home again, home again

As long as my heart is beating...

In case you didn't figure it out, I did eventually make it home despite the delay after delay. They finally allowed us to board our plane in Chicago sometime after midnight, but of course, they then decided to reroute our flight, so we ended up taxi-ing on the runway for some time. We did that for so long that we missed our place in line to depart, so we ended up shutting off the engines and just sitting on the runway. Let's just say that people were not happy. We FINALLY took off, though, and I fell asleep before they even started passing out drinks. When I woke up I heard the flight attendant come on the intercom and say, "Welcome to Tuscon." Fortunately, she was wrong, and we were in Tulsa. :) She also proceeded to apologize for the delays, but she was laughing the entire time she was talking, and as you can imagine, that didn't go over well in the cabin. As you can see from the picture, our flight from Chicago was the last one into Tulsa International Airport for the night. Consequently, the airport was pretty dead when I got off the plane, and it was not hard to spot my daddy and mommy. I've never been that happy to see then in my entire life!! I was so thankful to finally be back in Tulsa, and I was equally thankful when Dad stepped up to the luggage carousel and lugged my 75 lb bags off of it for me and proceeded to drag them to the car. :) The picture above of Dad and me was shortly after I stepped off the plane. What I love most about it is the fact that I spent 5 months living on a beach, and I still look albino next to him and his tan. Thanks, Dad! :)

When we finally made it back to Pryor, I got to see my kitty (!!), and I accidentally woke Ashley up, so I got to see her for a few seconds. :) I was also happy to find that nothing I'd brought back with me (mainly Christmas ornaments) had broken in transit. This past semester was the longest I had ever been gone from home, but it felt like I'd never left. I think that just shows that Pryor will always be my home, no matter where I live or what happens.

It has now been almost a month since I got back, and I've been whole-heartedly enjoying my summer and just being. To summarize the past few weeks, I've spent lots of time with my family, and I've seen friends from both MSU and Pryor. We partially moved me into our apartment, but I've still been spending most of my time in Pryor. I ate some Texas Roadhouse. I went to the Saint Louis Zoo yay, puffins!) and realized that I'll take Missouri's stars over Valencia's lights any day. I watched a Royals game at Kauffman with my family, and Dad then took me to Crown Plaza, where they have the tower that is a replica of the one in Seville (Remember, KC is Seville's sister city!), and the whole Plaza looks like Spain. I helped Henry celebrate his 21st birthday in Springfield, and later Emily and I had our first fajita night together back in the U.S. Oh, and I've been doing lots of reading. It's so nice to have access to books in ENGLISH! :) I've also enjoyed driving my car and using the microwave. I'd probably also enjoy using the dryer if I ever did my own laundry, but since I don't, I'll just enjoy watching Mom use it. ;)











(H-dizz and me on his 21!) (Aaron and dad in my apt.)









(Ash & me at the Royals game.) (Seville in Kansas City.)

I've also had an entire month to reflect on one of the most amazing semesters of my life. Here are some of my favorite memories (Emily may be the only person who understands some of them, so if you have questions, just ask!), although they are mainly for my own benefit, so you may skip over them if you please:

• Missing all of our flights on the way over. It made for such a good story. :)
• Seeing the Mediterranean for the first time as we flew into Barcelona. I'll never forget it.
  
• Finally arriving in Valencia (without luggage, I might add!), realizing that Lucia (who was supposed to be picking us up) was nowhere to be found, and just sitting on the bench and staring into space. Most people probably would have freaked out, but we were too tired to even think about it.
  
• Cramming ourselves into Alberto's car for the first time and being too tired to even attempt speaking in Spanish. Oh, and let's not forget the receptionist at the hostel who thought we were completely stupid and told us we shouldn't leave our luggage in the luggage room. :)
• Having Abril walk through the door of our room and meeting her for the first time! It was a start to a beautiful friendship with a beautiful girl. :)
• The creepy people that we stayed in the hostel with.. the 40 year old German, the people who roomed with us and spoke Galic, Frenchie, and the dad/daughter pair. And I loved being the horrible roommate who stayed up all night and slept all day. I also loved it when Henry quacked so early in the morning and made our roomies hate us! And I loved how I couldn't figure out how to close the shades on the window and the bathroom that smelled digusting.
  
• The piso search. I HATED it at the time, but now it's so funny to look back and remember all the ghetto places that we contemplated living in, especially the place by the beach and the drug house.
  
• Our first night out with Lucia and her friends. I'd never been that happy to go to McDonald's in my life!
• The first time we walked around the center of Valencia by ourselves at night. It was magical, and Valencia stole a little piece of my heart from the very start.
  
• Staying up all night in the hostel for free breakfast that sucked.
  
• Making people call my parents and telling them to get online. I think this is how Mom and Henry really became friends. ;)
• Staying with Lucia and getting to be a part of her family. Falling asleep in Lucia and Alberto's bed, the air mattress, taking over Little L's room, our first paella, etc..
• Attempting to pack for our first Ryanair flight. Planning our first Ryanair trip the day before.
  
• Thinking we were going to crash when we landed in Ireland. Sheila's hostel and Ipod boy (my lover). Spending Emily's 21st in Cork. Kissing an Irish boy. Hearing the man on the bus say "Blaaaackkkkkrock!". Becoming a certified Irish whiskey taster. ;) Kissing the Blarney Stone and the cute little old man who held onto me while doing so. The drunks who asked us if we were from Australia and threatening to beat them with my umbrella.
  
• Scholars House reunion in London! Seeing Wicked. The iPope (oh, the iPope). The devastating lunch buffet at Pizza Hut. Missing our flight to Valencia and spending the night in Stansted. Estonia boy and showing him to Aaron on the cam. The comments that appeared on my blog from Estonia after that. Hearing how Estonian movies were better than American movies. Being invited to take a walk and get cappucino.
  
• Being scared we may have lost the piso when we missed our flight.. haha. :)
  
• Our first meal in the piso. Sleeping in the same bed for the first few nights because we were too lazy to unpack and make another bed.
  
• My tooth falling out. It made for a good story. And we got to meet Dr. Gomez, who was sooo nice! :)
• Seeing Billy for the first time walking across campus.
  
• Lighting the stove under the guidance of Nancy and Ken via the internet.
  
• Meeting "Javi" in the study away office. Going to class for the first time and realizing we were two weeks late. Oops. Having the female H approach us and ask us to be in her group.
  
• Becoming addicted to Coke... Coca-Cola, that is :).
  
• The first few weeks of Rosa. SHE WAS SO INTIMIDATING!!
• Meeting Nat and Maria for the first time.. another wonderful relationship! :)
• The old lady on the bus who offered to drive us home when we were too stupid to figure out the bus system and Gary the bus driver was mean to us.
  
• Billy and the wine bottle. Also, Billy showing us how to REALLY use our stove and telling us the stereotype of American women.
  
• Our first trip to the beach near our house.. and meeting Sanchez and his brother. Oh, Sanchez.
  
• The somewhat crazy church.
  
• Watching Emily rip the girl's panty hose.
• Falling in love.. with the Principe.
  
• Spending the night in UPV's dorm that we had mistaked for the Student Union.
  
