Recent news

Sorry I haven't written in forever, I've been so busy and such with traveling, midterms, maintaining sanity and saving money. So my flatmate, Elli, from Finland has her best friend Hannah staying her with us for the last month until mid-december. She fucking rocks. Since we are the only single girls in the house now we stay up all night watching movies, drinking and telling stories of drunkness, cancer walking (that's what they call crab walking ha!) and her drunk grandpa. It's going to be sad when she goes, at least Elli decided to come back after winter instead of staying in Finland. I went with friends to gay bars because I thought it would be funny, but it stopped when I realized that out of all the people I was going with I was the minority... you know, it's rough being straight haha. Also we all had a lot of shit to do before midterms so gay adventures stopped.
Jack and Daniel came up two weekends ago, which was incredibly. I love Jack so much, he's my little boy haha. We are going to travel together this winter which should be interesting: Brussels, new years in Amsterdam, then Berlin. Last weekend my random friend Daphne whose from France, studying in Sevilla for the semester came up here to visit with her boyfriend. So much fun... I'm really glad we became friends. We met at my house in the valley this summer, she stayed for a week or so... not exactly sure on how that happened ha! But, you know... we always have frogs at our house over the summers. My dad has a lot of friends from France. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to Sevilla with David to visit her and I'll also go to her house for x-mas. Next week Switzerland. I'm going to stay with my mom's friend just outside of Geneva and then couch surfing in Bern and Zurich, should be fun. What else can I say. Things are going really well here definitely not ready to go home. So many travels planned, it's great but bad for the wallet. Celebrating the end of two weeks work for one class and midterm with a bottle of whiskey... which I haven't had in a long time, I know it's weird for me. Slightly overwhelmed with all the shite I gotta do. My heart is settled and I feel great, got off the meds and working to just explore myself. I've been writing a lot, definitely miss CCS in that aspect. I suppose that's all for now.

Monday night bars

Down at the dive bar
Down at the dive bar
A round of beers
A pack of smokes leaning against the wall

Confessions of lust,
A need to get laid
Stare at my tits, why don’t you?
Awkward feelings breed sarcasm
For the one girl in the dive.

Did you fuck him?
Of course I did. It’s your turn
To buy the beer

Nice going, but you can’t be
Exactly like us.

Why would I want to
be like
you?

All women do,
Nietzsche said so.

That’s out of context.

Ok back to my life: Chelsea and I went to this bar last night and spent the whole night hanging out with these old british people who were totally smashed, dancing, and singing way off tune. Apparently I joined a band called Burning Ice. This chica from Tennessee wants to jam with me now, she's lived here for the last five years going to law school only to quite and become a teacher. I told her to fuck law school and be a rock star. She's hilarious. We also met this really cute 30 yr old from Worschester (spelling?), Britain. He was really cool as well and we just got smashed and Chelsea and I swooned at his beauty. We also befriended the bartender, this Swedish girl named Frida who is really cool and gorgeous, despite the name. Over all the night was a success and really odd. The true alcoholics come out on Mondays, and who knew they'd be British! Chelsea and I are planning on giving Frida a ring on Wednesday and do it all over again, except she was working and we were smashed. Good times Chels... sorry for being ridiculous and thanks for letting my drunk ass pass out at your flat. I could not have made it back to Eixample from Born... too fucking far.

On another note... the poem above is inspired by my guy friends who insist that Nietzche is god, but god is dead! Oh I'm so clever jajaja. Ok bad joke, bad joke... apologies.

