PRAGUE BLOG

Ahh yes, blogchildren, I have been waiting two months to title this particular update, and finally - IT HAS ARRIVED! But before we recap Prague, much happened in the weeks between Sweden and Prague, and since this could be a long update, I will do my best to keep it brief.

Post-Sweden was another typical week of class - the paper I had due in abnormal psych being the only significant change of the week. When the weekends here get so intense, all the weeks of class and work just kind of blend together, so let's not worry about discussing them here. But in exciting news, ELIZABETH came to visit! For those of you who aren't aware, Elizabeth is one of my closest friends for the past 10 years. We started at our new school the same year (5th grade, what up pre-teen awkwardness) and stuck with each other. She goes to Georgetown, and though she's often a massive pain in the ass, I still put up with love her. She was visiting some of her friends from school in Ireland, but unluckily for me she stopped by Londontown first. We met up, dropped her stuff off, and then headed out to enjoy some particularly nice weather. Lunch was properly British - pies, terrible french fries, and Haribo starmix - and then Kaila, Elizabeth and I went off to find an East London festival that we never really managed to find. BUT! We found the Barbican Center, which is this massive and confusing complex that's part museum and art exhibition, part movie theater, part school for girls, part post-modern 80s hotel, part college campus, and part skyscraper. The art exhibition was crazy - we walked down this long dark hall that seemingly had no end, and all of a sudden found ourselves in a room filled with birds - zebra finches, to be exact - and musical instruments - bass guitars, regular guitars, and cymbals, all hooked up to amps. There was birdseed on the instruments, and the birds made music as they flew from one instrument to the next, pecking and walking. It was really cool, and totally unexpected. Kaila, Elizabeth and I decided that if you could create the StumbleUpon website in real life, that would be one of its links.

After getting lost in the maze of the Barbican (and stealing a Barbican brick), we met up with Elizabeth's friends and then went out for dinner. Friday was a fairly calm night - post-Chilango burritos, we played cider pong in the kitchen (where I had the most epic of game-saving shots - ask me later), and then turned in fairly early. Side note: spooning with Elizabeth BLOWS. Not her fault - the beds are really tiny and our room was an inferno. (Actually, still probably her fault).

Saturday we awoke, grabbed some wonderful Wagamama (aka the British Spice), and then went to Burrough Market, where we enjoyed numerous free samples of jam, salsa, wine, pesto, and cheese. SO DELICIOUS. I could live on free samples. Then we went to the Tate, where we saw the foam room, the red room, the large table and chairs, the weird sex stuff, and the evil black box of doom. We tried to see Legally Blonde but it was sold out, so instead we grabbed dinner, pregamed in the room, and then walked to Camden to hit up World's End, one of my favorite loud crazy crowded bars. Getting home was an issue - let's just say that certain taxi drivers were verbally assaulted, and a Subway sandwich was brandished as a weapon. Another awful night of sleep later, Elizabeth was out of my life for good. (Just kidding. We had a wonderful visit. I just like being a douche to her.)

She was barely gone before another visitor came, this time in the form of Joe Greco. He's studying in Dublin but came to Londontown for some English shenanigans on his spring break. As he arrived, I had a paper to write - busted that shit out in less than 10 hours, got an A-, booya! On Monday we went to Leicester Square and ended up scoring sweet tickets for Legally Blonde, which we decided to celebrate in the Japanese cave restaurant! The food was good, but the service was awful (serious language barrier) and there were some possibly lesbianic moaning noises coming from another cave. Wonderful. After a quick sprint to the theater, we saw the show, which is actually funnier than I remember. Thank you, London, for keeping shows open when New York has decided to close them. This was followed by this exchange at McDonald's.

Alex: *orders his Wispa McFlurry, pays, and receives said McFlurry*
Joe: *orders same Wispa McFlurry*
McDonald's cashier: Oh, sorry, we're out of those.
Alex: *looks down at Wispa McFlurry, back up at cashier*
Joe: You're out of those? *points to my McFlurry*
Cashier: Yes.
Joe: Then what is that right there?
Cashier: *mumbles unintelligibly*
Alex: *loses faith in what he at one point thought was a Wispa McFlurry (and then eats it anyway - let's be real)*

BRB MY LIFE HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY THIS GAME:http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html

We now resume our regularly scheduled blog update.

Tuesday featured class (blah), sight-seeing at the London Eye with Joe and Morgan (yay! - free champagne), a Mexican restaurant, and then a generally sloppy yet awesome Tuesday at The Rocket. Kind of in love with The Rocket. Kind of want to be in a facebook relationship with it.

Wednesday, much sleeping in (after a rough night of sharing a bed again - Joe is as uncomfortable if not more than Elizabeth), then class, then a calm night out for dinner and a few pints. I needed to get some snooze time in before Prague, so Thursday was pretty slow as well - packed, saw Alice in Wonderland, and got to bed. Morgan and I were awake bright and early (5:45am - eww) to head to PRAGUE.

Ladies and gentleman, I know welcome you to....

THE PRAGUE BLOG.



PRAHA OOO LA LA - want your bad goulash

The trip to Prague started with a 4hr bus from London to Birmingham (England, not Alabama) - trust me, it was cheaper, and worth the extra effort. I slept nicely, until the bus turned into a sauna and then, 30 minutes later, the Arctic tundra, but hey it was a good start. The flight was uneventful, and by 3pm we were in Prague - in the fog. It was snowy, cold and gray - why did we book frozen wastelands in January-March, rather than nice warm places like Africa? Anyways, in Prague they use the honor system on the metro, so being uninformed tourists, we hopped on the bus with no idea how to work the ticket machine. Oops. Sorry Prague.

We headed to the metro station, then took the super clean and efficient metro to our stop and found the LONGEST ESCALATOR EVER. No joking. It had to have been 200 feet long.



WHAT IS THIS MADNESS??

Six hours later (just kidding, it only took four and a half to get up that) we were at the ... wait for it ... CZECH INN. God I love this city. Nicest hostel yet, but also the quietest - Morgan and I dropped off our stuff, met our 34 and a half year old roommate (easy, oldster), and immediately left to meet up with Hannah (who'd been there a day already), Allen and Ashley (arriving from Berlin), and assorted Prague-ians. The first stop: a pub near Old Town Square, where we quickly fell in love with the national beer, Pilsner.



The Fat Man Pub



Pilsner. In my mouth. All the time.



