Re-entry

Well it's been about 2 weeks back in Canada now. Things aren't a whole lot different from when I left. Just trying to get back into the swing of things, find a job, make some money and figure out a direction or a way to get back to Spain. I miss it a lot and coming home is certainly not easy. It's been an amazing couple of years and I've learned  a lot being away.

I'm thankful for all the support and encouragement from my friends and family and I'm sure that I couldn't have done it without you.

Now that I'm home I'm going to try to keep up with some of the European lifestyle - waste less, live more simply, eat healthier, drive less and try my best not to forget the Spanish!

Anyhow, love to all and to my Spanish family who I miss dearly. Merry Christmas <3

Reunion

Well! I'm still here, today is my last official day in Paris and I'm taking it easy. It's been a fairly hectic 6 days because Julien is Mister Party Planner Extroardinaire lol which means that we have had plans almost every night since I got here. It's been a lot of fun though. On Thursday he had colleagues over from work and we ate fresh bread, tons of different cheese, special meat (like we have in spain) and wine. Friday he had his girlfriend Roxanne and a friend Aurelie over for Raclette - which is like the french version of fondue! So yes - moooooooore cheese! And then yesterday I met up with Nuno in the center, we had crepes and wandered around, did some sight seeing, I did a bit of shopping and got a nice new dress and pair of shoes for interviews and then we went to a bar nearby where Julien had invited a bunch of friends, former schoolmates and roomates. It was a verrrrrry busy bar so we were lucky to get a bunch of seats and it was quite fun, although the drinks are double the cost of Barcelona!

Today it has been raining, I've been pretty lucky with the weather even though it is freezing cold and so I don't want to walk around tooooooo much. We're going to a restauarnt nearby and Julien has a lunch thing today, so I'm just catching up on a few new episodes, did a bit of cleaning, enjoying some wonderful chocolate and then tonight will be my goodbye dinner with both of the boys. Quite sad.

Well, anyhow that's the quick update. There are a few photos of this trip to put up when I get back but not tooooo many as I really don't want to take off my mittens to get the camera out ;)

Oooh lala le France

Well, my arrival in Paris was less smooth than one may have hoped for! On Tuesday I got up quite early to go to Maricelas and finish building - yes building - Nunos bag for all the stuff that he needed me to bring to Paris with me. It’s a franken-bag - honestly it looks absolutely rediculous made of various shopping bags, and a LOT of tape! It also coincidentally weights nearly 30lb, and I carried it plus my backpack first through the streets of barcelona and then through the streets of Paris. 

I had opted not to take the metro when I arrived in Paris because I was not sure if I could manage with all the stairs and the crowded tunnels with all the baggage and I thought “wow, how lucky is that! There is a bus that goes just one metro stop away from Juliens house!” So I got on the bus. We were sitting and waiting a long time in the airport stop and so I asked the driver how long it would take to get to Nation ( a very misleading sign made it appear as though it was almost a direct route, no other stops) and he said that he had to wait there for 10 minutes and then it would be 20 minutes to Nation. Great! (I thought) 2 hours later, I got off the bus. We apparently stopped everywhere! Hahah, it was an intersting tour of the city and luckily I didn’t think I had to be anywhere in a hurry. So I got off the bus and started walking with my 50lbs of luggage. I walked to Rue du Voltaire - which I had written down was his address. I got to the end of the street and the numbers stopped. Oh dear. So I called his roomate. It’s not RUE its BLVD. Great, okay, currently I am near to around 2km from there. But I keep walking, trying to get a taxi but all the ones passing are full. FINALLY I find a taxi stand, I walk to the front of the qeue and am putting my stuff in the back seat of this guys cab, tell him I want to go and he says “but thats just around the corner” i say “yes, but i just cant carry these things any further” and he tells me very rudely that hes been waiting there for 45 minutes and it is not worth his time for 5 euros and blablabla so I hold back a slew of insults that I want to yell at him and just continue walking. I have never been so sore after a 1.5 hour flight haha, it really shows that I have to get back to the gym! 

So, once I arrived, it got SO much better. Juliens apartment is so nice, especialy for what I expected (very small) but its got very nice wood floors, lots of light, very quiet and basically I wish it was mine haha. And once Julien got home from work we went around the corner to a little restaurant called Monseur where I had an excellent chicken with apple glaze and mashed potato dinner, finished  with some kind of chocolate cake that we would call lava cake but they have a special name for... Mon-something? It was sooooo good and they had a cat in the restaurant!!!!!!! She was very sweet and she came and sat with me for about 20 minutes, and then someone got a big juicy steak and she moved on. It was the perfect way to end my crazy day - oh and also another thing I saw when I was walking was a little music shop where they sold sheet music and maybe had lessons and a man playing piano and a woman singing opera! How unique is that?! 

And yesterday - my first day - as you may suspect I just started wandering around ... and got lost haha! I was doing fine til I got to a massive traffic circle at Bastille and then I took the wrong road and it all went to hell from there. However it was a nice walk and I saw some very quiet neighbourhoods of Paris. Actually all of Paris is very quiet, there isn’t much going on at all because it’s very cold, (I can see my breath even) people here work much more than they do in Spain and also I don’t know... it’s just not tourist season I guess. But I froze yesterday morning, I wasn’t prepared for that, thankfully today is warmer. 

