Day 90 (and by 90 i meant 84..oops lol)

it Over Already?.

Well this is my "day before i leave" post and I still can't believe its over! What a ride this has been!! As i look over this blog and my photos, part of me can't believe i actually came over here and did this. I mean really, so many things could have gone wrong but God is so good. He stay lookin out! 'Preciate ya Lord! I have just finished packing and WHAT a feat what was. It's amazing how much one can accumulate in no time.. But enough "woe is me".. lets talk about this grand fiesta they threw for me yesterday... lol straight craycray

So Yesterday was Jorge's (host father) birthday. Now they've been telling me for days about how this saturday was going to be my farewell party. I kept telling them, Jorge first.. me whenever. I mean it is HIS BIRTHDAY after all. But Autumn, Oh Autumn, when will you learn? There's no saying no to these people! I figured, if i'm high-jacking this man's birthday, the least i can do is get him a present. I thought these were appropriate:

So Saturday came. We did the usually whole family lunch at their clubhouse dining cafeteria type place and kicked it for a minute. Enjoyed some drinks and some sun. Afterwards we came back and napped in preparation for the shenanigans to come later that night.

So i got dressed and made my way downstairs. Adults were in the kitchen cooking.. the kids were with grandma and people were starting to arrive. At first it was chill. Lots of hugs and kisses and food.. lots of food! they made all my favorites (God bless them) and made sure to reiterate how I HAVE to come back because there's no way I can eat this good in the US.. (insert scoff here)

Then the "surprises" came..Just as a FYI.. i reaaallllly hate surprises but i will admit, this was a lot of fun. It all started with some trinkets to remember spain by:

"Oh you Guyss.."

But WAIT. Theres more! Then they bring out this big garbage bag talking bout "this is to remember us by... yes we're wearing them all night". In case you can't tell, they are shirts (in the spanish flag colors of course) with my picture on them and they say "We Miss You Autumn."

me: "what the....."

Yes. they. did.

Then the Kareoke and alcohol started..

and was it over after 3 or so hours of tomfoolery? no. of course not. Then about 1:15am it was time to go out... yes. in public to the bars. Did they change, you ask? of course not. But luckily after 30 or so minutes of jumping around in the poorly ventilated pub, they all got overheated and slowly the shirts came off..

you better get it Jorge!

whew! so the night ended for me about 4:30 that morning and apparently i'm the party pooper because them fools (and my fools i mean loves of my life) were going at till 6:30-7am..

can't. hang.

today i slept till about 1pm and I was the ONLY one not hungover.. tsk tsk. haha

Good night indeed.

..........

Now, as I clean my room and pack all my things, I am so sad to leave these wonderful people. I had the TIME OF MY LIFE. literally. but am ever-so-anxious to return home. I miss America so much. and my family. and my friends. and text messaging on my phone. and Sonics. and Waffle House. and American television. and American MANNERS! and just errthang about good ol' U.S. of A. Sure people clown me all the time here about our issues. SURE we have allll the problems but hey.. thats my home. and ain't nobody talkin trash bout my home!

its been real España! you done me good but its time for me to go back where I belong! You WILL see me again! I can promise you that!

see ya'll tomorrow. MAN it feels good to say that!

peace.love.and rockets.

.autumn.

.Happy Easter Ya'll.

It's no fun being without your church on Resurrection Sunday and my Spanish family isn't the least bit religious which I guess wouldn't matter one way or the other here since everyone around me is Catholic. However they do recognize the holiday. Here its a whole week: Semana Santa but on Good Friday, which is about all that is recognized, they have a big parade type situation with 'floats'? It was.... different to say the least but hey to each is own haha.

So theres a lil dose of culture there for ya... Enjoy! Happy Easter ya'll! He has Risen!!

.autumn.

Day 82

.Viva Barcelona.

I was supposed to post this on Monday.. but things have been a bit cracray preparing for my departure. Anywaayyyss, I had to post about my weekend in Barcelona because it was fannnnntastic.

We saw most of the things your supposed to see while there but considering we were only there for a weekend, I think we did pretty darn good.

We started with a dinner on the dock.

After dinner they wanted to out.. I'm thinking "a night out in beautiful Barcelona?! I'm down!" but by out they meant bingo... which is apparently big business out here. O_o right... my thoughts exactly but I (like an idiot) forgot my passport at the house so OF COURSE I couldn't get in (newsflash for all you traveling abroad: your license means squat) so half the group accompanied me to a bar for drinks and kickin it.. it was ok but man the other group came out with over 300€ so maybe i did miss out.. oh well.

we kept it a semi-early night because we had super major festivities going down on Saturday so we retreated to our lovely, view of the ocean/beach of a hotel and crashed for the night.

Now Saturday was the Ultimate Workout. We must have walked the whole city!

We started with the Sagrada Familia, of course. My family showed out. Not only did they get their tickets in advance so we didnt have to stand in line that was wrapped alllll the way around the block BUT they also sprung for the tickets for us to go upstairs to really check out Gaudi's (the famous architects) work.

So then after like 2 hours of touring the building we took a foot tour of the city. Here are some of our adventures:

So after much walking and eating and walking.. we ended the day with the Barcelona vs Madrid fútbol match...which we tied.. thank god.

Then Sunday we toured the Barcelona fútbol team stadium.. Now my family BREATHES Barcelona fútbol so this was a big deal.. take a gander:

I even scored some swag myself:

(david villa is an actual player.. but i'm American, i'm too narcissistic for that haha so of course i got my own name)

So overall.. SUPER great weekend. man oh man. what a city. i loved every minute of it.

For more pictures, visit (http://s1188.photobucket.com/albums/z404/AutumnHowardUGA/Spain/Trip%20to%20Barcelona)

Well thats all I got for ya'll as of now. I have about 2 more posts left for you guys before I head back so stay tuned.

See ya'll Monday! AHH!

.peace.love.and rockets.

.autumn.