toledooo

29.10.07

Thursday started off as a typical day… mi primer clase (la profesora estaba enferma y por eso, no tenía clase), almuerzo en la casa en mis 2 clases, y otro viaje a Ciudad Universitaria para mi ultima clase. Después de clase, Mateo y yo fuimos a un restaurante, bebimos una cerveza, y hablamos sobre decisiones importantes de la vida (important life decisions). A las 18, mi amigo, se llama Chris, llegó al aeropuerto. Estaba muy emocionada porque no le había visto a Chris en más de 11 meses. En la noche, Chris, Mateo y yo fuimos al restaurante mexicano, se llama La Mordida, donde comemos mucho. CRAZY COINCIDENCE! When the three of us were walking to one of the metro entrances at Goya, I saw some girl on the phone who looked extremely familiar. It was Mamiko – one of Jess’ friends who stayed with us first semestre lsat year. Después de la cena, nos reunimos con otros chicos para un botellón en la Plaza de España. Let’s just say that Don kicked everyone’s ass that night – well, he kicked at least mine, Mat’s and Chris’. Muchos de los chicos querían mirar el partido de los Red Sox y por eso, caminamos a Dubliners, donde pasamos mucho tiempo, hasta 4 o 5 en la mañana. Al viernes, no fui a mi clase porque me levanté a las 10 (el tiempo en que mi clase comience) y porque mi profesora estaba enferma los dos días anteriores y piense que ella iba a estar enferma otra vez. También, mi señora me dijo que no debía ir a mi clase este viernes porque no era justo. Estaba de acuerdo con ella pero, por supuesto, mi profesora no estaba enferma. Oh well…

Primero, Chris y yo fuimos a la oficina de ApelCom porque mi móvil no funcionaba y caminamos por la Plaza de España, el Palacio Real y comemos almuerzo muy cerca de mi casa. Fuimos al Prado, anduvimos el Paseo de Prado y vimos la Plaza de Colon. Por supuesto, fuimos al Retiro y nos sentamos enfrente del lago. Afterwards, Chris went back to his hostel and I went back to my house to take a nap because we were exhausted from the night before. After our nap, we met up again in Sol, walked through the Plaza Mayor and went to dinner. We were going to go to a party on Friday night to support the 3^rd year med students en la Universidad Autonoma, pero estabamos cansados y queríamos dormir porque en la mañana, we were leaving for our day trip to Toledo. We caught the Metro home and had an amazing night of sleep.

Saturday morning, I met up with Chris at the Retiro, where we were catching the bus to Toledo. After a short nap, we arrived in Toledo and had an amazing day. The weather was gorgeous – not too hot, not too warm. We saw a beautiful panoramic view of Toledo, the Plaza de Zocodober, el Museo de Santa Cruz, el Catedral, El Entierro del Conde Orgaz en la Iglesia de Santo Tomé, la Sinagoga del Tránsito, Santa María la Blanca, San Juan de los Reyes y finalmente, el Puente de San Martín. When I was in Toledo, Ross called and invited me over for Maria’s paella with his, Maria, Sandra and Paul. I was so sad when I had to turn down the invite because I love Maria’s paella. Sin embargo, si no hubiera estado en Toledo, habría estado en Barcelona con la otra hija de Ross. When we got home from the trip, a bunch of us walked to “our” ice cream place, which probably has some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted – except for the gelato in Italy. Ice cream was followed by a walk to the supermarket down the street to pick up our good friend Don, and then home for a nap and a shower. I then met up with Chris, got something to eat, had serious life chats, and then we walked to the palace where festivities began for Katie’s birthday. After some bonding time with Don, we walked to Sol, where we tried to get into Joy but these guys snuck in on our name. Therefore, we ended up in Dreams… like always, we went to Sprint after Dreams and then we walked to Dubliners to catch some sports. After walking Chris back to his hostel, Hannah and I caught a cab home.

Sunday morning, Chris sent me an SMS at about 8 am in the morning because we had turned the clocks back the night before. When my phone went off, I wanted to kill him! However, I ignored the SMS y cuando me levanté a las 10, nos reunimos y fuimos al Café del Arte, donde comemos desayuno antes de ir al misa. Después de la misa, Chris recogió su bolsa y fuimos a la Plaza Mayor durante el día. Chris left for the airport and I went home, where I was extremely unproductive. I slept from about 18 – 20, awoke to my señora shaking me at 20 to eat dinner, and then fell asleep again until 22 when I relocated to my bed and went to sleep for the night.