• Walking through the muddy park on the way to Corte because we didn't realize there was a bridge.
  
• Running from the metro police. Later, being caught by the metro police but playing stupid and acting like we had no idea that we were supposed to stamp our tickets.
• The night the power went out in the piso. Haha :)
• Going to Italy for the first time and realizing that there's nothing to do in Pisa. Going on an accidental date with the 30 year old Italians and being afraid they were going to kill us in one of the abandoned alleys. Getting to call my parents from Pisa. Breaking the wine bottle and meeting Raj and the gang when we got kicked out of Pisa's airport. Sleeping on the bathroom floor of the airport. Eating 5 tons of gelato.. or that's what it felt like anyway. The guy who cut his finger at Novella's. Taking pictures of Michelangelo's David. The most perfect night in Florence.
  
• Emily and I had overlapping classes.. meaning we didn't go to one class half the time. We vowed not to tell anyone in case we failed. We didn't!
  
• Watching people attempt to hook up with other people in hostels. (That's how "E-Hostel" was born!!)
• Speaking Galic with Emily. "Ay ca qual eh?"
• The guy with the beer and the crotch on London's subway. Hahaha.
  
• The broken shower in the piso. Gross!
• Having the neighbor YELL at us and scream "POLICE!" when we had no idea what was going on.. oh, good times.
  
• Foster's American Restaurant.. sick!
  
• Sigma Pi (like Pie 'cause we like Pie) Chi (like CHEEEE 'cause we like hair straighteners) sisters 4 lyfe!
  
• Alberto's birthday and the SPARKLERS!! Also, the sangria.. oh, sangria! :)
• Mascletas and churros..
  
• Watching Mom, Dad, and Aaron coming through the gate at the airport. Laughing at Mom and Dad's huge amounts of luggage and Aaron running ahead of them.
  
• Getting lost in London from the very start and following Aaron who supposedly knew where he was going... :)
• Mom's silly quotes. Seeing everything in London. Hearing Dad talk like he was British.
  
• Falling asleep on the plane to Rome and having Aaron wake me up because I was in some strange man's lap.. oops.
  
• Wandering around Rome with my family. Hearing Dad's historical tidbits.
  
• Having my parents there to buy me stuff!! ;)
• Seeing someone get arrested on the plane to Valencia!
• Our first night of Fallas in Valencia. Getting stuck in the chaos. Seeing falleras for the first time. The fireworks. The noise. The atmosphere.
• FALLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FALLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FALLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was probably my favorite thing of the entire semester.
  
• Valencia's bull fights. Eating at Burger King when massive amounts of fireworks exploded outside. The drunk guy who kept grinding mom while we were waiting for the falla to burn. Watching the burning! Meeting other American's.
  
• Phil. Stupid Phil.
  
• Waterford in Ireland. "The erection in the intersection". Live music in the pub.
  
• Meeting up with Ash, Rach, and Em in Barcelona! Ash "spotted" me! :)
• The Ideal Youth Hostel. "We're just here to sell beds!" Sleeping in the bed with Em. Hahaha.
  
• All the inside jokes.
  
• Making Ash eat 4 fajitas. She loved it. Hearing Rachel's nerdy, historical tidbits.
  
• PISSING BOY in Belgium!
  
• seXy leXy. aliens. penguins. guitar. inns.
  
• The Anne Frank House. Tulips. Canals in Amsterdam.
• The divorced Australian lady in our hostel who beat her husband when he snored.
  
• The receipt in the bathroom at UPV. ;)
• DISNEYLAND PARIS!! What a magical day.. :)
• Doner Kebabs.. oh, gross.
• My love affair with the Eiffel Tower. Hanging out with Abril in Paris. Eating ice cream. Notre Dame... PARIS!
• It's possible... yes.
  
• "I did it with an alien last night." (Because ****** did it with *****.)
• Making it our mission in life to find Pizza Huts (or Subway).
  
• Jim. John. Joe. seXy. Jimmy John?
• Georgia Boy. Uggh! Georgia Boy!
• The rooftop. Sunbathing on the roof. Drinking on the roof. Eating cookies on the roof. The rooftop.
  
• Being in the Alps in Germany. Booger girl who read Harry Potter. Christmas ornaments in both Germany and Switzerland!!
• The ferry to Mallorca. Paradise in Mallorca. Parasailing. Scuba diving. Laying under the umbrella. The bus wreck in Mallorca. the ferry ride.
• Mother's Day with Nat and Maria.
  
• JAN!! Impersonating Jan. JAN!!
• Seeing random MSU people in both Paris and Barcelona.. weird!
• "I have a blondie.." and being a clever girl.
  
• The beautiful Seville. The bus trip there (and fearing we wouldn't get on the bus at all!). The most perfect weekend.
  
• The shocking experience with the electrical outlet. The plane ride to Rome with Billy and meeting Billy's brother. Taking on Rome in one day! Pigeon's in Venice!!
  
• Jumping pictures.
  
• the bse with the bpe!
  
• BUMPER STICKERS!
  
• "Ugly words" and "Don't turn in anything that's crap"... and just hearing David cuss.
• Hating Emily but don't tell her. ;)
  
• When Emily and I created our own language. Em, it's the ble, and you enjoy listening to the bjse, and you are going to marry the bjtb/me! You're the bpeeeeEEE!
  
• One day back when we were staying with Lucia in January. I looked at the calendar and realized we had 20 weeks left. I was homesick and never thought I would survive.. my, how I was wrong! It went by so fast. I miss it.

When I departed from the U.S. back in January, my mom gave me a card, and inside it she wrote something about how she knew I would change from this experience. I didn't realize yet how much I would change, but I have, and I hope it's for the best. I think I finally grew up in Europe (just a tad, really). I was forced to become more independent and start relying on myself because, other than Emily, there was no one else there. However, it also became evident that I'll always need my parents. They understand me better than anyone else. I also gained a bit more confidence in myself. I'm not as hesitant to ask questions anymore. I gained a lot of trust, which is good because I'm usually bad about not trusting people. You have to trust, though, when you leave all of your belongings at hostels that don't lock and you have to rely on strangers to tell you how to get around a city. I cherish home and all that accompanies it a great deal more. I am much better about NOT taking the little things for granted. I realized that you really do have to just "let go and let God" because He truly is in control of it all, and His will will be done. Consequently, I changed the way I approach life. Instead of worrying about what may happen or how events will play out, I started to just let them BE. Emily and I also adopted the mottos of "You only live once!" and "You'll never see those people again!" The first motto has helped me to do what I want to do and not be afraid. The second motto has helped me to stop caring about what people think. Really, I HAD to stop caring about what people thought when our shower broke and we were nasty for weeks.. :) Finally, I got a better sense of where I want to go with my life. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do, but I know what I don't want to do. And I'm confident that my choice of major is right for me. However, if something goes wrong, I think I'd make a decent travel agent after planning so many trips in Europe.. :)

Life's good. It truly is.

