The Last Supper HAHAHA I'M ONLY JOKING

No it really was my last Sunday in England and Jenny and I spent it out and about having an amazing time in London going from markets to galleries and all over the place. At the end of the day we headed back to Frankie's where we along with Frankie and Ihab had a picnic outside her flat with amazing food and just a fun time as usual.

Ihab told me today that he thought I was going to write about how he snuck chilis in the salad (he said he didn't want the chili to be lonely in the fridge.), so there you go, I thought they were tomatoes and just about died when I ate them.

Lisbon Love

Sorry this has taken me so long, I've been super busy working on very exciting things at my work placement, but anyway here goes:

Once when I was talking to my friend Marin (who I love and who is hilarious), we were discussing Portugal and she said this: "oh well what is there to do except get tan n be gay?" (referencing Cristiano Ronaldo).
Let me say that as much as I love to make fun of Ronaldo, there is sooo much more than that! PORTUGAL IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE and if I spoke more than a few phrases of portuguese I would seriously seriously consider moving there in the near future. Seriously. I'd start somewhere by getting a job at the wonderful hostel I stayed at and then move into a little apartment in the Barrio Alto and spend my nights out on the street grilling food and listnening to music with my new Portuguese friends. It needs to happen. SERIOUSLY.


Alex and I got in to Portugal late last Thursday night and by the time we found our hostel (which was spectacular on so many levels) it was about 10:30 pm and we chatted with some nice people staying there and then settled in and eventually went to sleep.
The next morning we started exploring the city in the pouring rain. Even though the weather was awful, it didn't stop us appreciating the beauty or fun of the city! We walked around and found ourselves at the top of the giant Elevador da Bica which has a lovely view. Right next to it is the Convento do Carmo which is an old church/convent that fell in during an earthquake hundreds of years ago. It is just stunning to look inside, it's really like nothing else I've ever seen and is quite beautiful! From there we wandered and went to some beautiful miradouros/viewpoints. Then we walked all around the Barrio Alto which is just the coolest place everrrr and I love it. And we had the worlds yummiest mini steak-like thing there. After that we headed to the Belém district and went to a huge old cathedral and cloisters and stuff and then headed to the contemporary art museum which was suchhhhh a great space but it wasn't utilized to it's full potential i think. After all that, HEAVEN. We went to Cafe de Pasteis de Belem and OH MY GOD I swear I just about died when I ate one of their pastry thingies. I can't een begin to describe how good they are other than the fact that on our last day in Portugal in just a few hours Alex and I bought 10 more of the things from various cafes around Lisbon.



We made it back to Barrio Alto pretty late and decided to explore a little bit of the night life there. IT IS PERFECT. The steep narrow old beautiful streets are lit up with Christmas lights and colorful banners of triangle flags are strung up cross crossing over your head and music (most of the time live music!) comes from a different source around every corner. People stand out in the middle of the street and talk and drink and grill fish and play catch and football. It is such a vibrant and friendly and carefree atmosphere, I love it!


The following day at the suggestion of one of the nicest guys ever who worked at the hostel, we took the famous (i guess?) tram 28 and went to the Alfama area. Absolutely gorgeous. The weather in the beginning was also awful and rainy but it got much better as the day passed. We saw some incredible views of the city and also saw a lot of churches. We kept getting lost and wandered the streets a lot but it was sooo pretty and nice and fun. Eventually we found the "Thieves' Market" which is just what I always imagined a dream market would be like. Like the brighton sunday market but times 10,000 and mostly on the ground and not tables and stalls. I got the cutest dress in the world for 5 euros and also a big cool old portrait photograph of a portuguese soldier guy for 4 euros. Score! After that we visited some other church and cloister and museum of tiles/azulejos that was unintentionally hilarious because of al these weird fable stories in it. Then we ate more pasteis de nata and walked up to the castle which is gorgeousssssssssss as expected and had more views of the city, hooray!


Later that night we made it back to the hostel where we had dinner with Ana who works there and is one of the absolute nicest friendliest and most genuine people I've met while traveling. It was so nice and fun! Then around 10:30 Alex and I headed out to this miradouro we had been to the day before because there was a small festival with free concerts going on that night! We went and it was SO MUCH FUN! I can't even describe how great it was, but I have two short videos of it so maybe those will help. After that we walked back and strolled Barrio Alto again because we are in love with it and then walked a block or two over to our hostel.


Next day we went to the new design museum and saw some amazing exhibits that were pretty thought provoking! Thennnnnn we basically spent the rest of the day walking around the downtown area and eating more pastries. Our flight was supposed to be at 9 pm butttttt we ended up getting back to brighton at 3:30 am. And I woke up the next morning at 6 am to hit the road for my internship. FUN! Nooooo but it was 1,000,000,000% worth it. I LOVE YOU PORTUGAL, YOU ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I'VE BEEN (besides Ireland maybe but that is different!), AND I CAN'T WAIT TO RETURN!!!!!

