since it was about a million degrees, and we had an amazing lunch at Lauduree tea room, complete with a violet puff pastry for me and a chocolate gaunache for my mom, and waiters wearing suits and calling us mademoiselle and madame every 2 minutes. C'est bien!

We also had a picnic in the Luxembourg gardens which is almost as beautiful (if not moreso) than Hyde Park in London or Central Park in NYC, which is a tough statement to make! We ended the evening with a stroll along the Seine and popping into Notre Dame which was completely dark as they were showing some movie, it was kind of eerie but so neat to be in there sans 100000 other people!

Saturday was rainy so after a breakfast of croissants and french press coffee, we went to a little market near our apartment to pick up a kilo of cherries, and proceeded to pop into some bookstores, had a quick lunch at a hallway of a creperie, and then made our way to the Pere Lachaise cemetary where we saw the graves of Oscar Wilde(covered in lipstick kisses, which I added to), Edith Piaf, Collette and Jim Morrison, which had 5 guards standing watch to make sure no one does drugs or has sex on his grave anymore, too bad.
Later in the afternoon, we had some Nutella crepes and Kir, and for dinner found an amazing Italian place near St. Michel area to watch the Spain vs. Paraguay game with some other Americans, French, and Spainards! It was lovely to linger over dinner for about 2 hours, no one bothered us. Everyone was out and about in the streets, it's such an awesome, open atmosphere. We popped into the Shakespeare and Company bookstore near Notre Dame that has English books, and was really out of control, I wanted to buy everything.

I love this city. Being back here after 5 years makes me so happy, so glad to be sharing it with my mom, too!

Adios, Barcelona!

Adios, Barcelona! Leaving in 2 hours for the bus station to take me to the airport. Keeping in mind the motto, "i'll sleep when i'm dead" because I'm already exhausted. Thanks to Jenny for letting me watch bad TV to stay awake!

Gracias por 4 meses increibles, Barcelona. See you again in 4 weeks!

Yayay for beginning my traveling portion! Bonjour, Paris!

TravelFest 2010 Itinerary (more or less)

Thought it might be a good idea to post where I'm going to be (as far as I know) because I'm most likely going to forget where I need to be on what date. What a whirlwind!
Very glad to be leaving my sweaty room but feeling quite anxious about leaving tomorrow morning, just want to make sure everything is all set up and packed and such. I'm bringing my bitsy rainbow duffel, since RyanAir only allows you to have one bag- which doesn't even include a purse or something! lame. But as long as that bitsy bag and I get to Paris safe and sound tomorrow, that'll be lovely. C'est tres bien!

July 2nd- head to Paris to stay with my mom (!) until July 7th when I go to Pisa, Italy and meet up with my travel buddy, Sari!
July 7th- July 9th: Pisa, Cinque Terre on July 8th, leave Pisa July 9th for Florence
July 9th-12 FLORENCE
July 12th-13th Leave Florence, go to SIENA
July 13th- 15th Leave Siena, go to ROMA
July 15th-17th Leave Roma to PERUGIA
July 17th- 19th Perugia to BOLOGNA, end of trip in Italy
July 19th we fly to Malaga, Spain and then.. I have no idea. Probably Malaga, Alicante, Valencia (all along the eastern coast of Spain) and then flying up to Northern Spain and checking out Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastian, eee!

I'm dirty and tired just thinking about it, but also exhilarated! I hope to continue blogging as I travel, keep everyone posted on my whereabouts and what have you. Better go tidy up my room and pack up some more so I can spend my last day roaming around a bit more!

It's all happening

Woke up this morning and could hardly believe I only have 2 more mornings here in Barcelona. Days here seem to take forever but time as a whole is going ridiculous fast, not quite sure how I feel about it. I had a horrid dream the other night about going home and everything was exactly as I left it, and it made me feel incredibly anxious. I think I'm just the kind of person who is slightly apprehensive of change yet craves it at the same time. I know things will be different, I guess I'm just not ready at all to go back yet. Which is good that I have about 5 more weeks here in Europe.

This weekend was filled with fabulous Gay Pride events, such as the Mr. Gay Pride Barcelona contest in Plaza Espanya which featured 7 incredibly ripped men strutting their stuff in colourful underroos and the crowd cheering as loudly as possible to vote for their favourite gay hunk. #7 won, in case you were wondering. The there was a foam party which was a bit chaotic but ridiculously amazing, especially when they started blasting Gaga and the crowd went wild, and started dancing in the fountains, much to the surprise of all the tourists who were in Plaza Espanya to check out the Magic Fountain display that happens every weekend.

Sunday was the Gay Pride parade which was reaaallly hot (as in weather) and featured dancing men on huge floats as well as about a million people marching with various signs in Catalan. It was hilarious because the crowd was so excited, they kept moving closer and closer into the street and the parade walkway so it was like the crowd became part of the parade, really funny. Definitely a good Gringo Domingo!

I went to Castelldefels beach yesterday by myself, mostly to shake off that cripplingly real dream I'd had about going home. It's a gorgeous beach, flanked by huge mountains and crystal clear water. I like doing a lot of things by myself, I've discovered here. And it's such an important discovery to me, it's part of what I'd hope would happen when I was here (this sentence feels grammatically wrong). I felt more clear headed afterwards, and even went to a bar alone to watch the Brazil vs. Chile game before meeting Jenny and her parents for delicious tapas in the Born area of Barcelona. Jenny has more time than me here so she can't understand exactly how I'm feeling but knows she'll probably feel the same way- it's a very hard city to leave.
Barcelona is everything I'd dreamed it would be- intoxicating, gorgeous, a little bit annoying, but ultimately a great place to live. I'm so glad I chose this over Madrid or some other town back when I pointed randomly to a map of Spain and landed on Barcelona. I hope by Friday morning I'll be packed and mentally ready to go to Paris to begin the traveling portion, but find myself clinging to everything. Which is exactly what happened when I left Boston, seeing a pattern here..

Today the goal is to pack somewhat, go through my clothes that I am SO SICK of and figure out what will not be coming back to the States with me, and to go to the Spain vs. Portugal game with the Canadians, who were in my TEFL course and I haven't seen them since. Good things, going to savour every moment!

Adeu, Madre!

Back to being solo in Barthelona. My mama and her friend Maryanne left yesterday after a whirlwind couple of days here with me in Barcelona. So fabulous to show them this wonderful city, completely fell in love with it over and over again.