Monday morning, I was extremely awake, which was nice for a change. However, it was one of those days – in psych, we had a guest speaker who was hard to understand, I finally met up with my intercambio but he spoke to me in English almost the entire time, and then I had my 3-hour class, which is always a pain. Monday night, Mat called to check up on me since I hadn’t seen him in almost 2 days and we bonded over our bad moods. About an hour later, he called and told me to get dressed because we were going out. At 22, we met up but it was an hour earlier than we were meeting with the girls – therefore, we went to VIPS and ate like fat asses! It was great! Then, at 23:15, we met up with Hannah and took the metro to Plaza de España, where we just hung out with Danny, Michelle, Katie and her boyfriend… but we can’t forget Don.

Tuesday morning, I woke up and went to Complu to buy my tickets to Ireland. However, when I double-checked the dates, me di cuenta que el día que iba a salir es el mismo día del examen parcial de mi clase de cultura y civilización. Sin embargo, mañana hablaré con Ana y la pediré si puedo tomar el examen más temprano en el día. After this disappointment, I wrote a few e-mails and then came home for lunch. I read some culture, watched the free episode of Run’s House that I had downloaded off iTunes, and then I taught English. The girls were okay today. When I came home, I finished reading, watched Metro to Metro with my señora and then ate dinner. Ahora, estoy aquí, escribiendo mi “blog”. Estoy emocionada porque mis padres vienen a Madrid en jueves!

una semana en Madrid!

I absolutely love Tuesdays! No class, walking around the city, running some errands… and teaching English in an hour – the one thing I’m not excited for!

However – After contemplating on Wednesday, I ended up not going out. I think I fell asleep on my couch, while watching TV – that’s what I normally do. Thursday, I went to my first class, came home for lunch and then went back to school for my second class. Después de mi clase, tuvimos una cita con Pilar y nuestros intercambios, estudiantes españoles que quieren hablar con nosotros. Sin embargo, mi intercambio nunca vino. Después de la cita de intercambios, tuvimos una conferencia sobre las diferencias en la cultura entre España y los Estados Unidos. En la noche, tuvimos un botellón muy grande en la Plaza de España para el cumpleaños de Chris, un chico de BC. Fuimos un bar y miramos el partido de béisbol de los Red Sox y comimos churros (John, su amigo, Dori y yo). Volví a mi casa y hablé con Jess hasta 4:45-5 en la mañana. No fue una cosa muy buena porque me levanté a las 8:30 porque tenía clase a las 10.

After class on Friday, I wrote some e-mails in the office, met my intercambio and then drank a beer with John and Greg in the cafeteria at school – worked wonders for the hangover. Then I went home, dropped of my computer and then met up with DAN for lunch with some of his friends. After lunch, Dan and I went to Plaza de España, which I had actually never seen in the daylight – it was beautiful. Then we met up with Amy, Dori and two others to take a tour of the Palacio Real. After the Palace, Dori, Dan and I went and got a bite to eat near Atocha, and then we went to Reina Sofia, an art museum, with John, his friend Bobby, and Sam. Friday night led us to another botellón en la Plaza de España, followed by a typical good time in Dreams. Somehow I managed to get two free drinks… After that, Hannah and I caught the night bus home!

Saturday morning I was woken up by a phone call from Dan, which was a good thing because I had to prepare myself for big family lunch! I actually enjoyed big family lunch this time – no entendí todo pero no estaba completamente perdida. Después, dormí en el sofá, decidí comer la cena con Mat, John y su amigo. Mat y yo compramos Don Simon para la noche. Sin embargo, John y su amigo no estuvieron listos cuando Mat y yo queríamos comer y por eso, Mat y yo comemos con Michelle, Hannah y Jess en un café que nos encanta. Fuimos a la Plaza Mayor, Mat, Hannah, John, su amigo, Michelle, Jess y yo, bebemos un poco, y después, fuimos a Dubliners porque muchas personas querían mirar el partido de béisbol de los Red Sox. Antes de ir Dubliners, Mat y yo nos reunimos con Dan y él fue con nosotros. Después, dormí.

