Marci's Adventures

Gallery: Amsterdam

adventuregirl — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:35:00 GMT

Amsterdam

adventuregirl — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 05:54:00 GMT

I am extremely sleep deprived as I flew from Barcelona to London Tues arriving at around 5:00, slept at the London airport that night which was really impossible but had great conversations with random people, then flew all day Wed 9 hours from London to Vancouver, had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver than got on the worlds smallest plane to Portland. I am very sensitive to caffeine, if I have too much it makes me look like a drug addict, my hands shake, my nose runs, I twitch, and I had two huge coffees on Wed just to get through the day.

I was hoping to get a good night sleep last night once I got home but that didn't happen.

I met some really nice guys on my flight I was trying to get some sleep and luckily the seat next to me was open so I just sprawled out but couldn't sleep because they kept looking at me and talking to me. When I am tired I also get the giggles but the funny thing that was making me giggle was that the airline stewardesses had the hots for these two guys. They were bringing them extra goodies trying to be all secretive about it. What hussies! You don't usually see guys getting free things from women it is usually the other way around, but I was benefitting from it as they were sharing with me. It was great because one of the guys was a filmmaker and he had just recently done a documentary on an African organization that takes cares of children orphaned by Aids.www.saveafricanow.org

I have always wanted to go to Africa and volunteer somewhere and of course do a safari so it was great that I could talk to him and hear about his experience and get the information. I apologize right now for my rambling, run ons, lack of punctuation, and mispells, but I wanted to write about Amsterdam because I did have a blast and it will take my mind off the other sad stuff.

I loved Amsterdam it is an amazing, beautiful, liberal, and crazy city. I flew into Eindhoven which is about 2 hours from Amsterdam, I had a cheap flight so it flew into a location that was a little inconvenient. Of course that morning before my flight I had been rushing around getting ready at Jessicas because my flight from Barcelona, which actually flew out of the Girona airport, which you have to take a bus to get to which takes about an hour. So I saw this great looking young guy at the airport oozing sex appeal just so sexy in a tight green shirt and jeans. I thought to myself Mmmm hope hes on my flight. I grabbed some chips as I hadn't eaten and ate a few before we boarded. On Ryan Air flights you do not have assigned seats so it is good to get checked in early. I get in my seat and was munching on some more chips when decides to plop down in the seat right next to me?? Sexy guy. I about had a heart attack. I smelled like Doritos and he is sitting there smiling away at me. He said if the plane isn't too full I will move over one seat so I am not right on top of you, of course you know where my mind went with that one.. So we end up having this wonderful conversation, he was fascinating so smart and we were talking about politics and travel and just everything. I was trying to ignore what he looked like as it was distracting to me. He bought me a drink on the plane, I just wanted pop, but they are expensive on the plane I was trying to get rid of my chip breath. The funny thing is that he has the most unattractive name... Victor, ha a young hot guy named Victor, it didn't fit him. He was Dutch and he lived in Eindhoven and had just been visiting friends in Barcelona. We exchanged emails but he couldn't come with me to Amsterdam as he had tons to do after his holiday, too bad. It was a great way to start my Amsterdam trip though I must say!! I took a train from Eindhoven to Amsterdam and arrived at my hostel that night around 7:00. I was tired so I just went to the bar in the hostel and had a beer and some goulash which I had never tried before and really enjoyed. I looked around and there wasnt anyone interesting to talk to. I have to say I can usually talk to anyone but there were tables of 18 year old nerdy looking guys so I ate my food and went to my room so I could rest up for the next day as I hadn't even recovered from my trip to Ireland at that point. The next day I did a 3 hour walking tour that was free which I found very interesting and informative. After the walking tour I went to the Anne Frank House which made me very emotional, I had read the book but being in the house really brings it to life. On the tour they had told us that some of the money they receive for admission has been used to make part of the house into free student housing for those who couldn't afford it otherwise. Since Anne Franks father Otto wasn't able to save his daughters, he wanted to help kids this way, so touching. I thought I would meet someone interesting on my tour to hang out with, nope. I had never had this situation before and I don't mind walking around by myself but I wanted to go to the Red light District and I knew better than to go by myself. So of course the city of Amsterdam had an answer, another tour that was provided. Our guide was so funny, a wild guy covered in piercings and tatoos, he was very informative, and I was grateful since I am always full of questions, he patiently and enthusiasticly answered all my questions as we walked around the Red Light district. This area did not turn out to be like I thought it would be by what I had heard. Amsterdam is a beautiful city full of canals, bridges and bike riders. Las Vegas which has many of the same freedoms I consider seedy and dangerous due to all the craziness but I didn't get that feeling at all in Amsterdam. It was so interesting to see all the "coffee shops" I got a second hand high just walking by. It was really amazing to see these guys just walking into the rooms with the girls, and I was suprised that a lot of the girls were totally ordinary looking or unattractive but of course when I brought this up my guide pointed out that different guys have different tastes, yes that is true I guess. For some reason in my head I thought all the girls would look like Playboy models, not so, some but not very many. The next day I finally met a nice girl at my hostel who I hung out with at a coffee shop and then we went to a pub crawl that night. At the pub crawl as you walk into each club this hot guy pours shots of vodka mixed with juice into your mouth plus you get a token for a free drink. There were so many guys trying to buy us drinks, great music and dancing, it is kind of a blur, lets just say I drank enough to be crawling home at 5:30 the next morning. My so called "friend" I had gone to the pub crawl with had left me at the last bar and so this nice hot Irish doctor I had been dancing with paid for me to take a taxi back to my hostel. Oh crazy times.

The next day as I clutched my throbbing head at 8:00 in the morning I went downstairs to the free breakfast to get some coffee and ran into this nice couple I had been talking to the day before. I told them of my evening adventures and how crappy I felt. They invited me to join them that day to go to the Van Gogh museum, they were going to do mushrooms and trip out on the paintings but I didn't want to do mushrooms as they scared me. We had a great day walking around the city and at the museum, my hangover went away with a little substance help and the 3 of us we became great friends, giggling that night as we walked around the red light district, laughing at all the porn shops everywhere. My eyes were opened at all the freaky things and fetishes that I never knew about. The day of the pub crawl I had rented a bike as that is the best way to navigate the city and it was great to ride around yet you are risking your life as the local people fly by you almost killing you repeatedly, I had planned on renting it for several days but after I made it alive through 3 hours I wasn't going to risk it. My friends did the mushrooms which are supposed to make you hallucinate but for some reason it didn't affect them so we were all just high together. They were from New York and I really enjoyed hanging out with them, as they were madly in love with each other and it flowed out from them onto me, and it just felt good being around a happy couple, it made me think that maybe it really is possible! My trip was so much fun and I will continue to write more here in my journal as there is so much that I haven't even shared about, like my adventures in Rome, and some very funny things happened there. I enjoy telling about my adventures and just so many good things have come out of this trip for me I am grateful. Thank you to all that have sent your email support over my loss, I appreciate it. I just need to get some sleep one of these days I know that would help. XO Marci

New Pics

adventuregirl — Wed, 6 Jun 2007 19:09:00 GMT

I was able to add a few more pictures under the title Ireland although it took forever. The sad thing is a lot of my favorite pictures I had burned to a CD in Ireland and it wouldn´t let me share them. Oh well, hopefully my computer at home will let me share them. Enjoy!

Gallery: Ireland

adventuregirl — Wed, 6 Jun 2007 08:31:00 GMT

More on Ireland

adventuregirl — Mon, 4 Jun 2007 20:56:00 GMT

I am much better today, my last night in Ireland I had slept at the airport since my flight on Sunday was at 6:30 in the morning and so I didnt get any sleep. Add that to all the other nights with limited sleep and I was a mess. Even though I was exhausted, I had a great time at dinner with my roommates last night. We went to my favorite tapa place and sat out on the patio to people watch, which was great as the place is right off La Rambla and is ideal for people watching. When I am sleep deprived I become more emotional, indecisive, and sometimes cranky. Today I feel good although I am not looking forward to hauling all my stuff to Jessicas. Today is a bank holiday so everything is closed even my internet cafe so I am using Annes laptop to write this but it is hard because it is a Dutch keyboard so the letters are in different places. I wanted to write more about Ireland and the people I met since it was such an amazing experience but yesterday I wasnt up to writing so much. At my hostel in Dingle there were two brothers staying there and they were from Kentucky. They were cute, just pure and nice and religious, just good boys. An example was their parents came to meet them in Ireland and were staying at the hostel and they would eat at the table together, saying their prayers before the meal. The boys were camping out in a tent the parents were staying in the hostel, I couldnt believe how many people camped, not my thing. I was just really impressed by their family, such love and respect, it is pretty unusual for boys in their 20s and 30s hanging out with their family. Also a group of the guys started a game of frisbee out front and this Polish guy had never played before so even though he was big and athletic looking he was totally akward trying to throw and catch the frisbee. They didnt tease him, were just really patient in trying to show him how to do it better. Our hostel was a bit out of town in the country and it was so beautiful out there. One night Ben and I hung out on the stairs until late just staring at the stars, breathing in the fresh air and talking. It was a beautiful clear night and it seemed a shame to go to bed and not enjoy it. Another group of great people I met were Dan, Dolly, and Dave that were older in there 60s, they were all cousins. Dan loved Ben and it was funny how the two of them hit it off. Dan kept giving Ben beer and they were bonding. I had gone on my dolphin cruise earlier when the two of them met and when I returned I was amused at Dans adoration of Ben as I hung out at the table with the group. The next day we walked into town and went our separate ways as Lara and I were going to do some shopping and Ben didnt want to, so when we returned from town Dan asked us where Ben was. We didnt know and poor Dan was crushed as he had bought a bunch of food and wanted us all to have dinner together that night as they were leaving the next day. I was unconcerned as I knew Ben would show up sometime as we were going to go drinking and listen to music that night. Dan asked me if I would show him where Bens tent was so he could check to see if he was in there. We walked out together to Bens tent and lo and behold the screen was open and we could see Ben was asleep in his tent. Dan stuck his head next to the screen and said Ben, wake up we want you to have dinner with us, I was standing behind Dan covering my mouth trying to stop myself from laughing as Ben woke up looking at Dan confused and sleepy, than at me who was trying not to collapse with laughter. Ben is so nice he jumped up and said yes I would love to cook dinner for you guys. Oh that was the other thing Ben had said he loved to cook so Dan wanted Ben to cook the meal, any way you look at it was a win win for me. Dan and Dolly both now also loved me as I had chatted away with them when Ben was off sleeping in his tent. Ben is just a youngin and he needed more sleep than me. It was a really nice evening good food and drinks and I took some pics of us at dinner that night. Ben ended up being a good cook which scored him big points with me, hee hee. I teased him later that night about how startled he looked when he woke up with Dan looking into his tent, I can´t stop laughing as I write this just remembering it. He admitted to being shocked being woken up like that, I told him he handled it really well, which he did.