Tuesday brought gorgeous weather, and after a lovely spread of breakfast at their hotel, we set off to Parc Guell to hopefully beat the crowds. It was so tranquil! We didn't spend a whole lot of time there but just enough, and it was really nice to actually go back there one last time. We then went to get some killer hummus and then did a wee bit of shopping in the Ciutat Vella area near La Rambla. I had to jet to go teach the two little boys for a bit and then they met me at my metro stop and I showed them my apartment, and we had copas of vino for 1.10 Euros/each, which continually blows my mind!I also took them to my favourite bar in my neighborhood with this really jolly bartender who gives you a free tapa for every drink you get, it was lovely. We then trekked back to Dino's Gelats for some stracciatella and bonbon gelato, it really rocked my world, and didn't help my gelato problem one bit.

Wednesday was a paradise of a day yet again- no humidity and about 75 degrees. We met at Montjuic and hiked up that big mountain to get to the Joan Miro museum. Joan Miro was a somewhat whimsical sculpture/painter who used all these vibrant colours to express himself, and the museum is really tranquil and the views from it are just outstanding. We then walked down through this lush garden and ended up getting kebabs in the Poble Sec area of Barcelona, which is very diverse, lots of Middle-Eastern restaurants around, had never been there before. We tried to then find a bar with the USA game but apparently everyone is an England fan and no one was showing the USA game, so we had chocolate and churros on La Rambla instead, much better. Ended the day with dinner at an outdoor place with jenny and then followed that up with 4 cups of red wine for 6 Euros total (seriously, I am going to be in sticker shock when I get back) and more gelato.

They left Thursday morning to head back to Paris, which was kind of sad, I wasn't used to being by myself! but then I had a lovely beach day with Jenny followed by nachos and canas at our fave beach locale. It was our last day just the two of us, as her parents are arriving and I'm prepping to leave in less than a week, to go and meet up with my mom in Paris. Surreal. But a good surreal.

Chocolate mousse + Gerard Pique= happy Shannon

Nothing like a few chocolate truffles, tiramisu, bitter chocolate mousse, red wine, and seriously attractive Espana world cup players, specifically Gerard Pique, to turn a frown upside down. A gorgeous, brilliantly blue skied day didn't hurt either!

Yesterday was a really nice day with my mom and Mary Ann. We met up in the morning and walked down La Rambla before it got clogged with tourists, and checked out this neat antique market near Port Vell at the end of La Rambla. We walked back up and got some tea at the 4 Gats, where Picasso used to hang, so we felt kind of cool. Also found sustenance in a random bar with delicious chorizo and patatas bravas, before taking a break to go nap and then meandering through the chill neighborhood of Gracia. I almost died a little inside when we came upon B My Bagel, a new bagel shop in Gracia!! amazing! I had a delicious oregano bagel with cream cheese, pure bliss. Nothing is open on Sundays so we were able to walk through the city, and stopped at a little corner bar for some wine before ending the night at a neat restaurant outfitted with red velvet and 1920's decor for super cheap paella and a litre of red wine for 4 euros. Smart diners.

Today was a gorgeous day- started off with a tour of Sagrada Familia amidst about a million tour buses, then ventured down to Barceloneta beach for some drinks and lunch on the boardwalk before going through my favourite park, Ciutadella park. There's this huge guilded fountain and all these grassy places to read or lay out in the sun, and it's incredibly tranquil. I had to teach my Argentinian couple for a while this afternoon but afterwards Jenny came and met us to watch the super exciting Espana vs. Honduras World Cup game, amidst a bunch of yelling fans and whilst eating the ever present patatas bravas. We followed it up with the aforementioned desserts, and Shannon is a happy girl. Completely falling in love with this city all over again as I show it to my guests, and it's proving to be a really wonderful visit. Excited for the rest of the week!

All topsy turvy and all over the place

Just got home from seeing my mom and MaryAnn and having a delicious dinner of tapas and red wine, followed by a stroll down Passeig de Gracia and checking out the two Gaudi buildings and ending the evening with delicious hazelnut and dark chocolate gelato. Wonderful to have them here, I could not be happier to see them and to show them this city this week.

What's going on with me? Just hours ago I had convinced myself I was so content with leaving, with traveling for a few weeks and then returning to where I came from, to go to grad school like I had planned to. That plan seems so far away from me at this moment. I feel so torn, and so heartbroken. Walking home from the metro just now, I passed all these familiar fruiterias, bars and the homeless man who sleeps next to the garage next to my apartment who I see every single night. I thought about this city, and how I will no longer be living here in a mere 2 weeks. And that thought brought tears to me eyes. Am I ready? Can you ever be ready when you've made a place your home?

I try to consol myself with the fact that I'm following my heart by heading to grad school and I easily could have/still could choose to defer for a year and continue to make a life for myself here, but chose not to. Just today at the Best Buddies event where I spent the entire afternoon bowling with my buddy for the day, Christina, and speaking so much Spanish my head throbbed, the coordinator Emma mentioned she had talked to her director about a possible position for me in the fall, starting in September if I was interested. It threw me for a loop, if that's the correct expression. I explained to her that I had already decided to go home, and she was disappointed, saying she thought I'd be great. Confused doesn't begin to describe it. I wonder if I'm making the right choice to go home, to leave this city that ultimately makes me feel so alive, so at peace with my life and so grateful for every moment that allows me to speak Spanish, to learn something new about myself and to live in Europe.

i wish it was easy, I wish I was so done with this city that I could throw all my ratty clothes in a bag and take off without a backward glance, but I can't. I had this problem leaving Boston, leaving Chicago-not quite ready, yet realizing that moving to a new place or doing something different with my life was ultimately what I wanted. It's hard. It's really hard to imagine leaving here. Somewhat easier with most of my friends being gone, yet I found myself today making new friends with the other BB volunteers, so that doesn't make me feel that much better.

I'll be okay. I know this is part of leaving and moving on; learning to let go and to anticipate and look forward to the future and inevitable life changes. I just wish it didn't have to hit me on a Saturday night.

Bowling and Burkes in Barcelona

World Cup mania has swept over the world, and I'm surprisingly digging it. Especially watching the Spain games in bars with chain smoking anxious Catalan men who take everything super personally. I've usually been a hater of sports in the past but got completely sucked into the Barca games here, and am really loving the FIFA fever. Go España!

I've been feeling slightly bipolar these past few days, wavering between intense excitement abut my impending travels in 2 weeks, and then switching over to feeling melancholy about leaving everything here. In some ways it will be easier to leave as almost everyone in my TEFL program has left, and those of us that are still here kind of do our own thing. I spent most of Thursday and Friday solo, which instead of making me feel sorry for myself and wanting to throw a pity party, it was surprisingly nice. I'm getting all this time to revisit things in Barcelona that I love, and to really take in the city these last few weeks. It helps a lot when I'm stressing over future grad school stuff and then I just walk outside my apartment and am assaulted by gorgeous blue skies and the promise of another beach day.