Sunday morning – once again, woken up by a phone call from Dan. Comí almuerzo con Angelines, y después, caminé en el parque Retiro con Dan y Amy antes del viaje de Dan a Alicante. Caminamos a Atocha y después, Amy y yo nos reunimos con Hannah y Jess y después fui a la residencia de Hannah y Jess. I went home for a little and then I went and ate ice cream with John, his friend, Dori and Victor. Then, I went out for a little with John, his friend and Sam.

Monday was class! Yay! Nothing too exciting happened – I was supposed to meet with my intercambio but he cancelled on me. I came home after my class, which ended at 8, ate some dinner and started watching the old James Bond with my señora. After finishing the movie, I played Sudoku and Solitaire with Jess online! Tuesday, I didn’t have class but I was very productive. I woke up around 11, went to the bank, the post office, took a walk to the Puerta de Alcala, ate some lunch, read for my classes, taught English and then went shopping with Michelle and Katie. Naturally, I was “sucked into” eating ice cream, and then Angelines and I looked at photos together.

Here I am Wednesday morning – First I took the Metro the wrong way, then I practically ran to class to find it cancelled. Awesome! So now I’m just sitting around, catching up on some e-mails until my next class!

barcelonaa!

17.octubre.2007

Once again, I have been slacking with these blog posts – it has been over a week since my last post. When I left you last week, I was supposed to teach English classes to these two little girls. However, my class got out late, I had to buy a book, and by the time I got to the Metro, I was going to be late so my senora’s daughter called the mother of the girl and decided that we would just start next week (aka today!). Wednesday night, a bunch of us went out to a club, decided that it wasn’t that much fun that night and we went our separate ways. A few of us went to a different bar and ordered HUGE glasses of sangria and mojitos. A little bit tipsy, less that 8 euros spent and a Metro ride home… a good night.

Thursday I had two classes – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After my first class, I came home for lunch, watched some Gilmore Girls, packed for Barcelona, and then went back to UCM. After my theatre class, a bunch of us sat in the office, using the internet, talking and watching YouTube videos – something that we all agreed would not happen if we were at BC. Después, volví a mi casa, hablé con mi señora sobre mi día y mi viaje, comí y miré la tele hasta 22 cuando salí para la estación de autobuses. Me senté con Teddy, un amigo de BC, en el autobús y hablamos mucho antes de dormir. El viaje duró siete horas – ¡sin embargo, cuando paramos, una chica se fue y quedaron 5 asientos libres en la parte de atras el autobús! Por eso, dormí muy bien durante la segunda parte del viaje.

Llegamos a Barcelona a las 6:30 y Dori y yo esperamos en la estación porque Albert todavía estaba trabajando. When Albert arrived at the station, I was so happy! Not only was tt nice to see him again, but he had churros! Haha After “hellos”, the three of us ate churros while we walked to the bus stop. We went back to Albert’s, napped, and then our day of tourism began! Primero, fuimos al Hospital de la. Sta. Creu i Sant Pau. It is probably the most beautiful hospital a person could ever see. Afterwards, we walked down Avenida Gaudí to the Sagrada Familia – a beautiful work still in progress, started by Gaudí. It was absolutely amazing – it’s hard to believe that something this big and this beautiful is being built in the middle of the city. After la Sagrada Familia, the three of us hopped on the Metro to Passeig/Paseo de Grácia, which is full of beautiful buildings, many done by Gaudí and many other talented architects. We first walked past La Pedrera – an apartment building, designed and built by Gaudí, that does not have any straight walls. Every wall in the house is curved. After walking a little more, we saw another house built by Gaudí – Casa Battló. Once again, absolutely beautiful and full of color – it gives off the impression that you are underwater. La Casa Batlló está en la manzana de la discordia porque muchos arquitecos modernistas construyeron casas ahí. By this time, we were absolutely starving – as usual – so the three of us went and ate at La Vaca Paca – it was an amazing buffet. At some point during the day, I can’t exactly place it, but we went to la Catedral de Barcelona and Dori and I went to the top and took gorgeous pictures of Barcelona. Every view I have seen from the top of a church in Europe has been absolutely astonishing. Después de la Catedral, Dori, Albert y yo anduvimos por las Ramblas – Dori tomó una foto con Edward Scissor Hands (Eduardo Manos Tijeras) y nos sentamos en una fuente en Plaza Real. When we encountered a fountain (se llama La Font de Canaletes), we tried to drink out of it because there is the belief that if you drink from the fountain, you will return to Barcelona. However, no water came out of the fountain… Después, nos reunimos con Beto – otro chico que estudiaba en BC el año pasado. Fuimos a un bar, donde hay arboles y se parece como un bosque (se llama El Bosc de les Fades). Era muy bonito. Caminamos hasta Estatua de Colón, los chicos tomaron fotos en los leones, y después fuimos a la Estación de Francia y a la universidad de Albert y Beto (se llama Universitat Pompeu Fabra). A las 8, volvimos a la casa de Albert, dormimos un poco, y a las 10, nos levantamos y comemos mucho pizza! Albert went to work, while Dori, Beto and I got ready to go out. First, the three of us went to a bar across the street to meet up with some of Albert’s friends and have a few drinks. Then, we went to the club where Albert works (La discoteca Up & Down) – It was a good time, drinking and dancing all night. When Albert got off work at around 6:30am, we walked to the Metro with one of Albert’s friend, Carles, and tried to get churros near Albert’s house. However, it wasn’t going to open for another 30 minutes so we went home to sleep instead.

