Day 35 - Graveyards

So today I wanted to sleep in after my big night, but I got woken up early and couldn't go back to sleep... :(

I had breakfast and hung out in my room for ages chatting to Paul, Mum and Dad.

After a while, Amelia came back to my room, and we decided to go see the catacombs and Jim Morrisons grave. As it turns out, the catacombs are closed on a Monday, so we went to the grave instead.

We missioned there, and trecked through the graveyard to find it... I was so disappointed;


That's it.... that's all there is, honestly. People were throwing cigaretttes and flowers in, but it was kind of just a dirt pit... I guess I expected more.

After this we went into Monmarte again, and just wandered around for ages. Maybe we went to the wrong area, but it wasn't overwhelmingly cool or anything??

We had some lunch, and then came back to our hostel, as we had planned with a few people to go see the Effiel tower at night.

It ended up being myself, Amelia, a girl called Rebecca doing busabout, Jordana, Shane, and john (the English guy) going. We all went and got something to drink, and four of us went in and got a baguette, salami and some cheese to have a picnic. I was holding the baguette the whole way to the tower, which everyone found very funny.... penis jokes can be lame lol.

We kind of had to rush there because we took a while to get drinks lol. But we got there, Lost Amelia and Rebecca for like 20 minutes, but we did see the light show. It was cool, it kind of just sparkles? Anywho we sat on the grass, which apparently Parisians hate, and had a picnic and had some drinks, then we saw the show again at like 11pm.

After this we headed home and I showered and packed my bags.

Pretty cool last day in Paris, but I have to say, I'm still not a HUGE fan.

Things that made me happy today; Sitting on French grass (as NO ONE does this ever, it's super soft lol)

Things that made me sad today; Jim Morrisons grave.

Day 34 - Art and alcohol.

So today, I got up really early... again... and Amelia, Jordana and myself planned to go to Notre Dame.

However, I woke up with bed bug bites all over my legs.... Ok let me explain. I KNOW I didn't bring them to this hostel, because I was at my last hostel for 5 nights, and if THEY had bed bugs, I'm very confidant I would have had at LEAST one bite while I was there, and I didn't. And this was my second night here, and all of a sudden woken up with like 15 bites all over my legs. So, that's my defense. It wasn't my fault. I did tell the hostel (super embarrassing. Even though it wasn't my fault, I've felt like a disease all day) and they took it pretty serious, they bombed the whole room for like 4 hours. So that was good. And I didn't have any more bites on me this morning. Shit thing is I have to wash a WHOLE bunch of clothes, but that probably needed to be done anyway lol.

So after all of that, we did go to Notre Dame. It was really cool becaused it was Sunday morning and there was an actual mass on, but you could still walk through it. There were singers and an organ, and the acoustics in there were really amazing.

After that (which didn't take toooooo long) we headed off to The Louvre. We entered through the secret entrance, and didn't have to wait behind a single person.

Then we started the journey. We didn't have a tour guide or anything, so we basically just guessed what paintings were about. Pretty sure I found a 17th century depiction of the movie 'The Hangover' and Amelia found and ancient Egyptian bottle opener and shot glass LOL.

Quite obviously not being art buffs, the three of us only ended up being there for like 2 and a half hours, which is a VERY short amount of time to be there, we LITERALLY walked through every room, we didn't really stop and look at anything. I called it at the like 2 hour point and everyone agreed they were bored, so we left, which took us another half hour lol.

After this, we went and got lunch, I had French onion soup. Not as good as I had hoped... but oh well. Then we got crepes :)

After all of this we went back to the hostel, and cruised around for a bit.

Myself and another guy from my room went to get drinks, we bought some cheap red wine and coke, and had some Spanish Kalimotxos LOL. We all got drunk and played card and drinking games for ages until some people in our room came back and went to sleep. One of the guys in my room, an English guy, got super drunk off us for free, then got super aggressive when he couldn't win a game, then spilled a drink ALL over me downstairs in the bar, THEN just got up this morning and drank straight from MY bottle of coke...? I shouldn't generalise but..... fucking pomms LOL.

All in all a good day, made lots of cool friends.

Things that made me happy today; Alternative reviews of the art at the Louvre.

