Greenwich

Tuesday March 1st
I was running late to catch my train to the internship but by some miracle the train  was delayed...that hadn't happened before. lol, God's provision or just luck? Also...I was so tired after just getting back from Barcelona the night before that I was falling asleep the whole train ride there...and on the way back too. Actually, when I finally got to the end station on the way back I was staring off into space so badly that I had no idea everyone else had gotten off and the train had been stopped for quite some time. HAHA! One of the security guys came and knocked on my window to get my attention. Whoops!

Wednesday
We met at a gallery at Somerset house for my Art class...mostly impressionist and post-impressionist work. I'm mainly familiar with Renaissance painting, but we're beginning to look at other eras and more modern stuff. I like it...most of the time. :) lol, sometimes I just don't get how some things can be considered art. But I really like the sketchiness of Impressionist paintings. I want to try it myself sometime. :)

Thursday

that night after classes the two Kristens, Jess, and I decided to go eat our first fish and chips.

We had heard that there is a good 2 for 1 place on Strutton Arms but when we walked to the end of the street we thought the place didn't look very legit (how wrong we were...my parents and I just ate there and it was delicious!) so we went back up to the street and ordered it in the Strutton Arms pub.

It came with your choice of mushy or regular peas.

And the fish was huge...like a "whole" fish....except part of the reason it looked so large is because half of it was breading. :( dislike! I mean, it tasted okay...but there was so much breading and it was a little too gooey on the inside...I kind of felt gross eating such a greasy thing too.

Friday March 4

Greenwich Day Trip!!

Mark and Beth made us tradition Bacon Rolls (basically just a bacon sandwhich...lol) for breakfast before walking over to the Westminster docks to get on our Thames river boat.

Our river boat

The boat ride was neat. We were happy to see that it was enclosed in glass so we didn't freeze to death or anything of that sort. :) We took the river boat to Greenwich and the guide told us about different locations along the river and about each of the bridges that we went under. The "real" London Bridge, where the Mayflower set sail, etc. Cool stuff!

When we got to Greenwich we walked through the lovely bright green Greenwich park, up the hill to the observatory.

Assignment 5: Greenwich & Docklands: 80’s Bust, 90’s Boom and 2000 Millennium

At the top of the hill in Greenwich park, I got my first view over London since I’ve been here. You could see for miles!...lucky it was a sunny, clear day! I saw the O2 building for the first time as well…basically a large domed tent with spikes coming out of it that is used for concerts and other entertainment. It used to be called the “Millennium Dome”…a controversial subject for various reasons, but is now successful in the hands of the phone company O2. 

this picture is too small to see it, but the O2 building is on the far right

The observatory at the top of this hill was pretty awesome! We got to straddle the two hemispheres of the world!! The Royal Greenwich Observatory is the “actual demarcation of Greenwich Mean Time…separating the Eastern and Western Hemispheres! (in other words…it’s the Prime Meridian)” Not something you get to do and see everyday. : ) I think I heard someone say that there is a laser running through the exact divide that you can see at night…? Anyway…we went inside the observatory (founded in 1675 by Charles II) and browsed through the small museum of the development of navigational techniques. It had a lot of historical measuring instruments that they used. It was pretty neat! I love old telescopes and stuff like that even though I never use them. Haha!

straddling the two hemispheres!

National Maritime museum

After that we went down the hill to the National Maritime museum. It seemed rather small, maybe the group I was with missed part of the building or something…either way, we were all really hungry and kind of breezed through the museum. We didn’t read a lot of the information but it was all about boats/ships in the history of England. This included “Britain’s navel traditions and achievements and even colonizing America.” I also enjoyed the room with toy ships. : ) The building next to the museum was the Old Naval College, an 18^th century classical “architectural masterpiece…it looked sweet! I didn’t get to see the Rococo Chapel or the Painted Hall…sadly. Maybe I’ll need to visit again sometime. : ) 

Next the girls let me take a quick peek around the Queen’s Gallery. It is also called the “Queen’s House” (designed by Inigo Jones in 1616 for Anne of Denmark, James I’s wife) and now is an exhibition space. It is another classical architecture building…I loved the staircase (very P&P). We took a brief look around inside at the various paintings in the collection. There were a lot of water/ship paintings. I'm inspired to paint the ocean now! :)

the Queen's Gallery

After that we went to eat. Mark recommended that we eat at a Mexican restaurant called "El Sol." 
Let me tell you:
We have missed our Mexican food!!!
Kristin, Jess, and I split a margarita and I ordered my usual: fajita taco salad. The salad was alright....not as good as El Charro...but alright. 
We were a little disappointed that they didn't give us free chips and salsa like they do in the states....I was so looking forward to it too. :( But the food was still pretty good. :)

 After that we went shopping around Greenwich. 

