Spain in general...

is amazing! The culture is entirely different than the northern part of Europe. Kirsten and I chose to totally immerse ourselves into Spain and have taken siestas almost every day; we love it!

Sevilla: Very, very Spanish! The streets were extremely confusing and our internal compasses never managed to figure out the city. The first day we went to another Cathedral (after sleeping in... really late!) and climbed a massive bell tower to see a beautiful view of the city. Since we spent the beginning of the day in bed and at the train station trying to get tickets to Barcelona, by the time we left the church, it was time for our first siesta! All the shops were closed anyway and we didn't have much to do if everything was closed. When we woke up and got ready for the evening, I understood why the Spanish take naps... It's so they can stay up late that night! I have never seen a city so ALIVE at nighttime as I have in Spain. It's so different than Berlin where we had to plan what we were eating for dinner before 5 just in case the grocery store closed at that time - which most of them do. Not in Spain, though! We also LOVE the tapas. We felt like it was happy hour, except all the time.
I have never been more happy than now that I took a few years of Spanish in high school. What we learned in high school came back to us very quickly and we even managed to interact with the teller in the train station completely in Spanish. I know we weren't very "correct" in how we formed our sentences, but the ability to communicate was relieving. I also felt that not many locals spoke English; in France several people spoke English - which only further proves my previous point that Spanish is the more logical language to learn.
The second day we went to a huge park with a cool fountain in the middle. All the big cities in Europe have these great "green spaces" that we love taking advantage of. Of course, the parks in Spain are (again) very different than those in Northern Europe. In Spain there are palm trees everywhere and I felt like I was somewhere tropical.
Towards the end of our stay in Sevilla, we heard the news that, sadly, Kirsten's grandma wasn't doing well. We immediately thought about returning home and, after a few days of consideration, we made the difficult decision to stay in Europe. Ellie, Kirst's grandma, would have wanted us to stay and continue our adventure and we're both happy that we've continued onward. We both miss Ellie and my heart goes out to Kirsten and her wonderful family during this difficult time.

Barcelona: Easily one of my favorite cities in Europe so far. Nothing has been a let-down about this city; everything is worth it. Our first day we walked up and down La Rambla. We also took an elevator to the top of the towering statue of Christopher Columbus. (Random fact: Did you know that in 1992, a symbolic wedding took place between the Statue of Liberty and the statue of Christopher Columbus? Cool!) I love being able to share some of my country's history with Spain. It makes me feel as if the USA isn't as young as we are often perceived to be and it made me feel instantly at home. Later that night we journaled in our awesome hostel (Hello BCN) and we came across a book with Top Ten Things to do in Barcelona. This is when we had an "Oh shit" moment when we realized THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO IN BARCELONA. This meant no siesta today :)
This morning we woke up early in effort to see EVERYTHING in Barcelona. And we were successful! First we went to Parc Güell which was designed by Gaudi and built between 1900 and 1914. It is like a park built by Dr. Seuss and it was really fun to wander around and see magical architecture. Next we took the tram back to the center of town to (another!) the Cathedral. This Cathedral was different than the others because it had a really cool courtyard in the middle with palm trees and dozens of ducks. (Sidenote: Kirsten loves ducks. And pigeons, horses, dogs, and any other living animal. She also loves to take pictures of them - which is funny because she takes a long time waiting for the animal to be in the "right position;" this can take several minutes. In turn, I love taking pictures of Kirsten taking pictures of animals. So when you are looking through my albums and see dozens of pictures of Kirst with the camera, it's because I am bored while she is waiting for the perfect shot of a pigeon. Lol, she gives me a hard time because I will like them when they are framed in our house and I will wish I had taken pictures of dogs too. Lol, she is so funny!) We also walked to a palace built by Gaudi but the line was really long so we didn't go in. The most colorful part of today was the MASSIVE market that we spent a ton of time in. They had so many fresh fruits, meats, candies, fish, and spices on display it was like artwork. We saw fruit that we had never even heard of. When I upload pictures from Barcelona make sure you look for the pictures from the market; they are my favorite! Next we hiked past the end of La Rambla to a few more buildings by Gaudi which we didn't go in, but did take pictures of from the outside. Eventually we headed back down towards the water and stopped in a bar that we had read about in our new book from the hostel that is themed like a fairy tale. Seriously, this was one of the coolest bars I have ever been in! There were trees, lamps, fountains, fairies, and mirrors all over the place. The lighting was really low also, so it took a while for our eyes to adjust to the room and see everything. The sangria was also VERY strong; Kirst only drank half of hers, but being the lush that I am, I drank my entire glass and definitely felt the effects walking to our next sight. Our last stop of the day included the city park during the sunset. (I hear it's raining in Portland... It's been sunny and warm here; it makes it difficult to go home in only a few weeks!) This park has one of the prettiest fountains I have ever seen! Don't worry, I took TONS of pictures so I will get to share it with everyone!

WOW, I'm sorry it took me so long to blog about Spain. As you can see, we've been keeping busy. I also can't upload my pictures onto this computer so my photo albums will need to remain unupdated until I get to the next hostel. Tomorrow morning we are on our way to Nice, France for two nights before heading to ITALY! (It still feels like this is a dream.)

