Champagne Tales

I saw my first bull fight today. Actually, to rephrase that, for the first time I saw five bulls get killed over a span of two hours. After a weekend in the beautiful Costa Brava where I went boating, hit the beach, and explored the coast line cliffs, I finally stopped running around. I am the energizer bunny cracked up on café con leche every day. It’s absolutely fabulous. I am in awe of the beautiful world that God has created. So many times I look around me with the people I am with and I just can’t stop smiling at the backdrop I am sitting at. The most amazing moment I had this weekend was walking in my just my bathing suit along the coastline cliffs Cadaques, a small quaint town in Costa Brava where Salvador Dali lived. Exploring is my favorite thing and I loved walking along the coast, staring out into the turquoise clear Mediterranean water, watching sail boats and windsurfs pass by, listening to the waves crashing below, and seeing the sun glisten off of the water. My feet hat...

I was asked to write about my stay here for our synchronized skating athletic web-site which will be posted sometime soon. Keep your eyes peeled at this address http://www.muredhawks.com/sports/w-syncssk/mioh-w-syncssk-body-main.html This is what I sent in... Enjoy Buenos Dias from Barcelona, Spain, Eventually, I will have to stop moving at 1,000 kilometers per hour while I am living here in Barcelona; eventually. Until then, I am seeing beautiful places, meeting the most genuine people, learning a beautiful language and eating the most unusual food. The perfect word to describe my entire time so far in Spain is random. When my alarm goes off at 8:00AM, I leave my 8th floor apartment with the host family I am living with, head to class, and after that, I never know how my day or weekends are going to end. The best purchase I have made in this country is the 47.00 Euro unlimited monthly metro pass. I literally am living on the metro getting around from one end of the city to the other, ...

Woke up at noon after being at the Sitges beach and Cava (champagne) tasting all day yesterday… Went to the famous Sagrada Familia Cathedral by Gaudi… Ate a Spanish buffet with the best food…. Brandon, Rachel and I go to the Picasso Museum for free…. Stumble into a group of old people doing a native dance to music in the Gothic part of the city in a square… Find an antique market and don’t say a word to each other while browsing because we realize nostalgia is bliss ….Bought an antique coin from Espana that is currently hanging around my neck with my silver cross…. Pass by a market where the front was designed by Gaudi... Stumble into the Opera house here and decide next week we are going to see the Flamenco Opera…. Finish the day by eating an apple and a Milka bar at the Arc D’Triumph…… By far the coolest Sunday of my life. Life continues to keep suprising me. If you just go with the flow and have no worries where the next part of your journey is or who it is with, life is a blast. Lo...

It’s amazing how much I have learned already. I have only been gone for 9 days and yet I am seeing, learning, touching, growing, and doing more incredible things living here than I have ever done in Chicago. That’s not something I am bragging about by any means. The fact that someone like me, had to travel 3,500 miles away from home to realize that when I could have realized that at home says a lot about who I am. I love exploring more than anything. I love the unknown. I absolutely love not knowing what comes next and what is ahead; it’s my natural high. I don’t know exactly what each day will look like here. I have some faint idea, but each day pleasantly surprises me. The best word to describe each day is random. Random people. Random places. Random conversations. Random interactions. Random stories. Random. Hearing the waves crashing at the beach, eating my two bocadillas that my house mother made me for lunch one on the Metro the other at the beach, looking for a thrift store with...