Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I forgot how much I love not sharing a room!

As you can tell, it is no longer Sunday. In fact...it's almost the following Sunday. This week has been absolutely NUTS!! Plans were made and changed and now there's nothing to do but sit in the sun, which I'm currently doing, and relax with a book/homework. Mmmmm. This is seriously the best weather of my LIFE!!! Man, I love outside. Ok, so, like last time, I've kind of forgotten some events of my week, so just fill in the blanks with your own stories. Sweet. I posted on Tuesday so I'll start with Wednesday.

Last Wednesday I can only remember that I went to class and got assigned a group presentation. I decided to be in the first group so that after I was done with that, I wouldn't have to worry about anything in that class. Then that night was our Big Read project thing. My group didn't go that night but all the participants had to be there as the audience. So I did that and then we were supposed to meet after but one of the girls in my group went on a date instead and then the rest of us were kinda burnt out so...we just didn't meet.

Thursday I had class and then I worked on my Big Read project. I can't remember if I've talked about this before. Basically, my poetry teacher got together with the history teacher and they decided it'd be a good idea to make us do a project about a UK poet. It was seriously the dumbest project I've had to do in a long time. But there was a 10 pound gift card to each person in the winning group...so we worked hard. Thursday night we presented and it was crazy. One of the guys in my group was doing the biggest chunk of the presentation and while we were practicing he just said like two things and he was telling us that he was better at making up things on the spot. Whatever, right? Well, we get to his turn and he stands up, and holy cow!!! He went on for out 15 minutes on the extensive influence of our poet and he was quoting things that I've never even read before but it was all accurate! It was incredible. And we should have won, but we didn't. But it's alright. After that, I had to go pack because I was leaving for Berlin! So I went and packed and showered and then at 12:30, my group left for the bus and we made it to the airport but it was too early to check in so we slept on the floor. Then we checked in and got on the plane and slept on the plane and landed in Berlin and took a train to our hostel. We weren't allowed to check in until 2:00 though and when we got there it was 10:00. So we just had to walk around. So that was Friday. We just hung out. We found this awesome Church and instead of going in, we took a nap on the lawn out front. Haha. For dinner, we went to this restaurant and my friend ordered a knuckle of pork. None of us knew what that was but she knew she liked pork. When they brought it out...it was literally the knuckle of a pig! GROSS!! It was still covered in the skin and looked like a pig's foot. It was the most disgusting thing....ugh. She ate it but mostly she just picked at it and made it look like she'd eaten it. But one of the guys ordered the same thing and he ate ALL OF IT! Nasty!!!!

Saturday we got up and went on a bike tour. It was great! We saw so much of Berlin and learned all this stuff about buildings and history. It was really interesting. Then we went back to the train station and our train just didn't come. So we were all worried that we weren't going to make our flight but then another train came and we made it just fine. We got back to our house at 4:00. My feet have never hurt so bad in my life as they did on that trip. I wore my Converse and when I took them off, my toes were so jank. I've got blisters on top of my blisters and on the bottoms of my feet and my right foot feels like I have a stress fracture on the bone! It's getting better but if I walk on it too much it hurts really bad.

Sunday, I slept in. Then I tried to do a little homework but I was so unmotivated so I only got like two things done. Then I didn't have class at all on Monday so I finished a lot there. Tuesday I presented with my group and got that out of the way and then my other teacher moved a big project to next week and we were all SO HAPPY it was ridiculous. Then...I told myself I was going to get a lot done before I left for Italy on Thursday but I didn't...but that turned out to be alright. Tuesday night I played volleyball with some friends for like 3 hours. It was so much fun. We played until it was pitch black outside and we couldn't see the ball anymore, then we went inside and watched the Sound of Music because some people are in Austria for this break and they wanted to watch it before they left.

Wednesday was...eh. I woke up and did some homework and then I went shopping with my roommates and then we came back and went to class. That night, we were packing and getting ready to go and I just got this feeling like I didn't want to go on this trip. I was packing and thinking about how much I just didn't want to go.  So I talked to one of the girls going and she said she understood and she told me that I definitely didn't have to. I went in and talked to the other girls going and I just told them that I wasn't going to go and that I wanted them to have a good time without me. They were upset at first but in the end, I think they understood.

But that night, they were up late and I didn't want to be in the room while they were still planning and everything so I went in the kitchen and skyped people but then I realized that my roommates had gone to bed without me saying goodbye to them so I figured I should just stay up all night and say goodbye to them in the morning. So I did! Hah. I was skyping so it wasn't hard but I did get pretty tired. I made it all night though and in the morning, our goodbye was really anti-climactic and I kinda regretted being up. Hah, it was whatever.

Yesterday was just a really good day. It was one of the best days I've had here. Skyping my people, combined with the lifted stress from that trip and unpacking and just being by myself was amazing. And after they left, I got some homework done and then one of the guys from upstairs came down and made breakfast and made me some breakfast and we just hung out until he left to meet up with his family and then I went shopping with the other girl that stayed and we had a great time and we got smoothies and just walked around. I even decided to wear some new clothes yesterday and it was just a good day. I got back and watched a movie then had dinner with a friend and then skyped people again and then went to bed early and I just woke up about three hours ago. I'm gonna get a lot done today and it's just gonna be good. I've been sitting in the sun and my friend came out and talked to me and he told me not to get sunburned but to 'ration my sun exposure and build up my tolerance' haha. Ok.

No one gets back until late on Sunday and even they are in the other house so I'm alone until Monday morning when my roommates get back. I might go to London and see Wicked. I found some cheap tickets. I might just stay in Oxford and walk around and appreciate where I'm living. Who knows? The world is my oyster!

Now I know why the Irish have to be lucky.

Hello! As you probably noticed, it's been about three weeks since I wrote anything on here. Eh...two? I really don't know. It's alright though, not a ton has happened. And I've only got a few more days here so nothing to extreme is likely to happen. We'll see. Maybe I can throw in something super dramatic just to get the blood pumping and make you all a little more jealous of me than you already should be. The last time I posted was the Monday before we left for Ireland and I'm gonna be honest...I don't remember that week at all. It's been too long. The specifics of it have left me 100%. I'll do my best to recapture it.