Tyn Church in Old Town Square

Post Pilsners, we changed quickly and were off to our first Czech meal! Fun fact about the Czechs: they all smoke. Everywhere. Restaurants, bars, post offices, probably in nursery schools. I would not be surprised to see a little Czech baby with a cigarette in one hand, Pilsner in the other. Such is Prague. Hey - the Cold War's over, gotta capitalize. The restaurant we ended up at (after the one which had five dogs running around in it) was like a smoky bar from a bad 80s movie. I half expected a bar fight to break out between Patrick Swayze and Tom Selleck for the affections of the lovely Melanie Griffith (cue guitar riff). Sadly, this never happened, but my life clock is shorter thanks to all the secondhand smoke.

The Czech delicacy is goulash (with an appetizer of onion soup), which is beef and sausage in gravy with dumplings and horseradish. It's amazing, but we're talking heavy. Like, I may not be able to walk back up those stairs because I'm so effing full of beef and gravy heavy. Good thing we had Pilsner to wash it down with! (No wonder the Prague kids have trouble ... err, staying regular)

After the goulash, Morgan Ashley and I headed to Usudu, this amazing underground bar that had seven different cavern-like bars, each with its own music and all of them filled with smoke. We enjoyed more beers down here, talked, and enjoyed some Czech fashion (sweatpants at a club? Totally acceptable!) We had bigger plans though, so we were off to Lucerna!

Lucerna was a club down the road enjoying an 80s themed night, and we met up with the rest of our group and headed inside. Best exchange of the night:

Douchebag from Chicago: "Isn't the Eiffel Tower in New York?"
*long pause*
Allen: "I'm sorry was that a joke?"

The coat czech line was RIDICULOUS. Not even a joke, we were in it for twenty minutes. The dance party started a little early since we had no choice but to grind up on each other to survive the mob. Also, a French guy borrowed my phone. This has significance. The rest of the night involved Pilsners, lots of dancing, a guy way too eager to encourage people to take their shirts off, and of course, Hannah and I dancing with each other. Turns out we were both 5 minutes late =/

We enjoyed a post-club hot dog (not like that, you perverts), an enjoyable taxi ride (I know EVERYONE wants to hear my version of "Paparazzi"), and a photo shoot on most of Prague's cars made before 1998. We slept wonderfully despite the senior citizen living in our room, and we were up early to start our busy day of sightseeing.

We started off getting some bagels at this amazing bagel place near Old Town Square, Bohemian Bagels. Then it was off to find the Jewish Quarter and see some old synagogues and cemeteries. Great plan, except... it was Saturday. Shabbat. The entire area was closed, and we felt a bit silly for not realizing this earlier. So we took our first of many breaks at the Kafka Cafe, enjoying some coffee and strudels. We walked along the river towards the Charles Bridge, which is an incredible bridge that goes over the Vltava River and has lots of statues and historic architecture.



Tyn Church in Old Town Square during the daytime




Honestly ... no idea what's going on in this sign. No playing in the streets? No cars parked by houses? No idyllic scenes of suburban splendor? Ugh, Europeans and your wacky signs...



We were not happy Jews like this sign would suggest



The poster for Teacher 2.0 ... coming to theaters May 2011



Charles Bridge across the Vtlava River

Once across the river, we went looking for the Lennon Wall (NOT the Lenin Wall. Different man, different wall) This took a little winding and weaving through the streets of Prague, but the 5 of us enjoyed walking around and seeing a bit of the city. We finally found it (near the mini MARKET) and took a lot of pics. It's a really cool wall that's similar to Strawberry Fields in Central Park, lots of Lennon memorabilia, graffiti, and art. We also wrote our names in the "All You Need is Love" heart. Near the wall was a bridge that was covered with hundreds of locks. We wanted to also leave a memento here, but sadly, they sold no locks (though I hear you can find them at Tesco...)



The Lennon Wall



Who's that sexy guy in front of the Lennon Wall? (Hint: it's me)



The locks - too bad we didn't bring one =(

We quickly went to the Church of the Infant Jesus (in which Jesus is depicted as a mischievous little lad with a number of fun costume changes), but honestly, it was Pilsner time. We found a great place near the Lennon Wall with cheap (and I'm talking CHEAP - a 31-krona Pilsner is exactly $1.65, which is CHEAP, by American and European standards. And it's sooooo good. Two Pilsners and several orders of fried cheese later (another Czech favorite), we were back on the streets - and hopelessly lost! Do we take this tram? No maybe we should find the metro. No let's walk here. Now we're going the wrong way. This was us for about an hour, a lot of one step forward and two steps back. We also used the bathroom in like five different restaurants - sorry guys. We finally figured out where we wanted to head, and went to the Dancing Building, a building designed by Frank Gehry that was inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. We hurried up to the roof before it closed, caught some great views of the city, then headed down for a cocktail in the lounge.



The Dancing House

Following the Dancing House, we were trying to meet Hannah's friends at a microbrewery in an old monastery for dinner - that microbrewery, however, was impossibly far away. Our Czech bartender (the only nice Czech person we met so far) helped us find the right bus, and soon we were back across the river and winding our way up the mountain to an old stadium. The stadium was terrifying - pitch-black, all concrete, decrepit, and abandoned. It's the type of place where people do drug deals (or just straight up drugs) in the movies. We were quite out of our element, and basically ran down the other side of the mountain (through some equally shady areas) until we found ... the monastery! Huzzah! More Pilsner, onion soup, and goulash later, we were ready for a night out.

We pregamed in the NYU in Prague dorms (after a quick nap on Allen's behalf), and had to suffer through the worst game of beer pong I've ever seen. One guy had this special technique that required him to look like a douche and STILL miss most of his shots. Dude, my missed shots take a lot less effort. Then he said the magic words: "Yo, I'm reppin' NYU Stern!" Allen, Hannah, Morgan, and I all went "Ohhhhh...." Everything suddenly made sense. We ditched that disaster and went to Lucerna, a 5-story club near the Charles Bridge that was our home for the next 5 or so hours. Lots of dancing, lots of good music - great night overall. I'm not usually big into clubs, but so far Europe has done a nice job of keeping the club-hopping fun.

Not much sleep and much packing later, Morgan and I did our last bit of sightseeing. We hit up St. Wenceslas Square, had one last meal of Czech food (and one last Pilsner ... miss you baby), and then were back to the airport and Londontown. It was a great weekend, as most of ours have been - lots of sightseeing, lots of food and beverage, lots of inside jokes, pics, and fun.

