I have been having the most incredible last couple of weeks in Barcelona and have been staying true to my promise to myself to take full advantage of every day I have left in this amazing place. This could be a long one (since I have been too busy to write for over a week now) but I promise, it's worth the wait!!!
Mikey and Chrissy were still here last Tuesday and it was such a beautiful day out so we decided to embrace it fully. The six of us bought some bocadillos (sandwiches) from our favorite little 'Forn de Pa' by our house. We bought some champagne, brought some blankets and planned to have a picnic at La Horta Labrynth (the beautiful gardens, statues and maze that I mentioned in an earlier entry). I was the only one who had been there and was really excited to take everyone there so they could see how beautiful and cool it was. So after making the long trek up there and taking tons of silly pictures, we put our blankets down underneath a small Colosseum thing and had our picnic. After sitting there for about a half hour, the six of us played tag in the maze... it was hilarious!!! We were all running through it and literally getting lost and just laughing hysterically... we felt like 10-year-olds, but what's new? That fun ended when we got yelled at for running in the maze... give me a break?!
Once we returned home, we quickly got ready, met up with Lisa, and went to Champagneria (yes, we go a lot!). It was a blast, as always and once we got home we got ready to go to the club 'Up & Down' that night. I was exhausted and ended up falling asleep and not making it out... I probably needed my sleep, so it was ok!
Wednesday was a lazy lazy day, but we were ready to go out big that night because it was our friend Ben's birthday. So Chrissy and I went over to our friend, Maureen, Chloe, Alex and Ben, apartment and they had a little party over there before we went out. Ash met us with more of our friends at 'Shoko' (we love Shoko) and we had SUCH fun time hanging out and dancing with everyone, after Shoko, we went to 'Otto Zutz' and that was a ton of fun too, but when isn't it fun? We went home around 4:30 and slept pretty late the next day.
Thursday was the day we left for Switzerland and we were all soooo excited. We had such a good group (the 6 of us) and we had planned to do some crazy stuff while we were there. So we took our 4 p.m. flight to Zurich and then took the train 2 hours South to Interlaken. The train ride was BEAUTIFUL, while it was still light out, and we knew Switzerland would be amazing. Even though its been like 9 years since I went there with my family, I remembered what a beautiful place it was and was more than excited to go back. Once we finally got there at 9 p.m. we checked into our hotel called 'Funny Farm' (the hostels in interlaken are all a ton of fun and really popular) and we all went to get dinner at a really good Tai food place that we had heard about before we even got there. We heard right, it was a delicious dinner and we were all in a food coma afterwards. Dionne and Mikey were staying at a different hostel called 'Balmers' that was really cool too and we all went down to the bar to check it out and have a drink, which was fun, but we were all so tired so we went home and went to bed.
Friday morning, we woke up early to the most beautiful view outside our window of the swiss alps, still covered in snow, literally a mile away. We went downstairs and made a reservation to go CANYON JUMPING later that day. We were terrified to do it, but were excited at the same time. We would be bungee jumping off of a canyon in the alps from 300 ft. It was going to be crazy. Well I forgot my running shoes so I walked into town, a beautiful walk, bought some tennis shoes and socks for all of us, had a quiet breakfast at a cafe, admiring the scenery and then walked back to meet the girls at the hostel.
The six of us sat in the lounge until 1:00 when 'Ramo' came to pick us up to go up to the mountains. We were kind of freaking out. I for one, told myself i would never be stupid enough to go bungee jumping... but you only live once! There were 4 others with us, two sisters from San Diego (ironically) their friend and their mom. We clicked immediately and their mom took pictures of all of us and was like a mom to all of us. They were staying at Funny Farm too and we hung out together the whole weekend. We hiked a long hike up this mountain and finally reached the top where we looked down and just about died. It was a HUGE steep canyon and we were all wondering why we would CHOOSE to jump off a cliff into a canyon/river.
Well before we knew it, it was time to go. Mikey went first and did it like it was nothing. I chose to go second because I knew if I stood up there I would just get more and more freaked out. So I got up on the platform, had all the girls count down for me and I was SOOO scared. I was the first girl to go and i literally felt like I was jumping to my death. Well after about 3 freakouts, I finally jumped and it was SCARIER THAN I IMAGINED! I was free falling for only 4 seconds but it felt like an hour and I was so mistrusting that the rope would catch me. Luckily (haha) it did, and I got off the rope, gave a huge hug to Ramo and Mikey and watched the rest of the girls go. It was seriously INSANE!!! We have a video of each of us and a ton of pictures... it is funnier every time I watch it.