At around 13:30, the four of us woke up and went out to lunch with some of Albert’s friends for his birthday at El Flamant. Dori and I ate paella and some sort of chicken salad – they were both really good. Después del almuerzo, Albert, Dori, Carles y yo pasamos por el barrio de la Barcelonesa, la playa de la Barceloneta, el Paseo Maritimo, comemos helado (crema catalana) en Farggi y La Vila Oimpica. Después fuimos a la Plaza Espanta y Fonts de Montjuic, donde hay espectáculos de música, luces y agua. ¡Que bonita! Volvimos a la casa, donde Albert durmió y Dori y yo comemos toda la comida en la cocina. J Albert se fue a trabajar y Dori y yo decidimos a quedarnos en casa y tuvimos “girl talk”. Tarde, Beto vino a la casa y él habló con nosotras y después, dormimos. Fue una noche muy tranquilla.

El domingo, nuestro día último, Albert, Dori y yo comemos al Pizzería la Piazzenza. No recuerdo todo de que comemos, ensaladas, pizza, calzone y crema catalana, pero fueron muy rica. Fuimos al parque Guell. El es muy, muy bonita. En el parque, hay la casa donde Gaudí vivió cuando él estaba construyendo el parque y muchas de sus obras con muchos colores. Otra vez, ¡que bonita! No puedo describir el parque porque no hay palabras que pueden capturar la belleza. Conocí una chica a Bar Ara Vinc, se llama Andrea, que asiste la misma universidad de Albert, que va a estudiar en BC el próximo semestre. Es posible que ella vaya a ser mi compañera de piso. A las ocho, los tres volvimos a la casa de Albert, donde Dori y yo conocimos los padres de Albert y vimos fotos de “skydiving” y la ultima fiesta en la casa de Albert en BC. A las 21:45, nos fuimos la casa para la estación de autobuses (se llama Estació del Nord), dijimos “adiós”, y comenzamos nuestro viaje a Madrid. ¡Que triste! Sin embargo, pase un tiempo muy divertido en Barcelona y pienso que voy a volver a Barcelona otra vez, antes de regresar a los Estados Unidos.

Monday = hell! We arrived at the bus station in Madrid at about 6, took the Metro home, unpacked, ate breakfast and went to class at 8:30. Afterwards, I had class at 11:30, 14, and 16. Good thing the only classes I ended up keeping in my schedule were the 11:30 and 16. I finally came home, spoke with my senora about my trip to Barcelona, ate dinner, got ice cream with the boys, and went to bed. Tuesday I was supposed to visit the 8:30 class again but I turned off my alarm and went back to bed. I woke up around 10, ate breakfast, and went to school to use the internet since I do not have class on Tuesdays! Tuesday afternoon, Dori and I went shopping at Alcampo, and Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with some of the girls – Michelle, Hannah, Katie and Jess.

Wednesday (Today) was a full day of class – 4 classes and then I had to teach English to two 8-year-old girls. They both seem very nice – I can tell that one of them is going to cause many problems. Ella escribió cartas pequeñas sobre mí y trató de darlas a su amiga debajo de la mesa. Oh well – it’s some money (something that is disappearing very fast!) As I sit and write this, I’m contemplating going out… we’ll see what happens!

life in madriddd!

