Barcelona

Welcome to Barcelona!

This city is AMAZING! I wish I had come here to study abroad instead of crumby old London. There is so much here, and the weather is beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere.

And the food... magnificent.

Tonight at dinner we shared our meal with a little black cat who was walking amongst the tables. She was a skinny little cat so I dropped her some of my salmon. But she wouldn't eat any of my salmon, which was curious because she looked hungry. Then she disappeared. A little while later she returned, followed closely by a kitten, who proceeded to consume all of the salmon I had dropped for his mother. I stroked the cat while she watched her kitten eat, and I swear she was smiling at me. I fed her some salmon so I was certain she had eaten, and she ate every last drop. Then another kitten came, and it all got too crazy and we were leaving the restaurant but it broke my heart to part with the cat, she was such a sweet cat, and she knew exactly how to make me fall in love with her (it's probably because I miss my Kitty).

Earlier this evening, we were walking down to the beach so my mother could put her feet in the Mediterranean Sea, when we came across a man on a bike. Not just any man on a bike, though, a man on a bike wearing... only a bike. He was completely nude!

I got pictures. It'll take me a while to figure out whether Americans are sexually repressed (in that we giggle at nudity and think it's obscene) or if Europeans are too sexually liberal.

Barcelona is amazing, we've walked all over the city so far. This morning we went to Monserrat, which is this really interesting old Monastery in the mountains outside of Barcelona, but it's more like Disneyland in the mountains, with music and dancing and food and liquor. It was awesome.

My internet isn't working (I'm writing this on my friend's laptop right now) so I will upload pictures when I get back to Londontown or if the internet in Madrid works after Tuesday :)

Happy October!

Happy October! I blog very sporadically and I feel bad, but I'm pretty busy (fortunately).

This weekend we're going to see Stonehenge, which apparently you can't get very close to it at all but still, how could I come to London and not see Stonehenge.

Next weekend three of my friends are visiting from Ireland (two from Belfast and one from Cork). It'll be awesome to show them around London, it's too bad they can't stay longer because there is so much to do here.

Three weekends from now I'll be journeying to Spain with my friend (who is here studying with me) and we'll meet my mother in Barcelona. We'll be in Barcelona for a few days and then we'll head to Madrid. Hopefully getting out of this stuffy London air will do me some good, I've been trying to kick a miserable cough for over two weeks now. Being in this city is not doing a thing for my asthma.

The first weekend in November we're going to Cork to visit our friend who is studying abroad in Ireland.

The second weekend in November we're thinking either Krakow, Poland or Munich, Germany. I'd also like to get to Flanders, Belgium, and that might be the best weekend for that trip.

The third weekend in November we're headed to Norway. I'm really excited to try and test of the little Norwegian I know, and hopefully get to the Viking Museum and maybe see the Oslo Fjords (we'll be in Oslo).

The following Monday Hillary gets on a plane and comes to London (she won't arrive until Tuesday morning) to visit, which is very exciting. I'll show her around London for a few days (though I'll be in class until Thursday) and then on Thursday my friend's family is coming and we're all going to Paris for the weekend. Hillary and I will come back early so that I can get her on her flight home Sunday morning.

By then it will be the first weekend in December and three of my friends and I are going to Disneyland Paris. I absolutely cannot wait for this trip.

After that we only have one free weekend before finals start, which I'm sure we'll be using for studying. Then we have some free time after finals, but we leave for home on the 20th of December (which will be another adventure in and of itself).

So we have a lot planned for the future, hopefully I'll get to see some more musicals (I've already seen Sister Act the Musical and I want to see the Birdcage and Billy Elliot) and get outside London a little bit more with classes or day trips.

Happy October everyone!

Weekend 2: Inverness, Scotland

This weekend we will be traveling to Inverness, Scotland, in search of the Loch Ness Monster!! Stay tuned for pictures of the journey!

The bus ride there is around 13 hours long, we leave London at 11 pm and arrive Inverness around 11:30 am. We check in to our hostel around noon, and from there we can hit all the tourist traps and buy some plaid and have a great time (no haggis though, blehhh).

We stay one night in the hostel, since the first and third nights are taken up with the 13 hour bus journey, but that's okay because I am not too keen on being in a hostel anyway.

We leave Inverness around 8 pm Saturday night and arrive around 7 am in London. Sunday will most likely be spent catching up on sleep, gorging ourselves with food and doing any last minute homework.

Classes started, so now studying, reading and homeworking have become a main priority. Travel has taken a backseat, sadly, but we are still in London, the city that never sleeps and the city from which you can travel to almost any destination in the world (and almost any destination in Europe for a really good price).

Wish us safe bus rides and a pleasant stay in our hostel!