Birthday Happenings. Barcelona Pt II

My birthday in Barcelona this year was sooo awesome—it’s hard to describe the wonderful time I had. =] Amelia made sure to make me feel so special with birthday joy all weekend long!

We did tons of sightseeing for my birthday, had dinner at two awesome restaurants (one Spanish, one Korean), got into the football match excitement (BCN vs. Madrid), saw the most awesome fountain show ever, partied, and I even got cake! =]



Two nights ago, Amelia and I went out for tapas. We had loads of tapas in Madrid (all SOOO delicious), but they were mostly ordered from a menu or from a market. We went to this awesome place in BCN where everyone stood at the bar and they had certain tapas out… and then periodically brought out new tapas that they offered to everyone. We had no idea what we were getting this time since there were no labels/menus, so I was a brave girl and tried some amazing tapas! I have no idea what some of them were still, but it was soooo fun to try them all, not to mention DELICIOUS! Mmm… Hopefully I can find some tapas places in Dallas. =]

If you know me at all, you know I live in a hoodie at home… but when I arrived in Bath, I realized I didn’t pack any hoodies! WHAATTT??? So… Amelia knew how sad I was and she surprised me with a BCN hoodie for my birthday—it is so soft and awesome!!! I am so happy I decided to do my birthday in Spain this year—best decision ever!

I’m sitting at the Barcelona airport waiting to fly back to Bath right now. We had a scare this morning because I got an e-mail saying my flight might be cancelled because of the snow in the UK. I freaked out of course, and then realized the email said it was only a possibility, not definite. I’ve been waiting at the airport all morning now to make sure everything is still good to go, or else I don’t know what I would do. Spending the night in Bath tonight before taking two trains to London Heathrow Airport tomorrow morning. I booked my trains to be right on time for my flight, so I hope there are no delays tomorrow!


so awesome

♥ from Barcelona

UPDATE: my flight is delayed (of course), so I just started to chat with the people next to me—turns out, Gatwick (the other London airport) is closed due to the snow today and they’re not sure about Heathrow. I’ve been panicking about leaving Barcelona, but maybe I won’t be able to fly out of the UK anyway. I already bought my train ticket from Bath to London though; ugh, I hate wasting tickets (money). Let’s just hope I get out of Barcelona and get to Bath okay. Will have to worry about my flight home to Dallas once I get to Bath. Upside: I get to see SNOW!

SAY MY NAME! Barcelona Part I

Greetings from Barcelona! BCN has been soooo amazing. Will have to write a two-part blog.

Amelia (& Belen & Lynn) planned a Barcelona birthday extravaganza for me this weekend and it has been amazing so far. (Part II is tomorrow).


inside La Sagrada Familia, Gaudí is amazing!


love the outside of the building!


Casa Batlló


outside the Casa


Park Güell


Arc de Triomf


at the beach


<3 BCN


fountain show at Plaça d'Espanya


amazing!


soooo beautiful!

It's been so awesome here-- we've had sooo much yummy food and I've honestly had the best time! =D We went out last night for my birthday-- can you believe I partied til 430am?! How things have changed!

Soooo... Amelia has been planning all of my sightseeing around BCN, so when we were at the beach:

Loc: Let's go that way!
Amelia: Excuse me, who is your tour guide? Say my name, SAY MY NAME!
L: ...

Haha, after that, I learned not to question Amelia and just to follow her blindly. I have had such a fantastic time here-- I'm not ready to go home yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

♥ from Catalonia

¡Bienvenidos a España!

Hola from Madrid!

Amelia and I had a FANTASTIC time in Madrid! We have been doing a Spanish food tour with sightseeing in between. =] She promised I wouldn't go hungry anymore, and she definitely kept her promise--- SOOO much food!

We discovered the joys of food:


seaweed salad & tapas from a market


tapas


churros dipped in hot chocolate-- they tasted very light, surprisingly!


half a chicken for only 5.40 euros!


lunch


okkkkk, I guess we did do a lot of other things besides eat(kinda):


Madrid palace


walk through the park


today: we took a day trip to Segovia.

Roman Aquaducts


Cathedral


castle! it was soooo awesome-- we felt like princesses! =D

Going to Barcelona next! So sad I won't be in the States to celebrate Thanksgiving this week with my family, but am so excited to party it up in BCN this weekend for my birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone-- love y'all!

♥ from Madrid

oh London

Greetings from London!

I just had a wonderful Harry Potter filled day. First, I went to Kings Cross station and made my way to Platform 9 & 3/4.



After some sightseeing-- I walked to the BFI Imax to watch Harry Potter. It was so awesome to see the movie on "the biggest screen in Britain!" They even had an employee introduce the movie like it was a play, lol.



LOVED, loved, loved the movie. It can be pretty confusing for people who don't know the plot really well though. Oh well, suckers!


So... I think the English are trying to kill me on the tube. I was on the escalators going up the other day when this lady tripped a bit and pulled me down with her. I had to cling onto the handrail and then she said "Oh, sorry, I probably shouldn't have pulled you down with me." UGH. Then another man wacked me with his big bag and I lost my balance and almost fell down the escalator. I get the point y'all-- I'm leaving, geez. Haha.