I really can't believe this semester is more than halfway over. In a way, I feel like I just got here, but the past two months have probably been the longest and most eventful since I got to NYU. It's been truly one-of-a-kind, and wholly unforgettable - one of those semesters that will still stand out in my future. I love it, and with Spring Break around the corner (and that means Dublin, Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Rome, Athens, and Santorini), it only stands to get wilder, crazier, and more amazing. Thanks for reading kiddos, love you all and happy trails!

Stockholm: Ice Bars and Ikea, Meatballs and Moose Antlers, Boats and Babies

Greetings readers - sorry for the two week delay, it has been a busy 14 days here in Europe. The day-to-day stuff always seems a bit simple to blog about, and then all of a sudden I have two full weeks of experiences and another vacation to talk about! Plus pictures pictures pictures! Let's rewind to the last blog post.

Post-Barcelona was a slow week, I kind of had the post-vacation blues. One thing about London is that it truly is always gray and rainy. When you've just had the weekend of your life in Spain, and you come back to cruddy weather and lots of schoolwork, your mood kind of gets thrown out of whack. Nothing terrible, mind you - I just didn't feel like doing much besides class, work, going to the gym, and sleep. Studying abroad is a lot like studying in New York in that way - once you get comfortable, you kind of feel guilty not going out to see something new everyday, but it's just not feasible. After a fairly non-eventful week, I was excited to head out and enjoy my weekend a bit. Thursday night we went for margaritas and Mexican food (my two favorite things) at Desperadoes in Angel - perfection. Then we hit a bar and McDonald's (duh) for a late night McFlurry. Friday night was a bit more epic - Hannah, Margaret, Eduardo, Javier, and a few others pregamed in the Nido kitchen and headed to SoHo to a club called The Den. It was a bit crazy - we were out til almost 5, and the night may or may not have included some She Wolfing, a missing coat, the country of Estonia, British TV executives, Tubes of Shame, Princess Diana, and the number 30. That's all you get to know.

Saturday we slept in, did some work (aka napped), and then went to Wagamama for dinner with Kaila and Hannah. We met up with Allen, Justin, Keely, and a few others for beer at The York, then came home to watch Lost and order late night pizza with Margaret. She now has accounts with every single British pizza place. Classy, my lady.

Sunday involved lots of paper writing, so let's skip that and get to ... Ke$ha!!! So I got a text from myspace (because I'm apparently a 12-year-old girl) about a secret show in London on Monday night. So, I love Ke$ha, and although my lovely friend Matthew first introduced me to "Tik Tok", I was well-versed with her work on the recent classic, Flo Rida's "Right Round", and feel somewhat responsible for playing her at every single social event until people had no choice but to like her. I'm not saying I single-handedly made Ke$ha happen. I'm just saying that her specific brand of weird dance-pop is perfectly tuned to my personal music trends, and that ... I basically single-handedly made her happen. Anywho, of course I had to hit up this concert, especially after missing the Valentine's Day show in NYC that most of my friends went to (bitches). Unfortunately, we have a required class that night... so I got my priorities in order, and immediately decided to skip the class. FIDLAR. I went by myself, and stood in line in the freezing cold while playing Ke$ha on my iPod to remind me why I was there. A few hours, some frozen hands, tons of weird British teenagers in animal costumes, and one Mayo Chicken value meal from McDonald's later, I met up with some other NYU people who were randomly there. I also met some British kids who were OBSESSED with America and asked me about 1000 questions about it (yes, we have Domino's Pizza. yes, we have Subway. yes, there are beaches in California, and they say dude). They were nice though, and a good distraction from the cold until we headed into the show. The show was AMAZING - only a few of her songs, but it was a packed venue and 4 hrs(!) in the cold landed me a pretty sweet spot. A couple hundred of us danced to "Backstabber", "Dinosaur", "Party at a Rich Dude's House", "Blah Blah Blah", and of course "Tik Tok", during which she assaulted us with glitter confetti. This was pretty incredible - sorry I don't have pictures. I had to rush through quite a bit of homework to make up for all the time I'd missed that afternoon, but it was totally worth it.

Tuesday through Thursday were again fairly uneventful - I had a nice date with someone I met the weekend before, did lots of homework, and packed for our weekend in Stockholm. AHHH! ANOTHER TRIP!

Our trip to Stockholm once again took a bus, a flight, and another bus just to make it to the city. The flight itself was fairly uneventful, but Kelly, Morgan, and I immediately got excited on seeing the snow when we landed in Vasteras, Sweden. Very Scandinavian and very pretty. The bus through the countryside probably offered plenty of nice views, but unfortunately it was too dark to see much more besides snow and pine trees. We got to Stockholm and found it amazingly well-lit - and completely deserted. It wasn't too late - only 10pm. But there was NOBODY on the streets or metro. We got off the metro and tried to locate our hostel, but the snow-lined streets all had crazy names and the map was hard to decipher. Once we got our bearings, we walked through a small park and ended up climbing a steep, snowy hill, all of us wondering just what we'd gotten ourselves into. At the top of the hill we had an AMAZING view of the city - lots of water, lights, buildings, and ice. Unfortunately, our hostel - a boat known as Rygerfjord located on the bay - was way down below us. We were on a ridiculous cliff with no way to get down except for ... the staircase of sure death.



Welcome to Sweden!



Morgan and Kelly braving the staircase of death



A view of Stockholm from the cliffside - so pretty



Rygerfjord is down there (somewhere)!

(Btw if Sweden looks like Antarctica with nice buildings, it kind of is. No worries.)

Several near-death slips and slides down the iciest wooden staircase in Sweden, we were at our hostel - Rygerfjord! (I will spare you all "I'm On a Boat" jokes - that song stopped being funny about 5 minutes after it aired, and I blame this on the same people who ruined "Napoleon Dynamite") It was quaint, especially after the crazy shitshow that was Kabul (our hostel in Barcelona). It had a bed-and-breakfast feel, except floating. Our 12-person dormitory was in the hold of the ship, near the front, so we were legitimately in the ship's hull. The staircase to the room was incredibly steep, and the ceilings and bunks were low, which proved a bit tough for me, but somehow my 6-foot frame managed. Our French roommates were loud and obnoxious (thanks for yelling all the time at 8am, douchebags!), but I actually managed some pretty good sleep. It was about 11:30pm, and we still hadn't eaten dinner. We had a craving for some good Swedish food (meatballs, plz, in and around my mouth), but instead we got... well... McDonald's. Dammit.



I'm on an over-referenced, tired pop culture reference! (Our hostel, Rygerfjord)



Another staircase of death, this one down to our room



Damn you McDonald's. You seductress. You TEMPTRESS.