So yes, I was wandering around getting quite lost, in search of crepes and the latin quarter. After some time I gave up, got on the metro. I made quite an embarrassing mistake trying to work the ticket machine - here I am pushing on the screen and not understanding why it’s not working, and then I realize that there is a little rolly ball that you have to move and a button to accept the selection. I think people were looking at me and groaning on the inside as I struggled with it haha. Eventually I made it to the platform where I saw a guy who I thought was very religous, not wearing shoes and what looked like some kind of robe... or something. Once we were on the train I realized it was neither of these things, he was just a crazy man wearing a toque, a bedsheet and without shoes. He went up and down the train yelling something (I’m sure rude) and when no one gave him what he wanted he lit up a cigarette - IN the train! Well, a couple older men got up and cornered him near a door and made him get off at the next stop. Crazy bastard. 

I was surprised yesterday how little I recognized. I know it’s been 7 years but I thought I might remember more, and what I do remember is not really how I remembered it. It’s interesting. Today I plan to go with Juliens very nice roomate to some of the museums in the city and tomorrow... NUNO COMES! Hooray, it’s going to be a fun time with all of us. Oh - ps - yesterday for dinner I at AMAZING crepes with cider. So good.  Thats all I have time to tell you today, more to come soon. I have no internet connection at the house so I found a perfect little cafe where the waiter is very nice to me and speaks english so I plan to have breakfast here each morning :) Sorry I can’t skype but love to all, and see you soon!

Take it Easy

Because that's what I've been doing all day. My back was really sore - probably from hauling everything I still own up to the 4th floor of my building without an elevator - and now that I have my own mattress back I'm letting a little bit of sleep therapy sort that all out!

I finished my final days at work this week and also had a meeting with my thesis advisor, which went - well - not too horribly, but it was more just to give back his books and a few supplies I don't really want to haul back across the ocean with me.

I'm thinking more and more about what I will bring back - what I don't need, what I don't want - what I need to get before I leave. There are a few essential items I need to buy before I leave this city and I figure that it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a couple dress shirts and what not for going back to work. I can probably let go of some of my 3 Euro t-shirts which have holes, stains etc. and spend a bit of upfront money so I don't go to interviews looking like a student!

People keep asking what I'll do when I get back. Honestly? I don't really know. I've tried so hard not to think about it. It's probably going to involve getting a job, applying for some more schooling (required to be a licensed architect), looking for a place to live and just trying to make it all come together somehow. It wasn't part of the plan really so I'm just winging it and hoping for the best. So now you know. You have no idea and neither do I!

Christmas is coming. There are some ugly/tacky/wonderful christmas sweaters in a store here which I absolutely love! I think they are hilarious and great. I'm considering getting one to wear for the entire month of December. I do love Christmas. This year we're going all out on the decorations and the baking! Maybe I'll even think of some decorations/crafts to do at the school with moms students :) That's always fun!

Alright, well that's enough for today. More to come before Paris next week!

Stephanies Trip - The Photo Story

Well, as always, click on the picture to enlarge!

 This is the London Eye, from the tourbus on one of our very very rainy afternoons there, when I was working I was actually staying in a hotel very close to this and it is lit up all blue at night which is quite nice but apparently it's really expensive to ride and it goes VERY slow (45min to go around) so I'm not sorry we didn't ride it!

 We're jumping all over the place here, but this is in Inverness, walking along the river path through a park on the way to the family history center where we thought we could maybe dig up some documents! Turns out we didn't have enough information for them to tell us anything, but the colours were great and it was a really nice walk.

 Steph on our walk.

 This is the town of Inverness, you can see the 2 churches on the right which are just infront of one of the oldest streets in the town - the favorite local restaurant is Hootenannies - yes, people apparently DO use this word!

 Maricela had her birthday/Halloween party while we were in Barcelona and so we spent the night with her and her roomates and some friends before we left to Girona.

 Me and Steph taking a little self portrait as we walked along the old Roman Walls of Girona.

 Annnnd jumping back to London - Nimas sister took us to a really nice market and so we wandered around and had some lunch with her on this afternoon.

 FFWD to Cadaques! Steph enjoying some coffee in the sun, it felt like it could've been summer again that day! People were actually suntanning on the beach.

 The town of Cadaques walking around the little bay - it reminds me so much of Greece! It was very quiet on this day and luckily not too much wind.

 Me, with our very sweet host Mireya who offered to drive us all around - we managed to take the wrong exit a few times but always got to where we needed to go! Despite steph being really sick, we had a really nice day.

 Cap de Creus, looking South towards Spain.

 Cap de Creus looking North towards France, those mountains in the distance are the pyrenees of France.

 A nice umbrella installation in London - I wonder if it actually protects you from the rain?

 Tower Bridge in London - I love this bridge it's so beautiful and cool looking! London Bridge (after the song) is very boring and looks just like any old bridge.

 Edinburgh castle, luckily our first day tehre was sunny so we managed to get some photos! The castle is a good landmark too and we were staying just a few mins walk away.

 We had lunch a few times in this little pie shoppe called Auld Jocks - pie as in meat pies! They were cheap and delicous!

 Me on the cruise ship as we were Nessy spotting at Lochness, the colours were very nice but a storm rolled through as we got to Urquhart castle. It was about 30 mins on the water and then we had 2 hours in 2 different places - the castle and also the Monster exhibit which gave a lot of history about various scientific teams trying to research the myth!

Last but not least - Steph at Urquhart castle, standing in the ruins that are left and looking over the scottish countryside!

Well, she left very early this morning and we had a crazy, busy, fun and interesting trip going here there and everywhere. We had 2 quick days in Barcelona for me to show her a couple of things, and I have over 800 pictures from it all so hopefully my selection captures just a snippit of it :)

One month today til I'm back in Canada! See you soon!

