When in Rome...

Well Last Tuedsay night we lost our soccer game 5-7, Lexie and I both scored though! It was a really close game and we almost pulled out a win, but just fell short. Tonight we will get the win!!

Thursday, February 17th: Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much just normal days at school. Went to class and came back home and relaxed a little and then Thursday night, I packed for Rome!!




Friday, February 18th: Today we left for Rome early in the morning. When we got to Rome, about 3:00 PM, we took a bus tour around the whole city. We were able to get out of the bus at the Vatican and we went inside St. Peter's Basilica. It was AMAZING, wow it was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was unreal, I could stay in there for a whole day and just look in amazement. Then we had to get going, drove around a little more and then we arrived back at our hotel. By this time we were all sooo hungry!! So, Lexie and a group of girls from our program and I got some gelato at this really cool gelato place and then went to dinner at this cute little restaurant. (yes, we had dessert before dinner! this is only because all of the gelato places would have been closed by the time we were done eating dinner and we just had to have some!) I had pasta carbonara, it was soo good!! After dinner we were all tired from such a long day of traveling, so we just headed back to our hotel and got a good nights rest.

Saturday, February 19th: We woke up early on Saturday morning,
ate breakfast at the hotel and then went on a tour with our program to the Colesseum. It was so interesting to see everything. As terrible as all the things are that happened in the Colesseum it was a really really cool place and learning about it all was so interesting. After our tour in the Colesseum we walked to the Forum and had a tour there as well.  Everything was so beautiful, interesting, and cool to see, but we were kind of being sick of being with such a large group that we were ready to split up and go do our own thing. Lexie, Hillary, Sammy, Kellie and I all went off together. We went to see the Sistine Chapel which was unbelieveable. Wow there was just soooo much to see. It was all so beautiful, but we were all a little overwhelmed with how much there was in there. After touring the Sistine Chapel we went to lunch at this cute little restaurant right near the Vatican. We sat outside in the sun, ate pizza, bread and we got a free dessert! :) It was so delicious, all the food is just so good!! After lunch we went to this store and I bought a long champ purse! :) Then, we took a cab to see the Trevi fountain. I threw three coins in, it was such a cool place! Then we walked to see the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, and through so many different, cute little streets of Rome. We were still sort of full from lunch so we just found a little place where we sat outside with a heater and had a little something to eat. I shared pesto pasta with Sammy, and some bread with tomatoes, it was amazing. We headed back to the hotel after to prepare for our big day ahead of us on Sunday!

Sunday, February 20th: Today we woke up, went to a little cafe for a coffee and a crossaint, and then headed to the Vatican. We went to mass at St. Peter's Basilica. It was such a great experience to be there, even though it was in a different language so we couldn't really understand it, it was still so amazing. After the mass was over we went outside into the plaza where we would see the Pope talk. There were so many people there, holding signs and awaiting to hear the Pope. After waiting for about ten minutes the Pope came out of his window. Wow, this was honestly just incredible. I saw THE POPE!! I never thought I would be able to say that. And not only was seeing him cool, he spoke in about 10 different languages, it was unbelievable. I have trouble speaking two, I can't believe that one man can speak so many different languages! After seeing one of the coolest things ever, we headed to a little place for lunch. I had some pasta again, I love this place!! It sure is a good thing I am not studying in Rome though, because I would literally gain 100 lbs. !! haha. We arrived juuust in time for our bus, nearly missed it, took the bus to the airport and then got on our flight to head back to Barcelona. Man, Rome was so amazing. All of the cites we saw, all of the food we ate, all just amazing! I can't wait to go back some day -- I did throw 3 coins in the Trevi Fountain! :) :)

 Hi theree :)

Tuesday night we won our soccer game! We won 3-2, Lexie and I each scored a goal, it was a lot of fun! We have another game tonight so hopefully we pull out another win!

