the band wagon.

wah wah wah

i miss spain all day every day wah wah wah

the MCAT studying situation does NOT help at all. I cry all day.

I’m going to continue whining soooo: whine whine whine wah wah wah

PS: I NEED THIS NECKLACE RAH NOW

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64351441/i-heart-spain?ref=sr_gallery_22&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=i+love+spain&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

I FORGOT

that Tumblr existed. Last time I updated was before PARIS? Oops. SO much has happened since then, and now I only have one week left. Actually, scratch that. About 5 days really. This is depressing. But I won’t talk about that. Instead I’ll give a brief synopsis.

Since Paris I’ve been to Granada, Munich, Prague, Rome, Venice, Florence, Sevilla, Lagos, and Lisbon. BALLIN’.

Since Paris, I’ve also had the amazing luck of being able to participate in Las Fallas, the 3rd largest festival in the world that takes place right here in my little home of Valencia. BALLIN’.

Let’s start with FALLAS just because its awesome. Fallas is a 4 day festival in Valencia that is all about its fireworks, partying, and lighting things on fire. It began March 15, but the celebration begins really on March 1st. Starting the 1st, every day at 2pm there’s a firecracker display in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in el Centro. I’m talking a HUGE and very LOUD display. I’ve tried like 10 times to upload a video of it but Facebook hates me. Anyway, these shows are called Mascletá and they only last about 5 minutes but thousands gather into the plaza just to watch it. The louder it is, the crazier the crowd gets. Oh, and pretty much everyone will somehow have a can of Amstel in their hand. Anyhoo, so throughout the city they display these huge statue-figure things called Fallas that are made of wood, plaster, cardboard, and paint and each one is made by a different group/association. These things can be MASSIVE I mean bigger than buildings here. And they are amazing. All through Fallas people just wander the streets looking at them, drinking, eating churros (there are churros stands posted up on every corner during Fallas) and just hanging. Every night there’s this huge beautiful fireworks display of fireworks I have NEVER seen in my life. The best show ever. And then at the very end of the festival, they light ALL of the Fallas on FIRE. In the middle of the city. ON FIRE. It is the CRAZIEST THING EVER. Literally millions of people in the streets drunk and cheering and losing it when they light these things on fire. Its INCREDIBLE. I have never had such a whirlwind of a week in my entire LIFE. No one sleeps. I’d stay out till 7am, wake up at my friends place at 10 to book it home to get a change of clothes and then book it back in time for Mascletá at 2pm, wander the city and see all the processions and events all day and then go see the fireworks at 12am to then go out and party again till 7am. I probably slept a collective 8 hours in all 4 days. That is NOT an exaggeration. I love Valencia. 

So 2 months later…

I still rep it and whatnot.

supa behind

ok so update on the last few weeks::::

i went to málaga which is in southern spain with sara. its gorgeous and cute and we met so many people! spaniards, italians, americans in the ISA program. it was a lot of fun and we took a day trip to marbella, another beach town nearby. its super mediterranean with the white stone buildings and gorgeous beaches and yummy seafood. i loved it so much but valencia still wins. the towns are too small for my taste. its a good vacation spot though.

valentines day- i went out with my chicas. we went to this really cute girly sushi place called Miss Sushi where everything was pink and red and super estrogen-filled. I had a great time and had lots of good cheap wine. It was a great Valentines :)

weekday outtings- last week we met a ton of spaniards because we finally went to a different bar than the one we ALWAYS go to. it was a lot of fun and hopefully we’ll be hanging with them again. we also did botellón, which is basically a giant spanish pre-game in the streets. literally hundreds of people in a plaza bring booze and party till like 3 or 4 in the morning andthen head out to the discotecas. we partied hard, elizabeth and i downed a bottle of whiskey, and off to the disco we go. it was great.

excursion through valencia- our mediterranean society teacher (awesome guy) took us on an adventure through the lakes, mountains, and countryside of valencia. we took a boat rid, spent the night in a hostel at the top of a mountain, met a ton of people from all over the world (lithuania, france, switzerland, germany, england, mexico, australia, etc) and hiked 15 kilometers through the mountain. it was also freezing so now i caught another cold -____________-

now i’m about to leave to PARIS! I am gone for 5 days and hopefully will start updating this thing more. I’M WAY TOO EXCITED

okay so

I know I’m SUPA behind on updating this but I just feel like most of my entries drag on for years so I bought myself a journal. Anyway, there are a few things I must say about Spain:

NUMBER ONE: Some men hear are GROTESQUE. Like, okay thank you Miami for preparing me for perverts, but holy crap this is like a new level of nasty. It’s like, señor, you are 63 years old. Please refrain from licking your toothless mouth at me. Thanks.

NUMBER TWO: Why, citizens, would you ever think that mullets were okay? I mean okay fine, mullet. Whatever. But WHO, please tell me, WHO came up with making dreadlocks out of your party in the back? A head only with half dreadlocks? Qué? 

NUMBER THREE: Nude tights with extremely tiny jean shorts and boots. Oh, and a coat. Okay, this is not alright. This is just weird. The combo just does not work. 

NUMBER FOUR: If I hear one more anti-American statement, someone will be punched. (this is to you, Málaga. Valencia, you’re wonderful the way you are)

NUMBER FIVE: Okay, Che Guevara’s face plastered EVERYWHERE is going to send me into convulsions. I will burn the next shirt/bag/sweater/flag/patch I see, whether or not you’re wearing it or not. (Once again, that’s to you Málaga)

Other than that, I love you, España. 