The Pros... and The Cons

Alright, the moment you've all been waiting for: what the hell happened in Italy? This whole trip has been so even-handed it's ridiculous.
Pro: Laura and I met at the train station in time to catch our train to Girona.
Con: Laura had no money whatsoever. Her american card was blocked and her spanish one had no money. So I had to pay for her until she could find a way to access her acounts
Pro: We checked in on time and the line wasn't a bitch like it usually is for Ryan Air.
Con: My plane ticket fell out of my pocket and we spent awhile looking for it. So annoying because that has never happened to me and I travel a lot and the plane was 20 min. from leaving.
Pro: The airport was able to get a new ticket for me and the plane waited for us.
Con: We had no way to contact anyone because I had not minutes on my mobile and Laura didn't have a phone. We were also too stupid to work the Italian pay phones and my mobile was also out of batteries.
Pro: We were able to charge my mobile at this area with tons of pay phones and a computer. Laura called Alvaro, our host, and he told us how to get into Rome because we were in Ciampino.
Con: Laura misunderstood an Italian and we took the wrong train one stop down and had to wait an hour in Casabianca otherwise known as buttfuck nowheresville.
Pro: We finally made it into Rome and caught the bus to Mancini to meet Alvaro. We didn't pay and it was ok, because I guess the Romans never pay for trams and buses anyway. Alvaro made us pasta and we had a minute to relax before bouncing off again.
Con: When we got to the train station the train to Lago Vico had already left so we had to wait an hour for the next train.
Pro: Alvaro bought us gelato which was fucking amazing and we spent the whole train ride playing hangman in different languages. We also got another Italian to join in! So random.
Con: Once we got to Vitterbo I had to piss like a race horse and had to pop a squat by the train station while waiting for some other couch surfers to pick us up. It was also incredibly cold and I only had a sweater for the night.
Pro: When we got to the lake we met all these awesome couch surfers for the CS Halloween party. 35 euro for meeting great people, an awesome dinner and a cabin on the lake. The dinner consisted of appetizers of bruschetta, artichoke paste on toast, beans on toast, and some meat appetizers that I didn't eat, obviously. Then second course was this awesome pasta with funghi (mushrooms). The meat eaters had meat or some crap in it as well. Main course for me was these awesome cheeses, potatoes, and grilled vegetables (everyone else was jealous because their meat was gross or something. Parmesian is heavenly Laura and I ate so much this weekend. Dessert was coffee and cookies. We partied all night with fairly good beer and shitty rum and made really great Italian and German friends in costume.
Con: We froze the rest of the night because Laura and I only had a sheet and a towel to sleep with and it was fucking cold. I got ill and was numb the entire night.
Pro: (picture left to right: Enzo, Stefano, Flavio, Valentina, Alvaro, and in the background is Emanuela.) Flavio, who organized the whole event, took us all on a wake around the lake and afterwards we all caravaned to this small town whose named escapes me. So awesome, we walked around and saw this old amphitheatre and church. Then we left to another lake to try to get lunch, but everything was closed because of All Saint's Day. But the lake was beautiful.
Con: I was starting to feel really ill and walking that much without eating was a little painful.
Pro: Emanuela drove us around Rome stopping at this beautiful lookout point, where we saw a view of the city. Orgasmic, despite me being ill. Then we went to the Olympic Stadium and saw the track field and statues with covered up penises.
Con: At this point I was dying. So I made everyone go home, because it was around 7 and I hadn't eaten and was moving all day. Also we had to wake up early for the Vatican.
Pro: Before going back to Alvaro's, Laura stopped at an ATM to see if she could withdraw and she was able to! She then paid me back the 80 euro she owed me. The next day we made our way to the Vatican at 8:45 to stand in the massive line. It was kinda fun because I was reading about Roman history and Laura and I had some good conversations.
Part one of the infamous Con: I decided to walk the line of the Vatican to see how far we had to go. On my way back I got accosted by two rude police officers. They asked if I was working or whatever and I said no. Then the one who couldn't speak English started sticking his grubby fascist hands in my backpack. I got really nervous because I've heard of fake cops stealing cameras from tourists and also real cops putting drugs in tourist bags and then arresting them. I asked him what he was doing and asked if what he was doing was legal. Neither of them said anything except for un minuti and tranquilo. They took out my notepad which had random quotes in it. Also a page of Laura's tally of what she owed me. Then the cops told me that I couldn't walk in the direction I was walking. At first I believed them, thinking I was supposed to walk in the direction of the line. Then, other people were walking the same direction as me and I told them that others were walking that way why can't I? The English-speaking cop only said that I couldn't be there and that the next time he saw me "We will take you down to our station". I said I was merely a tourist who wanted to see the Vatican and was walking back in line to my friend. My clothing attire was fine too. I was completely covered except for my hands and head.
Pro: So I stomped back to Laura, who I was actually able to find after a few circles, angry as sin and told her what happened. She was just as confused as I was. I said I was going to spit at them if I saw them again. We continued in the line and the cops where there! I told Laura and she wanted to take a picture of me flicking them off. So she did, but when we looked at the picture it was just my hand. So I said that I wanted to get a picture of them for kicks and handed her back her tour book so I could take a picture.
Part two of the infamous Con: The cops saw me taking the picture and one of them grabbed me by the arm and the other one took my camera. I asked them where they were taking me and they wouldn't answer. They threw me into one car and then another. I kept asking and finally one cop said that he would explain everything soon, which he didn't. Before we got to the station we had to stop so Italy cop two could buy some cigarettes. Once in the station they put me in a room. They kept coming in and out and saying stuff that didn't make sense or asking for my license. One other guy peered through the door and started speaking Italian. I said non capici italiano. Then he said some more stuff, in italian, I said, "what?" Then asshole cop one said something and then they left. Meanwhile, I'm freaking out and getting teary-eyed because I thought I was going to get kicked out of EAP because I'm not allowed to get arrested or they deport me. Then I was thinking that if they didn't, my parents would take me back regardless. I decided not to let these pricks get the better of me so I sucked it up and only shed a few tears (outside of their presence). I think they were pissed that I wasn't scared of them. They came back and asked me why I took a picture of them. I said that I was angry and wanted a souvenir. They made me delete the picture and gave me my camera back, thank god! Then they told me that I wasn't allowed to be in the Vatican and I asked why and they didn't answer except for saying, "We told you before." Then they asked if in the US cops are cops allowed to search you. I said yes but not without them telling you why and what for. They said that they did and I said that they didn't and then they tried to explain really choppily and I just said whatever it's been done what now. They searched my things again and were pretty pissed that I didn't have my guide book. I said it wasn't mine and I gave it back to Laura so I could take the picture. They soon left and came back with some forms and said sign or firma or whatever. I looked at them and asked what it was and all they said was yes. Then I said that I didn't understand and all they said was yes, sign. I wasn't able to leave unless I signed. So I did and they gave me a copy, which I had no clue until that night what it meant. They let me go and said that if they saw me in the Vatican again they 'd arrest me.
Pro: I went back to the Vatican to find Laura. To no avail I jumped the queue and zipped through the Vatican.
Con: The Vatican sucks. I didn't enjoy it because I was pissed off. Every room was crowded to the point where you really couldn't see anything at all. My camera died because of the bastard cops using up all the battery making sure they look hot in my photo or whatever.
Pro: I must admit that the Sistene Chapel is fucking amazing! So gorgeous, but still, crowded. I mucked around the city by myself. Shortly after leaving the museum I ran into some American tourist and they gave me their map, which was really nice of them. Luckily, Laura and I were supposed to meet at Piazza Spagna at 2-2:30 so I went there at around 1:30ish because I saw all that I wanted to see up to that point. While waiting for her. I had the most cliche American in Italy experience ever. I met a cute Italian who didn't speak any of the languages I did. He bought me coffee and took me on a moto ride all through out the city. So I got to see Piazza Venezia and the Coleseum and other parts of the ancient city on a moto! Then we stopped in a park and smoked some hash and hung out a bit. I felt so much better than I had before. He took me back to Spagna at 3:15 and his friends invited me out that night. I was over it and had other plans, but eh whatever... I'm always a bitch like that to boys I don't care that much about. I know, I should work on it.
Con: Fucking camera! No battery so I could not capture some of the awesome memories. Also after walking around the city so much alone made me a little lonely. I went to an internet cafe to see if Laura had sent me anything. I had so much time before 9, which is when we were supposed to meet Alvaro in Trastevere. It was dark and I was in some shady areas so I decided to go early to Trastevere to see if I could find some cool people to hang out with. After all, I was entitled... I saw all of Rome in one day!
Pro: So in the Piazza by the church I saw these guys playing guitar and singing and I was totally stoked on it. They were really good. So I stopped and listened and they kinda gave me some funny looks, but I was thinking whatever, I want to listen so fuck off. They were actually really cool and we spent a lot of time singing and talking. Laura soon found me there which was great. I told her what happened and asked her to translate whatever it was that the cops gave me. The italians looked at it and started laughing and telling me that the Vatican cops are generally retarded and that I shouldn't pay it. Pay? So they gave me a ticket for 103.30 euro for being an obusive tour guide without authorization! Insanity. We exchanged e-mails and they parted. Laura and I proceeded to buy and drink mass quantities of wine while waiting for Alvaro.
Con: Freezing and Alvaro was late. Laura wanted to show pictures but couldn't find her camera. It was nicked! Poor thing. Slightly accosted by drunk idiot that wanted our wine.
Pro: Awesome dinner of pizza, wine, veggies for real cheap. Met up with some American students studying in Rome, while waiting for our bus.
Con: My money fell out of my bra so I became very poor :(
Pro: Went to Valentina's show... so rad. She sang with a group of people while others were doing interpretive dance. Afterwards we went to a bar and hung out with all our new CS friends. They helped a lot trying to sort out my ticket. They appologized for their country profusely which was sweet. Laura picked up this guy who turned out to be an off duty cop and he said that he never saw anything so ridiculous and told me to go to the embassy to get rid of it and that I shouldn't have to pay.
Ok, I'm so done with writing now. The rest of the trip was pretty cool. We met Laura's hot friend in Pisa and his cool friend from England. What a weekend!