On Thursday, February 10th, we gave oral presenations in my Spanish class. We each had to pick an article on any topic and talk about it. Mine was about a baby who was found in the water of a toilet in South Carolina, how sad :( Aside for the depressing article, the class was really fun because everyone had really interesting articles to present and then we discussed them. Personally, I think that this is such a great way to learn the language, just by discussing interesting topics with others. After class I met Lexie and her parents at Plaça Catalunya!!! It was so exciting to see them! We showed them around and took them to one of our favorite places to eat lunch. Unfortuantely after exploring I had to go to class again, but it wasn´t too bad. After class I met Lexie and Suzi back at our apartment and then we headed back to their apartment that they had for the weekend for dinner. Chris made a fantastic dinner for us! He made us some salad, chicken, and mashed potatoes, it was very very good! They were very nice and let me spend the night there :)

Friday, February 11th: Today we woke up and had some cereal, coffee, and toast and then headed out to explore some more! We walked by the port and ate lunch at a place right on the water. Lexie and I split some paella, chicken, calamari  and a salad. It was delicious! After lunch we walked by my school and Park Ciutadella (a park behind my school) and then headed back to their apartment. I ended up just going back to my apartment to go to bed early because I didn´t feel very well. I got a great night sleep though and felt much, much better the next day!

Saturday, February 12th: We went to Park Guell, a really beautiful park where Gaudi´s used to live. There was so much going on there, and there was so much to see. It was very, very fun!! After exploring the park for a little while we sat down and had some Sangria. In the plaza of the park there are a ton of people selling jewlery, scarves, souvenirs, etc. There are also people dancing for money, blowing huge bubbles, and all sorts of other stuff. It was very interesting! After this, we took the metro to the market by the Bales´ apartment, but it closed at 3, and it was 3:07, we juust missed it!! They wouldn´t even let us go to the bathroom, they are really serious about their siestas I guess! We made our way to Corte Ingles, which seems to never close, and we got a ton of food to make for dinner. Alex, Parker, and Danny (our roommates) came over to the Bales´ apartment for dinner. Chris made us some chicken wings!We also had some pico de gayo, guacamole, and some other tasty food. We ate on the roof of their apartment, it was such a great view, but it got chilly after a while, so we went back downstairs and just talked and had a great time! I ended up heading back to our apartment later that night, because I did not have any of my stuff to sleep over there.

Sunday, February13th:  Today there was a big festival going on in Plaça de Santa Jaume, so my roommates and I went to that. There was a parade with all of this huge statues, and then their was a competition where groups of people made human towers. It was sooo cool to see! They got up to 6 people high, it was amazing! Later that night we went back to Plaça de Santa Jaume to see another parade. At this parade, kids and adults would run around in costumes holding sticks with firecrackers on them that would spin around! It was soo cool, they looked like fireworks! In between each group of people, there were people playing the drums. It was quite the sight to see, even though I probably lost some of my hearing in my right ear from all of the firecrackers exploding! After the festival we headed back to our apartment and Mati had some pizza waiting for us :)

Monday, February 14th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA LEE :) :) VALENTINES DAY <3 <3 Today was really nice, because I didn´t have class in the morning, because we had intercambio (where we would talk in spanish to spanish students studying English) later on at night. Even though I did not have class, I woke up early and made my way to the gym for a good work out. After my workout I went back to my apartment, sat in the kitchen and ate some breakfast and did some vacation planning for my next few weeks!! I booked a flight for Granada for the last week in February to visit Jen, my friend for La Crosse!!! I am so excited to see her, Lexie, my friend from class (Jocie) and I are going to stay with Jen for a few days- it is going to be a blast!! I also booked a flight for the Canary Islands the first weekend in March. This is our long weekend, because we do not have class the next Monday, so we are going from Thursday until Tuesday. I am going with two girls named Sammy and Kellie from my program. I am very excited, can´t wait to be laying on the beach soaking up some sun! Along with those two excursions, we are going to Rome this weekend with our program! I can´t wait to eat lots and lots of pasta and pizza :) yuummmm!!!! So after all of this planning, I had class which went pretty well. Somehow I always get extremely tired everytime I have class! haha. After managing to stay awake throughout my entire class, I made my way to the Bales´ apartment for an early dinner. They invited me over for a nice Valentine´s day dinner! :) (they are too good to me!) We had some delicious pasta with chicken, a salad, garlic bread and some lemon drop soup! It was soo good! I then had to leave to go to intercambio. As bummed as I was to leave them, intercambio ended up being really really fun! I met two really nice, fun Spanish students, and we had some great conversations! After intercambio I headed back to my apartment and just relaxed for the rest of the night. It was a really great day :)

adios, te amo!! xoxo :)

GO PACK GOOO!!! :)

Man what an exciting week!!