I also met this couple that were going from Ireland to Uganda where they were going to be volunteers at an orphanage, just amazing. I have met so many people that have travelled and volunteered for different causes which is so inspiring. I have many more stories but I better go get packed and moved. The main thing I took away from Ireland is a sense of community and family. The pubs were usually family run and a lot of people knew each other. I am glad I stayed in the smaller towns because although there were a lot of tourists you still got a sense of the local people. OK off I go to pack up all my stuff and move. Next stop Amsterdam which is probably the most opposite of Irelands innocence as you can get, should be interesting... I return Sun from Amsertam and leave Tues for London, fly out of London on Wed for home, a jetsetting life is exhausting but enjoyable..

XOXO Marci

Drinking with the Irish

adventuregirl — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 01:31:00 GMT

I am so glad I decided to come to Ireland, I love it here. The landscape is amazing. The weather has been gorgeous except for two days. I love the food, delicious soups and stews, I have missed good food. Everyone speaks English and the people are so nice, always smiling and looking you in the eyes, greeting you as you go by. The people were so polite and almost seemed shy, which is a nice change from Spain. I felt totally safe the whole time and there just was a sense of innocence about Ireland. The flight was fine and my friend Jessica and I arrived Friday around noon. The great thing is we gained an hour coming here. We got our rental car and I was assigned the job of navigator, which I have to say I am not qualified for here in Ireland. The roads aren´t marked very well and they have these roundabouts that are a bit complicated. Jessica was trying to just concentrate on staying on the correct side of the road. We had some scary moments when I would look up from the map and say ¨Jess you need to be on the other side¨, one time I actually grabbed the wheel and she said ¨Oh shit¨, and once we were safe we collapsed in giggles. Luckily no one was hurt, the poor locals are used to us tourists not driving that well. We went to Doolin for our first night and stayed at a great hostel there. Doolin is known as one of the best places in Ireland for live authentic Irish music. We went that night to hear some music and it was really good. I was pinching myself thinking I am in Ireland listening to the local music drinking Guinness this is the life! The pub got so packed and people were slamming the beer, it was pretty crazy. Jess and I split a big bowl of Irish stew, yummmmm! The next day Jess and I drove around and saw the amazing sights around Doolin. The Cliffs of Moher were so beautiful and a nice hike. There were lots of signs warning to not get too close to the edge of the cliffs as it was like a 2,500 feet drop off to the water below but there were people laying on their stomachs looking down over the edge, I got a pic but I was scared for the idiots. Jess had to leave Sun morning to go back to Barcelona, but I met some great people in the hostel and a group of us left Sunday to go to Dingle. On the bus ride to Dingle you have to transfer 3 times. Doolin to Ennis to Limerick, to Tralee and finally to Dingle. At the transfer at Tralee one of the guys Ben and I were inside the bus building chatting away as we had 45 min until the connecting bus left. We got caught up in our conversation and walked out to get our bus and found out we had just missed our bus. I really enjoyed hanging out with Ben he was really interesting and appealing. We laughed at our situation, and asked one of the workers when we could catch the next bus and found out there wasn't one until the following morning. I wasn't thrilled about staying in Tralee but I think Ben was excited to have me to himself and he said lets go look for a hotel. He had been camping out staying in his tent in Doolin so a hotel would be a step up for him. The worker at the bus station said Hold on I will see what I can do. He called the bus driver on the bus we had just missed, and had him pull over to wait for us, and drove us about 10 minutes to meet the bus. It was so amazing! I was shocked at the kindness of strangers in Ireland, not to mention he was really good looking!! That Irish accent is very sexy and their eyes have that twinkle that just looks like trouble. Of course most of them drink like fish so no wonder their eyes twinkle. I got in the front seat of the car and the driver and I chatted away as he was taking us to the bus, him telling me all about himself and Ireland while poor Ben and his tall frame of 6 2 was squished in the back seat. He asked us how long we were travelling in Ireland, I replied Oh no we aren´t together we just met at the hostel, I had to keep my options open, which is so silly as he probably had 10 kids at home as the Irish do tend to breed, it is not unusual to see a minimum of 4 kids with their parents. He was nice to look at and to talk to on the way to the bus anyway. When he let Ben and I off at the bus which was waiting for us I felt a little embarrased walking onto the bus as they had been held up and were just sitting on the side of the road because of us. As we got on the bus and were walking down the bus aisle one American woman said snottily ¨How did you ever get them to hold the bus for you?¨ and I smiled and flung my hair back, put my head close to her and said ¨Oh don´t tell anyone but we are celebrities.¨ Ben and I giggled to ourselves poking at each other as we took seats far in the back away from the others. I was so grateful and amazed how they went out of their ways for us. Ben said to me ¨That would never happen with Greyhound in America.¨

Dingle was an amazing small town and I went to hear the live music and drank with Ben and this other girl Lara that had been in Doolin with us. I became good friends with both of them, I love meeting people at hostels, they are both from the US. I went out on a boat to see the famous dolphin Fungie and he swam right next to the boat jumping into the air, it was amazing. I had sticky toffee pudding which has to be one of the best desserts ever!! There were so many nice people at the hostel, it was about a mile from town and we would walk back home after being at the pub and the stars were just amazing. Their are bunches of stories but it takes forever to type them out. I will try to type more about Dingle later as a lot happened and it is a great town.

Today I am in Killarney and the weather was gorgeous and so I decided to rent a bike and ride around the beautiful national park. I had a wonderful ride for about two hours it was so much fun to be on my own in such nice clean air and nature. I had just arrived at one of the castles I wanted to see and it started pouring down rain, just buckets and buckets. I waited for it to stop but it wasn't letting up and I was about 10 miles from town. I had been riding behind a nice Irish family on my way to the castle and they were waiting under the overhang with me and they had two small girls and they said they were getting a taxi back to town and asked if I would like to join them. I was so soaked and freezing and so I agreed and had the nicest conversation with them on the way back to the bike shop, they wouldn´t let me chip in for the taxi ride, their little girls were so sweet asking me lots of questions. I met two nice Aussie girls in Killarney and we went to hear the live toe tapping Irish music which I really like, as you are listening to the music 3 hours just flies by. I was so happy in Ireland but I was pretty cold wearing about 5 layers of clothes as I am used to Spains hotter weather. I like Guinness and Beamish and Bulmers which is a apple cider that is sneaks up on you like Sangria. I love the Irish people and will go back again, I could see myself living there sometime in my life. It actually reminded me a lot of Oregon and I am glad I went at the end of my trip as I wouldn´t have enjoyed it as much if I went right after leaving home.

I started typing this in Ireland but couldn´t get through it so right now I just got back to Spain and am exhausted but I did get a little nap which helped. I was too busy having fun to type it all out. I am moving out of my apt tomorrow and am going to stay with my friend Jess. My roommates and I are going to have a farewell dinner for me which will be nice. I am trying to Detox from the alcohol and heavy foods in Ireland so tonight is going to be low key. I have decided to go to Amsterdam on this coming Wed to the Sun before I come home! I just can´t resist, and one of the Aussie girls I met in Killarney is going to try and meet me over there. Flights are so cheap I want to take advantage of it, $60 round trip, who cares if I don´t get any sleep I can recover once I get home! = ) I have tons of pictures of all my new friends and the beautiful sights so I will put them out on my website when I get home, I can´t believe it is so close for me to come home!! I do look forward to seeing everyone but I think I may be infected with the travel bug.. I have met so many people that have had so many amazing adventures and there are so many places still yet to see. Hope everyone is doing well. XOXO Marci

More Adventures

adventuregirl — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:22:00 GMT

My haircut turned out great, I was a little worried as I told Luca to just cut off the dead ends and trim up the layers. Four inches later and piles of my hair on the floor made me freak a little. But alas all was well as I do love it even though he didn´t listen to what I asked. My hair had gotten pretty long, half way down my back, but it is so thick so it feels so much nicer and lighter now, with a lot of movement which is really pleasant with the heat here. During most of my travels I have had it pulled back in a pony and now it is just a little pony but I really like the cut and the color. Plus free is a very good price for a haircut!