Last night I met up with Joe, a kid that we met in our hostal in Sevilla. He's traveling all around Spain and has a few days in BCN, so I showed him some local watering holes and we wandered over to check out the "magic fountain" which I'd heard so much about. It's basically a huge fountain in Plaza España near my apartment, that has Disney-ish music and changes colours and moves to the music. Cheesy? incredibly. Amazing? you bet. He's randomly going to be in Cinque Terre in Italy the same time that Sari and i will be there, so we'll run into each other again. It's very true that the backpackers' world is small as people tend to get on the same traveling routes. So excited to be part of that!

Today I'm heading to another Best Buddies event, like the one I helped out with a few weekends ago. And I didn't read the email correctly at first but just noticed.. we're going BOWLING! I love bowling! So American! So there's that to look forward to, and then I'll be meeting up with my mom and her friend MaryAnn tonight to roam around and eat a late dinner. Lots of good things today, I'm thankful. Also thankful for making the decision the other day to buy a huge thing of Nutella.

New fancy blog, adventures in Zaragoza and artsy fartsy times

Changed things up a bit, really digging the globe background on this one.

I can already feel that this is going to be a pretty good week. I had such a wonderful weekend- left Friday morning with my friend Aneliza to head to Zaragoza for the weekend to stay with Nate. I had already been to Zaragoza a few months ago, but this visit really gave me a chance to explore the city, as we rented bikes the entire time and just rode around seeing the sights, bar hopping, checking out a flea market, and watching the USA vs. England game in an Irish pub where we were the only Americans, it was really fun.

Other weekend highlights include making a feast of Mexican food and watching the movie Uncle Buck, as well as taking a nightime bike ride around the city. Zaragoza is a bigger city than I thought, and I really like how many people were out on the streets and wandering through the parks and such. Also so good to see Nate, we're hoping to meet up at some point in Northern Spain when I'm doing my traveling at the beginning of August.

Yesterday I taught my favourite Argeninian couple for an hour, made some dinner and then went with Jenny to a chill bar in Gay Eixample to watch the Italy vs. Paraguay game. She went to Pamplona by herself for the weekend and was telling me how they've already set up the Running with the Bulls route, it sounds pretty awesome. Kind of wish I could check that out but I'll be in Italy during it. Boo hoo, I know!

Today I went to the MNAC- the museum of Catalan art which was huge and some parts were slightly boring, but it was really worth the visit. Now it's off to teaching and then going to a bar with some Jenny's Brazilian roommates to watch the Brazil world cup game. Good week so far, and then my mom gets into town on Saturday which I'm so so stoked for!

Thirsty Thursdays and other cultural events

Yay for Thirsty Thursdays! Thirsty for culture, that is. Spent the morning with Jenny using our amazing ArtTicket to go to the Antoni Taipes museum which was kind of a snoozefest, but glad we didn't have to pay. The ArtTicket is wonderful- you pay 22 Euros to enter into 6 museums all over Barcelona, and never have to wait in line. Completely worth it!

I was going to write the other day but was feeling a bit emo, so decided to wait until I was in a better mood so it doesn't seem like I'm always complaining or focusing on how tough things can be at times. I'm in a pretty good place right now! Last night Jenny came over, we cooked dinner and went out for a few beers and talked a lot about how it feels to be basically the last 2 women standing from our TEFL course. She's decided to actually not stay here for a full year as she planned, but to head home at the end of August and then move to Argentina sometime next year. Fabulous plan, I think.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Zaragoza to see my friend Nate, haven't been there since my first weekend in Spain so I'm looking forward to it. I'm also excited to not be around here for a weekend- I don't know what my problem is, honestly. I feel disenchanted with Barcelona at the moment so I think I'll feel loads better with a bit of a break this weekend, exploring a different place and being with friends. I'm so very conscious of how this might sound too, saying how tired I am of one of the most fabulous cities in the world, but I think just knowing that I'm in Europe and CAN travel so many places is really starting to get to me, so I'm going to be very ready for the traveling portion of my journey to begin in a few weeks, hurray!

Something I realized today when I was perusing the Good Hibernian English bookstore that I frequent oh, about 2-3x/wk, is how much reading I've done. Seriously, I've devoured all the new arrivals at this bookstore. and because this is my blog, and I can be as nerdy as I want, I'm going to list some of the books that I can remember reading thus far. Oh boy, list making FUN!

Eat Pray Love- Elizabeth Gilbert
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Breakfast at Tiffanys- Truman Capote
Without Reservations- Alice Steinbach
The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson
Visons in White- Nora Roberts
She's Come Undone- Wally Lamb
Grammar Lessons:Translating a Life in Spain- Michelle Morano
The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society- Mary Ann Shaffer
Committed- Elizabeth Gilbert
The Beach House- Jane Green
Something Borrowed- Emily Giffin
Something Blue- Emily Giffin

that's all I can remember right now, whew!

4 minutes on the feminist soap box

Getting on the soap box here, bear with me.

Something that has continually proven to both astound me and disgust me is the way I've had men react to me here in Barcelona. I'm usually on my guard for sketchy looking people and/or situations, but here I feel pretty uncomfortable at times, even walking on my own safe street. Barcelona is actually a very safe city with about 75% of all crime being petty theft, like pickpocketing, yet that doesn't stop me from getting a little sketched out at times.

I would say that 6 out of 7 days here in Barcelona, I get looked up and down for longer than is necessary, called "guapa" as I walk past someone, and recently experienced men who reach out and touch my arm slightly as I walk by, though that's a new thing. I also have men who come up to me and get right in my face just to tell me I'm pretty. Gee, thanks so much. What gives you the right to completely invade my space? It makes me outraged, and I wish I could ignore it or chalk it up to cultural differences, but that mindset is virtually impossible for me to accept. Most of the time my response is just a disgusted sound and a rolling of the eyes, but sometimes if I'm feeling particularly revolted, I'll say a little something back to them, which isn't one of my prouder moments.

I guess I'm just not okay with this. Yesterday I went for a run and was sweating profusely and still had 3 men call out to me in 3 different situations, calling me guapa or making mmm mmm sounds at me. I feel like my body here is often seen as public property. Wow, this feminist soap box is really letting me rage on and on, isn't it? But it feels good, as this is something I deal with on a daily basis. I try so hard to ignore it, or not take it seriously, but its really difficult to ignore it when I'm just trying to walk down the street and get commented on or stared down, continually. I don't want to be seen as one of those "angry feminists" who take things too seriously, but actually, i could care less about that branding since I'm used to hearing that stereotype. I'm just tired of having to second guess what I'm going to wear outside for fear of having men look me up and down for a good minute, and then commented on. What, have you never seen a woman before?