Greenwich has more of a "village" feel even though it's a part of London...I really enjoyed that. It was fun to look around the little shops...I even found a pair of shoes!! Some gray vintage shoes that don't completely kill my feet? Score!! lol :)

We also went to the Greenwich market before heading home.

On this day they were selling mainly antiques. 

I saw a dessert booth and couldn't resist the lemon tart. Mmm, it was so worth it. :)

We took the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) to Canary Warf and continued on the tube from there.

Canary Warf is the latest booming financial part of London. Taking the DLR was supposed to give us a view of the docklands and this industrial area...but I feel like we couldn't see much. There were a lot of new buildings like skyscrapers and such...but we didn't see much besides that.

cuties!!

That night the two Kristin's, Jess, and I got all dolled up and went out on the town....Kristin wanted to meet some boys. lol
I got to wear my little black dress. :) 
We finally ended up just going to the student hangout bar at ULU...in the cafeteria area. lol. I had a Malibu Lemonade...really light. We just found a table and sat for awhile but quickly got bored. On the way in we had seen people going into another room with loud music playing. It said D&D over the doorway...which means "Dungeons and Dragons" where we're from. haha!  We decided to check out what was going on. It was another bar and this place was hoppin! There was a dance area and some students were up there breakdancing and such. They even played some American music...usually ruining it with a techno bit...but still! It got busier the longer we were there.
And Kristin got what she wanted. haha! She met a guy from Poland named David and they chatted the rest of the night. He even got her to dance (which was funny to watch...lol, shhh, don't tell her I said that)! The other girls and I just sat there and enjoyed people watching and bobbing our heads to the music.
A couple other guys came up and talked to Jess and Kristin...who were sitting on the opposite side of the table. I found this particularly funny because I had watched them plotting with each other for some time...getting up the courage to come over. haha! Apparently they were from New York...so they may have heard our accent and wanted to come talk, I don't know. But it was funny. 

During all this I got a tap on the shoulder...you know how it goes.
I turned around and there was a guy behind me that said it was the bloke on the other side of me...but when I turned that way there was no one of course.
Later on...this same guy came right up to me and started going on about how he noticed all I had done was sit there looking miserable for the last three hours (Miserable? Not even! And we hadn't been there that long...but according to him we had). He said that if we're from America, why don't we just let loose and have fun while we're here.
According to his definition of fun: we must drink alot and dance like it's the end of the world.
Not my definition...but he didn't understand that.
(What he really wanted was to dance with me...but no, he couldn't just ask me that...) 
So he proceeded to try and make me feel bad for coming to this bar and not dance or drink...like I'm not having fun if I don't. 
What a bunch of bogus! We tried to tell him we didn't want to dance but he wouldn't take no for an answer and kept talking.
I was getting very annoyed!
But apparently my "I'm not interested" body language and words didn't penetrate his thick skull...and I can get pretty blunt when I want to.
Finally we just got up and left....guh.
Some people...
sure, he was probably intoxicated...but still... 

That's all for now my lovelies. :)
~Merely Mortal~ 

Barcelona!!!

 After 3 hours of sleep:

Saturday Feb 26

• 4:30 walk to Victoria station
• Gatwick express 5 a.m.-ish to Gatwick airport - 1 hour
• Through security....flight at 6:55 
• 2 hour flight....1 hour time change.