Tuesday is a blank until about 11:00 that night. I remember trying to make up my schedule for next semester and freaking out about it because I didn't know what to take. I think I also watched the Princess Bride for someone's birthday...but I don't know.

Wednesday I worked all day on this paper that I had to do for my honors class. It's the ONLY assignment we had so it is basically 100% of our grade and I hadn't started it yet and it was due the next day...so that sucked. I kept getting interrupted by class and then volunteering and in the end, it took me until 5:00 in the morning to finish it. Oh...and I mostly packed.

Thursday I woke up at 8:00 and finished packing and printed my paper and got breakfast and got onto the bus and then got to the airport and flew to Dublin! I went with some people to dinner at the oldest pub in Dublin called the Brazen Head. It was pretty good food and I think it was cheap, but I split a meal with someone so...yeah. Then we tried to find this park but when we got there it was closed so we just walked around and went down this street where there was a band playing and they were SO GOOD! I loved it. I got a video. Then one day (as I was writing this I realized I have no idea what days things happened) we had a walking tour around the city and towards the end, some of us split off and went to see the book of Kells which was amazing. For those who don't know, the book of Kells is the four gospels written and illustrated by scribes from the 9th century about. It was really amazing. I tried to take a picture in there, but this lady started yelling at me and then walked over and had to watch me delete it. Of course, while she was worrying about me, all the people I was with took pictures behind her back!! Lame. Then we went to dinner for someone's birthday and then I went with a group to see some Irish music and watch some Irish dancing. It was really cool. I'm pretty sure the day after that was when I had a picnic...but I don't remember. No, it was that day. Friday all this happened, and in the morning, I went with most of the girls to a park and we had a picnic and played on the playground and had fun feeding some swans we found. It was a lot of fun. Saturday I went to St. Patrick's but it cost money to get in so a few of us just decided to go in the garden out back and hang out while the others went through. Then we loaded up onto the coach and went to Belfast.

Belfast was nice. There was a Mexican food place!!!!!!! It was so dang good. The guy who started it got the idea from Chipolte, so it was that same style and, not as good, but right up there. We weren't sure where it was at first so Erika asked some local people and this was their conversation...not making this up.
Erika: Hi, do you guys know where the burrito place is?
Guy: I'm sorry?
Erika: I heard there is a burrito place around here, do you know where it is?
Guy: Is that the name of it or is that the kind of food they have?
Girl: I don't know, sorry.
Erika: That's the kind of food they have.
Girl: What is a burrito?
Erika: It's a tortilla with sour cream and beans and rice and  meat and you fold it up and eat it...
Girl: You mean, like Subway?
Erika: Not quite.

We all died laughing, which in hindsight, was probably really rude. That couple walked off really fast after that. When we turned around, the place was right in front of our faces. Boojum. Weird name. Great food. MMMMMMM. Then we just walked around the city. There was a concert at the Church right next to our hostel and we went and listened to that for a while. Sunday I went to Church and then lunch and then we had some free time and we tried to plan our trip but got nowhere. Then we went to evening service and then dinner and walked around the city some more.

We left early on Monday for Ballycastle and stayed in Corrymeela. Coastal city. Most gorgeous view. It was so peaceful and relaxing and there wasn't a lot of pressure to go and see a bunch because it's not a big city. We were there for two days and then we went to Derry. On the way, we saw the giant's causeway which is just this huge rock formation that naturally grew up into honeycomb shaped steps all over the place. It was really cool. Derry was uneventful. We went to a museum, walked around the wall, went to eat, saw some Irish music. I went to dinner the second night with a group at a bowling alley. It was a nice 3 course meal and bowling for 17 pounds. That's pretty good. So we ate until we were full and then some and then had a rousing 10 frames of bowling. We did have to walk about 3 miles to get there and to get back...so that sucked. Other than that, it was a great night!I guess that was Thursday night. So Friday morning I woke up and went around town with some people and we went to this store called pound world. It's the UK equivalent of dollar general. So everything was 1 pound and we went crazy! Mostly, everyone bought a ton of candy. I did get some stellar sunglasses though, and I'm super proud of them. I've been wearing them all week! Hah. Overall, Ireland was a success. Though, basically every stereotype you hear about the Irish is true. Loud, drunk, angry, and red headed.

We got back Friday evening and everyone was so tired and didn't feel like cooking so we did something easy: pasta. I'm still sick of pasta from Italy but...there you go. And none of the boys upstairs wanted to cook so they all bought in and we had a nice house dinner. It was actually a really good meal. Emily knows how to cook so the sauce was incredible! Then, Saturday, everyone woke up kind of late and I did some laundry but it was a beautiful day outside and I took a book out there and read for a long time. Then Emily and Mandy (with a little help from some of the boys) decided to make a house breakfast and we had chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs and french toast and bacon and fresh strawberries and bananas. OH! It was so good. Then I went back outside and read some more and played volleyball for a while and then read some more and then had dinner outside and then went to bed.

Sunday I got up for Church and then went to this place called the Mission for lunch. It's a burrito place, also based on Chipolte, also not as good. Whatever. It was Mexican food. Then, I decided I needed some skirts or something to wear since it was so nice out and all I have are athletic shorts. So I went and got two skirts and two shirts to go with them. I found a TON of cute ones, and if I wore them with leggings they would be fine, but without, Erika said they were a little hoochie so I decided I couldn't get them. Sad. After shopping I went and read outside again, then Emily made enchiladas for dinner and they were delicioious!! Then it was time for devo and I did that and I stayed around after and watched the masters with some of the guys. It was getting really intense. I didn't know people could get so upset about golf!!