Last week I started all of my other classes-Literatura Española Contemporánea, and Sociedad y Política en la España Contemporánea. For the most part I really like them so far, although I wish I didn´t have to go to school at all and I could just travel and explore :) lol. I feel like these classes will really help me to learn the language. Although classes started last week, we just kind of went of the syllabus and talked about the expectations and schedule of each class.

Friday, February 4th: Lexie, Parker, Danny, Alex (all of my roommates) and I took a train to Monserrat. Monserrat is a beautiful beautiful mountain about an hour away by train from Barcelona. We had soo much fun. Hiking up the mountain was quite the workout but was soo worth it. Once we got to the top of the mountain we were in the warm sun and overlooking a breathtaking view. It was suuuch a beautiful day!! After spending some time at the top of the mountain we made our way back down (which was wayy easier than going up! haha) we went and explored the Cathedral located on the mountain. That was also very very pretty. Lexie and I lit a candle for all of our family and friends- you all are in our thoughts and prayers :) After exploring a lot, we made our way back to Barcelona. We were very tired from such a long, fun day! After the train ride then metro ride back home we went to get a kebab from a place right by our apartment. Kebabs are SOOO good!! Finally we got home and just relaxed because we were all so tired and we had a day trip the next day with our program.

Saturday, February 5th: Today Lexie and I had to wake up early to meet with our group to go on our day trip to Calçotada. This is another mountain located about 2 hours away from Barcelona. We toured this monestary. It was really pretty and interesting at first, but it was sooo cold in the building that we all just wanted to get out in the warm sun! It got pretty boring after a while, so we were pretty excited when that was over! haha. We took a bus for about another half hour and arrived to this little town where we learned how to cook calçots and how to eat them. Calçots are an onion that grow on the mountain. They cooked the calçots right in front of us, it was really cool! We sat outside on the patio in the sun, it was an absolutley perfect day! To start our lunch off, we had some chips and other little snacks out on our table, then we got the calçots (which I did try, and surprisingly they were not that bad, I sort of liked them!-- you guys would all be so proud with all of the different foods I´m trying!!) After the calçots we were served some huuuuge pieces of bread with tomatoe (a typical catalan dish) and then a huge platter of different types of meat- I had what I would say was similar to an italian sausage, it was pretty good! After the meal we were given some oranges and some really yummy cream puffs for dessert! :) After our meal we took a walk up to this castle at the top of the mountain. It was very very modern and not too exciting, but it had a great view!








Sunday, February 6th: SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! (actually ended up being Monday our time by the time the game was on! haha.) Well Sunday morning Lex and I woke up early and went to church. Everyone at the church is so welcoming! There was a family from the US sitting in front of us who just moved to Spain. Their little girl was sooo cute, she was dancing to all of the music and was so smiley :) After church we headed toward the beach to get some lunch and to walk around. We saw so many cute little restaurants right by the water. We ended up eating at a chinese restaurant. We got the lunch special which included: a chinese salad, spring rolls, beef with mushrooms, almond chicken, and fried rice. Everything was reallly good but there was soo much food that we were able to talk almost half of it home to have for dinner! After walking along the beach and the piers we headed back home to get ready to go watch the super bowl! We went to a bar called Fahrenheit to watch the game. There were waaayyyy  more packer fans than steelers fans, it was very  very exciting! The game didn´t start until 12:45 our time though, so I was sooo tired towards the second half and could barely stay awake! buuuuut, it was SOO EXCITING THE PACKERS WON THE SUPER BOWL!! :) and not to mention, Aaron Rodgers got mvp, what a great outcome!! So proud to be from Wisconsin! :) Although it was cool to watch the game here, I wish I could have been back in Wisconsin watching it with all the real packer fans! It was still a lot of fun though, and a really cool experience to be a part of.