Italy

Couch surfing... I love it. I met so many great people on Tuesday at the CS party by the lake in Rome. Really awesome people. We had dinner and talked a lot with everyone. Wednesday we walked around the lake and toured a little of the countryside seeing an amphitheatre. Pretty fucking cool. Yesterday was the most odd day ever. Rome is beautiful and all the people are nice except for the cops! I got arrested... yes, I know, Alyse got arrested. I leave some suspence for you all, because I am at an internet cafe and cannot really spend more money here. But it is actually fucking ridiculous what happened. More to come, I promise. Tomorrow: Pisa. Woo!

What a Wonderful Life

Yes, a movie I have yet to see... but I feel like I'm living it now without the Christmas bit. So this past week has been absolutely odd. First off I've had the weirdest schedule of not sleeping for two days and then sleeping an entire day. Wednesday night I went out with Tal and David to Mojito and soon after, because it was Wednesday, we ended up meeting Laura at my place and just getting more smashed until like 5 am. Then Laura and I marched up to the Comeseria to wait 5.5 hours to register with the fucking Spanish government as students. Not to mention we were still pretty drunk at 5:30 am. Instead of going home and passing out, like I should've, at 11 I went to class. Then to work and when I got home there was a couch surfer waiting for me. For those of you who don't know what couch surfing is, it is a website where people all over the world can find friends and places to crash while traveling. So Toni, my couch surfer, was waiting for me and I was practically dead. He's a great guy who is traveling around Europe on his bicycle and making money by playing accordian in the streets! Unbelievable. So, we've had a great time together this past weekend and we might link up in Rome, which is both of our next destinations tomorrow. So I was exhausted and not in the mood for guests at all! Especially since my flatmates don't know about couch surfing, which made for a bit of an awkward experience. Most of Friday I slept or at least until 2pm (about 14 hours). Then Toni and I walked around Passeig de Gracia and I showed him La casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera. Laura, soon after, called me wanting to go to the Champagneria, a place where you can get cheap food and, more importantly, cheap champagne! Around 2-3 euro a bottle, yes a bottle. We had three between the three of us! Then we went off to Mily's house to drink more and go to Shoko and Catwalk, two very pijo clubs by the beach. Mily got us in for free in both of them, which saved us a good 30 euro each! Eventually I got tired, yes I know... but I had to wake up at 7 Saturday so you know. We got home at 5am and I passed out at 6ish waking up an hour later then going to the uni to meet everyone because we were all off on a grand exurscion! Ok, not that grand but it was pretty damn cool. First we piled into a bus and went to El Monasterio de Sant Pere de Rodes which is absolutely gorgeous. The view was amazing... the tour, however super boring. Prof. Losado, a sweet old man came with us but he kinda sounds like Ben Stein but with a quieter voice! Os tio! It was impossible to pay attention even though he was saying interesting things. One really cool thing was the rocks in the crypt. People would spend hours crying on these rocks praying to false relics for a miracle cure for whatever had ailed them or their loved ones. They are filled with so much hope and sadness it was so beautiful to see. They don't look like much, but try to picture it. It's absolutely amazing. JQ, Nick, and I wondered off to the top of the monastery to smoke and then I got coffee... running on an hour of sleep, it's necessary. Anyway, this is getting long and I have loads more to say. We went to the Dali museum in Figueras which is always great. Being in his house is like being in a new world of surreal magic. It's unbelievable this guy's work and such, he's so amazing! The works I'll show you speak for themselves...

