Long Past Due

Hello errbody! Yes it's been a while since I wrote a *real* blog post. Like, months. But hey, I think I explained all of it with some lovely pictures so I wont make any more excuses. The good news is that I decided not that I'm steppin up my game. Maybe. We'll see.

ANYWAY. I guess the big news is that I moved from the residencia to a homestay. I'm staying with a woman who used to host with her husband - who isn't hre anymore for whatever reason (I didn't really ask) and we think she likes having people around. Her son lives downstairs and half hosts two boys that come up to her apartment for meals. It's kind of a strange situation because she seems to do all the work, but it's really nice to have a group of people to eat dinner with - we have fun. I also got a new roommate and housemate (essentially roommate) who are just lovely.

I've been staying in Barcelona mostly- haven't gotten it together to start traveling but I'm planning on doing a daytrip sometime this weekend when I'm all alone AND in ONE WEEK I will be in Rome visiting some LOVELY people known as the Kanes. In Rome. I'm excited.

I did make one night trip to Sitges for the Carnival Parade, which was SO much fun. Since I got contacts in the residencia, I got a place on the bus they rented, and was able to go with all the Spanish students. The night ends with me speaking spanish with two of the students on a beach, after trying to wade in the water and realizing that APPARENTLY Spanish people don't walk around in the ocean in March at 4 AM. Weirdos.

While I'm a little desperate to start seeing the rest of the world, being stuck here has allowed me to really get to experience a lot of Barcelona - and there's still so much to do, it's ridiculous. When Dirgo was here, I loved being able to show him everything I'd learned - to know what was worth it and what wasn't (...if there was anything that wasn't...). One of the things we didn't have time/energy to do I managed to get my roommate to do with me this weekend. Which leads me to the picture of the...month. Wow it's really good I'm not paying Steve everytime I miss a picture of the day.

So there's this mountain in the north of Barcelona, called Mount Tibidabo. There's an amusement park on the top, and a big church that gets lit up at night. I spent my first - month (?) here seeing that church from every vista, not knowing what it was. Finally I figured it out, and ANOTHER month later I got it together to visit. So you walk up this path -

Get to THIS view of Barcelona -

And eventually get to the church and park-

It was WONDERFUL. And I've seen so many other wonderful things - from other parks to cathedrals to electric violinists in clubs. It sounds lame and cliche but Barcelona really has everything to offer.

WHEW. Sorry for the novel!