UPDATE!

So first off - SORRY everyone that I haven't updated this in about a year and a half but it's been pretty crazy around here recently...

the story begins with LONDON...



It was a TON of fun! We packed in everything we could! Harriet - one of mike's former flatmates (who lived in Sarah's room actually back in the day) let us stay with her and she was so great - she took us all around and put up with our touristyness (yes, that is now a word - don't question) and it was really cool to see all these places that I've only seen pictures of!
fyi - the old men in the video were in a modern art museum and they're wax figures in these wheelchairs with scensors on them so they don't crash into anything - it was kind of creepy how realistic they looked!
We got to see the changing of the guard which was very cool and we got SO lucky because just as we were crossing the street they started herding everyone to the sides so they could march on through and we were RIGHT in the front! And that's a big deal because it was PACKED there.

The next weekend Harriet came out to visit us along with a few other guests which include the following:

Mike - my brother
Aubrey - Mike's girlfriend
and
Corissa - my roommate at CSU

So needless to say we had a full house but it was SO much fun with them all here! We pretty much lived at Retiro during the days and went out at night to random bars and clubs and Mike got to remenisce about the good ole days when he lived in this fabulous city. Corissa pretty much fell in love with Madrid and I think I've finally succeeded in convincing her to study abroad becuase pretty much it's one of the very best experiences of my life. As everyone else left, Em Po came to visit me too! We pretty much did the same sort of thing - lots of Retiro and lots of fun nightlife! But we also went to the Prado Museum (famous art museum) and we took a tour of the Palacio Real and it was so beautiful and intircate but unfortunatley you practically get jumped if you take pictures so I don't have any of those for you... sorry! It was SO fun to have everyone here - it was such a great fresh taste of home for me! Po left this morning and my parents just arrived yesterday - this was a giant mess - thank GOD Em was there to help calm me down or, as she said it, "my stress level would have elevated to an outrageously high level" or something along those lines... okay here's the story..
All you Colorado people know that there was a massive snow storm the other day and school got cancelled and yay no class but boo no flights - so my parents almost couldn't make it but somehow they got on a different flight and relayed to mike their new itinerary and mike told me what time to pick them up - which was at 2:15 in the afternoon - so Em and I go to the airport and sit and wait for everyone to get off this plane - eventually there was NOBODY in the terminal and some worker guy there asks me what flight we're waiting for so I tell him. He then proceeds to tell me that everyone on that flight has already left. So I'm thinking, "Oh God, they must have walked past me... or did they miss their flight...? or are they stuck somewhere...?" I have no idea but I'm panicking. We decide to take the metro back towards my part of town and check and see if they got to the hotel. Nope. not there. I ask the people at the front desk and they tell me they haven't checked in yet - I panick again. Emily suggests we go get food - which helped haha except on the way, since I was all nervous and worried, I ended up yelling at some guy who hit on me on the street because I just really wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. Finally at about 6, they called me from a payphone and explained that their plane had changed yet again and they were fine and they were going to the hotel. And all was right in the world.

OTHERWISE...
Things are going really well still - my birthday is coming up and I'm really excited because I'm leaving for Morrocco that day for my spring break!!! YAY!
Schools going well - that's what I'm here for after all - and I'm really improving with the espanol - I think. I hope. But yeah I had my first test last week about architecture actually... and knowing absolutley NOTHING about it in english made it a little more difficult to learn in Spanish but it's actually kind of interesting. I feel like a nerd saying this but I really like having class in Spanish - I feel like I'm multitasking or something. These classes aren't exactly the most important classes of my life but I really enjoy listening to people speak spanish just so I can hear it and learn from it. And sometimes I talk but I get intimidated really easily in that sense haha

I hope everyone's doin well - I hope life is good!
Love you all!
besos!

Dublin Video - It's Pretty Savage (that's a good thing)

We learned some Irish slang and everyone's like "oh that's savage!" ALL the time so I had to incorporate it somewhere!

Welp - here's Ireland for ya!
Love you all!

MADRID VIDEOOOOO!

I was really productive today and I finished up this Madrid video today too! It's actually kind of old - as you will see but I started it forever ago so I just HAD to finish it... instead of doing homework - good decision, Kira.



Hopefully this will give you a little teeny tiny insight as to why I adore this city so much! And you get to see my little teeny tiny piso too!
LOVE LOVE LOVE

GRANADA VIDEOOOOOO

Here it is:
I know you've been peeing your pants excited just waiting for me to put this up. It's okay, don't be ashamed - I have that effect on a lot of people.



I'm working on Dublin, London, and an old one from Madrid at the moment so don't give up on me! I WILL entertain you! I promise!!

Much love to you all!
Besos!

Granada, Dublin, and all that stuff

Hola todos!