Plenty more pictures of the pretty place here.
And some short little videos (that I want you to watch because I think they give you a taste of how incredibly cool it is there) here.

Baffling Bavaria

I always leave Germany feeling very very confused (to say the least.... if you know about the last time). I try so hard to like you, Germany, I really do. But all you can do is hate me. Whyyyyyyyy?

This time in Germany was certainly much much better than my last time but I still feel a little let down. And I know that I didn't really give Munich the chance it deserved (I wasn't there long enough [only 2 full days properly in the city]) so I want to go back and really have a good time there like I want to do for Berlin. But I think I will wait a very long time before returning to Germany to give it those second chances. Looooooooooong time.

I had a lot of fun though, I swear!


Day 1 was mostly spent traveling. I got in to Berlin pretty late and eventually found my hostel and checked in. As I was making my bed and locking up my things one of my room mates came in, Kok Liang, originally from Malaysia studying in France. He was super nice and interesting to talk to, although I was a little sad to hear that he disliked Munich and found that there was nothing to do there. As we were talking a new roommate came in, Rodolfo from Brazil now working in the Netherlands. Also super nice and interesting. We decided that once Kok Liang's two friends came back we would all go out to dinner, so once they did, the three of us and Young Chang and Daniel all went out to the Augustiner Brauhaus restaurant on the way to Marienplatz. We ate some surprisingly delicious typical Bavarian food (free pretzels yeah!!!!!) and had a great time. I was really relieved/comforted to hear that all five of us have similar struggles as people living abroad in foreign countries. It felt really good to relate and commiserate about things and to know it's not just me! After dinner Rodolfo, Kok Liang and I wandered around the city at night and walked down Maximillianstrasse which is super posh and high-end. After that we returned to the hostel and went to the bar at the hostel and continued hanging out and having a good time. A nice introduction to Munich!

Day 2 I woke up and met a new roommate, Sarah, from Boston studying in Bilbao, Spain. We went to breakfast together where we met Alexandra, originally from Paris, now living in London. We all hit it off and decided to go on a tour of the city together. We ended up deciding on a free bike tour that departs from Marienplatz. The three of us walked over to the square early and sat down to people watch and we were actually just in time for the glockenspiel! It was really cute! Right as that ended we hopped over to the fish fountain where the bike tour group was gathering. There was a pretty big group, about 35 of us and 1 tour guide (from America!) He gave us a little history of Munich and then lead us over to get us our bikes. It was pretty entertaining seeing 35 people test ride bikes in a small little area off the main square. The bikes were the kind where you have to pedal backwards to break, it was hard readjusting to that. On the tour we stopped at a bunch of interesting places and learned about the history of Munich and it's buildings and stuff. About halfway through the tour we entered the English garden which is apparently the biggest park in the world? Like a few times the size of Central park? It was gorgeous and full of curious little places. We stopped by the nude sunbathing section which was PACKED and full of characters. Then we stopped at the Chinese Tower Beer Garden in the middle. Sarah, Alexandra and I decided to split two of the obscenely/heavenly large pretzels, and it turns out they were so big we couldn't even finish them off, although we came close! It was really hot out though and there wasn't much shelter from the sun, but there was an Oompa band playing so it was all fine and dandy! After that we went to go see the river surfers. Yes, surfing in Munich. There is a standing wave in the river that flows through the park and surfers flock to it! It's super entertaining. After that we continued our ride and at one point, RICK STEVES RODE PAST US AND WAVED!!!!!!!! Ok so I was too busy trying not to kill myself or someone else on my bike to notice, but our cool tour guide dude told us after! Apparently Rick went on the tour last year and loved it, haha! After that we headed back to the hostel for a little bit of much needed rest, and Alexandra switched into our room because her roommates were a little inconsiderate. So we were resting when Rodolfo returned from the BMW museum and as Sarah and Alexandra were napping he showed me pictures from his trip so far and it was nice to see how someone else was enjoying the city. Once everyone was recharged, all four of us went out to dinner together at Weisses Brauhaus. Sarah and I split wienerschnitzel and steak which were both once again absolutely mouthwatering. After that there was no way I couldn't say no to dessert, so I had this spectacular thing that was sliced pancakes with apple slices and raisins covered in cinnamon and icing and with fresh apple sauce on the side. Heaven? Maybe! It was soooooooo gooooooood and there was soooo much of it! Deeeeeeeeelicious! After dinner we wandered around some more before heading back to the hostel and eventually going to sleep.


