oh boy, did i learn a lesson...

It may seem that I vanished for the past couple weeks- all because I've been under the weather.  The past week and a half has been a roller coaster of unhealthiness.  It started with with me waking up with a sore throat and a fever one morning, but I wanted to be a trooper, so I went to work anyway.  However, once I got there, I failed at fighting the sickness and ended up going to Andre's and pretty much passing out there for 3 days.  Luckily, he's got remarkable nurturing skills and took care of me.  He brought me to the doctor and I found out that I had strep-throat. But thank god for antibiotics... I started taking them immediately and felt better in a matter of days.

Until.... I thought I was better last Tuesday and stopped taking them because I wanted to go out for drinks and I didn't want to mix them. Worst idea ever.  Thursday night I had lots of wine/sangria (note the picture) at a friend's birthday party and ended up waking up in the middle of the night with the chills and a fever.  As well, my throat felt like it was the size of Nebraska, so I didn't go to work on Friday (yesterday).  Today I took it easy and read by the pool..and didn't feel too bad. Hooray for drugs!  But I did learn that I need to finish all of my antibiotics before consuming an abundance of alcohol, or just finish them in general!

On a happier note, Andre and I are officially going to Santiago de Compostela and Porto, Portugal in 2 weeks! I am absolutely thrilled. It will be the perfect way to end my Spanish escapades- I can't see myself doing anything better than this. :)

xoxo,

mp

on a more serious note...

Relaxing. A great adjective to describe my week. I actually didn't work as much as usual- which was lovely! I found some alternative activities to keep me busy-such as going to the beach, getting tapas/coffee, napping, and spending time with marvelous friends.
I spent the Fourth of July the most American way ever...by going to FRANCE. We went to Carcassonne- absolutely stunning. It is a fortified French town-meaning it's surrounded with defensive walls. It's complete madness that people actually live there. It looks like something from the History Channel or a movie set...unreal beauty.
This coming weekend, my roomie and I are going on a little getaway to the island of Mallorca- can't wait. The following weekend we're going to the beaches at la Costa Brava and godwilling I am going to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia [northwestern Spain] in a few weeks. I would die happy if I went there.
Speaking of Santiago de Compostela, I started reading the book, The Alchemist [but in Spanish] -which is about a young Spanish man, Santiago who is trying to pursue his personal legend.
The cover of the book says, "una fábula para seguir tus sueños" [ a fable to continue your dreams] and this got me thinking about life. I'm a true believer in the fact that you have to fight for what you want. We as humans fight for what we want everyday of our lives. Whether it's for a promotion at work, to get that cute boy or girl to notice you, or an A on an exam- we're all fighting for something.
Obtaining what you want takes an abundance of courage and patience. The book reads, "Pero el secreto de la vida esta en caerse siete veces y levantarse ocho" [ but the secret of life is falling over seven times and getting back up eight]. This quote not only shows that life isn't always easy, but that we all have the strength to jump back on that horse and keep going. However, some of us fail at getting back up because of a little thing called, doubt. This single feeling has the capability to deplete any motivation and causes uncertainty. It's impossible to achieve anything in life if you're insecure. You have to have faith. It's not called a fight for nothing- you're striving for something that you can't live without. So now it comes down to this, what's worth fighting for?
Naturally, here is a very fitting Mason Jennings lyric to end this post, "Be here now, no other place to be, all the doubts that linger, just set them free. And let good things happen and let the future come into each moment like a rising sun."

xoxo,
mp

red wine + tapas + beaches + great friends = the good life.

Once again I've been naughty and haven't written for quite some time.  It's probably due to the fact that I haven't really been home much!  I've been spending a lot of quality time with my co- workers who are absolutely fabulous.