Monday, February 7th: All day I was soooooooooo tired, seeings how I didn´t get to bed until almost 5am, because that´s when the game ended. Class was pretty boring as well today. I came back home and napped until it was time for dinner, and then after dinner just relaxed and went to bed.

Tuesday, February 8th: Today Lexie and I woke up early and went to the gym and got in a good workout before class. I am just sitting in the library right now, got my homework done for tomorrow, and just found out that my second class for the day is cancelled :) Tonight we have our first intermural soccer game, I´m soooo excited to play! :)

Suzi and Chris Bales are coming to visit this week!! Soooo excited to see them, hope they have a safe flight here and can´t wait to show them around! :) :)

love you all! :)
xoxo

Being spontaneous!

Sorry I haven´t updated this in a while, I have been very busy lately!

This past week has been a lot of fun! We have been venturing out much more, seeing some really cool places and meeting some great people. On Sunday 1/23 Lexie and I went to church and then went exploring. We hoped on the metro and took it until the end, we had no clue where we were going or what we were going to see. When we got off the metro we had found that we were right in the mountains and the right by a really cool soccer field, and it just so happened that a game was going on so we sat and watched for a while. It was a really beautiful area, but we were really hungry and there weren´t any open food places to eat at, so we hoped back on the metro and got off once again at a random stop. After quite some time walking around searching for somewhere to eat, we finally found this really cute tapas restaurant where we got some lunch. We then headed back to our apartment to get ready to go watch the packer vs. bears game. From the second we got home until the game ended we gave our roommates a very hard time (seeings as they are bears fans) haha. It was a really exciting game to watch, I was soooo nervous though that I bit all of my nails! I am SOOO excited that they won and they are going to the super bowl, Lexie and I convinced ourselves that night that we were going to go to the super bowl, which clearly is not going to happen. haha. I WISH!!!!

School went pretty well this week, it was my last week with Friday classes (last week of my intensive Spanish course). We had a test on Friday, and I thought it went really well. We got our tests back today and I got an A so that was exciting :)

On Monday, Mati had put out a bunch of snacks and treats so we could all celebrate her birthday together. I was so much fun! Mati used to be a singer for Flamenco dancers, so we convinced her to sing a song for us and she was AMAZING. She had such passion in her voice when she sang and it was so cool to hear. We keep trying to get her to sing for us and she says if we want her to sing then we have to do the dishes haha. She is so darn cute, we got very lucky to have her and Enrique as our host parents.

Tuesday, we woke up early and went to an aerobics class at the gym. It was actually really fun, interesting too because it was all in Spanish! haha. After class Lexie met me by my school and we were going to go to the zoo, but it ended up being closed :( Sooo instead we walked around this really pretty park, tried to pick some oranges from this orange tree-haha, and then went to the chocolate museum! It was a really fun day.

Wednesday morning, we woke up and went to a spin class at our gym, it was pretty intense, but it felt really good! After class Lexie and I decided to go to the FC Barcelona game. It was kind of an impulse decision. Lexie found tickets online for like 10€ each, so we were expecting not so great seats. Once Lexie got home from class we went and got a kebab from this little place right by our apartment, it was DELICIOUS! Sooo good, definitely going to be one of our places to eat! haha. We got to the game a little late, because we were just chatting it up at dinner, lol. But when we got there we were so shocked to see that our seats were directly behind the goal. I´m talking second row! soooo cool. FC Barcelona ended up winning 5-0, and it was soo much fun to see. Oh yeah, and of course Lexie and I were both reppin´ our Messi #10 jersy´s!!