Things that made me sad today; Realising how long its been since I spoke to anyone from home :(

Day 33 - Paris, again.

So today I actually made the effort to get up early, get breakfast and go to the walking tour that's offered through my hostel.

It ended up being REALLY good, it went for about 2and a half-3 hours, and I met an Australian girl called Amelia pretty much as soon as it started, and we spent most of the tour together hanging out. The tour was REALLY good apart from it SUDDENLY flash-flood-style raining on us. We saw heaps of sights and it was really informative.

Then after the tour the guide took us to a restaurant where you can get frogs legs and Escargot. Amelia, myself and and a guy from NZ called Shane shared a plate of Escargot. They're basically baked with a garlic butter sauce and then served. You have to scrape the snails out yourself, it's kind of fun, and they actually didn't taste awful! I kind of liked them!

After this I wanted to go to get macrons at..... Laudree! (yes Katie, just for you) So Amelia, Shane and myself missioned to the Latin quarter to find the shop. It was found relatively easily, but I had some 'tourist' issues as the other two called it.

It was in a VERY posh are of town, and I started off badly, as soon as I walked into the shop, I tried to take a photo, and the girl just instantly started waving her hand telling me "No no! You can't do that!" So I was a bit "Oh... oh my bad" but I did take the photo before I realised of the inside of the shop, with the woman waving her hand at me telling me no, LOL. I did get some good ones of the outside of the shop though.

THEN I tried to get served, without realising there was a line, so I just pushed in, and got told to go to the end. It was a very embarrassing experience, but I did stick it out and got three macrons, Apple, Raspberry and Coffee... Side note to Katie, I'm not even kidding or being a suck when I tell you this, but yours are better! Not by like... a LOT, but I definitely prefer yours.

So after this we sort of decided to go to Monmarte, the artist area of Paris. But, it started raining again, and we didn't realise it was past 6pm when we got there, so everything was closed anyway until later on (rookie mistake lol)

Anywhoo we hiked back to the hostel and all went our separate ways for a few hours. but Amelia had a great idea, she had a bottle of Vodka, and the original plan was to get drunk under the Effiel Tower (because you can drink in public in Paris) but we ended up meeting a few people from my room (a Canadian dude called Scott and a girl form Sydney called Jordana) Shane came up to our room and we just ended up playing card games all night, getting kind of drunk and having some very philosophical conversations until like 2am.

All in all it was a pretty decent day in Paris I have to say, but stay tuned for tomorrows blog....

Things that made me happy today; As always the food, and making some cool new friends

Things that made me sad today; Embarassing myself in a shop that was way too fancy for three backpackers to be in.

Day 32 - Travelling

So there really isn't much to update from today.

I traveled on the bus from 8am to 9.30 pm from San Seb to Paris today. We watched LOTS of movies and ate some shitty food.

When I got to the hostel I went to the restaurant to eat and met a girl from Busabout names Courtney and we decided to eat together. I ordered spare ribs which were supposed to come with BBQ sauce and coleslaw, and they didn't come with either, and were so tough I couldn't eat them and took them back and refused to pay.

After dinner Courtney and I had a few drinks and, but I was SOOOOOOOOO tired and I decided to go have a shower and go to bed. When I got to the shower I realised I was really drunk?? Then I realised it was because I sent my meal back and barely ate ANYTHING... Oh well, I just slept it off.

Things that made me happy today; Having macrons at Paul (It's a really expensive bakery over here)

Things that made me sad today; Trying to sleep on a bus and getting SHIT service and food.

Day 31 - Today I met Jesus...

So this morning I woke up, and after a conversation with a guy the night before, I decided I was going to hike up the mountain to the Jesus statue. Page and Sam were doing the same thing, so we all headed off pretty early.

Well, that was half a mistake. Me… hike?!?! Yeah right… it wasn’t far, but it was STEEEEEEEEEP. But you know what? I TOTALLY did it. And I’m proud. Page was totally motivating me and not letting me quit, because I wanted to, quite a few times, but I didn’t and the views from the top of that mountain were breathtaking.

Met Jesus, he was kind of boring, didn’t say much….

After this, we walked back down and after lunch, went back to our hostel and then went to the beach! Another thing that’s SO not me. But I wore LOTS of sunscreen and had a bit of a swim at the surf beach (not very much surf if you ask me) and then we left and went home.