The exciting news is that I am going with a friend I met here in BCN to Ireland this Friday morning, I am so excited! I have got the travel bug again and look forward to meeting others in the hostels. My friend Jessica has to be back to work on Monday but I am going to stay longer. We are flying into Shannon, Ireland which is on the West coast and we are going to share the price of renting a car as I want to go South and see Limerick and the Dingle Pennisula. In Ireland they drive on the opposite sides of the road than we do in the US, but luckily Jessica has had experience with that and she will be driving us around. I have been doing some hikes on the weekends and there are some amazingly beautiful areas here in BCN. There is so much noise here in the city it is so peaceful to get out of town into nature. Living with 3 other people and being in a building that is 7 stories with very thin walls and floors you can hear everything all the time. Sometimes when I am reading a book I have to put in my earplugs just to drown it all out, or I listen to my music. I have taken a lot of nice photos of the parks and mountain areas. There is one pic of me with a huge blooming cactus just bursting with vibrant orange flowers. I have been pretty low key lately trying to save money, reading a lot and this week will consist of laying out on the beach to read, (got to work on my tan before going to Ireland), walking around town looking at the sites, and I am going to spluge and go to the zoo. They have an amazing world famous zoo here with a large garden inside as well. I was reading about this zoo and there were lots of mention of Snowflake the albino gorilla, which I thought would be a cool thing to see a white gorilla, but come to find out he died like 2 years ago but he is still pictured on the website and the brochures! My roommate told me that he had died and I was arguing with her no he isn´t dead he is on their live webcam on their website, but she was right, it was just false advertising on the zoos part. So crazy, but there are lots of other great animals to see, I do love the lovely flamingos, and I am looking forward to it. I have a coupon for 2 off which makes me happy.

I have hit dead ends with the airline with all of my questions and approaches to changing my flight in order to take my course so I will be coming home on June 13th as planned. In the meantime I plan on doing a little bit more travelling!! While I am in Ireland I hope to make my way to Dublin and fly back to BCN from Dublin, we will see, it will certainly be an adventure I know that. Plus the bonus is that for the most part they speak English, well for sure the young ones do!! Drinking with the Irish and having fun in Ireland, can you really ask for more??

XOXO Marci

Elephant Man

adventuregirl — Mon, 21 May 2007 00:57:00 GMT

This is so funny, someone I don´t even know posted a comment on my journal in response to my reference to the naked Elephant Man.

Please refer to article ¨What to Do?¨ under ¨Comments¨.

I forget that my journal is live and anyone can access it. She gives a great detailed account of her experience with the fabled naked man. Read her comment it is great, See I wasn´t making it up! I hope to get a picture yet!!

XOXO Marci

Travel Girl

adventuregirl — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:29:00 GMT

I have been on a cleaning jag which helps calm me and in our apt there is always cleaning to do. Many times the boys do not remember to clean up after themselves so they have kindly provided me good projects in the kitchen. I have always been calmed by cleaning and organizing as it offers instant gratification and results, something you can control. So I got the cleaning out of my system as it got pretty old cleaning up after others. Our apt is prety small, in my bedroom I can touch both the walls with my arms not even straining, one hand can be flat against the one wall funny huh. My bedroom at home is going to feel huge as well as my queen sized bed after my dinky single bed here! The other thing I realized about myself is it also makes me happy to color my hair, so today I colored my hair, I really like the result. My hair had gotten really light from all the sun and now it is more of a darker reddish color which brightens up my skin tone compared to the blondish colors. Luca is going to cut my hair tonight as I was gone all day on Sunday which is when we had originally planned on the haircut. It will be such a treat to get my haircut. Last night An asked Luca ¨When are you going to cut Marci´s hair as I want to see what her hair looks like before I let you cut mine¨, I replied ¨Oh great I am a guinea pig? ¨Luca I really hope you are the worlds best hairdresser.¨ He just laughed at us in response, so we will see what the results are. I just like someone doing my hair for me it feels so nice.

I had a really enjoyable evening last night An has yet another visitor here, her sister Wenda, yes I am a bit jealous, but anyway we went to the Montjuik fountain where there is a water show on the weekends. It was a gorgeous evening probably around 80 degrees still at 9 at night when we walked the few miles over there. At the fountain there were tons of people, we sat and watched the 15 min show, it was so beautiful and amazing probably one of the most beautiful things I have seen on my trip. I have discovered I am partial to fountains, Rome has lots of amazing fountains too. The water show consisted of different colored lights that changed colors at the base of the water and classical music was playing as the water changed its design constantly. I was mesmerized, it actually reminded me of fireworks, as the water shot up in the air with the different colors shining through the mist. The base of the water fountain had mists billowing around like dry ice mists, and the color coming through was just breathtaking. People were oohing and aahing as the water changed patterns and designs to the music. It reminded me of the water show in Las Vegas at the Bellagio hotel but on a much bigger, more beautiful scale. I am going to return and see the show again while I am here, and the even more amazing thing is that it is free. The pictures don´t do it justice which is common with many sights I have seen during my travels.

Our other roommate Bart had a visitor last weekend and because they were partying in the living room none of us got much sleep, I won´t even go into details, the walls are very thin, and lets just say there are some things you don´t want to hear your roommates or their friends doing..

Thank you for the feedback I have gotten about my school decision, nothing new has developed in that area.

The other day I made a pasta dish and shared it with An and her sister, that might not seem like a big deal but it is. Ok this is a little embarrasing but I don´t really cook for others as I have never been confident in my cooking abilities, but as I have been travelling you have to cook to save money and it is fun to do with others in the hostels. So I am learning to cook and it is actually very rewarding. I had sauteed garlic and onions for the pasta sauce and also chopped up red peppers for it as well. The sauce was tasty and I think it turned out well which made me proud. Who knows I might turn out a Martha Stuart yet, not likely but who knows?

I feel a lot more calm about everything and just so happy that I have had all this time to travel around Europe. The adventures I have had and people I have met has forever changed me. No more stressing for me I am going to enjoy the sun, palm trees, freedom, and people of Barcelona before I come back home. I will be bringing home my new outlook which has been the best outcome of my whole journey. I catch myself sometimes falling into worrying, like about my school but it doesn´t really accomplish anything except to provide a clean house for my roommates, so I am done with that. Now it is all about being content and adventurous again. I hope to get to Amsterdam and Dublin, Ireland before I come home.

Thank you for your warm wishes and hope this finds everyone well! XOXO Marci

What to Do?

adventuregirl — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:48:00 GMT

As I wrote previously my course was cancelled due to 3 students cancelling at the last minute. I did not find out about the cancellation until 2 weeks before I was to start my course. So after trying to work it out with my instructor I decided to try and do it on my own which entailed me reading a huge amount, lots of hand outs, and doing worksheets by myself. Nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, gerunds, proper punctuation,apostrophe usage, on and on.. (For extra credit points who knows what a gerund is? I bet my teacher friends will get the points!) Of course I know most of this stuff, but hadn´t thought about it in years!! I struggled through this for about a week and a half, before realizing I was never going to be able to retain it all well enough to teach it. I had been panicking because I didn´t want to come all the way over here and not do the course even though it wasn´t the way I had hoped it would be. I know that the best way for me to learn is in the classroom setting. I was able to sit in on a few classes with the April group which made it clear that was the best way for me in comparison to trying to read lessons by myself and trudge through the information without feedback. When I was in the classes I was competitive and excited with the answers, absorbing the information easily due to the way it was presented. I met with my instructor again and let him know how I was feeling and what I realized was the best way for me to learn. He completely understood as this information is hard to retain when doing it on your own. He suggested again for me to stay and take the June course. I let him know my concerns about my financial situation, as my rent is 600 euros a month and Barcelona is an expensive city just to eat and get around. We worked it out that I could move somewhere else for the month of June where the rent would only be 350 as he knew someplace that would be available in June. Also he said he could work out for me to be done with the course on June 22. I felt a sense of relief after our conversation. I called the airlines to see how much it would be to change my return date, the good news is that it would only cost $200 to change, but the bad news was I couldn´t get a return ticket until sometime in July. I looked into just buying another ticket home one way and they started at $1,500. I need to be home in June for many important reasons. My health insurance through my previous company ends at the end of June so I wanted to get in for some last minute check ups, my nephews 13th birthday is June 29 and I promised him I would be home for it, my dog is deathly afraid of fireworks and needs to take a mild tranquilizer on the really bad nights before the 4th of July and I don´t want my mom to have to deal with that, and I am just ready, there are many more reasons but those are the main ones. This has been a real struggle for me to understand, am I just supposed to be over here to have fun and explore new places and learn about myself, is there something else career wise waiting for me? When something continues to not work out I believe you have to pay attention to it, but I don´t understand this. My trip has gone really well, of course there have been mishaps but I have always been able to figure out answers to the problems or at least another way. I have been praying about this and am hoping to find the answer. I have paid my rent through June 3rd where I am currently living and am tempted while I am there just to continue travelling as there are many other places I would like to see in Europe, and I have a place to keep my stuff. I would mainly love to go to Ireland before I have to leave on the 13th. It would only cost around 200 for a round trip flight and to stay in a hostel in Dublin for a week!! I just am confused about what the right thing to do is. I do love it in Barcelona, there is so much to see and do. I have been enjoying myself exploring the city. It has been a great experience for me to actually live somewhere else so different from my home and what I am used to. The other places I have been I was just visiting really as I only stayed at the most a week. I am proud of myself being able to figure things out here in Barcelona especially with the language barrier. But I came here with a purpose and now I am at a loss for what I should really do. I just wanted to share with everyone what has been going on with me.

