nothing in particular

Nothing that out of the ordinary has happened to me in the past couple of days, hence the reason I have not posted anything. This will just be a jumbled mess of thoughts and happenings in my life (not that it is important or that you care, but I know some people (dad) will be mad when I don't post something), plus don't you want to know every thought running through my brain? Things that I have noticed, thought about, laughed at, etc.

1. I realized that I have become a chocoholic/foodaholic, a danceholic, and finally and most encompassing a barceholic. What are these? Definitions below.
-Chocoholic- I crave chocolate at any given time here (I act as if I didn't at home). Gelato, I want chocolate with another flavor, two scoops, why not? When in Spain. I have caught myself going down to the vending machine twice this week getting peanut m&m's. I eat a chocolate croissant for breakfast sometimes, and when I am feeling healthy, I often opt for the chocolate Special K cereal. I was walking through the Gothic Quarters today and was drawn to the pastry shop with cupcakes gleaming in the window. Needless to say all of my other friends with me were equally as entranced, which made me feel not so stupid. I also recently discovered, much to my dismay, that there is a churros stand open 24 hours on the weekends right outside my metro stop. That is just what I need at two in the morning, thank you very much. Might as well add on an extra 30 pounds now (however, I do have to say, they were amazing!).
- Foodaholic- I could eat fourteen meals a day here. Every two steps there is another little sandwich shop, tapas bar, chinese restaurant, focciacia bread pizza place, regular pizza place. Name the meal and you have it all conveniently within a three block area. Besides my typical dinners of scrambled eggs (tonight, I switched it up and made soft boiled eggs, I know, so gourmet), grilled cheese (which accompanied my soft boiled egg) and pasta, my lunches (the biggest meals of the day here) tend to include anything I can get my hands on. I love tapas: fried calamari, patatas bravas, chirizos, spanish omelet, everything is perfect. It is very hard to decide where to eat and we came across that problem today. To preface the story, yesterday I went to this lunch place called pita inn. It was unbelievable. It had an unknown white sauce, salsa, cucumbers, and chicken (you could also choose lamb or falafel) all stuffed in a pita pocket. Today, we were all set to go back there, everyone was on board "LETS GO GET PITAS!" that is, until we saw wok to walk. Now we were in a debacle. Wok to walk, pitas, wok to walk, pitas. Only one friend had eaten at wok to walk before and she said she really liked it. Seeing as it was right in front of us AND we were hungry AND we were able to see the food, we decided on wok to walk. Stir fry made just how you order it. delicious. Here I was thinking this blog was going to be about my adventures in Europe, and is sadly (but maybe more importantly and slightly more interesting) becoming my adventures with food in Europe.
- Danceholic - I walk into stores, stop, listen to the music, and bust out a move before I even look to see whats in the store. People laugh at me all the time and probably are thinking, "oh look, there is an american, she looks funny." I dance at sports bars, I dance at night clubs, I dance in the street, I dance in stores. Everywhere is just one big dance party for me. I guess it makes life a little more groovy (get it?)
- Barceholic - I AM IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT BARCELONA. Everyday I love this city more and more. It will never get old. I could walk through the barrio Gotic 1000 more times and still be completely satisfied (that is also because there are great restaurants, and again back to the food issue, see above). I can have a completely mediocre day/ night and it is still better than any night spent stateside. Everything about this city is amazing.

Now that I have defined so elegantly my newly formed personality traits, I will continue with the random rumblings in my brain.
The other day, I ran down to the Mediterranean Sea (I know, so cool). When I got there I had to cross over a little bridge, you know the kind that has to be made on the board walk so that there can be night clubs below, totally normal (the nightlife defines the city and definitely sets it apart from other cities in that sense). Anyways, so I stopped to stretch a little, look out over the sea, just take in some of the sights. All of a sudden there is a bike tour coming towards me. Probably thirty people on bikes. From about 50 yards away, I could tell they were all Americans. I never thought Americans could stick out like a sore thumb as much as they did. I started laughing right then and there on the boardwalk as the thirty Americans passed me on their bikes. How did I know they were American? and no I didn't cheat by listening to the language they were speaking. 1) every single one of them had on a helmet. No European would ever wear a helmet biking. 2) When you are walking in this city, it is always a threat that you will be run over by a bike (it almost happened to me on the metro the other day, yes ON the metro). They wiz by you thinking that they are a car. These bikers, the Americans, were maybe going, eh give or take 2 mph. They were so cautious, looking three times back and forth before crossing the boardwalk, not the street, the boardwalk. European bikers could care less. It was so comical to see thirty Americans stick out so badly, nevertheless all wearing really attractive helmets.

Another random thought/ observation I made was the hilarity of the young women who ride "motos" here. Motos are much smaller than motorcycles but bigger than dirt bikes. If you have been to Europe, you know what I am talking about. First of all, they are everywhere! It is so crazy how popular they are. Anyways, back to my original thought. So I was walking to class the other day and I passed a young woman, maybe 25-35 years old. She was wearing a short, little black dress, had on four inch stilettos and was wearing her moto helmet with the eye shield down. So picture a petite woman, dressed up as if she was going out, walking around with her helmet on. I had to laugh out loud it was so funny! She looked like she was living in a virtual reality world or was an alien from outer space. So many of them do it, it is so funny. The men I can see because they wear pants whatever, but the women with the short skirts and dresses and then to top it off to be walking around with the helmets is too funny! I hope that I would be able to pull that off if need be. I envy them, and their coolness factor.

final thought/ announcement! I booked my trip to PORTUGAL! It will be my first time staying in a hostel. We are going to Lisbon, should be amazing!

CIAO