Granada

I stayed in the Albacanz...something like that, neighborhood. I talked to an american that worked at trader joes in california the whole trip. Could instantly tell he was american, by his teeth. Orthodontia is a dead give away, we have the highest dental standards. Got lost on the bus going to the hostel and ended up being a couple of hours late arriving. I stayed in a very very old area. It was small and a little scary. When I arrived to the hostel no one answered the door. So after all my anxiety of being lost and not finding it I get there and am disappointed again. Its a little place, I have no where else to go with all my shit. I am sweating and thirsty. I just sat down on the stoop and waited. there was people outside of little bar/restraunts and they saw me and got word the the hostel guy and he came running up about 15 minutes later. A lady I talked to on the bus came by and chatted with me. The hostel was gross and scary. I did not want to stay there at all! but he ended up giving me my own room with a key so i could lock it. It wasn't as gross as the first night in Ireland, but it was scary. And da daa da no air conditioning and no fan. I put up my stuff and walked out. I ran into the hostel man in the street and he told me to be careful of my purse, didnt speak a word of english. and he told me a good places to go for a nice view. And boy was it very nice, dirty hippies and thieves hanging around there though, you shouldnt go a lone at night like I did.
Oh I am remembering the stress. I stopped at the little corner store and got water and some food and it was a little gourmet shop is was so so cute and very cheap. i ate at the restraunt in the square. When you order dinner in spain they give you a free tapa. I order roasted pork loin. I waited for my fanta and noticed every table aorund me was eating snails...eww. Yet not to be out grossed bye the tapa they brought me. It just looked like some salad. peppers and cucumber and tomatoe and cabage. I picked at it and ate plain chiabata bread, that was homemade and fresh, and im eating the veggies, dipping my bread in the sauce, i go to pick up some cabbage and guess what....ITS OCTOPUS! I did the whole body shiver, it was a cross section of a suction cup thingy....ewwwwww!

Seville

Its a little town. You need only 2 days. Lots of cool shopping. Lots of ceramic. Trolley for transportation and buses. There is a big canal that is nice for pictures and its a little cooler over there. The line for the bus tickets is really really long, but your next ticket at the city before. The lines are really bad. Also it is the most poorly organized bus station in the world. the ticket will say where your bus is supposed to come, but it will go anywhere but there. They are often late, so show up when it is just time to go and so you will only have to wait 30-60min. Hold on to your stuff too. The first thing you notice about the city when you go out...is its a desert, its so dry you feel all your moisture get sucked out. Then you see all the oranges growing on the trees and it's really cool. Go before summer, it was really so hot when I was there. Lots of stuff to walk around and see in Seville. Very old city with tiny narrow streets, keep an ear out for cars, you won't believe it but they do fit. Going to see the wall is pretty boring...its ugly, but whatever. There is a cool little park area buy it and I had to lay down on the bench and relax it was 110 degree and I was sunburned and like a 30min walk through skinny roads surrounded by buildings with no wind...there are ants in the grass though, beware. I remember being so so so hot. stopping for water like every few blocks. When in spain and out in the heat, drink Aquarius sports drink. Its made by coke. We should have it. It's way more delicious than gatorade and it really works. Blue is good and so is orange. Try not to buy food at the chinese stores, if its not expired it's close. Anything refrigerated, was not done so properly and it will go bad the day you open it. Lots of idiots at my hostel there. Everyone was 18. They were hiring a house keeper in exchange for free rent. I enquired and they wanted someone with an EU passport. Stupid. I went to starbucks and got a frapaccino. It was good, but they had the best air conditioning in the entire world! saw lots of old building, but I don't remember what they are called but I have pictures posted of them. Oh the saddest thing in the city was the horses. They have horse drawn carrages for tourists, tons and tons of them. I saw lots of horses with no water and foaming at the mouth...it was really gross and made me sad and angry. There was also an overwhelming amount of scooters. Whole parking lots just for scooters. some streets are too small for cars in the old part of the city and I didn't see many taxi's. Super good icecream stores and bakeries. Too granada!