Monday was supposed to be a big homework day. I went to a cafe with my friend and we stayed there for almost 3 hours and I only finished homework for 1 of my classes. So I was going to come back and finish the rest but then I started talking to people and it got pushed out of the way...so that's what I should be doing today! Hah, right now, in fact. The teachers just keep piling stuff on and I can't get it all done! All this dang reading is taking me forever!!!! Oh well. Gotta do it, right? I leave for Berlin on Thursday night and I'll get back Saturday night. So I'll try to put something up on Sunday. I really did look through my pictures thinking about some that I could put on here and I just don't like any of the pictures I've taken! I mean...they look cool to me, but I don't know how other people would like them. Plus, I'm bad at being IN my pictures...so I'll work on that this last month and see what I can do. Again, no promises.

So, that homework...yeah, you have to do it!

It's been a very busy week in some ways. I spent a lot of time relaxing after my extensive break and most of my assignments kind of just fell by the wayside. Don't worry, none of them were really due last week. So the only thing I did was make things harder on myself...go figure! It's not too bad though. We leave for Ireland on Thursday and I'll have a lot of time while we're driving around to read and stuff. Maybe. If we're taking a bus it'll be iffy. 

Last Monday night, Mandy's mom was here and she took us out to dinner for my birthday. It was the second time I've been in a car in England and it was super trippy. I don't think I'd be very good at driving over here. It's just too weird. We went to a restaurant called the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It was perfect because I was SO OVER Italian food and all I wanted was a good American Hamburger. I suppose that's still not really what I got, but it was close enough. And I had french fries and on the menu it actually said 'french fries' not 'chips' so it felt a little more like home.

Then on Tuesday, Emily made me some banana pudding! Except, they don't have pudding mix so she had to use ready-made pudding and they don't sell whipped cream so she had to make that as well...and the don't sell Nilla Wafers so she had to use digestives (they're just cookies...nothing gross). I mean, you could kind of taste the differences but it was still SO GOOD! And  a bunch of the guys came over, for the food, but Mandy made them sing Happy Birthday to me. And then I tried to skype with my besties back home but one camera wasn't working and one couldn't figure out their sound and it was so  noisy in my kitchen that I couldn't hear anyone anyway. It was sort of a fail. Erika got me a birthday present: a dress and the movie "Due Date" which we proceeded to watch after pudding. The only problem is that it's the British code disc so I can't watch it in the U.S. without a special DVD or something. So, yeah. But I've already watched it twice here, I love it so much! And I haven't worn the dress yes. It's really pretty though. And I'd tried it on before, Erika and Emily and Mandy made me go shopping with them one day and gave me things to try on and they liked some of the stuff but I didn't want to spend money on it. 

Then Wednesday I was really upset because as I was walking to class, one of the guys walks in and goes, "Hey, we decided to do a cook-out tonight just to get everyone together after the break." and of course, Wednesday nights are the nights I volunteer from 5:30 to 9:30. So I missed the cook-out! And there were hot dogs and hamburgers and lemonade and sweet tea and all sorts of delicious desserts! I got home just in time to stand in the kitchen while some of the girls were doing dishes. It was a bummer. Also, I had two papers due the next day and I hadn't even started thinking about them so at like 11:00 I sat down at my computer and began typing. I finished one of them at around 2:00 and left the other one until the morning.  I usually wake up about 4 hours before my classes on Monday and Thursday and I was totally confident in my ability to write the second paper well before that time was up. I succeeded and, if I do say so myself, it wasn't the worst poetry explication I've ever done!

Thursday I went to a birthday party. One of my teachers here brought his family, I don't know if I've mentioned it before. They have two of the cutest little girls you'll ever see in your life!! Well, the oldest one turned 8 on Friday and on Thursday night, she invited all the girls on the trip over for Cookies and Strawberry milk and a marathon of Charlie and Lola. It was so much fun and that little girl is so dang smart! She's been known to correct Emily's grammar at times. It's hilarious! After the birthday party, we went out to get some Ali's for dinner and we walked all the way there and he wasn't there! The van was not in it's usual spot! It was very upsetting. So we went and got burgers again.

Friday and Saturday and Sunday were really nothing special. I realized how much reading I had to do so I spent most of my days trying to catch up. I really am the slowest reader on the face of the Earth! My teacher assigned a book to be read before class today and told me it'd take two hours at most. Yeah, it took me 4 hours to read less than half of it!! What the heck, reading skills. Come on! And today I got out of class and sat in my room and it was beautiful outside so I opened a window. What should fly in but one of the BIGGEST BEES I'VE EVER SEEN?! Seriously, it was HUGE! And I didn't know what to do and Emily didn't know what to do so, naturally we got on facebook chat and tried to get one of the boys in the house to come help us get it out of here. It took like an hour and the promise of cookies for someone to finally come and when he did, he caught it in a cup, put it on top of my dresser, and said, "Alright...now it's your problem. I'll bring you a recipe later". So I had to pick up the cup and let the bee out of the window! But now it keeps coming back because Emily decided to pour honey on the ledge to lure it out of the room! I feel like that was destined to only work when the bee was on the outside. Oh well.

I realized last night that I only have 45 days until I'm back in Colorado. That is so weird to me. It seems like a long time when I think of it like that, but at the same time...not. It's going to be so sad leaving here and not being able to see all of my beautiful scenery everyday when I walk somewhere. I still need to plan my second five day break and I have no idea where that will take me. Like I said, I leave for Ireland on Thursday, then we get back the following Friday. The next Thursday night I leave for Berlin for the weekend, then I'll get back late Saturday night and on Thursday I'll leave for wherever I'm going on my next trip. After that I think there are only about two and a half weeks left. And I am no closer to finding/marrying Rupert Grint than I was when I got here. What have I been doing with my life?!

Back home in Oxford, and there was much rejoicing.