• cried on the plane at the sight of snow-capped mountains out the window. legit tears

• Landed 9:55
• Ran to hug Mandy and met with my other Spain friends.
• Mandy, Nancy, Renee, and Katie 
• Bus
• metro
• found the hostel - Yellow Nest Barcelona
• couldn't check in until 2:00....so we went wandering
• saw the football (soccer) stadium and went grocery shopping (btw...those grocery stores are huge and have everything...rather cheap too! This one even had a downstairs with a belt you could stand on if you had a push cart)
• back to the hostel...sat around waiting. Ate grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and noodle soup with chips (feast! lol)
• finally were able to check into our room (with like 8 beds, so we weren't alone, but it was fine...no problems)

BEST NAP EVER!! and actually the first nap I've had since I've been in Europe. I've tried not to take one at all because I'm always afraid it's going to mess up my sleeping schedule.
Slept like a rock for at least 2 hours...it was wonderful. :)

our hostel waiting area

the stadium

After we were all rested up we went out on the town. Everyone was much more talkative....not sleepless grumps anymore. lol. I really had no idea what we were doing for the weekend, I just followed them around. It was actually kind of nice not having to plan everything.... much more laid back.

the art museum with crowds just starting to form

We took the metro to a giant art museum on a hill with a large fountain at the foot of it. A large crowd was starting to gather by the fountain (which wasn't running yet)...so we expected that it was going to be a show when if finally came on. No idea what to expect really...so we sat and waiting on some steps as it got darker outside.
When it finally started it was SO AWESOME!! First, small fountains to the sides of us came on and then the large one erupted with water and color and sound! :) It kind of reminded me of Disney world/land (?) because they played music sounding much like Fantasia. The colors and the water changed forms along to the music...expressing the different moods of the melodies. The water spouted incredibly high... We took tons of pictures and Ooed and Ahhed. So cool! and it lasted for a long time too! :) When it eventually stopped we started to walk up the hill to the art museum and see a view over the city...but apparently the fountain was not finished and started up again with Disney movie music!!! We sang along and just had a ball! :)

We climbed to the top (sometimes with the help of escalators....oh yes, they have outdoor escalators in Barcy) and saw the view over the city with the fountain still playing at the bottom. There were fountains at different points all the way up this hill...everywhere you looked...water, music, and beauty. "Oh no you didn't Barcelona!!" - Mandy

We walked around at the top of the hill and randomly discovered the diving area where the Olympics were held in Barcelona years ago....AWEsome!! We also just saw many different view points over the city of Barcelona all lit up at night...so pretty. So so pretty! After getting our fill of wonderful sights...we headed down the steep (emphasis on steep) hill to get some tapas....calves and feet burning...no helpful escalators this time.
Our adorable lady waiter bustled around to get us our pizza tapas (lol) and sangria....even though we were like like the only ones in the place. The pizzas were pretty good and the sangria wasn't bad, I had never had it before. We decided to also order paella so I could have at least one traditional Spanish meal while I was there. Paella is a mixture of vegetables, rice, and seafood...and deliciousness! When we split it between us, the price was super cheap too...always a plus. :)

paella

Sunday Feb 27

Went to the Sangrada Familia, a church designed by Antoni Gaudi that has been (since the 1800's) and is still in construction. They have estimated that it will be completed around 2030.
The architecture was pretty cool and unique....soaring spires and "blocky" figure statues.
The gals wanted to wait in the long line and pay to get inside...but Mandy and I decided not to, so we sat in a nearby park and had a lifechat whilst waiting for them. It was nice. :) Also...the weather was superbly sunny all weekend for us!!
The girls were gone for quite awhile but when they came back they said they never actually went in and couldn't find us which is why they took so long...lol, even though we were in the same park they left us in. Hmm, lol.

Sangrada Familia

the hill

After that we went up the steepest hill yet! Holy crow!
Even with escalators our legs were killing!
It was all worth it though when we got to a stone lookout place with a cross at the top. (And all the cacti with names carved in them...how romantic. lol).
We ate our lunch up there with a view over beautiful sunny Barcelona. Now that's my kind of meal! :)
This is also where we discovered that Nancy has a very low tolerance for sour candy. lol...her distorted faces...she looked almost in pain and make whiny noises while trying to get it down. We just laughed at her...we're awesome friends. lol :)
The rest of us loved the Spaghetti fresas that we bought for like 80 euro cents....and there was so much in one bag!! I bought two before returning to London. :) I love sour candy!!

our view

Nancy's sour face

Mandy's delighted face

yes, this is where we sat for lunch! :)

Next we went to an area with architecture that was designed by the same man who designed the Sangrada Familia.
Lots of pretty mosaics and bridges with awesome piers and architecture underneath!! (we know...we had to wait out a short rain shower under one).
It was like a city square...lots of people just socializing and hanging out.
There were street performers (my favorites being the guy playing violin that echoed around under one of the bridges...and the oh-so-joyful man with dreads and gypsy outfit dancing around and playing with a glass ball...haha! He was so smiley...it just made me happy to watch him!) and loads of guys with blankets spread out selling their souvenirs. I don't usually pay much attention to these...but there was a small mosaic owl that caught my eye. I thought the price was a little high, even after I bartered, so I didn't get it...but regretted it later. And by the time I decided I wanted it...all of the guys selling stuff were frantically picking up their blankets and high-tailing it out of there because the cops had showed up. lol. No worries though...I found one in a little shop later and was very happy. :) His name is Adam...after Adam Young from Owl City. haha! of course!

