10-26

:( Yo soy enfermo... I'm sure I'm not saying it the right way.. but I'm sick.

I woke up yesterday morning in England all stuffed up and headachy... but at least it came on my last day! All that cold weather.. no me gusta.

Friday Toni & I toured all around the city... we walked about 6 miles. We saw Bargate, which was build around 1180. It was literally the GATE into the city.

We followed the old walls around and saw St. Michaels church, which is the oldest building in the city... built in 1080. We saw the Tudor House... which, being American, I had no idea who the Tudors were... but they were a dynasty... royalty... there's even a TV show about them. If you want to know more, click here: :D I bought a pin of the Tudor rose :)

We also walked around an old church that was bombed in WW2 and no longer has walls... and we ended the trip at the marina and saw the docks and some famous Titanic places.. like the tavern Leo (Jack) played cards at for his pass on board...

Saturday we woke up bright and early and took the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Then we biked 13 miles to 2 different cities:

We started in Cowes and went to Newport (in a light rain).

In Newport we saw the Carisbrooke Castle, only after going uphill in rain and hail. We almost didn't go inside.. but I'm so glad we did because it was amazing! Probably my favorite part of the island (that we saw). Parts of it were 750 years old... lots and lots of history.

From Newport we biked to Sandown and had beautiful blue skies. And we found a beautiful beach. We had lunch/dinner at a nice restaurant and returned the bikes before wandering down to the shore.

This picture is so funny because he was attacking me but of course he stopped when the picture took.

It was so cold by the end of our trip and we were glad to leave the bikes in Sandown and take 3 different buses to get back to the ferry. Ok... maybe he wasn't glad... but I was glad we didn't have to bike 13 more miles!

Saturday night we went to a nearby pub called The Talking Heads and shared a pint of cider... we tried an ale but almost died... ciders are so gooood.

Sunday was spent relaxing.. we had a BBQ outside with Toni's roommate Petros, who's Greek and very funny. Then Toni played in his 1st water polo game... they lost. And I cooked mac & cheese for dinner, which was loved... and.... WE CARVED A PUMPKIN!

This is the best part.. because ALL October I've been nagging Toni about carving a pumpkin, which he has never done.... I didn't know how I was going to find one in Barcelona since they don't celebrate Halloween here... but we found them in Southampton!!!!!

I did most of the carving... Toni tried to do an eye... but you see... his knife slipped and now our Jack (well Toni calls him Wilson) has a scar from his eye to his mouth. New name: Scarface. Wilson Jack Scarface.

It was a great trip... but too cold! I'm glad to be back in Barcelona with the warmer sunny weather! But I'll miss my Toni Ros until I see him next month!

10-21

Wow... it's been a while. So let me do a quick recap...

I've been living in my flat for 3 weeks... and I love it. Everyone is great and so much fun...

Toni's been gone in England so we skype all the time.

I miss him... and it's really hard not having him around to help me with everything.. but I realized that he is my crutch and I use him instead of doing things on my own... so everything from grocery shopping to openeing a bank account has been stressful, but I did it alone and I'm proud of myself. :D And I still spend time with his family... even though he's not here ;)

I went to a bar with his brother one night and you got to pour your own drinks!!!! And it wasn't expensive.. and I walked there from my house.. AND they gave free popcorn... haha

My girl Meredith from ECU came in the beginning of the month with 2 of her friends. They're studying in Santander for a semester and I got to play tour guide for a day!

We had a party at my house that night and we went to a disco called BIKINI... it was pretty fun. Toni's brother, Joan Ignasi, came and we all had fun dancing on stage with a fat old guy who knew every dance move in history.

My flat seems to have parties every weekend... but I'm not complaining! It's so much fun.. there's people from all over the world... Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Brazil, and some Spaniards mixed in here and there.

I've been meeting so many differnet people and having a lot of fun. I love my flat and my flatmates!