Ok so after the long drive back to Barcelona, I bolted back to my house to quickly change and grab my ticket to MUSE!!!!!! How fucking awesome! By the time we all got back it was 7:30pm and I was still running on one hour of sleep. So I jetted over to Kirsten's piso where she, Natalia, Colette, and I got smashed... well, enough to be happy until Muse made us happier. The concert was perfect! They played so amazingly and, not to mention, everyone and their mother were there. I couldn't believe it... I really needed some amazing live music to boost the glum out of me... and the exhaustion. I loved every minute of it and they played the best songs. It's amazing what three people can do to a crowd of avid listeners. After a few hours of constant musical orgasm I took the metro home, made some pasta, and passed the fuck out. This time sleeping for 16 hours! Holy shit on a stick. About two hours later Chelsea came over so for me to cut her hair and then the rest of the night Toni and I just talked and played a little music. Phew!

Well, tomorrow morning I leave with Laura to Roma, where we are staying... we still don't know! Wish me luck... bad enough that Laura's insane and not responsible. It should be some wild weekend. Aside from above stated, Laura and I get on very well and I'm really stoked on traveling with her... just a little scared. Toni is also going to Rome because he needs to catch a ferry to Sardinia or Sicily. So he's taking an entire day to get to Rome by boat, whereas Laura and I will be there in two hours or so by plane! Oh well... until next time my little ones!

God Dammit

Last Monday I went to an Erasmus party with my flatmate and her Argentinan friend. Erasmus is the foreign exchange student program for Europe. So we went and I met a really cute Italian. Long story short Elli, Mali, and I went back to our piso and Mali, the Argentinan, kinda forced his way into my room and the rest of this week I've been the butt of many jokes because he's a little ridiculous. Blah anyway, more importantly, last night was fabulous. Laura and I went to Gracia to meet up with Elli and her friends from Finland. After drinking around Gracia with our box of Don Simon we finally found them. Laura soon after left to chill with Mily and Lorena. I stayed and as we were walking home down Passeig de Gracia we ran into Kirsten, Natalia, Chelsea and Jon Jew. So I left the Finnish to hang out with them. We hung out briefly and then parted. I waited with Chelsea to get her a cab, because she lives in Born and that's far from Gracia. This guy came up and asked for a light so he can roll a porro. He smoked us out and then Chelsea got her cab and I walked home. Then Laura calls me at quarter to 12 and tells me to get over to Mily's pronto. I get up and throw on clothes and get to Mily's all discombobulated and everyone there is still partying from the night before boozing it up etc. We stayed until four and the went back. Lorena and Mily are fucking great... sweetest craziest girls ever. I'll have to get pics of them next time. They were surprised at how young I am, thinking I was 25. I, as usual, was the baby of the crowd. All in all a successful time. I don't know if I'll be partying tonight because I'm still disorientated from partying this afternoon. By the bye, sorry for the drunk dial Mira, but I love you too much not to! Besos a todos.

Madrid

Wow, I've got so much to tell. I've got to start writing more often! Anyway, so Tal and I left Wednesday night to Madrid for a 7.5 hour bus ride. Unfortunately the ride was ridiculously long and we were delayed 4.5 hours in the middle of nowhere an hour and a half away from Madrid. We were sitting in the front with the door of the bus open and were freezing because it was like 5 am.

Finally they brought a tow truck and took us to a gas station where we were delayed the last hour. We finally made it to Madrid after 12 hours! Our only salvation was when we got on the metro and made a friend that we called Esteban and he looks like this:


For some reason this is absolutely hilarious to me. Is he dancing? Falling? Retarded? What the fuck? Anyway the remainder of our weekend was absolutely amazing. We had so much fun; Madrid is fucking amazing. It's kinda like the NYC of "E"spain. I almost wish I went there instead of Barca, but I'd probably be saying the same if the situ was reversed. We did a lot of random walking through the city, so beautiful and perfect weather. The first night we were to zonked to do anything so we just ate Chinese and went to a pub to play some pool, then passed the fuck out.

Friday we went to El Prado. Wow... that's pretty much all I can say in it's amazement. I fell in love with a Rembrandt painting and a Goya one that helped me succeed in making Tal think I'm more strange and crazy. I had to go back and look at them again after we finished the entire museum. Afterwards we went to a street called Fuencarral which is very similar to Melrose. I love streets like that so it was awesome. That night Tal and I had a lovely date. I should say "date" rather. We went to tapas in Plaza Mayor (oldest part of Madrid) and spent about 50 euros! We both learned valuable lessons: Tal doesn't like veal and Alyse can't eat Sopa de Ajo because it has meat in it and makes her vomit! At least the Sangria was good. We totally splurged, but it's all good because we didn't pay for dinner the night before and we got free drinks the rest of the night. We went to the hostal where Jon Jew, Brooke, Alan and Nacho were staying. Then got pretty smashed drinking and smoking hookah. Laura and some other Chicago girls were there and we had a wonderful time. Alan and I bonded over speaking Spanish and cute boys...

Laura was couch surfing and her host was throwing a party so we all went and it was absolutely amazing. The flat was full of madrilenos and looked almost like an art gallery with loads of books and paintings everywhere. We got trashed and made funny faces and had odd conversations all night. Also, we were smoking on the balcony and across the way there was a magical blue light coming from a window where the blinds were half shut. We stared into it like hungry mosquitos until suddenly appeared the thrusting upper body of a male figure with female-like legs on his shoulders. Ok enough with the crappy prosey description. Basically, wasted we were watching people having sex and laughing hysterically. It was hilarious.

Later we were loitering downstairs and Alan and I were talking about something that wasn't important and started making out because we were bored or something... I don't know I was drunk. It was incredibly awkward because who in the right mind makes out with a homosexual? Whatever it was funny, and it probably hadn't been the first and won't be the last, I'm sure. I'm so weird. Whatever, what else are gay friends for anyway? We walked all the way back to Jack's flat and Danille made us some pasta... of course the Italian makes the Americans pasta so cliche. I swear it was the best pasta ever!

The following day we were so hungover it took us all day to get out of the house in which case we walked around Madrid and the caught the bus back to Barca. Thank god it went smoothly and we had plenty of room to stretch out. Phew. Thus ends this episode of Alyse in wondrously wonderful wonderland.