I also learned a great deal in Spain. I can tell you a bit about the Spanish Regional Economy and maybe even a tad about Multimedia Productions, but that's not what's really important.. I learned to truly trust God in Spain. I had to trust Him to take care of us and provide for us, and He did. I'm so blessed. I learned that hearing "La Cadena" on the intercom of the metro can bring a smile to your face when you've been gone all weekend. I've also discovered that studying abroad is a true test of friendship. If you be someone's sole friend for 5 months and still love each other after it, that says a lot about your friendship! Thanks, Em! :) Also, if you can go 5 months without seeing someone and then returning to find things exactly like you left them, that says a lot, too. I've also realized how much you can control your day. If you're sad and you mope about it, you'll continue to be sad. You have to choose to be happy. It's not always fun, but it's worth it. There are still nice people in the world. You find them in the most random places. I have more faith than ever in mankind and its power to change the world. The world really is a small place.. and I like it being that way. Public transportation is good to a certain extent. Don't take the drinks offered on Ryanair. Sometimes the best trips are the ones in which you don't have any set agendas. If you want a self esteem booster, go to the beach; there's always someone that looks worse than you. Snail mail in the U.S. can make your day; snail mail in Europe can make your week. You can wear the same pair of jean for two weeks straight. America's not always right; we need to focus more on education and not forget to learn about the whole world and not just ourselves. Life goes on without you when you're gone, and maybe that's not as bad as it sounds. There were lonely moments when I would say, "God, I want all of you! I want to be closer to You.", and He eventually helped me to learn that I didn't need more of Him; He just needed all of me. Finally, I learned that distance is not something to be feared; it really can make you closer.

So.. how do I summarize the past semester of my life? To put it simply, life's happened. There have been joyous moments full of light, but there have also been wounded, rattled moments. All of these moments have composed my journey in life, though, and if we have the Light with us, we won't stumble; we don't have to fear. Each new day is full of opportunities, which means that each day is a new journey, and God can surprise us in so many different ways. I want to greet each day with a quest to truly live and not just merely exist. Life's a fantastic journey full of never-ending movement, and I have a great God who travels with me. My journey continues daily, and I am excited to see where God leads me.

Clearly, I am a very blessed girl.

Now that the European adventure is officially over, this will probably be one of my very last posts in this blog. Thank you to everyone who has kept up with it these past few months. You don't realize how much it meant to me to know that there were so many people reading and caring! I am blessed by all of you! If you find yourself having withdrawals from reading my blog (ha. ha.), I do keep another blog that I'd probably give you the link to if you ask nicely. ;) I will warn you that it, however, usually lacks structure and really just rambles about the silly musings of a 20 year old girl. Once again, thanks for sharing in my journey and encouraging me throughout it. I love you all; may God bless you and keep you!

...where You lead me I will follow.

traveling blues.

Another airplane, another sunny place...

As I'm sure you would assume considering my streak of luck in Europe, my travels back to the States have been anything but normal! It all started before we even got to the airport.. Emily and I packed all my stuff up and dragged ourselves onto the metro with the luggage (I found out today that all 3 pieces together weigh over 200 pounds! Sweet! At least it's not 200 kilos! :)). We had planned accordingly to catch the 11:00 metro to the airport. Well, when we got to the station to change metro lines in direction towards the airport we were informed that the last metro to the airport had already left! Uh-oh! We dragged the luggage upstairs and roamed out onto the street where Emily miraculously spotted a taxi, and I flagged it down like a mad woman. I think the driver may have been intoxicated, but that's another story... we got to the airport rather quickly considering we drove 40 kilometers over the speed limit! :) While I didn't enjoy the cost of the taxi ride, I'm glad it happened. I am happy I got to drive through Valencia one last time and soak it all in, especially at night. Oh, how I miss it..

Our bad luck streak didn't end at the airport. When we got there the Iberia desk informed me that my suitcases had to be under 33 kilos, and even then, I'd have to pay a fee. Oh, they also said my carry-on was too big. Even when the suitcase was empty it wouldn't fit in the stupid bin! This caused me to become very stressed, especially when the hateful lady at the desk informed me that they would examine my carry-on carefully and tag it to make sure it was the correct size. I was veryyyy frustrated, but Emily got me a Coke and helped me to repack (along with the Saint!)! We changed items from one suitcase to another and finally got both suitcases down to 32.5 kilos a piece! As for the carry-on.. well, that's another story. It never got any smaller.

Emily and I were both exhausted at that point, but we had to write a paper. It's a pretty awesome paper. Okay, maybe not. Thanks to my brother for explaining the last bit of it so I could finish writing it! :)

4:30 finally rolled around, and I finally went to check-in. Well, I realized I could check in at a machine, so I did, but then when I went to take my luggage up to the desk, the problems started. My flight was on Iberia, but it was a connecting flight for a British Airways flight. Since BA was taking me over the ocean, I was supposed to follow their luggage rules, which state that I can have up to 33 kilos per bag until November 2008. Well, Iberia's rules are different; you can have 23 kilos without paying, but after that, it's 50 euros but only up to 32 kilos. When I explained to these people that I was following BA's rules, they told me I'd have to wait until 5:30 when the Iberia office opened.. so we waited. The Iberia office opened, and I put up my fight. I was very stubborn, and I repeatedly explained to them how BA said I could have 33 kilos on my connecting Iberia flights because I was going over the ocean with THEM, and that was what mattered. Well, Iberia didn't care. They told me they didn't have any evidence I was flying BA, even though they checked my bags to Chicago, and I was flying BA to Chicago. In the end, they made me cry by telling me I wasn't going to be able to board my flight, but then they felt bad for making me cry, so I got to take on my very large carry-on.. so whatever. It worked out okay, I guess. Stupid Iberia.

My flight to Madrid was supposed to take an hour, but we miraculously ended up landing 30 minutes early! This was good for me because I was afraid it'd be a long trek to my next gate. However, the extra time I ended up having didn't really end up mattering much... my flight got delayed by over an hour, and we then had to switch gates anyway. By this time, I knew there was little hope for me to make my connecting flight in London on time, but dangit.. I tried! When we finally landed in London (way behind schedule), I grabbed my carry-on and ran through Heathrow. Yes, ran. :) I got on the bus to take me to a different terminal, and the lady at the security put me on a "fast track" line because she knew I was rushed. I still had 30 minutes before my flight was supposed to depart, so I thought I'd be okay until I reached the British Airways desk and they told me they couldn't issue me a boarding pass any longer. Oh, sad day. He redid my entire flight schedule and put me on a later flight to Chicago and an even later flight to Tulsa. I was discouraged, and I think he sensed that, so he bumped me up to the "World Travelers" class, which is apparently even better than First Class!

My new class change allowed me to board the plane early, but once again, it made no difference because our flight was delayed AGAIN! UGGH. We taxied around the runway forever, and I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, we were in the air, and they were making announcements about our delays. Yippee. I wish I could have taken pictures of my above First class cabin, but I felt too awkward doing so.. to give you an idea what it was like, I felt like the Unsinkable Molly Brown on the Titanic, meaning that I felt very out of my "class"! The cabin was very spacious; the chairs even swiveled! However, I was probably the only person in it below the age of 50. Everyone else was either really old or clearly a business professional. They were all wearing 3-piece suits, and I was rocking the torn, faded jeans, a t-shirt, and Pumas. Oh, and let's not forget that since I spent the night in the airport the previous night there was no showering for me.. yum! :) Still, our cabin was pretty sweet and very comfy, which allowed me to sleep a lot. I also watched two movies: Pearl Harbor and P.S. I Love You. Unfortunately, the dinner on first class was no better than second class... we had chicken curry that tasted like nasty. There was pineapple, though! That was good. However, there was no cranapple. That is bad. They did give me mini bottle after mini bottle of wine. I guess they thought I needed it considering I lost my legal status when I landed in the U.S. :) I was happy that they provided us with newspapers --- in ENGLISH! There were some great articles in there about how much Ryanair sucks. I couldn't agree more, although Iberia is a close second.