Day 3 Sarah and I headed out to catch an early train to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. After the 2 hour train ride we got there and got our tickets (you can't enter the castles without participating in a tour.). We climbed up to the Hohenschwangau castle and met a nice older man and his daughter who was also studying abroad in England. After chatting with them we went and it was time for our tour. That castle was interesting and pretty but not as impressive as the next one. Once we left Hohenschwangau, we climbed back down the path and got ourselves some bratwurst to charge us up for the 40 minute climb up to Neuschwanstein. It was a tough climb but it was nice! The castle was pretty but unfortunately not nearly as fantastical as in the photos you see but the time of year has a lot to do with that as the trees weren't green yet. However, the inside of the castle is absolutely STUNNING. I would have loved to have spent hours in there but unfortunately you have to go on a tour and the tour isn't very informative and it only lasts about 45 minutes and barely shows you much of the castle, maybe like 6 rooms! I was pretty disappointed :( On the way back down we got some yummy doughnut like things and looked at the touristy stores before heading back to Munich where we met back up with Alexandra for dinner. This time we traveled in the opposite direction of Marienplatz and went to Augustiner Steuben which felt even more authentic than the other two! Actually as soon as we walked in, on the only-for-drinking side a man theatrically drunkenly fell to the floor (he was fine)... Oh, Bavaria! We sat down to order some food and I got the German version of mac and cheese which is wayyy better and has cooler noodles for lack of a batter way to describe them. doughier, I guess. I also got potato pancakes with applesauce. Scrumptious indeed, probably one of my favorite meals although they were seriously all spectacular. After that we were desperate to go to Hofbrau Haus, I was particularly excited because it's my dad's favorite place everrr and I really wanted to experience it and tell him about how I like it. But by the time we got there it was closed! BOOOOOO! So I never made it there, sadly :(


The next morning Sarah, Alexandra and I had breakfast together before Alexandra headed out to catch her train back to London. Sarah and I then headed over to the Alter Peter Church where we climbed an exhausting 306 steps to the top for a lovely view of Munich. After soaking in the sights we got back down and I said goodbye to Sarah as she left for the airport to continue on to Barcelona. Right after I said bye in Marienplatz, this young guy came up to me and started talking really fast in German. Once he realized I didn't speak German he switched to English and asked me to let him ask me a quick interview question for this magazine, Neon. He and his friend were so nice and also they caught me off guard (exhausted and sweaty from the climb, hadn't really brushed my hair, wearing clothes that i've been traveling in for a good two and a half weeks...) so I agreed. They asked me "What is overrated?" and I thought and though and thought and couldn't think of anything. Eventually macaroni and cheese popped in to my head and i thought about it for a second and i was so desperate for an answer that i just blurted it out. And then i though 'ughhhh what a dumb answer'. It totally sounds like the answer you read of someone TRYING BUT FAILING to sound funny. So now I look like the idiotic egotistical American girl. Yeah cause next they took like a mini-photoshoot of me.... ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhugggguhguhgug. Funny but embarrassing but entertaining. Oh and then of course after it all I thought of some good answers to the question but it was obviously too late. I don't know what to think of it all! Now I just need to find someone who can get the magazine when it comes out and send it to me, haha!
Anyway after that fiasco I was on my own for the first time, and I headed over to the hauptbanhof and caught a train to Salzburg, Austria. Once I got there I walked over to Mirabell Garden and enjoyed the flowers and fountains in the sunshine before heading across the street to get on the "Sound of Music" Tour. I don't care if you are reading that and laughing at me, whoever you are, I had a good time and that's all that matters to me! It was really fun and it was an opportunity to see more than just Salzburg as it took us to the lakes and mountains region. The tour guide was absolutely hilarious and entertaining and knew so much about the history of the place and the movie and tons of other little tidbits as well (and he is from Florida!). I sat next to an absolutely fascinating man originally from Lebanon but working in Germany after studying there for something like 6 years. He was such a nice and funny guy and told me lots about German culture and history and random stuff. Later on the tour we stopped in a mini town for an hour and we just got to walk around and explore. I ended up spending the entire time with another fascinating person, a lady who had grown up in Chicago, went to college in NY, and just 2 years ago moved to Budapest with her husband and had a baby there and just absolutely loves the place. It was really interesting to talk to her about living abroad and the culture in Hungary and all kinds of things. Really lovely.
Once the tour ended we were back in Salzburg where I wandered the city for quite some time before going to the Modern Art Museum which had some nice exhibits. After that I wandered around and got really lost and confused but eventually found my back to the train station. And that is when things started going down hill. I got on the wrong type of train back to Munich and ended up having to buy a different ticket on board for 33 euros cause mine was for a different type of train. Whoops. Then I got back to the hostel pretty late and did some stuff before going to bed. However, everyone who had been in my room the previous nights had left, all of them, and they were all so wonderful! So when i went to bed that night I think there was one new person in one of the beds across from mine, and then the other ones were empty but had sheets on them so i knew there would be new people in those beds, too. Wellllllll there certainly were. I tried to sleep as i was dead tired, and i was half asleep around 2am when i heard someone come in, TURN ON ALL THE LIGHTS, and laugh (probably cause they saw me sleeping... jerk!) Then he left. Then maybe at 2:30 he brought his friends back and once again turned on all the lights even though there were CLEARLY people sleeping. And they laughed and spoke in German and laughedddddd and were loud and rude and obnoxious. But I just pulled the covers over my head and pretended to be asleep. Then they left. Then at 3:00-3:30 ish they came back, turning all the lights on again and being drunk and loud and rowdy and rude and obnoxious but i just stayed huddled under my covers. Well then I heard one pull up one of the chairs by my bed and sit down and talk obnoxiously loud. And then like 5 minutes later he just RIPS THE COVERS OFF FROM OVER MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!! I WAS FURIOUS TO SAY THE LEAST!!!!!!! And he just starts laughing with all his friends, THAT ASSHOLE! So I look at him and say "I'm trying to sleep" and he laughs and says "oh." and I say "you're being incredibly rude, am I going to have to switch rooms?" and he said "you can switch rooms if you want" And i say "Ok then i will. I'll be back" and he goes "i no speak good english" WHEN HE OBVIOUSLY DOES! Anyway so little old me heads downstairs in my pajamas at 3:30 am to the "24-hour reception desk", only to find that there is absolutely no one there. And I waited downstairs all alone for a FULL HOUR until at 4:30 am this guy waltzes in and seats himself back behind the desk where he belongs. Luckily he was really nice and helpful and immediately switched me to an all girls dorm room and came back up to my room with me to help me get my stuff cause I sure as hell didn't feel comfortable being back in a room alone with them. And he talked to them in German and then told me later they apologized..... suuuuuuuuuuure. So anyway that is when I decided that Germany really really hates me.


