Adventure is Out There!

     We had our first day of classes today.  My Spanish class was not what I had hoped for; it's me and one other girl in the class.  Also, it's lower than what I need to get credit for back home.  So I am essentially retaking Spanish 2.  My psychology class is great, I love my professor.  So I'm hopeful.     We have the day trip to Tarragona tomorrow which is apparently in southern Spain or something. Pringles here are twice as salty as back home, it's great! :) Food is really good; it's mostly all fresh stuff, not a lot of processed or chemicalized food.  There are a lot of open-air markets here, which I am excited about visiting.  Surprisingly I am not sore from the hike yesterday.  I am tired though from going out last night and being out tonight.  We were at a club called Shoko, or the  discoteca , and a guy threw me in the ocean!  It was refreshing after being packed in a hot room with sweaty people,...

     I went on a five mile hike today, which in itself does not sound all that impressive.  However, what you don't know is that it was up the side of a mountain.  The Serra de Collserola is a mountain range that separates Barcelona from the Vallès plain, and like the place to hike up to for a great view.  The highest peak is Tibitabo, 512 meters. So naturally, my program decided we should all hike up it in ninety degree weather.  We all know that Erin does not do the outdoors.  I like animals, I hate bugs and dirt; so this hike sounds right up my alley.  We hiked pretty much all the way to the top; it took about two -  two and a half hours.  Here was the view from our first stop: By the time we reached the second stop, w e couldn't breathe, the heat was so stifling.   And it only got steeper from there.  8 km of sweat, blood and tears.  No joke.  But we made it and the view was totally ...

     Finally made it! I'm all settled into my room, my roommate is nice. And as I sit here, waiting and wondering if Brianne is going to come because I have absolutely no way of getting in touch with her, I start to cry. Which is really silly and I know that, yet I sit here and cry anyway. Because all of a sudden it is so very real that I am alone in a foreign country. I have no way of getting in touch with Brianne because there are no cell phones and I don't know if she has wifi or not... I realize that despite my best efforts, I am terrified of anything unfamiliar. I am so very alone and lost. -      -      -      -     -      I now realize, about six hours later, that my crying was a combination of stress, heat, exhaustion and panic.  In my defense, I haven't slept in about thirty hours, took two flights and traipsed all over an enormous city today. I'm not proud of that meltdown and may ...

      I must have unpacked and repacked about eight times in the past two days.  Today I tried to weigh my suitcase on a fairly unreliable, old scale.  It claimed my suitcase weighed about sixty-seven pounds.  The weight limit is fifty.  So I took out a few things (majority liquids) and weighed in again.  This time it was sixty-three pounds.  Better but not good enough.  Moved two pairs of shoes to my carry-on which now weighs about twenty-five pounds on its own.  Reweighed the bag.  I did this about four more times, taking out less and less.  I'm pretty much at the point where there is nothing extra left, everything I have packed I need.  So if it is over fifty pounds, I will just have to pay $60 fee.      I lost my USB cord to my digital camera, which is how it is charged and how you get the pictures on to your computer.  I went to Staples, Best Buy, KMart, Walmart and finally Radio Sha...

       I called a certain bank this morning and asked if I would be able to exchange cash for euros without being an account holder at that particular bank.  I was assured it would not be a problem, but when I got there, the teller informed me that I was mistaken and that I would need to make an account, transfer money into the account and then euros could be ordered for me.  So I then had to drive all the way to AAA to buy packs of 65 euros for $100, which is a horrible exchange rate.  But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?      I attended a dessert party this afternoon, hosted by a friend.  There were crepes, muddy buddies (peanut butter, chocolate and powdered sugar Chex), beignets, ice cream, Nutella tiramisu... I thought I was going to explode!   I had a really great time though, laughing and catching up with friends before I leave.      I then came home and taking a second look at my suitcase,...

    I decided since I did not manage to convince myself to pack today, that I will be spending tomorrow morning making beignet dough and then packing.  I really need to get my butt in gear and start seriously getting organized!  I will probably spend Monday packing everything, which I know is last minute but I can't pack anything I'm still using every day!      Brianne left for Chicago today; she's presenting a paper at a psychology conference, which is awesome!  Congrats to her for that.  She comes home Sunday and we leave for Spain on Monday evening at 6:20.  Poor girl barely gets to stop before she has to hop on another plane.  She's such a sweetie, super funny and friendly!      I have to narrow down the number of books and jewelry I want to bring with me.  So far I have a stack of four comic books and five or six novels.  I don't think that this is going to keep my luggage under fifty pounds: T...

     I stopped by the bank today to withdraw some money and exchange it into euros, just as something to get started with once I get over there.  I discovered that not only does my bank not exchange currency, but my bank account is practically empty.  HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???  So I raced home and have been digging through receipts, trying to figure out where $600 disappeared to!   Poof!  There are receipts for an entire week missing, which I am usually very careful about keeping, but also my online banking account was closed because someone attempted to guess my password wrong.  I am now locked out and the bank is closed.  I finally figured out that I spent the majority of the money on three things: gas, car insurance and presents/items that people promised to pay me back for. Cough mom, sister, stepfather cough .  So all of my Spain money is gone.  I have no idea what I'm going to do now.  I can take it out of my colleg...

     I had the hardest time deciding what to name my blog.  The domain name I wanted was "adventureisoutthere".   Up is one of the saddest, most heartbreaking movies that Disney has ever created, but what I love about that movie is the fearlessness, fun and imagination that Ellie and Carl teach kids about.  Their catch phrase is: "Adventure is out there!"  They spend their entire lives together, having so many wonderful adventures.  However, they spent it without ever going on that one big adventure to Paradise Falls, putting it off again and again until "tomorrow".      I have lived my entire life in a town with a population of 14,000. It's 17.5 square miles.  Everyone knows everything about everyone.  It's your typical New England colonial suburban town. Cute, right? This is where all the little farmers would bring their animals to graze in the olden days.      I've always wanted to travel, to e...