So all week we had been talking about going to Madrid for the weekend, however once we found out that it was suppose to be rainy and cold there all weekend we quickly changed our minds. Sooo on Thursday we were looking at some potential places to go and Lexie came across a little town called Girona, Spain. So we thought ´Why not?´ The train tickets were really cheap and we found a really cute, inexpensive apartment to stay in right in the central of the town. So we booked the tickets and the hotel. Friday after my test we met at the train station and made our way to Girona! We got there around 6pm, so once we got settled in we found a little market, bought some pasta, tomatoes, potatoes, and bread. We made a nice little dinner in our apartment and then went down to this creperia right underneath our apartment. When we were there this French man came up to us and told us he wanted us to go meet his son so he could practice his English with us. So we went and sat by them for a little bit (his girlfriend, son that was about 12 years old, and daughter that was about 9) The kids were sooo darn cute, and the boy could speak 6 languages!!  How amazing to be able to speak SIX languages at 12 years old, I couldn´t believe it! They were so friendly and gave us some tips of fun things to do and see in the town. We went back up to our apartment and got a good night sleep so that we could wake up early the next day and explore! So the whole waking up early kinda fell through and we slept in. However then we were full of energy and ready to explore and shop :) We found some reaaallly cute store and got some presents for our sisters :) Girona was such a cute town, with houses right on this river, Roman walls, and the mountains in the background. After shopping and exploring for a while we went to the Cinema museum which was very interesting and it was interactive which was really fun! Although I love Barcelona, it was nice to get away from the big city for a few days.

For dinner we went to this all you can eat pizza place, it was strange though because you couldn´t order whatever pizza you wanted, they brought you all different kinds- which was cool though because I was able to try some different kinds that I would have never ordered. Sitting next to us were a group of about 6 Hispanic boys, and it happened to be one of their birthday´s. They asked us to play this game with them for his birthday- they had 24 envelopes each containing something different, like a present, a trivia game, and some other funny little things. They were very nice and it was fun to meet them.

The next day we woke up and went to explore the city of Girona a little more. We walked along the Roman walls that once guarded the city (because it had been fought over on several different occasions). Then we made our way to Figueres to see the Dali museum- apparently the most visited museum in Spain!! In my past two Spanish classes back in the states I learned all about Salvador Dali, even wrote a 8 page research paper on him, so seeing this museum was really cool!! There was some really cool stuff, but some really weird stuff as well. After seeing this interesting museum, we ate some lunch then made our way back to the train to head back to Barcelona. Although it was a very fun weekend, we were so glad to be back at the apartment with Mati, Enrique, and our roomies! :)

An eye opening day..

Friday 1/21: Today was our host mom, Mati's, birthday so after class Lexie and I went to the store to get Mati some little birthday gifts. We got her a little cake, with candles that said 35 because we've been saying 'Oh Mati how old will you be 30? and shes says no no no 35!' She loved it thought it was sooooo funny! Also, we got her flowers and balloons and we hung the balloons up around our kitchen. She was so happy that we thought of her. We ate dinner, drank some wine with her and then went to bed.

Saturday 1/22: Today Lex and I meant to wake up really early and go see the inside of Sagrada Familia, but we didnt end up waking up unitll 11:00 am, oops!!! haha. At church last sunday this man, named James, told us about this great opportunity that would be taking place today, to bring food/clothes, walk around Barcelona and deliver these gifts to the homeless. So we woke up, had breakfast and then made some lunches. Lexie and I made pb&j's (12 to be exact) each in a little baggie with an orange, muffin, and chocolate. We were sort of nervous, but I am sooooo happy we went, it was such a rewarding experience. After seeing so many people suffering and struggling to get by it really makes your life seem so easy and really makes you appreciate everything so much more. Today was one of the coldest days in Barcelona so far, about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. I know, I know, to most of you that sounds pretty good, but for the people of Barcelona this is very cold. So everyone on the streets was very cold, so it was the perfect day to give them a little extra clothing. This one group of men we delivered food to had 4 beautiful dogs, and one of the dogs had just given birth 4 days ago to 3 adorable pups. These poor little puppies were just shiverring cuddling up with their mother. I was so tempted to just grab them and take the home with me, they were soooo darn cute!!! We even gave some biscuits to the dogs, you could tell they were sooo hungry and so grateful for some food. It was just as sad to see these dogs suffering as it was the men. Then we were walking down a street and there were prostitutes all over. It was so sad to see, poor women. I can't even imagine what they are going through. Later on in this adventure, we came across this group of men from Africa. They had told us about how tough things are for them. The police won't let them stay in this area, although it is not even illegal for them to be there. So they stay in this area anyways, which has cameras all of the place, just so they can prove to the police and the people that they are good, clean, and are just desperate for work and need money for them and their families to survive. We said a big group prayer with them and gave them the rest of the food we had. They were so friendly.  All of the people we encountered today will definitley be in my thoughts and prayers, I hope they find work or the help that they need. Also, today I was able to talk with my Nana, Papa, Mom, Dad, Sister, and Aunt MJ. As some of you may know my Papa is not doing very well and this has been very very tough for me not being able to be there to be with him and my family. My amazing sister was able to set up skype on my aunt mjs computer so I was able to see all of them, it was really great to be able to see them, especially my Papa. Papa was really tired though and wasn't really able to talk for very long. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Today there were a lot of ups and downs, but I have a lot of faith in God and know that everything will be okay with my Papa, my family, and all of the homeless people that we met today. Please keep all of these people in your prayers. Love you all so much and hope things are going great at home.