Cadaques

Well, we have been a few days now in the Girona countryside and have seen/done a few things but mostly just taken it pretty easy. Steph has some kind of cold which is keeping her pretty down, and so we took yesterday off and did really nothing at all except a little walk to the nearest village and back. The day before that, we walked to a small town called Bescano (7km from the house) and caught the next bus to Girona. It was a nice day (luckily because it poured rain all day yesterday, part of our reasoning for staying in) and so we walked all around the town - around the old roman walls of the city which you can actually walk on top of still, through the small narrow streets of the old jewish quarter, had a not very good lunch but got over it and carried on just looking in small shops and what not. It was a nice day and we came back to the house to make dinner around 7.

The 2 people who own the bnb we are staying at are soooo nice, they are a family actually and they've been married and living here for 30 years - he is Irish and she is Spanish so it's quite interesting from the beginning. However, they've taken us in and treat us like their own kids (we are about the same age) and are so great to us. Today, Mireya took us driving (more than an hour) to Cadaques, because I had mentioned it was somewhere that we wanted to go when I inquired about coming. The bus connections from here aren't good, and she thought she would like to go anyway, so she took us with her and gave us a great tour! She is a true conversationalist so we never seem to run out of things to talk about, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it today - it almost felt like summer again. The photos turned out quite nice and so I'm excited to post those once we get back to Barcelona tomorrow.

In the morning we have to pack up and go back to BCN where I need to figure out my living situation and spend the last couple of days giving Steph a proper tour of BCN - there is so much she hasn't seen there yet!

Anyhow, that's where we're at for now :) Love to all!

Welcome to Barcelona Stephanie!!!!!

To all of the Becky in Spain subscribers! You're in luck Becky will not be writing about the past few days I (Steph) will be!!

To start, Scotland was absolutely beautiful. As soon as we got there, we felt immediately more at home and in tune with it than London...even though it was seven am after an all night bus and we were very tired! We started the morning with a quick nap at the Hostel and then when we woke up it was sunny and gorgeous so we went for a walk. We walked up to Edinburgh castle (didn't go in) and also walked around a lot of the city and did part of a walking tour which was interesting. We did a quiz night (trivia) at one of the local pubs which was fun even though we lost...we were quite upset because the people who came in second last always get a prize and it was quite neck in neck for us. We also went to the national gallery--they had a town and city exhibit which was quite fantastic because it shows old paintings and drawings of the city/surrounding towns and comparing it to now was pretty neat. We also saw just a lot of old painting but it was very interesting. We had this favorite place to have lunch called Auld Jack's pie shop-- and had some 'jacket potatoes' (different types of stuffed potatoes) and there were a variety of meat and fruit pies as well that was delicious. Becky tried Haggis!! Thats right folks, first morning in the hostel becky got a 'traditional' Scottish breakfast and even tried some Haggis--she said it tasted kind of like sausage--I was not so adventurous.

Alright - This is Becky taking over because we started writing that last blog post a long time ago and by now there's even more to catch up on!

So yes, Edinburgh was really great and the weather cooperated somewhat so we got a few good photos which I'll put up at some point.

We then took a bus up to the highlands, to Inverness (we actually caught this one no problems!) and we  were picked up from the station by our host at the house we were staying at (Margaret) who is this absolutely lovely scottish lady who lives in a dream mansion just outside the town with her husband and her mom. Their son has just gone off to college so they've started doing the airbnb. Anyhow, we stayed there for 2 glorious nights where she fed us the biggest breakfasts ever and we spent our one and only full day there doing many things - a tour of lochness and the castle urquhart was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip! We didn't see Nessie, but we had a nice boat ride around the lake (did you know that you can fit the entire population of the world in that lake 3x over? and it is 250m deep!) The castle is in ruins but very beautiful and the colours are just amazing - the whole bus ride up there was so interesting to see the landscapes and the fall leaves. The town of Inverness itself is really quaint and nice, and we did a nice walk around there as well - in some ways its' a bit like the Inverness in Canada, but not completely. They are both on the water, they are both in the northern tip, they have similar kind of feels but obviously the one in Canada is much more a dying town. Anyhow. She woke up our last day at 6am to feed us and take us back to the bus station where we took the bus to the Edinburgh airport - stephanie had her first discount airline experience (she may have hated this even more than hostels hahah) and that night we were back in Barcelona!

Barcelona came and went really fast because it was Maricelas birthday/costume party and also we had to move all my stuff out of my house. So that took up quite a bit of time. We are now staying in the Girona countryside in a house that is nowhere really near anything (except there is a bus stop to take you only 1.4km away) and we did a really lovely walk last night, the host Mireya and her husband carl are so nice, we have full use of the kitchen and everything and today I think we will venture into Girona since it's a holiday week and we should take advantage of the days that things are open.

More to come later!

Buh-bye London!

Well, Steph made it to London and we had a fairly busy time as it was really just 3 days there. We bought tickets for the hop on/hop off bus which were 2 days for the price of one and spent the better part of an afternoon riding around on that because it was raining SO hard and for the whole day pretty well. So that was good and it gave us a good taste of the city.

The area where we were staying was quite nice, not major tourist area at all, but close enough walking if necessary. There were lots of really great restaurants of every kind there and actually last night we had the best english food of the whole trip! Stephie treated me to some Chicken pot pie, served with veggies and potatoes and for desert BREAD PUDDING! Wohoo, I finally got to try the real thing. It was a bit more bland than I expected but still really nice. And we of course sampled the local house cider which was not too bad at all. So that was a nice way to end the London trip (we thought).