Here's hoping I can let go of some of this anger and discomfort because it's not a fun occurrance to have to think about these things on a daily basis.

Off the soap box now.

It Figueres that I'd go to the Dali museum

Ouch. The Pun Police are hot on my tail for that one! Yesterday I went to Figueres, in the Costa Brava region of Spain that's about 2 hours north of Barcelona. My friend Jenny and I scoped out the Dali museum, which I was not that excited about because I never was a huge fan of Dali's work when I studied it in school. But it blew me away! It's in this old theatre, and everything was created and curated by Dali himself. Some of the things were very trippy, such as the room devoted to Mae West with a huge couch in the shape of red lips, and a gigantic portrait that when you look at it one way is his muse/soulmate Gala, and at second glance is Abraham Lincoln!

The town wasn't much to write home about, just the museum and some mediocre restaurants. But I was so glad I went! Surprisingly it wasn't even that crowded on a Saturday morning. Afterwards, I went over to the Fundacion de Mejores Amigos (Best Buddies) to volunteer for an event. I had met with the director Emma the other week to see if I could be paired with a Buddy but you have to make a year commitment which I can't do, but she suggested I stop by yesterday to help with the first event of the group, as it's only about 3 months old in Barcelona. I almost bailed because I was so nervous, but I was so GLAD I went! There were about 6 pairs of Buddies there, and I got a free t-shirt and a badge and was the person to escort the guests to the conference room! I also was paired with a girl for the day since her Buddy wasn't able to make it, and it was so great. I tried to hold my own in Spanish but sometimes I got so nervous about if what I was saying was correct, so I probably sounded like a babbling idiot. Ah well! It was only about an hour or so, and it was nice to volunteer again. The director, Emma, is about my age and is fluent in Catalan, English and Castellano, no big deal. Great afternoon!

I ended the lovely saturday by meeting up with Jenny again and we went to the Born area to this near Xampanyet, where they have cheap cava and champagne, and then meandered to a few other bars where we ran into a huge group of kids from Northeastern University in Boston. Of course! Can't escape Americans, it seems.

Now it's off to see Sexo en Nueva York 2, very excited!

Andalucia loves you!

"Andalucia loves you!" "Andalucia, Spain: Where the sun is shining and life is smiling"- various billboard advertisements ranting about the wonderfulness of southern spain, Andalucia. And they are SO RIGHT.

Went to Sevilla this past weekend with my friends Sari and Jenny, and we met up with our friend Kate who is living in Madrid. I haven't been back to Sevilla for 5 years, as the last time I was there was as a scared 20 year old study abroad student, living in an "orphanage" with 16 other foreign students. I remember barely speaking any Spanish, I was so scared, so as a result didn't improve as much as I'd hoped. I'd like to think I'm loads better now!

I was both apprehensive and elated to have the chance to come back to the first city I ever loved in Spain. We did the whole early-morning-turbulant-yet-cheap RyanAir flight to get there, and stepped out of the plane into intense heat. Sevilla has a pretty lame tram system now, which is kind of pointless but we used it to get to our highly reccommended hostal near the city center. Riding the tram into the center, I felt almost as if I had been living there all along, but had just been away for a few weeks or something. Mostly everything, upon first glance, looked exactly the same, I was so relieved!

Our hostal was another story. We cheaped out and were in an 8 person bedroom, which was nice enough and we met some fellow travelers, checked out the awesome rooftop deck with gorgeous views of the cathedral and its tower, La Giralda. And then we realized.. there was only one bathroom. ONE bathroom for 20 people! Kind of a problem.. tried to deal with it the best we could but it caused some blood boiling and swearing heavily on our end. Ah well, part of the experience!

We spent Friday roaming around near the cathedral, along the Universidad de Sevilla's main building, and I made my friends cross over the river to Los Remedios, where I lived. It felt so surreal to stand in front of the building I lived in, everything looked the same! We also checked out this market I used to frequent that sells gorgeous leather stuff like bracelets that I bought my weight in, purses, etc. Kate arrived in the evening and her friend Scott, who currently lives in Sevilla, brought us to one of the plazas where you can "botellon", aka drink in the streets. I forgot how much I love love love Tinto de Verano, which is red wine mixed with lemon fanta, fabulous!

Saturday was about a million degrees so after some mediocre breakfast at our hostal, we went to check out the Real Alcazar Palace which has gorgeous, lush gardens and it's just HUGE and beautiful, with ornate Moorish carvings on the building. We got some amazing tapas in the Barrio Santa Cruz, which is the old Jewish quarter, and then meandered to the Plaza de Espanya which is another gigantic, beautiful building with little mosaic sitting places named after each province in Spain, very cool! Afterwards, we went back to our hostal and started hearing all this marching band sounding music- turns out it was the Cruz de Mayo, or some religious festival. Right outside our hostal there was a tiny church and for 4 hours straight, they had a band slowly marching, playing this haunting melody as a float with a pretty much a life-sized creepy statue of Virgin Mary ( I think) went sauntering by. People were underneath the float and moving it so slowly so it looked like it was moving by itself, CREEPY.

We ended up hanging out on our rooftop bar and meeting this group of hysterical Spanish guys who were in Sevilla to celebrate a bachelor party. Language barriers galore, but we had a great time with them- apparently they had an obsession with American music, and when I asked which artists, they said "Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi!" We also met a group of Italians at our hostal who spoke no English, so I was pulling out mediocre Italian to try to talk to them. I LOVE meeting other travelers in hostals!

Sunday was a lazy day, filled with lots of sweating, drinking gallons of water, and exploring the city in the shade as much as possible. Kate left in the afternoon so the rest of us walked near the river, got some ridiculously great and cheap tapas (much better than in Barcelona) and even found this hole in the wall pizza place that I remembered, and it was still there! Sevilla is so easy to walk around in, which is one of the best things about it. The city is also intoxicatingly beautiful, very "Spanish", and made me so so excited to travel through more of Southern Spain when I'm doing my traveling bit in July.

Glad to be back in Barcelona, and to have 2 teaching jobs to sustain me. Reveling in the downtime right now, and planning my travel plans for the month of July. About a month left actually here in Barcelona, que loco!

Everything's gonna be alright

Things are good. At this very moment, things are good. Trying so very hard these days to live in the moment, not planning for next week or next fall, and it's getting a bit easier everyday I try to do it. Right now I'm burning a Beach Walk Yankee candle, waiting for my friend Jenny to arrive so we can make dinner, and listening to my German roommate Sandra sing German ballads in the kitchen.