Once we all jumped, we walked through the canyon, back to the car, all hootin and hollerin with so much adrenalin from that crazy jump!!! Ramo made us all snort (horrible I know) this eucalyptus powder that is traditional in Switzerland and like clears your senses and stuff. We all made hang loose signs, connected our pinkies and thumbs together in a circle and Ramo said a chant in Swiss-German and we took it. It was kind of rough, but it's tradition!!! We were all soo hyped up on the ride home and made Ramo come back to Funny Farm with all of us for a drink.
We got really lucky because right when we left the mountain, it began to rain. We went back to Funny Farm and ordered Baileys and coffee and hung out in the lounge for a while. Noelle, Chrissy, Ash and I went to Tai food again and then went to Balmers to buy some Swiss chocolate that we had yet to have. We headed back to the lounge at F.F. to look at pictures on the computer from everyone's jump. It was so hilarious because everyone in the lounge was like a huge family and they all came and watched our videos and pictures with us. I talked to my mom and dad (dad knew I was doing bungee jumping and skydiving... we decided not to tell mom) and when mom overheard me telling dad to still not tell mom about skydiving... she freaked out and I had to confess my plans for the trip.
Being the AMAZING BEAUTIFUL LOVING PERFECT mother that she is (dad your the best because I can tell you this kind of stuff and you'll always back me up) she told me that she was okay with all of this and to go ahead and go all out with it. I was so relieved I talked to her because I had a huge weight on my shoulders not being able to tell her. Well after talking with them, we had QUITE the interesting (and amazingly fun night). We were obsessed with our hostel and all the people who worked and were staying there.
We didn't want to drink because we had to wake-up really early for skydiving the next morning. So we sat around with everyone at the lounge/bar and hung out. Our night was random... Ash and I played pool, Noelle and I played the bongos and guitar, we played with the owner's HUGE St. Bernard named 'Spiffy' who we fell in love with, we watched one of the San Diego girls do a fire-dance (yes, you heard right, a fire dance... and we got everyone to come outside and watch and then people started joining in and trying it), and Noelle and I jumped on the trampoline outside for a long time and I was reliving my cheer days. It was such a random yet fun night and we met a ton of really cool people.
We were pooped from a long day so we went to bed and woke up, ready to go SKYDIVING that day. We met the woman who owns the company with her husband that morning and she wanted us to wait until 1:00 to see if the weather would get better. Just our luck, the sun and blue skies came out and we headed down to the base at 1:00 to do what I have wanted to do my whole life... and what a perfect chance to do it, while your young, in the Swiss Alps, with your close friends... perfect enough for me!!!
We began by watching a video that got us so pumped up and then we suited up and headed down to the 'heliport'. We chose to jump out of a helicopter instead of a plane because one, it goes higher than a plane and you jump from outside the helicopter rather than inside the plane and two, it's just waaaaay coooler!!! The couple who ran the company was so nice!!! They had two little daughters that were adorable and were so cute with all of us. We got to the heliport and took some 'before' video footage and Mikey and Dionne went first. We were not nervous (until we were actually up there) because we knew that the canyon jumping we did the day before was way scarier than this. We were just really happy and excited.
Mikey and Dionne got down safely and it was Noelle and my turn. I really can't explain everything in detail because there is literally too much to talk about, so you all just have to watch my video when I get home. Pretty much, it was the coolest, craziest and most amazing thing I have EVER done!!! I am so glad I have a video to document it all. Ash and Chrissy went last and we were all so high on life afterwards and so proud of each other for both crazy things we did that weekend. I can't wait for you all to see the video... I can't upload it on here.
Straight from skydiving, we were starving, and again so pumped up on adrenaline. We had wanted so badly to have fondue, so the owners told us a great place to get cheese fondue. They dropped us off right at the restaurant and we all ordered garlic-cheese fondue, white wine and we cheered to an job well done by all! It was a delicious meal and we went to a really great bar we had heard about afterwards to get some more drinks. We sat there for a while just talking and finally headed back to F.F. We stayed at Funny Farm all night and just hung out with everyone and it was a lot of fun. We went to bed after an amazing day and woke up Sunday morning to gorgeous blue skies over the snowy Swiss Alps and birds chirping... it was a beautiful thing
We met Mikey and Dionne and the 6 of us walked a gorgeous walk into town and found a great outdoor restaurant called 'Des Alps'. We had the most amazing view of the alps with a huge grass field where parachuter's were landing every 5 minutes. We ate small lunches so we could go big on the amazing dessert selection they had. Boy did we go all out! We had chocolate fondue that came with every type of fruit you could think of, a banana split and an espresso milk shake. Mmmmm!!!! It was muy delicioso!!! We spent the whole lunch laughing and enjoying the most breathtaking scenery around us.