The beautiful streets of Sweden

With no guidebook (we blame the fire in Nido, not Kelly - no worries, love), we decided instead to wander the city post-dinner. We saw some cute streets, all well-lit and completely vacant, a few bars (23 years old can NOT be the drinking age), and some gorgeous architecture. We took another stroll down the perilous cliff and staircase of death, and, after talking to some nice people in the hostel common room, called it a night.

We got a long night's rest, met up with Laura (coming in from quite the journey from Florence), and headed out to see the city in the daytime. It was ... actually harder to see. A huge fog had come in overnight, and it was difficult to see very much until you were right on it. Undeterred, we left our island (Stockholm is an archipelago, and situated on a series of islands) to head to Gamla Stan, where the old city of Stockholm is.

DISCLAIMER: None of the buildings I'm going to show you will have accurate captions. Here's why:
A) I don't know any of their names
B) If I did know their names, they would likely be 20 letters long, consist mostly of vowels and the letter's G, N, T, and S, as well as some foreign punctuation, thus impossible to spell
C) If managed to both know the name of the building and how to correctly spell it, I would have no idea of its significance
D) If I managed to know the name, spell it right, and know why it's important, you would probably not be able to tell it apart from any of the thousand other Scandinavian buildings I took pictures of

With this in mind, enjoy these pictures as well as the names I have assigned them



Talltowerwithpointytoppengurken



Othertalltowerwithpointytoppenfleimen



Enclosedbridgeoverroadenhaggen



The Royal Palace (hey I remembered one! Yay learning!)

We did some shopping, sight-seeing, and photo-taking in Gamla Stan (as well as having our first meal of Swedish meatballs, gravy, lingonberry sauce, and mashed potatoes - SO. EFFING. GOOD.), and then headed across another bridge to the city center, which actually had an H&M on every single street corner. No joke, we counted seven within a four block radius. I may have bought lots of hot new shirts. Thanks for being the birthplace of H&M, Sweden!

We then took the Ikea shuttlebus to MY FIRST IKEA VISIT EVER at the BIGGEST IKEA IN THE WORLD!!! It was pretty monumental. Arkansas doesn't have Ikea, and I've never been to the Brooklyn one, so seeing it for the first time in its original country was downright cool. The room designs - so chic! The color schemes - so coordinated! The meatballs - so Swedish (and a bit too soon after our first round of meatballs...oh well). We played (500) Days of Summer in most of the showrooms, sat on chairs that were way too small for us, and traversed the 5(!) floors and entire warehouse of this ridiculous place. We mentally decorated all of our future apartments - now, if we could stop spending money on RyanAir flights, beer, and meatballs, we could maybe one day afford a space to furnish. This does not seem likely.



I see ya, Ikea!



The epicness of Ikea



Bags bags bags bags bags bags (EVERYBODY!)



Kelly's Ikea Cooking Hour (with Kelly, starring Kelly)



Wow, Swedish menu, let's not call names, k?

Post-Ikea, we took the bus back and walked home to get ready for the night. With no real plans in mind, we enjoyed some spiced rum and then headed out to find some dinner. We found a phenomenal place with good pasta, good beer, and Swedish Ben Affleck. Morgan enjoyed it so much he took a nap!! Emily managed to find us after traveling Friday night, and our walk home was filled with snowball domination, a brief encounter with a boulder of snow and the Swedish police, and yes, the staircase of death.



Morgan, obviously having the time of his life



Laura, but also, more importantly, Swedish Ben Affleck. You can't really see it here, but oh man, he was SOOOO Ben Affleck



This is regular.



And, because I'm an asshole, here's another one of Morgan sleeping!

Saturday, with all of 5 of us finally up and in Sweden mode, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed towards the ferry to take us to Djurgarden, another island with a theme park, a zoo, and a Scandinavian village to explore. The ferry was awesome - it cut across the chunks of ice with ease, and the views, though freezing, were incredible. The theme park at Djurgarden looked awesome, but was unfortunately closed. Too bad, I am so in the mood for some European roller coasting. The zoo and village - a large complex known as Skansen - was open, so we paid our Swedish Kronor and headed in. This place was really awesome. The village had a glass-blowing shop, several historic sites, a park for skating, sledding, and barbecuing, and lots of friendly Swedes. Also it was a friggin baby explosion. I guess when you are as good-looking as the Swedish, all you want to do is reproduce but damn... it was like a Stroller Party in there. The staircases in Stockholm actually have special tracks for strollers. In addition to the village, we saw seals, reindeer, moose (NEACURH love), herons, bison, and wolves - all animals native to the cold Scandinavian wilderness. The bears were in hibernation, as were the lynx and the wolverines, but kudos to this zoo for being one of the few I've seen outside of Jurassic Park that leaves the carcasses of its animal's food out in the open. Oh hey there ribcage!



The ice that our ferry totes dominated



Creepy frozen abandoned amusement park! I want to go there!



Our village/zoo/baby factory/stroller party (sorry I have no pics of animals - we had a bit of a camera snafu, but come on, a moose is a moose is a moose)

Post-Skansen (and yet another round of Swedish meatballs), we took the ferry back to Gamla Stan to show Emily the older parts of the city. It was nice, but a wave of sleet soon scared us back to the hostel. Which was okay, we had some big plans ... drinking vodka while watching the Swedish Celebrity Version of The Singing Bee! (Not really, but this did transpire) No, we had to make it to the Ice Bar! After pregaming and getting ready, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to Ostermalm (the city center) to go to a bar made entirely of ice. So amazing - we wore these massive fur-lined coats and walked in to a factory-themed ice chamber. The bar, the walls, the cups, the chairs, the tables - all ice. It was freezing, but the drinks were delicious and the music was good. We took a bunch of photos and drank some glow-in-the-dark concoctions before having to leave shortly - they don't want you getting hypothermia, apparently, but I would have stayed all night.



Our group in the Ice Bar - we look like wizards, or eskimoes, or both



Ice chair!



Ice bar!



Ice table with ice glass and icy cold vodka drink!

Post Ice Bar, we took a trip to a local pub for a beer (and a quick nap for Morgy), and then said bye to Laura (who was leaving early Sunday) and Emily (who was still tired from her Friday travels). Kelly, Morgan and I went in search of a club, which took awhile. Some clubs have strict dress codes (apparently our winter wear wasn't cutting it), other are 23 and up, and others had super exclusive guest lists (which was bull, as there wasn't anybody inside). We finally ended up in this incredible place called Hell's Kitchen - it was absolutely massive, three floors, tons of people, and the music was great. We danced, flirted with Swedes, and had a blast until around 2:30am, when the impending closing of the metro beckoned. After ANOTHER meal of McDonald's (dammit dammit dammit what is my life why is that ALL I eat) and a subtle raping of the Stockholm Metro, we were back on our boat and fast asleep.

