On your mark, get set, PANIC!

Lauren and I have officially booked out flight back to the states on June 9th; we're leaving for real now! It still seems like we just arrived in London, time has gone by so fast! But now, now that we've been here since September we actually have things that we are leaving. Our new friends, ISH, the sights, the city, I can't believe that once we leave I don't know when I'll see them again. Ugh. Mental break down fast approaching? Probably. But, that doesn't mean that we can't or won't make the most of the rest of the time we have left. (In between school of course, since that is technically why we are here I guess...) Still there are plenty of fun things coming up to keep our minds off of school!

Wednesday I will be attending a performance of Psy, check out the preview here. Looks like it's going to be amazing! May 7th ISH is hosting a Hollywood styled charity event called the May Ball in Aid of Mind. With DJs, dancing, and drinks, it is sure to be a great night for a great cause. May 10th Lauren and I are off to Camden to see Foals!!! Check out some of their music here. Then, as if that weren't enough, London Met decided to put on another night of free pizza and a trip on the London Eye for the international students on the 13th! Lots to do and see still, London is never boring!

Eyjafjallajokull?

Having problems pronouncing the name of the volcano? Check this out...

Update!

• Easter was spent up in Bicester with the family friends! Very nice mass and dinner, and it's always nice to get away from the city for a bit.

• School started again. Uggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.            To be read like this:

•  A Volcano erupted in Iceland spewing up so much ash that flights coming into and leaving from nearly the whole UK have been canceled for days! Check out more info here.

That's all for now, more to come!

Mojito? What the hell is that?

I forgot to tell you all about the very last conversation we had in Spain before getting on a bus to go to the airport!  We had about 45 minutes and the last of our Euros to kill before the bus left, so we decided to head out to one of the bars to get a mojito. Mojitos, I should mention, seemed to be the drink of choice in Barcelona. They had entire bars devoted to them. You would think, therefore, they would fairly easy to find even out by the bus station. Apparently we were wrong.

Lauren: "Necesito dos mojitos por favor."

Old lady: "Bocadillo?" (A sandwich.)

Lauren: "No, no. Mojito."

Old lady: "Si, bocadillo."

Lauren: "No, mojito. Mo-hee-toe" Makes drinking motion.

Old lady: "Ah! Patatas!" (Potatoes!)

Lauren: "What? No!"

Needless to say, we were doomed to leave Barcelona without our drinks. That would prove to be a terrible decision in and of itself after frustration and delays at the airport. But, we survived. I'm sure their mojitos would have been over priced and mediocre at best anyways.

Barcelona, Spain

So after an unbearable 9 hour over night bus ride from Madrid, we arrived in Barcelona exhausted around 9am. Unfortunately, we were unable to check into our hostel until 1, so I feel asleep on the couch in the common room of our hostel while Lauren figured out what we should do and see while we were there.

We decided to spend the remaining hours of our first day there getting to know the area, which turned out to be be a good game plan. We were just a short walk away from the main street, loads of pubs, and the beach!! We stopped for lunch, having tortillas, calamari sandwiches, and sangria.  

The rest of our days were filled with Antoni Gaudi, wonderful markets, long walks on the beach (lol, not really), and watching the Spanish football matches in British pubs. We spent a full day seeing La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. They were amazing. If and when they ever finsih La Sagrada Familia, it will be the most intricate and, true to its name, gaudy building ever. Definitely worth seeing.  

Our last day in Barcelona we decided to relax and head down to the beach.While the weather had been warm and sunny for the majority of our trip, the water was still freezing, so no swimming for us. That didn't stop a few brave souls though, or the old guy walking along the shore in his Speedo. Ugh. 

 

Overall our trip was great, and the only complaint we had was that our flight back to London was delayed. Aside from that Spain was great, hopefully someday we'll be able to go back!

 

Madrid, Spain

Alright alright I know I've been seriously slacking in getting this post up, but here it is finally!Spain was wonderful. The weather was great, the food was great, and the sights were wonderful.

 

We spent our days wandering around the city, seeing the sites and taking everything in. Lauren speaks Spanish pretty well, so we were doing good getting around and ordering food and the likes. I just pretended to be mute. It works for me. 

One of our coworkers from Milwaukee happened to be in Madrid at the same time, so one of our nights there we headed over to have drinks with her and her sister who is studying in Madrid for the year. It was great to see a familiar face again and catch up on all the work gossip since we've been gone.

Since it has been awhile since we have gotten back, and I knew I would probably fail epically at getting this post up in a timely fashion, I took a few brief notes about Madrid so I would know what to blog about. Looking at those notes now, I think I may have been crazy. 

 

The list goes something like this....

• Hookers- there were tons of hookers in Madrid. It was bizarre.
• Purple- Purple seems to be the new black this season. EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE. Purple. 
• Back to the '90's- from mullets, rat-tails, and hammer pants, we were for sure in the 90's. 
• TACO BELL- OMG there was a Taco Bell!! Highlight of the trip for sure. One of 2(?) in all of Europe. What did you do in Madrid? We got Taco Bell. YESSSSS.

Post for Barcelona tomorrow hopefully!