So, I’ve been slacking / procrastinating in regards to this whole blog thing… probably because I’ve been completely stressed trying to pick classes that I don’t even understand. However, it is getting a lot better. I have picked 4 classes; lingüística, cultura y civilización de España, teatro de España y psicología social. Necesito un clase más! I was considering taking a class about the treatment and evaluation of addictions but the teacher never shows up… so it’s most likely either la historia de logopedia o comunicación cara a cara. Last week was full of stress and relaxing… stress from classes and relaxing from my amazing trip to Italy. Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much consisted of going to classes, sitting in Ana’s office at Complutense, a mini-breakdown or two, sleeping and eating!!! Thursday, I ate ice cream with Mat and John before they went to the archaeological museum for class (which I still need to do), and then I went to class. Thursday night, Alison, Dorianne and I went to a party with Alvaro and Beto, two of the guys that studied at BC last year. It was awesome to see them! The night was full of drinking and dancing, and then coming home and talking to Jess online, until about 5:00am my time… good thing I had class at 10am on Friday. Jess, being the amazing friend that she is, agreed to call me and make sure I was out of bed in time for class. She even made me get out of bed, go to the bathroom and flush the toilet so that she knew I was actually out of bed and was not going to fall back asleep. Thanks Jess!!

I only have one class on Fridays, which is good, but it is at 10am, which kind of sucks. However, I managed to make my way to class after only about 3 hours of sleep, and even found the energy to e-mail my professors and advisors back in Boston to see if certain classes will count for certain credits. After a productive morning, I came home, ate some lunch, and relaxed since I didn’t sleep much the night before. I read a little, watched some Simpsons and probably slept on the couch. WHAT DID I DO IN THE AFTERNOON?? Friday night, John, Mat and I had a little botellon in the street porque nuestra parque estaba cubierto L. Then we tried to meet up with others in la Plaza de España but the Metro took to long to get us there, so… we ended up meeting everyone in Sol and going to our typical fall-back club, Dreams. After Dreams, we helped take care of a sick classmate, ate some pizza, and walked over to the Irish pub where many of our friends were watching the Red Sox game. However, it was closed when we arrived so we walked back to Sol; however, on our way, Mat got attacked by some cross-dressing prostitutes. That was a sight to see. We met up with Victor and Dori and the five of us decided to begin our journey home, which normally consists of a long walk until we find a cab because we are dysfunctional and don’t know which night bus to take. Eventually, en la Puerta de Alcala, encontramos un taxi que tomó cinco personas! YAY! Hablé en el teléfono con un amigo de los EEUU cuando regresé a mi casa y después, dormí. En domingo, me levanté a las 12, comí, y Mateo y yo decidimos ir un lugar nuevo. Sin embargo, este lugar era un Starbucks a la parada Bilbao. Allí, nosotros hablamos, leímos y bebimos café. John nos reunió y después, fuimos a un restaurante de comida rápida porque los chicos querían comer “fried chicken”. Volví a mi casa, comí la cena y Mateo, Alison y yo nos reunimos con Jimmy y un amigo de North Carolina, cuyo tío vive en un apartamento muy grande en Madrid, muy cerca de la plaza de España. I did not really feel well, so I decided to take the Metro home with Alison and Mat, and then went to bed.

Satuday morning, I woke up, went to church with Alison and then went to an internet café to book my bus tickets to Barcelona for this weekend!! Afterwards, I ate lunch and then met up with John and Dori to go to the zoo. However, they do not get food at their residencia on Sundays, so I went with them to get some lunch. Afterwards, Mat and Alison met up with us and we went to the zoo. However, it was almost 5pm when we got there, the zoo closed at 7:30pm, and it costs 16 euros to enter. We quickly changed our decision, even though I really wanted to see the panda! We walked through a park, took a ride on an air gondola (teleferico?), and saw beautiful views of Madrid. Then, we took the Metro home and went to our favorite ice cream shop!

