Hello everyone!
I haven't updated in a while, mostly out of laziness, but here it goes: a summary of my trip to Spain!
From Feb 11-21 we had a Semester break, so i thought "why not go visit a new country and see andrea and emily in spain!?" The plane tickets that i found online were leaving from vienna, so i took a train to vienna and flew to barcelona from there. unfortunately due to snow storms my train stopped early and i had to switch to a regional train which was also delayed so i only got to the airport 30 min before my flight! luckily the flight was also delayed. Traveling to Barcelona was kind of troublesome. i found out that the flight i booked from madrid to barcelona was cancelled because my bank blah blah blah, which sucked because that meant i had to buy a new, much more expensive ticket to barcelona from madrid. ugh. The flight that i was able to take was also delayed a couple of hours so i didn't get into barcelona until around 11:30. Then i took a bus from the airport to the city center, and had to use my rusty spanish to ask people how to get to my hostel, which i ended up getting to around 1 am! the people at the hostel seemed to notice my tiredness and despair and gave me a free beer! woo hoo!
The next day was beautiful. The sun was shining and there were blue skies. 
I walked out of my hostel and went down a main street with street performers
and vendors selling many different things including lots of barnabellas!! 
RIP, walked through a market 
, saw some crazy huge dolls that were to be used in the coming days for the celebration of barcelona's patron saint 
, went to a famous church, and saw a few Gaudi buildings 
. The church that he designed and began construction on during his lifetime is the weirdest/most interesting church i have ever seen. It is so intricate and based on geometric principles found in nature. I was just standing there as people were walking by in amazement. do you people not see this!?? 
i had a nice lunch of a tortilla española bocadillo (potatoes and eggs on a baguette) and sangria.
in the coming days i went up to the olympic stadium 
and wandered around an area which reminded me a LOT of balboa park in san diego, which makes sense.
i went to a few museums, art and history of the city, wandered around 
wandered around parks 
, walked along the beach and waterfront 
, went to a park designed by gaudi 
, saw some roman ruins, went to the state park, saw the olympic village (housing they built for athletes when they hosted the olympics) 
, and on the last night I was there there was music and parades to celebrate the patron saint. 
I was also lucky enough to see the Epstens for a night in barcelona! we met up and went to see a orchestra concert and then went out to dinner. it was nice to see them.
then i took a bus to valencia where I stayed for the day and overnight. i saw the science center which is like a little city to itself! and i got totally lost walking around the city which is filled with tons of short and narrow streets and none of them go straight. i met some german people in the hostel which was fun, since i was missing speaking german.
This was the first time that i ever travelled alone before. It was nice not having to worry about anyone else but also it was pretty lonely. It isn't much fun to see interesting things but have no one to share them with.
the next day i took a bus to madrid where I met andrea. we went out to dinner (tapas) and i spent a few days with her in madrid. while she worked during the day i went to museums, walked around the really big state park, went to a palace etc. we had some really good food (tapas, mexican!!!, moroccan). we also took a day trip to avila, which is the home town of St. Theresa of avila a christian mystic that i learned about in my mysticism class at berkeley, which was cool. Sadly i have no pictures of valencia, madrid, or avila becuase my camera broke :( but i just got a new one, so expect some pretty pictures soon!
the spring is coming! i think it is done snowing here. it is still kinda cold but its been really beautiful the past week or so. blue skies !! 
it has even inspired me to go running a few times in the last couple of weeks.
since we last talked i have also been to an opera (Rusalka) and a modern ballet (Nomaden) at the opera house. 
The first opera i saw with my american assistant friends, and the ballet i saw with my teacher and her friend. 
ben comes in less than 2 weeks!!! last night i went and saw a battle of the bands, with one of my students' bands playing. 
and today I am going to see a Sturm Graz soccer game!