Barcelona is amazing, it is beautiful weather, so much history and art everywhere, and with it being a big city there is great people watching, pretty much anything goes. By the way I saw the naked elephant man again about a week ago, he was by himself no boyfriend this time. I only saw him from behind and come to find out it is not body paint, it is tatooed on!! My roommate Luca said that 2 days ago he was on our street by the metro, so close! I asked him if he took a pic, he replied why would I do that, I am not gay! I explained that I wanted a pic to show my friends back home, he just shook his head at me like he knew I was crazy. I will get a pic of the naked elephant man before I come home, I guess he is always walking around. While Kevin was here visiting Anheichen even he saw him.

I have walked all over the city getting to know the different areas and it is great, I love my new church and feel grateful to have that community to center me during this crazy time. I can´t complain if the course doesn´t work out I will travel more, not the worst fate in the world!! As I have been gone I have missed my friends and family, but I do love to explore different places. I wish someone would come visit me, my roommates have people visit them all the time. An had her parents here this week and it really made me miss mine. I told my roommates that my family and friends are poor which is why they aren´t visiting me. It is different for them as airfare within Europe is pretty cheap which makes it easier for them to visit. With airfare being cheap it is a good incentive for me to travel.. Who knows how this will all turn out, we will see. Stay tuned.. XOXO Marci

Barcelona

adventuregirl — Tue, 8 May 2007 22:08:00 GMT

After having so much fun, getting used to concentrating on school work is hard, especially since it is self paced and not in classes with other students. This class isn´t working out like I had planned due to the cancellation but I am trying to make the best of it as I don´t want to stay in Spain another month to take the next class. I had a bit of a funk this weekend, which makes sense after everything I have experienced and done these months. When you are in a country where everything is different than what you are used to it can freak you out sometimes. The food is so completely different, primarily seafood, which normally I like but here they have sardines, snails, squid, octupus, yuck! When I was hanging out with Corey last weekend and he wanted me to try his tapas telling me I would love them I responded no I won´t love them I can´t eat that stuff. In the markets they sell whole sheeps heads with the eyeballs, and the smell of blood from the butcher shops makes me sick to my stomach. So grocery shopping is complicated needless to say. My roommates are great I am glad I live with them, they kept me sane these past few days. Last night Bart made us dinner which was amazing. He is a chef at a really fancy restaurant in Barcelona. He made like ten different appetizers and a main dish, we were spoiled and it was so nice and it was stuff I actually liked. Sunday night we all went to a pub to watch a futbol game. Mark their former roommate whose room I took when I moved in, works at an English pub and so Bart, An and her visiting friend Kevin and I went to the pub. I finally got to try a Belgium beer called Stella, it was much better than the Spanish beer but more expensive of course. Kevin treated An and I to dinner and drinks that night it was such a nice suprise.

I can´t believe I have been missing out on watching European futbol. Man oh man, the game we watched was with Real Madrid vs Sevilla. David Beckham is on Real Madrid, I don´t really think I need to say more. All the players on both teams were good looking! Plus it is a game I understand and can follow unlike American football which I have never enjoyed. I know that is unamerican but is a true statement. Since I have been in Europe I have watched more sports than I ever have in the US. Well besides live games of my niece and nephews, I tried never to miss those when I was at home.

While Kevin was here he had also made a yummy lunch for us on Friday with a Belgium dish called stump, which is similar to mashed potatoes but with vegetables mixed in like carrots, onions and my favorite, garlic. I am going to get the recipe and make it when I go home. I told An he could stay with as long as he would like. I appreciate being included with her friends. I have met two girls at my school who I will probably hang out with it is just much easier when someone lives with you.

I found a Unity church here in Barcelona and went to the service on Sunday. The two ministers are an older couple that are just so sweet. The thing I really enjoy about people in this spiritual path is that they are so kind. They both hugged me and during the service pointed to me and told everyone all my details of why I was in Barcelona. I was having a bit of an emotional day and having these genuine kind strangers of all ages hugging me to welcome me into the congregation helped me. Spain celebrates Mothers Day a week earlier than the US so the service was about Mothers which of course got to me as I won´t be with my mom this year for Mothers Day but I called her later that day and had a nice talk. The congregation isn´t that big it is only around 20 members but there were some girls my age that I will probably hang out with. Twice a month they have spiritual movies after service and next week we are either going to watch The Secret which I have seen but is amazing or Conversations with God. My trip has been about a lot of superficial stuff, how people look, cute guys, partying, etc so getting centered again spiritually is really important to me.

The funny thing was on Sun morning when I was at the Metro station catching my train to church around 10, who do I see coming towards me but my roommate Bart just coming home from partying. It was so funny, he was embarrassed, he asked me where I was going and I told him church and he just shook his head and laughed at himself saying I wish you hadn´t seen me. Little does he know I have done my share of staying out late and partying just not while I have lived in our apt. Now that I am trying to be focused I have stopped the staying out late.

Ok to answer the questions I know are coming yes my two guy roommates are good looking, but I am trying to ignore it, pretend that they are gay or my brothers or something as the last thing I need is to have a crush or get involved with a roommate. I actually am not attracted to either of them in that way, they are nice and I like them but they feel like a family which is a really good feeling. I will let them cook for me and do my hair if they so desire, I don´t want to deprive them of that opportunity! I did some laundry and was embarrassed to hang it out on the terrace to dry for everyone to see, I mean the bras and panties, isn´t that funny so I hung them in my room. I am hilarious. The kitchen is right by the terrace and you stare at the stuff hanging out there. Oh we don´t have a dryer that is why we have to hang them out. Another first for me. The clothes actually smell really good after hanging out in the sun.

Luca said he would cut my hair on Sunday, yippee! I am looking forward to it, I love getting my hair done. Luckily while I was in Sardinia I plucked out my sneaky grey hairs that had sprouted, they only grow in right in front at my part. I feel I am way too young for grey hair yet it still keeps coming back. The other day I was sitting in the living room and I told him how his name reminds me of that old song, ¨My name is Luca, I live on the second floor, I live upstairs from you, yes I think you´ve seen me before.¨ Of course I was singing it to him and he was laughing. So silly. The funny thing is here in Barcelona they play American music everywhere in the stores and the people don´t speak English but they are singing along to the music which I find amusing.

I went and bought some tennis shoes, actually two pairs, how I will get them in my luggage when I leave I don´t know but I was having some issues and retail therapy helped. They make me really happy as I only have had two pairs of shoes for this trip. One pair is black leather with silver stripes and the other is shiny white with pink squiggles.

I am starting to run in the mornings as I need to exercise to release this weird anxiety that has come upon me. I have been working since I was a teenager, babysitting at first, and once in high school at an after school job. It has been so wonderful to have all this time off, in my normal life I always had a million things I was organizing, or a part of, as well as working full time. I hope to keep this more laid back attitude not always be rushing.

When I was in Rome one of the friends I made was from Canada and she at a mere 22 was lecturing me telling me never to date a guy for love, only date guys with money. I have never dated a guy with money, always love and look how well that has worked for me. She was telling me about gifts, trips, etc that her current boyfriend had given her. This subject came up because we were in the Plaza Espana which is a very expensive area and we were going into all the extremely expensive designer stores that lined this area. Gucci, Armani, Dior, etc. I had said I can´t afford anything in any of these stores, but it was nice to look. She had said have your boyfriend buy it for you. I responded well I don´t have a boyfriend and any boy I have dated never had money for this kind of stuff. That is when she told me the importance of men with money. I thought it was funny, but she was very serious and it did make me think about my past choices. Who knows what my future holds that would be great to have someone adore you that had money, but I can´t use someone just for money, and I am a romantic when it comes to relationships. By the way if you ever want to feel frumpy, fat and ugly these designer stores are the answer.

So things are going pretty good now, I got my funk out of the way which is good. I almost died again yesterday on a bus, the driver decided to just ignore the red light and plowed through four lanes of traffic and it is only by a miracle that he missed the cars and no one was hurt. I saw it coming and could tell he wasn´t going to stop and I tensed up, holding my breath and held onto the bar in front of me. I have had many encounters with near death experiences on this trip. On a trolley in Portugal the brakes were going out and they have hills like in San Francisco so that was scary. In the Cinque Terre after my hike I was on a bus at the highest point of the mountain on a narrow 2 lane road and the driver was talking on his cell phone driving while also talking with his hands, a must for Italians, almost killing us many times. In this instance we had two options, tumbling down the mountainside or head on collision. Many times I have almost been run over as a lot of drivers seem to delight in either ignoring the cross walks or they speed up when they see you crossing. Just so you know I am content and ok with the thought of dying, and figure isn´t it so much more interesting dying as you are on a fun adventure in a foreign country than keeling over from working too hard and long in an office for years? On that happy note I hope this finds you well and thank you for your emails I do so enjoy them!

A very Happy Mothers Day wish to all my loved ones that are Mothers.