I went back to the hostel and re-dyed my hair, turns out salt water is NOT the best thing for unnatural red hair, and packed my bag.

Then a new Busabout group arrived at the hostel, and they were going out and doing a Pinxtos tour, which I slept through the first night I got here, so I went on that and met some familiar faces.

We had some good food, and quite a few drinks. I was actually pretty hammered when we left the last club. Two for one Sangria!

All in all a pretty good day! I act5ually did some things I would NEVER normally do.

Things that made me happy today; Stepping out of my comfort zone

Things that made me sad today; Sweating so much I thought I was a puddle

Day 30 - Noise

Today I woke up to someone operating a dragon I swear?? I think it might have been something like a blower, but it was at like 7am in the morning, and I was pissed, so I put some ear plugs in and went back to sleep.

When I woke up later, a couple of girls were going to pay for accommodation, which I needed to also. (almost freaked out at the chick at my hostel, because she thought she may have lost my passport! But she found it…. Lucky for her)

After doing that, we went for lunch (Maccas because were sick of Pintxos) Anyway after this, the two girls decided that they had heard there was an English cinema around, so we went on a hunt for that. Yeah….. it didn’t exist, so that was a bit of a flop.

We went back to the hostel, and I just chilled for a while, and there was MORE noise outside of my hostel window, some stage show…? Really loud anyway..

Later that night, the hostel I was staying at, was holding a BBQ. Which I decided to go to. It was half the way up the mountain in the town with the Jesus statue… quite a hike, but we all got there, and got a bit tipsy, and ate some food OTHER than Pintxos, hamburgers and snags and such J

After the hostel, we hung out for a little while around town. Some French buskers almost ripped me apart because I was wearing a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt? And then wanted me to prove that I knew who he was?? So weird, I walked away from that and went home after…

Some people in my hostel asked me to come drink with them, they were total bogans, from like Cronulla… lol. I left them pretty quickly and went to sleep.

Overall an ok day.

Things that made me happy today; Hamburgers and snags

Things that made me sad today; Noise

Day 29 - Shopping

So today I didn't really know what to do. I've already run out of tings to do in San Seb.... But my thongs broke so I decided to go and buy a new pair.

I walked into the new part of town, and found a pair of thongs, then just kept wandering around.

I wandered to the surf beach, hung out for a while, then walked into town, and found some hair product I use for my hair at home called a colour ball, and I bought that, then I went on a mini-mission to find all these products for my hair, so I bought some red shampoo, some good other shampoo (because coloured shampoo doesn't really shampoo) some quality conditioner and some gloves to dye my hair with.

After this, I walked back to my hostel, and used the colour ball, which INSTANTLY made my hair look more red and feel WAY healthier. So that was productive.

Then I decided I was sick of Pintxos for dinner and went to the supermarket to buy some dinner and make for myself (because Pintxos is ALL you can get to eat around here, that and maccas) So I bought a quich like thing (bascailly a big Spanish omelette) and some salad, and some chocolate (which I didn't eat and just remembered I had, BONUS!)

So I made my dinner and ate it, and JUST as I was finishing, I met two girls who I met in Valencia. They were going out for Pintxos, so I joined them just for a bit of company. We bar hopped with a few other people to some places, I just drank a few kalimotxos.

After that we had gelati then hung out on the beach for a while, but it started to rain, so we headed home.

Page and I weren't really tired, so we sat up for a few hours and talked, but then went to sleep.

Not the MOST exciting of days, but it was ok.

Things that made me happy today; Finding the right products for my hair

Things that made me sad today; The amount of money I spent on products for my hair.

Day 28 - Missing home

So, today way my 6 month anniversary with Paul...

I bet you're not surprised to read I was pretty homesick yesterday.

I spent a LOT of the day speaking with Paul online, which I really needed.

But other than that, I went to look for thongs (because my shitty cheap ones have broken already) and a charm for my charm bracelet.

So as it turns out, San Seb is in the Basque region, and they consider themselves Basque, not Spanish, so ALL the charms I could find are Basque related, not Spanish... tad disappointing because it means I won't have a charm from Spain :( but oh well... what can you do.