Let me start off by saying, 8 days is a long time. I mean, when you really think about how much you can get done in 8 days. And I feel like I've been gone way longer than that! I did realize how easy it is for me to go without communication with the outside world. No internet, no phone (so no texting), I barely had an iPod, I had ONE pair of pants (long story), no towel, and I ran out of gum. Honestly, it was like I was back in Biblical times! Oh, and I ran out of money, but that was all good. 8 days is a long time and it takes longer to explain. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

We didn't miss our train! Erika and I left literally two minutes after I posted on Saturday and we got brunch at On The Hoof which, if I haven't explained it before, is just a little sandwich shop one street over and it's cheap by Oxford standards. Erika was a little bummed because she didn't have enough time to go buy buttons (or as she calls them buh-ens.....ugh) for her jacket. She bought this super cute jacket in Oxford a while back and it wasn't a cheap-o thing but every single button on this coat has fallen off! It's a bit ridiculous. So, she was going to buy some buttons before we left and sew them on on the train or something. And she wanted to buy some flats before we left just so she would have more than one pair of shoes to take. The thing was, we left too late for her to stop and do any of that so she was left with a buttonless coat and only one pair of shoes. We ate our lunch at the train station and we were just sitting there waiting for our train to leave at 12:01. Well, a train pulled up at like 11:45 and we decided it wasn't our train. So we were just sitting there and chatting and then at like, 11:56 we decided it was our train. So we got all our stuff and hopped on and we were right and then we made it to the airport and caught our flight. We flew ryanair which, if you ever have the chance to do that, don't. They are just crazy! And none of us had checked bags we all just brought carry on which, by the way, how impressive is it that I fit EVERYTHING I needed for 8 days in my school back pack? I'd say very impressive. Anyway, they made us fit our bags into this stupid little metal box to make sure they were the right dimensions and we could only have ONE carry on. So I had my little purse thing and my backpack and they made me put it in my bag. Well, of course that made my bag unable to fit in the metal thing so they made me move stuff around. I ended up taking stuff out and hiding it in my shirt while the guy wasn't looking and then once I made it through I put it back in my bag. Stupid airline people! After that it was smooth sailing. We made it to Italy and made it on a bus to the train station and from there it was easy enough to find our hostel. It was in a kind of sketch part of town. I mean, it was safe, but it was dirty and didn't look very friendly and whatever else you think of when you think sketch. And the hostel itself was pretty ghetto. And it ended up costing 20 euros more a night than we were originally told. So that wasn't cool. We checked in and got our stuff all put in our rooms and then got dinner and just hung out.

Then on Sunday, one of the guys in the group, Jack, got up super early because he couldn't sleep and he decided to walk around the city. So by the time the rest of us woke up, he basically knew where everything was and how to get there and when it was open and everything! It was like having our very own tour guide who had no idea what the historical significance of anything was but they were more than happy to lead you to where it was. It did rain for most of the day, so that was kinda sad. And there were all these people out trying to sell umbrellas! It was a smart idea, but none of us were paying for a dang umbrella in Rome. I mean, for real, you don't go to Rome and buy an umbrella off a street-walker. Anyway, we went to the Colosseum and got rained on but it was amazing. All the grass was super green and gorgeous and it was just great. Then, since it was all rainy, we decided to go back to the hostel and just hang out for a while until dinner. Apparently, people in Italy always eat huge lunches out and then have small dinners in with their family so none of the restaurants open until about 7:30. So we waited until then and in that time we met another American guy who was staying in the hostel and we invited him out to dinner with us and it was a lot of fun! Then after dinner, for some reason, everyone decided we needed to go and see the Trevi fountain. So at 8:30, we went down into the metro station which is like the subway system. It's SO sketch. And there is SO much graffiti on the trains it's incredible. I got some really awesome pictures. I'm really working on being better about putting them up! Anyway, we were standing down there, waiting for a train and I said, "Guys, did anyone look at what time this closes so we're not going across town without a way back?" and every BOY said, "it doesn't close. You're thinking of the buses." So I let it go and we went to see the fountain. It was so pretty! But my camera took weird pictures because it was night time and I can't figure out the flash on my camera. Eh. I did throw in my coins though! And we got Gelato. Oh goodness, it is so good! I ate it way too much on this trip. I'm actually kind of sick of Italian food. I had either pizza, spaghetti or lasagna for every meal. If I see any of them again in the next week, I'm just gonna throw up without warning. It's ridiculous. Anyway, we got a little lost on the way to the fountain and then on the way back to the metro and we finally made it back to the entrance to the metro at like 10:30. Well it CLOSED at 9:00. I just looked at all those boys and smiled the 'I told you so' smile. And I said, "Weird. It's closed." And they didn't say anything. Haha. But it turns out our hostel was only about two miles from where we were staying so we just walked back and it was fine.

Monday was my birthday!! It was great! We slept in and then went to a little pizzeria and I had the BEST sausage pizza I've ever had in my life. Seriously, it was the bomb. After lunch, we went to the Roman Forum and walked around there for about 4 hours. It was so amazing and beautiful and there were all these ruins from something or other and gardens and beautiful trees! Oh, it was just perfect. Then we walked around the city and saw almost everything else there was to see in Rome. We walked by the Pantheon for about 5 minutes and some cool plazas and some buildings and...man. I'm really feeling bad that I have no idea what it was we saw! But I took a lot of pictures so maybe I'll find out. I can google it or something. Then for dinner, we went back to the same place and I had the same pizza and then we went to get gelato and it was good. I kept all my gleato spoons. Now, when I look at then, I feel sick.

Tuesday we met up with some other girls from our group in Oxford and went to the beach! We went to Sperlonga which is about two hours from Rome and it was so pretty! And we just hung out there for a while and I collected some shells on the beach! Then we had a little scare where we ALMOST missed our bus back to the train station but we didn't and we made it back to Rome safely. While we were waiting for the bus, I really had to pee! So I ran to this little shop and went inside to ask about a bathroom. Well, one of the guys on the trip had told me that 'bathroom' in Italian, was 'bagno' pronounced the same as in Spanish. I don't think that was true because I walked up to this guy and said that and he didn't know what I was saying. So I had to do a little bathroom dance and he kinda laughed and said 'bathroom!' and pointed to another shop across the street. So I ran over there and walked in and it was kind of crowded and this guy walked up to me and said something in Italian and, again, I said "bagno!" and no one in that shop seemed to know what I was saying! So I just said 'bathroom' and they still didn't know, so I did another little bathroom dance and they all kinda laughed and pointed at the back of the shop. So I found a bathroom! Then when I was walking out, they were all still laughing. So that was great.