XOXO Marci

School

adventuregirl — Fri, 4 May 2007 00:17:00 GMT

One of the additional benefits of hanging out at the school is I get to use their computer for free. This morning I joined two of the classes with the April students. It was interesting and I think I did well for not knowing any of the material yet which was a relief as I was a bit nervous after watching the teachings last night. The classes today were from 10:30-2 and then I walked over to one of the museums that was free today. On the first Thurs and Sun of every month they have free admissions to certain museums so I wanted to take advantage. I am back now to watch the teaching lessons that are at 4:30. I enjoy the people at the school, there are two teachers, Keri (American) and Stephen (British) and they are young and friendly. The April students are 3 young and 2 older and they were very welcoming to me today and even invited me to lunch during the break but I wanted to go to the museum. Last night I finally got a good sleep, the first night I was wound up as I had been doing so much to get settled in and made the mistake of having caffeine at around 5:00 which I know better. The upstairs neighbors are also very loud come home late and when they walk around and kept me awake but I didn´t hear them last night. I didn´t get home last night from school until about 9 after the classes and writing my post. The Italian guy who is Jean Luca but they call him Luca was so wound up last night, I can say he had gotten over his fright of talking in front of me. He had finally gotten a job as his paperwork had all come through, work visas, etc and had his first day on the job and he was saying to An and myself, I am amazing, I am the best hairdresser in the world, I am very handsome and talented. He was so happy, he went on talking for about an hour while An and I were just rolling our eyes laughing to ourselves, An asked ¨What did you have to eat tonight, you are crazy.¨ An and I were talking about her friend who is coming to visit her and stay with us this weekend and Luca kept interrupting wanting to tell us something else great about himself. I went to bed to read as he was giving me a headache with his craziness and with his being so loud. I hope he is the worlds best hairdresser as I hope to get a haircut while I live there. I still haven´t met the other roommate, he came back from his holiday but I have been at school all the time he is home. I heard him come home late from work last night we are on opposite schedules. The good thing is that he brought home a DVD player from his vacation so we can watch movies! I haven´t watched many movies while I have been gone and it is something I really enjoy. Of course they will be in Spanish with English subtitles but oh well. Oops it is time for me to go observe the classes now.

Marci

Settled in

adventuregirl — Thu, 3 May 2007 03:48:00 GMT

I am moved into my apartment! I went shopping today for groceries, laundry detergent and small little things that I needed like hand soap and a hand towel for the bathroom. It was hard not to buy a lot of things like rugs and little pretty baskets to organize my stuff. I really wanted to but I realize I can´t bring it with me when I leave and it is not like I have a lot of extra money for that stuff. Everything is walking distance, I went to the grocery store for the basics and the best thing is right across the street from our apt is an open air market similar to Pikes Place Mkt in Seattle on a smaller scale with fresh produce, meats, seafood, and clothes. It is really cool to walk around in hard to resist buying things. My Spanish will be much better after this as my neighborhood is pure Spanish people, in the tourist areas they have things in Spanish and English but not in my area. Plus a lot of people speak a different dialect which is Catalan a variation of Spanish. The first night went fine, it was a little weird as everything is separate since I have been staying at hostels everyone shares everything with you but in the apt everyones has their own stuff. Like today I bought salt, which is only like 20 cents for a huge bag obviously I would share but everyone has there own salt on their shelves. Oh well I guess it prevents any fights. The girl is from Belgium, Anachein, and she is really nice. I hope we can cook together as I love to cook with people and share meals which is what we did at the hostels it feels good. The other guy the hairdresser Jean Luca, is from Italy and he is nice too, he was acting a little weird but Anachein said it is because he doesn´t speak very much English and he is afraid of making mistakes when he talks to me since English is my mother tongue. I love talking to people who are learning English and the expressions they use. Jean Luca was trying to tell me today about an area that was dangerous and he said the people are not beautiful there. I thought to myself ugly people, I have to be worried about ugly people? I don´t laugh though because I don´t want him to be self conscious I think it is great to hear him talk. I am going to call her An because it is way to long to type out her whole name, she said I know I make a lot of mistakes but I don´t care this is the only way I will get better, which is a great attitude. I am trying this approach with my Spanish, I am able to understand and actually answer people before it hits my brain, I have done this several times and amazed myself, they speak so fast but this woman asked me a question and I said the correct answer before I had even processed it. It was crazy! I would love to really know the Spanish language, I am just getting by right now. The third guy Bart, I haven´t met yet as he left for the holiday but he is from the Netherlands.

I have been hanging out at my school tonight watching the other students teach their classes which is what I will be doing in a few weeks. It was great the students loved learning and they were all older than 50, this one woman was so fiesty asking great questions, it was fun to watch. It is so inspiring that these older local Spanish people are so excited to learn English. I was amazed at how much they understand. I got to sit in on all of the lesson and the feedback from the teacher who watches and grades the lesson and I am coming back tomorrow for the same thing for the lower level class. I have an internet cafe around the corner from my place but right now I am still at the school using their computer for free. My teacher is almost done finishing up his last minute work so I don´t have much more time but I wanted to let everyone know I am doing great and keep the emails coming! XOXO Marci

Random thoughts

adventuregirl — Tue, 1 May 2007 20:10:00 GMT

I got a great nights sleep last night, finally! I went upstairs after I wrote my posting and all my roommates were there hanging out in our room. We all chatted for about an hour and I got to hear a bit of their life stories. The 3 guys that were travelling together are from the US but have been studying in Rome for a semester. They have girlfriends and showed me pics and we all just had a really nice talk. It is great to meet committed boyfriends, it is kind of rare out here. I love being just part of the gang like that. Men are great I love how they interact with each other, teasing and poking each other, it is good just being one of the guys. They teased me about staying out so late and invited me to go out with them, it would have been a blast it is fun to be the only girl, they are so cute and smell good and usually insist on paying for things, it was hard to resist but I told them I had to get some sleep. Good thing because they didn´t get home until 5:00 AM, if I had not gotten sleep last night I probably would have died. I have been drinking when I go out here but never have been really drunk, no throwing up or passing out. Last time I did that was a few years ago after a bad breakup, thank you Laura and Kiely for helping me drown my sorrows and to get through that bad period of my life. Here you drink just casually, not to get drunk, you drink with your meal so the food absorbs the alcohol, it is just part of the culture here. I have felt more drunk from lack of sleep than actually drinking. Sadly this morning it is raining so I am waiting for it to clear up before I make my half mile trek with my luggage to the metro station to my new home. I have gotten a lot of attention since I have been in Europe, I am embarrassed to write about it as it seems a little conceited but it is part of the experience and I find it interesting. I don´t really care about compliments from strangers, I don´t try to attract attention never wear revealing clothes so am always surprised about the attention I receive. There are so many beautiful women here I don´t understand it, plus they do wear really revealing clothes as well. I don´t wear makeup have my hair slicked in a ponytail and random men approach me as I stroll along minding my own business. I haven´t written about even a quarter of the attention. It is funny because here men just express themselves openly, I am sure men in the states may think things but just don´t tell you. Example of daily events, I am sitting in the metro station here and looking at my small metro map to see where the purple line crosses the green line so I can transfer and this cute young guy sits down next to me and asks how I am and if he can help me, I say no thanks, putting on my bitchy face, hoping to prevent further questions and he just smiles and says you are beautiful. I say thank you, and stand up and get on my train. So random, I mean what are you supposed to do with compliments like that? The other night Cory who I met at my favorite restaurant, told me had been a few people back in the crowd and he saw me and wanted to meet me. He said ¨I saw you talking with that couple and wanted to meet you but I couldn´t hear what language you were speaking and I didn´t know how I was going to talk to you if you didn´t speak English as I don´´t speak any other languages.¨ He said ¨I was nervous to come up and talk to you since you are so pretty and were surrounded by people and you were laughing and talking to everyone, but I just went for it.¨ I had thought it was kind of weird that his pick up line was I am glad you speak English but I didn´t really question it at the time. I asked him ¨Are you kidding, you were nervous to talk to me?¨ He said ¨Why would I kid about that?¨ It just made me laugh, what a strange world I live in, you look at yourself everyday and I am really low maintenance, I had come to the restaurant with wet hair and no makeup and to think I would make him nervous is silly, but flattering and it made me smile to myself. There were a lot more compliments from him but really who needs to hear all that. I am happy right now with my life and it does make you light up, probably making me more attractive, the smallest things make my day, I am a simple person. The main thing I have found is it is important that you are happy with yourself. I have found more confidence during my travels not on how I look but my capibilities. It is unfortunate how the critical things that people say to you during your life stick with you somehow more than the compliments. In my job I felt criticized on a regular basis as I had a micro managing perfectionist boss and it feels so good to be my own judge of my life and decisions. I do a lot right and am able to figure things out and in the end it is really your own opinion that should matter in your head. People will judge you and categorize you, putting you in a certain box but we are all so much bigger, powerful, and capable than we even realize. I think this teaching thing will be good for me because I love to encourage others, it is amazing how good it makes people feel, their eyes light up and they try harder. I have had so many experiences with that during my travels, people like positive reinforcement, it is so much better to build people up instead of tearing them down. When you are nice people go out of their way to try and do things to make you happy because you are appreciative. I think a lot of people are unhappy with their own lives and for one reason or another are unable to make a change so it is threatening if someone is choosing a path that will make them happy. When I made the choice to quit my job I got some criticism from those that I felt would be supportive so it taught me that is important to trust yourself and not have to depend on others for support as they don´t really know what is best for you. I have loved being able to only worry about myself, back home I am too quick to try to help out, putting others needs before my own and when I return that is one of the things I need to change. I have had a lot of time to think about my life and it has been really good. OK the rain has finally stopped and the sun is out so I am going to head over to my new home. Next time I will write about Rome as I met some really nice people and saw so much. I haven´t gone sightseeing yet I am waiting until after the holiday when there aren´t as many people here. It is great to know that I have so much time here and don´t have to rush to see all of the sights. It feels really good to know how things work and how to get around Barcelona. We were talking about it last night and everyone struggles to figure things out and Barcelona is a big city. I am so proud that I am able to read a map, and get where I need to, I am sure that isn´t a big deal for a lot of people but it was a challenge for me. Until next time, do that which makes you happy, I know I am.. XOXO Marci