Portugal

I got to borrow an adapter for my camera from the hostel in Lisbon. I ended up keeping it until I was at my last hostel in Amsterdam and then I donated it to them. I had a really cool roommate from Poland. The views were amazing. Lisbon was much cheaper than anywhere else I had been. But most of the stuff they were selling was crap. And clothes are still much cheaping in America, cause everything goes on sale. I never made it to the beach because the day I planned on going it stormed all day. I did see a great castle in the city and I saw a flea market at a church that was really big and cool. I never walked more in one day in my life. I don't know how much I walked but somehow it was all up hill. I rode a little trolly and of course got lost and ended up spending more that I needed to. I found the german super markets that are so popular in south america and spain and i guess even portugal. There was a party at the hostel for a girl who worked there and the food was amazing, but not better than the sangria. Portuguese food and wine is so so so so good. Worth it. The city is so beautiful and old and there are lots of great things to do outside the city. Good trains, subways, buses, and trollies. The only real issue is that not many people speak english, but they can understand spanish well. I stayed in and old old part of town. The directions to walk there involved turning left at the stop light. I laughed my ass off when I saw the stop light. It was about waist high pole sticking out of the ground with a red bulb and a green one, and there was just one in the 3 way intersection. I walk to that hostel was barbaric. It was climbing up up up with my 40+ pound backpack. I was so sweaty. Ah and to get to my room in the hostel I had to climb through a window. Seriously. The bathroom was so tiny. A toilet and a tiny shower stall and one square foot of floor space, literally and no fan. I really liked Lisbon and I would love to go back and visit more town on the south shore. When I took the bus to seville I passed the most gorgeous vacation towns and pretty beaches and fields of sunflowers....have you ever seen fields of sunflowers in 100+ degree weather. Its gorgeous and on the other side of me was the ocean shining bright blue with sailboats. It was the best bus ride. I should bring up, riding the bus is scary as shit, when you consider there are pretty much no signs anywhere so every time you stop you need to be worried if it's your stop and if you should get off. I would recommend finding out how long the bus ride should be to reduce your worry. Oh and drink maracuja flavor of fanta! Oh and get the cookies from the store in a package that are like cookie with a layer of cream and then chocolate on top....So good. Its not even funny. So Seville..

Madrid and Beyond

Well I was in Madrid, It was hot, hot, hot. But my hostel was ok. I stayed with mostly nice and keep to yourself kind of people. I walked around the city and spent a lot of time figuring out what I was going to do next. Apparently I didn't take any pictures in Madrid. I went to a wonderful wonderful museum called the Reina Sofia. They has tons and tons of Spanish artist and south American and from everywhere,loads of things. Dali and Picaso were the big big things. I saw lots of Spanish art from the 80's looked a lot like the 80s. I walked alot in Madrid..I know I took pictures...I don't know what the deal is. I must have gotten sick of taking pictures. I think maybe I was paranoid about someone stealing my camera cause I had so many pictures already and I didn't want anything to happen to them. Its a shame. Pamplona was gorgeous! It was a real mix of old and new. Hundreds of years old town with a new city built around it. And they have this Citadel that was built to protect the city for war and it is still in tact. It's HUGE. Then Madrid. I went to a park in the city and all the paths in it were white sand. There was an english garden with topiaries and I laid down on a bench and took a nap. There was lots of shopping and government stuff in Madrid. The outskirts of the city had an Ikea and lots of car dealerships. I don't think I met any locals in Madrid. It reminded me a lot of a big city that could be anywhere in the world. The guy that worked at the hostel was from Argentina, he drank Mate like a fish. I tried all over the city to find....Ah I just remembered why I have no pictures! My camera was dead and I could not find an adapter to buy anywhere! Stupid digital camera not taking real batteries. Such a shame to not have pictures for that reason. Well I couldn't find out until I got to Portugal which was my next stop after Madrid.