Today started off positive, with a run. Meaning I RAN. Weird! I actually semi-enjoyed it! I then met up with my friends Courtney and Sari and went to this Opera Cafe that wasn't worth it but we roamed through La Boqueria and got some fruit smoothies. I then met up with Alejo y Elisabeth, my new private students!! Alejo is the splitting image of my friend Peter, though he's Argentinian and straight, and sometimes impossible to understand. They both want lessons, 2x/wk, and we're going to start on Monday. I'm so excited! They were wonderful, and every Argentinian I meet just makes me want to go to Buenos Aires even more, I love love love meeting people from that country, aside from their sometimes tricky accents. And they're almost always drop dead gorgeous, which doesn't hurt.

I then met up with Marta, a girl from Barcelona who is my new intercambio. We tried to find this elusive chocolate cafe to no avail and ended up getting fruit smoothies (My head hurts from all the sugar) and speaking in a mixture of english/spanish, and corrected each other though her English is practically flawless. She was super nice, and invited me to go to a beach in Costa Brava soon, which I definitely hope happens. I'm excited to have someone to help me with my language problems.

I also took a second last night and listened to my heart. I learned some really sad news about a dear friend of my family's yesterday, and as I sat grieving for the loss of this amazing person, I thought about how he lived his life, how I am living my life. I sat with myself and listened to what I want, and what decision would make me the most happy, in terms of deciding about grad school, a decision I've wrestled with for about 2 months now.
I also remembered a moment back when I was talking to my grandpa, when I was flirting with the idea of transferring from DePaul to a school in MA my freshman year of DePaul. I was applying to BC and my grandpa said "you know Shannon, you're going to go there. I can see it. I know it!" Well, I ended up getting rejected that time around, actually. But was accepted this time, and thought about that moment with Papa a lot yesterday. The answer is clear, it's always been. Boston College is where my heart is, even with the high tuition, annoying location and preppy kids, it's where I'm meant to be, to study international social work, and I think I've known that all along. I feel so elated and kind of in a daze about it, but mostly clear headed. Thank you to everyone who's listened to me deliberate between Simmons or BC for endless hours on end!

I don't mean to sound selfish, that someone's passing away made me make this seemingly insignificant choice, but to show what was going through my mind when I made the decision, and how some amazing people have led me and inspired me to listen to my heart and really go for it. For that, I am so very grateful.

Clothing optional

Feel free to give me a lecture. I slathered on sunscreen but apparently didn't get the memo to reapply it at the beach so now I'm basically my own personal space heater. HOT. My own fault. Oh, poor me, complaining that I went to the beach for the 3rd day in a row, I know I know.

Only today was a different sort of beach. Stumbled upon a beach lacking any tourists, people selling stuff that you don't want, and nicely set behind some sand dunes and near an incredibly clean beach. And sans beach wear! I went with a group of my fabulous female friends, and suffice it to say, felt incredibly european chilling on a nude beach in Barcelona. We didn't participate, at least not all the way. That's all I'll say on that topic, but it was an eye opening and interesting and hysterical day! I also have to go back to this beach at some point as the adorable man couple to my left played musicals all day long. Heaven!

Yesterday, after another few hours at the beach, we went bar hopping for my friend Jenny's 23rd birthday and it was considered a "tame" evening as we ended our bar hopping around 3 AM. That's probably one of my favourite things to do here- get a drink and then move on to another locale. Easy too, since you can just walk everywhere!

Tomorrow is a bank holiday or something so everything is closed. Which I didn't plan for. Looks like a fabulous lunch of boring spinach and lentils for the 4rth day in a row! Tomorrow though I'm meeting with the Best Buddies chapter of Barcelona to see about getting involved, I really hope it works out.

Alright, going to slather on more lotion and hit the hay. Adeu!

Aquacervezabeerfanta? Massaje?

The aforementioned title is the plethora of people who seem to have a radar that goes off as soon as you step foot on the beach, trying to sell you any number of gross drinks, coconut, or the endless ladies tapping you on the shoulder to offer you a massage. No, gracias!

Yesterday was an interesting day- one of the only days that I can remember when I had nothing concrete I had to do. I felt both guilty and elated to have the day to myself for the first time in a while, so I grabbed my spanish grammar notebook and headed to the Ciutadella park to lay and read and study spanish. It was exactly what I needed. I was able to stop worrying so much about finding more jobs, my future, blah blah and just revel in the moment. Really lovely park- a huge fountain, some outdoor cafes and loads of little places under trees where people were lounging and reading. I also had my daily cafe cortado at a cafe, which is a little ritual I've started doing as it forces me to slow down a bit, and lets me check out random neighborhood cafes! Sari came over later and then we watched Glee and made dinner, lovely.

Today was another beautiful day, and still is as it's still kind of early. I went to the beach today with my friends Jenny and Sari and weren't bothered by beach vendors as much, only about 5x every 6 minutes or so. It was GORGEOUS. Tonight we're going to the Born area of Barcelona which is near the Gothic section and has all these hidden tapas places, really excited!

Also trying to narrow down my choices between Simmons and Boston College for grad school. The decision is slowly getting easier as there's a possibility of having a graduate assistantship with BC in the Latin American/Spain study abroad programs which would ROCK. I'm just sick of not knowing, but I know I'll figure it out sooner or later. The hard part is trying to do this all across an ocean but so far, it's going okay. Poco a poco!

I'll have an Estrella and patatas bravas, por favor. Again and again and again

Back to being solo in Barcelona, taking a bit of adjusting! Mack flew off on a jet plane this morning to Dublin and then Boston, bring back with him a new appreciation/obsession for patatas bravas, Estrella beer, and his suitcase stuffed with my winter jacket. After my exciting Thursday of quitting my job, we celebrated Thursday night by going to the Gracia neighborhood and having some beers with Sari in the cool bar that had old Casper cartoons on in the background. Strange.

Friday had be feeling extremely agitated for some reason and I couldn't quite place where it was coming from. Then I realized- I was having ridiculous wanderlust and needed to get out of Barcelona(why does this happen). Mack was game for an adventure so we packed a bag and headed to the train station and bought a ticket to the first destination heading to.. Tarragona!... yeah, me either. I had my trusty Lonely Planet Spain book which told us that Tarragona was a romanticish city an hour south of Barcelona on the coast and filled with random Roman ruins. Perfect! It was a slightly rainy day so climbing up the ridiculous hill once we got there wasn't the most fun, but then we had AMAZING pizza (hard to find decent pizza here, not that I'm biased or anything). We stumbled upon a slightly sketchy hostal about a frankfurt bar (?) and then roamed around the small city!
Some highlights: the huge food market that had lobsters so fresh, they were still moving!
-the german beer place called Bierwinkle with 90's American music playing and awesome beer
-the gorgeously old ruins scattered around the city that no one has touched and inside just incorporate it into buildings and such
-we found a cafe that served coffee with Bailey's that is socially acceptable to drink at all times of day and quickly became regulars. Even though we were there for less than 24 hours.
-really great overnight trip. Got to see another town with gorgeous views of the coast!