BARCELONA! WARNING: This is long as hell

So Friday I wake up late to get to the bus, because I spent all of Thursday night wandering EVERY BAR IN VALENCIA till 5am. I run to the bus and end up in the back seat and collapsed asleep sitting up, which NEVER happens. At the rest stop I seriously was still half drunk; I was like a walking zombie. We get to Barcelona and had lunch but after we just napped and decided to go have dinner later. We all went out in a group of 7 girls and Ross lololol so we wander around for literally an hour searching for a good place. It took forever. We walked into this one place where the people literally started laughing hysterically when we went in so we said fuck that. Stupid fuckers lost the business of 8 people because they found a group of Americans to be something comical. Fuck that shit. We ended up taking a cab to the port and going to a restaurant there. It was reaaaaaally good I shared paella (DELICIOUS) with Whitney and got the best and strongest sangria I’ve had. At the end our waiter brought us all free shots that were absolutely wonderful. They were so sweet but perfect with a touch of whipped cream OH so good.

Anyway, we went back to the hotel to get ready and then made our way to Dow Jones which is a bar that’s designed like a stock market. Basically around the bar there’s screens that have the names of all the drinks with their prices, and every few minutes the prices change. Sometimes they go up or down but its fluctuating just like the stock market. It was really cool but there were a shitload of Americans there and other foreigners which kinda killed it. At 1 we headed to Roxy Blue, which was this big discoteca that was free entry before 1:30. It was a lot of fun! The DJ started giving out these flickering lightsticks that were fantastic! I swear it’s like the men get more perverted as the night progresses someone literally touched my mouth and I whacked him upside the head with the lightstick. This other guy kept trying to take it from me so I nearly punched him in the mouth. Around 5 we called it a night and I was sleeping like a baby by about 6.

Too bad I had to be up at 8:45 to fucking SHOWER though. So I get up early as shit and my face is aflame since I hadn’t slept right in days. I stumble to breakfast and we get on the bus to go to a “tour of the city”. MY ASS. We spent 3 hours looking at 2 cathedrals, some ruins, and 3 street corners. And by ruins, I mean like 3 columns that are left from one ancient Roman temple.  It was great don’t get me wrong, but 3 hours was WAYYYYY too much time to spend on that. We didn’t even go see Gaudi stuff, the port, Montjuic, NADA. Whatev. After that we had free time so we went walking up and down las Ramblas shopping and eating. I got myself a lovely black blazer a hat and a top for under 40 euro at H&M :) then we went to see some of Gaudi’s famous works like Casa Batlló, Pedrera, and of course la Sagrada Familia. Here’s a picture of Casa Batlló, which is now a museum that I wish I had gone to.

We didn’t go inside any of them though because it cost money and it was getting late so we wanted to be able to see all of them by daytime. They were all so awesome it’s incredible what Gaudi did in his time. Just wow. Anyhoo, we went to the market to get some snacks and alcohol and I bought myself a baguette and a 40oz of a beer that literally had no name. It just said “Cervesa” and was like 83 euro cents. CENTS. A 40oz for 83 CENTS. I was blown away. So basically my FAT ASS ate an entire baguette and a 40oz as a snack. This is why I’ve gained 6 pounds in 3 weeks ladies and gentlemen.

We got ready and went to dinner. The food was good but the fuckers were trying to mess with us. First they tell Jordan her 9 euro soup has chicken and when she gets it, it was literally broth with 3 croutons. Then they forget to bring Bailey’s pizza and brought it 20 minutes after everyone else’s food is out. And THEN, to top it off, they put bread on the table like any normal fucking restaurant would do and later charged us like 6 euro for it. That’s the point where I literally lost it and bitched at the waiter. It’s not even that it was 6 euro, because literally that would be like 50 cents a person and not a big deal. But after all that crap they were going to try and charge us for something they gave us without telling us there was a charge?? Something we didn’t even ask for?! HA. I got up and was like NAW NAW NIGGA NAW HOL’ UP. He took that shit off reaaaaaaaal quick and I heard him talking shit after but iungivafuuuuuuuh. So we left there and went home to get our drank on. We had some draaaanks and then headed to the beach area of Barcelona at around 1:30 to go to this place called Opium. That shit was expensive they charged 20 euro for entrance and it came with only one drink. The bouncers were rude as fuck too but whatever we went in and had a pretty fucking awesome time. The music was good, the place was HUGE, and we stayed until about 6:30am. Literally, we stayed until the place closed. Like. The lights were turned on and we were all like oh. I think the party’s over. We get home, I fall into bed at about 7:15am and wake up Sunday 2 hours later for yet another tour of Barcelona. We go to Güell Park which is this beautiful park designed by Gaudi.  

 If only we had actually stayed longer! It was also full of those Africans and gypsies that are always selling shit on blankets, and I nearly peed my pants because suddenly you hear a scream of Policia!!!!!! and ALL OF THEM start scrambling to pick up and go BOLTING OUT of the park. Like. Literally it was about 100 people picking up and sprinting for the hills or something. It was the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen! And then this homeless guy playing a flute started yelling “COWARDS! You should fight the police!!!” And then he continued playing his flute. I am literally tearing just remember that moment I wish I had recorded it.

And then we went back to the city to see other Gaudi stuff but our group decided to bounce because we had already seen this all the day before and didn’t feel like listening to a 30 minute explanation of the outside of buildings. Bailey, Whitney, Gabbie, Christopher, Griffin and I went to go eat at McDonald’s of all places and then headed to the Picasso Museum. It was already 2 and we had to meet to leave at the bus by 4 so we quickly went through all of Picasso’s works and then bolted to the bus. My feet were so incredibly swollen and painful by the end of the trip I couldn’t even get my boots on. Literally. My combat boots would NOT get on my feet that is how swollen they were. I was limping to the bus and dying after walking all day those 3 days and dancing all night those 2 nights. But anyway, I LOVED Barcelona and plan on going back during spring break because there was a lot left to see. It was gorgeous! But I must be clear here, I still love Valencia more:)