I went out for dinner, but alone, (because I spent most of my day in my room speaking to Paul, I didn't exactly make any friends in my hostel) to Pintxos, which I think I will get pretty sick of eating soon, it's good!! But it doesn't feel a whole lot like a meal?

Later that night I went to the beach and ate some cake I got, was apple with caramel on top :) and just chilled there for a while, and felt a bit homesick. And then I came home and read for a few hours before falling asleep.

One thing I did notice last night (which didn't help with being homesick) is water. Water in every country tastes so different, water from Switzerland tasted amazing, really cold and fresh, ESPECIALLY if it was out of the pumps in the street, straight from the glacier. but water in San Seb tastes EXACTLY like home... :(

Not the most productive of days, but that's San Seb, not the most productive of places.

Things that made me happy today; Talking a lot to Paul, Caramel

Things that made me sad today; Missing Paul and home, missing out on my Spanish charm.

Day 26 & 27

Day 26 - More goodbyes

So today I quite literally did nothing.

Maria and Maxine had to check out of their hostel because they were leaving that night. So they just came and hung out at mine. it was SOOOOO hot, we all just sat in my common room and watched Mad Men and then whatever movie seemed good.

We did make an effort to go and get some food to make, as Maria is a chef. We had ravioli with white sauce and salad and bread. Maxine was a bit sus on the white sauce, but it ended up being really good.

Then we hung out and watched more movies and ate chocolate.

Later that night I met Rochelle, a girl I met through busabout, and went to the flamenco with. As I met her I had to say goodbye to Maria and Maxine for good, they're going home. I'll really miss those girls they were heaps of fun.

Rochelle and I went out for dinner, nothing spectacular, just some sausages and calimari, kind of a pub meal? Then we got some churros, but the churros over here aren't great, they're served with more drinking chocolate? But we found somewhere were you can get them filled with cream or chocolate, so we had those and they were good.

Walking home, I got rained on for the FIRST time since I've been in Europe! Kind of exciting.

Anyway, it was a very cruisy day, but it was good because everywhere was just so busy and hot...

Things that made me happy today; Air conditioning

Things that made me sad today; Saying goodbye to Maria and Maxine.

Day 27 - San Seb

So today was also pretty cruisy, I jumped on the bus to San Sebastian. My hostel is ok, but really un-organised... I thought they almost lost my booking...

I had my first siesta! lol napped for like 3 hours, very needed.

I then went out to dinner with a German girl I met in my hostel. We went out for 'Pintxo' it's basically the northern Basque version of Tapas, except, all the food is laid out, buffet style almost just bite sized pieces, and you just pick up what you want, and depending on the restaurant, you either show them before you eat and pay, or you keep the toothpicks and show them how many you had at the end and pay. the place we went to was the former.

Good food, but I have to say, it doesn't really feel like a 'meal'... After that me and the German girl, I can NOT remember he name for the life of me... Went and had a few drinks, and I got some churros (the filled ones) and then had a Kalimotxo (red wine and coke, SOOO good) I also got rained on for the second time.

Then I went home and had a shower and did some washing and slept.

Things that made me happy today; San Seb food.

Things that made me sad today; Worrying that my hostel may have lost my booking.

Day 25 - Drinking and flamenco

Today was a bit iffy to begin with.

I went to get a phone card, but I learned he needed my passport, which I didn't have, so I had to go go back to the hostel to get it. THEN, when he sold it to me, he said it was cheap, and that the internet was easy to set up and I could top it up online. None of that was true...

Anyway, I changed all my plans and accommodation so I'm leaving Madrid two days early. I'm adding those two days onto Amsterdam... hehe.

I also searched this city high and low for a charm for my charm bracelet and couldn't find one, hopefully I can find one in San Seb.

After the phone card. I came back to the hostel and met some girls in my room that are doing the JMJ thing, but they were nice enough, and I went out to dinner with them and two guys from the Canadian army lol...

We went to this tiny tapas restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and ate and drank like KINGS, and the food only cost us 8 euro each. and the jugs of Sangria were 7 euro. Soooo cheap.

After that we came back to the hostel and played kings. We played heaps of mini-games. And my legs are bruised today from slapping them during the games. lol. I got pretty drunk...