Sunday, as is becoming the trend, was a bit slower. The 4 of us (minus Laura - miss you boo!) got brunch(no meatballs, alas), and then walked down some new streets and areas towards the Globen, a large hockey and concert arena. They had a new attraction that was a gondola that goes around the globe to give you a nice view, but unfortunately we didn't make a reservation, and they were booked solid for the day. We headed back to City Center, and, tired of being cold and not sure what do, stopped at the local movie theater to watch a special premiere of a new Jim Carrey movie, I Love You Phillip Morris. Yes, I know, a bit weird to go see a movie in a foreign country, but we were pretty much exhausted, and this was a nice warm break from the cold. The movie was hilarious but weird - it's a dark comedy in which Carrey plays a con man who falls in love with his cellmate (Ewan McGregor), and it hasn't opened anywhere else. It just previewed at Sundance, and I don't see many Red States liking the film, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially once I realized it was based on a ridiculous true story (the guy broke out of jail and faked his death from AIDS - truly insane). Go see it if you like something offbeat and a bit twisted.

We finally ended our Stockholm vacation much as we started - tired, on several modes of transportation (bus, plane, bus, taxi), but glad to have had another great weekend. Stockholm was so different from Barcelona - colder, more distinctly European, and more centralized. The people were different, the atmosphere was different, and the McDonald's was ... well, McDonald's. I think that traveling so much in such a condensed time period creates an odd picture of where we live. Imagine if in a week, you saw New York City, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, the Midwest, and San Diego. You'd get snapshots of buildings, places, beaches, sights, but never really sure of the full picture. That's what I have right now - snapshots, brief windows into another culture, but no conclusions yet on Europe. I know what 3 days in Sweden are, but I have no idea what life there is truly like, and it's hard to get the full taste in such a short period of time. This is not a regret of mine - I know infinitely more about Sweden than I ever did before this weekend, and the same goes for Barcelona, Paris, and London. I just think it's incredible how many questions can be answered while still raising so many more. I've truly only lived two places in my life, very distinct places at that - the quiet American suburbia of Little Rock, Arkansas, and New York City, arguably the center of the world. Traveling has shown me that no two places lie on the same place on the spectrum - there are huge cities with rich cultures, small towns with humble traditions, and everything in between. It's exciting and utterly mystifying - how similar cultures can be, and simultaneously how distinct. We encountered few spoken language barriers in Sweden - they thankfully are very fluent in English - yet it was quickly apparent how distinct Swedish and American culture is, and Barcelona culture, and Parisian culture, etc. This whole semester is providing a great deal of perspective on my life and my regular environment - I'm learning so much about where I'm visiting, and also learning a lot more about where I come from. I have so much more to see and do, and I can't wait - thanks for sticking with me!

Coming soon: Elizabeth (from home and Georgetown) and Joe (from NYU) are visiting! Prauge in ten days! And why I have a love/hate relationship with gift shops!

Keep reading kids.

Barcelona - Heaven's Having a Party

Wow.

I knew about two hours into our Barcelona trip that this blog update was going to be epic, but now that I'm sitting down to do it, I honestly don't even know where to begin. I guess I should preface all of this by saying hands down, the most incredible weekend of my life. I know it's fresh in my memory and that we're all still coming down from vacation high, laughing and looking through all the pictures, but sometimes you are just able to recognize an immediate significance, that kind of feeling that in a month, a year, ten years, the rest of your life, you are going to look back on this trip and see it as one of the most incredible, undeniably perfect times of your life. I know, I know, you're probably thinking "Stop with the sentimental Hallmark BS and show us pictures of you drinking sangria through a massive straw!" But I wanted to preface the stories, inside jokes, and photos by letting you know how much this weekend meant to me. Also, apologies if I can't fully convey this emotion through my blog.

SO! On with the show. Our adventure began with the EasyBus from Gloucester Place to London-Stansted Airport. After my class (ugh, class) I hurried over to meet up with Kelly, Morgan, Athena, and Zach, grab a quick bite of McDonald's to secure my status as a lame American who relies too heavily on fried, unhealthy deliciousness, and hop on the bus. They should really rename the service EasyChurchVan, because that's what it was - an orange church van that happened to play some PHENOMENAL pre-vacation karaoke music. "Whatever I said, whatever I did - I didn't mean it! I just want you back for good!" Kelly and I had quite a nice little jam session. The bus took about an hour through London suburbs and the countryside, and the weather was cold and sunny as we arrived at the airport to check in for our flight. At which point we found... O'NEILLs! The perfect place for a pre-flight basket of chips and pint of cider. We hadn't even left London yet, and Athena already had guys buying her a drink. We looked through the guidebook making plans for sights to see, bars to hit, and how to best approach Barcelona - the best part of this is that none of our plans actually seemed to take place, and for that I couldn't be happier.



EasyChurchVan



Hells yes - O'Neill's at the airport!

Turns out we stayed a bit long at O'Neill's and didn't anticipate much security - cut to us sprinting through the airport trying to find our gate, which ended up being MUCH farther away than anticipated. How very Amazing Race of us. We made it in time though, thank god, and soon boarded the notoriously ghetto European airline known as RyanAir. Sure, flights are cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for. The plane itself was pretty nice, but during the 2-hour flight, they tried to sell us overpriced candy, snacks, and alcohol, refused to turn off the cabin lights, and played some ridiculous 2-euro lottery game that we chose not to partake in. Our landing was terrifying. I think the same woman who had to teach the new flight attendant how to use the credit card machine went down to the cockpit to teach the pilot how to land. We were weaving, bobbing, and I half-expected the back half of the plane to fall off, Lost style (PS - finished Season One, SO GOOD!) When we landed, they played a nice little fanfare to announce that the plane had arrived on time - I think it was more just a personal celebration that we made it down to the ground without exploding or killing anybody.

