A triumphant return

As everyone probably knows I am no longer in Spain, but I have been asked to return to blogland (I'm pretty sure I made that one up). As of this hour, I am supposed to be studying for all that approaches, but blogging is a better idea. I bought four magazines today, three of which are health magazines. Oh how times have changed. I'm trying to stay healthy; it is proving more difficult than having the set menus I was used to but I am at least maintaining (and losing slowly). This is all I really care to discuss for the moment but hopefully I will have something more interesting to say in the coming posts. LOVE

Final Today

I just finished my final. Wow! I can´t believe this is almost the end. I have had the most incredible time. I honestly can´t even put into words how I feel about Spain. I´m ready to be home to talk incessantly about Spain, but I would mind staying longer or returning immediately! This has been the time of my life, and I don´t want it to end. We leave Valencia Wednesday morning for Madrid. Then we fly out Thursday. You can prepare yourselves for annoying stories (you can just hit me when I repeat myself). I am excited to see all of you so we can catch up (and so you can keep me upbeat). I love you all so much and we will be reunited very soon!

My HILARIOUS padre

Dear papí, you are too much! Your humor is rather vulgar no? Despite the vulgarity, I cracked up. What a joker. We did a tour of a public hospital today- all I can say is "just say no to universal healthcare". Super super super scary. Yesterday we got traditional drinks called horchata... one word interesante... Tonight we´re watching the champion´s cup. Go Barça! ¡Amunt! (Spanish cheer). I am having so much fun here as America looms in the near future. I could stay here much longer. I will update again soon, maybe some more pictures (of historical sites and food, not what my FATHER would have you think there were). Love you all mucho! Todos son en mi corazón. (everyone is in my heart)

Chicos

Sorry mi padre this post is necessary for the ladies in my life. Update on awesome bartender from Uruguay. Pretty much Mr. Perfect. He´s a musician (piano, guitar, drums), he´s an artist (sketches and photography), really smart (a student in English and special effects for movies), has a dog (a giant cute English sheep dog), knows where Marietta, GA is because he almost moved there once (?!?!), AND he tells me I´m gorgeous! Ah the life in Spain. I tell you those American boys could really learn something!

For my father: I am learning (the entire human body as a matter of fact) and taking lots of pictures. We have a super busy week this week (lots of hospital and school visits and three quizzes! ). I have nightmares about my bag being too heavy on the way back!! What a goob no? I love you all.

Pictures etc...

Hola Amigos y Mi Familia!
I hope everyone is doing great. I'm absolutely fabulous. I'm over half way done with my trip, and there's no way I'll be ready to get back home. No offense to any of you. I just feel like I haven't gotten in nearly enough culture or Spanish. I love it here. We keep going on such great adventures. I'll start where I left off before... Barcelona:
We started with a 5 am train ride on Saturday (yes 5 AM!!). We arrived in Barcelona around 9:30. What a crazy place. People were bustling all over, it feels like NYC big time! We headed to our hostel which was much nicer than I expected. It was actually really neat to stay there. We headed out around the Gothic Quarter to go to the Barcelona Cathedral (designed by my favorite architect, Antoni Gaudi). It's really pretty. After we lit some candles and said a few prayers, we headed to see la Sagrada Familia; one of the most impressive sights you'll ever see. It's also designed by Gaudi. It will be under construction for a long time because Gaudi died during its construction. We ate dinner at the marina for traditional Paella (oh my gosh, delicious!). AFter our yummy din din we headed "home" to get ready to go out. We never actually made it to a bar though because Barcelona won the cup that night and there were amazing parties in the streets (so much fun!). (As a side note, we also met this American on the train, he was so gorgeous, but turned out to be super annoying, is that the worst thing you've ever heard?)
Sunday was another fabulous adventure day, we went to Park Guell (another Gaudi design, perfect weekend for me!). Barcelona is Gaudi's city. If you ever go to Barcelona, this should be at the top of your list to see. Everything has mosaic tiles on it (miles of park!!). Words cannot even encompass this place. We walked around and just enjoyed the sites of Barcelona for a bit. While some people went to a bullfight (not my thing) we sat and people watched then danced with an old man to the Peruvian flute band. It was so fun. We ended up tooling around too long and had to run through the streets and metros of Barcelona to get to our train on time. We had a whopper of a weekend that didn't end until about 1:30 Monday morning.

This week, we had our first two quizzes (91 and 99, woo hoo!). We've also gone a few "expeditions" of sorts. We went to get Churros and chocolate (yum), the bullfighting museum (enough bullfight for me), a Flamenco show (wow is all I can say!), we climbed to the highest point in Valencia (a tower at the Cathedral), and we went to a really cool museum about enlightenment and thought. Today we went Xativa, a town with castles and mountains. We hiked up to the castle (and when I say hike, I mean HIKE!). It was really worth it though because we got to see a beautiful view. I won't need any extra work after that one. It was a really fun day though, we laughed the whole time. I really got lucky because we really get along well. I'll go ahead and put up some pictures here and maybe a few on Facebook. (I"d like to give a shoutout to my Mrs. Boss, you know who you are. I love you so!)

My first experience with wind turbines, they are huge and amazing! We saw them on the way to Valencia from Madrid.

Our great group with some singers.

This picture is for Jes because I know how much you love la Plaza de la Virgen.

The six girls from one room in the hostel!


Paella!

Party in the street after Barcelona won. So much fun. Yes that is fire you see!

Short Response to my Father´s post...

Daddy- I am learning lots! My Spanish is about a million times better (it´s sort of fast now) and I can take you to the doctor´s office in a Spanish speaking country :) I´m just also learning about the culture as well haha! Another quiz today. Longer post soon. Love you pops. No worries, still no son-in-law for you.

Also to my beautiful Claire- I will try with all my might to make it to Nueva York. However, my bank account will need some therapy first. We will talk though!

I missed the season finale of 24!?!?!

As my dear Trey has informed me, I have missed the season finale of 24. This is very terrible news, however I know my dear sweet father recorded it for me (then we can talk all about it my beautiful BFF/little brother). So, as I said I have a lot of catching up to do!!! First off Valencia is amazing! Second, Concha, my house mother is so great. We got really lucky. She takes such good care of us and makes sure we have a good time. We've already had four classes and a quiz (another tomorrow). This trip is going by so quickly. So far, we've walked almost everywhere, but the Spanish food makes up for the extra activity, so don't worry, I won't be a rail when I get back. Haha. I've gone to the beach a few times and got burned of course. The sand is really different here, it's super fine and gets stuck EVERYWHERE!!! We went out our first night to watch a huge football game between Barcelona and Bilbao. Barcelona is on their way to a championship so it was a lot of fun to watch. Barcelona won, it was very exciting. The next night, we went out to a few different bars and danced the night away... so fun! I also finally met my first nice Spanish boy :). He was the bartender, but super cool. Funny story too... when I was walking into the house, I accidentally rang the doorbell and woke Concha up at 4 am.... WHOOPS! She's awesome, she just laughed at me. Now, prepare yourselves for my crazy weekend.... Sorry, I have to go to a flamenco show now, I know that was a tease. Hopefully I'll get a chance to update tomorrow with pictures of my weekend and my awesome friends! Love you all.