GO PACKERS!! :)

Love you all <3
xoxo

metro= ultimate people watching!

Lexie and I met Tyler at a bar near Placa Catalunya, we had a good time with him! We will most likely see him a few times for during his stay here in Barcelona :)

This week my school, Pompeu Fabra, started our intensive language courses. This course counts for 6 credits toward my major. I absolutely looovee my class! There are 12 kids in it, one boy and the rest girls! haha. My teacher is sooo nice, makes that class not even seem like class. Basically we just talk the whole time, which is such a great way to learn the language! Class goes by so fast, even though it is almost 3 hours long everyday for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks of class Monday through Friday everyday for 3 hours we will only have this class for an hour and a half and then my other classes will begin. 

So everyday I have to take the metro to and from class. Man the people you see on the metro, you just never know what you will see! haha. The other day Lexie and I were riding the metro and this woman was holding a baby and walking up and down the train asking people for money. Sometimes its something odd like that, or sometimes its a man playing the violen, a women singing- they all do this though and then walk up and down with a little cup asking for money. As good as they are sometimes you never want to give them money because you never know what they are going to try and pull !! So many different people riding the metro, such a great opportunity to people watch, which I love to do!! haha.

Well its almost midnight here so I must be getting to bed, Lexie and I are waking up early tomorrow morning to go work out! Buenas noches todos :)

xoxo

starting to get settled in!

1/13- Today I woke up, got a little something to eat and then went for a run. Still feeling a little sick, it wasnt the best work out but it felt good to get my heart pumping. I ran for about 30 minutes and then came back, showered and made my way to the API office (our programs office) to talk to them about dropping that awwfuuul financial economics II class. They said that I should be able to do it, so lets hope so! This appointment took sooooooooo long, so many people were in there so it took a really long time until it was my turn. Finally, I got out of there, went to the store with Lexie, we got a pizza and bread for dinner. We came back to our apartment and made our pizza in the microwave, Enrique and Mati made fun of us because they thought it was funny that we were eating bread and pizza. ( they said it was like the same thing!) And then Enrique made us his form of garlic bread (or as he says, 'desayuno por el pobre' aka 'breakfast for the poor'). We made dinner for ourselves tonight because we were going out with our friend Lily. We met at her apartment then went out. We ended up at a club called Opium. Opium is a verrry overpriced club to say the least, it is very cool and interesting- but its a place you go to once or twice and that is enough. Although Opium is a little overwhelming, we still had a fun time dancing and hanging out. We spent the night at our friend Lily's because it is much closer so we wouldnt have to pay a ton of money for a cab (they really rip you off!!!)  Lex and I shared the couch, not so comfortable! And we didnt have any blankets so we were freeeezzinnng!!

1/14- HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY BOY!!! AND SUZI :) Lex and I woke up early and headed home to sleep in our warm comfy beds. We pretty much just ended up sleeping the whole day since we didnt get the best nights sleep the night before. However we did get a chance to talk to both our parents and wish them a happy birthday! :) We woke up ate dinner, showered and then we decided since it was our friends birthday we should go out and help him celebrate. We ended up getting our roomies (Alex, Danny, and Parker) to come with us! We had a ton of fun, we went to a club called Oshum. Since it was our friends birthday we got in for free and got to go into the VIP lounge, it was very cool. We danced and had a great time. The metro opened back up at 5am so we just waited for that and came home and went to bed.

