I bought a bike a few weeks ago and is the greatest purchase ever made here! Her name is Aiesha.. and she is straight from the 80s. Think fluorescent yellow, pink, and purple. I feel that it is majorly helping with my foot.. because its not as much pressure as walking. I love it. HOWEVER… last night, I totally had an intense fall, and am feeling the pain today. It was raining, and Caitlin and I were riding home from the Cafe…. hit the curb wrong and went flyying!! Embarasssssing! Stupid Aiesha!!! But its okay…. Ill put pictures of her too!!! I had a photo shoot by the beach when it was so warm in San Sebastian.

Its been pretty sunny here, although with the breeze its pretty cold. And then sometimes out of no where it will start raining. Its pretty weird weather.. but hopefully soon it will be time to sit on the beach! (probably not to soon though…)

It always takes me so long to post all my pictures, and write about the adventures that I take when I travel, but better late than never! The weekend before last… Feb 16-20, my girlfriends and I went on another adventure. This time.. it was to celebrate el Carnaval!! which is a celebration for Lent, and Easter.. and kinda similar to what we have in the good ol U. S. of A. But here in Spain, they go allll out!! Tuesday, is when “Lent” starts, and so the weekend is the last time for everyone to indulge and celebrate. Everyone dresses up in Costumes, masks, wigs…. and dance, sing, and parade in the streets. I read that Cadiz was one of the towns that celebrated the biggest!! Cadiz is a city in the very south of Spain, more on the west of the Country. We had a four day weekend, so we also wanted to see some other places, and decided on first flying into Malaga… which is also south, but more on the east side. We bused it all night friday (12am-7ish) to Madrid, to barely making our flight to Malaga at 8amish…. it was crazy running through the airport, but an experience that made the ending that much more interesting We spent all day of the 17th, the night, and half of the 18th in Malaga. The weather was sooo amazing!! It was sunny and pretty warm when we got there… warm enough to wear my bathing suit top on the beaches! You can see yourself how beautiful it was from the millions of pictures that I took…. I think I was obsessed with the beach when we first got there. Malaga was alot more mellow than Cadiz, only small celebrations at night, and very calm in the day. Saturday night was my first night without my boot!!!! NO BOTA! haha It was pretty exciting, since Ive had to wear this stupid thing for a lot longer than I expected or wanted…. A little painful, and I still wear it everyday but hey, I thought…. special occasion, I wanna indulge!! On Sunday, we took another bus ride to Cadiz, and it rode all along the coast, and was also a beautiful day! Arrived the early evening, and after finding and settling into our hotel rooms, we went down to the beach and to find some food. The beach wasnt as pretty as Malaga… and neither are as gorgeous as San Sebastian…. but still nice! Monday the 19th… we took a fairy to the actual town of Cadiz… because we stayed about 15minutes outside, due to every other hotel being booked!! and toured the city. It was a little overcast…. which sucked because it was a rare occasion that it wasnt sunny! Of all the times for it to be overcast?!?! Oh well…..then the last of our adventures for the day was a bus tour of the city! Christi and Julie talked a bus driver into taking us on a 30min tour.. on one of those double decker buses. So we had the whole top to ourselves, and we just rode around and took pictures and saw the beautiful city. The people in the town loved it… and waved and were yelling hello at us and were so excited. The people in the south of Spain definitely seem to be a lot sweeter and more pleasant to be around. People here are a little harsh, but oh well. The nights were pretty crazy, but we saw the most action on that monday the 19th. The town had hundreds and hundreds of people in the center… all kinds of shops and kiosks open, and many people in costumes parading around and singing.. pictures should be up, if not now.. very soon Unfortunately, we missed our bus to get back to Malaga from Cadiz on tuesday… and had to take a 3 hr taxi ride. But hey.. again just made the experience that much more exciting and adventures to talk about. The cab driver eventually had to tell Caitlin, Sabrina, and I to stop talking and laughing so hard because his head hurt.. hahahahha. poor taxi driver. But we made it safe and sound to Malaga… and made our flight to Madrid!!! We had to spend a lot of time waiting at the bus station and airport… and finally after another midnight bus ride returned in time for a nap, and school on Wednesday!!