Earlier in the day we had met up wit Nimas sister who took us to the Borough market which is under London Bridge, and we wandered around for a bit, had some spanish (ironic I know) lunch and then took off real quick to try and find some last minute souvenirs. Well - yesterday there was a protest (like everywhere I go) and also a lot of work being done on the underground lines, which meant that getting around in a hurry was nearly impossible - but we were going to see Wicked!!! We made it just 5 minutes late, and because of my student card we got awesome prices for front and center tickets at the performance. It was really great, the story line was interesting, the costumes fantastic, the singing, everything was just so great! And then from there we decided to take advantage of the rare rain free moment and take a few last minute pictures.

And then it got REALLY fun ;) We went back to the hostel to get our luggage, with plenty of time before the bus was leaving (an overnight from London to Edinburgh) and we went to the station which was near we were staying so we had walked past a couple of times. The thing about taking night busses though, is that there is no one working at night in the station. So we were there a good hour early, standing around, waiting, thinking that it was really disorganized and wierd that there was no one working, not many other people waiting and so I asked literally 5 people before the 5th finally said "You're in the wrong station!!!" And then the running began again.... we ran as fast as possible to the "othter station" where we got on the bus just as he was closing the doors - had we gotten there 2 minutes later, as we learned in the case of some other poor guy - the irisih bus driver would have driven away swearing and cursing at US as well. But we made it, just so happy that we made it, and we are here now and the trip actually didn't even feel like it was 9 hours.

So... we're a bit tired but off to find some breakfast.

Love to all!

The London Trip, part 1!

Well, I'm quite overdue for an update! I made it to London after a very early flight on Sunday morning. 3 of us were on the same filght so we took the most expensive cab ride ever from the airport to the hotel where we are staying for the event (97 GBP!) But luckily the company pays for that stuff! And I've stayed in lots of hotels for these events but this is by far the nicest. In fact, it's amazing. I'm on the 7 floor, I ended up with a room to myself, and we can see the London Eye from here. Really, it couldn't have worked out better because I think from all the stress at home, once I got here and calmed down a bit I got really sick - really sick. It hasn't been all that fun working with the flu/cold but at least I have a nice warm comfy bed and someone to feed me hahah.

So anyhow, today I'm checking out and going to the hostel where I'll be alone for today and then tomorrow around Lunch steph will arrive!!! London is fairly massive so I don't know how much walking I'll be doing on this trip, we may have to invest in a bus pass for a couple of days - also it rains on and off (although there has also be quite a bit of sun since we got here).

So, after I actually take some pictures I'll try to put some up!

<3

London Here I Come, New House Here I Come!

Well, here is a bit of an update for you. I found a place to live in November this week, and I'm quite excited about it. Every time I move something gets a little better. At first it seems like a bad thing that I have to move but it always turns out that it's just the kick in the ass I need to find something better - if nothing changes, nothing changes right? So I'll be in a much better place with 2 girls this time, both of whom work, they are very clean, the flat is all completely new and it's right around the corner from where Nima lives! So that's the really exciting news.

Tomorrow I leave for London, where I'm going to work for 3 long days and then after that Steph will be joining me there :) From there we don't have a lot of concrete plans, all we know is that we will be taking a night bus to Scotland where we will stay in Edinburgh for a couple of days. What exactly we are going to do in each city - well, I have to plan a bit more. But I'm happy she will be here and I'm happy that I am getting out of this house for my last month so that I can enjoy my last weeks in BCN without any stress, any worries and just making the most of it all. I've been selling my furniture and there is still some to go, but some of the bigger stuff is gone which is great! It means I'll be one step ahead in November. Steph doesn't know it yet but she's going to be taking home a suitcase full of my stuff! Haha

Alright. Well. I guess I should do some cleaning and packing since I leave tomorrow morning crazy early!

Love everyone :)

So close....

Well! How was everyones Thanksgiving? Good I hope, I heard about some of them, but not all. I tried to stay up late last night to join one by skype but my tiredness got the better of me. So I missed the whole day really, but I enjoyed a nice lunch consisting of coffee and cakes at one of the greatest french cafes ever, so that was pretty delicious (don't worry I went to the gym first!).

Well it's a bit hectic at the moment. My roommate has decided that not only should HE live in the flat completely free, but his boyfriend should as well - and on top of it they are going to rent out Nuno's room when he goes as well, making us 4 in the house. And yes - I should pay the same amount of rent as before for this (Even though I am never here these days). So I have said enough is enough and I won't be taken advantage of anymore (been going on for a couple months now and had numerous conversations about it) and I'm leaving as soon as Steph goes home at the end of the month. So currently I am selling all of my stuff and looking for a very short term place. I'm not that worried about it, because in the end I'd rather give my money to anyone else but him.  I'm not sure why in Barcelona it's SO hard to find good roomates to live with who just have the most basic of common sense, don't abuse the living situation, and act their age but it really is a problem. I thought maybe it was just me for a while, but after talking to most of the people I know here, they have found themselves in similar situations. Unfortunate really, but oh well. It's done and the decision is made and now on with the work! I'm selling my stuff so that I can ship some things home that I just can't bear to part with and I think all should go fine in the end.

The planning of my UK trip is almost complete! Lots of ideas but nothing too complete so that we can be flexible. Steph is going to meet me in London, where I'll be working, and from there we will take a very long bus ride to Edinburgh! Once we are there we will stay for a few days and then head up to the highlands before coming back to BCN. It's going to be a whirlwind trip, but I know we'll have fun. I'm glad that I'll have an opportunity to wear my rain jacket that I brought from home and haven't taken out of the closet since I moved here! Surprising how little it rains in BCN when you're located directly on the sea.