When we landed in Chicago, we were already late, and then we couldn't plug in to a terminal, so we taxied around some more. Oh, the fun. We did, however, see the largest plane in the world. It was... large. Once I actually got off the plane in Chicago, things went surprisingly well. It was nice to finally have the advantage when going through passport control -- yay for being a U.S. citizen! :) Some nice man helped me get all of my luggage off of the conveyor built because when I tried to lift it it moved so fast that I almost hit someone with it! He also helped me lug it over to Customs, and Customs looked at my slip of paper, told me they were impressed that I could fit 5 months worth of stuff in 3 suitcases, and sent me on my way. :) Fortunately, the American Airlines desk was located right behind Customs, so I was able to check-in for my flight and drop my luggage off without problems!

I had plenty of time to get from one terminal in Chicago to the other. In fact, I was pretty frustrated with how much time I had; there was about a five hour gap between my flights. I did get to talk to lots of people on the phone, though! My mom, Harrison, Henry, Jessica, Michael, etc, etc, et. I gotta admit.. it's nice to have a cell phone again and be able to HEAR people!!

Currently it's 10:23pm. My flight was supposed to have already landed in Tulsa, but guess what? It got delayed!! And it keeps getting delayed.. and keeps getting delayed.. and they keep changing the gate. People are getting really frustrated here in the K section of Terminal 3. Let me just say this, though.. it is SOOO nice to be surrounded by Okies again! Europe has just reinforced my belief that Okies are the friendliest people on earth. :)

Anyway, that's my story for now. I will eventually make it to Oklahoma, but exactly when that will be has yet to be determined.. on the bright side, as far as I am aware, my luggage is not lost! Or at least it did make it to the U.S.! For now, I'm going to go continue to watch the screen roll back the time of my departure. :)

I'm lucky; I know, but I want to go home...

there's only one place left I wanna go... HOME!

I'm going home, back to the place where I belong...

It's funny... we've come full circle here in Spain. We are leaving just as we started.. but let me start from the beginning. :)

This past week has been a week of "good-byes". Our first good-bye was Thursday night when we were in Paris. Billy dropped us off out our hotel, and we hugged him and said, "See you tomorrow!" Well, we never ended up seeing him the next day due to cell phone malfunctions, and he was absent from class this week, so that was our final good-bye to him. I still remember when we first contacted Billy back in October or November. He'd "poke" me on facebook a lot, and I was really bad at never responding to his emails. The first time we met Billy in person was as we were walking across campus (wut da fish??), and it was totally unplanned. He was just strolling along going to class, and there we were! The next day we learned that we had a class with him, and the fun developed from there.. I'll never forget Billy showing us how to use our stove and bringing us wine to drink and teaching me how to be real gangsta! My ebonics skills have improved too, especially in writing! Haha. Thanks, Chrilly! :)













Our next round of good-byes involved classes. There were two classes over here that I absolutely loved: DDM and IMP! To be honest, I couldn't really tell you what either of those stands for (Well, maybe IMP.. but not DDM), and I'm not really sure why I took them because they don't apply to my major in any way, but the content of the class isn't what I loved, the people were! The picture on the left represents my IMP class. The little guy in the front with us was our teacher, Diego! Diego's pretty much the nicest little man alive. He goes swimming like every day and is entirely environmentally conscious, so he bikes everywhere. At one point, he asked me to marry him, although unfortunately, he is already married... :) Jan, or Honza, is the guy directly behind me; he's from the Czech Republic. He's very work-oriented, and he was the leader of our team. He definitely kept us on track.. and kept us passing. I'll miss Jan! I'll also miss Anna, the other girl in the picture besides Emily and me. She was also on our team (as was Billy), and she was sooo sweet. She's from Poland, and she was always willing to help us and talk about silly stuff that didn't relate to IMP at all. :) Finally, the picture on the right is of David, our DDM professor. If David was younger and not my teacher, he'd be like my dream boy. :) He's nerdy and fun and makes it impossible for you to be unhappy in his presence! And he's really patient and kind. He told us all kinds of funny stories about when he studied in the U.S. in high school. He had problems driving, and he didn't know that words like "shit" were considered bad (or as he called them "ugly words), so he went around screaming them happily. :) Oh, David... I wish every teacher was like him!!!


The hardest good-bye of all, though, came on Thursday when we had to say good-bye to the lady we work for, Maria, and her daughter, Natalia. Without a doubt, these people have become our adoptive family here in Spain! Maria answers our questions, feeds us food, and worries about us like any mom worries about their children, and Nat, too, is also patient with our million questions. She even reassures us about how we are going to pass our classes! :) We started out going to their house to help Nat with English (She doesn't even need help! She's awesome at it!), and these people ended up helping us out WAY more than we helped them! I can't begin to express my gratitude for them. I must admit, though, the last day of "tutoring" was probably one of the most fun. Natalia showed us some Spanish music on youtube, and then she wanted us to explain to her what some lyrics of American songs meant. For example, you may have heard the song "My Humps" by Blacked Eyed Peas. Basically, it's a song about "junk in the trunk" and "lovely lady humps", so we had to teach this sweet little 15 year old girl (and her mom!! Maria was in the room!) what these things meant. It was hilarious! Emily and I did learn to say "pelvic thrust" in Spanish.. I'm sure that'll really be useful to me in the future! ;) Emily and I both really hope that Nat decides to come to the U.S. sometime soon. If not, I am most definitely visiting them when I return to Valencia! I miss them already.

After work on Thursday Emily and I decided to throw ourselves a "going away party", which consisted of going to Pizza Hut! We also celebrated our Spanish language final being OVER!! We decided to order the "New Yorker" because we're Americans. However, the waitress informed us they didn't make it in 2 people pizzas.. just 4.. so we go the 4 person pizza, and we dominated that thing! Haha :)

My last Friday in Valencia was rather uneventful. We had to go meet with a teacher at UPV early in the morning, and then I attempted to lay on the roof and sunbathe (I'm going to miss that roof so much!), but it got really cold on me. Boo! Emily and I did watch a million episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, though! Mi favorito! :)

Saturday was the exact opposite of Friday: it was VERY eventful! The duenas (that's landlord en espanol) were going to come aruond 10am, so we woke up early. Actually, I rolled out of bed and didn't put real clothes on or brush my teeth for them, but whatever.. anyway, they were coming to "close" on our apartment. They had told us that we would have to stay until the middle of June even though we had asked to leave early because they couldn't find anyone to rent it. However, I was reading in the contract one night and saw where it said we COULD move out if we told them 30 days in advance, so Emily and I were prepared to ask them about it. When they showed up (they're two sisters), they once again explained how we had signed up until the end of June but they'd be nice and let us leave in mid-June. They were going to pay our half month's rent with half of the deposit we had given them in February and then give us the other half. Well, when we brought up the issue of how we had told them in April we wanted to move out early they sort of ignored it.. and then we brought it up again.. and they ignored it again. Finally, one of them said she was confused because she knew we weren't actually going HOME until after June 1, so she thought we would want to stay longer. We then reminded them that we had told them we could stay with a friend, and they said there was a difference in languages that they didn't comprehend. I think they tried to make us feel a bit guilty by saying gained money for us would be lost money for them, but we held strong, and we reminded them that in April we said we'd move out in the end of May because it'd be easier for them to rent for an entire month instead of just half of one. They finally agreed but told us we would have to move out that day, and so our eventful day began..