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have this opportunity to be UNEMPLOYED and traveling with my BEST friend. The last few days of backpacking have gone by so fast and I know Italy will fly by as well. It is only 3 weeks from tomorrow until we will be back in Denmark with Kirst's family. Paris and Prague are just on the horizon... Life really doesn't get any better than this :)

I love you and miss you all!
xo
Meg

Barcelona!

We made it! I promise I will write all about Sevilla as soon as I get a chance... Right now we are exhausted and need to eat and shower. Just letting you know we didn't get mugged in the dark!

Xo
Meg
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Churros and chocolate

In Sevilla, of course!
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Sevilla!

We made it to Sevilla, Spain safely... No bus-bombers! (Ask me about that later.) Finding our hostel was an awful experience; the directions were very confusing and when we arrived it was already dark outside. The hostel made up for it though by giving us free drinks upon our check-in! I can't wait to spend time here after all the wonderful things I have heard about this place. We'll be here for 3 nights before heading to Barcelona!

Adios!
Meg

PS: we totally got to practice our español on the bus with an 8-year-old girl.... She impressed us by counting to 5 and saying "hello" in English; so cute!

Back to backpacking...

Today is our last in Lagos, Portugal. Tomorrow we are taking a bus (not a train!) to Sevilla, Spain. It's so funny because every time we try to "plan" where we are going next, something happens so that it never works out the way we think it will. We were originally going to be in Madrid tomorrow, but it would have involved taking another night train (BOO) and we couldn't reserve seats from the train station in Lagos; we would have needed to go to Lisboa to reserve our seats. Then we couldn't find any hostels that had two beds for two nights.... Hmmm; it was beginning to look like Madrid wasn't in the cards.
Everyone we've met here, has told us SO MUCH about Sevilla. According to everyone who has been there, it is absolutely amazing and way better than Madrid. The bus tickets to get there are only 17 euros so we figured, why not? As of last night, we changed our plans completely and are skipping Madrid and going straight to Barcelona from Sevilla. I am super excited because switching plans has (usually) worked out so well for us! (Minus Berlin, of course.)

We are so sad to leave Lagos; it has felt like a home away from home for us. The people, the hostel and the city are all amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was the best decision so far to take a few days off of our constant traveling and moving around to just stop and slow down. I feel totally relaxed and ready to take on the next 4 weeks of backpacking before heading up to Denmark for our last week in Europe.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE REST OF EUROPE! I can't wait to see Italy and eat the food. I can't wait to visit my friends Kathryn and Claire. I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower and check so many more sights off my "life list."

See you all in 5 weeks!
xo, Meg

PS: When I get back, don't forget to ask me about the "wanker" in Lagos and our run-in with the police - such a great story but not really appropriate for the blog. Also, don't forget to ask me about the "surprise" I am bringing back with me!

Breakfast

At 1 in the afternoon... A full english breakfast for only 3 euros! And it includes baked beans :)
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Halfway point

Today marks our 38th day of travelling! We only have 38 more days to squeeze in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the rest of France, Prague and Denmark (again). I would like to take a moment to highlight a few things.

What I miss most from home:
- My mom's cooking; including but not limited to: lasagna, anything barbecued, tortelini soup, sausage roll-ups, salmon, puff pancakes, waffles, egg salad sandwiches, ice cream, PIE, old folks sausage (just seeing if you are paying attention, Mom, lol), and grilled salad.
- The farm and all the guys who like to take care of me and keep me out of trouble during the summer.
- Sticking my tongue out at my sister when Mom isn't looking.
- The ability to text or call anyone without it costing a fortune.
- My vocabulary. (Talking to people who don't speak a lot of English makes it difficult to use big words. I feel like I've forgotten them!)
- Driving.
- Having money.
- The animals.
- Ketchup! Oh my gosh, I miss it so much!
- Cousin nights and drinking on the beach.
- And of course, the island.

What I have learned about myself and others while being away:
- Snoring still sucks and is still considered a deal-breaker in my book. Sleeping in hostels with boys has only made me hate snoring more.
- Men are sleezy even on this side of the world. Do they really think that they'll get a date by yelling out cat-calls and whistling when females walk by? This gender still never ceases to amaze me.
- I've learned that life doesn't happen if you sit around and wait for it. From now on I am going to make things happen for myself. I am tired of waiting around.
- I've learned how to navigate public transportation systems in 4 different languages. (Danish, German, Dutch, and French.)
- The world is SO BIG and there are so many people living on it! I realize that this is an obvious statement, but the hugeness of the world population was difficult for me to grasp until I left the US. I have met a countless amount of people so far on this trip and I am only halfway done.
- I am so much more appreciative of nice people.
- I have a better understanding of what it looks like to be appreciated. It makes me mad that I haven't been appreciated in the past and that I put up with it.
- I am more inspired to learn another language. It is important to put forth an effort to be bilingual.
- I am more patriotic.
- And due to my extended stay in Portugal, I am more tan :)

I can't wait to come home and play house while applying for graduate school and preparing to teach pre-school for the first time. See you all in 38 days!

xoxo, Meg