Mandy wanted to take the mosaics home with her

We went to the Barcelona Catedral next and actually thought it looked pretty lame. haha! It was neater on the inside though.
We wanted to go in the Picasso museum as well, but when we got there the line was really long...dang!
Then we went to a music performance hall? to see the architecture. It was closed though so we couldn't go inside.

the music building

Before going back to the hostel for supper and "chocolate and wine" (I tried red wine this time....yuck. lol...one of the thing I discovered in Europe...I do NOT like the taste of wine) we went to the giant "bullet building"...at least, that's what we called it because we didn't know the name.
From our nighttime view over the city, we had scene this building all lit up with different colors, so we wanted to see it up close.
When we got there though, even after dark, it wasn't lit up yet! Lame sauce!
So we walked around it and found a place to sit and wait on a skating park hill...haha! We were the only ones there though, so it was fine. To blow time and just out of boredom we started taking crazy pictures and listening to inspirational songs such as Bulletproof and Catch a Grenade...hoping it would encourage the building to light up. lol. We even sang the Central fight song!!! haha!
Finally we just sat/laid together on this hill and stared at it.
This is when I started singing like Buddy the Elf randomly...to which Nancy joined in.

"I'm singing...and I'm in Barcelona...on a hill...waiting for the lights to turn ON...." (at this point my arms were spread out wide motioning at the building....)
and BAM!!! The lights came on!! We died laughing...
how random is that??
Of all the songs for it to turn on...it was to a rendition of Elf. :)
The next day when it was cloudy Mandy suggested I start singing to bring the sun out. lol.
We proceeded to take silhouette pictures in front of the blue and red Bullet. Twas much fun. :D

like I said...crazy pictures

Hug the bullet Renee

Monday Feb 28

James let me have the day off my internship to spend with my friends in Barcelona.

:)

In the morning we went to the beach and saw the docks...Mediterranean Sea baby!!!

Even though it was a little cloudy and chilly, we still had patches of blue sky and the ocean is just always cool.

Poor Nancy found a wave though when she stood a little too close. lol!

Just before Nancy got attack by water

poor girl. lol

Before we all went our separate ways, we went and ate churros and chocolat at a popular local place away from the touristy areas. (When there are lots of locals eating there, you know it must be good!)

And it was good!

Churros kind of remind me of funnel cake and it came with a mug full of liquid chocolate that you dip them in. It was kind of bitter, like dark chocolate...but it was still yummy.

Then Mandy and I left the others to head to the airport. The street nearby was full of flower shops and street performers...fun to see.

Btw...Barcelona airport is much more difficult than it should be to get around. It took us forever to find where the easyjet terminal was.

Also...Spanish English accents are the worst I've heard yet. I know they were speaking English on the speakers...but couldn't understand a word. lol.

Leaving our hostel

Churros con chocolat

the churros shop

But I made it back safely and after a little trouble finding a bus to take me back from Luton airport...I arrived at Victoria station and was in bed by midnight.

Awesome...finally finished writing about February...now I can get caught up on the three weeks of March that I am behind on. haha! whoops.

Cheers friends!

~Merely Mortal~

Holborn, Musical Surprises, and Creepy Men

Okay...for realz...I promise this week is dedicated to getting caught up!!! This is getting ridiculous!

Friday Feb 25th
My first full free day in London for a long time!! So in the morning I went with my roommate Mary, her cousin that was visiting, and some other girls down the street to Buckingham Palace (woah...didn't realize it was THAT close to the Vandon House, I shouldn't take the tube so much) to see the changing of the guard.
Well...we learned our lesson.
If you want to see the changing of the guard on a weekend....arrive at least an hour early!
couldn't. see. a. thing.
Okay, that's a lie. We saw a lot of people's heads. yep.
And I guess we did see the band that marched in better than those smooshed by the gate.
We decided not to stay because we couldn't see anything and we walked over to Trafalgar square, past St. James' Park. We were surprised to get a close up view of the horse guards on their way to join the changing of the guard though...so that was cool!
GORGEOUS Day outside!!! Hello Sun!!
Here I split off from the group to go finish an assignment for British Experience Seminar.

