Visitors!!

Thankfully from my perspective, this month has been speckled with eagerly anticipated visits from various friends and family :D! Has to be said, was particularly looking forward to Quinny coming to stay. And rightly so; we had an awesome time seeing all the sights which I had reserved to see with guests so I had an excuse to get all excitable about Gaudí (:D!) I'll try and recall the many antics we got up to...

Friday night consisted in me legging it round the Estació del Nord bus station trying to find the elusive platform 7...(it was a bit of a Harry Potter fiasco) from there being a distinct lack of signs I suddenly got led on a farcical run around the station, being told they were 'upstairs' and thinking surely this wasn't possible, then being pointed down the length of the upstairs corridor and out of the doors I came in by...I then turned a corner and saw the platforms below me :|!? So quickly found the nearest stairwell and dived down it, just in time to arrive at the empty bay...before noticing on the screen that his bus was now due to pull in to bay 6...and there was a bus standing there...I'm sure most Spaniards were suddenly bemused by the sight of a short ginger mass hurtling towards a man in a Manchester University hoodie...

So from there we braved the Metro back to my square, where we arrived at my flat and plonked various belongings in my room before getting Steph round for numerous beers, shandies (I may have raided the awesomely cheap beer shelf in Condis earlier that day..!) and a bottle of wine which the Sheriff (as she is now known) tore through pretty impressively... pretty much spent the evening loitering in the kitchen catching up on Manchester news and Steph and I avidly leafing through the pages of a copy of the Manchester Evening News Quinny had brought with him.... the best things in life are free :D

Saturday was set to be the major let's-be-tourists day, so we went to the Sagrada Familia first as Quinny had seen it from the front but never been inside it. This is worth doing. I hadn't been in it since I last came out here in sixth form about 2 1/2 years ago, and you can already see considerable progress (thankfully... I wish they'd hurry up :p). We went and mused over the drawings (Quinny was placated by the extensive mathsy speak they'd included in the explanation of the designs - I stood there and grinned happily at the 'pretty shapes'...) before wandering around gawping, face to the sky, at the incredible interior. It's just massive. We ambled around for a bit trying to find our way to the stairwell, but decided in the end that apparently now you have no option but to get the lift up, and can only walk down the stairs on the way back. We still got some amazing views from various vantage points along the way, though; there are plenty of photos to back this up but my Facebook is being temperamental and not letting my camera photos upload - I'll try this again soon! 

So after being suitably blown away by Gaudí's epic cathedral, we wandered about in search of food, but after finding some nice squares and things but being pretty unsuccessful, we wandered down Passeig de Gracia (i.e. the expensive area) and looked around before finding a really nice tapas bar for some munch. Quality stuff and I even got to gabble away to the waitress in Spanish for a bit. Ace :)

We were going to hit more Gaudí houses but by this point it was nearing 5.00, so we set off back to mine to get some beers in and prepare for the evening, namely going to see FC BARCA play Valladolid at the Nou Camp! We rustled up some quesadillas and headed over to meet Steph in the square and trudged our way to the stadium. The atmosphere was awesome; the place is so huge, I'd seen it from the outside earlier that week when we'd trekked up there twice to get the tickets, but from the inside it's unreal...we found our seats (pretty damn awesome ones, we'd made sure of that!) and with a while to go until kick off (we'd been pretty eager..) we went to pick up a hotdog to complete our live footy experience :p mmm dried onions...I'm developing a bit of a thing for mustard, too.. The match was AWESOME...we expected a bit of a battering delivered by Barca, but 6-0 with 2 disallowed goals was pretty spectacular! I had to rethink the whole keeping my bag on my knee strategy to be able to jump up in celebration for every time they scored! A fantastic game and I'm now officially a convert to live football, though that particular match may take some living up to...