I lost track of time and had to rush out REALLY suddenly to go to the Flamenco.

I caught a taxi, and met up with another girl I met on busabout, and we took a seat and watched the show.

There were flamenco guitarists, singers, and dancers. The guitarists were amazing, and thr dancers were so fast. Was an awesome show, apart from these two aussie drunk bitches who were just loud and obnoxious... I'm glad I went though, I enjoyed it. I did however forgot to charge my camera AND phone, so I didn't get any photos, but the other girl from busabout did, so I will steal some of hers.

REALLY good day.

Things that made me happy today; Sangria and drinking games, and flamenco dancing.

Things that made me sad/angry; Retarded noisy Aussie whores...

Day 24 - Madrid

So this post won't be too exciting, I'm just updating for my travel from Valencia to Madrid.

The bus was probably the busiest bus I've been on, but it
wasn't so much of a long ride so it was ok.

When I got to Madrid I had to find my hostel, which wasn't so bad. Except the guy who checked me in instantly started going on about how much he likes girls with red hair...? I replied "Oh yeah, my boyfriend is the same" LOL

I had a bit of a nap, then Maria and Maxine messaged me to say to meet at the metro stop for dinner. We had a bit of a problem there, because I have no credit (my fucking phone provider won't let me top up?!?! I haven't been able to for days) So I waited, and some guy came and talked to me, and was asking me my name, and if I wanted to 'hang out' with him later that night... I told him i had a boyfriend, but he said he didn't care... Guys here are weird... So I ended up going back to my hosotel, Facebooking Maxine and letting her know I would meet her at her hostel. Which I did and we went to dinner.

We went to this cool little market, it just has a lot of shops that specialise in ONE type of tapas. I had mini hamburgers, and spicy potatoes and sangria. but there was a cheese stall, olives, seafood. Maria and Maxine got white anchovies in olive oil and vinegar they were soooo good. Then I got raspberry and vanilla ice cream for desert. Very cool place.

After that we headed back to Maria and Maxine's hostel for a few drinks, but I'm still kind of sick, and I was soo tired, they dragged me to ANOTHER hostel for a little while, but I was sooooooo tired, so I went home, had a shower and went to bed.

Maria and Maxine did let me in on the fact that the Pope is in town at the moment, so there are all these youth pilgrims here (because its also world youth day) that are following him around, and apparently its brought another 1.5 million people into the city when there's already like 3.5 million here or something close to that) so EVERYTHING is soooooooo busy... it's impossible to get around in some areas. And there were also protests the day before I got here (don't worry mum they were peaceful) And apparently the metro was impossible to use. So I'm not too sure I will be exploring too much in Madrid, maybe just chill out a little, it's sooooooo hot here too I don't know if I WANT to do anything other than chill.

Anyway...

All in all, reasonably ok day. Not too exciting though.

Things that made me happy today; Finding cool cheap food

Things that made me sad today; Not having any credit

22 & 23 - Valencia

So, quick update, I haven't done a WHOLE lot.

Day 22 - I traveled on the bus to Valencia today. The bus was as per usual, I was pretty sick though, so I slept a bit.

I arrived in Valencia around 1.30pm, and I didn't do much. I met a nurse from Melbourne in my hostel, and she told me what anti-biotics to go get over the counter, because guess what?!?! You can do that here!!! So i went and bought those.

Later that night I went out with the nurse Page and her friend who was in my room Sam, and another Page in my room. Turns out Sam is from Frankston, and knows Jodie, and my cousin?? weird. Thats 3 people from Frankston in 3 weeks... wonder if this will continue.

We went to a paella restaurant, and ordered a HUGE half half paella with rabbit, chicken, and seafood. I didn't eat because I was still sick and had NO appetite. Even when I TRIED the food I couldn't taste it :(

That day was pretty cruisy.

Day 23 - So I booked tickets for the science museum and a dinosaur exhibition today. Valencia has a HUGE centre for arts and sciences, they have 5 amazing buildings in a row (I got photos) And the biggest aquarium in Europe. I didn't go to the aquarium because it was really expensive entry, and.... it's fish right?? lol.

