So after having intense German for 3 weeks along with a corresponding final, it was obviously time for us to have a week-long break. Obviously. So what to do but visit two of my favorite fellow TUers, who happen to both be studying in Spain. Woo! Spain trip! Done. Whit made a pit stop in Bordeaux while I got a taste of an Austrian Super Bowl Party along with having a fajita and mojito night. Yum! I got into Barcelona with 3 hours to spare before Elizabeth would be out of her class. So what do I decide to do in a city in which I do NOT know ANY of the language (AHEM - not Spanish, but Catalan), only know a bit of Spanish, don't know my way around, and can't ask for directions if I get lost? Obviously, I decide to tourist it up and walk around. After getting equipped with a map of the city, I decide that my destination is (duh) the water. A thought of 'this street seems to lead to the waterfront' and I'm off! I was only a bit uncomfortable and intimidated at the thought of setting off on that journey alone. However, within the first block I was more thrilled than anything else. How could I not be with such interesting architecture (mostly by Gaudi) and beautiful views wherever I looked? Staring at the architecture, the millions o mopeds:
taking a break to read in Plaza Catalunya: 
walking through the largest store ever (seriously - like 9 floors. Ridiculous.), many many MANY street performers (including an Edward Scissorhands), and making it to the harbor/port: 
made up my 3-hour walk. The whole time I had been in Spain, my phone hadn't been able to make/receive calls/texts for whatever reason ("Limited Service" apparently actually means 'Good luck trying to talk to anyone, suckaaa!' Good to know.) which made finding Elizabeth only slightly more complicated (read: we had to run into each other at my hostel. Apparently, she had been freaking out for an hour and a half because she couldn't get a hold of me, whilst I was just chilling and taking in the views. Whoops). At least once every half hour of that first night, Elizabeth would get really giddy and look at me with crazed eyes and the biggest smile on her face and squeal, "NIKKI! We're in Europe together! We're in Spain! It's really happening!" The giddiness was very contagious, especially as I was definitely pretty much already there. Barcelona adventures included eating A LOT (FRESH SEAFOOD!!! Paella, wine, baguette with ham and cheese, tapas...just to name a few), picking Whit up from the train station (we realized once we got there that we didn't actually know what city she was coming from so we picked a random WRONG one. But it all worked out), Guell Park (which looked like it came out of the board game Candy Land):
walking across town and climbing a mountain to get to the amusement park on top (which was closed), meeting up with ALEJANDRO!!!, going to a crazy fun shot bar that had at least 500 different types of shots (Boy Scout!), dancing, having a 'Spanish night' in which we didn't go home until after 4, climbing another mountain, and going to the Olympic Stadium (!!!!!).We were pretty much in awe of the Olympic Stadium. Imagine: interesting architecture (of course)...where hundreds of the best athletes in the world had been at one point..at the edge of a mountain from which you could see the city of Barcelona lying quietly and quaintly below, its bright colors gleaming up in sharp contrast to the green rolling hills, blue clear sky, and deep blue of the mountains in the distance. It was one of the most beautiful sights I'd seen. I love scenery. I never seem to tire of landscapes, and they never cease to amaze me and leave me standing there: eyes wide, jaw dropped and slightly upturned in a huge smile as I quietly (or accompanied by slight squeals of joy) try to take it all in, capture the view as though staring in this way will somehow engrave the view more vibrantly and for longer.
After these Barcelonian adventures brought a new one - in MADRID!!! It started off with the adventure of finding our hostel (take the metro to Sol, then look for the bear statue. Follow that street until you see the optical store. Look for sketchy door across the street - that's the hostel) where we finally saw EMILYYYY!!!! EEEEE!!!! There was obviously many smiles and hugs accompanied by squeals of delight. Our foursome comprising of two sets of roommates was finally complete! We were only mildly excited. At the hostel, what should happen to me but to find a random guy that I went to high school with (who I'd only met maybe twice) who happened to recognize me and stopped me to say hey. How random! Elizabeth, Whitney, Emily, and I had a bit of a calm Euro night - a picnic of bread, cheese, wine, and cookies in our hostel room. Saturday was walking around time, with stops at a few parks around the city and then hitting up the Prado during its free hour. That night we decided to go out Madrid-style with our fellow hostlians. I'm not sure if this was a good idea or not as we ended up at a place called Tupperware after having walked FOR-EV-ER. Sure, there was dancing, but we were in the center of Madrid! We definitely had other (better?) options such as the 7-story club we heard about. Ah well. There was a French guy there so I got to speak a little French!!! Also, some German boys who Whit and I talked to (I mostly listened as I'm better at understanding than at actually speaking). Sweet, yo. However, this all meant that I didn't get to bed until somewhere between 6-7am. Whoops. Sunday was spent mostly at this park that we absolutely loved:
With Emily and Whit at the really fun, beautiful park!
Then it was a metro ride with a goodbye to Emily, flight to Barcelona with a bye to Elizabeth, a night spent on the floor of the Barcelona airport, an early morning flight back to Vienna, and then we were back home! A quick shower and a nap concluded our wonderful week off! Perfect ending, I'd say.
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