We made our way back to our flats (we're a mere 20 minute walk down the road from Camp Nou :p) to hastily get ready for our night out that was about to ensue...yes, we were embarking upon our night of partying at around 1am... We gave a nod to the old Spanish trick of 'el botellón' - getting a large bottle of fizzy drink and topping it up with spirits, to take for the journey to the club, as a result of the ridiculously expensive drinks prices - which kept us company on our way and in the queue. We went to Magic - I remember drink, dancing, singing and general good music-and-alcohol fuelled fun times! We finally turned in at about 6am after an epically long day.

On Sundays not much is open in Barca, so we allowed ourselves a more relaxed day on the sightseeing front (and a lie in until about 1.30 - a very respectable time for me to surface post-Saturday night, incidentally!). We ventured out to explore the central areas - I wanted to show Quinny the Gothic Quarter - and we stumbled upon a stage set up in the main square of the area, with a band playing music in celebration of cultural integration - we stood around soaking up the atmosphere before grabbing a few free sweets to tide us over... 

My memory clouds around this point, though I do know that the evening was reserved for going to visit my favourite - Parc Guell. One of the many (and lesser) beauties of this place is that not only is it open on Sundays, but it is free :) So off we trekked to the mystical land where elevators are mounted in hills and where people must have calves of steel to live there... I planned for us to get there by evening, firstly in the hope that there would be fewer people there, but also because there is a spectacular vantage point from which to see the city, and potentially the sunset, which I'd never done before... We made it just in time to see the sky lit up with a myriad of beautiful colours; the hilltop I was shown a few weeks ago is the most incredible place for a panoramic view of Barcelona. In a park where the whole city seems to take a deep calming breath and suspend all noise for as long as you choose to stay, the view from the small hill with the cross on top seems to have the same effect on the tourists who visit. As soon as everyone is up there, there is an inexplicable hush as they look across the landscape. It is by far my favourite point in the city. The bench itself (one of my great loves :) ) comes a close second, but nothing compares to that view and that atmosphere, that feeling. 

We next walked down through the park to the bench itself, which was comparatively quiet, and got a few photos :) before meandering downwards through the gardens and to the pillared underside of the courtyard. There was a violinist playing underneath this time, demonstrating the spellbinding acoustics of the hall. We walked down the main steps and I took the quintessential picture of Quinny with the lizard :D Has to be done! Then a few more photos and wandered back to the Metro.

Think when we got back we explored the area around the centre and hit a few bars; namely Rock N Roll, which had the first pool table I've seen in Barca!.. and had a very strong Pina Colada before requesting some songs and chatting to some English blokes over on a stag do; we moved on to Travel bar to get a free shot with a drink, where I met a barman who used to live in Bristol!, and then we moved next door to Cheers at Quinny's suggestion...and who do I see sat at the bar in front of me?! Georgia Mills from CHS, that's only ruddy who!! I honestly couldn't believe my eyes and had to get Quinny to take a picture of us together to prove to myself that it had actually happened! She was over for a random weekend for a uni friend's birthday or something...man, the craziness; of all the bars in Barcelona..!! (and all the usual clichés :p) I think we then went to get a falafel wrap (mm, so good!!) and met some travelling Americans in the kebab bar, before turning in? Or maybe the food came before the bars...I forget...either way, a great night, with plenty of socialising, hooray!

Can't actually remember the order of events over the next few days right now, will update more when I'm near my calendar...

Love you all and hope things are well in Blighty.. have just been back there for a brief jaunt myself..! More on that when I'm not so tired, and, er, playing Scrabble online...oh, the thrilling life I lead! xxxxxxxxx

Abusing precious, beloved internet...!

Ok so am at work and shouldn't be on here but sod it! I have internet here!! And hoo-flippin'-ray...seriously, I feel like a sad loser being this dependent on the interweb but trust me, in another country where it is pretty much your only form of contact with family and friends, going without it can drive you pretty spare...which it is me....so needless to say we still don't have it at home, spoke to Maria about it yesterday and told her you seem to need a password to access the network we were using now, and she said they must have realised we were being naughty....so presumably we'll have a discussion about what to do about it soon (eg. today/tomorrow). Who knows how long it'll take to set up though. Not fun times, I can tell you!