After lunch we all lied down in that huge green grass field and stared at the clear blue sky and snowcapped mountains for about 45 minutes. We all agreed that we could have spent all day lying there, basking in the sun. It was extremely relaxing and we kept saying, "5 more minutes, 5 MORE minutes," until finally we had to go catch our train. We trained it back to Zurich and watched our skydiving movies the whole way there. The people on the train probably wanted to kill us. I was so sad to leave Switzerland, especially on such a gorgeous day. But I am so happy that i am going back with my family!!! We made it safe and sound back to Barca... well thank God I made it safe because the cieling above my seat on the airplane fell down when we landed... only my row... and the guy two seats next to me caught it... that could have been scarier than skydiving and canyon jumping combined! Nevertheless, We made it home safely and I worked on a presentation I had due Monday for the rest of the night.
After class on Monday, Noelle and I stayed after school in the library to work on our papers due Thursday (first time we have done this all year = school is a joke). We all went out that night to our good friend Katie's house in our program for her birthday (at midnight). We celebrated there for a while and then went to a club called 'Jamboree' off of Las Ramblas. It was fun because there was a huge group of us but we didn't stay out too too late.
Tuesday was such a fun day/night!!! Noelle, Chrissy, Ash and I woke up and went to Port Olimpico (our like favorite part of the city) and it was a gorgeous gorgeous day out. We found a nice restaurant called Agua and had a delicious and pleasant little lunch right on the beach. All the restaurants are so cute on the water and we stopped at another restaurant called Opium Bar for dessert. We sat on these big white couches and ate sorbet and chocolate balls and were pretty much in heaven (this is not a normal day in our Barcelona lives).
We went to the GSE office to visit Julia for a little while and then went to the Glories mall to go shopping for a while. We got home and Chrissy and I got ready quick and went to dinner with a bunch of our friends and the other girls were gonna come later. We went to a cute Italian restaurant called 'Made in Italy' and had a great time with everyone. I am the designated toast maker (for every event and everyones birthday)... haha... I have to think of a good one for the farewell dinner!
After dinner, we went to our friends Hilary and Elise's apartment and hung out for a while before going to Pipperment. We met Ash and Dionne at Pipperment along with a lot of our friends from school. Pipperment is the one with the 1, 2 and 3 liter mixed drinks... get's kind of crazy. Well we had a great time there and then went to Up & Down for a fun night of dancing. I love being with a ton of people when we go out so it was a ton of fun.
We had school all day yesterday and I went to coffee with Julia at Ash and my favorite cafe called Fusion. It was so great to be able to just chat with her for a long time and just talk about everything. I wish everyone had 'a Julia' in their lives because she makes me a happier person!!! I love her and am so excited for my parents to meet Julia and Jordan and see what I have been ranting and raving about! Last night, Noelle, Ash and I had to write papers for class today but we went out with Lisa because her friend is visiting. So we went to Shoko and stayed there till around three. I love it because It is a lounge and a club and they have huge loungy couches right on the boardwalk of the beach... so since we weren't drinking we danced for a while and then hung out out there. We got home and continued writing our papers till 5 and then woke up for our 9 a.m. class. We can't complain cause we hardly ever do schoolwork.
Today was very mellow, it's been such nice weather but today it was POURING rain, thunder and lightening. It was exactly what we needed because we needed to seriously clean the house with nothing tempting us to go out! Julia went with Noelle to the post office and then I made a big veggies & pasta lunch for all of us and Julia brought a delicious salad and chicken!!! It was very lovely and a nice break from cleaning.
My fam comes a week from today... crazy huh?! I can't believe this semester is coming to an end, but I am taking full advantage of every day, as I have from the beginning. I'm not about to get all sappy now because IT'S NOT OVER YET!!! haha. I am soooo excited to travel with the family and hug them for hours and hours!!! One of my best friends, Katie, is coming tonight from Rome and I am so excited for her to get here!
This next week is going to be amazing... I'm so excited!!!! (minus finals!) Everything is so perfect right now... I could not ask for more!
Todo mi amor...