Monday was classes again, still visiting and trying to pick the ones that I want. However, it was ironic because for dinner, I had a side of mashed potatoes and earlier in the day, I was talking to my friend online about mashed potatoes! Yeah, I know, not that crazy, but there was nothing too spectacular about Monday. Monday night, my parents called while I was watching a movie with my senora and then I fell asleep at about 10:45-11:00 pm. It was great! Today (Tuesday), I do not have class until 6pm (still visiting classes), but before that, I am going to the Archaeological Museum with Mat because I have a paper due tomorrow about it! Good thing my class ends at 9pm and it takes about 40 minutes to an hour to get home! Oh well… Wednesday will probably be hell because I have a full day of classes, going from campus to campus, and then I get to teach English to 2 little girls!! Yay! But then one more day of class (Thursday) and off to Barcelona Thursday night because Friday es una fiesta!!!

italia - roma y florencia!

Overall, Monday was a very chill day. Spent the morning drinking coffee and picking classes that I’m interested in taking with my advisor who is absolutely amazing. Afterwards, Mat, John and I went out for some tapas before we came home for lunch. I took advantage of the Spanish siesta and then went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that some other BC students had found earlier. The food was great – it was nice to have a different type of food.

Tuesday was an even bigger lazy day. Woke up, ate breakfast, looked at my classes a little, watched the Simpsons in my pajamas, ate some lunch, and then just hung out. I packed for Italy!!!, ate some dinner and then slept until 3 am when my alarm went off to catch the cab!!!

Wednesday morning was painful – a 3:30 am cab ride to Barajas, the airport in Madrid so that we could be at the airport in time to catch our 5:55 am flight. Good thing we got there before there were even people at the check in desk. When we were standing at the check in desks, Mat and I got our passports ready… Alison realized that she left hers at her house. So, as Alison was taking a cab, again, to and from her house, Mat and I sat in the airport stuffing our faces with all of the food that our senoras gave us; sandwiches, platanos y chocolate! Alison made it back in time, we caught our flight, and caught a cab from the airport in Rome to the girl’s apartment. The cab driver was pretty much out of his mind! (the girls = Laura and Casey – two of Mat’s friends from BC that study at John Cabot in Rome) After Casey and Laura woke up, we went out to lunch at this cute little restaurant near their school. I had amazing Margaherita (spelling?) pizza. After lunch, we walked over to the Pantheon. It was nothing like I had imagined it to be. Placed in the middle of the city of Rome is this gorgeous building filled with beautiful art and history. It fit right in with the city. The Pantheon was followed by amazing espresso and possibly the best gelato in Rome… I had chocolate, coffee, and crème. On our walk, we also passed the park that holds the stairs where Julius Caesar was shot. Casey had class so we stopped by John Cabot and then went home with Laura and took a nap… or Alison took a nap and Mat and Laura had their own little photo shoot. Dinner was remarkable as well – Alison had chicken parm, Mat had some sort of meat creation that he didn’t know he ordered and I had gnocchi. After a long talk at dinner, we went to an open bar.

Thursday morning consisted of a lot of sleep… Once we woke up, Mat, Alison and I embarked on a journey with a map in hand; first to find food, then to find the Coloseum. Once again, good pizza and Al ordered pasta. After lunch, we walked past the Roman forum to the Coloseum, which was relatively smaller than we thought it would be but nonetheless, breathtaking. I am still in shock that these ancient Romans were able to move heavy boulders without the machinery that we use today. (yes, I know… cheesy) It started to mist a little but the weather stayed nice. However, when we started walking through the Roman Forum, the clouds came and Mat said “It looks like it’s about to pour”. Long behold, no more than 5 seconds later, it is pouring! We walked through the rain to a coffee shop, warmed up a little and then walked back to the girl’s apartment. That night, the girls cooked us an amazing dinner… pesto and mozzarella on cristinis, pasta with tomato sauce and salad with breaded eggplant. It may have been our best meal in Rome.