Wednesday was the Vatican. We decided to get there super early so we didn't have to wait in the line because it was supposed to be raining. It was awesome! The church was huge! And gorgeous! And then we walked through the museum and saw all the famous paintings and the Sistine Chapel. It was gigantic! I mean, HUGE!! And perfect. It's just crazy to think that one person did all that. I don't know how long it took but it looked like one wall painted a solid color could have taken months. It was breathtaking. I think the only other thing we did that day was eat. Gross. I really don't remember. We went back to the Trevi fountain one day...maybe it was...no...I think that was Tuesday. Um...I really don't know.

Thursday we went and tried to see the Medici Villa and I think we did but we never did find a sign that specifically said it was. So who really knows? Then we walked around Rome some more and saw some more plazas that we hadn't seen before I think, and then the time came for us to go back and get our stuff and catch a train to the airport and then we got to Venice! That was really uneventful. Then, we found our hostel in Venice and it was more like a hotel and we slept the next day until we woke up. Which was like, noon.

So Friday we just walked around. We found all these little shops and walked over all these bridges and down to the docks by this plaza and we just sat there for a while next to the water, watching the docked boats rocking around on the waves and all the people walking by and it was beautiful outside. It was just perfect. Saturday was really the same, we just sat at a couple different cafes and talked and then the girls broke off to go shopping and the guys did...something. I have no idea. But we met up for dinner and then went to the airport and left. It was sad, but I was ready.

We landed at about 11:40 and our bus from the airport was supposed to leave at 12:45 so we rushed into the passport line and there was only ONE guy checking passports. It took forever!! Finally we got through and ran to the bus and got on and the bus driver was a jerk! One of our guys was literally shaking because he hadn't eaten in so long and he stopped and got food and the bus driver made him throw it away before he even had one bite. Then, it was like he had no idea what temperature it was on that bus! We were freezing! Then, for some reason he turned on the AIR CONDITIONER! It was miserable. Then, he turned it off and that was a little better but I was shivering so bad. When we got off the bus, it was 5 degrees outside and we were warmer than we'd been on the bus! It was so ridiculous. We walked home and I got into my room at 4:00 in the morning.

In our first hostel, towels weren't provided and I'd been drying off with the shirt I'd worn that day. The second hostel did provide towels but the shower was tiny. So when I got home, I took a shower! I started to unpack my bag and it was like I was punched in the face. My clothes smelt so bad!! Mainly because, one night, we were hanging out on the roof of our hostel and the chairs up there were wet so my pants got wet and then the heater in our room wouldn't come on so they didn't dry all the way before I had to pack them and by the time I was able to let them air out again, I wasn't willing to take them out of the bag because they smelled so bad! Gross. On Sunday, my iTouch died, on Tuesday, my phone died, and we didn't have free wifi anywhere we went so I had no idea how much money was in my bank so I didn't want to take any out! I'm pretty sure Erika is an angel because I told her about it and she said she could spot me until I figured things out. That really only meant the last two days and then the minute I woke up yesterday I went to the ATM and got money to pay her back. The second thing I did was laundry.

So there you have it! That was my trip to Italy. It was great at time and terrible at time. We were all so ready to get back to our own beds and back to people who just spoke English first and not broke bits of it. I'm ready to just be here for a while. I've got three papers due this week and one due next week the day before we leave for Ireland...so that should be fun to catch up on! That's actually what I should have been doing the whole time I was writing this up, but who says a little procrastination isn't the best way to get things done? That's probably a dangerous way to think of things...oh well!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane!

AH! I've got to leave for the train station like 5 minutes ago but Erika is brushing her teeth so I've got a little time. This is going to be the shortest post thus far, which isn't reallly saying anything because it doesn't really mean anything to write something shorter than a novel which is what I feel like I've been writing on here every time I post! Anyway!

Yesterday I went on a field trip to see the house where C.S. Lewis used to live. It was pretty cool. It's really old and still doesn't have a lot of new appliances and stuff even though people live there now. We walked down to the church yard to see his grave as well and that was really cool. He's got a cool grave. Then we got back to the house and I did laundry and I booked my plane tickets to BERLIN! So I'm going there on a weekend after we get back from Ireland and before I go on my second 5 day. I have no idea what I'm doing for that yet.

I just packed this morning. I'm surprised everything fit! But my backback is well within the size requirements and weight requirements for the flight and I'm ready to go! I won't be getting back till about 3 in the morning next Sunday. We fly in to London Saturday night at about 10. I really hope this is a good trip! Neither Erika nor myself are really excited about it yet, but I think it might be because we don't really know what to expect and planning it was so stressful that we'd be fine doing anything at this point.

Ok, I gotta go! Erika is doing that thing people do when people want you to leave but don't want to interrupt what you're doing! So, I'll be back in a week! Hopefully with good stories! I wish I knew how to say bye in Italian....but I don't. So there it is.

Stonehenge...rocks?

It's been a week since I posted. I'm really behind. Not a lot has happened, but when I wait this long it gets hard for me to remember what all I did. And I've got a poetry mid-term tomorrow that I need to study for and Emily is making snicker-doodles tonight and I have to make sure I'm through studying when they're ready or all the boys will come and eat them! So, after being in class from 1:30 to 4:15, I'm taking a blog break before I go volunteer and then, it's study time! Uh...but I've only got 45 minutes, so we're banking on a miracle here!

On Thursday, Emily made a chocolate souffle and I was put in charge of getting the ice cream. So I was walking to the store and I met up with some people who were walking back to the house from dinner and they offered to walk with me and then one of the ice cream stores was too expensive so we ended up walking to a different one and it took a long time but I was having fun so it was cool. Then I ended up sleeping on the couch in the common room in the other house because I fell asleep watching a movie in there! It was a comfy couch though, so that was good. Then I went and got moo moo's milkshakes for a bunch of people. I'm sure I looked like an idiot walking there and back because I had to take a box so I could carry them all. It was a bit ridiculous. I stood in line for about an hour. Eh. Then Friday night, I got invited to go to Stonehenge the next day.