As well as this, am in pretty dire financial straits, so can't even relieve boredom by doing fun things...didn't think I was affected by credit crunch but beginning to look like one of my own at the moment! Oh well, I do have a nice interest-free overdraft which it looks like I'm going to become friendly with...not what I wanted to do but I'll literally have 90 pounds to my name when you subtract the 2 months rent I have left to pay, with my current situation...so I figure while I'm out here I might as well make the most of it, regardless of a bit of financial damage...once in a lifetime opportunity and all...!

Everyone has left the office bar me and Steph now, so we've pretty much taken to dossing about hehe. Our coursemate Christina (girl who was doing my job before I arrived) has come to visit us today; was a nice surprise to see her waiting outside our office this morning!! She only did an 8 week shift over the summer and is now back in Manchester, but has a reading week so has come to visit :) so hopefully that'll involve some much-craved social activity for the next few days :) Also am hopefully going to meet Louise (girl from Bath at Barcelona Uni who I've been in contact with) this week! Should be really cool :) She's in even worse financial trouble than me, by the sounds of it, so should be interesting seeing what we can come up with to do that's fun and economical..!

This weekend was pretty uneventful, aside from:

1) Getting flashed by some pervert on the way back from Camp Nou (football stadium) - lovely..
2) Getting tickets to see FC Barca/Valladolid this coming Sunday!!
3) A very fun Saturday night in an Irish bar and then dancing the night (and morning) away at Jamboree, and meeting a Danish guy and a Portuguese guy who live in our square :) Quote of the night (though there were many): "I wish I had a British accent, then I could call myself...Chuck.."; Danish guy to thank for that one! hahaha.

Hooray for Monday almost being over! Without internet it's safe to say that Steph and I are steaming through our limited DVD collection...at least we have someone to pester in the form of Christina for the next few days...before Quinny's arrival on Friday!! :D

Hope all is good in UK, keep me posted with emails people, and you can comment on this blog, by the way! Be nice to know if someone is reading it! :p

Love you all tons, reeeally can't wait for a good ol' English Christmas with everyone!! xxxxxxxxxx

Aaaargh!!

Well ladies and gents, it would seem that the rather risky system we had going of 'borrowing' the internet has now backfired on us (as I feared it might at some point); yesterday morning I was getting ready for work and happily streaming Radio 1 over their website, however when I returned from making breakfast I was met with a silent room...it often pauses to reload so I thought maybe that was it, however the whole server appeared to have gone down. I had to go to work so left the flat and planned to have a look at it later. So when I returned I tried to figure out what the problem was. It was now asking me to provide a password for the previously open network that we'd joined...not good news at all....So after trying in vain to access any network I could get my hands on, I gave up and decided that we officially didn't have internet. I said it wasn't working to my housemate when she returned - she said hers hadn't been either and that it had done it before and maybe it would work again in a day or two. This didn't look likely to me but I thought it was worth a try. However today it appears to be saying the same thing, therefore leading me to believe that we actually have to stop being naughty and buy our own... I'll discuss it with her if it's not working at latest by the end of this weekend - I will actually go INSANE without internet - it's my pretty much sole form of contact with you lot in Blighty (Skype, MSN, this thing and Facebook have been absolute life savers in terms of keeping me in touch with you kids (and therefore sane)) so being stuck on my own for several hours a day in the flat with nothing but a few books, my music (which I've pretty much exhausted now) and rubbish Spanish telly for company would drive me absolutely up the wall :( That said, there are a few internet cafés around, as well as WiFi in the library down the road, and in Starbucks etc, so hope is not completely lost, however I don't really fancy trekking it about with my laptop on my back at all hours of the evening. So we shall see. Just thought I'd post this so if you don't hear from me for a while, you know why..! Feel free to keep texting and even write to my address (see below) to keep me mentally above water..! Miss you lot loads and the prospect of a house without internet is really not doing my mood any good right now :( - am at work at the moment, hence how I'm able to post this entry lol.