Our next destination, after Customs and the ATM, was the Barcelona Bus, our transport from Girona, Spain to our final destination. This was a pretty standard coach bus that took about an hour to drive through Spanish countryside and play some more great karaoke jams - "All Star", by Smash Mouth, may deserve its comeback. We imagine the views were gorgeous, but alas, it was too dark to see much. We arrived in Barcelona around 10:30, and headed to the metro to find our hostel, which was situated on one of Barcelona's main streets, Las Ramblas. We actually bought the wrong type of metro ticket (oopsies), so we hopped the turnstiles and pretended we knew what we were doing. This would not be the last time we "bent the rules" of the Barcelona metro ("break the law" just seems like such an accusation - I'm no criminal).

We walk out of the metro station onto Las Ramblas, and what do I immediately see:



This was when I realized the true magic of Barcelona, or at least began to. As a hopeless American with severe brand loyalty as far as restaurants go, I have been missing my Chili's, my Chipotle, my Spice, and, perhaps most of all, my Dunkin. Gracias a Dios for this wonderful slice of heaven. We walked down Las Ramblas to La Plaza Real, the square on which our hostel was situated. This street is truly beautiful - lined with trees and streelights, surrounded by gorgeous architecture, with restaurants offering sangria and tapas at every step. We took a left onto the Plaza, and our jaws continued to drop. A huge plaza, filled with palm trees, clubs, and people. I honestly thought our hostel was a club when we first saw it, and, well, heard it.



Kabul Backpacker's Hostel



La Plaza Real



Another shot of La Plaza Real, which was basically home base for the weekend

We went inside the hostel, and I was immediately anxious and excited. In Paris, as you faithful blogreaders know, we stayed with Taylor in his apartment, so it was still like having our own space. This was our first hostel experience - massive rooms, tons of worldwide travelers, public bathrooms (ew) - and it did NOT disappoint. We were all a bit split up amongst the rooms, but luckily I landed in the same room as Morgan and Athena. We checked in, dropped off our bags in our room, and noticed how unexpectedly quiet the 24-person suite was. We went to find Kelly, who was next door and would later share her room with Taylor and Liz. She meets us at the door, and informs us that one of her roommates is a drug dealer who thinks he's Jesus. Thus set up the quick dynamic between her room - the crazy ass party room - and our room - the sleepy room. I was glad, for one, to be in the sleepy room. More to come on Jesus later, but let me just tease you all with this picture of Jesus' balloon sculpture, inspired by a "love message" from "his Father".



The significance of that has yet to be determined. More on that later. Anyways, after lots of travel we were hungry for tapas, so we met up with Laura, who had arrived earlier that day from Florence, and headed to a restaurant down Las Ramblas, El Chocquito. The place was empty except for The Real Housewives of Barcelona (easy on the hair dye and curling irons, you Spanish lady-cougars! and stop smoking, it's bad for you!), but we decided it looked good enough to stay. The sangria was delicious - served in pitchers with long straws, we made quick work of it as we waited for our authentic Spanish cuisine. Morgan particularly enjoyed his, and proceeded to be a complete disaster. Well done, I'm proud to call you both my roommate, and my friend. The food was amazing though, as was the second round of sangria, and we decided to turn in early for the night as we knew we had MUCH to do the next day.



Long straw, delicious sangria, happy Alex ... these straws are really handy in stealing other people's sangria when they aren't looking, it's like a Mario Party minigame



Yup, that's Morgan



Still Morgan. Still a mess.

After a surprisingly decent night's sleep, we woke up and got ready to face Barcelona. Taylor and Liz were arriving around 11:30, so we planned to stay around and meet them. HOWEVER, as I said earlier, nothing goes as planned in Barcelona and that's how it should be. After breakfast, Morgan had noticed a flyer for a GoCar tour, which is a GPS-guided car that you drive around the city to major tourist destinations. The hostel had a 9 euro special, and Morgan asked me if I wanted to. Of course I jumped at the chance. FIDLAR all the way. I figured that Tay and Liz would be exhausted after traveling all morning, and I knew this was can't-miss opportunity, so cut to 30 minutes later, I'm in this tiny three-wheeled GoCar with Athena, helmet on, about to take over the streets of Barcelona. Morgan and Laura were behind us, but as we pulled onto the first main street of the tour, our car died and we thought we were going to as well.



GOCAR YOU COMPLETE ME!



This is the greatest thing you can ever do

Athena and I freaked out, Morgan and Laura swerved around us (and were never seen again), and we pulled off onto the sidewalk. The car would NOT restart. We were laughing and frustrated at the same time, and we finally got it to work without having to return to the main office. We rejoined the flow of traffic and headed off on our epic GoCar adventure. This was just awesome. I love driving, the weather was perfect, and we saw SO much of Barcelona. There was definitely a learning curve to the driving. European roundabouts are NOT fun to go through - too many lanes, not enough signs telling me where to drive - and motorcyclists blow through the streets of Barcelona, ignoring lanes and regular traffic patterns. Also, one time, I drove down a one-way street for awhile. This was not Europe's fault, I will accept full responsibility. Hey, nobody died though!

The lovely British tour guide in our car - Susie - took us first past the Arc de Triomf and the Parc Ciutadella. She didn't give us much time to look, but luckily Athena was helping me out with some pictures.



That's the Arc de Triomf in red brick all the way down at the end. Susie next took us to Barcelona's very own Gherkin!! Known formally as the Torre Akbar, this is just another phallic building that Europe appears to be quite fond of. As Susie told us, the Gherkin has 4400 windows and it lights up beautifully at nighttime.



A seriously intense roundabout followed, thank god we survived that one, and then we headed towards La Sagrada Familia. This church has been under construction since 1909, and they hope to finish by 2032. Note to the builders: FINISH THE DAMN CHURCH! It's truly the most beautiful building I have ever seen though. Started by Antoni Gaudi, who died in 1926 after being hit by a tram (and we have our own theories on how mentally together he was as an individual), this church has faced financial issues ever since, and has also appeared in every Spanish textbook ever. It will eventually have 18 towers - 12 for the 12 apostles, 4 for the gospels, one for Mary, and the tallest, of course, for Jesus. These 18 make up the sacred family - "La Sagrada Familia". The architecture is breathtaking - the building looks like it's made of honeycomb, melting wax, and cave stalactites. It's impossibly tall, and covered in detail, alcoves, statues, and odd design features that are inspired by curves seen in nature, according to Gaudi. Athena and I took pictures for 5 minutes just to fully appreciate this amazing structure.