Saturday ( I apologize for the slightly boring day-day play, it helps me to remember all that we did!) we came back from Tarragona and immediately upon coming home, my roommates asked me if we were ready to go to the "going away bbq" for my roommate Marcelo who returned to Argentina on May 17th. Clearly this was something Marcelo had told me about but clearly there had been a translation problem on my end! We ended up going with my roommates to this wicked gorgeous rooftop deck in Gracia. My German roommate Sandra was wonderful and spoke English with Mack who was justifiably overwhelmed by all the rambling Catalan,Spanish, French and German being spoken! It was so much fun, even though it rained off and on all afternoon, but there were huge hunks of beef and endless bottles of wine, not to mention a really pretty view of the beach and Sagrada Familia in the distance. My head started hurting immensely from all the conversations, which I really loved as it meant I was switching back and forth a lot during the afternoon. It was also fun to hang out with my roommates, never have done that as a full group before!
After the barbeque we met up with my friend Lauren and found a kitchy 60's bar with fantastic cava and sangria, and then went to meet up with Sari and her mom who was visiting and Lauren's Catalan friend, Gregori. I really love random evenings! We hung out on this outdoor terrace at this nothing-special bar and Gregori started teaching me some Catalan which I soaked up, it's so beautiful, and just hung out. No discotecas for us, which I was kind of glad about.

Sunday was a lazy day in the morning so Mack and I went to my local bar for some cafes con leche and patatas bravas before checking out the Sagrada Familia and then going to meet up with everyone to watch the super important La Liga futbol game between Barca and some team beginning with a V (forgot, whoops). It was INSANE. Everyone was decked out in Barca scarves, Catalan flags and cheering like mad when Barca won, which meant they won the entire Spanish league championship, called La Liga! The entire city then streamed through the streets to the Placa Catalunya where there was live music, HORDES of people cheering, waving flags, and policemen everywhere with billy clubs?! Ridiculous! Mack got his finger cut and my toes were stomped on and the madness didn't die down until like 6 hours after the game, everyone was still honking and cheering and walking in the streets! So amazing to be here for that! And a football fan is born..

Monday Mack and I went to Parc Guell which was really lovely, especially in the parts high up where you get panoramic views of the city! We didn't stay long, just long enough to get a good feel for it, and beat it before it got really crowded. We got some paella and then went to the beach which was a bit windy but so great and relaxing. We ended the day with some tapas hopping in the Born area which is my new favourite discovery- never had been there before, and its chalk full of tiny little streets with hidden bars, plazas and we found some really cool places that had chorizo, manchego cheese, mini burgers and fantastic red wine!

Tuesday, aka "Touristy Tuesday" had us going up in the funicular to Montjuic- the mountain near Plaza Espana that has this old castle and THE best view of Barcelona. You can see all the way to Parc Guell, the coastline, all the mountains around Barcelona, its exquisite. We got blessed with some wonderful weather so after some patatas bravas and Estrella beer we went to La Rambla for some necessary shopping, got some gelato and after a brief rest we went back to the Gracia neighborhood for some drinks, then the beach which is so tranquil at night with only like 6 people around, and then went to a local place near my apartment for some last patatas bravas and Estrella (Mack might go through withdrawls)

So, it was a wonderful visit. Wonderful week. Adjusting today to making a new routine for myself, being alone and picked up a Catalan book to begin teaching myself. Good things!

Barcelona: Phase Two!

Haven't posted lately, didn't even realize! Might be due to the fact that I have a special visitor here and we've been busy meandering around the city and sampling all the croissants and cafe con leche that Barcelona has to offer. It's wonderful to have Mack here; he's met some of my friends, gone to the beach and we're speaking a mixture of Spanish/English to each other which I absolutely love. We still have loads of time to explore since he's here til Wednesday, I'm so glad!

A brief recap of my week:
Last Monday Mack finally arrived after being delayed in Boston Logan airport and then again in Dublin airport for 7 hours, but he made it! We celebrated his first night with some patatas bravas( spicy potatoes) and some Estrella Damm, the local beer of Barcelona.
Tuesday we walked through La Rambla and La Boqueria food market all the way to the beach where we met up with my friend Sari and her bf Mike and ate on the beach, and then I went kicking and screaming to teach my English class while Mack frolicked on the beach again. We met up with a bunch of my friends at this cute ladybug bar where they give you a free tapa for every beer you drink. LOVELY.
Wednesday was one of my rough scheduled teaching days where I only have a few hours in between classes so Mack and I took it easy and made lunch at home and after my stupid 5 year old class we went to go meet up at La Oveja Negra (Black Sheep) with Sherry and Mircad who sadly left Barcelona on Thursday for California and Macedonia, respectively. It was wonderful, they're such an amazing couple, and I was able to get their advice on how best to deal with/handle the very exciting news that I'll write about in just a minute! We ended up then going to Obama bar, which is this British Africa bar with live music every night and stayed out until around 1ish, I was glad Mack got to see a bit of the Barcelona nightlife lifestyle, and of course got very sad saying goodbye to Sherry and Mircad as its just another goodbye. Cannot believe all the hello's and goodbye's that happen here in the span of a week!

So my big news happened on Thursday, when I had a startling revelation on the metro ride to work. I turned to Mack and basically asked, "um, why am I going to a job I hate when that's one of the reasons I left Boston and my previous job in the first place?" Then my mind started whirling as I realized as much as I've been trying to have a different outlook on teaching, and view it as a challenge to overcome, it's not even part of why I moved to Barcelona (I mean I guess it is in a sense, as something to support myself, but I have other options). I don't see why I should be miserable, even if just for a few hours a week, when I hate the job, it pays terrible, it leaves me little time to do things here I had planned to (such as Catalan classes, work on my Spanish, experience this fabulous city), especially if I'm not here for that much longer and would prefer to make the most of it. I went into the academy and ran into the director and told her outright that I have to leave the job, and before I could get a word in edgewise, she became so ANGRY and said "that's 4 changes we've had in teachers for your classes", which isn't my problem obviously but she was taking it out on me, and said she was so angry that I bailed on my teaching committment, and stormed out of the room. Okay..

