WOW. Hey everyone!!! Can't believe its been almost a month since I last blogged! Sorry its been so long but I have been extremely busy! Last time I posted I was just about to start midterms.. well I can successfully say I survived them! I went to Madrid that weekend and it was beautiful!!
So a little on Madrid, I wrote a blog insert on the Train home but I didn't have wifi to post it and by the time I got home it was 11:00pm and I went straight to bed.. SO here it is..
Another great weekend… Wow Europe is turning out to be even better than I had ever imagined. As exhausted as I am, I am having getting comfortable on the train home so I decided to blog now J I am drained physically because we must have walked at least 8 or so miles just today alone. The weekend started off a little rough for me. Let’s just say the tequila definitely wasn’t my friend on Saturday morning (but remember I am legal here so I’m not breaking any rules LOL). I decided that it would be better if I stay in on Saturday night... glad I made that decision, got to hang out with my friend Jess and have some good conversations. I decided today was my last day to enjoy Madrid and I actually really loved Madrid. When I had imagined Spain this is exactly what I had pictured. It’s a very Spanish cultured old town. I loved the atmosphere. The day started off with some decent European breakfast (toast and pastries… definitely a culture shock there when you’re so used to pancakes and eggs for breakfast (yes I sound very American saying that LOL). We then had to check out of our rooms by 11:00am. We were then informed that our program was having a meeting... UH OH. This is an unscheduled meeting… you know that means it’s not going to be good. Our directors explained to us how inappropriate and disgusting some of the kids in our program were last night. To name a few things; a student broke the elevator, another puked in the other elevator and all over the fifth floor, illegal items had to be confiscated, parties were busted in the rooms holding over 25 students, and the worst…. 2 people decided to use the common area as a place to “get to know each other” if you get my drift. DISGUSTING. I feel so bad for my directors because they are the ones that have to deal with all these complaints and horrifying situations. Anyway hopefully everything will be solved and the next trip to PARIIIISSS will be a better trip for the program as a whole. Back to today… I was ready to explore the city. We first started at the flea market… IT WAS HUGE & Crowded. I was able to snag a few bracelets for pretty cheap… I am in love with bracelets… I plan to expand my collection while I am abroad. We finally were able to get out of the crowd and off to food we went... FOOD is a very important aspect in my daily life and luckily my friends too, NO meals can be skipped. We ended up at a tapas restaurant close to the Retiro Park.. Food wasn’t the best but without any doubt my friend Emily was able to provide the entertainment per usual. She’s quite a character… HI EMILY (because I know you read these). So after we finished our late lunch… off to the park we went… THE PARK IS GORGEOUS! When I say this I truly can’t even explain the beauty of it. It’s like an enchanted forest that has such an incredible atmosphere. The more and more you walked into the park the better and better it got. AH, I fell in love. So all together I was definitely pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous Madrid as a city is and how much I truly liked it!!
Got back from a great weekend in Madrid and couldn't have been any happier knowing my mom was going to be arriving in Barcelona in just 4 short days!! WOW. I was so excited!! I hadn't seen her in 2 months... for those of you who don't know... that's the longest I've been away from my mom! I went from seeing her everyday of the summer and working with her 24/7 to not seeing her to 2 months!! It's hard because she is my best friend! I was so happy to see her and explore Barcelona and Florence for 12 days with her!! I stayed at her hotel the entire 9 days we were in Barcelona.. unfortunately I did have to go to class that week but it gave her time to explore the streets I've already seen and it gave her a taste of how I've been living and the opportunity for her to see the culture of Barcelona. The first weekend she was here we did all the touristy things (like I had done with my boyfriend); Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia (or as my mom would say "Sangria Familia" LOL), Las Ramblas, La Boqueria, Montjuic and all that fun stuff! We took a beach day and she was able to experience Barceloneta, where we found a bag full of sea glass.. Who knew that Barcelona beaches were FILLED with sea glass!!(My mom and I collect it, I'm so excited to bring it home!!) The second weekend she was here we adventured our way to Florence, Italy. WOW. What a gorgeous city.. It instantly had my mom and I in awe. We were so in love with what we saw. The flat we stayed in was so cute and perfectly situated. We explored so much; we were able to go into the Palazzo Pitti.. INCREDIBLE and definitely a must see to anyone going to Florence. We spent hours in there just exploring all there is to see. When we finally left there we made our way over to the Leather Market.. I LOVED the smell LOL. Most dealers would bargain with you.. Just a tip: Talk to all of them and show your interest and tell them your going to keep looking.. They want to sell their stuff so your more than likely going to get the price you want.. My mom and I got a good amount of stuff... I got myself my by far my most favorite purse and a wallet (its so me :))... We then walked across the street to a small vendor selling souvenirs and I had to get the items I have been collecting from every trip. There was a guy there talking to the lady working.. He was a real Italian Man as my mom would say LOL. He got us to come to his Leather shop that he was the designer of.. After spending about an hour and a half there he got my mom to buy a very expensive leather jacket (definitely a good buy on her part because its worth alot more money than she paid for it... and it looks AMAZING on her)... While he had my mom trying on outfits I saw a pair of Leather booties I had my eye on and come to find out they only had one pair left and they were my size... I fell in love and they are now my favorite pair of shoes I own!! I got an extremely good deal on them! The man then showed us an incredible Gelato place!! We shopped at a cute little boutique near our place and got some really amazing things, had some taste bud bursting Italian food, and gawd at the expensive jewelry on the Ponte Vecchio (was really considering investing in a really nice watch but ran out of time to get serious on looking). We had a great time and are definitely going to be visiting Florence and Italy again!!
So yeah I would say the past few weeks have been incredible!! It was sad to say "see you soon" to my mom yesterday morning but I just look back and see how much fun we had together!!! I try to stay positive and tell myself the only way for me to see her again is for her to leave so I can continue my journey through Europe and soon enough I will be back in America with all my loved ones.. just in time for Christmas :)) I am so excited to be able to spend Christmas with my entire family, after not being together for 3.5 months!! Only 35 more days and I am going to be back in my extremely comfortable bed with my precious puppy and all my amazing family surrounding me!!
BUT before I go home I still get to see Paris (this weekend!!!), London, a Barcelona football game (with my friend from home), Prague, and Vienna!!
I still have some incredible countries to see and when all that's over it will be back to stressing for finals and then AMERICA!!!
These next 5 weeks are going to be some of the fastest in my life (well I think LOL)..
As for now I am extremely excited to visit Paris this weekend, the city I always dreamed I would study abroad in... Obviously I had a random change of heart but it will definitely be nice to see where I almost lived!!
My plan is to write again after this weekend.. Lets hope I am not too exhausted and have enough time to update everyone at some point next week :))
UNTIL then... everyone please have an incredible week and just remember, nothing lasts forever so take advantage of what you've been given at this moment!!
With much love,
BRYE :))))))
BUT before I go home I still get to see Paris (this weekend!!!), London, a Barcelona football game (with my friend from home), Prague, and Vienna!!
I still have some incredible countries to see and when all that's over it will be back to stressing for finals and then AMERICA!!!
These next 5 weeks are going to be some of the fastest in my life (well I think LOL)..
As for now I am extremely excited to visit Paris this weekend, the city I always dreamed I would study abroad in... Obviously I had a random change of heart but it will definitely be nice to see where I almost lived!!
My plan is to write again after this weekend.. Lets hope I am not too exhausted and have enough time to update everyone at some point next week :))
UNTIL then... everyone please have an incredible week and just remember, nothing lasts forever so take advantage of what you've been given at this moment!!
With much love,
BRYE :))))))