The next morning I woke up in my nice all girls dorm and met a lovely person named Becca from England and talked to her for a while, then had breakfast with her and a guy form Australia, and they both were very compassionate when i told them about my nightmare night before. Then I headed over to the Viktualien Market or whatever it's called and wandered around the stalls for a while and found there was an oompa band playing and old men cracking whips to the music and it was pretty entertaining. Then I went to some church that starts with an F that's name I can't remember. It was pretty allright inside. After that I headed over to the toy museum and enjoyed their adorable collection. Then I went back to the hostel because I had to check out and then check back in to yet another all girls dorm because the one i was in the night before was booked out for the next night. As I was making my bed I met my new roommates, two super nice girls form Barcelona and another girl, Wendy, from Australia. Wendy and I decided to head over to the Munichen Stadtmuseum together. It was quite a strange museum. The first few floors were dedicated to the history of Munich but it was all in German so we basically just talked about traveling and stuff which was nice! Then we go to the good part of the museum, the floor dedicated to puppets and freak shows and circuses and amusement parks and curiosities of things like that. It was soooooo creepy and cool, especially cause it was kinda dark and empty and creepy in the first place and then certain things would just start moving on their own when you walked by them! there was one that made us both scream! After that we walked around and ate at the Augustiner Brauhaus again where I had wiener sausages and potato salad followed by an apple strudel that was pretty good but not as good as the bit i tried of sarah's at the augustiner steuben. Then we headed back to the hostel where I packed my things and got ready to leave the next day.

The final day I had breakfast with the two girls from Barcelona and then headed out to run some errands and mainly find tea and kinder products. Which I successfully did! I even found NEW (to me) Kinder things in the refrigerator aisle. Let me tell you, I was ecstatic. And so I bought 2 individual fridge things, a 5 pack of fridge things, and a pack each of two limited edition things. Anddddd i ate the 2 individual and 5 pack things right away cause they were going to melt otherwise! hahahah but it was so worth it! Then i packed up some more and headed off to the airport where I finished my book (the brief wondrous life of oscar wao... go read it it was incredible). Then I finally made it to Brighton where I am now and will need about 2 weeks of recovery time, sadly I dont really get any. Oh well!

So Munich just didn't really do anything for me, but I feel like it could if I give it another chance. We'll see.... someday.
More pictures here and here.

The Rain In Spain...

(this is going to be another long one.... sorry!)

Bright and early (3:30 am) Tuesday morning Alex and I said our sad goodbyes to Mary Ellen and then an hour later also headed off to the train station to get to the airport. Eventually we made it to Barcelona and then to our absolutely wonderful hostel called Mambo Tango. We were warmly welcomed by the owners, Toti and Marina, and shown our beds after meeting a few of the other people staying at the hostel who would all become quick friends in just a few days.