It was another great trip… so minor mishaps.. but as my good friend Sabrina says… “What are you going do? we can we do?” haha Just gotta keep on keepin on

I am taking it easy, and now going to enjoy the town I live in, until my next adventure of Ireland for St. Patricks day!! Me and Caitlin are going, with some other friends from school… and hope to have the time of our lives!

Enjoy the gorgeous pictures of Malaga and Cadiz, and will talk to everyone soon!

loveeeeees!

Last Friday- 2/9/7… my friends and I, and a bunch of students from our program went to a cideria! It was really fun- posted some of the new pictures. The cideria has like a family style dinner, with bread, fish, meat, and stuff that is brought out to a looooong table. Everyone eats and talking and stuff… and all along the walls there are barrels of Cider. Cider is like a hard apple cider, kinda weird tasting but the taste grows on you. Its awesome how big the barrels are and how many there are! Theres someone who opens and closes the valves of the barrels, and it shoots out and you just hold your glass underneath it and fill it up. It was fun.

This weekend is a 4day weekend for us… in celebration of the Carnaval! Its a big celebration here… for Lent I believe, and we are going all the way down South– To Cadiz. Its a city that celebrates it BIG TIME! Supposedly with costumes and all kinds of stuff. We leave tomorrow, and will be back late on Tuesday night.

ALSO— soon enough, I will unveil pictures of my new bike… Yes one of the greatest purchases made here for me in Spain. haha The bike is beauuuutiful. so wait for those.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Barcelona! It was such an awesome city! My friend and I left on Thursday night (feb 1), around 11.. for an 8hr train ride. The train was cool, first time on one… and our rooms had beds so we could sleep (saves a night in a hostal and a whole day or traveling!) Sabrina, Caitlin, Brett, Aaron, and I all had a room together on the train and drank wine and sang while Brett played the guitar.. So fun! We arrived in Barcelona on Friday morning around 830 and trecked around to find our hostal. After checking in and getting sorta settled.. we all went out to breakfast. We had an awesome group with us… all the people mentioned above plus Lauren, Aubrey, Christy, Aaron, and Javi. The first day had beautiful weather!! The sun was shinning and it was such a great change from the cold. We walked around, took pictures, checked out the water, did some shopping, found a starbucks!, and then took a little nap before we got ready for the night. The nightlife in Barcelona is a complete change from what it is during the day. The day is gorgeous with so many people and pretty things, and the night (at least the part we were at) was kind of gross. Prostitutes, she-men, and lame bars. Haha It was interesting to see it though! We ended up just cruising around, checking out some stuff, and ended up a pincho-bar for some wine. The bar was right next to Barcelona’s cathedral. (but it was to dark to take pictures). Then Saturday we wanted to go to all the monument and touristy stuff… so we first set out to the Temple of the Sagrada Family (its like the royal temple) The architect is Antoni Gaudi… and he designed lots of building all around Barcelona. I posted pictures of not only the Temple but Park Guell, and some of his other work around the city… Needless to say, this guy was amazing!! The Temple itself was started in 1882… and is still being worked on today! Gaudi finished the drawing of what the whole Temple would be around 1890, and then he died in 1926. A lot of the Temple is complete, but so much more is being done. The expected year for it to be finished is 2025. I would love to go back and see the finished piece!! After seeing the inside, and out of the Temple, we went to Park Guell. It is the Museum of Gaudi, and it was once his house.. from 1906-1926. The view of his backyard is goegeous! (look at the pictures) something I definitely wouldn’t mind waking up to every morning. The house had some of his original work, he also did furniture and ceramic pieces. The park itself is just filled with buildings and sculptures, and tiles, and all kinds of stuff in such beautiful colored ceramic tiles. It had a view of the city and.. ahh.. I just cant express how amazing it was! Luckily we had Sabrinas camera, and Caitlin’s friend Beccas for back up, because my battery died!!! I was so bummed but still got a good amount of pictures to show for. After eating some lunch (amazing pizza!) and drinking some “café con leches” we ended back for the hostal. On the way, we stopped at this store, Cortez Ingles, which is like the “”Target”” of Spain, but better! It has everything!! The bottom floor is a grocery store with everything imaginable. (except goldfish crackers) They even had peanut butter!!! Which is so weird that they don’t have it really in Europe. Definitely haven’t seen any in San Sebastian. I finally bought a straighter for my hair too… cuz mine broke in Madrid the first week! My hair has been outta control and now I finally feel like I am looking normal. Haha. We bought some snacks for the train ride home and some other stuff and then headed to the hostal. We all got ready for the night, and then all the girls hung out and drank wine and talked for a couple hours. Our group was sooo great!! Got along so well, then we all headed to these bars and discotecas above the water. This night was definitely better than the previous. We danced away for a while… had our fun, called it a night. Good times. Sunday was our last day there, and unfortunately half of the group was heading home in the afternoon. Our train was leaving at 10pm that night. That’s really the best way to travel! After they left, Caitlin, Sabrina,Aaron, Lauren, and I went to the Picasso museum. It was interesting.. all of his work was divided by his life. With the first room starting with his first drawings and training, to the last room having his amazing work!! I got some posters and stuff and am excited to frame them when I get home! Look for the pictures!! Afterwards Sabrina, Caitlin, and I walked around and looked at all the people and bought some souveniers. The streets were filled with people dressed up in costumes and stuff… the first day we saw Edward scissor hands!! I loved it!! There were lots of cool costumes. We ended the night all eating at the Hard Rock Café before the train ride home. It was nice to hear the fun music and eat some good ol greasy American food! Mmmmmm. The train ride home was kinda lame, the air conditioner was broken, and the door kept making lots of noise.. Oh and my Ipod died! Ha buuut I studied for my test and then just passed out! We got back to San Sebastian at 730am on Monday(feb 5).. and I had a test at 230! I ended up getting a “b” with is good.. but not what I wanted ☺  Next time I am going to get an “a”!! Although school is getting a lot more tough, Il be able to handle it!