SO. MANY. PEOPLE!

Assignment 4: The Back Streets of Holborn
First I went to Number 13 Lincoln's Inn Field, Sir John Soane's Muesum. However, I noted Mark's comment that students in the art class would visit this museum, so I didn't go in. Later when I looked at my Art in London syllabus, I discovered that no, we do not go to this museum. So...I need to return sometime to go inside. lol
Next I went into the Lincoln's Inn Field park...which was basically the size of a city block. Since it was such a lovely sunny day out, many people were taking their lunch on the benches and/or walking their dogs. 
I saw the plaque in the place that was the Canadian Air Force's European Headquarters during WWII with the Canadian Maple tree commemorating the Canadian airmen who died in this war. I took a moment of silence and then walked around the park a little bit.

After that I crossed the street into the grounds of Lincoln's Inn. It is one of the Inns of Court were all of London's "barristers work and practice law....These inns have had former members such as Oliver Cromwell, Mahatma Gandhi, Charles Dickens, and Margaret Thatcher on their legal rosters." 
I felt rather out of place walking around such an area. The grounds and architecture were very pretty though, with more open spaces and green areas than most places in central London. I enjoyed walking around the small gardens/parks and the narrow streets. 
I went inside the Lincoln's Inn Chapel and that was cool. The ground level was kind of a large stone canopy over a "stone graveyard." The ground was covered in stones etched with the names of those buried there. I kind of felt weird having the floor as a gravesite...especially when the church was directly above it. I went up the stairs to see the interior of the church and felt at peace. It was a smaller chapel with stained glass windows and dark wood pews...but it felt homey and I was the only one there. So I sat for a time and had some quiet time in prayer. It was SO quiet in that chapel...something I miss. It was very nice to have that alone quiet time. 

Lincoln Inn Chapel

The stone canopy I mentioned...with dead people in the floor

When I left I made my way past the huge High Courts of Justice (the highest civil court in England) and crossed a busy street into Middle Temple Yard. This area was kind of neat in itself with narrow back streets and buildings. I found my way to the Temple Church and went inside. "The Temple Church was founded in 1185 by Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem...800 years of history! from the Crusaders in the 12th century, through the turmoil of the Reformation and the founding father of Anglican theology, to some of the most famous church music in London." In fact when I was there, an organist played the entirety of the time I was inside. It was nice to just sit and listen to the organ music for awhile before leaving and going back to Vandon House. I also stopped inside St. Clement Dane's Church on my way back. It was a neat military or naval (something like that) church.

Inside Temple Church...you can see the organ on the left

Temple church

St. Clements?

the outside of St. Clements

After a supper of a cornish pasty, I randomly got the urge to go out again. I was too antsy to sit in Vandon for the rest of the night...so I just kind of walked outside with the general idea of going to the National Gallery for a couple hours or until it closed (because most things here close ridiculously early!). On the way there I walked by a large church that is right next to the Gallery on Trafalgar square...and since I was still in "church exploration" mode from earlier in the day...I decided to stop inside and see what it was. 
Wow...
I'm convinced that this random urge was actually God leading me here at just this particular time. When I entered the high roofed church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, there was a small orchestra at the front rehearsing for their Mozart concert. I was able to sit in a pew and watch and listen for half an hour. Perfect. Music always helps me to focus on the more important things in life...so I just sat and closed my eyes and had some more prayer time and just space to think. Also...stringed instruments make me swoon. I could have curled up on the pew and fallen asleep listening to their beautiful sounds. 

you can kind of make out the ensemble at the front of the church

St. Martin's church

This is the second time I've seen this particular street performer in front of the National Gallery. lol...they like to be statues.