La Sagrada Familia



Another shot of the amazing detail



Under construction until forever

After this, we hopped back in the GoCar and drove towards Parc Guell, which is located in the hills to the north of the city. This is another work of Gaudi's, a massive park that features his atypical architectural style. We drove down a beautiful avenue to the hills, at which point the GoCar ran out of Go, and the beautiful and lovely Athena pushed it up the hill while I steered. What a doll, that Athena. It was worth it though - Parc Guell is basically what would happen if Versailles had been designed by Dr. Seuss and the entire set crew of any Indiana Jones movie. The buildings are all twisted, asymmetrical, and ridiculous, and as we moved deeper into the park, we encountered more massive coliseum-type structures, palm trees, secret caves and alcoves, and twisted paths. The views from up here were beautiful as well - all the way down across the city to the Mediterranean. The fact that the sun was out made everything even more incredible - we were in our own tropical paradise.



The entrance plaza to Parc Guell



Athena and I by one of the amazing fountains



The Invisible Man



The main plaza - this had some of the best views of the entire trip, and was gorgeous and sunny



Me roosting in one of many caves



The view from Parc Guell - first view of the Mediterranean Sea, and it was a good one

Though Athena and I hoped to explore more, we also knew that there was more in the city to see (and that Tay and Liz were probably wondering where the hell we were). We headed down the hill (look ma, no hands, just gravity!) and into a cute shopping district known as Gracia. We then ... got lost. See, when you make a wrong turn or miss your exit, Susie just stops. She has no idea where you are, and has no desire to help you. Thus, Athena and I drove around pointlessly for a good 20 minutes, trying to find anything that Susie recognized. She finally did - and started us on a completely new tour of Barcelona. This took us down La Passeig de Gracia, which "may be one of Barcelona's most architecturally important blocks!" At least, so says Susie. From there, we went across La Plaza Catalunya to Las Ramblas, which we drove down to head to Montjuic. I guess I am a stupid American and had no idea that Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics, but on top of Montjuic (literally, Jew Mountain), they have the entire Olympic Park, and Susie was ECSTATIC to take us up there. The hill was thankfully not as steep as Parc Guell, so no pushing for Athena, but it was steep enough that we created quite the impressive line of traffic behind us (sorry, Barcelonians in a hurry). At the top, we stopped by the National Museum of Catalonian Art, and then drove by the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Park (both of which were beautiful, and play a very important role later) before driving down the mountain to the beach. The road we were on used to be a Formula 1 racetrack until a fatal accident, and damn did my GoCar want to go a bit faster than the recommended 50 km/h. I was loving it. Driving around the beach was incredible too. Views of the beach, the water, and the sun were exactly what the doctor ordered after a month in soggy gray London. We wanted to stick around, but felt like we needed to head back and rejoin the group. We finally, after about 3 hours of driving, made it back to the GoCar station where we found Morgan and Laura. A quick pit stop at the hostel, and we headed out to lunch to meet the rest of the group. Tay and Liz were here!

Lunch was a pretty casual affair on the beach (if you don't count the exorbitant amount of white umbrellas that existed), and we all caught up and shared our adventures. Tay and Liz were so interested in the GoCar adventure that they ended up doing it on Sunday. Post lunch, we walked down by the harbor to the beach to soak in some sunshine and touch the Mediterranean! This was a bit difficult, as the waves were pretty intense and none of us were wearing the proper clothes to get very wet. We mostly ended up touching wet sand and some leftover foam from the waves. But no worries, we took lots of pictures!



I love this picture of Laura taking pictures at the harbor



A shot down the beach to the W Hotel, which is where I will stay once I have lots and lots of money



This was the coolest sandcastle ever - it had central plumbing



Cool statue on the beach

From the beach, we paid 9 euros to take an elevator up to a fernicular, which was this cable car that took us back to the top of Montjuic. Tay, Liz, and I seemed to have no issues with it, as our travels to Cabo San Lucas had us bungee jumping out of a similar contraption into a desert canyon. However, the rest of the group seemed pretty terrified - it definitely gave us some great pictures though. Once back on land, we decided to race up to the top to see the sunset, highly doubting we'd make it there in time. Not only did we make it on time, but we were rewarded for possibly the greatest moment of the trip. We found the Olympic stadium, park, and communications tower about 10 minutes before the sun set behind the mountains. It was a beautiful sunset, and we kind of stopped talking to each other and just soaked in the moment. It was otherworldly, and at one point I was on the verge of tears only because of how beautiful it all was. It was one of those mental snapshots you took and kept as a lifelong souvenir.



Up the beach from the cable car



The amazing town of Barcelona



The view from where we originated on the cable car



The old Olympic swimming pool (as the sun begins to set)



The inside of the old Olympic stadium (sun still setting - must see it!!!)



The exterior of the main stadium



This is up there in Unforgettable Life Moments...



...and without question the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen

Hard to put it in words I guess. Maybe that's for the better - maybe it's one of those rare feelings that can't be externalized because that would lessen its significance. Not gonna lie, I'm even getting a bit choked up just thinking about it right now - I wish every one of you could have been there to see it.

Anyways, sappy moment over (sorry if this has seemed like the last 5 minutes of a Lifetime movie). We decided to walk down Montjuic, passing by plenty more historic buildings, epic staircases, and stupid Spanish teenagers running on fountain ledges with their cell phones stuck in their motorcycle helmets. We got to the ground and went to a grocery store to pick up some tequila (me, Tay, and Liz's favorite), as well as Taylor's amazing 8 liters of water. Kudos to Tay for drinking that much in less than 2 days, he quickly became the High Magistrate of Aquatic Beverages. We walked back to the hostel along a rather sketchy alley at which one could find, even as early as 7pm, a plethora of "ladies of the night", as I will refer to them on this family friendly blog (kids, stay in school). Emerging from that situation, we made it to the hostel in time to nap (yes, we quickly learned why the Spanish tradition of the siesta is so important), grab a less than delicious yet still totally free dinner at the hostel, and make plans for the night.

We enjoyed some tequila in the party suite and took some scandalous CW-drama pictures. We planned a pretty epic night out, and it ended up being a little bit less than epic, which is okay (especially once you consider the following night). Our first stop was the FAIRY FOREST BAR. This is the literal translation of the bar we went to, and it was, indeed, a Fairy Forest Bar. We didn't stay for too long since it was more of a calm, restaurant vibe (imagine Rainforest Cafe, but magical!), but it was well worth stopping inside. From there, we took the metro to the beach, where we were hoping to hit up Baja Beach, which is like a crazy Cabo type of bar with games and loud music and tons of tourists. Unfortunately, we got there and ... it didn't exist. Nor did any form of nightlife at the beach whatsoever. Granted, it was 11pm, which is late for Britain, normal for USA, and WAY WAY early for Barcelona. We thought about partying on the beach, but it was a bit cold and we had nothing to imbibe, so we hopped back on the metro to head back to Las Ramblas. By the way, that night was the night that we completely violated the Barcelona metro. Our first trip, to the beach, involved all of us going in on one ticket, as Laura's nine-ride pass didn't work. Whoops! Then, on the way back, we followed normal Barcelona citizens as they walked through the gates. This was our solution, and though it may not have been legal, we stand by it.