Last of my travels

lots of fotos

really disorganized i will clean it up as i have time, but this is all the photos i have taken since i bought the camera
its cornwall, london, basque country, madrid, lisbon

pictures

more pictures
most of these are from cornwall at lands end taken by laurence!
thank you

Spain

I left the beautiful and gorgeous basque country to come to dry desert madrid. It is 40 degrees here, with is hot as hell, that is an exact conversion, but its not so back cause there is no humidity, i actually kinda like it better. I am staying at a nice hostel. I am going to walk around now and check out whats going on. Friday I am going to Lisbon, Portugal. Then i want to go to Seville and granada. I was hoping to be in france buy july 8th, but i dont know if I am going to make it! The weather is all sunny here for the next 10 days, i might stay in the south for a bit, though this warmth makes me hungry for the beach and there isnt one here :(
Hope everyone is well and getting ready for 4th of july, i am sad to miss the fireworks. Can you tell i have been speaking spanish for a week, my english sucks! Def not worse than my spanish though. I wish everyone was here with me and I miss everybody! Besos!

LONDON CALLING

I answered! I touristed it up today in London. I had a great time walking around central london. I started at the london bridge where i got some cool pictures of the tower bridge. I got a picture of the monument, i still dont know what it is a monument of, but its was a big statue thing and other people were taking pictures so i snapped one off too. I then went to parliment and the little park behind it. I got some pictures of big ben and westminster abbey. I saw the horse guards at white hall and made my way to trafalgar square where i saw a beautiful collection of art at the national gallery. I started of course, with the impressionist and I got my first real live view of one of Monet's japanese bridge paintings and I also saw his only night scene painting. i saw more pissarro, degas, manet, cezanne, van gogh, renoir, gaugan, serat, it goes on and on, but i saw some really early works from the 1500s that i really liked, i just couldnt believe i was standing in front of a piece of fabric and oil that was so loved it has survived for 500 years and i am standing, feeling completely unworthy to be looking at it unapprovingly, cause i think it's ugly, but thankfully I know that its more important that it is than that it is attractive to me. It was a nice experience to be there. Oh how could i forget the Turner's! Such a range! realist to the point it could almost be a photo and then very very impressionistic and everywhere inbetween. I can't believe i skipped the exhibit in edinburgh. that is something I like about Pissarro too. So then i went on to covet garden, oh and i saw a huge giant bumble bee, from transformers 2. the premier is tonight here and the street was full of people waiting to see shia lebeouf or whatever his name is. then i went to garden green, buckingham palace and saw the guards. I had a lovely goat cheese and roasted veggie sandwich on ciabata, not at the palace more around the corner. I sat and read a little in my book and heading back to my friends house and now I must go and get ready for salsa dancing lessons! I hope everyone is well. Sending me some emails! I miss you guys!

Cornwall

Tis a fabulous and wonderful place, har har! The weather today is not so good, but it motivated me to spend the time on the computer that i needed to and I got my plane ticket to spain purchased, so i will be heading to spain on the 17th of june, I am very excited. I have come down with some kind of chest cold/cough that is rather irritating and I hope it goes away quick, but I don't really have any energy and feel like poo! I had a great time visiting kirkintilloch and i took some pictures. It was a tiny little town, but had a long history. I visited the small museum they had there and learned about the mining industry, the iron molding, the cloth making, the canals, the trains, lots of stuff going on. the town is trying to become a tourist attraction so maybe you too will find yourself there one day. I walk along the road my aunt nan lived on so too one of my great grandparents i never knew and their families before that. I left scotland rather sad, i couldnt stay more, but excited to meet my relatives.
I arrived in St Austell, Cornwall, England on June 1st to warm smiles and hugs from my cousin janet and her husband victor. The next day i met my auntie phyliss. I ventured out to Newquay and had a good time walking around the beach all day in excellent weather. I bought a digital camera, i found a good deal in a random electronics store i popped in for no particular purchase. So i have been taking pictures and when i can i will put them all line for all to see.
I spent my birthday in the old school house in st austell. Everyone came over for a BBQ and we had loads of food! couscous with roasted vegetables, steak, ribs, kebabs, burgers, sausages, salad, fruit salad, beets, roasted potatoes, trifle, cake, and cocktails (mojitos to be exact). I had lots of fun and after i blew out my candles I was surprised with cards signed by everyone and a present of a pewter neclace with a gemini sign on it made here in cornwall from materials from cornwall.
That night I got into the mini cooper and headed to Penzance with Leah and Lawrence. We got in late and headed to bed. The next day we got up about 11 and had proper english breakfast of fried egg, ham , bacon, stewed tomatoes, toast, and mushrooms. Then we went to lands end, via a scenic view, park a bit off, then took a walk the final way. Had alot of fun seeing lands end and the cliffs and a ship wreck. then we came home to a proper english dinner of roast, roasted potatoes, carrots, brocolli, yourkshire pudding, gravy and horseradish-it was to die for. We all went back for seconds. Leah and Lawrence are excellent cooks, they spoiled me. Should have pictures soon, I'm happy and excited. Hope all is well.

