Shenanigans in Barcelona!

I know it has been a while since I posted because not too much has happened since the last post.  My school went on strike again (typical) and Melissa and I literally bummed around the piso for a while.  Nothing too eventful.  Well this past weekend we went to Barcelona... all I can say is shenanigans.  Last week was not a good week for me and I was really upset and kind of wanted to come home so this might be the main reason why the shenanigans occurred.  Melissa and I went to visit some friends that we met at Oktoberfest.  Friday was not too crazy.  We just walked around the city (which is beautiful) and then hung out at a bar.  Saturday we woke up early and went and saw the Casa Batllo and La Sagrada Familia.  We also walked around Las Ramblas and went to the market (which was amazing-  you can see it in my pictures).  We also walked up to the Hospital de Sant Pau.  Barcelona is very well known for its architecture and the artist Gaudi so most of the sights we saw dealt with these two.  We went and had typical tapas and beers at a local bar and watched some futbol to finish up the day.  Saturday night is when it started to get a little crazy.  We met up with our friends and started drinking at their place and then went to the bar.  I honestly don't think I had that much too drink... but I just drank it in a short amount of time.  Apparently on the walk home I gave a street vendor (man from Pakistan... aka Paki) 20 euros and told him to give me as many beers as that would get me... so I got 30 beers (side note... they hide them in the sewage grates) While carrying them in plastic bags up the street back to our friends place apparently I "broke" the bag and dropped all of the beers (side note... Barcelona is very hilly)  so they were rolling down the street.  (This happened on the street and in the stairwell up to their door)... oops (I hope no one wanted to drink them)  We stayed here for a little bit and then 3 of us decided we wanted McDonalds (hahaha too bad they don't have Cook Out)  so we went and I ordered a Big Mac, Large Fry and Water.  I ate the pickles and 2 bites out of the burger and said I can't do this.  (not because I was going to be sick but because I was tired)  "I can't eat this anymore I'm too tired and I'm going to fall asleep"  So I did.  I feel asleep in Melissa's lap in McDonalds.  So Melissa ate my burger and our friend at my fries.  At this point I told our friend to walk Melissa home and I was going to stay at McDonalds.  Melissa asked where I was going to stay and apparently I planned on sleeping at McDonalds.  When they got up to throw their trash away I went to the bathroom hoping that they would just let me stay at McDonalds.  Thankfully I have an amazing roommate who saved the day and made sure I made it back home that night :)  oops... I'm still a light weight (sorry mom dad and whoever else in my family is reading this and is worried about me).  We still had all day Sunday to see some of Barcelona so we went to the soccer stadium,  the Harley Davidson store (yep dad I have pictures... actually pretty cool), Parc Guell (amazing views of the city and some of Gaudi's most famous architectural work) and I went inside La Sagrada Familia (amazing and beautiful... hard to believe it is still being built and has been under construcion since 1882!!)  After that we bought some souvenirs for people and then called it a day with a bottle of wine, large pizza and gummy bears!  Of course I also went down to the beach and put my toes in the sand.  It was definitely a great weekend that I needed.  This week we are celebrating Thanksgiving with a lot of our American friends here but it won't be the same (turkey is too expensive so we are substituting with chicken).  Wish I was home for this holiday since it is one of my favorites but guess what I'll be home in 32 days!!! See you all soon!!

The Magical Romance of Paris... with my Roommate

So my roommate Melissa and I went to Paris for the weekend!!! It was absolutely amazing but first I must say that you have to go here with your significant other.  It felt like Melissa and I should have been dating and we kept getting asked to take pictures for other couples (this was the worst thing about Paris)  I had heard terrible things about how dirty it was and how rude the people were but I must refute all these statements and say that Paris was no dirtier than Madrid in my eyes and considering that I think people in Madrid are some of the most rude people in Europe I would definitely say that people in Paris were welcoming and helpful.  We stayed in the Montmartre district and I wouldn't have wanted to stay anywhere else!  We saw the Eiffel Tower and rode to the top (it was freezing so I recommend doing it during the day or in the spring/summer), the Louvre (yes Mona Lisa is tiny but it doesn't help that they put the largest painting I've ever seen opposite from it),  Notre Dame (we went to the top and went in the bell towers and I must say the coolest thing I did in Paris with the most spectacular views), Sacre Coeur (stunning work on the inside of the basilica), and the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens (was beautiful even though most of the leaves had fallen so I can only imagine what it looks like in the spring or right before the leaves fall).  Other than that we shopped and ate our way through Paris.  I will hopefully be making a return trip after New Years to visit Versailles, the Catacombes, and Père Lachaise Cemetery (where Jim Morrison is buried).  Some of the best food I have had thus far was in Paris.  Traditional french onion soup (AMAZING), crepes filled with everything from banana and nutella to sugar and jam, and pastries and croissants.  Melissa and I had a great time travelling just the two of us and laughed at each other tripping over everything (mostly me- twice in a row up the steps to Sacre Coeur), being delirious (from lack of sleep and walking an average of about 6-10 miles a day) and developing blisters on the bottoms of our feet (from flat shoes, not heels).  Pictures are posted on facebook or at the bottom of my blog on the Flickr page.  On to this week in Madrid... I had a three hour day yesterday (that didn't start until 10:20) and today teachers were on strike so I went in for one hour :)  please keep striking because this helps my sleep schedule.  Laying low this weekend in Madrid with a trip to Barcelona coming up in the middle of November then Thanksgiving and then travelling for my birthday (since it's a holiday-- thank you Catholics)  I hope everything is well back home... Happy Birthday to my brother, dad, and Nana (hope it's great) and thinking about mom today (hope your visit with the doctor goes well)... I will post in a week or two unless something eventful happens!!