Settled back in Barca once again :)

Wow! It's been quite a long time since I posted on here. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! Let's see... what else is new?

The weekend following Madrid, I bunch of friends came to visit from St. Bens. It was soooo much fun, seeing the sights and what not...... until one of the girls got pick pocketed. Long story short, we spent the entire night in an ambulance and police station. Soooo frustrating because the police here are very different from police in the US. Everything ended up fine, just a bummer for their first visit to Spain. BUT, we did end the weekend perfectly! With a ridiculously overpriced meal at HardRock Cafe (the only american food around) and a night of ice cream sundaes and movies. :) Doesn't get better than that.

The last couple weeks were spent with my fam! So great to see them! We spent the first week in Barcelona (Ev and I crammed into my room) and the next week in Paris and London. It was fun to show them the sights and different traditions and food. We spent a day in Sitges (where I spent Carnaval) and Ev and I went a little crazy and got piercings. :)

In order to get to Paris, we took an overnight train. Sounds fun in theory, right? NOPE. You see, a family traveling with 12 bags sticks out a weeeee bit to pick pocketers. My dads bag ended up getting stolen right before we were supposed to board, so it was a mad rush to try once again to ramble on to some workers about finding the guy. They suggested we go to the police station, which I knew wouldn't do much, so we just got on the train. SO, now I had an hour and a half of phone service before entering France. That means an hour and a half of INTERNATIONAL calls (extremmmmely expensive) to cancel all of our credit cards and my dad's phone. This normally wouldn't take very long, but we were in and out and in and out of service. It all eventually got taken care of and maybe next time we won't pack as much. ;)

Paris was wonderful though! The Eiffel Tower was great, along with the Louvre. SO much history and the architecture was gorgeous! Great food in Paris as well and I also got to see my bestie, Lysh, for a night! It was interesting to go to a country where I don't speak ANY of their language. It made me realize how much my Spanish has improved.

London has BY FAR been my favorite city so far! It was a nice break to hear English and not have to translate everything. The city is sooooo gorgeous with so many famous sights to see! And much cleaner than Paris. Bars and restaurants are smoke free as well, so my lungs were able to breathe a little fresher air for a few days. CSB/SJU friends are in London as well, so Anna was able to show my fam around a little! So nice to have someone that knows the city as our guide. Because of Anna we were also introduced to some of the Queen's Royal guards. I was able to ride the horses!!! So fun! They prepared us a proper pot of tea...it was fun to get to know some people from the city and their way of life. Just an FYI for everyone (including mom and dad ;)), I WILL be moving back to London at some point in my life. I'm looking for roommates, so anyone that's interested is welcome to join me.

Andrew came to visit last night! It was so fun to show him around and introduce him to all of my friends here! The visit was far too short, but perfect timing after saying goodbye to my fam and celebrating Easter away from home.

It's amazing that I only have three weeks left here! I planned out my backpacking plans with Alysia and I'm going for two months! Yikessss. A bit scary, but extremely exciting at the same time. There are so many places to visit and I wish I had more time to see everything. Next weekend, I'm going to Granada (a city in Spain) and the following weeknd to San Sebastian (a coastal city in Spain). Then my lyshy comes to visit!!! And then I'm off, backpacking through the Pyrenees. I'll keep you guys updated with exciting news and how everything goes.

In the meantime, it'd be GREATTTT to hear about how all of my loves are doing back in the states! I miss you all like crazy and have no idea what's going on with you! NOT okay. I hope you all have a great Easter- spending time with family and friends and eating some great food! I always feel like Easter is such a great time to take a break from our busy lives and schedules and to think of all the great things we have and how fortunate we are for everything. I'm so thankful for all of you guys and know that I'm thinking and praying for all of you! Update update update ahora por favor! I need some Midwest love. ;)


Besos,

Nessa

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