a couple pictures

I took these of my friend sarah's facebook, but hopefully steve or ben will send me more photos so you can see, but here is a couple to hold you over! I hope you are all well, tomorrow i go to kirkintilloch!

Ah Europe

I am having so much fun! I can't believe that I have been here for 3 weeks, it feels like 5 minutes! Last night about 12-15 of us from the hostel went out and had a fabulous time. We went to a few bars and had a few drinks. I was visiting with several americans, an austrailian, and some irish girls we soaked in some live jazz music at an after hours bar, it was great. There were none of those elusive scottish people about, I don't know where they are all hiding, I have only meet 2 the whole time I have been here. I have been told I will be emailed pictures from last night and if that holds true, you will soon be able to see me, finally. I have just a few more days here, I think friday I will be heading to kirkintilloch, the birth place of aunt nan. I am very much looking forward to that. The only thing about stay a while in a hostel is buy the time i get used to people and feel comfortable socializing is when their stay is up and its time to say goodbye, but its worth it to make so many friends all over the world. I splurged and bought a dress, i wasted 30% of my wages on one outfit, it's real cute though. These europeans dress sharp, I need to attempt keeping up. Its still cold and cloudy, damn UK. Hope all is well. I am thinking about everyone.

Another plan

Plans, they are just flowing these days. Well, I guess it is more of an idea than a plan. I wanna see the northern lights! I just missed the season, but it's best between january and march and I wanna do it! Maybe in Canada, maybe in iceland, maybe in sweden or finland! If I don't do it next year I wanna do it before I die. Definitely.

plans...no

I finally made a plan. I bought train tickets to St Austell, England. I am going to meet some family members for the first time. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.I come from a big family, but the problem is, I haven't met too many of them as we are spread all over the place. I really look forward to having a chance to talk with them and maybe we even look alike, that would be crazy! So, I will be heading out on June first, just 5 short days before my birthday, no plans for that. I am going to be 25. ugh. Just keep the razors away from me and I should be ok.

I am working at the hostel in Scotland and today is a day off and I am spending it in all of it's glory dicking around doing nothing. I plan on seeing the new x-men movie, which is all about hugh jackman on the big screen, i mean wolverine, i care about the story line, its not just about a giant hugh jackman stare-a-thon. That reminds me of brad pitt, too bad he doesn't have a movie out.

Anyway, there is lots of stuff going on at home that I wish i could be a part of, but alas, it is not so. I wish good luck to all who are endeavoring in new things and hope everything is as good as it could/should be. If its any consolation europe is really expensive and I will soon be in the poor house. I think in two weeks i have spent what took me 3 months in south america. The smaller my bank account gets the more and more getting a real job sounds like a smart plan. If anyone hears about a rad job anywhere let me know. I am not attached to any particular place. Somewhere warm would be nice. It's much colder here and I get burned from the wind. My nose always runs when I go outside and I miss summer! It gets light her at like 4 in the morning, I didn't realize I was going to be that far north. Well i really better get to this slack off day. Peace to all!

Working

I got a job in a hostel. Guess you gotta be at the right place at the right time. I am making 300 dollars and free accomodations for working a week. Today is the 3rd day and it's going good except I am not sleeping well, but hopefully tonight I can catch up. Lots of people here are sick so i need to be well rested to fight off their diseases. I still haven't figured out if/when I am going to go to my aunt nans little town. It's gonna be kind of a bitch, but i probably should. I have to find out today when i am going to be done working and buy my ticket to go to england which i think will be about a week away. It's wierd to be working when I have't done it for 8 months, but this is even less work than my last job. Its been fun hanging out with all the people. I didn't get to go outside yesterday, the weather here is cold and cloudy, as a general rule. I wanna get to the beach soon! I don't know what my plans are, haven't figured anything out yet. Hope everyone is good. Oh and my friend Julie and Al welcomed a baby girl into the world on monday, congrats to them!

