Andorra and Barcelona.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update (MOM!), but a couple weeks ago we went on our second school sponsored trip.  First, we went to Andorra.  Um, did you know that An-freakin'-dorra is it's own country?  It's a country in Europe!  Where was I during geography class?  Anyways, Andorra is one of the richest countries in Europe and it was super nice!!!  We went to this ski resort town and it reminded me so much of mammoth.  There wasn't snow when we got there, except on the mountain, so we dropped all our stuff off at the hotel and we went shopping down the main street.  The stores were soooooooo expensive, but I bought this hand tea strainer thing.  It was super cool.  Jeremy bought me one for my birthday and it's the shape of a tea pot and it's really cute, but it is too hard to get the tea leafs in and out of!!!  Anyways, it was only like 5 euro, so it wasn't too bad!!!  That night, they school took us to the biggest spa in all of Europe.  It was so nice, pretty, and fun!!!  There were like 10 different hot tubs, but I was a little disappointed, because they weren't hot enough (maybe 95 degrees).  However, they had a really nice sauna and a wicked cool steam room.  I stayed in there a lot of the time, because it was that awesome.  Last cool/crazy thing about this place was that there were cold/freezing spas...they were jacuzzi's that are around 50 degrees and they are supposed to make you warmer.  I didn't believe the man and told him I wasn't getting in and then he practically pushed me in.  I was soo mad, but then I calmed down a bit, because it really did work.  It was the weirdest thing.

The next day we went to Barcelona.  Looooove Barcelona!!!  We didn't have anything planned for the day once we got there so we just had a lot of free time.  We walked around the city and saw all the street venders.  The main road, Las Ramblas, was full of impersonators and mime like things....they were pretty cool.  We shopped..i bought a pair of sunglasses, which I'm pretty excited about!!!  They were only 7 euro, so i figured they were worth it, plus i needed a pair.  Also, that night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.  It was super cool, because the second we walked in I felt like I was in the States.  The music was all in English and all of the waiters spoke English....it was really fun.  However, I was really sad, because I have been craving ice cream for forever now and some people got milkshakes and I couldn't because of my veganess.  However, I'm almost done.  Being vegan really hasn't been that hard aside from ice cream, which I think I could treat myself to every once in a while.  That night, we went back to the hotel and played games with a bunch of us and watched a movie.  It was super funny, because us girls bought a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine and Casey and I were on the bed looking at it.  We were leaning against the headboard and I guess we both didn't realize that the bed had wheels and wasn't connected to the headboard....yeah I bet you can guess what happened next.  My butt fell to the ground, leaving my feet and arms sticking straight up in the air.  It was super funny and I have some funny pictures of me stuck...haha  Somehow, Casey stayed on the bed and I was the only idiot who fell.

The next day we were still in Barcelona and most of the day was devoted to seeing the works of Gaudi.  Gaudi was by far the most famous architect in Spain and it's argued that he was perhaps the best modern architect in all of Europe.  We went and saw his most famous lifelong work, a huge church, that still isn't done yet.  His style is sooo cool.  It's like Disneyland, but more professional.  Then, we went to the Gaudi Park where there were all these cool houses/buildings that looked like they were for the 7 dwarfs and the longest park bench in the world...that's right I sat my butt on it =)  Afterwards, we went to the huge food market and got fresh made, all fruit smoothies that were made right in front of us.  I got a strawberry/coconut one.  Later, we went to the Picasso Museum and that was super interesting.  It was really interesting to see his works throughout his life.  His paintings started out "normal" (to most human eyes) and just got weirder and weirder (more abstract).  However, the giftshop was the coolest thing ever.  I'm sort of a sucker for postcards and this store and thousands of them...some with paintings and some with some really funny, clever sayings.  I was bummed, because i couldn't buy any because i didn't have my purse.

The last day, we just walked around the gothic part of Barcelona and went through some markets.  It was really fun, because my favorite teacher came as our tour guide and she is just the cutest little thing.  She would take us around everywhere and she would only stop to talk to us if there was a step that she could stand on, so that she could be eye level with all of us (she's 5'0)...haha.  On our way back into town, we ran into this band and these people dancing a dance that I learned about in Folklore class.  It was super neat.  Afterwards, then we hoped on the bus and came back.  It was super funny, because we stopped at carrefour on our way home and chels and I said that we were going to spend valentine's together (which was the next day), since Brent stayed in Barcelona.  We got some junk food from the store and I really needed some more shampoo and conditioner, but I was starting to get sick, so I couldn't really smell anything.  And I'm really picky about smells, so i passed it to Chels and said, "Does this one smell good?"  I don't know what happened, because next thing i know Chels said, "Yeah, it smells good (while laughing)."  I look up and chelsea had conditioner all up her nose and on her face...it was soo funny, i wish i had my camera.  Anyways, then i got sick for a whole entire week and that's my excuse for this super late blog!!  Miss you all and can't wait to see you soon!!