So that's life. Off to celebrate my potentially last night with Nuno before he leaves for Portugal tomorrow. Love to all!

Things to be Thankful For

Well, it's Thanksgiving again and I was going to do a big dinner again but I just can't this year, I don't have the time, energy or the necessary equipment and space to make it happen. Not everything is working out right at this exact moment, plans sometimes fall through, and there are just things outside of our control which makes it easy to forget all the good stuff. But nonetheless I'm thankful for a number of things so now I'm going to tell you what they are.

1. The past nearly 2 years of amazing time spent living in Barcelona, traveling the continent (many times for free) and all of the great friends I've met here.
2. Stephie is coming to meet me soon in the UK.
3. Great family, great friends all who are incredibly supportive, thoughtful and special.
4. I am healthy, I am (mostly) happy and I have a lot of opportunities, including the ability to leave a country falling to pieces and return to one with a better outlook at the moment.
5. The sea.
6. Almost being finished my first Masters degree.
7. A great year free of WWW.

Well obviously these are just a few off the top of my head, but I'm thankful for a lot and I know how lucky I am to be here, doing what I'm doing. Hopefully the next 2 years will be even better than the last 2!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
xox

Berlin : The photo story

This is some very interesting architecture I thought, it seems like it could just repeat forever and ever and it seems like it must be a relic of the past.

This is at the camp Sachsenhausen, this is the memorial field where there are a few headstones with names and captions written, this is what you see when you first enter.

This is the memorial to those who were murdered, it sits on the site where the gas chambers and the main death buildings were.

These are a set of brick bunkers where "special" prisoners were kept, 2 of which you can go inside. Eerily quiet.

This is in one of the wooden bunkers, which was damaged in an arson spree after the liberation, but can you really imagine 100 people in here at a time all having less than 10 minutes to bathe?

This is a view of the camp from one of the far corners, as you can see it doesn't look like much, just a big field but in the ground where the buildings used to be, they now have big rock beds marking the footprint of the buildings.

This is of course the Berlin Wall, which was painted by artists in 1990 and again in 2009 (?) with some really interesting art!

I liked this saying, it hit home with me. Simple but honest.

The new City of Cranes - construction EVERYWHERE.

A nice spot downtown outside a museum.

An abandoned train station in the middle of a park, one of many stations that they don't use anymore.

Is this not a perfect scene? Sitting in the middle of Tiergarten Park on a lovely Fall day.

Nice building, I honestly don't really know what it was, I was just walking past.

Bit of Canada in Germany :) Fall colours are coming in!

These are the gates to the Sachsenhausen camp, which is basically all that separates the little suburban houses from the camp.

This is a model of what the camp looked like before.

 This is a model of all that's left today. Doesn't look like much, but it's a lot of information.

Well, sorry they aren't really in any particular order and I didn't actually take any of myself in them!

Thanksgiving is coming, can't wait to make some Pumpkin pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Berlin Day ? : Concentration Camp

Dear all, today was not the day I had planned out. Not at all. Yesterday I thought that since it would be Sunday and not much would be open, I would just sit in a cafe near by, drink some yummy coffee and eat some pastries while working on my thesis for the better part of the day. While this was a lovely plan, with great intentions, I just woke up feeling different. So I did a bit of research about the holocaust monument, museums etc. in the area and learned that there are lots of museums etc. in the area but there was actually a camp, called Saschenhausen (don't ask me how to pronounce that), just north of the city in a small town called Oranienburg, which is about 1hr from where I'm staying by train. It's open every day, and it's free entrance. So I forked out the 7euros to take the train, got up at a decent hour and out the door. As I was on my way to the train station I learned that the race was continuing from yesterday (more about that later) and so it's probably a good thing I was heading out of the city today.

I hopped on the train, and it was really empty and I think I was one of the only people who went all the way to the last stop. When I got off, it wasn't much different. The ride went through a bunch of really little suburban type areas and this was pretty much the same, and quiet - like Canada quiet - with very few people even walking around and most of the stores closed. I saw 2 or 3 groups of tourists as I got closer to the camp but much much less than I had anticipated. I got there and paid the whopping 50cents for a map because I thought, well, I don't really know what to expect and I don't want to pay for a tour, so this can at least tell me what I'm looking at incase nothing is in english (as many of the signs here aren't). I went back to the "museums" as the sign directed me and was stunned. It was not at all what I expected. It was a huge, vast, open space and I was expecting to see row upon row of barracks but it was mostly a big empty field. I felt a bit disappointed but carried on anyway to the first building that remained. It turned out to be the infirmary barracks, 2 of the 5 have been restored and now contain tons and tons of information. I must have spent an hour in their just reading, listening to audio, watching video, looking at artifacts, etc. There is just SO much information and you can't possibly stay and read or see it all because you could be in those 2 buildings for days alone. It was incredible, and the stories of course terrible and heartbreaking. Connecting the 2 barracks, there is an underground tunnel that you can walk through which is where bodies were stacked after people had died (or more likely been killed) in the infermaries. They have documented as much as they could and it seems like the memorial buildings have moved around on the site a lot, as different authorities kind of took control and decided what to do and how to do it with the site, so the inside of these buildings are more or less just museums but original floors, wall tiles and things like that still exist in some rooms.

Just so you have an idea of the difference, this is what the camp looked like originally, and below is what it looks like today. I'll put up my own photos when I get back.

After that you could go see the underground cave I guess, I don't even know what to call it, where bodies were stored, low ceilings but just huge amounts of space and I can't imagine these being so full that they began to pile them elsewhere. Of course everything is cleaned up, but it's still not a nice place to be.