So, Saturday, I woke up early and got my stuff together and we walked to the train station and went to bath again. There were people in our group who hadn't been to bath yet so they wanted to go see some of the things in the town and this time I had my camera! So I got a bunch of cool pictures of the places that I hadn't gotten last time, plus cool pictures of Stonehenge! I was walking around the gift shop with one of the guys and he found a shirt that said "Stonehenge Rocks" and he thought it was so funny! He talked about it all day. Another group went to bath just to see the sights and we kept running in to them everywhere we went! It was great! So we all accidentally met up at the train station and then we got back and got some dinner and watched a movie but it was late and I was tired so I went to bed.

Then on Sunday, we went to Church and then got lunch at this place called "Nando's" and it was SO GOOD! It's basically a restaurant that only serves chicken. Oh man. So good! Then we did an assigned walk for our walking class, and went and got ice cream and then went shopping for a while and then came back to the house and hung out for a bit until devo at 9:00 then everyone went to bed because we had to be up at an ungodly hour to get on a bus to go to London and go to the parliament building! So, Monday we did that, and I thought it was super boring, but we got to go to the tower of London afterwards and that was pretty fun. I was super tired when we got back, though. Then, one of the girls invited me to Berlin with them one weekend and so now I'm super excited about that!

We started baking for the boys, and now they're over here, in our kitchen, ALL THE TIME! Which is cool because we have a great time talking and just hanging out, but then if we forget (like tonight) to make something we said we would, the pressure is on and we have situations where a group of three guys walks in wondering where the cake is. Emily and I discovered google translate yesterday. We were talking about what we should give up for Lent because neither of us had ever done it before so we thought we'd try it out. So we decided on gossip. Now, I just want to make it clear, both of us realize that gossip is not something that we should resume after 40 days! But we talked about it and decided it was a lot easier to say that it's a 40 day thing at first. Anyway, we said we were giving up gossip and then decided that it would probably be easier to give up talking! So I went online and found google translate which will read anything you type into it. I'd say we spent a good 8 hours talking to each other that way, and talking to everyone else that way too. People tried to pretend like they were too cool for it, but everyone laughed!! And one guy joined in and actually one-upped our computer voices. It was so fantastic. Then, we started making videos for people using the voices...it takes us like 10 tries, every video we make just because it's too funny!

And now, I have to go to bed. I was going to stay up and study, but I feel like a solid four hours in the morning is better than falling asleep on my notes tonight. I'll try to post one more time before I leave for spring break on Saturday!

Hablo espanol?

Hello!! I told my mom I was going to post on here last night after I finished my homework but...then Emily and I spent at least an hour deciding what our new profile pictures on facebook should be and then when I looked at the clock it was 12:30 and I had taken some NyQuil so I thought it best to go to bed. So right now, I have an hour and a half before class and I'm going to try to finish this in that time. I'm all alone so there shouldn't be a lot of distractions which is good because this is a LONG story. Probably worthy of more than one post...I could leave like, a nice cliff hanger or something when I'm writing about my day ALONE in Spain but...we all already know that I made it back safe so it's not as suspenseful. Bummer. Anyway...on to my week in Spain!

During class on Tuesday, my teacher told me that she needed to talk to me after class and also that her husband needed to talk to me before we left. Well, what they have to say I'll never know because I forgot to talk to her and he was on the phone when I went to talk to him and I didn't see either of them again before I left. Oops! I finished packing my bag about 15 minutes before we left for the train station. Perfect timing, right? And, I didn't forget ANYTHING!! Everything I would need for my 7 day trip (that was supposed to be 5 days...) fit into my school backpack and I also had room for some homework! We left at 2:15 and walked down to the train station and got on the train and then when we got off in Paddington station, we decided it was too far to walk to Victoria station so we took the underground and made our other train with time to spare. We had dinner at the airport, which was nice, but our flight got delayed because there was a fire in the airport in Amsterdam and somehow that affected when our plane got there. We flew easy jet and apparently the rule for that airline is, first come first served; you fight for the seat you want! Well since I really don't care where I sit on planes it wasn't a big deal but people were getting crazy about cutting the line. Our flight was really short and when we got to the airport it was really deserted and we didn't know what to do! Finally, after standing outside for a while hoping to find a bus schedule or something, we went inside to the car rental place and asked the lady at the counter for help. She told us what bus to ride and where to get off and everything. So we did that, the bus ride was really long and I think we got off at the wrong stop because our hostel was NOT right down the street like that lady said. It was about 12:30 AM at this point and we were tired and only concerned about finding our hostel. So we walked around for a while, Audrey had a map and we were looking at that and trying to find our way and finally, we saw these two ladies and asked them for help. Kind of. I, being the Spanish speaker of the group, boldly walked up to this lady and said, "Hablo espanol?" Good one, Hannah. Her response was, "no". Hah! In the end, we got out our map and said our street name with the proper question inflection and she pointed and used tiny words we knew and we ended up at our hostel in no time! We got all checked in and went up to our room and there were people in our beds! Lame. There were enough beds though, so that was fine, but I guess people that were assigned to top bunks decided that they wanted bottom bunks instead and they just happened to be ours. Anyway, we slept in the next day because we were pretty tired and then when we woke up, we went to lunch at this restaurant down the street and they had great food! Oh, and if you ever go to Spain, remember that they charge you for bottles of water in EVERY restaurant. So that sucked. So, we ate and then decided we wanted to go see some of the sights so we walked to the Segrada familia which is a huge basilica in the city that they've been working on since 1882. It was designed by this man named Gaudi who also designed all these other crazy buildings in Barcelona that people thought were ugly but now they're considered beautiful landmarks. Go figure, another artist misunderstood during his own time. This Church was his baby though, and he put everything he had into it and it's predicted to be done in the year 2026. However, there are some specialists who doubt that it will ever be finished. It's taken them almost 100 years and they're not even half way done yet, but the foundations of the building weren't meant for something so big and right underneath it is the metro line and they're thinking about putting a train line down there too which means that the ground will be even less stable. I'll be really sad if it never gets finished. The outside, when you look at it from a distance, is really  kind of ugly. It looks like molten stone and just, jagged rocks are covering the whole thing. But up close, every bit of the rock is carved into some shape or design and it's gorgeous. There are two sides complete now, one side depicts Jesus' birth and the other, his death and the styles of statue are so different it's incredible but it also flows so well. The inside is bigger than anything I've ever seen. There are stained glass windows everywhere and when the light shines in it turns the stone different colors and it looks beautiful! Oh, I could go  on for hours probably about this building. It was so amazing. And unlike the Abby in Bath, I got pictures this time! I'll try to put them up someday.

