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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!