Then I walked along the wall, past all the guard towers, and ended up in the "Special Section" where the mass murders took place by gassing, hanging, cremating etc. There is a really nice monument here and some of the old industrial buildings still exist behind. There are of course mass grave sites where victims ashes were buried - just one of many. Every spare corner seemed to be used as a mass grave site.

I carried along and saw inside brick bunkers, wooden bunkers and didn't even have time to go into the laundry building or kitchen building. There was simply just too much and 4 hours had already passed. I think I saw 10% of the material that was there. I truly think this is one of the best museums I have ever been to and I can't believe no one recommended this as one of the things to do while I was in Berlin. One really strange thing that I always wonder about though, is how people could live right next to that and claim they didn't know what was going on? And who would want to live in a house now, where their backyard faces onto that? I don't know if you could pay me to live within 20 miles of there. Apparently, they used this camp as one of the "tour camps" to show the media etc. but it was all very false and selective in what they showed of course, but even still - could visitors really not realize what was going on when they got there? Insane. Just insane.

So that was today.

Yesterday! I walked. and I walked and walked and walked. I must have walked 20km. Berlin is really  not a small city. I originally though I would head over to tiergarten where I thought I could see part of the original wall, but turns out just the Brandenburg gate is there and actually all the way along that street they were setting up for some kind of giant rollerskating marathon so it didn't look all that special at the time, but the park was beautiful and it was a nice Fall day so I enjoyed walking through. I walked through lots of neighbourhoods and saw some churches, markets, shopping areas, the edge of the zoo, lots of other smaller parks and eventually tried to find my way home until at some point I got frustrated and just hopped on the metro. It was a nice, but exhausting day!


And now, well I'm going to go heat up a can of soup and then try to work on my thesis a bit! More tomorrow :)

Berlin Day 3 but 1 Officially

Well I got to Berlin on Wednesday afternoon with the team from work. When we arrived it was a gorgeous day, as in not too hot not too cold, just perfect for jeans and a t-shirt with lots of sun. We had a bit of an interesting time trying to get a cab, which is odd for an airport, but once we got one we were on our way! We went straight to the hotel which was right beside the University campus where we were having the event and so that was really convenient, but it was literally in the very outskirts of Berlin which is huge and sprawling, not too unlike some of the cities at home - except there is amazing public transportation of course. So anyhow, for basically those 2 days we didn't do or see anything because we were just too busy working. After the event finished we went out in search of a bar in the center, and couldn't find the one we were looking for but took up a recommendation from some guy in the street and ended up at some bar called White Trash Fast Food - which I swear is an old chinese restaurant that they converted to this really eclectic strange tacky bar just adding everything wierd and kitch to the decor. However, they had live music and it was packed which is always a good sign, so we stayed and had a good time for a few hours.

This morning I checked out of the hotel, started to figure out how to get to the place I am staying now, which is a room I booked through my new favorite website - which is great because I get a whole massive room to myself and pay less than a hostel, where I would be sharing with probably 10 other people. This makes it much easier to continue working on my thesis in the evenings, because it gets dark quite early and actually the streets are very dark at night, Barcelona is lit up so intensely that everywhere after seems dark. So anyhow, I made it here and the 2 German boys are both very nice, gave me some sight seeing tips and then went back to work. So I dropped my stuff and decided to head off walking around to check it out. I thought I was going to walk to the portion of the wall which is still pretty intact but at some point I just started heading the other direction and then ended up at Alexanderplatz, which is sort of the main square that they have. When I got home I saw that it was over a 5km walk from where I'm staying but on the map it doesn't seem that far. Anyhow, the neighbourhood I'm in is really nice, lots of great little cafes and restaurants and its a very very green city with lots of parks and great trees so it was a lovely walk. I had an amazing lunch consisting of potato and sausage (hot dog) soup, everything bagel and chai latte. They drink a lot of chai here which is great because I love it and it's really cheap! So I'm going to be having lots of chai and bagels, getting my fill before I have to go back.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to make a plan because there is a lot to see and it's as you can imagine quite divided by east and west so you have a plan kind of laid out and make the most of it. One thing I can't get over though is the amount of construction -it appears to be a city that's really booming with cranes everywhere, road construction, new buildings etc etc. and the prices are not much higher in comparison with Barcelona. So far I have to say that it has far exceeded my expectations of Germany! I hope tomorrow will be just as good.

La Merce

So right now (this week) the festival of La Merce is happening which means lots of things going on, free concerts, tents set up, events, free museums and stuff like that. I haven't really done a whole lot of stuff but on Friday there was a light show at Sagrada, put on by some Montreal artists so we went to see that. It was kind of cool - they basically use these laser beam lights some how and make it look like all kinds of different things going along with some music Here is a link to a snippit of it for you to get an idea. And then yesterday we were going to go to a free concert and I knew it would be really crowded because it was for free and a pretty well known band - however I was not expecting what we met when we got off the train.