Ok ok

Alright I've finally decided to write again. It's been a struggle since this blogger thing has been on the fritz lately. Ok so, I'm going to skip over Thurs. night. Friday I was super hung over and stayed in all day and then tried to get tickets to Madrid with Tal at the train station only to find out that they were completo! So we went back to my house bought cheap bus tickets (over seven hours traveling yikes!) and then got greasy Chinese food. We separated for a few hours and then met up again. We were supposed to go to Razzmatazz with Kirsten, Natalia, and Jenny. First we had to get Jon Jew and pre-drink. Instead of making it down to the club, we just got buzzed and really fucking high... ridiculous. Then we thought it would be a good idea to make hummus because Jon Jew had garbanzos and his dad who was visiting brought him tahini from Israel. It was a true disaster. Tal, who can't cook for shit was just staring at us eating fruit salad and occasionally feeding me some while I was being traumatized by the garlic I was cutting. It was so much fun. Tal and I left Jon Jew's house at like 5 am and on the way home these two guys came up to us and in slurred spanish asked where there was a place open to get something to drink. This guy had to be on E or something, there was no way he was just drunk. Of course this awkward creepiness occured right at the split point for Tal and I, but I made Tal walk with me farther because those guys were shady motherfuckers and I've had too many run-ins with those these last few weeks.

Saturday I was supposed to wake up earlier than normal and go to the beach with Ocea. So much for that, I woke up at 2:45 because Laura texted me saying that her couch surfer was here and she wanted me to come over for a wine and cheese party at 5:30. It was awesome, we bought plates upon plates of tapas and it was the best feast ever. The night after that was a little but of a disaster. We went back to my house to change and to then go to a club in Gracia. Tal texted me wanting to come out with us, but we didn't get to his house until 2! So he was pissed at me, as usual. Then we didn't even go into the club. After we walked down Passeig de Gracia to find some food. Craig was desperate for a Kebab house, which doesn't exist in Spain, just shwarma... damn New Yorkers! There was nothing open so Craig and Laura soon after hopped on the bus to go home and Tal and I were left to search for something to do at 4 am. Everything was closed, but we were so awake and desperate. So we found these clubs on Aribau and I asked in my best sweetest American voice to ask how much it costs (in English) of course we got in for free, because we are just dumb "tourists" and spent until 7 am dancing and making fun of the electronica music by dancing ridiculously. After a few songs this drunk guy decided to get all over me... bah! He was cute at least. The club closed and he wanted me to go home with him, I had barely gotten his name and was beginning to curse Tal for disappearing to the bathroom. I was able to get away and we went across the street to this bar. I found ten euro on the ground and we bought some beers. As soon as we sat down we see a restaurant across from us called "Kebab House" how ironic. We took a picture to show Craig later. We were so persistent on the fact that it didn't exist! Then we left and went home as the night was a success.

Sunday I woke up at 5 and lounged around watching TV. Craig stayed the night because Laura needed to get shit done and we just had a mellow evening of drinking wine and watching TV. Some weekend eh? Well, I finally have pictures for you. To the left is the lake in front of Buckingham Palace and the Palace on the right, got to love gloomy London weather eh? Here are my cousins Josh and Aron before going out. So cute! and look nothing like me... haha. The other pic is of Josh's friends, Paul and Dom, and me.



Ok, here is one of my favs! My cousin David has kids now! So ridiculous, I still can't get over it. He's been a bachelor until 40 and now kids! I know he had kids last time I saw him two years ago, but I still can't get over it. Especially since he didn't come to my cousin Zach's Bar Mitzvah in April, because he comes to Every family event, but now he has kids! Ok I'm done complaining.

The one on right is Emily and Dominic, old old family friend. Their so big now, well at least Dom. Last time I saw him he was half his size. He's so cute and might be coming with Jo to Barca to visit. Emily, some of you might remember when she was in LA before she got sent off to boot camp in Utah. By the bye, Jo has written a book about it and my family and I are in it. If you get the chance pick it up, it's called Laughing Star by Jo Nisbet and it comes out October 15. Get it on Amazon! Do it, if you still want to be my friend! Bah! Off to Madrid tonight to see Jackie Pumpkin King! Nalani if you are reading this, you know who I'm talking about cuz... hahaha!

London Calling

I've tried to post like three times already and it's being really obnoxious, so I'm not going to write too much. I went to London last weekend and it was awesome to see the cousins and my mom's best friend Joana. It quelled a bit of the homesickness. I went out with Josh and Aron saturday night and I got some old, drunk Columbian to buy us drinks just by asking him for a light! How random. Ok, I'm going to see if this posts and then I'll write more.

LONDON

I have so much to say and such little time to write it. Two days ago I spent the afternoon with Peter Pan and I learned so much. He is such a great guy, I´m so glad we became friends. We talked about everything. I´ll elaborate later. Yesterday, I went out and about with Natalia, the one who put me up the first few days I was here. She´s venezuelan, 39 and absolutely stunning. It was good to see her. Tonight it´s off to London with Tal. I´ll hopefully write there when I get a chance. Finally bought a new camara!

Merce

God I love this city. I just got home from last night, it's 8pm! Ok well, I crashed at Jenny's at around I don't know, 6ish? Anyway, her flatmates smoke hash constantly so I was pretty baked and a bit buzzed. We went to the forum and listened to some awesome music. It started raining and we were singing and dancing on steps overlooking a huge crowd of umbrellas and lights. Amazingly gorgeous. Seba and Liv were so cute, dancing and smoking. Nacho chilled with his umbrella and violin... he's beautiful, from Argentina. So much fun.