After we unpacked and settled in a little, we were off on a 10 minute walk from our hostel to La Ramblas and the Mercat Boqueria, the famous food market! I was super thrilled to actually get to see the market after hearing so much abuot it and seeing it on tv and stuff, it was so cooooool! I got a delicious strawberry-coconut smoothie thing right away and drank it as we walked around the tons of sellers showing off the fish and skinned lambs heads and fresh fruits and all kinds of crazy foods. After that we walked around the Ramblas in the freezing cold pouring rain which was honestly a little defeating and put a damper on things for a while. But we overcame! We wandered and took in the sights on the unusually empty street before heading back to the hostel to rest a little bit.

Once at the hostel we rested a tiny bit and then headed downstairs into the common room-ish area where we met tons of wonderful people. We also met some girl from Park Ridge and other things that make you realize how weirdly connected things are. Alex and I were talking to one new friend Steve, when we met some other new friends, Maggie and Sarah, also Americans, and Andy from England as well. As the basement got more crowded we met more and more new people, it was great. Steve then suggested we all go out to eat at this place he discovered in his guide book called "Foodball". Haha!! Sounded mildly suspicious to me but who was I to say no, it sounded like a ton of fun! So Me, Alex, Steve, Maggie, Sara, Andy, and other new friend Robin decided to venture back into the pouring rain to find Foodball. After getting to La Ramblas and searcing for a while without luck, we discovered Foodball had been shut down (not enough business...) and so we all headed in to this authentic Catalan place instead. It was a really bizarre and new and fun experience for all of us, I think. All of our food was raw, and it wasn't really what anyone expected but it was pretty good.... Alex literally just got a plate covered in Spanish salami but it was DELICIOUS. After that fun we got some Gelato at some place and went back to the hostel to hang out and watch a movie. Great first night in Barcelona!


Day 2 in Barcelona was also rainy but nice. Alex and I headed over to Parc Guell, the gorgeous nature-y park designed by Gaudi. It was really nice to just wander around it and explore for a few hours. And the sun actually came out at the end! Oh, and there is a kid's elementary school or kindergarten or something literally INSIDE THE PARK! How lucky are they? It was really cute to see the kids playing soccer and having fun in the middle of such an inspiring environment. After the park and getting a very quick lunch, Alex and I took our time and eventually got to the MACBA, the Museum of Contemporary art in Barcelona. Before we got there though we found the world's most amazing bookstore. Well maybe not the world's most amazing but it was really great and we maybe spent something like 2 hours in there haha it was just massive and had an amazing collection of books. Anyway, after that was the museum; the building itself is really impressive and pretty and modern looking, and it's crazy because outside it there is a huge pavement space...courtyard....something, and there are literally about 45 skateboarders there ALL THE TIME! Poor old ladies probably never get to go to the museum becuause they'll probably get run down and killed just trying to get to the door of the place. But heyyy it was cool. The exhbits were nice albeit a little repetitive for my tastes. But it was really cool, Alex and I walked in an installation that you neded to sign a release form to go in because it was a really narrow maze made out of things like wire fences and fish tanks and sheets of clear glass suspended from the ceiling and get this, the floor was made of somethig like 2 tons of crushed broken glass. I was so excited to go in but then once I set foot I was like "oh my goddddd i need to get out of here I'm going to die", soooo I went through that one pretty fast. I think that night was spent watching F.C. Barcelona (whose logo you literally see about 300 times a day in Barcelona, no joke!) and hanging out in the common room meeting more fun people (and fellow Chicagoans!) before calling it a night.

Day 3 was really fun, though still rainy. After breakfast Alex and I joined Maggie and Sarah on a trip to the Barcelona Cathedral which was spectacular! Really ornate inside and filled with gorgeous opulent golden dioramas and altars and stuff. Super cool. Even better was the cloyster outside. It was really lush and green and unexpected. There were white ducks and fish and turtles swimming around, plam trees and orange trees everywhere, old fancy fountains, and more gold leaf and hand painted stuff. When the church closed for siesta the four of us headed right outside to the Gothic marekt filled with tons of antique treasures. I got a pretty little pendant thing for 2 euros and spent way too much time gushing over the old comic books, FC Barca memorabilia, old Spanish crests and pins, and just about everything else you could imagine. After that we headed back to the hostel where we were going to meet two new friends Sean and Jim for lunch, but they were late and didn't show up so me, Alex, Andy, Sarah, and Maggie went out instead and went to a place Sarah saw earlier that had 6 euro paella. DELICIOUS. It was really nice and fun. After that we all walked over to that great big book store and poured over books for a while longer. After that we all walked around more together and then visited El Ingenio, the most wonderul store EVER, filled with circus things and paper mache masks and confetti and just everything that makes you happy. Such a fun place. Then we continued wandering in the rain and walked around Placa Reial and then down La Ramblas to the pier and stuff. Thennn we split and Alex and Sarah and I decided to go stock up on some chocolate and Kinder stuff from the supermarket before heading back to the hostel to meet back up with Maggie and Andy where we spent the rest of the night hanging out and watching Superbad and talking and having a good time before they all continued their journeys and left Barcelona the next morning.


