World's Worst Blogger

Hello again! I know it has been far too long since my last post, but I have been on the go for about two months straight!  Rome has been treating me very well.  The weather has been 70 degrees and sunny for about a week and I've even gotten a little color.  I'm crossing my fingers it will stay this way at least until the family leaves.  They come the 17th! Can't wait!
Since my last post I've traveled to London, Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, and Florence.  Almost went to to Amsterdam, but the Italian website we booked our tickets through didn't actually book our tickets.  Typical.

London: Absolutely amazing.  Fell in love with the Tate Modern, and the Elgin Marbles were breath-taking.  My only complaint was that I didn't have enough time (or money...London is expensive!)

Also, happened to run into my twin at Westminster Abbey.  Marian High School just happens to be taking over the world....be warned.

The highlight of Barcelona was the Picasso Museum, which showed a lot of his drawings and earlier works that I love.  Gaudi was a little....gaudy, but still very cool.  The night life was awesome, especially because half of the Boston College class of 2012 was there.  Had dinner with Will BJ, who had grown a mustache for God knows why.  He rocked it though.  On Sunday morning before my flight we went to the Gothic Cathedral where we saw the locals dance the sardana.  Made Mama proud.

Me, Will (not the one with the mustache though), and Anna in front of Sagrada Familia.  That's one crazy building.

Madrid has some beautiful museums, and we definitely got lucky with the weather.  Not so much with the hostels though.  Along with creepy Russian men asking us to go "yogging" (we assumed they meant jogging), there was also a 2am curfew which really cuts into the nightlife.  We found ways around it, so no hard feelings MuchoMadrid....but seriously get with the program.

Megan, Leslie, Justine, and me in Plaza España.  Two thirds of the roomies reunited and it felt SOOO GOOOD.

From Madrid I took the train to Sevilla to meet Megan.  I don't know if it was the weather, the company, or the tinto, but Sevilla was paradise.  The Islamic-inspired architecture was gorgeous and made me feel like I was somewhere exotic.  It was also pretty nice to be able to communicate somewhat, even if my Spanish is rusty at best.  We saw a Flamenco show (in the birth place of Flamenco!) and ran into some BC girls.  Small world.

Megan and I at the Alcazar, a Muslim palace


Also, there's this tradition where the locals dress up on Semana Santa and there are pictures in all the souvenir shops of it.  Cool right?  Wrong.  They all look like KKK members.  And there is an obsession...

 

They even made chocolate figurines of them....seriously?

So those are some of my adventures.  I'll try seriously to post more, even though I only have about a month left :(