I CONTINUE TO TRAVEL. I CONTINUE TO LOVE IT HERE.

SORRY FOR THE TIME  THAT HAS PASSED.
Last weekend I went to Barcelona and met Rosie and Maura there. Rosie is in Rome for the quarter and Maura in Cork, Ireland.

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*rosie and i at lunch*
We stayed in a great little hostel Maura found online. They arrived in Barcelona Thursday night and wandered around while I took a final in Alicante Friday morning. Finally, I landed at about 3:00pm and found them waiting for me!


Martha and her family were also in Barcelona for the weekend so we got to hang out with her and her sisters for drinks at night.

*dinner Friday*

On Saturday we went to the Sagrada Familia, one of the largest food markets in Europe, and the old olympic grounds.
It was so good to be busy with them but also have downtime eating and chilling at the hostel. We had a delicious, expensive meal on Saturday night. There were giant wooden tables and chairs. You sat next to strangers and pretty much everyone had on oversized knit sweaters (except us).

*eating popcorn with la sagrada familia*




 I'm so lucky to have friends that value the same experiences as me and that I can relate to so genuinely.

*drinking juice at the market* 

*rosie being precious with a fountain*

This weekend I went to Valencia with school. We left Friday morning (NO CLASS) and were there for about 30 hours(!!! ). First we went to the museum area. Which was really crazy; lots of interesting architecture. Of course I didn't take any pictures of that, here is a picture of some people I was with (everyone pumped to be in Valencia) !! 

 We went to the aquarium and spent quality time with underwater animals. My favorite: sea lions, a green eel, beluga whales. They played really calming music in every exhibit so it was a real experience.

Other things we did in Valencia: eat, shop, go to old places. go to neat plazas, see history, go to a Cathedral that has the *cup Jesus used at the last supper*. climb up steps to the top of the towers that used to gate the city, drink horchata, go to a big market that has air conditioning in the summer and glass doors.

*my favorite plaza* 

*gates of the city* 

*ceiling of the market* 

I did a really bad job taking photos in Valencia because I was so in love with everything I saw and experienced there. If I had a city that would compete with Chicago for my heart, it might be Valencia. It's a big city, but kind of feels safe and smaller. The buildings are incredible and there seems to be endless history. My last weekends in Spain seem to be filling up, so I might not be able to get back there this time, but that just means I'll live there later. 

Love you all. Please let me know what is new. Hope everyone has killer halloween costumes lined up. ;))))