As soon as they left, we started pulling out suitcases and cramming stuff in. As it turns out, I have a lot more CRAP now than I did when I first came over here, and thus, space was limited. I was arranging and rearranging and cramming things in to the tiniest places.. and then when I thought the suitcase was full, I found more space and crammed more in. It was a tedious process, but in the end I somehow miraculously got everything to fit, and Emily did too! Unfortunately, that process took up the majority of the day, except for the small bit of time where we ate dinner (pasta! The first and now last meal we had in the piso.) and the duenas were going to return at 7pm, and we still had to clean! I won't go in to too many details about our stove, but let me just say that it was disgusting, and the only way the filth came off was to scrape it with a knife.. so disgusting.. the bathroom sink was also rather nasty, but a sponge worked on it! :) I tend to think I'm a fairly clean person, but when you live in an old apartment that seems dirty no matter how much you clean it, you start to not care as much.. this habit will definitely not be one I continue in the US of A! Besides general cleaning, we had boxes (yes, boxes) full of trash. We made one trip after another up and down the stairs with trash, and we pretty much filled up the dumpster outside -- yay, illegal trash dumping! We finished just in time! As soon as we got the last bit of trash down and our suitcases down the stairs, the duenas showed up! She was actually really nice to us as she finished up all the loose ends and gave us our deposit back. I'm very thankful that these two women decided to rent to two silly American girls! The little piso will always hold a piece of my heart. It may have been old and ghetto, but it was ours, and it was always nice to return to after a long weekend of traveling... :) Good-bye, piso! You will be missed, too!

After we finished up all the paper work of the piso, we had Maria call a cab for us to transport us and our stuff from the piso to Abril's, where we would be staying. Unfortunately, when the cab showed up, we realized that all of our stuff would not fit in the car WITH us! Therefore, I took the majority of the stuff in the cab with me, and Emily got the pleasure of lugging two large suitcases to the metro. The cab driver had been a bit mean with us at first when he saw all of our stuff and didn't understand why we hadn't called two cabs, but he turned out to be rather nice. He talked to me about school and informed me I should get a Spanish boyfriend, and he even helped me unload all of my stuff at the metro stop where I waited for Emily. As I waited, a million people walked by. They probably thought I had been evicted from my home or something.. nope, not quite! :) Emily made her way to the metro stop, and we called Abril and asked her to help us. The sweet person that she is came right away! Unfortunately, even with a third person we couldn't get it all out once, so I continued to sit at the metro stuff while they took part of our luggage..

I, too, eventually made my way to Abril's! We are so very thankful for our sweet friend. She has been so accomodating to us! One of her roommates has been gone, so we have pretty much taken over her room, and Abril keeps telling us that "her home is our home"! Emily and I both feel so fortunate to have met her.

On Sunday Emily and I woke up early for church in Valencia. If you remember, we also went to church on our first Sunday here. However, this time we went to an evangelical church that was entirely in Spanish. It was SUCH an incredible experience, and I wonder now why we didn't do more of it this semester! It felt like I was back in the FCOG (That's First Church of God, for you non-Pryorites :)) with worship music and how the service was laid out, except it was all in Spanish. I think the Spanish aspect made it an even better experience, even if there are parts I didn't quite fully understand. It's amazing to me how people who speak entirely different languages can still feel the Love of our Father in the same manner. His Love doesn't require any sort of language at all; that is AWESOME! Everyone at the church was also really nice. As we were leaving the service, one guy in particular ran after us and asked us if it was our first time to be there. When we said yes, he gave us all sorts of information about services; there was even one for young adults. I was so blessed by the entire experience!

We attempted to eat at Subway after church, but it wasn't open yet, so we asked these security guards of the mall when it would open, and they said they didn't have water so they wouldn't be opening that day. We were sad! I settled on McDonald's, though, and Emily got Spain's version of Panera. As we sat down to eat, we noticed that Subway was opening! Darn security guards! They lied to us!!

Later in the afternoon made up for our disappointment, though.. we ventured down to Plaza de la Virgen, which, if you remember right, is also how we started our trip the first weekend we were in Valencia! We even passed Center Valencia Youth Hostel along the way! Oh, what memories... it seems like we were there soo long ago! We discovered the the Plaza is MUCH more exciting when it's warm outside! It was bustling with people, and we found booth after booth full of fun ceramics and tiles! I didn't allow myself to buy anything, though, because I seriously have NO room in my suitcases. Still, it was fun to see some Valencian ceramics!

The fun for Sunday sort of ended there.. we had to study that night. :( Spanish Regional Economy is just not exciting when compared to Spanish Ceramics or church. Sadly, that is pretty much all we did on Monday, too. When last night rolled around I was SOOOO tired of looking at my notes; I just wanted it to be done with! Therefore, when Tuesday morning rolled around and it was time for my last test, I met it with mixed emotions: I was nervous, but I was ready to get it over with! Upon arriving to UPV, I found that their system for placing people into rooms for testing SUCKS! There was a small herd of people crowded in the middle of the hallway, and they would call people's names and put them in rooms for the test, but no one could hear, and the rooms filled up. It was chaotic! I'm not sure how I did on the test, but we'll worry about that at a later date..

Emily and I succeeded in having Subway for lunch, and then we went to the beach.. It was so nice to lay there and fall asleep :). I will miss living 5 minutes from the beach! Really, I will miss Valencia as a whole. A little piece of my heart will always belong here. It's been so welcoming to me these past few months, and I have so many good memories here..

However, there are things that I REALLY miss about home. In no particular order, I miss having a good cell phone, driving my little Honda whenever and wherever I want, sleeping with a plethora of pillows every night, having a working shower with hot water always, Taco Bell, my whole family, milk and cookie night with the 104 gang and friends, snow days, seeing the "Welcome to Pryor: A Town for Every Season" sign when pulling into Pryor on I-44, having Ashley wake me up in the mornings, hanging out with Aaron and Krissy, friends from high school, Wednesday night Ghost Hunter marathons, reading books in English for fun, good hair days, watching TV and eating popcorn late at night with my dad, falling asleep with my cat, the ten minute walk to Strong being the longest walk to class I have, random late night trips to Steak 'N Shake, talking to Jessica late at night about stupid but fun stuff really late at night when we should have been sleeping, my church and Bible study, being the hunchback of Scholars with H, watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" all too much, the US dollar equaling a dollar, being able to call my mom as I walk back from class, having a dryer and microwave, my desktop, complaining about Beardsley with Rach, peeing with the door open and continuing to have normal conversations while doing so, the shower radio!, Tuesday and Thursday lunches with Jered, screaming "KAAAAAATE" for no reason, the chef statue and all its glory, being able to steal things from Garst, a glass of cranapple before bed, college friends in general, non-creepy boys who do not have mullets OR man purses, Oprah at 4 on Fridays, parties on the futon, fighting for parking spots near Scholars, STRAIGHT HAIR (arrggh!), red meat, options in shoes, being in tune with the world and not having to rely solely on cnn.com for news, NOT having a time difference, and so much more..