Last weekend we had a huuuge party... I invited all my Spanish friends and the Americans I met on the bus in early September. There were sooo many people.. like 60 people... that's a lot for a flat! But it was the BEST time... the Americans and my Spanish friends went to club called Rivellinos for the night and had an amazing time.

Today, at this very moment... I'm sitting in the library at Southampton University in the South of England... and it's freezing outside. It's freezing inside too...

Toni came home (to BCN) Monday to visit and do some things at his Uni, and yesterday (Wednesday) we flew together here.

Last night we went and saw his waterpolo club team play against some other team... and after we all went out. On campus. There's a bar on campus. And a club on campus... in the student center. And it wasn't lame....

Here people are crazy. There's many social clubs... and they all have these interesting theme parties where they all wear costumes and go out together. I'm pissed I didn't bring my camera last night because it was sooo weird for me... especially since it was on a Wednesday.

Here's a list of the different costumes I saw:

-Na'vi (from Avatar)... and I don't mean blue clothes... I'm talking about full body paint and ears and very detailed makeup and hair and everything....

-Pirates... who were very loud and drunk... and we were walking and a girl yelled PIRATES! And it was so hard not to yell AARRGGHHH!

-Cowboys & Indians

-Nerds

-PJs

-Gangters... all wearing NY paraphanalia and chains and fake guns

And it was a FOAM party... so everyone was soaking wet and covered in foam... we stayed out of it... it was 0 degrees Celcius when we left the house around 9... I did NOT want to walk home at 1am soaking wet...

And then there were the waterpolo guys... They all wore their speedos as underwear (which I think is gross)... and when they got drunk enough they all stripped down and ran through the foam and basically showed off their waterpolo bodies.

The waterpolo players all hang out together.. when they go out they wear their red social shirts and the boys hand out with the girls and it's pretty cool... I met some nice people.

AHH!! And they had beer pong tables set up and Toni was so amazed because he has only seen it on American Pie. I showed him how to play and he wasn't bad haha

So we had a fun night... I slept all day while Toni went to class and now I'm here... in the library. Tonight we will go shopping and I'm making my famous lemon chicken (which he is terrified of... not because of the lemon... or the chicken... but because I'm cooking)... and we are going to a bar to see one of his friends perform with their band.

But for now I'm stuck in the library for another hour........

CHEERS! MISS YOU ALL!

10-4

Monday. I've been so busy that I haven't been able to blog!

Actually I've been so UNbusy that I haven't had anything to blog about....

BUT THE BIG NEWSSS! I moved into my new room on Friday!!! YAY!

Here's some pics:

The view outside

The Living Room

The Kitchen

My Room

I still don't have bed sheets or a blanket and it's not properly finished yet... but this is it

I'm not used to living in a city... or having a window by a street... so it's pretty noisy and sometimes it take a little extra exhaustion to fall asleep... but i like my window and my city life.

Friday night I babysat Heidi... we had pizza & ice cream and watched a movie.

Saturday I was taking a nap and woke up to hear drums... so I went outside to explore and it was a little parade with the drummers and FIRE PEOPLE! Or "fire devils" as i like to call them.

Then I went outtt! Juan and his friend Javier picked me up and we hung out at this girls apartment for a while before heading to Sala... which is on Muntaner and in walking distance from my place.Juan is just too too tall... he told me this story about how when he was younger he would ask his dad to do things... and he would always tell him "you're too big". Like - Dad, I want to ride a horse. You're too big. Dad, I want a bike. You're too big. OK SO GET ME A BIG BIKE!

And on Sunday I took Paul to the pool... he wasn't feeling to well though.. he slept on the bus ride there.

There was a really cool airplane show and I heard all the noise before I figured out what it was... jets doing tricks and setting off flares... they would come close to the CNB and it would be sooo loud!

Hmm my video's not working right now so I'll upload them later.

We hung out at home and he fell asleep... woke up to the promise of PIZZA, we all ate and then Leila, Alexia and Paul all came to see my apartment. They liked it :D