So that was my Barcelona weekend! This weekend Im staying in San Sebastian and I am really going to explore the city.. theres still some places I haven’t been, and would like to see. Tomorrow night (Friday), I am going with a huge group of people to something called a … Cideria? Cideria is this drink here, and theres like barrels of it on the walls? Ha I am not to sure yet… only have heard some stories.. but its family style dinner, with a whole bunch of people. Something a lot of locals go to, so I am excited to speak some Spanish!! Me and my friends met some Spanish woman who lived in California for like 50 yrs at the café this morning, told us it was so nice to hear English. Haha Aww that was nice!! But, Ill post more about the cideria, and pictures of course. Hope everything is wonderful with everyone and talk with you soon. ☺

Miss youuu! Love youu!

Its been again.. way to long since I have written! I was suppose to keep it updated all the time… but the internet time here is so scarce. After reading and replying to my emails.. and of course myspace It seems like ive already been on for hours! Sooo the snow is over! Only lasted for a few days, thankfully! It was sunny for a few days, but still extremely cold! It was between -1 and 6 degrees celcius. Yesterday though it did start to drizzle.

Last weekend I went to a “sociedad” dinner with some of my girlfriends. It was really cool. I had actually learned about them a few days prior in my culture class. Sociedads are these groups of friends that have a meeting time everyweek, same place, same time roughly… and they make these dinners for everyone. So our local friend that we met invited us, cuz he was going to be making dinner. Some guys from the Real Socieodad soccer team came… (not the big time team, it was like second string or something haha) and it was awesome just trying to communicate in spanish. We were all around the same age and laughed so much because we didnt know each others languages. I have been meaning to post some pictures, but you know how that goes…. Look for them though!!

ALSO– on Sunday, I went to this monument of Jesus (i forget the name of it) and its up this huge mountain. The scenery from the top is gorgeous!! I just keep thinking how romantic it looks and how I can wait to share the experience with Ryan when he gets here   I would looove for everyone to be able to hike up there with me, but I hope you enjoy the pictures just as much. (they will be up soon too!)

This weekend a group of us are going to Barcelona!! I am soo excited, lots of pictures will be posted about that, and a blog as well We are leaving tonight at 11ishpm and will arrive there tomorrow about 730ishAM by train. Long ride, but I plan on sleeping and studying!! I have my first exam on Monday at 245pm. (my train is scheduled to arrive back home at 730isham that same day) sooo lets all hope everything goes smoothly!!

Wish me luck for this weekend, and my exam on Monday. Love you all. miss you!