Still, there's so much I will miss when I leave Spain.. being able to talk and knowing that the majority of people can't understand a word I'm saying, hearing Spanish being spoken (especially by little kids! It's the cutest thing ever. Yes, ever, Emily. EVER.), traveling to other COUNTRIES on the weekends, the spontaneous actions that occur here, smart cars, public transportation (especially how cheap it is), being surrounded by history!, being able to be the "stupid American" and not caring, living by the philosophy of "Oh well! I don't care what I do! I'm never going to see these people again!", not caring what I look like ever :o), always splitting things so equally with Emily, Spanish radio stations, talking American politics with foreigners, seeing pretty fountains everywhere, living two minutes from the beach, the silly ghetto apartment and all its glory (especially the one-legged Jesus who hopped on water), Maria and Nat, discovering beautiful differences between cultures, the cute little, old Spanish couples who get all dressed up and stroll through the streets hand in hand (As I told Emily one time, I WANT ONE! Not an old man.. but a boy who still wants to hold hands when we're 80 :)), tortilla espanoles, the extremely nice and helpful people everywhere, taking naps on the roof, creating a million and two inside jokes with the Em Tram, fresh fruit markets, fajita night in the piso!, ceramics, narrow streets, train rides across beautiful countryside, the little old man who has a store near us, hearing "La Cadena" on the metro, open-minded people, Spanish, the vacation from life in general, and sooo much more...

It's quickly approaching the time for me to head to the airport and head HOME... I had hoped to make this post a bit of a reflect, reminiscent collage of sorts, but I'm running low on time, so you can expect that to happen once I'm back on U.S. soil. :) For now, I am heading to the airport one last time, and I'll be landing in the great state of OK tomorrow around 5pm. I have had an incredible 5 months here, and while I'm not quite ready to leave, I AM ready to be home! Thanks to all those who have kept up with my "adventure" these past few months! I can't wait to see you all. I don't know what I would have done without you. Love you all! My next post will be from the US of A!! :) Hasta luego, Valencia! I will return to you one day, but until then... un beso muy, muy, MUY grande!

P.S. To everyone who thought Emily and I would hate each other after 5 months.... we defied the odds! We don't. :) I don't know what I would have done without her at certain times this semester. I love you, Em (and I'll even love you when you can't talk!)! Thanks for the most amazing semester of my life!!!!! You're the BPE plus some! White or chocolate?

...where your love has always been enough for me.

the last big hoo-rah!

Round and round the record goes...

Emily and I had our last trip together this weekend, and it was well-spent in Italy. It was a really fun trip, but it was also a little crazy at times. I started the trip off in a very SHOCKING manner. We were about to go to class and then come back to the piso and pack before heading to the airport when I remembered that I needed to charge my camera batteries. I dug out my battery charger along with the plug adapter, and I placed the battery inside the charger and then plugged the adapter into the wall. All was well. Then, as I plugged the charger into the adapter, a sudden burst of electricity went into my body, and I pulled my hand back in pain, screamed like I was dying, and through the charger and adapter onto the floor. Emily heard me scream and walked into my room and at first though I had dropped my camera. By this time, I was a little shocked by what just happened, and I had stopped screaming. Then, I started screaming again and said, "I FEEL LIKE I'M ON FIRE!!" I then explained through tears about how I had just been shocked and how it hurt. I was crying pretty intensely, and Em didn't really know what to do with me, so she lead me into the kitchen and had me put my hand under cold water since it was burning. She then did what any smart person would do.. she googled it! :) She then decided having me put my hand under what when electricity loves water was not the best idea, so I took it out and wrapped it in a towel and cried a LOT because my muscles were going crazy and it hurt. Then, I called my daddy and mommy like a 5 year old and cried to them. They informed me, much to my dismay, that I would live, and Dad told me it was normal for my muscles to be going crazy. He also pointed out that maybe it hurt more because Spain is 220 volts! I calmed down a bit and got lots of sympathy from my sweet little parents and Emily, although it still hurt. On the bright side, my traumatic, shocking experience got us out of going to class! I am now contemplating getting shocked every day... ;) I'm just so darn electrifying.

You would think that we would have used our extra time from not being in class in order to pack, but we really didn't. Instead, we jacked around the piso and procrastinated like always, and thus, we headed towards the airport via metro a bit later than planned. It takes about an hour to get there on the metro, and we had planned accordingly. However, we had NOT planned for the metro to just stop at one of the stops for minutes upon minutes and not move. As we sat there forever, we started to get a bit nervous about missing our flight. Why was the metro not moving?? It eventually decided to play nice, and we started up again, and we even skipped a few stops and made up for lost time!

We made it to the airport with about 15 minutes to spare, picked up our boarding passes, withdrew money, and met Billy. The three of us went through security together and went straight to our gate to get in line. As we were standing in line, we noticed the cutest little girl ever (who turned out to be 6!) was staring at us with huge eyes. We wondered why she kept staring, but we smiled back anyway. Then, her dad informed us (in nearly perfect English) that she was just beginning to learn English, and she was fascinated by how we sounded. Aweee! Que preciosa! She was adorable!

Anyway, as we stood in line, we realized that it was past time for us to board. We decided it was no big deal. There have been plenty of times when we departed left but still arrived on time because Ryanair likes to lie about how long flights really last. However, we soon got concerned when it was 30 minutes after our departure. Even Ryanair can't make up for that much lost time! I eventually got tired of standing in line and ventured off to the screen highlighting flight details and read where our plane that was scheduled to DEPART at 9:35p,m was now scheduled to BOARD at 10:05. Stupid Ryanair! I returned to line and waited some more, and 10:05 eventually rolled around, but once again, we continued to stand and not move. We finally started boarding around 10:20, and we finally left the ground at 10:45. That's 70 minutes behind schedule, which is completely contradicting of Ryanair's title of being the "most punctual major airline". I fell asleep without any problems, though, and although I did wake up one time when they were saying something over the intercom, I didn't really pay attention, and I slept the rest of the way until Billy woke me up when we landed in Rome. As I stopped my ipod and looked out the window, Billy informed me that we weren't at Rome Ciampino Airport as scheduled. Instead, we were at Fiumicino Airport. Apparently Ciamopino closes at midnight, and since we landed well after midnight, they rerouted us to a different airport. Ryanair, of course, made no apologies and provided no explanations. THANKS, RYANAIR! I am SOOO thankful Billy was on that plane ride with us because if he hadn't been, I don't know what we would have done! As soon as we stepped off the plane we were informed the metros had already stopped running considering it was so late, and we had no idea where we were at. Luckily, Billy called his brother-in-law and begged him to drive the two very lost American girls to their hotel which was very far away very late at night. We were sooo thankful that he took us there and dropped us off right at the door! He was a lifesaver!

