How it feels to be on the other side.

Barcelona was out of this world. The alleyways in the Gothic district where we stayed never seemed to end. There were countless businesses and restaurants, as well as many locked up storefronts due to owners on holiday. Our street was a mostly pedestrian walkway with a few scattered mopeds and rental bikes. And the view from our modest Air BnB-rented place was beautiful. The first night in Barcelona was an interesting experience to say the least. Due to an Ambien induced airplane coma earlier in the day, I woke up at 3 AM Barcelona time and could not fall back to sleep. So I sat on the ledge of our window and stared down onto our street. It was almost eerily silent. For a place so lively and boisterous only hours before, the stillness of the late night was undisturbed by even the slightest movement or noise. I sat there for nearly an hour without experiencing a single soul's presence. It was a nice time to ponder the upcoming adventures I was about to embark upon. Peaceful, calming, even though anticipation of exhaustion for the day to come was causing a lingering anxious feeling somewhere in the back of my mind. That night was the first time I sat down and wrote a short piece of fiction in over 7 years. It felt liberating to reexplore my somewhat stifled imagination. It's only been four days since we touched down in Europe, and I already feel like the creative juices that once used to flow so smoothly and effervescently through my soul are returning to their maximum potential.

Thank you Gaudi, thank you Kitty Olympics, thank you history, thank you point and shoot cameras, thank you Catalan, and most of all thank you Sangria. Mmmmm.

By the way how awesome is it that I had two friends in Barcelona at the same time? I ran into one by chance, and met up with the other. So fun to see some familiar faces in a land where EVERYone knew I wasn't a familiar face! (Am I really that pale??)

We are finally checked in to our apartment in Paris, and the set part about this place is that we have a free show directly below us. Ladies of the oldest profession, all day every day, at your service. Meeeeow.

My Big Girl Goals

So, this is only my third blog, and I started this adventure almost two months ago. Ruh-Roh. I need to get on top of my bloggin' game if anyone is going to take me seriously and finally give me my own Tila Tequila-inspired reality dating show...

I feel like I haven't graduated into the real world yet. And that is because I really haven't. This summer has been a vacation from facing the "Big Girl World" ahead of me. House sitting in Portland, OR for a month? Yes please! And what and adventure that was. I just got home yesterday from a whirlwind month of microbrews, waterfall hiking, food carts and of course the elusive (not) hipster. Thanks to my brother and fellow blogger at Drug Youth, Chris, and some college friends that lived in the area, I have officially ducked out of any Big Girl responsibilities thus far in my adventure through the college afterlife. And the fun doesn't stop there. I am leaving for a three week vacation galavanting through Europe in one. Day. When am I ever going to accomplish any of my Big Girl Goals??

Big Girl Goals:

Drink alcohol once a week
           (I drank good beer in Portland for what seems like two weeks straight, helloooo beer belly)

Fix my sailor mouth
          (My $43,000/year tuition needs to be expressed through my vocabulary, not my many variables of Fornication Under Consent of the King...)
Never wear sweats out in public
         (yoga pants do not count IF going to yoga/working out)

Go to bed at a "Big Girl Bedtime"
        (for those of you who don't know, college/college partying can really set your sleep clock on crazy mode)

Find a job!!!
        -This last one is obviously the most important. And this is the hardest to accomplish, especially with all of this traveling. How am I supposed to interview for a job when I am thousands of miles away eating cheese and drinking wine with some French man with a handle bar mustache? Not to say I am not thrilled with my life right now, I am blessed to have the opportunities in front of me. But, I want a job. Oh, hey recession.

I guess I haven't really graduated yet. Europe is the final stage in entering in to the College Afterlife.