Going to bed a little early tonight since I have to catch an early flight to Madrid, Espana! Can't wait!

♥ from London


Piccadilly Circus: they showed it in the movie


cool ship-in-a-bottle thing at Trafalgar Square


Tower Bridge, way cooler than London Bridge


Big Ben

photo blog

Greetings from Oxford! I'm too lazy to post pictures on FB, so will post some fun ones here.

Harry Potter photos:


Church used as the outside of the castle in first movie


HP's parent's house from first movie


Professor Slughorn's House


Hogwarts Express


Entering the Great Hall-- from first movie before getting sorted into different Houses (Christ Church College, Oxford)


me in the dining hall!! AHHHHH!!!!!


better view of the dining room. =]


Random recent pictures:


it was soooo foggy & cold today!


the original equipment they used to try to purify (to mass produce) Penicillin


im so scary, i know


chalkboard from one of Einstein's lectures at Oxford


Edinburgh Castle-- so awesome


1st set of fireworks for Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night


fall colors-- view from my bedroom window


Melody and me =]


fireworks at uni


just for Michelle-- I'm pretty sure the sheep with its butt to the camera is pooping! haha


My lover Amelia & me from our first city together. we're going to be reunited on Saturday!! <3


Onto London tomorrow!!

♥ from Oxford

down for the count!

I just had dinner in York (UK) with my new friend from NJ, and we were only about 25 feet away from the restaurant when we heard cars honking like mad. Then we heard people screaming. At first, we thought someone had just gotten run over, but then realized we were witnessing a straight-up Mob-kinda fight. There were about 8 boys in total and they were in a huge fight that moved into a busy street. Guy A punched Guy B and Guy B fell to the ground. Then Guy A proceeded to continually kick Guy B over and over and over again even though he was already down. Guys C-H were there and kinda participating, but they were mostly watching. After Guy A kicked Guy B for a good minute, the other guys started to pull him away. I honestly think Guy B has internal organ damage because A was kicking him REALLY hard for a really long time. They stopped traffic and cars/buses had to wait for them.

Guy B couldn't even get up afterwards, poor dude. =[ Although I don't condone fighting, I don't think you should keep kicking a guy once he's down. You can help him back up and punch him again, but it's just dirty to keep kicking him. =[

BTW- my hostel is realllyyyyy nice and looks like a B&B, win!

Heading to Oxford tomorrow morning!

♥ from York


I'm going to Hogwarts!!! =D

My (entire) day on the train

I can’t believe it’s already November and I’m done with my study abroad program. I finished my rotations last Friday and spent the past few days trying to finish my project. I cut it pretty close because I just barely finished my project and was still packing/cleaning late last night. =D

I have 3 weeks left in Europe and am traveling to Edinburgh (Scotland), York, Oxford, London and then meeting Amelia in Spain to go to Madrid and Barcelona. My train ride to Edinburgh was going to be my longest journey since I’m going from South England all the way up to Scotland. The trip was supposed to take 6.5 hours total with 2 train changes, but has turned into such an adventure already. My first two trains were a bit delayed and the third one was majorly delayed so it was not going to come to my connecting station. The staff directed us to get off in Birmingham and to take a train to Wolverhampton to try to catch the delayed train from there. This train was, of course, delayed also. They held the train for us in Wolverhampton but gave everyone literally only 3 minutes to disembark and then climb 4 sets of stairs to get onto the waiting train that was all the way across the station.

After all these problems, nothing else could go wrong, right?! WRONG. We’re already majorly behind schedule, but as we pull up to Carlisle, the conductor announced that the rails in Carlisle are dysfunctional so now we’re going to back –track so we can go AROUND Carlisle. No words.

I was planning to grab lunch during the train changes but since every single train has been delayed, I couldn’t or else I would have missed the next train. It’s 3:48pm right now (been travelling since 10am) and I haven’t had my lunch yet—probably won’t until 530 or 6pm. =[

It’s my first day traveling again and I already am subjected to extreme hunger, haha. I remember when Amelia and I travelled together for the first 5 weeks—we never knew when we were going to have our next meal since it depended on the train/flight schedule and food availability. Oh, how easy it is to get right back into the traveler’s groove. I DID forget how heavy my luggage/backpack/purse can be when I’m carrying them all up and down loads of stairs. Hope to get off this train eventually and will find myself a delicious dinner to make up for it.

♥ from somewhere between Carlisle and Edinburgh

------------edit

4 trains later, I got to Edinburgh! Finally got lunch/dinner at 6pm! It's super dark here already so I ventured near the hostel in hopes of finding something delicious. Walked by a restaurant with a sign that said "Prices like it's 1990: 3 course meal for £4.90" ($7.84!) I ordered french onion soup, sea bass with garlic sauce & fries, and chocolate mousse! I was so full from eating bread, soup, and fish so I told them not to bring out the mousse. Totally worth it! Yummmmmm.


partying on Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night


For Bonfire Night-- the university had fireworks/carnival rides. Megan & I rode this ride where it spins you around really fast while they lower the floor away from you-- you end up in the air off the ground!