This past week just seems like a blur.  I once again pulled an all-nighter at work, I was there from 10am Monday until 9am Tuesday- and luckily Andre trusts me and gave me his keys to go sleep at his place allllll day while he worked [poor guy!].  As well, on Thursday evening there was an opening fiesta for my work's new exhibition at a local art museum!  However, I ended up getting there about 2 hours late [because I was keeping Andre company while he was trying to finish up some last minute projects!] and then after the party around 10:30- all of us Cloud 9 workers went to a traditional Spanish dinner across the street. The dinner lasted 3 hours- no joke.  We had about 6 different tapas going around, soon had some paella and nibbled on some dessert- meanwhile lots of red wine was going around too.  After dinner, a bunch of decided to go to a hookah bar- we got there around 2ish.  Unfortunately the bar closed @ 3 and we got kicked out... but good times were had there.  

Friday I didn't show up to the studio until 4ish [the perks of being tight with the co-workers!].  We had a meeting that was suppose to start at 4:30- when in reality it didn't begin until 6.  It got over around 8:30 and about 6 of us went and got some beers [naturally].  After the beers, a few more of us went to another restaurant and shared some tapas.  I went home early that night-like a good girl.

Yesterday, my cute roomie and I went and had lunch around the neighborhood where I work and then I met up with my co-worker, Francesco and his lovely Brazilian girlfriend, Carla!  We decided to take a train to this beautiful beach about 30minutes out of Barca- totally worth it.  We spent the afternoon playing soccer, napping, talking, and basking in the sun.  After the beach, they invited me over to their place for drinks and to relax- and Andre soon came over too.  It was a splendid time- we all hung out on their porch [which had a hammock and a beautiful view of a palace!] and told stories and just enjoyed eachothers company.  Life was good.  I was soon blown away when Carla turned on their projection screen in their family room and we all had a dance party for awhile - and then ended up showing eachother YouTube videos! [note: below is a movie I documented from last nights festivities!]

This morning, I woke up @ Andre's [my home away from home] and we got a quick breakfast and went to our co-worker's, Javier dance performance!  It was super neat- there were about six groups that danced to different genres of music.  After the performance, about 20 of us went to this museum for drinks and then naturally made our way to a restaurant for tapas.  After we ate, Andre and I went back to his place to grab our gear for the beach and then we went and met up with Francesco.  We all napped/lounged and played some paddle ball! [note: the picture above is of me and Andre!]  We soon met up with the people from the dance performance at another beach and we swam, ate empanadas and danced! I got home tonight around 11 and it was nice to be in my room again.

Anyway, life here is wonderful and I am so blessed to have found such great people to spend my days with.

xoxo,

mp

i'm so lucky, lucky.

I apologize thoroughly for not writing for what seems like forever. It's been a crazy life here lately!

Work last week was intense.  I think I spent more time at the studio than at home!  My co workers had a deadline for a design of a culinary school on Thursday- so they put me to work making things for the model!  I'm happy they had me help though because 1) I got to get to know another gal working there- Idoia [pronounced: Edoya] and we're becoming great friends! and  2) I got to learn more about putting models together!  

So, however, on Wednesday, I worked from 10-5 and then went back to the studio @ 9pm with goodies for everyone [such as: candies, cookies, Redbull!]  Idoia and I were making these little trees all day- until Enric [head hancho] said we could be done!  She went home, and I ended up going to get everyone sandwiches at a bar down the street and came back and started correcting some documents that were in English [it was about 1am]. I was planning on staying there all night [because the train closed at midnight] however, Enric told Andre to just send me home- but I was stuck because I didn't want to pay like 40 euro for a cab.  Luckily, I have great co-workers and Andre told me that I could stay at his & Viktor's [other co worker] place!  Conveniently it was only a 5 minute walk back to their place- I only went with Viktor because Andre ended up staying up all night at the studio [pobresito!]  We got to their place and it was HUGE.  They share the apartment with 2 other gals [one from Croatia and the other from just north of Barce]  and I ended up hanging out with them until about 4am.  I soon passed out for about 4 hours and in the morning, Viktor and I got some coffee and went to studio...in the same clothes as the night before!  I stayed at the office til 2ish and went home because I was sleep deprived.