The metro was pretty busy, and if you figure that each train probably holds close to 1000 people (when it's at capacity, and it was) and those trains are coming every 4 minutes - well, you can imagine how many people are coming up from the underground station. Well - when we got to our stop, where the light show was also happening and so a lot of people were going to that - they had completely shut down one exit of the metro so now ALL the people had to go up one set of stairs to exit the station. This was bad enough, but on top of it, all the people waiting to see the light show outside had blocked the exit to the station and they WOULD NOT MOVE. It was pretty scary actually, because I couldn't see how far the mob of people went and no one was willing to move AT ALL so I just started kind of slowly but strongly forcing my way through them and of course people didn't like being pushed but they are standing 10 ft away from a metro exit! What do they expect? So they are yelling, and getting mad and I'm yelling back and telling them that there are hundreds of people underground with another train every 4 minutes - blech. But eventually we made our way out of it. It was not a good feeling at all though. The police are so stupid - they are standing around when they should have been there telling people to move away from the exit and also they didn't shut down the streets! I mean - this is just another typical Barcelona issue - they have HORRIBLE planning skills. Who plans a concert for THOUSANDS in a tiny narrow street? Especially when there are so many other big, wide open places that wouldn't disturb traffic at all in the city? Rediculous.

So yes - we finally made it to where the concert was happening and we were 1 full block away (100m) from the big screen - the band itself was atleast 4 blocks away and it was starting to become like the seen near Sagrada so we decided not to stay. It just wasn't worth it when you can't see anything and you can't even move. So we had a drink in Gracia and headed home. Not the most fun I've had.

In other news! I'm headed to Berlin on Wednesday and pretty excited about it. I have about 4 days on my own to really see the city and hopefully enjoy the peace and get a lot of work done on my thesis as well. It's always easier when I'm away and don't really have distractions. There seems like a lot to see there and I don't really know any of the history so there should be a lot to learn. I decided to spend more time in Berlin than Stockholm just because it's a much cheaper country and also I've actually never been in Germany at all now that I think of it. I expect to eat lots of sausage! Haha! I'm staying in a place that I booked on airbnb (my new favorite website) and so I'll be in a house with 2 locals who can help tell me where to go and what to see. Maybe I'll even learn a bit of German - apparently it's actually closer to english than spanish (although I don't believe that!)

Well, today I'm just takin it easy, hanging out with Nuno and watching movies, he's also helping books stuff because he knows these cities better than I do for when steph comes in 3 weeks. Hope everyone else is doing well!

<3

Stockholm is Cold

Really. Really cold and rainy, like 15-20 degrees colder than spain and the wind is blowing like crazy today (the one day I had to go sight seeing). But we got up early and sucked it up and went out and after going fairly far I decided that I was going to pay for a hop on hop off bus so that I could see the city. It was fairly expensive but I did the entire 2 routes that they had so that took about 2 hours and I did learn some interesting things. It's really confusing though because there is so much water all around and nothing is really very tall so it's nearly impossible to not get turned around. There's water all around and the buildings are fairly similar (but very nice). And the University Campuses here are reallyyyyyy nice. The event yesterday went quite well, but it was a long day. They fed me well as always and then today after wandering around and bussing around for about 5 hours I decided to have some lunch at a place just on the corner - it wasn't swedish food (couldn't find any, but there was plenty of asian, spanish and italian!) but it was really delicous. As we know from before, Sweden is a VERY expensive country - VERY. But I got myself a few chocolate bars to take back and other than that I haven't seen any souvenirs that I NEED to have. So - yep, anyhow, sorry I don't have too much to really tell you about Stockholm other than it's a very nice green city and I think if I was a bit more climatized maybe I could hack living here, but I don't know for how long haha!

Off to the airport soon, love to all!

Nunos Version of Fajitas

Well, it's been a while. I've been very busy thesising! I actually was editing Maricela's for a good portion of the weekend because she is submitting hers this month and I wanted to help her just tidy up the english a bit. And now today I'm getting mine ready to send off a rough draft and then pack my bags to leave for Stockholm tomorrow! I've been checking it out on the map, to see where we're staying and what not and it looks like we are staying right near the center so it's going to be very easy to walk everywhere. But you know what I didn't know? Stockholm is made up of a bunch of islands! It's like a bigger version of Venice, but I had nooooo idea. So that's quite interesting! I'm quite excited to get there actually - get a break from my house, the heat, the noise of the city and all that.

So anyhow, Nuno is ALSO submitting his thesis this week and I told him I'd help cook so that he could study more. Yesterday I made fajitas. He thinks I'm totally disgusting for putting rice and mexican salsa in mine. I however have witnessed him put french fries, ham flavored potato chips, garlic mayonaise and olive oil in his..... but YES ... I'm the weird one hahahh.

So, today is a holiday (again) which means the library is closed but I think I can go to the archive at school and work there later this afternoon. I'll post again from Sweden :)

<3

The Return to Normalcy

September has arrived! It's so amazing the difference that a week or two can make, especially in such a touristy city. The mass flocking of tourists has come to an end, making places like Placa Catalunya once again tolerable, the weather is just perfect (shorts and Tshirt) and the libraries are all open again as of today! Also the stores are back from vacation and I'm buckling down. Well, actually I have been the last couple weeks, it's just been a bit of a challenge. I also found out today that I'm headed officially to Stockholm on the 12th, but just for work so it'll be another whirlwind trip and I won't have a lot of time to see the city but I'll try to make the most of the short time! I'm excited. There's something I really like about Sweden, maybe because it reminds me of home in some ways :) Also! Our last houseguest of the summer leaves tomorrow and then it's down to the 3 of us at least until Nuno moves to Brussels next month (I'm not happy about this at all). Today I had great intentions of going to the gym but I don't know if that's going to happen, I'd rather go to the library!

I'm trying to think if I have anything more interesting to tell you, but apparently I don't - sorry!

Anyhow, Happy September and everyone going back to school, good luck!