Leaving Belfast

I am so sad to be leaving ireland, i really hope that i can come back again some time, there are lots of things i would like to do yet. At the same time I can't wait to get into edinburgh. I am leaving to catch a ferry soon and then i will be taking a train. This will be one of the few times i have ever been on a train and i am scared, I have an assigned seat and i don't like that too much. Trains scare me, but I am going, it'll be ok, right? I started reading a cheesy romance novel, but its not dirty or anything, i think i have read like 400 or more pages in the last 2 days, in little tiny print. I am still working on my head band, its almost done. I did find one that was left in my room at the last hostel and i washed it and will be wearing it, score for free stuff! I have been abandoning stuff everywhere i have gone, of course I packed way too much. I still don't know what my plan is, but if my spending continues I might be home sooner rather than later, this UK is a pricey beast, especially considering that I just came from 6 months in south america. I hope everyone is good! I'll talk to you in Scotland!

last day in Cork

I went to the blarney castle, where they have the blarney stone that you are supposed to kiss to gain eloquence...i didnt kiss it, its a rock you have to hang over a 5 story drop to kiss and it looked scary, i was already terrified from all the stairs and the heights, lots of other people didn't kiss it either. It was scary, and its not even the original blarney stone. But i was in a real castle and i walked all around the grounds and threw it pretending i was some fancy oldn time lady in a gown and it was really fun. I took a walk around a lake and i was the only one out there and i saw a fox, i walked right past it. I found some cool postcards. I meet some new girls in the hostel from texas and we went out for a couple of drinks they were really nice, just on a short holiday before they go back to school. Today was the first rainy day in a while, I went to a place called an english market and it was like an indoor saturday market and i found a yarn store. So i bought some local yarn and i am knitting a head band to hold my hair back with all the wind and cold weather. so i am about 1/4 of the way done with that and i sat around for a few hours and watched some movies, tomorrow i head to Dublin and then Belfast about 7 hours on the bus, I hope to mostly finish my headband on the bus. I do have to say the people in ireland have been amazing, kind and happy to talk to you. I wish i could have seen more things, but i will just have to come back another time and check them out. I want to see connemara, the aran islands, and cliffs of moher, but barring some huge natural disaster they will be there in the future. I'm a little nervous being alone and going to a new country but i am sure i will be fine! Hope everyone is well.

Cork Ireland

This place is awesome! I am now travelling alone and so I hopped a bus I headed to cork and I am so glad that I did. I went to the Jameson Distillary today in Medleton. Then I walked around the little town and it was so cute and nice I strolled through a park and sat on a bridge over a little creek. Its so picturesque. I stopped and bought a couple of those throw away cameras so i can get some pictures of the view out my window of the hostel, its on the 3rd floor on a hill and its really nice. A big city all surrounded by green farmed hill divided with low stone walls. I feel like i am in every story i ever read or watched based in Europe. Its truly beautiful. Tomorrow I am going to go to the Blarney stone. Oh, i almost forgot, you look off to the side while on the bus and you see a castle, happens all the time. Crazy! It's a great place for a family vacation, highly recommended. I'm off to knit a head band, the wind is stong and my hair is a sufferin'. sorry i can't put up pictures.

Travelling Dayssss......

I am leaving my hostel at 5pm today (friday)and I will arrive home in Boise at 6.05pm, saturday. With time changes it will be about a 28 hour trip including layovers and a 2 hour bus ride to the airport. The thought of the hours and hours of travelling are keeping my mind occupied so I haven´t gotten sad yet, which I am glad about. I feel like its the end of an era, silly maybe, but so it is. I haven´t done anything I didn´t want to do for the last 6 months. It´s been great. I learned a little spanish, which i hope to improve upon in the future. I made some great friends who will be dearly missed, but I must see again! I had a great experience here. Thank you Buenos Aires! I´m out.

A Present from David