Good Stuff

adventuregirl — Tue, 1 May 2007 03:35:00 GMT

I had such a wonderful productive day today! I met my instructors for my class here and they are great. I met some students that are in the class from April as well and I will be able to hang out with them if I want to. There had been a bit of drama concerning my class but it is all worked out now. My class got cancelled because there were some last minute cancellations and they were trying to get me to take the class in June instead. It would have been a big hassle changing my flight and staying longer but what is now happening is that I am basically going to do the course by myself but have one on one advisement from my instructors whenever I need it. So now instead of spending 8 hours a day in a classroom I can do my studies wherever I want to, like the beach! More time to explore and enjoy Barcelona! It actually worked out for the best this way, plus they are refunding me some of my money. I also got my apartment today, I had a choice between a home with one lady, or a new updated flat with 3 roommates, I wasn´t sure at first because I do need to be able to concentrate on my studies so I was leaning towards the one lady but I decided to go with the 3 roommates and I am so glad. I got my keys today and went over there after signing all the paperwork which took forever, and met two of my roommates. Our apt. is in such a great location it is going to be nice living there, it is walking distance to my school as well. There are two guys, a chef and a hairdresser and the girl is a student like me. I am hoping the chef will feed us and maybe I can get a haircut too! I have neglected my poor hair on this trip, luckily it is pretty resiliant. I met the Italian hairdresser and the girl they were both really nice. I don´t have their names down yet but I will after I move in tomorrow. I am so excited I love it here. The weather is perfect not too hot about 80 everyday. There is so much to do here and now that my schooling isn´t going to be as intense I will have more free time! At first I thought I was going to get my own apt but it is really expensive here for rent so that idea is out. This will be more fun anyway. Last night I went to take a nap after I wrote my posting yesterday and I met my roommates, 3 hot guys, not such a bad thing and they were tired from going out the night before and took naps when I did. I think that is common practice here after they kick us out from 10-2 to clean everyone comes back to crash for a bit before doing it all over again. I got up and took a much needed shower and felt so much better but it was hard to get motivated to go out as I was still tired. My roommates just continued sleeping. I was going to go out with the italian guys I had played ping pong with but they decided that they were too tired and just went to the store to get groceries to make a dinner and asked me to eat with them. I declined as I decided since I actually made the effort to take a shower I would go out and get some dinner. I had been craving these tapas I had last time I was here about a month ago, it is a garlic potato salad that I couldn´t stop thinking about. I took the metro and actually was able to find my favorite restaurant on La Rambla the main area that everyone hangs out where I had had my potato salad. There was a big line out the door at about 9:00 when I got there, I guess it is other peoples favorite place as well. I finally got in and got a seat and asked about the potato salad and was devastated to find out that they did not make it that day. Tragic, but I had some other stuff, patatas fritas, basically potato wedges with a spicy sauce, and some other stuff that was delicious as well and enjoyed people watching and talking to the nice waiter. You can sit right up next to the tapas which is where I was and everyone was talking to me as they chose their tapas so that was nice. This couple was watching me across the way and laughing as people just randomly asked me questions and we had these little conversations. It is easy and fun in Barcelona to wander around by yourself. So one of the people I met was this nice guy Corey that is actually originally from Eugene, OR. He was very well dressed, preppy, and had all the features that I find attractive in guys. He just squeezed in next to me and said ¨Oh great I am so glad you speak English, I am Corey,¨ pushing the others aside and wrapping his arms around me, hugging me close to him. Apparently he had been trying to get up to where I was for a while, the restaurant was crowded the whole time I was there. I laughed and was like wow, hubba hubba in my head, and said aloud ¨Well nice to meet you too.¨ I was already full by the time he got there but he was trying all these different tapas and would say to me ¨Just one bite you have to try it, it is so good, you will love it.¨ He had this amazing camera with him and he had just been to Africa and was showing me his pics, they were so cool of all the animals. His parents still live in Eugene, he told me his life story. I tend to have that effect on people they just tell me everything. We had a great time and he totally was a goof, cracking me up, very animated, very generous. We stayed out late as he was flying out today to go to London. I was incredibly productive today despite my lack of sleep once again. At least this time it was for fun not because of stressful reasons. I had to get out of the hostel by 10 since they clean it so I dragged myself up and took the metro and I went to the huge tourist office and got some info, than made my way to a great used English book store that I love. The owner is so talkative, he is old and I think must be lonely but he is really interesting and helpful. I got some books and it made me so happy. I was just in an amazing mood all day much different from the other day. I love the feel of Barcelona, everyone is friendly, the guys too friendly actually a lot of times, but not in a scary way. The city is so hip and clean, they are big into recycling which is so great. I left the book store and went to meet my instructors at the school. I was early as I am Anal Annie when it comes to being punctual and will always plan to be early if possible so I stopped at a cafe to get something to drink to kill some time. The best thing ever happened, drum roll please.... at the cafe they had the garlic potato salad, yes I was so happy!! I got some of that and some fresh squeezed, delicious orange juice, I was in heaven. I sat at a table outside just basking in the sun smiling a huge smile to myself. When I got back this morning I realized there were two more guys in my room I am the only girl, isn´t that funny? I have adapted to so many things on this trip. I am so much more comfortable with myself, yesterday when I went to take a nap I was sticking my stuff in my locker and took my shoes off to lay down. One of the guys said something stinks and he blamed his friend. I spoke up and said ¨Oh it could be me I haven´t showered in a couple days and I think my shoes stink.¨ I wasn´t embarrased just being honest. They all just looked at me with these shocked expressions as if shocked to think a girl is human and could have stinky feet, he said ¨Oh no I am sure it isn´t you, it is probably me I haven´t showered either¨ saying this with his eyes open wide, shaking his head as if to clear even the thought of me stinking away. To those of you that have never stayed in a hostel picture your own bedroom then add five more people and their stuff, yep that pretty much covers it. In Tarifa the bunk beds were so close together when I was lying in my bed and Alex was in his bed we could touch hands if we tried. I was talking to my mom and she didn´t realize that the pics of the guys in my room are because it is their room too. New experiences make you more adaptable. Ok I am going to crash as since I walked around for about 6 hours today and had no sleep I am so exhausted. It is 9:00 PM as I write this but it will post and you will see it tomorrow. I am going to sleep early tonight since I am moving into my apt tomorrow, yippee!! I hope one of my new roommates has a laptop I can use as the apt building has free wifi. If not I will find an internet cafe so I can continue to write. The holiday that Spain is celebrating and has brought so many people here is May Day which is their Labor Day. So Happy May Day to everyone, don´t forget to celebrate and put flowers on someones doorstep, ring the doorbell and run!! One of my hot roommates has been on the computer next to me talking to me as I have been writing this, I am a little distracted.. Now one of the Italian guys came up behind me and said hi to me, asking about my day and is patting my back. They are really young but such nice guys. I am feeling so much better than when I last wrote, is this really my life? XOXO Marci

Bad Day

adventuregirl — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:25:00 GMT

I had a really crappy day yesterday trying to get from Sardinia to Barcelona. It started out well as when I checked out of my timeshare the handyman offered to give me a ride to the bus stop which was a blessing because the bus stop was a mile away. The time share was a tropical paradise but very isolated, once again I was in a romantic, beautiful location by myself not even any old people. I found out about half way through my stay that the resort didn´t actually open until June. The place was made up of condos which some ople lived in and the rest that were rented out for vacations. The first couple days were great by myself enjoying my privacy after being in hostels, but I got to the point where I was looking forward to seeing the cleaning ladies everyday. I also was enjoying talking to the cats that were around the property. The poor cats there was a lot of inbreeding going on, so they had some issues but they would look up at me with their crossed eyes and answer me when I talked and fed them my leftover pasta during my walks. So back to my story, I got to the bus station but I waited 2 hours and my bus never came.

I walked up to the car rental place and talked to my friend there asking if there was any other way to get to Olbia which is where I needed to catch a train to get to the airport to catch my plane that evening. He was really nice and tried to be helpful but I ended up paying 50 euro to get a ride from one of the owners of the florist shop friend which was next door to the car rental place. It was nice because the car rental guy was concerned who I was going with and was acting like a dad although he wasnt that old and he was kind of like a charmer that you are a little leery of but when it came down to it he was actually really nice. It would have been at least 80 euros if I had taken a taxi to Olbia which is crazy because it is only about 15 minutes away. I actually had it all planned out to rent a car to get to the airport but their are two airports on Sardinia and when the car rental guy realized I was going to the further away of the two he said he didn´t have anywhere for me to drop the car off at that location. So that was my struggle the morning I was leaving. It ended up being a good thing getting a ride as it was a man and a woman and I probably never would have found my way to the train station or would have gotten in a wreck, they are such bad drivers in Italy you just get used to cars heading right for you in your lane. Scary!! They got me to the station and hugged me goodbye and kissed my cheeks like they were my family sending me off, that was a good part of my day. The train ride was fine but the trains are ancient and beat up with graffiti all over them, not airconditioned and it is so warm in Sardinia a humid muggy heat especially late in the afternoon. On my train ride I did meet an interesting Navy guy who was based on an island off of Sardinian called La Madelena. He was off work for the weekend and in an an article about longevity he had read in a Time magazine one of the oldest ladies was 107 and she lived on Sardinia and he was on his way going to try and visit her. I thought that was really cool.