Later Thursday afternoon, I went with my friend Bettina and got my haircut- BANGS!  After we went and got some sangria/tapas on this boat restaurant place on the harbor of the Mediterranean :) I got pretty tipsy and headed home around 9ish- however, I ended up making a detour to the studio to help with some last minute details of the model and got home around 12:30.

Friday, I got to work around 11ish and Andre and I went and got a quick breakfast.  We came back to work and he sent me on a mission- which consisted of me grabbing a taxi, going to a warehouse and picking up a computer screen and bringing it to an art museum that my work has a exhibition opening up at later this week!  I returned back to the studio and Andre sent me on another mission- which was me grabbing another taxi and dropping off a camera for my coworker at this big convention in Plaza Espanya.  After I got back- Andre and I went to lunch and this quaint little restaurant- we ended up sharing a bottle of wine and naturally, I  was pretty drunk at 4pm!  We went back to the studio for a couple hours- which was interesting! We then went to the art museum, Santa Monica together because he had to do couple things there.  A couple of our other co workers were there too, so we all got some beer after.  I went home and chilled after that.

Saturday,  we went on a tour of the Torres Vineyard! It was pretty fun!  Afterwards, we went to Montserrat a huge mountain in Barcelona! [note: the foto was candid of me adjusting my dress there!]  I was very excited to be there because it is a pilgrimage site because it has, Virgen de Montserrat/La Moreneta= the little dark skinned one in Catlan and she is the patron of Catalunya.  As well, I saw the scallop shell on the sidewalk- which is the symbol for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia! :)  After all of this touring, I took a nap and went to the sweet bar on the hill again with a bunch of people and got home at 6:30am- again.

Today, Katherine and I slept til 12:30, got some lunch, I showed her the art museum for my work, and we headed down the beach at Barceloneta.  It was thee perfect day.  I'm about to freshen up and we're gonna get some dinner.

It's probably gonna be another long week again of working- but I love it.

xoxo,

mp

two hour lunch breaks? si!

Sorry I haven't written for awhile, it's been a busy few days! I was hanging out with Jeanette & Cassie all day Tuesday-and we went to my utopia, La Sagrada Familia [I took/edited the photo above!] As well, I started my job on Wednesday!
I'm interning at an architecture/graphic design studio, Cloud 9 [this is the owner's website:[http://www.ruiz-geli.com/] The people that work there are ridiculously talented. When I first started my job it was very bittersweet, but I'm growing to like it more and more each day. I usually spend my day photoshopping things for their upcoming projects/designs, answering phones and taking a two hour lunch break! - it's crazy, they shut down the whole studio and everyone leaves for food/siesta! While I was on my break yesterday, I meandered down the street and found a familiar looking building- it was Gaudi's, Casa Mila/ La Pedrera!
And today when I was on break, I went to lunch with my co-worker and he asked me if I knew about this festival in Barca next weekend, Sonar. It's a DJ/electronica/dance music fest! Sounds like a great time- I'm hopefully going next Saturday! http://2009.sonar.es/es/

I'm about to take a nap and then get ready to go out tonight! Tomorrow we're being tourists around the city and probably beaching it on Sunday! 'Til Then!

xoxo,
mp

note to self: ask locals for directions for now on.