In other news, actually met Cristina (elusive Spanish girl who I was meant to meet for coffee..let's see, sometime last week I think it is now lol) last night for coffee! She's from Tenerife, it turns out (lucky mare lol) and is wicked - chatted for over 2 hours! About anything that came to our heads really - difference in English and Spanish youth cultures, weather, Halloween celebrations, nightlife, where we live, where we've been in Spain/the UK/USA...all sorts! Was ace :) and she even bought me my hot chocolate! (Yes, the AWESOME one...:p) May be meeting up to do something tomorrow night in the way of going out - though this was when I thought there was still some hope that my internet would work.. :s (Oh yeah, feel free to text, it costs me 25p to reply and am running out of credit but will try to - PLEASE don't ring as it costs me even to receive the call and thus will run out my credit this way as well..! Will try and get on Skype asap. Will probably be able to get on Steph's internet very soon - tried last night but didn't work but sure one of the boys will help me to, it's worked fine before.)

Love you and miss you all tons, not too long til I'm back now though! Can't believe it's November tomorrow already..! Madness..

Keep sending me all your news, emails/facebook messages etc will still be there for me when I can get online :) thankies :)

xxxxxxxxx

Address!!

At long last, here tis! Sorry kids...

Nikki Tomlinson,

C/ Galileu, 40 3° 2ª

08028 BARCELONA

(Spain!)

There you are my lovers, lots of lovely letters now eh?! ;p

Dentist time today.....wish me luck! :s

os quiero todos xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday Monday..

A Brief Chronicle of Today's Events:

Started work at 10am as per; well, ish - had been over to Mum's hotel to drop off a copy of the Barcelona magazine so she could find out what stuff was going on that they might have a look at (see, we offer practical services! :D) but alas, she wasn't up, so I abandoned that mission and strolled (at a leisurely pace, naturally..) across the square to the office. Had a brief chat with Juan the doorman (legend) who was coming down in the lift when I was waiting to go up lol; spent the moments normally taken up trying to disengage brain from Sleep Mode hurriedly racking cortexes for Spanish knowledge in order to decipher his Hispanic mumblings; think he said something about having seen Steph and her seeming a lot happier now her parents were here lol. I agreed and said mine were also here; he nodded and said something about family being 'lo mas importante' (the most important thing). Wise words, Juan. lol. So on I went to the office..another day, another morning spent catching up with Steph for as long as possible on the previous night's happenings, in order to avoid checking an inbox you know won't contain anything useful and opening a few Internet browser windows in a vain attempt to start some 'research' (which actually culminates in scouring the MSN and BBC homepages for any vaguely entertaining articles lol. My search results today? Men's Health articles are actually pretty interesting!...Yes, procrastination levels have reached that point..). Maybe even cracking open the occasional Word document if you were feeling ambitious in that you might actually write some words of your own..! Lol. Sooo yup, one Monday morning successfully whiled away..!

Eventually 1.00 rolls around and Steph and I head over to Starbucks, having decided we'd treat ourselves (and that we couldn't be arsed making lunch :p) so we pick up a (really good!) toasted sandwich and munch on that while having a natter about...nothing in particular as I remember lol, tends to be the way when eating! We then decided, despite only having 5 minutes left of our break, that we would treat ourselves even more to a muffin for Steph and this piece of raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake I'd been eyeing up, which we escorted back into the office to pick at while embarking upon the afternoon's 'work'...

I must have managed to crowbar a bit of productivity in somewhere, as somehow my article on Christmas Traditions in Valencia is now pretty much written (well, insofar as it's over the word limit...lol) so apparently my fingers met keyboard at some point, even if my brain wasn't factored into the equation..! Spent the final hour of the day blasting tunes on my iPod and getting even more distracted, as I recall....then the blessed 4.00 rolls around and we slide out the door to freedom :D