I had to go back later that day to teach my last class and felt a mixture of guilt and elation on the way there ;guilt at bailing on this job but also elation at quitting it and realizing I was doing what was best for me in the end, and opening myself up to new experiences, like privately teaching students, etc. The director, Eva, asked me to come and talk to her and then she was all nicey nice, asking if I couldn't wait another month, and when I said no, she got angry but tried to mask it like she cared about why I was quitting. (I had said I was leaving, and she thinks I'm leaving the US, which I didn't dispute and keep feeling guilty about lying) Eva said that I can't get paid unless I personally come in to pick up the money, that one of my friends can't come and do it for me even though I signed an authorization sheet. I understand they're trying to make it hard for me and punish me a bit for quitting and it just reinforces the idea that they really just want a body to teach these classes. One of the other teachers, as i was leaving said to me, "wow those classes must be ridiculous as you're the 4th teacher to leave in 2 months!"

I told Sherry about it, as we had been discussing how I would quit if I did, and she had these amazing words of wisdom, " I know it's human nature (for good, nice people) to put off taking care of themselves and doing what they perceive will hurt someone else. I know you can feel the relief now that it's done. My advice is to remember THAT feeling and not the nervousness, guilt and trepidation you were feeling before. Doing so should help you not put up with misery in the future!"

I completely agree. Of course I was up half the night feeling guilty, wondering if I had made a mistake, but in the long run I'm so glad I did it, and proud of myself since confrontation sometimes makes me feel like I have to pee my pants. Onto the next phase!!

Volcanic ash, take a hike

Oh Sundays. Sometimes I get the "Sunday Blues" because basically everything around my apartment is closed, and there's only bread shops open for food, so typically I try to plan something to keep me busy and try to combat some of the loneliness that for whatever reason creeps in on Sundays. Today is a gorgeous gorgeous day so I plan on meandering down the beach and reading and laying in the sun. Also attempting not to focus on the fact that some airports are closed/delayed due to the annoying volcanic ash situation- hoping they all stay open so Mack can arrive tomorrow morning!!

Went to Siges this past Friday- I spent my birthday there but this was an overnight trip and I got to thoroughly experience the nightlife! Slightly disapointed, as all the bars closed at 3 and there wasn't even a huge array of gay bars, mostly it seemed it was people from Barcelona come to get out of the city for the night. Maybe this is one of those places like Provincetown in Cape Cod that doesn't get happening until June, who knows! It was really nice to see my friend Lauren there and she and I ended up deciding (why, I have no idea) to just stay awake until 6 and grab the first train back to Barcelona instead of sleeping for a few hours. We ended up getting back at 7 AM, needless to say that even after like 5 hours of sleep I was a zombie all day. There was a Barca game last night vs. Sevilla and Barca won! I'm loving this part of living here- going to dive bars and watching Barca futbol games with all Catalans who scream at the TV and chain smoke until I feel like I've smoked an entire pack of cigarettes myself.

Thursday night I went to this ridiculous bar called "Bosc de les Fades"- Fairy Forest in Catalan. Well, the bar is literally a fairy wonderland- filled with trees, hanging laterns, a little waterfall and there's even a fake thunderstorm every hour. Really cheesy and really awesome! My friend Jenny and I had a glass of cava and pretended like we were out in the woods, lovely evening.

Better go occupy myself and enjoy this weather!

The rain in spain does NOT fall mainly on the plains

It's a madhouse of rain in Barcelona- started Sunday night and is supposed to continue into Wednesday evening. This confirms what I already knew: I could never live in Seattle! I feel like everywhere all over the world is having freak weather lately, I heard Boston was 91 the other day? yikes!

Things are slowly getting better, as my sickness is pretty much gone and I successfully completed another Monday class with the 5 year old which miraculously, 3 didn't show up due to the rain so it was especially good and went by fast, thank goodness. I also had a lovely pedicure as a treat from Sherry, who is a fabulous woman from our TEFL program. My feet were pretty gross and it felt so great to be pampered for a bit. Sherry and her partner Mircad had Sari and I over on Sunday night for dinner, too- she made chicken tacos which blew my mind, and we even had chips and salsa (unheard of)! I love this pair- they're a middle aged couple who have lived all over the world and are now in Barcelona for a few months then planning on moving to Mexico to open a business together. Mircad is Macedonian and he is hysterical, I felt so welcomed into their home and NOTHING beats a homecooked meal.

Today I'm going to go check out a hatha yoga class and then teach my group of 9 year olds who I really like. My private student that I met over the weekend wants to meet on Thursday, so that's promising. A little bit each day, a little bit at a time, and I think I'll be alright.

Fun observation: I'm not joking when I say that if you ever ride the ridiculous amazing Barcelona metro (more on that later) you might be reading a book, or newspaper, and look up to find about 7 people starting at you very openly. Now, it doesn't mean you have something on your face or even that you look particularly attractive that day, they just STARE. I've been unable to get used to this as I typically choose to read something on the metro, having been taught that blatantly staring is rude.I know this is a cultural thing but I really can't get used to it, I try to stare back but get uncomfortable. I've felt tempted to use a Polaroid camera to take a picture of myself and hand it to people but I doubt they'd get the message, and film is expensive.

Barcelona metro= the best in the entire world, I'm convinced. Not only are there signs counting down the minutes AND seconds til it shows up, its usually clean, there's one every 3 minutes, and on each of the train cars, there's a lit up sign that shows which stop is next, AND a voice announcer telling you which is next. It's incredible and so fast, I love it!! Compared to the Madrid metro which lacks that and also chooses to list all the individual lines on every car so if you're not sure which line you're on, good luck to you!

a wee bit of sickness

Stuck inside of my own volition on this really beautiful Saturday. Started feeling slightly ill on Thursday only to have progressed into a bonafide wicked head cold and who knows what else by this morning. Trying to do what I do worst and stay inside and make myself feel better, but it feels like sheer torture. I know I have a huge problem of staying in one place but staying inside all DAY?! absolutely not. Going out later on to meet a potential student for private classes, really hoping this works out.

I hate to sound like a complete Debbie Downer, but things have been rough lately, and I know they will get better soon, it's just been tough to handle. I got my first payment yesterday from my academy teaching job and got screwed over, pretty much royally. I wasn't told that the student I have for 1.5 hours a week, the private student, pays me less than my other classes. And when I broke down the math of how much I get per hour for that horrendous group of 8 5 year old boys, it equates to about 1.50 Euros/hr per student. Yeah.
So yes, I was really upset and felt completely taken advantage of. And I feel like I'm stuck at this academy until I find something else, so I applied to a bunch of people who want private classes so hopefully that pans out incredibly soon. I need to get out of this job, I deserve better, I know I do.

