here's to new friends, new adventures, and always something to new see!

where do i start...
it's weird because my roommates all leave for the entire weekend every weekend. i think they must go home to their parents' houses or something? i don't really know. but it's kind of nice having the whole place to myself!

so i think Diana is my new best friend :) we have so much in common! she came from UCF so that's how i know her, our adviser got us in contact. but she's a lot of fun and always down for anything. she lives just one street away from me so we've been hanging out all weekend.

we didn't really have any plans for the weekend so we just decided to go out and see what we could find. that always seems to be the best idea when you don't have plans, and those nights always seem to end up the most fun. friday we went out to the gallery again, the place we found last week. we got ready at her house and talked about our lives back home. she said she was going to need a roommate when she gets back and her place is in a really nice area in orlando. it's not right next to school but it's about ten minutes driving. and the rent is cheaper than what i was paying. i told her i wanted to look into it this summer! if not that then i want to find some people who want a house.

did i mention we went to razzmatazz on wednesday finally?? razzmatazz promotes wednesdays as their biggest night, they call it "dirty dancing" and the music isn't house like all the other bars so it's kind of different. it was so much fun though! the people were all locals and i met a lot of spanish people that could not speak english so it was fun to try and talk to them. but at a noisy crowded place it's also really hard! so anyways i went with all the UCF kids and we met Ana and some of the others from here so it was a lot of fun, we definitely want to go back!

saturday we didn't really know what to do so i went walking around with diana and another girl olivia. but first i must say i was waiting for diana outside the metro station near us and she comes up and we start talking and she stops for a second and starts laughing. and i was like what is going on?? and she goes, "that vest you're wearing looks really familiar." and she unzips her coat, and what do you know, she's wearing the same exact vest. this girl might be my long lost twin!

so anyways we found this tiny little place we stopped in to get coffee. we went with some cafe bombo which i had never had but it was made with a different type of milk. i didn't really want to ask! anyways, it was delicious and i think i'm addicted. olivia got "xocolata" which was hot chocolate, but it was really nothing like american hot chocolate. although it came in a very big mug which is rare! it was super super thick and really dark, and it tasted like the chocolate they dip the churros in. so so rich and sweet! probably really bad for you haha.

so olivia left but it was really early so me and diana called the others from UCF and they were over at some mall and we went to meet them. we went to this building called the Torre Agbar, or Agbar Tower, and it's really really tall and all glass and shaped like a cone with a rounded top. it was actually made by a french architect and it's just used for offices but it sticks out because of it's design and color. at night they light it up with all reds on the bottom and then it fades to blues towards the top and it's pretty cool even though it doesn't do anything. there's no offices like that just sitting around in cleveland or tampa :)


it's actually pretty cool because the shape was designed after the mountain here in barcelona, montserrat, and it was supposed to reflect a geyser shooting out of the mountain. and all the windows are made up of shutters that open and close according to temperature sensors.

after that we decided to go to a bar and catch the last half of the futbol game. we found a little tapas bar and sat there for awhile and then we left because we were hungry and the place we were at was way too expensive. so we went back towards diana and my neighborhood and we decided to try this place called la flauta. it's known for it's tapas and it's mini sandwiches (flautas) and it is always jam-packed so we wanted to see what the fuss was all about. we got there at about 10:30 and the wait was a half and hour for just the two of us. but we decided to stay because it was full of locals and the staff told us to try it because we wouldn't be disappointed. the bar was full of tapa displays and they looked so appetizing and we could not wait to try it!

we were not disappointed because the food was unbelievable and not expensive at all. we got a bunch of little appetizers and the waiter suggested a few things so we tried a little of everything. the staff was so gracious and we were there for almost two hours because we just loved the atmosphere and spent the whole time chatting and watching everyone else. really this is the best place to people-watch! i mean this whole city, it's my favorite thing.

one more exciting piece of news (it seems never-ending!): i mentioned Jame is coming for her spring break and this weekend we booked a trip to mallorca! mallorca is the biggest spanish island in the mediterranean and has "lots of character and superb beaches" and supposedly some nice cathedrals and markets to check out. i'm really excited! i've been looking up things to do and there seems to be a lot, not just the beaches, so it should be nice. we're just going for three days and two nights but i hope we can pack a lot in. school just gets in the way .... =/ hahah. and diana is coming with us and i'm going to ask some others from school if they want to go.

so now that i have some trips lined up i am a happy girl :D i have been wanting to go out and see other places ever since i even knew i was coming here! don't worry, i'll be sharing all the details ;D