Friday night was similar Tal, Jon Jew and I went to Keren's house for a Rosh Hashanna dinner, twas adorable. They made a huge feast. Aftwerards we went to Chris's house for his party and I finally met his girlfriend. She's gorgeous and really nice... to cute for him. Then Allie, Laura and Joseph and I went to the forum to listen to french rap.... blah blah blah I'm done typing.

Bikini

Wow, so two nights ago Laura and I went to bikini, a really posh club that's about 15 to get in, but we got in for free! We had been drinking quite a bit of rum and were dancing up a storm. Within in the first 10 minutes of being there some cute guy grabbed me and we started dancing then making out and then we got each others names... so random. Anyway, I think he's in love with me now and I'm terrified... ok not really but me being such a commitment-phobe you can only imagine. Oh well. Laura is trying to get me to see him again, but err... we'll see. I'm not too keen, maybe I'm more hung up on a boy back home more than I thought. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I made out with his friend too, at the same time! Ok, I felt a little whorish, but who doesn't do stupid things while traveling or in their youth. Anyway, Laura was jealous and she told me that I'm such a goody-two-shoes, which I am... well... at heart at least. All in all it was quite an adventure. And I going to repeat my famous line... well famous according to one of my flatmates last year, I gotta quite boys and drinking for awhile. Matt, if you're reading this, I hate you cuz you're right! haha.

Chris and his girlfriend are throwing a party and Laura and I are going to go. I finally get to meet this famous chica. I want to bring the other girls too but Chris and Peter Pan hate them and vice versa. People are so funny with their minor hang-ups, they hardly know each other and have such strong judgments.

Waiting for class

I´ve got an hour to kill and I thought I´d write in the blog. Last night I had Jenny, Kirsten and Natalia come over for dinner. It was a success, my first real dinner party. I made onion soup, rice and salad (hey, we´re all vegetarians with the exception of Kir and onion soup rocks so let it lie man, let it lie). Nat brought the wine and Kir brought chocolate.... mmmm. We had fun, hopefully we´ll make this a weekly event.

My house is beautiful. I know I´ve been here for awhile but I didn´t really have the time to actually get a feel for it and a good look around. mmm, glory. Oooo and yesterday I saw two cute gay boys make-out... ah young love... so sexy.

The festival of Merce is this weekend so that´s going to be wild, it´s baisically a drunken party in the streets with music and shows, kinda like the Gracia festival. That should be interesting. I´m going to try and get another camara soon so I can post pictures of my place and flatmates.

Lack of internet

Ok, so I haven´t written in a while because I don´t have internet at my place for the next 15 or so days... judging by Spanish time, lord knows when. I´m on campus now and I was supposed to have my first class at 3 but the professor is sick so I don´t have class Woo!

ILP is finally over, thank god. Finals were a pain, almost fell asleep during the last one. I still have a paper to write on Todo sobre mi madre and that´ll be the last of ILP forever. I hope the finals went more so in my favour, but we´ll see.

The weekend was great. Thursday night I went out with Chris, Peter Pan, and their two friends and they bought me a lot of whiskey... mmm. Chris is excited, because his girlfriend supposedly came on sunday so all thrusday he kept talking about how happy he was to finally start getting laid on a more consistent basis and then proceded to tell me that I need to find a hot spanish boy who´s great in bed. Thanks for making life a little more awkward Chris. I somehow managed to convince him after great effort that i´m fine right now and that sort of thing will come along eventually or whatever. Later that night I made the mistake of walking home alone completely sloshed and barely able to walk. Basically, let´s just say that bad things could´ve happened, but I´m alright and completely intact. Although, I´m not going to tell the boys what happened because they´d be pissed they let me walk home alone... i suppose i can be convincing when i´m drunk. Friday was boringish and not really worth typing about.

Saturday I went out with Celia and Ellie, my roommates, their friends and my friend Ocea from the residencia. it was fun, there was a cute boy named Albert but he was kind of a douche so nothing passed. Sunday during the day Jenny invited me to a ¨drug¨ party, odd. When we got there there were three people passed out in coma-like states. You could tell they´d been on a three day coke binge. It was pretty funny. Laura was awake, still drunk, and yayed out... reminds me of home. ok, not really. There were no drugs left, which was good because i probably would´ve done them without really wanting to. Coke sucks. Too many friends gone down the tubes with that one.

Last night Ellie and I went to a beach party for a few hours and that was cool. Then we went home and that´s that. Oh and I never want to go to IKEA again... bah. Spent too much time there thurs and sat trying to buy/return crap... thanks to Tal, who owes me like 50€ now. Whatever. England in two weeks!!! WOooo. I´ll try to keep you posted despite the lack of internet.

Sunday Blues

Last night everyone was being lame and no one wanted to go out, probably because of the ridiculous amount of homework that we have due tomorrow. But come on, it's a holiday... Catalunya holiday. Anyway I managed to convice Jenny to come out and play. One of my roommates texted me about some beach party. So we were going to go there, but her directions were so horrible that it took us forever to find something. We ended up not finding the place, she went home and we were stuck in buttfuck-nowheres-ville. The metro was closed and there were no taxis in sight or humans for that matter. We finally got one and had the driver take us to Plaza del Sol so we could save the night... that was the mission. Accomplished very successful. Jenny and I got smashed and we had long talks about nothing. The bar closed and we wandered the streets looking for another one. We then ran into this group of skeazy spaniards and went reluctantly to a bar. We got chupitos, got really drunk, and ditched the creeps. There's something wrong with someone who's thirty-three and is interested in a 20yr old! Whatever, it was a kosher night. After that we wandered the streets some more trying to walk all the way from Gracia to L'Eixample, baisically several miles. Got to my apartment and passed the fuck out. Woke up late ran errands ate a an amazing vegan restaurant went back to the dorms did homework and now I'm going out again. Peace!

