25 and looking fine

Well it's official. I just turned 25, and 2 separate people asked me if I was turning 21. Must be all this helpful skin cream I'm using, keeps me young.

I had a fabulous birthday here in Spain. My lovely friends, Sari and Stacy, came over to my flat bright and early to take me to Sitges, a nearby gorgeous beach town and the gay capitol of Spain- I was sure to love it! I was slightly under the weather as the night before my birthday I'd gone for a goodbye dinner for my friend Erin who was going back to the States, and ended up having a few drinks bought for me as the clock stuck 12. It was very nice!

The train ride to Sitges is only about 25 minutes, and you can see the ocean on your left for most of it. It's fairly good-sized, I think, and we meandered the streets, marveling at the gay bars and little winding streets where a car could barely fit down, when we came upon.. a BAGEL SHOP. We pretty much beat the door down and ordered bagels with salmon and cream cheese and one with pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes. Incredible. They also happened to have soy milk, and I had an actual LATTE on my birthday. Perfect! It was called El Arte del Cafe, write that down.

Our friend Lauren had just moved to Sitges the day before to become an au pair so she came and met up with us and took us all along the beach and up to this old art museum so we could see the views- beautiful. We even had some amazing hazelnut gelato (or at least i did) to celebrate my 25 years, and the amazingness of Sitges. I fell in love with that place immediately, and am so excited to come back when the weather is a bit nicer and go to the beaches that aren't so crowded that you have to practically sit on someone's lap for a space (Barceloneta, I'm talking about you).

We left Sitges so I could go teach a group of 3 9 year olds (more on the teaching experience later), which went fairly well, and then I came home to decompress for a bit when Stacy and Sari showed up with red wine and an amazing chocolate and crema de catalan cake from Corte Ingles, complete with edible chocolate candles!! It was lovely, and my roommates all gave me hugs and wished me happy birthday. We headed out to this irish pub, Wild Turkey Tavern, where a bunch of my TEFL classmates/friends were meeting us, and I ended up being able to see about 10-12ish of my friends here, I felt so incredibly special.

Of course a birthday night isn't complete without roaming around La Rambla and going to an Australian bar where the bartender wished me luck on my 21th birthday (seriously?) and gave me a free drink. The group trickled down into a few diehard members who found this dancing place that was underground and they were playing old school Madonna and Michael Jackson hits, and as we left, we ran into a group of Norwegians who also wished me a happy 21th birthday (I really didn't get it) and bought us some drinks. I was ready to head home, being a whole quarter of a century old, around 3 AM when the last of the partyers- Sari, Justin and I, hopped on a night bus and went home.

It was lovely, and I did get a bit sad being away from everyone this year, but definitely feel grateful for this amazing experience. and spending my 21th birthday in Espana. Que bueno!