So I'm sorry I haven't updated this in a while - it's been pretty crazy around here! Since I last left you, I have been doing a lot of traveling - kind of..
So the 19th I went to this thing with my school - it was this radio show that we could watch live and it was, of course, all in Spanish and I happen to be an idiot sometimes so people would sum up what they were saying for me - haha but it was really interesting because they talked about modern day Spain and what is going on in the country and just touched on a lot of topics. And then there was a singer there who was great - his name was Hueco and he was really good - if you have a chance you should youtube him. His music was really fun and Spanish with this flamenco and almost reggae twist.
So the 20th I went to Granada with my ISA group (the group I'm studying abroad with) and we took the longest bus ride - okay it wasn't that long - it was 5 hours but still I was pretty tired... and from there we arrived at our hotel and it was really really nice. Nicer than my piso which isn't hard to do but it was great to get spoiled that way. So when we first got there we just walked around the city and went practically everywhere and we found a good little tapas bar and got coffee and drinks - and the best thing about Granada is that if you order a drink tapas are free! I love free food! Very different from Madrid - there's only one place I know of that gives free tapas in Madrid (and I actually went there last night - very yummy). So after we walked around we all met up as a group and went to a flamenco show. It was really fun - I had seen Flamenco before but I still really enjoyed it - it's so crazy and the dancers are so intense. If looks could kill...
The next day we went to La Alhambra which is a very famous palace and is what Granada is best known for. It was so beautiful. I took pictures and video (which i promise I'm working on! Give me some more time on those!) but they can't fully show the beauty of it. But yes stay tuned for the Granada video and you will be able to see some of it.
That night we ate kebap - Granada is a very Arabic influenced city so the kebap was AMAZING. For those of you who don't know what it it - it's probably the worst food on the planet for you - it's like a gyro - meat and lettuce and tomato and sauces wrapped in a pita - SO good. Love love love kebap. So good night was had by all - kebap and we went clubbing - but the clubs weren't that great to be honest. But it was still fun because I was there with a bunch of my friends. The next day we went shopping and toured around a little more and headed back for Madrid. We had a lot of fun but Madrid is still my favorite city. :)
On Wednesday my roommate Sarah and I left for Dublin - we didn't have much time in between the two trips but that was just fine by us! We got there and got to our hostel - it's kind of ironic because if you look at where we stayed in Granada and then Dublin - they are COMPLETE opposites. That was my first European hostel experience and honestly I was totally freaked out. I'm really paranoid about leaving my stuff in the room so I ended up carrying all my valuables with me the entire time - I just felt more comfortable knowing exactly where they were. We slept in a room with 15 other people and it was weird. haha but it was cheap so that's why we chose it - and then we met some boys who live there and they told us that our hostel was the hostel that homeless people stay in. great. that was comforting. The shower was really gross, cold, and I just didn't feel sanitary haha it was bad - but other than the hostel, we had a great time. We took a free walking tour around the city and pretty much I was informed of all of Ireland's history - so that was good. but our tour guide was really funny... Irish people are just really nice in general - we only met one mean one (some guy kicked us out of his bar because we didn't want something to drink - we just wanted to listen to music) but we went to a bunch of little pubs and had some great food and Sarah and I were proud of ourselves because we only paid for one drink the entire trip. We were on a budget, you know... but anytime someone bought us a drink it was Guinness and that's not something you can drink often - kind of gross sometimes. Depends on the day. So the next day we took a tour of the countryside and it was so gorgeous I can't even explain it. We had the weirdest tour guide on earth who was very passionate about not j-walking and pretty much he'd diss Americans and then be like "But when you get down to it, we're all the same" - yeah he drove me crazy by the end. And he'd tell the most random stories and would tell us all personal stories about his friends - like how they're going through a rough time or whatever -it was weird haha but we got to see where they shot part of P.S. I Love You and Braveheart - that was very cool for me - granted I haven't seen P.S. I Love You but still...
So good fun crazy trip - except then I go to the airport and check in with the desk and they tell me that I booked my trip to leave on MARCH 28th insetad of FEBRUARY 28th. So I had to wait in this giant line and I met a Spanish girl who had the same exact problem - but both of us know that we marked February so I have no idea how it happened. Basically the guy was very short with me and very rude and was like, well you're just going to have to pay for a new ticket. And I'm like
-"Are you SERIOUS???"
~"oh yeah, umm... yeah it's pretty expensive right now."
-"So how much is pretty expensive?"
~"A lot."
-"Okay so are you going to tell me?"
~ "265 Euro"
and that's when I started publically bawling my eyes out in the airport.
I tried everything I could to figure out another way around it but eventually he just flat out said if I don't buy it I'm stuck in Dublin. So I had to buy it - and RyanAir is now sustaining their business with my stupid payment. I was so upset. But then I was sitting next to this woman from Chile on the plane and she told me RyanAir just lost her reservation one time and she ended up having to pay over 1000 Euro - so I guess it could have been worse. By that time I just wanted to get home! And I did and all is well - ish...
But I'm happy to be back in Madrid - still adore it beyond belief. But I'm traveling again this weekend (NOT with RyanAir thank GOD) and Sarah and I are going to London! And we're staying with one of Mike's friends from madrid who lives there - her name is Harriet - and she's really nice - and I'm very thankful that I don't have to stay in a hostel. So I'm pretty dang excited for that one.