After that I wandered across the street to meet Mum outside the hotel; KT was still in the shower, despite me having said I'd meet them at 4...typical, lol. So I went and monged about in their room for a bit, before we headed off to the Metro on our way to Parc Guell (a.k.a. just about my favourite place in the world...EVER... :D). Numerous escalators mounted in hilly roads ensued....all completely and utterly worth it, as always. I only went yesterday and I was still so glad to be back :) I LOVE it.. honestly, there's something about Gaudi's stuff in general, but this park is just a phenomenon...I was wandering around it yesterday and thinking, man, I wish he could see what he's done for Barcelona, as there were so many kids running around, parents and grandparents sitting on the benches, leaning over like children themselves, admiring in wide-eyed awe the view of the myriad of rooftops stretching out to the sea.... ahhh it's just breathtaking. :) The hill with the cross is now one of my favourite places also. And the acoustics under the courtyard with all the pillars supporting it were absolutely incredible, as they always have been. Nothing like hearing a classical Spanish guitar piece ringing out into the evening air in a place like that. Absolutely stunning :D 

Anyway, I could rave about that place forever, will stop..! Oh actually, we went inside Gaudi's house as well..first time I'd been in it...sooo cool. I love that man! What a legend.

So then we traipsed back down the hill to the Metro, and headed back, planning to get said INCREDIBLE hot chocolate, but by which point everyone (especially KT) was hungry, so we decided hot chocolate will wait til tomorrow and that we'd head straight for tapas. Went to El Bosc (Wood bar - amazing) briefly, but then discovered they only really do sandwiches, by which point KT was practically eating the fake leaves hanging from the ceiling, so we threw one last cursory glance around the place and spooled on. Found a reasonable tapas place (Café Joan - pronounced as in the old lady's name by KT - actually more like Juan lol) and hastily scoffed a few plates of patatas bravas, croquetas and pan con tomate. Yum :) Mum and I had a glass of Sangria each - was particularly good there, actually - which made us rather drowsy, lol - but KT had now decided that she was properly tired, and pretty much just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. At 8pm. Lol, now maybe it's just me, but that's a poor effort from a 16 year old, Kate! :p We nevertheless had a meander around Plaza Reial and I showed them the restaurant we hope to go to tomorrow night, Les Quinze Nits (yes, the amazing one I've been on about since I first went there at the end of my first week :D) - and we also spotted the jazz club/bar we'd noticed had some jazz on tonight. So I went and asked about when it was on, whether there were seats, how much tickets were etc, and we marked that down as an option, but first had to drop KT back at the hotel because by this point she was practically bedding down on the flagstones...*sigh* kids! :p

Sooo Madre and I headed back down to the Jazz bar...4€ for a wicked set by a 7 piece band - 2 vocalists, Spanish guitarist, bassist, drummer, trumpet player and cellist. Awesome :D No seats so everyone was just sat on the flagstones like kids in a school assembly..! Was so cute :) loved it. Perfect wind down to a Monday evening :) Headed off at 11ish because of Metro shutting at 12 on weeknights; grabbed a falafel durum on the way back from a passing shop front (my new night-time snacking vice lol), yum :D Wandered back to Metro and had a surprisingly quick trip back home. Got in, nestled in PJs, lit some incense and here I am! Pretty wicked Monday if you ask me :D

Steph has the day off tomorrow, so I'm anticipating a particularly boring day in the office lol...though if I do get really stuck, I suppose I could actually edit this article and write the other one lol...that would mean actual work though.... :p Meeting the mischiefs for said amazing hot chocolate at lunch though, which shall be my sustenance throughout the morning! :D yaayyy!

Had better head to bed now, has been a long day and will no doubt be another one tomorrow...! Bring it owwnnn..

Love you all so much kids, wish you were here with me. This place is amazing... xxxxxxxxxxx

Lo que me mola de BARCELONA!

What Rocks about BARCELONA: 

- My gorgeous flat with bills included for €330 (about £260) a month, with bills included and roof terrace!

- The awesome tapas served on every corner

- The way everyone says 'Hola' to you even having just stepped in a lift with you/walked past you in a changing room/seen your face for the first time..!