After I finally got up and left I explored the "cafe in the Crypt" for a little while (odd..lol) then went over to the National Gallery. I started with the oldest paintings...gothic stuff...in the Sainsbury entrance and made my way through the years. I was really enjoying myself...just being able to slowly take my time through each room and spend as long as I wanted in front of each painting. 
I finally made it through one wing and I had barely entered another when I overheard a guy nearby me ask what time the gallery closed. I politely told him what time...because they close later on Fridays. I went back to looked at the painting in front of me but the same guy curiously asked if I was from North America (obviously noticing my accent). I said yes...that I was from the United States to which he wanted to know where because he has connections there. Iowa. Oh! that surprised him.  For some reason it always does surprise people here when we say we're form Iowa. lol!
I got the usual questions about why I'm here and what I'm studying. But I thought that would be the end of the conversation. 
Nope...he continued on asking deeper and deeper questions...not in a creepy "I'm going to seek out where you stay and rape you" kind of way...he was just making friendly conversation. However, after quite a few minutes of this...it started to seem kind of rude.
Because everytime there was a break, I'd look back at the painting in front of me to finish "looking at it" (it was pretty, and I like to take my time looking at the details)...but before I knew it...he'd say something else!! And of course...I didn't want to be rude myself and leave or blow him off...so I politely stood there and answered questions...not giving too much information out of course...and listening to what he had to say. This cycle continued and I couldn't move on from this one painting until I finally decided I'd just have to come back to it later when he was gone.
Apparently he was meeting a friend and was waiting there for this person. So he had time to blow...and well, so did I...but I didn't want to spend it talking with him! I came to look at art and he was interfering. No, he wasn't some ugly old guy. He had darkish skin and looked like he was in his 30's. But believe me...I was not interested at all.  lol. And from the things he said...he didn't sound like he was "flirting"...but because he chatted with me for so long, it makes you wonder doesn't it? Overall, it just put me in an awkward situation where I had to try to politely end the conversation so I could move on. This is the first Londoner I've met that has been so flipping chatty!! 
It just really bothered me that he didn't care at all whatever my agenda or schedule was...he just talked and talked. And the questions he asked! Very personal and deep. He got into politics and asked if I was a Democrat or Republican, if I liked Obama and why, did I vote...stuff like that. If you know me...you know politics is not a language I speak at all...so this made me very uncomfortable. Plus..you don't ask a stranger you just met this kind of stuff. At least not in America. >: ( He also asked me "deep art questions"...like what does art mean to me, how this painting and the colors make me feel, and random crap like that...to which I kind of just stuttered random thoughts and sounded like a blathering idiot. Excuse me sir...I didn't come here to be quizzed! Besides...those kind of questions have answers that I can't exactly put into words in a conversation...mainly because they are such deep emotional subjects for an art nerd like me that I could go on and on if I had even had the time and the vocabulary. (If you have known me for awhile and have been reading my blog...you've probably noticed that I tend to "write" my feelings and thoughts much better than I can speak them). I didn't have time to think and edit my answer like I can on paper. Awkward. Interfering. Uncomfortable.


Annoying.


I managed to keep all these emotions from showing their ugly heads and eventually said that I needed to move on (when he gave me a chance to even say the words). 
I was upset that I couldn't finish looking at this one painting because he was there and I went in to the next room...to which he also went. And even though he didn't speak to me and was a few paintings away...I was so worked up and couldn't focus on looking at the artwork that I just decided to leave the gallery and come back to finish walking through another day.
I just kept thinking about the personal and deep questions he asked me and how I had such a hard time answering. It really bothered me.

the Gallery and Trafalgar Square fountains at night.

Eventually, after hanging out in a friends room for awhile...I got my mind off of it and started thinking more seriously about packing for my trip to Barcelona. I was scheduled to leave bright and early the next morning. So I packed my stuff and started looking into buses/trains that would take me to the airport. The problem is...I would have to leave Vandon by 4 a.m. to get to the airport...and I didn't know what transportation ran that early in the morning to get me there. I ran into some problems trying to book a train to the airport online and after freaking out a bit I finally just went and asked the gal at the reception desk. Gatwick Express...of course. So I got that booked but then had to wait an hour to actually print it off the computers in the lounge. Guh. Then, since I wasn't going to get up at 3 a.m. to take a shower...I just decided to take one then. So....with good intentions of going to bed early so I wouldn't be AS tired come 4 a.m.....my plan totally failed and I got about 3 hours of sleep before my weekend stay in Barcelona. Fantastic....meh
A couple friends graciously walked me to the train station the next morning. You just don't walk by yourself at that time of day...especially if you're a young girl.


So! My next post will be about my trip to Barcelona!!


Stay classy my friends!
~Merely Mortal~