1/15- 2:15 we finally woke up. I met Lexie down at the cafe for a chocolate crossaint and a fresh squeezed oj :) Lexie filled out some post cards and I read my book 'the Lovely Bones'- I am almost finished, very good book, but very sad. After this we walked to the gym to sign up for a membership. It is called BAC de RODA- very cool place. It has a pool inside and outside, a huge weight room, and offers many many free aerobic fitness classes for us to take. After about 2 hours of getting everything set for us to join (things move much slower here than in the US) we finally got to go and work out. After our workout we went into the sauna for a little bit and then into the jacuzzi and pool for a little. It is soooo funny, when your are in the pool or jacuzzi you are required to wear a swim cap, so lexie and I had to borrow one from the lifeguard and they were to big so they kept falling off.  It was sort of awkward because everyone was staring at us, because we were the only girls in the place with a 2 piece on. lol. We decided to get out and went to shower and then made our way back home for dinner. Tonight Enrique made us dinner, it was this stew with potatoes and beef in it. It was delicious!! :) We did not go out tonight, we decided to stay in and at 2am we watched the packer game on my computer! Well I did at least, Lexie fell asleep before it even started, I ended up falling asleep at half time. But in the middle of the night I woke up to find that they won 41-21! :) YAYYY! I think that my packer boys are gunna go to the super bowl, sorry bears fans your in trouble!!!! :)

1/16- This morning Lexie and I woke up a little earlier than usual, aka not 2pm lol. Lexie found a church that is in English so we went to a service. It was very cool, so many different people from different cultures were there. The music was really good, fun, and uplifting- as were all of the people. This little african american boy was baptized, it was really cool to see- so many cute little kids as well! During church a man made an announcement about serving food to the needy on the streets this upcoming Saturday 1/22, so Lexie and I told him that we are interested and might be in attendance for that- how fun/rewarding would that be?! After the church service Lexie and I went to this pizzeria we went to before- its our place now :) We both had the margarita which came with a salad, bread, dessert (chocolate ice cream) and wine. It was delicious!! :) We headed back to our place for a little siesta, woke up for dinner (pasta with  cheesy/alfredo sauce with hamburger bits, a salad with a scrambled egg on the side)- very good meal, as all of them have been so far!! Our friend told us about this party that was going on at the W hotel- very very nice/exclusive hotel right on the beach. We were ready to go, but then decided we would rather just hang around here- so thats what we did, and we had a good time skyping/magic jacking friends and family and hanging with our roomies. Oh yeah Tyler Peterson arrived in Barcelona today so Lex n I have been in contact with him trying to meet up and what not, turns out he is staying at a place RIIIIIGHT by my school, what a coinicidence!!

1/17- Today was officially my first day of class! (Because I do not count that awful financial economics one) haha. I had class from 12:30-3:00. This is my intensive Spanish class. I tested into Español avanzado 3, which is great because that is what I needed to test into for my credits to transfer back to La Crosse. For the next 2 weeks this will be the only class that I am taking- Monday through Friday- and then on Jan 31st all of my other classes start and this class goes to only being 2 hours Monday through Thursday. My teacher is sooooo nice and all of the people in my class are great. Class flew by, all we did was talk which is so cool because it is a great way to learn the language!! Our class has about 12 people, so it is very personal which is also really great! There are 3 other girls from my program- api- in my class, so it was nice to see some familiar faces! After class, my friend that I met in class- Jocie- and I walked to the beach and just talked, she is very nice, I can tell we are going to get along great! After our stroll along the beautiful Mediteranean beach we headed to the book store to purchace the book we need for our language course. After this I headed home, and now here I am :)

I dont think I have mentioned this, but the weather here right now is in the mid 50s to low 60s. The sun is usually always out and shining :) its so nice!! It is very warm in the sun, but can get quite chilly in the shadows.

miss you all so much, hope all is well back home. please keep in touch and stay well. love you all :)
xoxo

PS--- GO PACK GO!!! (The bears still suck!! ) haha