Emily and I were both exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, and we fell asleep right away. When we woke up the next morning, we got ready and booked a camp site (Yes, camp site!) for Venice before departing to explore Rome. Our first stop was actually Termini train station in order to drop off luggage because our hotel didn't keep it as promised. We also bought our train tickets to Venice for that night while we were there. We then caught the metro to Vatican City. When we got there, we found huge lines everywhere. We were not the only people in Rome! We immediately jumped into the line for St. Peter's Basilica, and it went surprisingly fast. There were no Pope sitings at the Vatican (sad!), but we did see Michelangelo's Pieta and where the Apostle Peter is supposedly buried.















We then headed back to the walls of the city in order to stand in line. It was a terribly long line, and it took over an hour, but we ended up meeting other Americans from the south who were visiting Italy before traveling to India to do mission work for the summer. They were really nice, and they helped the time pass slightly faster. Also while in line I got thirsty and decided to run across th street and get a Coke. I almost got hit by a car in the process, but it was worth it. :)

We FINALLY made it inside the walls, and we toured through the museums in record speed. We were behind schedule, and we only had one thing left on the agenda at the Vatican: see the Sistine Chapel. Well, there ended up being a large portion blocked off, which made us arrive at the Sistine Chapel even faster, and we were put back on schedule! We saw Michelangelo's awesome ceiling and then left the Vatican and headed for the metro.

Our next stop was the Colosseum. Guess what we were greeted by as soon as we neared it?? Another line!! This one didn't take near as long, though, and we were inside the Colosseum in no time! I'm happy to report that the Colosseum didn't really change much.. as in any.. since the last time I was there. :) Emily and I did have some fun taking jumping pictures outside the Colosseum before departing for the Trevi Fountains.















There were other masses of people at the fountains, but we managed to make it up to the front in order to throw some coins in. I guess that means we have a guaranteed trip back to Rome! I mean, I through some coins in last time, and it worked out perfectly, so it better work again! ;) I just wonder if the next time we return to Rome it'll be together and on a Ryanair flight?? Oh man, I hope! :)

We finished up the evening by going to the Pantheon and then eating McDonald's. :) We made it back to the train station in plenty of time, which is surprising for us! When we got there, we changed clothes in the bathroom and settled down in the waiting area, where I found 60 eurocent sour gummie bears -- sweet! You can't beat a deal like that.

We sat in the lounge forever and waited for our train, the 10:50 pm one, to show up. Well, they posted the 10:45 trains.. then they posted a 10:50 train that didn't appear to be ours.. and then they skipped to the 11:00 trains. Umm, where was our train?! As we sat and pondered this question while staring blankly at the screen these two (cute!) boys approached us and asked if we spoke English. I said, "Yes, but I doubt we'll be able to help." Yup, I was right. They were wondering why there train wasn't posted either, and we were of no help. :) We all took off in the direction of the main part of the train station, but we found all of the information booths to be closed. That wasn't good. I finally asked a guy who was sweeping the floor if he knew anything, and guess what? He didn't speak English! It's funny how much I can understand when people use their hands, though, and he basically had no idea what was going on. By this time, we had gotten separated from the two cute boys, and we began to stalk this man who appeared to be a train conductor. Unfortunately, someone else got to him before we did, and he started talking to them. However, one of our boys showed back up, and he had answers! Apparently the 10:50 train that was listed was all of our trains; it just went to multiple places. He even told us what platform to go to! :)

When we made it to the platform, we stood by them for a while, and then all of the sudden this entire mob of people left the platform after something was said over the intercom in Italian. We decided that since none of us had understood it would probably be helpful to follow the mass, and so we did to another platform. Things were looking up; there was actually a train at this platform! As we stood there waiting, our cute friends invited us to share a car with them for the night. Yes, for once we had attractive, non-creepers for friends. We agreed, but then our plans were shattered as we showed the conductor our tickets, and he directed the two of them to one car and us to another. We were so confused because, once again, he was speaking Italian and we were staring blankly. As it turns out, we had assigned seats, and the seats were for specific cars. Sad day! We never saw our friends again.

We had a surprise when we got into our car, though. We weren't on a normal train! No, this train was separated into rooms with chairs that reclined into beds. It was high class! We had another surprise when we opened the door to our room: someone else was already there! It was a guy from Africa, and he was occupying a large portion of the chairs that folded into beds. In fact, he was in my assigned seat. He proceeded to tell us that he was going to continue to stretch out and we could have these two seats across from each other up against the window. We definitely got screwed, but he was kind scary, so we didn't put up a fight. He proceeded to talk to us and tell us about how he was from Africa and told us we should have picked up on the Italian language after a day or two. Um, okay. THEN, I swear he said something about fathers selling their daughters or something, but when I stared at him for the longest time without saying anything, he switched the subject to how most Americans in Europe are from L.A. It was so weird. A guy from the Middle East joined us soon after. Unfortunately, his English was very poor so he didn't say much, but he was soooo nice! He showed us how to recline our chairs into beds, and he helped us open the door of the train the following morning when we exited. I liked him a lot! During the middle of the night, we acquired another strange man in our little room, but I tried to keep my eyes closed in order to avoid more awkwardness. The only thing I really know about him was that he played on his cell phone a lot, and it was loud. Needless to say, the train ride wasn't the most comfortable thing ever. In fact, the African guy had his feet near my face most of the night (Emily got his face next to hers. Lucky her.), and I hateHATEhate feet, so it grossed me out really bad. I tried to ignore it, but when I woke up and they were right there it was just too much... oh, I hate feet, especially stranger's feet. All night I just kept wishing we were with the normal, cute boys that were stuck in car number nine!

When we finally arrived in Venice, as I said, the Middle Eastern guy helped us out. :) We then stumbled inside the train station and found lovely, metal benches that we slept on for 2 or 3 hours. I'm fairly sure if you had taken away our expensive looking backpacks we probably would have appeared homeless considering we didn't shower any the night before. Yay!

When we woke up, we decided to walk around Venice in search for a McDonald's. We followed signs that lead us to the nearest one, which was 10 minutes away. Sadly, it didn't open for another 30 minutes, so we settled on Italian pastries that had deceiving prices.

After breakfast we headed for the bus lot, and we found our shuttle bus to the camp. When we arrived at the camp, I felt like I was a Girl Scout all over again! There were tents and cabins lining the road, and there was even a hot tub and swimming pool -- classy! Emily and I were high class once again. We opted to pay a little extra and get our *own bathroom*! As it turns out, we ended up being placed inside of a cabin, which is basically a mini trailer, and it was probably nicer than the majority of hotels and hostels we have stayed in. It was clean and had lots of storage place, and the bathroom was normal size. Amazing! I wish we had camped in more cities now!