Crazy Nights

Friday night was a lot more fun. I jetted home from the dorms, changed and jetted back to meet my friends. Mira called me during this process and it was so comforting, I knew I was going to have a great night. Once I got to the dorms Tal wanted me to shave his head, which was hilarious because he had to stick his head out of the 6-story window and the clippers were JQ's who uses them not for his head, but for "other areas".

Anyway, we left to Mond Bar in Plaza del Sol where I stayed very briefly. I met a cute Spanish punk named Guillem, "William". I went with him and his friends to La Macarena, a club off La Rambla that plays techno non-stop. These Euros and their techno, honestly! So the cover was 5 euro, but we managed to get in for 10 for five of us. Drinks were expensive, but I wasn't planning on getting smashed because I wanted my Spanish to hold up and my brain to keep functioning. The rest of my gang showed up at La Macarena at 4:30ish, but were unable to get in so they walked to the metro and waited for it to open, I guess.

We danced all night and then Guillem walked me home. We stayed up until 6:30ish, then I made him go home. Because, that's what I do. :P I can't cope with cuddling with people I don't know. I guess I'm just an odd girl, most of my friends are cuddle-sluts and can do that. Perhaps I see it as something more intimate. I can't feel comfortable. There's supposed to be a magical connection between two bodies, if you don't know the person, than it's nothing more than an awkward empty shell. I have no problem cuddling with my guy friends, but some random hookup? Negative. Last night I crashed in Kirsten's dorm room and she brought home this super cute Spaniard and he stayed the night (no, they didn't have sex with me two feet away!). I guess I see physical pleasure as something completely different than emotional connection. Both can coexist in the same person, but they can also be completely separate. Anyway, I've exhausted this subject and I need to write my essay for Cultura.

Blech

Ok, so ILP is almost over. Thank god, it's miserable hell. We have a five page paper to write by tuesday, all in Spanish. I think Wednesday was the most hilarious day in class ever. We've all given up. In first period, Catalan, Tal put an ant on my paper and I decided to make it my pet. It's name was Sally. So Sally was chillin on my workbook, and crawling around my hands and then all of a sudden she just stopped and died! I was so upset but Tal and Jon Jew were laughing at me, saying that that would only happen to me. I guess it is kind of odd to make friends with an ant, but she was so sweet. Anyway, I was upset and the rest of class Tal, Kirsten, and I just dicked around.

Thursday I ditched because, fuck ILP, I did absolutely nothing, it was fabulous. Oh I did move into my new place, pretty awesome. Last night sucked because my phone died and I was all alone on La Rambla getting hassled by all sorts of weirdos. Although, one good thing about last night is that I got to talk to my brother. I still have to unpack and I don't have internet, which is why I'm back at the dorms chillin waiting for free shitty food. Hopefully, tonight would be better, although I did put a good dent in the book I'm reading.

All in all, you guys need to show me some love, because it's lonely in the big city.

The Weekend

This weekend was awesome... Friday night, mostly wandering and heart to hearts with Tal and Jenny. We went to Chupitos which is Spanish for "shots". The shots were only 1.50 and very tasty.






I got drunk, again! I can't keep up with these Spaniards, they're fucking nuts! The top picture from left to right there is Rachel, friend from home; the infamous Jenny; me; and finally Natalia. We made her take a lot of shots.

The most fun was Saturday night. It was Quenton's last night before he goes back to Paris to wait 6 days to screw his girlfriend, at least that's what he kept saying. His friends were pretty damn cute, especially the 22 year-old Italian. We kissed, but the stupid Belgium we called Mr. Waffles yanked him away! It's all good though, he must've been jealous because he was clinging to Italy most of the night. Anyway, Italy has my number, but I don't think he'll call. Oh well, not exactly looking for anything anyway, especially since I'm a little hung up on people back home. Besides, I'd rather no skeazy Italians... j/k. Here's Quenton and his boys plus Rachel toward the end of the night after a few shots of Absinth. We'll miss you Quenton! It goes Christian (Italy), Quenton, Hennes (Germany), Rachel, Giome (Mr. Waffles) and all the way in the back is Chris.

Here's another one, Chris is in the middle and Quenton as La Oveja Negra. How flipping hilarious is here, I swear we were joking about it the entire night. Here's a better one of Italy with Quenton and half of Jon aka Peter Pan's head. Until next time, my dears.

Pictures Finally

Phone Number

Ok so for those of you who want to call me my phone number is 011.34.671.446.192. Remember 9 hrs ahead. I'll post my address later, when I find out my zip. Cheers.

TOMATINA!!!

Ok, I swear to god next blog will have pictures. So Rachel came on Monday to visit so we are cramped three people with several suitcases in a tiny ass dorm, swell. It's actually not that bad sharing a twin with her, she doesn't flail around. I'm glad she's here, I feel more at home. Although now I miss Nic, because I saw all the pics of her and him in Germany.

Anyway the last few days have been awesome. Monday night we went out and I got crazy smashed. We met this chill bartender who must've been like 50 and she gave us absinth shots and we got crazy drunk and stayed up all night, making school on Tuesday very interesting. Either way it was a fabulous bonding moment since it was Quenton and David's first time hanging out with us. Absolutely hilarious. John/Peter Pan (my nickname for him since he's 28 and doesn't want to grow up) couldn't finish his absinth and almost puked so I hand to man up and take the rest of his shot! He won't live that down. So Chris and Chelsea wondered off and ended up drinking an entire pitcher of sangria between the two after already being smashed. Basically they didn't make it to class on Tuesday which is no good since we were all skipping Wednesday for La Tomatina. Jenny got separated and found some guy, first one here to get laid! Go Jenny. This girl is insane, but I like insanity. Class sucked ass on Tuesday, coffee helped a lot.