Day 4 WAS SUNNY! Alex and I headed over to the Bullfighting museum bright and early where we admired the super detailed and amazing bullfighting outfit things and looked at the taxidermied earless bull heads on the wall and learned all about the history of Barcelona bullfighting. Fascinating stuff! From there we walked to the Sagrada Familia and of course we stopped in a local bakery on the way and ate some yummy doughnut like thingies. The Sagrada Familia was hugeeeeeee, way bigger than I ever expected, but it was under construction and had about a ten billion hour long line to pay a ton of money to see construction soooo we skipped it and just walked around it from the outside. After that we went back to the Ramblas area and walked down to the pier and walked all along the pier and stuff for a long time. Then we explored a little and found a really nice shopping area and did that for a while before finding el Corte Ingles which had a supermarket inside Filled with those cookies Alex and I are obsessed with with the chocolate and milk and stuff, YUM. After that we headed back to the hostel where we got ready to go on the "nice night walk" that the hostel owner, Toti does for people who want to go on it. The hostel is right by the park Montjuic, a hugeeeee mountain with tons of stuff to do on it. Alex and I along with friends Caroline, Brian, Jim, Tyler, Matt, Anya, and a few other people went to join Toti on the night walk and it was one of the highlights of the trip! We trekked up the mountain guided by Toti who knew the best ways to go and the best sights to see. At one point he told us all to stand side by side in a line, hold hands, walk sideways, and told us that we could only look straight ahead and that if we looked behind us he'd do us in. So we all walked sideways holding hands very confused until he told us all to stop and said "on the count of three, turn around and say "wow!" hahahha. So we all counded to three and did as he said and behind us was just the most incredible and breathtaking view of Barcelona just as the sun was setting! PERFECT. The we kept walking and finding more amazing views and listening to Toti tell us all about Barcelona and answer our questions and he even told us interesting facts like that his grandmother had all her hair cut off because she was heard spaking Catalan on the street. As we climbed further up the mountain we found a cool old castle and all kinds of other fun things. We made it back to the hostel tired and exhausted a few hours later and then Me, Caroline, Matt, Tyler, and Brian went out for the typical 11pm Spanish dinner which was fun!




Day 5 Alex and I went to Passeig de Gracia and Avenue Diagonal to look at all the Gaudi houses and things. We first saw Casa Battlo which was really fantastical and kinda creepy in a cool way. Then we went to Casa Mila/La Pedrera. We got to go in and walk up it and see one of the apartments that was kept as if it was how it would have been back in the early 1900s, which was cool. There was also a mini gaudi museum in it. But the best part was the roof!!!!!! The roof is incredibleeeeeeee!!! We spent way too much time just walking around the maze of the place but it is just TOO COOL!!! It's so fun and crazy and fantastical and gaudy of course! It was great and had really nice views too. Then we went back to El Corte Ingles to buy more cookies heh hehheh. Theeeen we went to the Spanish Arc de Triomf and walked along that nice street until we got to the absolutely gorgeous Park de la Ciutadella. That park is so picture perfect, a huge beautiful fountain, lakes with boats, a giant wolly mammoth statue, tons of green grass and palm trees, people relaxing everywhere, it was great! We spent quite some time there before heading back to the hostel to watch the Barcelona v. Valladolid game and then Real Madrid game with some other new hostel friends. Then Alex and I went out to find food with Caroline at the wee hours of the morning which showed us an entirely new side of Barcelona haha.

Day 6 was our last day. After breakfast we walked along las Ramblas, went to the huge fountain and musum place on Monujuic, went back to La Ramblas and explored and did some more shopping, ate one last heavenly Churros con Chocolate, stumbled upon a Palm Sunday procession on La Ramblas, and just had a nice day before heading back to the hostel to get our luggage. We were leaving at the same time as a few friends so we ended up taking the metro to the train to the airport with them which was a nice little goodbye to Barcelona. Only thing I really regret not having the time to do was visiting Camp Nou where FC Barca plays... you can go on a tour where you get to go in to the dressing rooms and walk through the tunnel into the stadium on the field... ughhh i wish i could have done it. I guess that just means I'll have to do Anfield instead :D hehehe.

Anyway, Barcelona was a great fun trip and I already miss the place and the people a lot. Overall at the hostel we got to know something like 35 different people from 14 different countries. Pretty awesome opportunity, I'd say! Aww and it was nice, one of our friends told Alex and I before he left that we were some of the nicest people he'd met on his whole trip around Europe so far. AWWWW Heartwarming, isn't it? Damnnnnnn I loved staying at that hostel, Barcelona wonldn't have been half as fun without it. HASTA LUEGO, BARCA!

