Libre Los toros!!

Greetings from Barcelona! I just wanted to write a quick note to explain my recent absence. My Europe adventure has officially begun. Ireland has been covered and I'm now in Barcelona. Next up is Greece in a few days. Traveling abroad for the first time has certainly been an experience and I already have a ton of stories to tell. But I wanted to say that there will probably be radio silence for the next few weeks until I'm back in the states because whO wants to be stuck on a computer when there's so much to see here!

However here are a few of the interesting things I've learned so far on the way...

Wear comfortable shoes!!

Public transportation is acceptable abroad however most people really do walk everywhere. I feel like I haven't stopped walking since I got here and my feet are protesting loudly with another two weeks to go.

Hostels have water timers in their showers. Basically...you press a button into a wall and the water runs for the amount of time it takes for the button to push itself back out to it's starting position...aka about 15-20 seconds. And then you hav to push the button again. And again. And once again. It does make for efficient showers though.

Stick shift + driving on the wrong side of the road = nausea.

People in Ireland wear very strange stockings. And are often hard to understand.

Things are waaaay too expensive on this side of the pond. However wine is often cheaper than soda. Or water for that matter.

While it is apparently technically illegal...no one will stop you from buying bottles of wine or sangria and walking around with them on the street drinking from coffee cups.

Alright friends, I am off. Our first actual vacation day on this vacation starts tomorrow...beach, picnic, shopping, and pub crawls!

Bestie

So one of the things I really want to start doing in my blog is celebrating the most important people in my life. And considering today one of my favorite people on the planet turns 27, I thought I would start with one of my best friends Diana.

Diana and I met in middle school and were always friendly but it wasn't until sophomore year of high school that she became one of my closest friends. She is one of the most caring, giving, generous people you will ever meet in your life. She will do whatever it takes to cheer you up if you need it and goes out of her way to be a good friend. She is one of the few people that I could tell every minute detail about myself to and she would still accept me without question or judgment.

(after a particularly eventful night out in Clearwater...I believe this was about 4 am, we were on a search for contact solution and it was about 15 minutes before we ran into a naked guy in a hotel parking lot)

She is also one of the funniest people I know. And I don't just mean she can tell a good joke...the way she tells a story with such detail and animation will have you rolling on the floor until you think your sides are going to burst. Even the most serious, heavy subjects she can turn into a ridiculous story. More than once I've wished for even a third of the amount of humor she can spontaneously create at any point in time. 

(my 21st birthday...one of my fav pics of us)

Other reasons why Diana is awesome: She's amazingly smart (she's a dentist!). She has fabulous sense of style and likes to flaunt her curves as much as I do. Her mom was Miss Egypt. She's a die-hard Seminoles fan. She'll rock out with me on any dance floor. The top of every single page of my senior year high school yearbook is filled with quotes, inside jokes, and memories she recorded for me. She came back with a country accent after living in Tennessee for 4 years even though she's the last person who looks like they should be busting out with a country accent. She moved back to Tampa this summer for a residency and is planning on sticking around after its over next summer! 

Basically, she rocks my world and I would not be the same without her!

The smell is in the air

No, I'm not talking about fall. I'm more of a spring/summer girl anyway. But what is in the air is COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!

I've got split loyalties when it comes to college football. I'm a born and raised Nole girl. I bleed garnet and gold. I can't imagine feeling this strongly about any other team. But I also got two degrees at UCF and I'm passionate about my Knights as well. Lucky for me, the two have never played each other so I've never had to choose between the two. And hopefully it will be many many years before that happens. When it does I might just have to wear gold because at least then I could plausibly be supporting either team.

So this morning I ran some errands and went to a bridesmaid dressing fitting and then ran home in time to watch the Florida State season opener. It was home at Doak Campbell so I got to see this guy run out on the field:

Something about Chief Osceola riding out onto the field on Renegade and planting a spear on the 50 yard line just gets my blood pumping. Needless to say it was a great game. We played University of Louisiana at Monroe and shut them out 34-0!! Great way to start the season! One of the best parts was this guy's punt return:

Most teams purposefully kick as far away from Greg Reid as possible because he is the king of punt returns but ULM made the mistake today and regretted greatly. I can't wait for next weeks game! Unfortunately I'm going to miss week 3 when we play #1 Oklahoma but I'll be there in spirit. (We're ranked #5 currently and will be going into the game 2-0 so its going to be an awesome game!)

Unfortunately, the UCF game wasn't broadcast today so I'm currently watching like a good little Knight fan on ESPN's game cast. I'm so proud of my Knights. We're currently kicking Charleston Southern's ass 56-0 with 7 minutes left in the 4th. I definitely need to make it back to cheer for my alum sometime this season.

I'll leave you with the beginning of the UCF chant that I've had stuck in my head all day.

U-C-F charge on to the field...