After the Church, we decided to walk down to the beach. It was further than we though, but totally worth it in the end. There were these chairs made out of cement scattered over the sidewalk and there was all this free work out equipment and people were just working out and looking out at the Mediterranean sea like it was nothing! We sat there for a while and then decided to walk back to the hostel before it got too dark. We stopped for dinner in the restaurant run by a Chinese family and they didn't speak any English and hardly any Spanish. So that was interesting. Then we passed an ice cream shop on our way back and decided it was necessary to stop there. We walked to the train station just to be sure we wouldn't get lost on the way the next day when we were needing to use the train. Then we headed back to the hostel and turned in early because we were all going to be traveling the next day and we wanted to be rested. The plan was this: the rest of our group flew in to Girona on Wednesday evening/night and on Friday, Audrey and I were going to take a train to Girona and meet them before we all came back to Barcelona for the weekend. So, I woke up the next day, and there was a note next to my face from one of the other girls on the trip that had arrived the night before. I had no idea she was going to be there! So after Audrey and I got all ready, we found her and told her that we were going back to Girona and she wanted to go with us and so we waited for her and had to kind of rush to our train but when we got to the station to buy our tickets, the woman at the information desk told us that we were at the wrong station and to catch our train that left in 10 minutes, we would have to walk to anther station that was 10 minutes away. Great. And the next train wasn't for another hour or so and we were supposed to meet the other group at 12:30. So the new girl with us told us that she knew how to get to Girona from Barcelona by bus because that's what she'd done the night before and we followed her and went to the metro station and then the bus station and then another bus station and then we got turned around walking in Girona because the hostel was harder to find than we thought it was going to be! Finally, we made it and met up with everyone and had lunch and it was all great. We walked along this wall that surrounded the city and saw this incredible Cathedral. We couldn't do inside for some reason but the outside was just gorgeous and there were all these gardens around and beautiful views of the mountains and the city. It was just lovely. Then, we took our bus back and the other group took a train and they had to wait on us for about an hour in Barcelona before we showed up and they could get dinner. After dinner we searched and searched for a good dessert place but nothing was open! Then, we walked down this little side street and found something that was open and it had the best dessert ever! I got this thing that looked like a croissant log but on each end, it was dipped in chocolate and then it was filled with chocolate, which I did not know until I bit into it. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever had in my life. Mmm. After that, we went back to the hostel and there was this sort of concert thing going on in the kitchen/common room area and so I went down there with Andrew and we listened to the music. It was weird but cool. It sounded a bit like the Indian music with the vocal runs and not many words just kind of sounds but with great instrumental music. It was fantastic. These ladies in the front got up and started dancing and I noticed halfway through the song that one of them was about 8 months pregnant and she was just movin'! It was so funny!

The next day, we decided it would be fun to go on a fat tire bike tour around the city. We were right, it was fun. We rode all around the city and saw so many amazing things. The guides took us to this park that was out of this world gorgeous. There was a huge fountain with gold on it here and there and statues of people and water flowing over it and steps around it and trees all around. It was so beautiful. And we went back to the beach and had lunch and then after we finished, one of the guides was asking us where we were from, he was Australian so there was no language barrier, and we told him about our trip and he invited us out to kind of tell us more about what we should do in Barcelona and talk some more. It was super cool, he took us to this great little pub that was really more Australian than Spanish. Or, actually, I guess I should say Catalunyan. We were told on our tour that, sadly, we were NOT in Spain as we thought, but we were in Catalunya which is quite different. We still called it Spain, though. And surprisingly there were a TON of Australian people in Barcelona. I have no idea why. Anyway, we left there and went back to the hostel for a while just to get kind of rested and that night, we went with a group from the hostel on a sort of tour I guess of Tapas and Flamenco dancing. First, we went to a restaurant and got some Tapas which is like bread with different things on top. It was alright, nothing I'd want to eat on a regular basis. It might have been better if it was hot but I wouldn't know. Then, we went to this, I don't even know, It was like a little bar I guess. And we saw Flamenco dancing and it was amazing. Those ladies were crazy intense and they made it look easy but it is such an amazing style of dance. And then this little girl got up and started doing it and I was blown away! It was crazy.

The next day, we took the metro up the this beautiful park sort of on the outskirts of the city. It was so beautiful! Walking up there sucked though. It was like Bath all over again. This hill we had to walk up was like a straight up incline and it went on forever! We made it though, and it was worth it. There was all this beautiful scenery and the mountains were clear and it was a beautiful day and the buildings we saw were incredible! It was more Gaudi. Apparently, he was paid by some rich people to build these houses and when he did, they hated them and so the government bought them and no one ever lived in them but now they're a huge tourist attraction which is great for us because they were legit. They're called the gingerbread houses because they really do look like actual houses made to look like a gingerbread house. They're so fun! After we'd seen all of Gaudi that we could stand for the day, we took the metro back to the beach and had a late lunch and then walked along the beach. We found these carts on the sidewalk that sell waffles with toppings on them and we had to stop. We had to. I got one topped with dark chocolate and white chocolate. Holy cow! Seriously, I know I just said this about that pastry two paragraphs ago, but it was the best thing I've ever eaten! It was so deliciously unhealthy. Mmm!! I couldn't eat dinner that night though because it made me so full I couldn't even think of food without feeling like I was going to throw up. Worth it. That night the group flying out of Girona took the train back there and I stayed in Barcelona with a few of the other girls. Two of them flew out super early in the morning and the other was flying out of Girona later in the afternoon on Sunday.