I finally got to Alghero train station about 5 hours later and I had to take a bus to the airport. When I got on the bus the driver started screaming at me because I tried to buy a ticket from him which is the way it had been how on all the buses I had taken. He was freaking out yelling in Italian, he really needed anger management. The worst part of it was he was a young really good looking guy. Finally a cute italian, unlike my fantasies, not all italian men are good looking, for some reason I had this idea that they would all be like Antonio Sabato Jr. It is a good fantasy right? Sadly this is not the case but they had all been very kind and charming, not the bus driver. He stopped about a block up from where I had gotten on the bus and made me go and buy a ticket. I didnt really care about his issue with me I was just worried he was going to drive off and leave me and take my luggage that I had left on my seat. So at the next stop a couple gets on and they try to buy a ticket from him too, oh man that really made him mad again, but I was just laughing to myself about it, glad I was going to make it to the airport on time. It is hard when you dont speak the language there aren´t time tables for the bus so you are just winging it but it all worked out. I have to admit that I gave the bus driver a little piece of my mind and my middle finger once I was safely walking off the bus and on my way into the airport. = )

The next tragedy was checking in for the airplane. My luggage was over the weight limit suprise, suprise, and I had to pay a lot of money for the difference. So my cheap flight on Ryan Air of 40 euros to Barcelona that I was so proud of myself for arranging didnt end up being such a bargain. That actually didn´t even really upset me at that point I was just kind of amused at it all like oh it just one of those days huh. F%#%k it. The plane was supposed to leave at 9:45 but didnt even start loading passengers until 10:30. I am not at all afraid to fly but the flight was turbulent which is not fun in the best of circumstances and I was getting the worst headache behind my right eye and it was making me so sick. Good news we didn´t crash but when we were landing the pilot was going way too fast and we landed and bounced way up and then bounced a couple more times as he tried to gain control of the plane and slow it down, it was extremely scary and everyone actually clapped when we finally came to a stop, well I didn´t clap I was just glad to be alive. After I collected my luggage, I took a bus from the airport into the center of Barcelona which took an hour. I took a taxi from the bus station to my hostel, and before the taxi left I spoke through the speaker to the receptionist at the hostel who confirmed that they had vacancy. I walked into the hostel which at this time it was about 2:30 and the guy said sorry complete, I said What you just told me that I could get a room, he said no I don´t speak english I didn´t know what you meant. At this point it feels like someone is taking a knife to my right eye and temple and all I want is a dark room to collapse in. I read a lot of books when I was in Sardina and oftentimes this gives me headaches in my poor weak right eye if I don´t wear my glasses. So I leave the hostel and wander around looking for a hotel. At this point it doesn´t matter about the money I just cant find anything with vacancy as there is another freaking holiday in Spain and everything is complete. So I head back to the hostel and just sit down in the common area as the door stays open all night and the front desk guy isnt there. There are a bunch of people in the common room which is where the computers are and bunches of tables each with four chairs. There are some guys with their heads laying at a couple of the tables asleep. I sit down and put my head on the table trying to stop the pain in my head, it works for awhile until the front desk guy comes back and starts yelling at us. He tells us to get out that we can´t be here. Apparently the other guys had been staying at the hostel but on Sat night it had filled up and they couldnt get a bed. I am arguing with him as I have had enough crap today. I ask him why we can´t we just stay until the morning saying how it is dangerous out on the street, and it won´t hurt anything if he would just let us, and that I have reservations for the next day. He is not listening to me and keeps yelling just get out, he speaks limited English and my cranky attitude is not helping the situation. The other five guys that were trying to sleep don´t even argue they just get up and head outside. I continue to sit there and they gather by the front door to watch to see what happens, the front desk guy is yelling at me and trying to take my luggage to the door. I am angry and tell him don´t touch my luggage. Remember my shitty day my pounding headache, so as a last resort I have to whip out womens secret weapon.... I start crying. My enemy instantly backs away from me as I say I don´t want to go outside it is dark and cold, please, looking up at him with my face covered with tears, he melts and pats my shoulder saying ok, ok you can stay, he waves the guys back in from the doorway where they have been watching and tells us we can all stay. As the guys go by they all pat me, saying its ok. Of course when someone is nice it just makes you cry more. I try to reign it in but my head hurts and I am so tired. I finally get it together and my work is done. I saved everyone from having to sit outside. The front desk guy totally changed his tune smiling at me in a scared way. The power of being a crying woman, I am not afraid to use what I need to, desperate times call for desperate measures. The crying wouldn´t have worked for the poor guys can you imagine, he would have laughed at them if they tried. So my reward was that I got to sleep at a table last night in the common room which is why I am exhausted today. I am going to take a nap at 2 today as soon as I can get into my room. I am a little bit of a hero to my new friends since we got to stay inside last night. This morning we were playing ping pong, it was really fun. I havent played ping pong in forever. Last summer I had bought my niece and nephew a badmitton set which is also really fun. You know how everything is funny and challenging when you are so tired, that is how I am today but the couple hours I did sleep made my headache go away which is good. Luckily this hostel has free internet so that will be great. I will write about the fun things that happened and all that I saw in Rome after my nap. So today can only be better than yesterday!!

XO Marci

Stay tuned

adventuregirl — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 02:52:00 GMT

I am alive, I had a great time in Rome, I love Rome, I got offered a job at the hostel where I stayed in Rome, I was tempted! I am in Sardinia at the timeshare where the internet is slow and expensive. I have been relaxing, reading, and walking on the beach while I have been in Sardinia, decided not to rent a car too expensive, wanted to rent a scooter but sadly they dont rent them until June, but maybe it saved me as Italians are crazy drivers! Will write more about my adventures in Rome later as I will be in Barcelona next week and will have better access to the internet.

Thanks to all that have emailed me will get back to you soon.

Lots of love,

Ciao

Marci

In Rome!

adventuregirl — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:29:00 GMT

I arrived in Rome today, I have already had good experiences. After my disaster in Granada with the cab I decided I was going to take public transportation although it is sometimes complicated. I arrived at the train station where I had to take the metro and then a local bus. At the metro there were signs everywhere to watch for pickpocketers luckily I did not have any problems but it is soooo crowded there I am sure it would be easy if someone wasn't paying attention. So I took the bus but when I got off at my stop I wasn't sure which way to go I asked a nice guy and he walked me towards the hostel, all of a sudden it started pouring down rain I was soaked in about 30 seconds I raced up to the steps of this building which was the stadium to get out of the rain and I still had about four blocks to walk and the rain wasn't letting up. This pretty nicely dressed woman asked me if I was heading to the hostel and offered me a ride!! She drove me to the hostel and dropped me off it was soo nice. It is much nicer to take a cab when you don't know where you are going but you deprive people of the opportunity to help you. It took me two hours to get from the train station to my hostel by taking public transportation. So many nice people, the people at my hostel are nice too, I went to the hostel restaurant and the cook there is a sweet, pretty, plump older grandmotherly woman and all I could think was I wanted her to give me a hug, of course I didn't ask her but I almost cried just longingly thinking about it. Her son was there and although I don't speak Italian I could tell he wasnt being very nice to her. A hug probably would have been good for her and me. I am pretty tired of trains, last Friday night I left Granada, Spain and did not arrive to Genoa, Italy until Sunday afternoon. So many adventures, broken down trains, switching to buses, crazy, crazy. So once I finally arrived in Genoa I went to Cinque Terre the next day, I had a wonderful challenging hike it is so amazingly beautiful there, I took lots of pics, I had a wonderful time it felt really great to exercise after sitting on my butt for three days. On the train ride home the train broke down, they make you get out and I was once again stuck at a train platform stinky and tired for 2 hours while they tried to fix the train. It has been really nice warm weather around 80 or 90 while I have been in Italy not like Granada where for the last two days I was there it rained, the storm already has passed here in Rome and I hope it will be nice tomorrow. It is 8 pm right now as I write this posting.