TOMATINA
Ok so we had to be at Plaza Cataluna at 4:30 am to take the bus to Bunol, a city just outside of Valencia for La Tomatina, which is basically a giant tomato fight. Exhausted, we all mounted the bus passed out and woke up uncomfortable wanting drinks pretty badly. Before we left the bus we drank some boxed wine and had a swig of Cuban rum, which is fantastic. We walked to some dive bar where the bartender was super trashed and bought a shot of J&B. Natalia and Kara asked for vodka shots but he poured them whiskey and they were not down so he gave them to Jenny and me for free.

Walking down toward the festival we saw a cerveza puesto and bargained for 1 euro beers. So after not really sleeping all night and not eating Jenny and I were pissed drunk. So instead of an actual tomato fight it was more of a mosh pit with thousands of sweaty, tomatoy people awkwardly smashed together. Not to mention the huge trucks that smashed us against the walls of the alleyways showering us with tomatos. We all were ankle deep in tomato slosh, lost shoes and shirts, and god knows what else. The whole experience was amazing and disgusting. Rachel was laughing at me histerically because I got dumped on hard core.

We managed to get our way out, bummed a cigarette, got another few 1 euro beers, took off our shirts because they were disgusting, and tried to find people we know. I saw Quenton, who looked clean, which made me mad so I tried to get him with the tomato slosh on the ground, but since he was sober, he got away. Chris came by and was blabbing about something or other so I thought it would be a good idea to shove tomato slosh in his face. Hilarious, he got me back pretty damn good though.

Jenny, Rachel, and I washed up as best we could in the river and also got hosed down a few times by the locals. We met some local guys and Jenny flirted to get us drinks. We hungout with them, practicing Spanish until we found this absolutely gorgeous guy. He must have been a god, the most beautiful person I've ever seen! His name is Dani, swoon. Unfortunately, we needed to catch the bus so we couldn't stay long. Although, we did score his e-mail.

Drunk as hell we passed out on the bus until we stopped at an Autocar, a super expensive truck stop where Kirsten and Jenny stole a bunch of food. Still drunk, back on bus. Seriously, is it actually possible for someone to be drunk from 11 to 9pm on how little we drank? I guess with no sleep or food it is... maybe we did drink that much. Whatever, the best part about the whole day was showering!

Lazy Days

Really bad headache right now. Ok, so I'm going to put up pictures eventually. I lost my camera last drunken friday night so I was too depressed to write or upload pics etc. The Casa Mila/Pedrera is absolutely beautiful and very intricate. The Sagrada Familia is unbelieveable, words cannot describe how amazingly detailed and gorgeous it is. Fundacio de Joan Miro sucks... probably because I'm not a fan of Miro's art. Still Friday field trip was awesome. Saturday I was recluse, sulking about my camera. Sunday, apartment shopping. I found a place that I really liked with three other girls. Although, I am a little worried because it's going to be my first time living with all girls! My room is pretty big with a desk and a queen bed (hard to come by). Also I got some really good alone time walking around the city. Rachel flew in from Berlin yesterday and we went to some bars last night. It's nice to have someone from home here. Alright, I should do homework inside of writing this.

Long Story

Ok so the last few days have been pretty intense. You might have to humour me here because I just smoked some awesome Spanish hashish and somehow managed to burn part of my right eyelashes... ya, I feel like a retard but that's ok. Anyway, on wednesday night we went to Montjuic (hill of jews! ha) for a firework festival thinger. We went to a bar, sat outside and drank a pitcher of really good sangria, then Larissa and I went to the bathroom in the place got a free shot of whiskey from the cute bartender. Then we all ended up going done to Gracia and partied in the street some more. Danced with this old spanish drug dealer named francisco who smoked us all out. Larissa flirted with some old business men, Jenny kept trying to get free drinks, some girls left to pop a squat, everyone was dancing and drinking. Fun stopped when Jenny couldn't stand. so basically i've recounted this event so many times i'm gonna make this real short: i ended up having to ride in an ambulance to take Jenny to the hospital and stayed up all night in the waiting room where they never told me that they released her in the morning. Sleeped in all day yesterday, woke up at 4:30 and went with Tal to grab some food. So drama in the dorms occured when everyone came back from classes because of jenny's stupidity. I'll post pictures later. Today we went to a bunch of awesome museums... anyway i'll write more when i'm more capable.

Fiesta de La Gracía

Ok so Saturday night was so rockin’ except for getting stuck in the metro for half an hour with drunken French guys screaming incomprehensible words and lighting up cigarettes and joints in the flipping train! I went with a few friends from the dorms to Gracía which is a local festival where many of the barrios (neighborhoods) dress up the streets in different decorations. Each calle has a theme, a bar, and a live band. Herds of people wander the streets of Barcelona trashed and dancing. The street that one first prize was decked out in alien paper maché and plastic figures with a giant motorcycle in the front. Third place had beautiful carved lanterns and lights hanging from the home-made ceilings, and the band was playing Irish music. We went to the main stage in some random plaza and talked to this guy named Nacho for a long time. He was really sweet, but difficult to understand because he had a very thick Spanish accent. We wandered around some more and went to this one street where there was this awesome band playing catchy Spanish music and random American songs like Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life, which was perfectly cliché for the amount of debauchery we are all about to embark upon in the upcoming year. Drenched in sweat we danced the night away with people shooting water guns into the crowd. Kirsten and I got mobbed by a Spaniard and an Italian while Allie and Natalia laughed and took pictures. Shortly thereafter we decided to ditch our creepy foreigners. The city is beautiful and people of all ages where partying in the streets drinking cerveza and having a good time. Although I woke up incredibly late Sunday evening (5:45 pm) it was well worth it.

I have arrived

Ok, so I'm in Barcelona, Spain right now. It's absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, about to go to dinner so real quick. If you want to contact me another way aside from blog, e-mail, myspace, facebook, etc. there is a program called Skype that you can get for free on download.com and you can talk to people all over the world for free! You do need a microphone or a webcam if you don't have either there is a chat function. My skype name is aspeyer77. Much love to you all.


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