Friday morning we woke up early (around 5:45am) to go to Vatican City and see the Sistine Chapel before the line got too long. Laura and Casey were going to come with us but their hot water wasn’t working and they had to wait for the maintenance man to come. So, Mat, Alison and I once again wandered around the streets of Rome to Vatican City. We stopped for some cappuccino along the way and then went to St. Peter’s Basilica. I was absolutely amazed when I walked into that building. Everything about it is gorgeous. Michelangelo’s Pieta, all of the sculptures, the artwork, the mosaics on the floor, the altars, priests blessing the hosts in different languages on different altars… the whole experience was surreal. It was very weird to be standing in the country that has the final say in all of the teachings our school believes in. At about 8:15 – 8:30am, we started to wait in line for the Sistine Chapel. It rained about every 5 minutes and the line moved, maybe, 5 inches in about 2 hours. We started to doubt if the wait was even worth it. Then, at around 10am, the line started moving a lot faster – the Vatican Museum had opened! (we thought that it opened a lot earlier… hint the waking up early) However, it was worth standing in line, not moving for 2 hours, because the line was sooo long – street, after street, after street! The artwork was beautiful in the Vatican Museum but the Sistine Chapel is more than amazing. I stood there in awe. On our way home, we stopped for lunch for some more pizza!, and at an amazing chocolate store – I got chocolate with a coffee flavored center. The three of us went back to the girls place, napped, and then the five of us went out for dinner one last time. I had a panini that was very, very good. Diner was followed by a night trip to the Trevi Fountain – very romantic spot. We threw three coins over our left shoulders – 1, we will return to Rome, 2, we will fall in love in Rome, 3, we will fall in love with a Roman in Rome… we’ll see how that goes. After sitting by the fountain, we got more gelato and sat out in a little square where we made friends with these two Irish men who are supposedly tour guides for the Vatican.

Saturday morning was coffee and a train ride to Firenze (Florence). Our hostel was about 10 minutes walking from the train station and it turned out to actually be very nice. We ate lunch at a cute, little restaurant near our hostel – Alison ate pizza, I had a very good pasta with a spicy tomato sauce, garlic and olive oil, and Mat had spinach and cheese ravioli with a meat sauce. After lunch, we walked to the Duomo, where we made it just in time to be the last group to walk up the 462 steps to the top. The walk was painful, but the view from the top was one I have never seen before. You could see all of Florence – the buildings, the plazas, the mountains in the distance. Definitely worth the 6 euros and the long walk. Afterwards, we walked around Florence, towards the Ponte Vecchio, sat on the bridge for a while, and walked back to get ready for dinner. Before dinner, we had our own little rendition of a botellon, except that it was in our hostel room and not in park. Dinner was delicious – more pizza… After dinner, we went out to a club and danced all night – Alison ended up dancing with an ex-bishop.

Sunday morning, Alison and I woke up and tried to go to MUSEUM NAME HERE but the line was over 2 hours long. After that disappointment, the three of us went to the Museum de’ll Academia to see Michelangelo’s David – very, very impressive. The details were remarkable. Despues, we went to lunch, where we made friends with 2 couples from Canada who ordered 2 of the largest beers we had even seen in a restaurant – they were drinking away the anger caused by a stolen wallet! We ordered brushetta, pizza with sausage, and 2 different types of gnocchi, four cheese and pesto. After lunch, we ate some gelato (possibly the best chocolate gelato I had in Italy – I had chocolate and banana), we walked to the Cathedral de Santa Croce, had some espresso and walked to the flea market they were having. After shopping for hours, Alison and I went to mass at the Duomo – it was in Italian but it was still amazing. Our course, as usual, dinner followed and we ate the best meal of Florence. Matt and I started off with spaghetti with pesto sauce, followed by sides of asparagus with lemon and olive oil and tomatoes with oil and vinegar. Alison finally ordered the Florentine steak, something she had wanted for every meal in Florence. Dessert was just as impressive – a chocolate tart, cheesecake with a citrus sauce, and a lemon tart with strawberry sauce. Back to the hostel and bed…

Monday morning, we checked out of the hostel at around 5:15am so that we would be able to catch the 5:30am train to Pisa, allowing us to see the leaning tower before we had to catch our plane. Well, we made our train, but we also happened to receive the wrong arrival time in Pisa, fall asleep, and miss our stop. When we woke up, we were about an hour outside of Pisa, in a little town whose name we don’t really remember. The next train to Pisa was not for another hour and a half, which would stop in Pisa at the same time as our supposed departure. The lady at the café next door said that a cab to Pisa would be three or four hundred euro – luckily, we found a taxi driver that spoke English and he only charged us 180 euro to get back to Pisa. It was still a lot of money but it would be cheaper than trying to buy new plane tickets home! We arrived in Pisa with time to spare, made it back to Madrid, and here I am, exhausted and ready to start classes tomorrow at UCM – University of Madrid, Complutense.

Italy was absolutely amazing – now its back to reality…