After showering and changing clothes, the shuttle bus took us back into the island of Venice. We were greeted by beautiful canals and gondolas! We decided to be tourist-y and try and find Venice's most famous landmark, St. Marco's. We had a really horrible map, so we decided to follow signs. We ended up walking all over the island, and we passed so many gorgeous canals! I can't imagine walking out your front door in the morning and being surrounded by water or going to work via boat. I didn't see any car dealerships in Venice! ;) Some people even had little bridges that lead straight to their doorstep, as in the bridge served no other purpose other than to help them get from their house across the canal to the street. How fun would that to be to have a bridge instead of a driveway?? :) After getting lost once or twice and exploring most of Venice on accident, we FINALLY arrived at St. Marco's! It's a huge square with a very large, beautiful church at the end.
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the church, which is sad because it was really neat! The entire inside - from the walls to the floors to the ceilings - was done in mosaics that represented different things from the Bible. I can't imagine how much time and skill it would take to create such beautiful pictures from such tiny pieces! As I walked through the church, I thought about how it was kind of appropriate that the inside of a church was decorated with mosaics. We're sort of like mosaics, too. Mosaics are made up of broken pieces of glass, and while they can never go back to their original state which was not broken, they can still form something whole and beautiful. We are all a little broken, and when we go to God with our brokenness, He doesn't want to take our brokenness and fix it by turning us back to our original, unbroken state. Instead, He uses our brokenness to create something new. Something complete. Something like a mosaic. :)

Aside from that, the outside of the church was pretty fun! It was pigeon central, and I've become a bit obsessed with pigeons for some reason over here. These pigeons weren't terrified of people like normal European pigeons were. They actually ventured up very close to us, especially if there was food near! Some people had pigeons hopping all over them! The little kids that were present in the square had lots of fun running through the mobs of pigeons and scaring them, which wasn't exactly helpful when trying to befriend the pigeons, but oh well. They were cute to watch. :)

After playing around in the square, we walked back towards the area of Venice where we had been that morning. Venice has tons and tons of shops full of glass art. It was really neat to look at. They also have stores full of masks! Apparently there is a huge carnival every year in Venice, and it's the Venetian tradition for people to dress in costumes and masks. Therefore, masks are sold everywhere. Some are kind of scary looking; I especially dislike the masks that are the entire face. Others are really pretty. There are also animal and monster masks. There's lots of variety! We saw post cards of how people dress during the carnival. I'm pretty sure it'd creep me out. The people just look scary unintentionally! The different shops were still a lot of fun, though. :)

We rounded out the day with Italian food -- pizza! It was served by Chinese people, but it tasted good, and it was cheap! We were still fairly exhausted from our train ride the night before, so we headed back to the camp ground at a decent hour. We booked a hostel, emailed our parents, and went straight to bed in our little cabin.

When the morning came, we got ready in record speed and headed to the main office to check-out. Unfortunately, everyone else decided to check out at the same time, so we missed our first train to Milan, but we made it onto the train that was an hour after that without any problem. I was actually quasi-productive on the train. I did a bit of studying for finals. Then, I decided to enjoy my last Italian train ride, and I stared out the window while listening to my ipod. Ahh, nice. :) We managed to not have to sit next to anyone the entire journey, which was a nice change from the previous night!

When we got to Milan, it was raining, which was disappointing. We also soon realized we had no idea where our hostel was. We had written down the directions provided by the hostel, but they were very vague. We asked the information desk inside the train station, but they had no idea, so we asked the police. They were able to give us an idea of what metro stop to go, so we headed underground. When we were buying our tickets, this psycho man kept running up to the machine and hitting the English button for us and telling us what to do. He did NOT make me happy, and I was a tad bit aggressive with him, but I think someone needed to be. We got our tickets without his help, and we got on the metro. Our stop was only one away from the train station, so we got off the metro and climbed upstairs to the ground. As soon as we stepped out of the underground portion, we looked around in hopes to see our street sign, but almost simultaneously this old woman approached us and asked us (in English!!) if she could help us with something. We were very thankful for this, and we explained to her that we were looking for our hotel, but we weren't entirely sure where the street was. She examined the piece of paper with the address on it, and she then told us she knew where it was. She started to tell us how to get there, but then she decided to just lead us there. Along the way, she gave us the biggest lecture I've ever received! She told us that Milan was a very dangerous place since all these immigrants started coming in, and she told us that we should never ask a man for directions nor she we ever follow a man if he told us he would show us. Then, she made us promise to never talk to strangers or follow them. Keep in mind that she was telling us all of this as we followed her, a complete stranger, to our hotel. She said that girls who speak to strangers and ask them for help "never finish well" in Milan. In the back of our minds, we were wondering if this was some kind of trick question that we were about to fail. Was she just seeing if we would really follow her advice and say, "Oops, sorry, lady! You're a stranger! We'll find our hotel by ourselves!" Well, we didn't say that. Instead, we proceeded to follow her. I mean, it was broad daylight, and there were people around. Surely it wasn't too dangerous. Plus, I'm pretty sure I could have beat her with my umbrella if I had needed to; she was old. As it turns out, there was no need. She lead us straight to our hotel, but as she showed it to us, she told us to make sure to keep our valuables with us because the hotel liked to steal things. Then, she told us about how she was a mom and worried about us, and she advised us to get back to the hotel before dark and never use the metro late at night. All in all, I think she scared me more than anything, and I probably would have preferred to avoid the lecture, but whatever. She showed us to our hotel, and we didn't die!

We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed back towards the metro. I went against the old lady's advice: I asked a man at the metro stop how to get to the Duomo. He didn't kill me nor did it finish badly. He actually directed us perfectly to it. :) We took the metro to the Duomo, and once again, we were greeted by tons of people and pigeons!! After you've seen a million cathedrals, they all start to blend together, so I wasn't terribly impressed, but I was surprised to find that EVERYONE was sooo dressed up! I guess I missed the memo that it was prom. One girl had no a sort of banner like she was a beauty pageant queen or something. I'm not really sure what it was about, but whatever.. :)

We ended up going to a little diner to eat dinner. The food was pretty cheap, but the drinks were not. Sad day. We were also very under-dressed. I know Milan's big on fashion, but I didn't expect it to be like that! We were sort of out of place, especially when you factor in the facts that we don't speak Italian or look Italian.

After dinner we jumped on the metro in the direction of Milan's Castle. The inside part was already closed by the time we got there, but it was really pretty lit up late at night! There was also a huge fountain that shot water up really high that was fun to watch. I will admit that the old lady was right; there were some creepsters roaming around, but they appeared to be harmless. They mainly just wanted you to buy the strange things they were selling. Still, she had me paranoid.

We rounded out the evening with one of our favorite things about Italy: gelato! How sad to think that our trip is almost over! There are so many "lasts" that are taking place right now. I don't like thinking about them, so I'll just say that the gelato was good. :)

After finding out where our bus for the airport departed from, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. This morning we hopped on the shuttle bus to the airport and made our flight without any problems. Ryanair wasn't late this time around; we actually landed in Valencia 5 minutes ahead of schedule. This evening was pretty relaxing: fajitas and studying. Finals start this week. For once, I'm a tad nervous, but I'm going to try my hardest. We also have to move out of the piso this weekend, which will be a sad day! Plus, I'm not looking forward to packing and hauling it all to the airport. I wish my dad was here to carry it for me.. :)

For now, I'm going to bed, but there will be more later this week. Here's to my last week in Spain! Love you all.

...time to turn the page.