So, Sunday morning, I met the other girl for breakfast (I realize it's awkward that I don't use names all the time but I feel like it's confusing enough not using names that I don't want to throw them out there. Plus I don't know how these people would feel knowing that I'm putting their name on the web.) and I took extra food, because breakfast was free, and stuffed it in my backpack. I'd run out of money the day before and one of the girls lent me some, but I was determined not to spend it if I didn't have to. So this food was going to last me until Monday sometime when I got to eat a real meal. At about 10, we decided to go back to the beautiful park with the fountain from the bike tour. So we took the metro back there and basically sat next to the lake for a few hours and just hung out and took pictures. So beautiful! Then, she had to leave to catch her bus to the airport and I was all alone. Well Emily and I were joking around the night before and she told me that she wanted me to keep a little hourly diary of what I was doing in Spain by myself and take pictures to go along with it. So I did! It's really legit. I titled it, "I'm in Barce-ALONE-a". Get it? I thought it was clever. I tried to make it interesting but basically I was just sitting around doing nothing all day/night and there was nothing really interesting to write about! My original plan was to kind of walk around the city until 8:00 then catch the train to the airport and then hang out there all night. Well, at around 4 it started raining a little bit. So I felt like I could either sit there and hope it stopped and then didn't start raining harder, or I could just make my way to the airport. So that's what I did. I wasn't really in any hurry so I walked to the train and then once at the airport I accidentally got on the wrong bus to the wrong terminal and had to take a different bus and then once I got to that terminal I was supposed to go to a different building and I tried to check in but I wasn't allowed because it was too early so I just sat in the terminal and then at like 1:00 AM a police officer told me that that specific building was closed so I had to walk back to a different building and I sat there for a long time. My building was supposed to open again at 5:30. So I waited. My phone, all week, was on London time which is an hour behind Barcelona time. So all week I was having to add an hour to my phone time. Well, at 4:30 (on my phone) I packed all my homework away and walked back to the other building. It was so cold outside and I stood out there for about 10 minutes and was starting to get frustrated when I noticed a clock on the wall in the building that said 4:30. So I guess at some point during that day, my phone had decided it was time to finally change to Barcelona time, but I don't know when that happened so I was living my life an hour ahead of when it actually was for I don't even know how long. Fantastic. So I just went back to the other building and hung out for an hour.

I finally got to check in and I was the first one. So that meant I was the first one to go through security also. Normally, I don't like going through security at airports because I feel like the security people are just so unhappy. Except at Gatwick! Oh, the security people at Gatwick airport are some of the friendliest people I've ever met! They stand there and give you the tubs that you need and they remind you of all the things you need to take off and to check your pockets. Lovely people. Barcelona airport security...not so much. If I thought it was uncomfortable to go through security when it was crowded, it's so much more uncomfortable to go through security ALONE! I walked up, and the rope thing was there to direct the line, but there was no line, and there were 8 security people just standing around talking and I was up there alone. So I didn't know if I was allowed to go through yet but I couldn't just turn around so I walked forward into the line and kind of...walked slowly, pretending I was reading signs on the wall, and when they security people didn't say anything to me I moved forward a little more and it went on like that for a long time. Then, this guy walked up and he went through the line so I figured it was alright. So I started to put my stuff in tubs and everything and then when I turned around to look at the guy, HE WAS ANOTHER SECURITY GUY! So, then I was still the only one up there. They had to turn the conveyor belt on for me to go through. It was super awkward. I probably made it more awkward. Emily said that's my super power because I can take the most normal things and make them super awkward. At least she said it's a funny awkward, so she feels like she can laugh without feeling like she's laughing at someone who's totally pathetic ans socially awkward. Good! Well, after I made it through security, I didn't know where my gate was so I walked around and I ended up walking around the entire building, only to walk back in front of the security people and in the opposite direction I had gone at first. I finally made it to the passport guy and he looked at it and then got out his stamp and was about to stamp it and then he stopped and I almost had a heart attack. Then it turned out that he only wanted to tell me that there wasn't a place to get food after I passed them. So I thought that was really sweet! I just told him to go ahead and stamp it though. I ran out of the food I took from the hostel at 3:30...so I was still kinda full from that.

My plane ride was boring. I fell asleep while the safety instructions were being explained and then woke up about 20 minutes before we landed. I found the train that would take me to the underground and then I took the underground to another train station and I was freaking out because I thought I was going to miss my second train but I ended up being 20 minutes early for my train and I just stood around in the station. My train came into Oxford at 12:20, I speed walked the 2 miles from the train station to my house, made it here in 20 minutes and had time to jump in the shower before class and I was one minute early for my 1:00 class. Skill! Then between that class and my poetry class I walked to the sandwich shop and got some lunch and then later that night I did laundry. I ended up being awake, minus my little plane nap, for over 37 hours and it was not great. I was loopy and hyper and...yeah. But Erika thought it was really funny. And I started to get a little cold on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it's just a stress cold because it's going away now that I'm back to what I know and in a normal routine but being in Spain a lone was a stressful thing and getting back in time for class was stressful. I had to treat myself to a milkshake yesterday made with a Ben's cookie. It was, as one of the guys here said, "life changing". Truly. And I had Ali's on Monday night but someone picked it up for me and I forgot to tell them what all I wanted on it so it wasn't like I remembered...which was sad. But it was still good. I'm not going to eat out again this week unless I have to though, because as much as I loved Spain it was not good for my wallet! Worth it.

So that was my trip to Spain! It's now 5:00...I had to break for class about halfway through this post. Sorry you just read a novel that had no real content. Maybe later if I finish all my homework again I'll do a bonus post that's just everything I wrote in my hourly journal/diary and I might even include pictures! WOO!! So stay tuned for that...