Cutting the apron strings...and other things!

New place, new foreign language keyboard to get used to!

Wow! One week gone. Just yesterday, I was sitting in the hotel, enjoying the last of the luxury that is the Marriott...dreading future lodgings of dorm-style rooms without A/C in sweltering Southern Europe. Mmmmm...I loved nearly freezing to death at night because the air was on full-blast and enjoyed having a wonderful down duvet to cuddle up under!! But times, they are a changin´!

I am in Barcelona...beautiful Barcelona! And I have very little time to recap what I´ve done...so I´ll do my best in the short time I have.

I guess I didn´t do Thursday yet. Thursday we saw the highly overrated Changing of the Guard at Buckinham Palace. Then I went to the Cortauld Institute, like the art history nerd that I am, by myself. It was all right. Nothing to get too excited about. We were to meet up at the British Museum...but Erin was late. I was not a happy camper. I tried, my best(!) to get over it and we ended up going shopping and doing laundry that night. Ahh...the joys of travel!

Yesterday we went to see Westminster Abbey. Afterwards, we split up...I went to the Cabinet War Rooms and they went back to Portabello Road to buy some things. The Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum were fascinating. I am really glad that I went!

We met up at the hotel an went to a show that night, ¨Sunday in the Park with George.¨ Strange...good, but strange. It´s about George Seurot, the French 19th century artist. I liked some aspects of it...but others were just odd.

Sorry, sorry, sorry...this isn´t nearly as interesting as it should be. I have 23 minutes left to get this silly thing posted...this guy closes his Internet cafe at 11. After packing up last night, we woke up early this morning and started getting everything put together. It was so fast...and before I knew it, Erin was crying and hugging me goodbye and telling me to be careful! She made me cry too...

And as I watched them drive away, I felt a little lost. I mean, I´d had them with me almost everywhere the past week...and now I was on my own. So, I went to Portabello Road and just enjoyed the atmosphere...and then I did something that we´d been talking about all week...that Erin and Kayla didn´t really think I would do. I didn´t really think I would do it, either.

Just take a look.

Yep, I cut my hair!! And short. Long hair seems to be the summer fashion and i was feeling pretty insecure about my boy cut. Then I saw two girls at the train station with the same haircut as me...and I felt a little better. Until they kissed each other. Yes, folks...I have a lesbian haircut!! Not kidding. Butch is one way to describe my hair =) I went into a salon where they spoke arabic to each other and very little to me and I told them to chop it off. The lady told me I had nice hair and kept asking if I were sure. I said, ¨Just do it.¨ I wasn´t sure myself. I told her I would cry, too...and I did. I think it was a combination of many things...my sister leaving, me being on my own, and then making the crazy decision to cut my hair!!! So, if I don´t show up in many photos on my blog, now...it´s because I don´t want you all to know how much I look like a boy!!

The flight was uneventful. I arrived in Reus, about 1.5 hours outside of Barcelona. I took a bus into town, found my hostel...OH BOY! A hostel life is DEFINITELY not for me =O The management is nice...it´s easier to speak Spanish with them than English...but the place is pretty ghetto. Thanks to good ol´Campus Plaza...it got me ready for living in less than spectacular conditions.

I´m sorry this is so ridiculously uninformative. I´ve got to find a church tomorrow, too!!

Love you all and I´ll try and post photos tomorrow!