<3

Fall Mornings

I had the most wonderful sleep the last two nights. Well - not the MOST, but it was so much better than it has been the last month or so because there has been a sudden cold front blow in and yesterday it poured rain. This morning I woke up and opened the windows and it was that nice crisp fall air that gives you the motivation and the energy to get your ass in gear. It's great. It's also the last day of August which I can't really believe. I've written about 25 pages of my thesis - only 100 more to go! haha, but we're getting there. It's starting to move on it's own a bit now which is nice and as of tomorrow the libraries will be open for normal hours again so that will be really helpful. It also means that beach time is coming to an end though and I really don't feel like I went as much as I should have this summer, so for the next month I need to make it a promise to myself that I will get down to the water once a week. It's doable :)

So yes, I will be coming home the beginning of December as you hopefully got from the last post. I'm a bit up and down about the decision, but sometimes you just can't have everything you want and so this is what I'm faced with. Unfortunately, the reality is that Spain is not going to bounce back anytime soon and I have to get on with my life. The only jobs really available here for me are either not legal positions (meaning they won't help me get papers) or they are jobs which I know I won't be happy getting out of bed each day to go to. I wasn't born to be an english teacher or club promoter, I know exactly what I want to do I just don't know where I'm going to do it. So yes. I'm very excited to see all of you at Christmas this year and thank god nobody needs to mail me anything because I know that was a nightmare for you last year! And any requests for things from Spain, now is the time to put them in because Steph and Dad will hopefully be coming an a month or so and I will have them haul back a bunch of stuff for me.

The flight is a return flight, but it doesn't seem likely that I will be getting on the one coming back here. It was just a case of the return being significantly cheaper than the one way, and I guess it's an escape route if things at home just really aren't working out for me. But I have a lot of decisions to make and things to figure out before I get home. Thesis to finish, computer programs to learn, job applications to prepare, school portfolios to design and then of course a bunch of last minute trips to make sure I don't miss out while I'm over here because who knows when I'll have the opportunity to come back. So yes, for now I'm living the dream! Gotta take it one day at a time.

Love you all, hope you're happy with my decision too.

xB

Bugs, Roommates & Immigration

These are the things which fill my brain with grief these days. Why? Because I have a bug infestation (or so it feels some days) including cocroaches, fruit flies, silverfish, ants and moths. It's disgusting and driving me insane, so after thoroughly bleaching the entire kitchen last night, removing any and all food they might have, I sat down said roommate to explain that there must be NO FOOD left out, counters and floors must be spotless, dishes must be completely rinsed with no food on them or cleaned. And I get home from the gym to find what? Kitchen counters with crumbs (and ants) shelves with bread (open) and dishes with fruit smoothie all over them in the sink (and fruit flies). Lovely. Just. Lovely. I'm ready to lose my mind some days I swear.

And immigration - this is also really bugging me right now. It's so much harder than I ever imagined to be an immigrant. Seriously. They make it so hard and deep down I feel a little bit entitled to some courtesy that they don't seem to feel they owe me. But here I am - spending hard earned Canadian money in their economy ( in the tens of thousands ) and I'M the one who's got it all wrong while they are off taking 4 weeks summer vacation on top of the other 30 days a year they are going to have?!?!?! Give me a break. Seriously. Get some english speaking immigration officers, make your websites available in more than just spanish and catalan (since after all they are for FOREIGNERS) and stop charging me out the ass for all your rediculous fees. That's my rant. And apparently the US is even harder, so my god, what does this mean? I'm going to be forced to stay in Canada forever? Or atleast the next 10 years while these economies pick themselves up and sort out the mess? I just don't know.

In OTHER news, this week is supposed to be awfully rainy with lots of grey skies which is great. Actually ( no sarcasm ) the relief from the insane heat is very welcome. But the humidity is really high so once it STARTS raining it will be even better.

Also. I've decided that I can tell you all my big secret now. Why not? Everyone is asking anyway and lying gets hard, and annoying. Sooooooooooo here it is. Ready? CLICK HERE!  We will talk more about this later after a cup of coffee and I calm myself down.

Lots of love. Lots and lots!

Rollercoasters at Night!

Hi all. The weekend is here already! Not really sure where the last week went, but with Nima's sister here and the insane heat I think most of it was spent in search of air conditioning - or water. I did alright hit the pool once, the beach once, and have been taking full advantage of my gym membership!

Tonight the 5 of us (Nima, Elena, Maricela, Me & Nuno) are headed to Portaventura! It's a huge amusement park about 1.5 hours away from Barcelona and usually it's quite expensive to get into - around 45 Euros, but tonight they have a special thing where it is open from 10pm - 4am for only 15Euros! So we're going to hop in the car (much better than paying for the train + hostel) and go spend the night riding rollercoasters and whatever else they have there! I'm excited, although I'm pretty sure I'll be exhuasted, so I bought a couple of energy drinks just incase. Luckily the heat has subsided a bit so I managed so sleep a bit better last night as well.

So for now I'm just studying away, almost finished one book today and going to try and write a couple pages. Then I'll pack a great big picnic because if you can't sleep, you should eat right? Right! I'll try to take some pictures :)

Cala Futadera

The official name of the cove. As promised here is a picture story of our day :)

 Here it is from the diving platform, see smaller than it looks on the map right?

 This is a diving lesson, turns out Nima still can't dive hahah!

 Nice calm, salty water for floating!

 Me and Nuno at the top, sitting on top of a very jagged, uncomforatable rock!

 Maricela and I with all the boats behind us.

 I'm not positive what happened here but I can imagine Nuno splashed water at me or something to deserve this face! haha

 All 5

 Throwing Elena into the water!

Heading home, nice right? Wish I was there again today! This weather is unbearably hot!