Lots lots lots more pictures here.

Yesterday was a class trip to London to see the Changing Face Of Letterpress show at the London College of Communications that our letterpress technician, Rose had work in. But since we weren't supposed to meet until 3pm, Jenny and I decided to go get a full day's worth of entertainment in London!

We took a train up to London and went straight to the Natural History Museum. It was great!!!! So many animals! There were some weird ones that I couldn't possibly believe were real unless they were in a museum.... some looked like pokemon, some had the spindliest legs ever and I don't know how they could walk on them... it was great! We also saw tons of dinosaur bones and fossils, as well as a giant huge baby fetus in a dark room that was incredibly frightening...

After the museum, we went to go to LCC to find the gallery show. We eventually got there and saw a few of our classmates and our two teachers there, as well as Rose who's work was amazingggg!!! The show was really nice to see, lots of beautiful work, and it makes me want to get back in the lettepress studio back at Brighton and make stuff! We got a little tour of the gallery show and then looked around before getting a tour of their actual letterpress studio at LCC, which is HUGE! It was niceeeee and big and pretty. Then, since it was an open day (kind of like "experience mcad" days), Jenny and I figured we'd take the opportunity to go exploring around the school. It was really confusing but we had a good time seeing what it would have been like if we applied there instead of Brighton.

By then it was about 5 and we decided that since we spent money on our train tickets up to London we were going to make our trip worth the money and not just go back home. Sooo we decided to see a play/musical! Off we went on the good old tube till we found ourselves in London's west end and theater district. We ended up seeing Sunset Boulevard (the musical) at The Comedy Theater. But after we bought our tickets we had about 2 hours of free time to kill, so what else would we posibly do other than find doughnuts and smoothies for ourselves!?! As we wandered in search of a good smoothie, we passed Fortnum and Mason, an incredible store which I had visited with Sam a few days before. And I just knew that it was something Jenny needed to see and something I needed to see again. So we went in and basically were in heaven the entire time. I treated myself to a giant blood-orange macaroon which I ate on the train ride home. Yummmm. Then we found this nice little place called Cilantro Cafe that had smoothies so we went in and got ourselves smoothies AND A GIANT CHOCOLATE MACAROON which basically made my life complete. Beyond delicious. Then we found a doughnut place and headed back to the theater.

sunset Boulevard was great! I only knew a little bit about the plot because it's my dad's favorite movie but I'd never seen it before so I was so excited to see it and then tell my dadddd yayyyy! The storyline was reallllllly great and the main character is FIERCE AND INSANE AND MENTAL IN SUCH A COMPELLINGLY GREAT WAY! I really enjoyed it. The theater was really nice and tiny and old and beautiful too.

Then at the end of our journey we caught the train and made it back to Brighton by midnight. Another splendid day in London!

Community Arts Training Week 2

Today was the second day of my extension studies class "Community Arts Training" where we work with 12 year old students from a local school to eventually create a celebratory art piece together. I already love this class so much it's not even funny. Ok well maybe it is a little.

We started class pretty early and we began by us university students showing our work to groups of the high school students (not the same as high school in America obviously... I think they are like 8th graders? Maybe younger? I don't know how things work here still....eh. They say they are grade 8 but I don't think it's the same thing. I'LL NEVER KNOW!). So we each sat at a table and the students came around in little groups of two and three (there are 9 of us--only 7 of us were here today, and only 6 of us stayed the whole time, and 9 or 10 of the young students) and looked at our work and asked us questions and and wrote notes on these little note pads they got.



Ok so back on track, the students are so tiny! Well some of them are bigger and more mature looking but seriously I forgot how tiny grade school kids are! Precious! It was nice to see some of them actually showing genuine interest in art and when they got excited to tell me about similar projects they had done it was really cute! After a short break we regrouped and this time it was our turn to ask the kids questions. We grouped into pairs and went around from group to group of students and talked to them and continued getting to know them which was nice. The first group was these two boys... haha mannn its funny to be around boys that age. Reminds me of kinds i used to know in grade school. As me and my partner asked them questions one of them drew funny pictures of our faces, and continued to ask me a billion random questions about America like "do you like cheeseburgers?" "How many cowboys are there in Chicago" "Is everyone in America fat?" and he kept saying "Howdy, partner". Oh, and they kept asking me to speak with a British accent. Which we all know I love to do buttttttttttt not then, haha. It was pretty funny!

Oh we also looked at the exhibit in the gallery at school together. I spent most of the time doing that with one of my friends and one of the students and it was really fun to ask him what he thought of the work and hear a completely honest kid answer. One piece he totally hated and said "My 4 year older brother could do that!" hah! And then he rated a bunch of work on a scale of 0-10 and it was just really interesting to see what someone who hasn't been all jaded by pretentious art talk 24/7 has to say about it.