Anyway the science museum was REALLY cool, three HUGE levels, and the top and bottom were completely interactive like science works, was super fun. There was a marvel superhero exhibition, that was right up my alley. Spent hours in that place.

Then I bought tickets to an exhibition in another building that had mechanical dinosours. It wasn't as good ad I had hoped, They only really moved like a leg or like their tail, or their head a little. But oh well.

Then I caught the bus home. HOTTEST thing I've experienced since I've been in Europe... oh my god.

Then I had a siesta and later that night went out for dinner with the same girls, and had tapas. GOOD tapas! We ate heaps, calamari, crabs legs, sausages, grilled veggies, a tuna and egg salad, and Sangria, lots of sangria. We bargained with the girl to give us a free jug even!

Good night.

Anyway now I'm just waiting for my bus to come to take me to Madrid, apparently its SUPER hot :(

Things that made me happy in Valencia; Cheap sangria, getting onto antibiotics.

Things that made me sad in Valencia; Buying off yogurt... :S

Day 20 & 21 -

So, I really don't have a lot to report for these last few days but here it is anyway;

Day 20 - I woke up feeling like utter crap, but Camille (one of my roomates) wanted to go to la sagrada familia (a church built by Antonia Gaudi) so I made the effort and got up early (early enough for breakfast! wow) but the guy at reception kindly told us that it wasn't open as it was a public holiday, saved us a long journey. So due to being incredibly sick, I went straight back to bed.

I got up later that day and spoke to Paul for a while online, and went to get a hamburger down the street. Then came home and went back to sleep. Then I got up later to go get cough medicine. Then came home and went back to sleep.

Exciting stuff.

Day 21 - Today was a bit more exciting. I had an AWFUL night last night, due to my nose being so blocked, I couldn't breathe properly... There was a lot more to do with phlegm and coughing it up, but I'll save you that story. I ended up getting about 4 and a half hours sleep last night. Which is exactly what my body needed... Note the sarcasm.

I woke up in the morning and decided I needed meds, but I soon discovered that EVERY GP in Barcelona was closed until late this month... The guy at reception told me, but I didn't believe him, so I called up some doctors, turns out it's true... I think this had something to do with the hospital telling me a few days before that a GP wouldn't see me, I think I misunderstood that no doctor was available to see me.

Anywhoo. I considered going to the hospital again, but after talking it through with mum and dad, I decided I would see if I can get over it without meds. (And save myself some money)

So I went back to sleep.

Later I got up and missioned with Camille to see la sagradia familia. It was a MASSIVE struggle, but I'm so glad I did it; (I booked this online, and skipped about 500 meters of line WIN for me :)

The pictures REALLY can't sum up how amazing this place is.

Camille happened to be completely hungover, so we were both on the same page with feeling crappy, which was nice. We got Macdonalds on the way back to the hostel, we both only ate half, and took the rest home. I finished mine about an hour ago. It was a large big mac meal, and it's the only thing I have, and most likely will eat today. I even had to struggle to get it all down, I've never experienced such a lack of appetite before in my life.

In summing all of this up, I'm pretty sick right now and everything sucks.... But I'm sure I will get better, I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

Wow, I can't believe I have written so much for literally having done nothing for two days...

Things that made me happy these past few days; Not very much...

Things that made me sad; Uh..... all of the above.

Day 19 - Get down with the sickness

So......... today was kind of shit. Let me explain why;

I woke up in the morning, and my left ear was INCREDIBLY painful. I kind of knew straight away that I had an ear infection, because I had only like 8-9 months ago, so i knew I had to deal with that today.

I went and spoke to the guy at the reception for my hostel, and he said that there are no GP's open on a weekend, and that I could TRY, but he highly doubted that a chemist would help me. I was best to go to the hospital.

So, I headed to the market to meet up with Maria and Maxine as planned, and had some food, little bettered prawns, sangria and then a chocolate covered, cream filled croissant (YUM!)

Anyway, after that I went to a chemist, to be told that they wont help me with anything to do with my ears, I had to be properly diagnosed.

So to the hospital I went.

Upon arriving I was told that I would most likely have to wait 3 hours and pay 200 euro to see a doctor. I said that i would just go see a GP, but they told me a GP wont see me because I don't have a health insurance card (although i do have health insurance, I was never provided with a card that can be charged directly) So I waited.....