So, this whole jet lag/sleeping business is still not working for me. I guess I'm never tired here at night. Because of this- I went to bed yesterday @ 6am and got up @ 9:30 for a program. However, miraculously I wasn't that tired during the day [it must have been the coca-cola lite!]
My roomie, Katherine arrived yesterday- she's a doll. And not only did she arrive, but my friend Jeanette was in town from England! Jeanette and I made plans last week for me to find her @ her hostel...and boy, was that easier than it sounds! After Katherine and I went and explored in Zara for awhile, we went to find this hostel. We had somewhat of a good idea where it was and some sloppy written directions on a notebook paper. I must have been crazy when I thought that would suffice. Not only did we get off on the wrong metro station, but we ended up walking up and down these huge hills that were full of beautiful houses. We asked for directions from a couple locals to get to this missing hostel- and it was pretty comical when one of them told us to take a left after the pine tree in the middle of the road! And he was right. After we found this pine tree- we found the INOUT hostel.
We then went to the reception to find out which room Jeanette and her friend Cassie were staying in. As we were about to walk into the restaurant, Jeanette and I spotted eachother and it was magical. I hadn't seen her since September and we definitely embraced eachother [note: the picture is of Jeanette and I!]
However, after all the merrymaking, Jeanette told me that her friend Cassie's purse got stolen at the beach in Barceloneta earlier in the day. I felt so bad. It had her passport, keys, credit cards and camera. Cassie was a mess. Luckily, we got her mind off things for a bit and went back to my campus and then headed down towards the sea.
I'm going with Jeanette and Cassie in the morning to help translate [or in about 6 hours] to get her another passport...so hopefully that goes okay! As well, tomorrow I'm probably getting a cell phone- so that's exciting! I feel so bare without one!

I should try to sleep...maybe my new name should be Ms. Insomniac? Or not so much. Night!

xoxo,
mp

insomniac? or jet lag? maybe a little of both.

It's 5am here in Barcelona and I'm still awake. It may have to do with the fact that I went to bed yesterday @ 7am and got up @ 4:30 in the afternoon. We didn't mean to stay out that late, honest! We got on the night bus @ 4am- which was the wrong bus. We found out after an hour of riding it that it didn't go to our university. I actually spoke a lot of Spanish to the bus driver [probably because I was mildly intoxicated] and he was nice enough to drop us off to catch the train- which we had to wait for it to open at 5:30. I guess we learned our lesson...find out the correct night bus. [note: this foto is how light the sky was when we arrived back at campus at 6:30am!]
Anyway, I think I'm starting to like wine more and more. Today, myself and a few guys found some sangria in a super-merkat for only .80 euro! - it was more of a big-kids juice box. Wine is cheaper than water here. Smart Spaniards.
Sorry this one isn't that interesting-probably because I'm lacking sleep. I'll probably have better stories to share after I'm not such a zombie.

xoxo,
mp

en route.

The trek to Spain officially began this morning when I entered the Minneapolis airport with my bags [practically tipping over] -even the lady working at the Continental desk told me that I could probably fit in my Kelty bag! Anyway, I got through security pretty smoothly and headed for Concourse E [and of course stopped for a Diet Coke on the way].
I had a pleasant surprise when I was sitting at the gate. The girl sitting across from me was reading a Chuck Klosterman book also! So, naturally, before we boarded I struck up a conversation with her. She was excited that I enjoyed him too. Her name was Devin and she was suppose to be on my flight- but her connecting flight got canceled. Bummer- we could have been best friends.
I soon boarded the plane- that might as well have been a plane made for children. It was tiny. It may sound funny coming from me because I'm not the biggest girl- but I even hit my head. There weren't even overhead compartments. I ended up switching seats with a couple so they could sit together [how sweet, I know]- which landed me next to a stereotypical businessman with his Wall Street Journal and coffee in hand. Fortunately, he was a nice fellow [with a thick New Jersey accent, water = wuder] and fortunately for him, I was a small girl. He told me that he usually gets stuck with huge men next to him- so he was happy when I crawled into the window seat. I soon put on some Bon Iver and took a snooze on the seat table. Not too much later after I woke up, we landed [more like fell out of the sky because the landing was so rough] in the beautiful [used loosely] state that is New Jersey.
I am now sitting near my gate and still have 3 and 1/2 hours to kill before my departure to Barcelona. But thank god for the Internet and entertaining New Jersey accents- or I probably would have died of boredom.

xoxo,
mp