After that we had lunch and then headed over to the Brighton Museum which I visited briefly a few weeks ago. It was really great because we got to go to this special room and sit there and learn about African masks that are up to a century old! And we got to touch them and put them on our heads and stuff, hahah it was great! I love tribal masks (Kate, if you are reading this, I kept thinking of you and our trips to the MIA to look as African masks all day!). Then we got to draw the masks and man some of those kids are better drawers than me. It figures. After that we explored the museum a little more and one of my friends told me about a friend of his who is obsessed with taxidermy and stuff and owns tons of old surgical equipment and uses old scalpels and stuff to butter his toast. Hah! By then it was like 3:00 and we were done. It was such a nice day getting to know my classmates and teacher and the new little kids we are going to be working with! YAY.

London Day Trip January 25, 2009

I LOVE LONDON!

What an eventful day Jenny, Ally and I had today! I woke up at 7:15 ish and got to the train station by 9, when we discovered that the direct train to London from Brighton was being worked on so we would have to take a bus to the Three Bridges station that would essentially add about an hour and a half to our trip. Oh and it was all rainyyyyyy and dark which kinda made the day start off on a shaky feeling because of the train and the rain and whatnot. So we eventually make it to London only to discover that the line we need to take on the tube is also down!!!! So we were kind of hoping this wasn't some sort of horrible omen, hah. Luckily it wasn't! :D

Anyway, so we started our day at the V&A museum which is ENORMOUS and amazing and we barely got to spend any time there for how big it is, so I can not wait to go back and spend the entire day there sometime soon. While there though, I did get to see some of my absolute favorite things ever like creepy doughy-faced, rosy-cheeked gold leafed religious babies in paintings, lush Islamic pattern and art, and Eastern European "peasant" textiles. LOVE IT!

After getting a nice taste of a lot of what the V&A had to offer, we went to meet Ally's wonderful brother Nathan at this absolutely scrumptious dim sum restaurant called Ping Pong. Let me tell you I was never really sure about dim sum or what it was really or if it would be good but it was GREAT! We ordered so much food and all of it was just mouthwatering! And I had blackberry lemonade, how much better does it get? Not much. But it was nice to get off our feet and talk and get to know Ally's brother who's got a really interesting life!

After the dim sum we were going to walk to the ginormous Topshop but as we were walking we went passed the store Liberty's where Ally's brother works and so we said we needed to go in and he needed to give us a quick tour. So we did and he did! IT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Apparently it is the building that is the biggest fire hazard in London because it's made out of all wood. Anddddd, that wood came from two old battle ships or something, one of which was called the Liberty. Not only is it gorgeous from the outside but it's honestly like nothing I've ever seen before on the inside. It almost felt museum-esque because it feels really open and old and beautiful and things are displayed so nicely and in little cabinets and it is just incredible! Not to mention the clothes are just amazing, full of big designer stuff, I was drooooooling over all the See by Chloe stuff, it was great!

So then we finally made it to the huge 3 story Topshop and spent some more time drooling over great but expensive clothes. Way cheaper than Liberty's but still once you convert the pound to the dollar everything I wanted was just a little too pricey. I will definitely have to go back and just spend a whole day doing some serious shopping, it will be great!!!!

After Topshop Nathan was nice enough to give the three of us a ride over to the Tate Modern as we were running low on time. The Tate was huge, and honestly felt a little cold and kind of... intimidating at least on the first floor. It wasn't what I was expecting! But it was really lovely and huge and full of nice art! I saw some interesting things but it is another place I just got a taste of and I will have to come back to really see everything!

Next we went to go meet Ally's friend Corine in Camden for dinner before Ally's friend Tim's band was going to play in a pub in Camden. So we took the tube (after taking a slight detour to see the Globe theater and I saw the same pizza express restaurant I ate at with my family 3 years ago, AWWWW! hahah) and arrived in Camden and met Ally's friend who is super nice and fun just like everyone else here so far! We decided to go eat at Wagamamas which is so so tasty! I was really proud of myself because I was able to finish the entire huge plate of food whereas last time I ate there I could barely make a dent! God I love food. Anyway after Wagamama's we said goodbye to Corine and went across the street to Ally's favorite cocktail bar place to meet her friend before his gig. And of course while there I got oddly stared at and then subsequently hit on I guess in such a weird and creepy and uncomfortable way by another drunk creeper to add to the list of many. Anyway so we talked there for a while and then headed over to the pub where the gig was at and spent a little while longer there before realizing that we were all exhausted and if we wanted to make it back to Brighton tonight we'd have to leave at 9:30 ish so we stayed for a while and then headed out. We finally made it back to Brighton at about 11:45 and it was just such a fun day in London, I LOVE THAT CITY, seriously something about it just feels so good to me and I can't wait to be back!