Ending on a positive note: Only 9 days until Mack comes to visit (!), found free Catalan classes that I'm hopefully going to start this week, and tonight is another Barca game that I'll be watching. Yay positivity!

Madrid: the land of drag queens, Chicago hot dogs and gorgeous plazas

A few bulletpoints about my trip last weekend to Madrid, where I was from about 6:30 AM Friday until 7 AM Monday.

-Started the trip off right by cooking dinner with Sari and Stacy at Sari's apt before we braved the sketchy night bus and went to a bar to wait until it was late enough to go to the bus station, where apparently the entire population of Barcelona was also going to the Ryanair airport in Girona. We got to the airport around 4:30ish, and it was surprisingly busy; we're not the only ones who will do anything for a cheap flight.

-Arrived in Madrid and had to kill a few hours before we could check into our hostal, and we were so bleary eyed we barely noticed the gorgeous architecture, but managed to find a museo de jamon (ham museum) and had a quick bite of ham. Only in Spain.

-Our hostal was near Mercado de San Miguel- this gorgeous indoor market with different food and drink stalls, and it was also down the street from a tapas crawl, where there are restaurants for specific tapas like meson de tortilla( the egg and potato omelette), meson de la guitarra (guitar) and meson de champinones( mushrooms!) The first day was spent meandering the city, taking a WAY long nap, exploring the gay area Chueca where we found a cheap cocktail bar playing musicals, and then meeting up with our lovely friend Kate who was also in our TEFL program and is now living in Madrid as an au pair! We went to a cute little wine bar for 1 Euro glasses of vino tinto (red wine), then explored Chueca again where we met some fabulous drag queens named Vicky and I don't remember the other one, and explored the bars, it was fabulous.

On Saturday we roused ourselves to go check out J & J books, this amazing secondhand English bookstore, complete with a coffee bar! Ridiculous! Didn't get anything but was severely tempted. We then wandered to Plaza Espana where there was a neat outdoor market where we partook in some chocolate and churros, and then went to see the Palace which was gorgeous. Not too many tourist either! We basically then walked through the entire city to Retiro Park, which is the Central Park of Madrid and is simply wonderful. Lush green spaces, the Crystal Palace which is on a small lake, and another big lake where you can rent rowboats or sit at a small cafe next to it. Loved loved loved it. We then went to a small tapas place for some chorizo and patatas bravas, like always, and prepared to head out by buying cheap wine at a supermarket for 75 cents. 75 cents for a bottle of wine? get on that, USA!

We went out with Kate's friend Kathleen who is living Madrid and going to SLU-Madrid campus and has been for the past 4 years, really jealous. We went to the place across from our hostal, Mercado de San Miguel for cheap sangria, and then we hit up the Meson de la Guitarra for the best tortilla I've ever had and more sangria, and then somehow ended up at a Chicago Hot Dog place (!!!) And if you were wondering, a "Chicago Hot Dog" in Madrid consists of "Chicago Sauce", which is small pieces of bacon, or some kind of meat. Gross? maybe. Good deal? you betcha! Another long night of drinking out on the town, yet wonderful to spend time with these girls.

Our last full day began at El Rastro, the huge flea market that stretches for MILES. It was really hot out so naturally I was wearing a dress, and had a lovely encounter in which some sleazy guy tried to take picture down my shirt but Stacy swatted his camera away. Nasty, yet unfortunately, kind of typical. I can't tell you how many times I get touched or shouted at, it's hard to get used to it, and even harder to put up with! Didn't ruin our day though as we finished up with the flea market and then walked near the Prado museum and ended up at a sidewalk cafe with patatas bravas again and some other choice tapas before we did a bit of shopping near Plaza de Sol- the center of Madrid and the center of Spain itself, very big.
I even saw the hotel I stayed at when I was studying abroad in Sevilla and had orientation in Madrid!! We kept walking through the city and even had some man in a bunny suit with balloons follow us for a while. Typical day, really. Kate sadly had to go back to her house, so Sari, Stacy and I found a mexican food place (salivating as I write this) and kept walking through the city until it was time to pack and then head to the airport at 5 AM for yet another Ryan Air flight.

Madrid= TONS of sidewalk cafes, with people congregating in plazas drinking with their friends, and the city barely goes to sleep even on a Sunday, before 2 AM. The architecture is gorgeous, very old yet taken care of, and I found the Madrileno accents easier to understand than Barcelona accents. I loved walking through the city, seeing how many amazing cafes there are, and so many plazas! I could see myself living here at some point in my life, I'll add it to the ever growing list.

Also amazing is how well the 3 of us traveled together- usually I need my own space at some point but we seemed to just mesh so well together, we were so lucky! Also our hostal was wonderful- cheap and clean, and we had a balcony that overlooked the mercado that we drank sangria at. A lovely, lucky weekend!

Funny moment: We were in the supermarket buying wine when this old man with pants up to his armpits comes up to me and points to my dress and asked me if I was cold, and I said "oh no, I just wanted to wear a dress" and he goes, " me too" and opens his coat to pretend he was wearing a dress. He then proceeded to become enamoured of Kate who has blond hair and took her hair and put it on his head, saying he wished he had hair like hers. Ridiculous.

Love Madrid. Go visit, if you can!

Cccccchanges

I feel like since I moved over here on this side of the ocean, I tend to feel emotions much more intensely, and they can change so incredibly fast for some reason. I'm feeling particularly melancholy at the moment as one of my good friends from the TEFL program, Stacy, is leaving in a few hours to go back to the US, and I feel like I'm constantly saying goodbye to people, almost every week! It's even a bit worse as I tend to be a bit crap at handling change, so having people leave who have shared in this experience with me, is really difficult to handle at times. Stacy, Sari and I had a FABULOUS trip to Madrid which I'll recount tomorrow, and that makes it even harder to deal with her leaving, as I tend to see her almost every day, whether it's exploring a new area of the city or giving her Spanish lessons in smoky haven cafes where we leave smelling like ashtrays.

I'm actually very positive about the next few days as I have plans for each day which tends to make things feel better- kind of like how I love having a weekly routine now, it definitely helps with the rollercoaster emotions. But apparently even that wasn;t enough when I had a minor freakout about money yesterday and started crying when I tried to buy an apple and didn't have enough money on me. Might not sound like a big deal, but it felt like one to me.

Watched the Barca vs. Inter Milan football match tonight with some friends, which is ridiculously fun and anxious at the same time. Sadly, Barca lost, but I'm loving living in a city that appreciates sports other than American football which makes me want to throw myself out the window.

Off to bed, teaching tomorrow and then a break for a few days. Asi es la vida!