- The way there's always something random happening - a protest in the street, a festival in the square with fireworks - the Catalans are always up for some random fun and are so expressive

- The young people's awesome style and love for piercings! 

- The cheap and efficient transport, especially the Metro - I know people complain but yeah, it may be sweaty and often busy, but it's soo handy and quick, and so cheap compared to Blighty!

- The cute little shops and bars

- The Ramblas and shops, especially the markets!!

- The gorgeous architecture, no building is the same

- The crazy nightlife - there's always something happening, everyone's up for a great night and places don't shut til around 6.30am! :D

That'll do for now, some friends are down for the weekend so we're gonna cook and get our rave on then head on over to their hostel to get the night started! Mum and KT are coming over tomorrow night so can't wait for that :) Will update properly soon, can't believe how fast time is going..! Love you all tons xxxxxx

Enferma! :( bum

Woahh ok so I officially haven't written in a fortnight! I'm normally quite good at these things..oh dear..

So anyway, not sure I can update a whole 2 weeks with much detail, but I'll try and recall bits..! 

Weeks probably consisted mostly of work, interspersed with Starbucks lunchtime coffee breaks and bashing the gym afterwards....loving my gym! Weekends mainly include a massive lie-in on Saturday, then going out on Saturday night and having crazy nights til 7.30am...then sleeping away the majority of Sunday as well, and perhaps going to the cinema on Sunday night (weekend before last we went to see Tropic Thunder in Spanish! - pretty predictable stuff, but was good for a laugh and also interesting to see how they translated it in Spanish!) Then this weekend just gone I did my first solo international trip (!) to Manchester :D! Had to find the bus station which I'd never been to, but was indeed only about a 10-15 minute walk from work, in a straight line..! Then caught a bus to Girona airport which took just over an hour, again very easy :) arrived at airport around 3.30 for my flight which was at 6, so read and chatted to some Scottish people for a bit, went through security (only took a minute as I'd already checked in online) and found a nice terrace café where I got a snack and sunbathed for an hour!! Perfect :) 

Manchester, as predicted, was awesome :) was so great to see everyone again! Had a night out and a couple of trips to the cinema, as well as an amazing 3 course meal Quinny cooked me :) was such a great visit! People must think I'm crazy being in Spain and pining for Manchester! You just can't beat a bit of Blighty..

So I arrived back yesterday morning after a very early start; had been granted the morning off work because of flight times, which was good. Went back and basically spent the afternoon with Steph, chatting and catching up. As the day wore on, I noticed I was constantly having to blow my nose..not a good sign..and by the time we'd gone home from work I had pretty much decided I'd hit full blown cold :( Went out for tapas for tea as I had no food in from the weekend - went to Bracafé, definitely one of our new favourites! Very smiley chatty waiter and great tapas - I had a salad for 2,50€ which was very generous and amazing! Tuna, egg, olives, the lot! So that was really nice. By the time I'd got home though, I felt very rough, and decided that today wasn't looking likely in terms of work. So I allowed myself a nice long sleep today to try and recharge (12 hours, nice!) and have vegged out watching Spanish tv/reading on the roof to relax myself. Being ill is pretty rubbish, but it has given me the opportunity to recuperate, so it's ok in some ways.. 

Have just found out our friend Karen from our course at Manchester is coming to visit on Friday!! She was out here for a couple of months over summer, before I arrived, and is now in Perpignan in the south of France to work on her French time abroad, so can easily catch the train over :) will be great to see her! Really starting to feel the strain of not knowing many people out here - obviously the place is fantastic but when you have no one to see the sights with, it gets a bit wearing. I joined a group on facebook last night run by a guy from Barcelona, who's been put in charge of raising awareness about events in Barca among all the American students who are here this half of the year, so may sneak along to one of them and meet some people! Also let me know if you start booking flights kids! You can get some really cheap deals if you snap them up early :)!

Hope to speak to you all soon, am often on Skype in the evenings if you fancy a chat, would be lovely to hear from you :) 

Love you all loads! xxxxxxxx