On my way to Genoa when I was waiting for my connecting train in Barcelona I was sitting reading my book and this family came over and they had four boys that were not very well behaved. One of the boys came over and kicked my water bottle and then kicked my luggage. I didn't really care at first, I love kids and wasn't too worried about it, my poor luggage has been pretty beat up. The little boy was messing with everyones stuff and then came back and started kicking my luggage again, I said no and smiled at him and put my arm in front of my luggage, he looked right at me and he was crossed eyed as well so I was feeling a bit sorry for him but he kicked it again. The parents weren't watching any of their kids and they were running around, rolling on the floor just all over. This older man that was sitting next to me yelled at the boy when he kicked my luggage and then said something to the parents, the father started yelling at the older man and challenged him to go outside. Now I don't speak that much Spanish but I was getting the jist of what was going on and I understand a lot more than I can speak and this scene made me nervous. The dad was asking the older guy if he wanted to go outside. The mother grabbed the dad and boy and pulled them back, trying to gather up her other children. The one cross eyed boy came up to the older man next to me and grabbed something out of his bag and so the man grabbed his arm. The dad went crazy and grabbed the old guy and pushed him, he fell backwards to the floor. Luckily he was ok but he got up and rushed towards the dad who was half his size and they were wrestling around but luckily security arrived and took both of them away. I was shaking and glad no one got hurt, the older guys wife had come in the middle of it right before they started fighting and everyone was talking in Spanish she was worried that they were going to miss their train. Luckily he came back a little bit later and said that the police did nada about it. I think that was my best Spanish lesson as I understood almost everything as it was being said. Everyone was talking to me in spanish and I was answering in spanish too. So I have had a few adventures since I last wrote. It is expensive for internet at my hostel 8 euro an hour but I will try to write as much as possible. I am really excited to be in Rome, I am going to see the Pope tomorrow he comes out and talks at noon. I have until Sat to explore there is so much to see I am thrilled!! Please send me emails I love to read them I haven't been as good as answering them but I love to hear what everyone is up to!!! I have so many more things to share but it is hard when you only have a certain amount of time as it is so expensive for internet and I am writing this instead of eating dinner and you all know how I like to be detailed of my experiences so until next time.

XOXO Marci

Leaving Granada

adventuregirl — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:24:00 GMT

One thing I do not like about Spain is the smoking, it kills me. People do it everywhere and it makes your clothes and hair stink, burns my throat and eyes. This morning I am hacking and my throat hurts again. You could live cheap here as if you buy a drink they bring you a free tapa. We went to a brazilian place called Poes where I got meat and pineapple on a skewer and some spicy black beans. Mmmmm. So for about 4 euro you get full from these tapas. I wasnt out late last night only about 130 but for some reason I cant sleep this morning so I thought I would write another entry taking advantage of no one being down here and the free internet. I had a very mellow evening, I really enjoy talking to the people here and hearing about their lives and travels. The good thing about Granada is that the men arent aggresive, I tend to smile to myself in wonder as I look around since I am easily excited by new things I am seeing and experiencing, and several places I have been I have had to watch myself because the men take that as a come on, but here they just smile nicely back at you seeming to be happy that you are happy.

I have realized while I am here how important music is to me, I am so glad that I have my Ipod with me, I love listening to music, I also realized that I love to sing but I am aware that I am not a very good singer so I just whisper the words dramatically of course along with the songs when I am singing in public like on the train while usually chair dancing as well. I entertain myself. I have also realized that I am not embarassed to look silly or unattractive. I do it all the time while I have been staying in hostels as if you worried what you looked like all the time you just couldnt. I roll out of bed and go hang out with the cute boys, I just dont mind. I have always wanted a brother and by hanging out with so many guys while I have been here and having them share rooms with you it has been like having brothers. They talk to you about so many personal things, I have learned a lot about guys on this trip, they have a lot of insecurities even the hottest ones. They can be so funny about issues I enjoy hanging out and just chatting. It was funny because while I was in Tarifa a group of us went out, there were about 10 really hot guys and then this guy named Joe who was just normal not ugly but in this group he didnt stand a chance, but he started telling this funny story about being in a gay nightclub and how the guys were coming up to him telling him he couldnt dance basically the story was him making fun of his dancing capabilities, and all us girls were just laughing at his story as were walking along with him. One of the other guys yelled out from behind us, Hey why does Average Joe have all the girls, we laughed and it just makes you realize that personality can go a long way even if a guy isnt as cute as some of the others.

I have been very good about speaking up about what I feel is right and voicing my opionion in groups which sometimes I woulnt do but as I have been trying to change my life to become happier I want to be as genuine and as authentic as I can. It feels great to be yourself all the time and not worry about others opinions, it brings about great discussions. You feel all of your emotions much more strongly and I am really intuitive about people, I trust my gut feelings and try not to be swayed by others about things which can be hard in group situations as most of us here are pretty confident. Several times I have disagreed with something and it feels great to have your opinion listened to and than agreed with. I believe in fairness and kindness and generosity. The Hammam only cost like 10 dirham which would have been 1 euro but because it was such an amazing experience we gave the women much more and they were so excited and grateful. Morroco is a poor country and it makes you realize how much opportunities and material things we really have in the US. It fills your heart up when you are appreciative and grateful of the blessings that come your way even in the midst of some challenges.

I miss my dogs and cat, there are dogs here everywhere and actually in Morroco it was very sad because there were wild dirty dogs and cats roaming the streets. You want to pet them and take care of them but they dont want anything to do with you. So the morning I was leaving Portland I was very emotional, lack of sleep, nervous, just a mess. My mom and dad are seeing me off and right before we are to walk out the door I want to say goodbye one last time to my dogs. Vader is lying on the floor and relaxed and cool, I sit down next to him squeezing his neck and start sobbing, I am going to miss you I wail, his little stump tail is wagging as he reaches up to lick the tears off my face which makes me sob harder, oooohhh I wail. He is older and just calm and relaxed about the whole situation. Loo Loo my other dog is nervously circling us, but when I reach for her, she backs away like who is the crazy woman and where is my mom. I pet Vader for a little bit longer than get up to go to Loo Loo, who nervously allows me to hug her while I continue to bawl my eyes out. I make my way to Sesame my cat who is obliviously stretched out asleep on the couch, I pick him up squeezing and petting him, getting my tears all over him. He is calm about the whole thing and falls back to sleep when I put him back down on the couch. My parents are so sweet allowing my little breakdown even though it is time to leave to the airport. I know my animals are in good hands and were probably happy to get me out of the house in my emotional state but I do miss them and it makes me teary just writing this. I am very lucky to have my family taking care of them while I travel and I know they are doing well which eases my mind.

Being at a hostel is like having a big group of friends that live together, I never have seen anyone being mean to each other. You never are without something to do or someone to do it with, I love that. Yesterday we had a thunder storm and no one wanted to go out so a group of us got cozy in the tv room and watched a spanish movie with subtitles. The first day I got here I met Cameron and Rachel in the common room we got started talking and they asked me what I was going to do that day I told them I was interested in the gypsy caves, oh us too, lets go, so we all went up there, best of friends even though we all had just met. I am lucky because I make friends easily but most people dont seem to have any trouble. I met a girl here in the hostel bar that is actually a gypsy and lives in one of the caves, it is so interesting the different lifestyles people have, we had a great conversation and I took her pic. She had these big dreadlocks and a beautiful face, she had her dog with her. There are a ton of gypsy guys and girls here in Granada but they dont seem to be thieves like some others I have seen, just entertainers, they sing and dance for money in the squares. They are attractive and charming people and so interesting looking with their hair and clothes.

The time difference here is 9 hours from my home so it is always strange when I call to check in with my family to let them know I am alive and their day is just beginning and mine is almost over. I am not sure when I will have easy access to the internet again so I will probably try to write a bit more before I leave tonight. Hope this finds everyone well and happy. XOXO Marci

Photos

adventuregirl — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:50:00 GMT

Red alert, red alert, I was finally able to add a couple pics amazingly. It took like an hour to add a few pics but at least there are now a few recent ones. Photo Gallery Under Gibraltar I put the monkeys, Tarifa pics of Mateus taken by me as I was lying in bed as he is coming over to me with his cards. Granada there are a few of our party from the other night and some from Morroco! I have so many more pics but it is so hard to get them out on this website, luckily I have them burned to CDs. I meant to say that while I was in Tarifa I also went on a whale and dolphin watch boat ride. We went out into the Strait of Gibraltar and saw a bunch of dolphins and some sperm whales, it was so amazing. I have a bunch of pics that I will try to get out on the website. I cant concentrate on what I am writing because Ryan found me and he wont shut up, I keep saying ok I will talk to you later, I need to finish this, nothing, I feel mean but sheesh.. so I will finish this later so I can ditch him.. Over and out..

Ok all clear, I love Granada, the history, the windy streets, the views of the city when you hike to the top of the hills, where I am staying is called the Arabic Quarter and it is centrally located. There are Souks here like in Morroco, there is a windy street right by the hostal that you can just get lost in looing at all that they have for sale. I love wandering around looking at everything, getting lost yet finding my way back and finding amazing things on the way. The local people here are very nice and I am improving my spanish trying to say as much as I can in spanish and not english. I discovered that I love mint tea, I had it is Morroco and it is wonderful, it is made with green tea and fresh mint leaves, delicious, I will be making it when I get home. I am sad to leave Granada tomorrow I could live here. I would love to take a Spanish language course over here and live in Spain for a few months. Spain has so much to see, such diversity in different areas and the warm weather soothes my soul. I feel like by not being able to speak other languages I am missing out as I am travellling. Next time I travel I want to at least have more of a comprehension of whatever the language is of wherever I end up going next. When I arrived in Granada I had a bad experience with a cab driver, I got here on Easter and the cab driver overcharged me and dropped me off at the wrong location which of course I did not discover until after he was gone. It was Easter I was sad and lonely for not being with my friends and family not to mention feeling really sick with my cold. The streets here are all cobblestone, like river rock, in cement, so a rolling suitcase is so difficult on that kind of terrain. I tried to find my way but I wasnt anywhere near my hostel so I sat down on a bench in front of a church watching the happy families and couples and just started crying feeling sorry for myself. I allowed myself to let it out for a bit than my theme song started playing in my head

I get knocked down but I get up again, theyre never going to keep me down.

I shifted my mood and grabbed another cab and made my way to my hostel. Oh no the music is coming through from the bar again distracting me, I must be off for my last night here. XOXO Marci