I love sleep

Didn't sleep for almost 3 nights....
Started Weds night w/ Jess and Ben's birthdays overlapping. Went to the bar, got some chupitos and then headed over to camelot. I love clubbing here because not all the guys are as aggressive as they are in the states. We get to do our own thing and sing along with the music. However the occasional few do follow us after we leave. Anyway, tried looking for more chupitos but everything was closed at 4am so we found Leonardo's, the ONLY food place open in the early morning. I was completely fine when I got home but an hour into sleeping I got nauseous from the smell of smoke in my hair and threw up my burger. Mi madre was pissed in the morning cause she thought I came home drunk and threw up all over the place. Lectured me and gave me disappointing looks. Argh..

Thursday.. somehow made me it through my classes, thought not entirely awake. Got on an 11 hour journey on a bus for Barcelona without sleeping much because they have a law here that requires bus drivers to stop every 2.5 hours. We had the best luck of sitting right to the door and it was freeezing cold everytime he stopped. Got here around 645am and our friend had just gotten home. Found a flier for a "ciclotour" of Barcelona on bike. Got to see all of Antoni Gaudi's works.. the cathedral in progress is amazing! Construction began 135 years ago and they're trying to finish by 2036, the 100 year mark of his death. here's some info on the cathedral if anyone is interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
I think it's pretty awesome.

Spent the rest of the day in the sun at the beach... a topless beach like they all are in spain or maybe europe in general? Anyway, I wanted to say that I've it at least once, so the three of us (girls) all did. Quite liberating and didn't feel weird at all! Spent the night at Opium, club right by the beach, the lounge area actually connects to the beach. Didn't have as great of a time because we sat there talking for a good while. I can't drink and breathe in smoke at the same time or else I get nauseous.. so I was got really bored. Things started picking up when we finally decided to dance and dance .. and dance... until the they kicked us out at 615 am. At that time Jess and Carroll were still drinking their 4th or 5th redbull/ vodka of the night. It was disasterous trying to take the metro with these drunkards. I'm just glad Carlo and Alberto (the Italianos) came with us so I had help taking care of them. FINALLY got to sleep at 930am... and now we're watching US kick Spain's butt in basketball. First time I have the chance to watch the olympics because they're always on while I'm in class during the weekday! Our friend recommended we not go out to bars because there probably wouldn't be many Americans there =P. I really want to watch the Kayak/ canoe starting Monday!

I finally changed my return flight and bought my one way ticket to Rome! Carlo is trying to find me a place to stay with his friends for the 4 nights I'm there. If not, the hostels don't see too bad, and everything seems to be centralized in one area within walking distance. Flying into NYC on the 3rd and going to explore the city on my own till Friday night when i meet up with Carroll and then heading over to Boston to visit Jon Hua! Checked SW tickets and there aren't any available to SFO so I'm thinking about flying to LAX instead and possibly driving the van home that weekend instead. I realized that as much as I love Spain, I shouldn't have come here to study. Four days a week in Salamanca gets kinda boring and we really don't have that much time to explore. I look forward to traveling to other places on the weekends and a few days in each place is more than enough. Miss everyone at home, can't wait to be back in 3 weeks.

One last thing, Congratulations to Karrie and Ben on their engagement! The one couple in our program who came together and are staying until the end of December. Ben proposed on his 21st birthday (2 days ago) at a gorgeous park with a cathedral in the background in Salamanca. Absolutely stoked for the couple =)!