Love these people, love this night

Saturday we woke up and basically did it all over again. After some free breakfast, some Dunkin Coffee (WAHOO!), and a metro ride, we were back at Sagrada Familia. It was nice to spend a bit more time here, and Tay, Liz, and Kelly really enjoyed getting to see it for the first time. We were spouting of all our facts that Susie taught us, and we got to see the backside of the church which had some amazing modernist sculptures. We also walked past a street vendor that sold matching earrings, which, thank God, because Liz loves it when her earrings match. Then, it was back off to Parc Guell - thank god Athena and I remembered the way. Walking the same streets was fun, giving us time to really look around and enjoy the sites. We stopped at an AMAZING churreria to get chocolate-dipped churros that were PHENOMZ. Walking up the hill to Parc Guell was not as easy as that time Athena pushed me in my car, but it was still worth the trip. We weren't even into the Parc before Liz and I had an epic palm tree fight. I won. Duh.



Look, Liz, matching earrings!



The crazy statues at the back of La Sagrada Familia



I am such a badass



I solemnly swear that I am up to no good



Homegirl retaliates. Not amazeballs.

Parc Guell was even more fun the second time, we got to spend more time exploring all of its amazing passages and hidden tunnels. Kelly decided that a Top Model walk off would have been awesome, which made sense, because Top Model already DID a shoot there. But lots of photos were taken, stairs were climbed, and we took some awesome totem pole pictures at the highest point of Parc Guell.



I am still a badass. Sly Stallone in Cliffhanger, eat yo HEART OUT



Yes, the views of this place are absolutely incredible



Normal totem pole



Crazy totem pole




Pointing totem pole

From Parc Guell, we ran down the hill, stopped to buy some souvenirs (Christmas ornament, mom and dad, get exciteddddddd), and then grabbed some much-needed lunch. We had a bit of a snafu with Athena's camera, but Barcelona magic smiled on us once again, and we got it back and headed to Las Ramblas. We toured this amazing outdoor market filled with candy stores, fruit carts, seafood and meat stations, and tons of vendors, it was really cool to see. After that, we meant to siesta, but instead... we hung out with Jesus.

So as I said, Jesus is the drug dealer who actually thinks he is Jesus Christ. The son of God. As we hung out in his room before the siesta that never happened, he told us ... ALOT. First of all, he has met the Devil. He is an individual named "The Monster", and his Father sent him a love message that he needed to meet "The Monster". The Monster was friends with an Art Dealer, who was rich and glamorous with all the fashions. The Monster was also gay, and asked Jesus 12 hours after meeting him "Will you marry me?". Jesus, of course, says no, to which The Monster replies "Well all my friends will say I'm wonderful." But of course he was the Devil, so Jesus had to apprehend him and so The Monster is no longer the Devil anymore. Also, one time he went to an outdoor music festival in the South of Spain with 3 kilos of marijuana, because his Father sent him a love message: "Heaven's having a party, so go out and give the people what they love." Unfortunately, he ran out of marijuana, so he prayed: "Father, I am out of drugs. Please provide me with more drugs." Miraculously, he was provided with such drugs, including some I had never heard of it (what are gophers? why was there ever a drug called gophers?) Also, the balloon statue is related to angels, and marijuana and cocaine are the new bread and fish. If ANY of this makes sense to you, please let me know, because we are still working out the details.

This conversation needed to be immediately followed by alcohol, so we headed downstairs for happy hour and to plan the night. We met this incredible Australian guy named Michael who was studying in Scotland (and also didn't fancy himself the reincarnation of any religious prophets). He was traveling alone and we invited him to hang out with us, it was really cool to meet new people from completely different backgrounds. We taught him beer pong, he taught us a new game called "Goon of Fortune" that involves a clothesline and boxed wine. I think this is what the early explorers called "cultural exchange". We enjoyed some free dinner, then headed out into a sudden downpour to grab some boxed wine and sangria (yeah, we reeeeal classy).

As we weren't heading out to the club until 2am, we had LOTS of time to pregame, perhaps too much. A box of wine and several Ke$ha songs later, we were off for Mexican food, where we were horribly mistreated by an awfully cruel waiter - thank god those mole enchiladas were delicious. After Dinner #2, we went BACK to the hostel for more hanging out and pregaming, then finally, at a time when most people start winding down, we headed out to Razzmatazz. This club was insane. Five rooms, absolutely massive, over 5000 people there, and at least an hour long line for the coatroom. It was epic - we danced til 5am amidst panda bears, terrible music, and wayyyyy too much cigarette smoke. We weren't home until almost 6:30, and people on the metro were STILL on their way out to the clubs, including the girl in the "Special KKK" white robe. Sleep was a precious commodity this weekend, and we got very little of it, but I think that I'm okay with that.

We had to wake up early to check out, and we managed to turn ourselves into real people to go do some final sight-seeing. As it is late, and I am tired, and all the pictures will soon be on facebook, I will try to wrap this post up (kudos if you're still reading), but know that we saw the Arc de Triomf, found Nemo, and enjoyed some quality time on the beach before finally taking a metro, a bus, a plane, a bus, and a taxi back to London. Thanks to everyone for an amazing weekend, one that I will always remember and cherish. To wrap this up, I will post some quotes that make no sense to anyone but us, but are worth writing down to remember. Barcelona - heaven's having a party.

"BAR!" - Athena

"Give Jesus back his bong." - Morgan

"I think this is a quote." - Liz
"Oh, look, something someone said!" - Me
"Look a wall!" - Taylor
"Hey, a brick." - Me
"Elbows!" - Taylor

"I hope you don't mind me saying this but, I would like to lay with you."

"ENERGY! I HAVE IT!" - Kelly

"Guys, tomorrow I'm going to shit my brains out." - Athena

"That's really easy to make." - Kelly

"Guys, it's like a bumblebee hopping from one flower to the next..." - Morgan

"Soooooo.... water?" - Taylor

"Guys, I just found God in picture form." - Kelly



"Don't step on the French Fries." - Morgan