And waited....

And waited....

FINALLY I got to see a doctor for like 10 minutes who instantly diagnosed me with an ear infection and prescribed me drops. Which to anyone who knows me well, knows that that's one of my biggest phobias, putting things in my ears :(

So, I paid (211 Euros) and got my prescription, and went to pick up the medication, some ibuprofen, ans ear drops, which combined cost me 3.50 euros, cheap right??

Anyway I headed miserably back to my hostel and suffered through ear drops :(

My roommate Camilla wanted to cheer me up a little, so we headed to see the 'Magic fountain'

Oh my goodness!!! There was this HUGE fountain, with Lights and music, it was a full on show, it was sooo spectacular, I was very impressed.

Anyway, we headed home, and stopped for burger king and KFC ice cream lol.

Then I went to sleep, and woke up about a gazillion times because this guy in my room snores like SOOOOOOO loud you would not believe. I also woke up this morning with an incredibly sore through coughing up gunk :( So... not the best few days for me...

Annywhoo that's a story for tomorrow's blog.

I love and miss you all :(

Things that made me happy today; Magic fountain

Things that made me sad today; Hospitals, money, medication, and pain :(

Day 18 - Spanish food.

Soooo today turned out to be great. I woke up really late Skyped for a fe hours with Paul, that was very much needed. Then I went for a little bit of a shop, got some stuff for the blisters on my feet, bought some more dresses and bought some souviners.

I also had burger king, because it was a cheap meal, and it was HUGE I think it was what a supersize size in the US would be like. Its also just Hungry Jacks lol.

THEN! Then I went to the Spanish cookin class I booked through busabout. Maxine, maria and mel also came, it was SOOOOOO worth the 20 euros.



First we were taken to this AMAZING maket, I had been meaning to go there but couldn't find it. Some pics; (I know dad, you would LOVE this place)



We got some fresh juice, I'm not sure what mine was, but I could pick raspberry and coconut and it tasted so good.

Then we went to another bar to cook up some food!! First a bunch of stuff was laid out for us to make our own tapas, as well as a tortilla (like a quiche, thats actually a national dish!) as well as meats, cheese, olvies (which are weird here, theyre unsalted and REALLY bland?? Apparently they're like that all over Europe) and fried potatoes served with a spicy mayo. THIS is tapas I could love, I was actually full.



Next, the chef prepared a seafood Paella for us in this MASSIVE dish. The room we were in was so small, so when he started cooking, there was a slick of oil on EVERYTHING. Our cameras and my glasses, was pretty gross lol.

Oh, by the way, during this whole experiance, there was as much sangria as we could drink, I got pretty sloshed as you can imagine.

While the paella was cooking, we learned how to make sangria. That was cool. I will most definately be repeating that recipe.

Then the paella was ready!!! And we ate, mny god did we eat. Prawns, muscles, clams ad calimari... Awww so good.

Anyway, after the cooking experiance (which I clearly enjoyed) We went and wandered around for a bit and caught up with Nick, then Maria bought some alcohol, and we comtinued to drink on her balcony.

Then we wandered around, and tried to join in on a pub crawl. Didn't exactly work lol. Lol then I caught a taxi home.

Was a really cool day, I love food.... Lol

Things that made me happy today; Talking to my Paul, FOOD

Things that made me sad today; Realising how much of my weekly budget Ive already spoent :S

Day 17 - Spain

Sooo, this morning I got up bright and early and caught the full bus to Barcelona, or as dad would say Barthelona.

The bus ride was pretty so-so as usual, nothing special there.

Once we arrived in Barcelona, our guide tried to take us to the drop off hostel, and got us lost. Was kind of ironic really. I wasn't staying there, so Nick and I made our way to my hostel, which is an awesome place, roomy with lockers. Unfortunately Nick hadn't booked a room, but the lady offered him the couch for 15 Euro lol.

After settling in (bottom bunk, yay!), Nick, myself and an American girl called Camilla walked down the main party street La Rambla, and went to meet up with everyone else (Mel, Maria and Maxine) to go to dinner. We walked around the Gothic quarter for AGES before settling down somewhere and getting some Tapas and Sangria.

(La Rambla, there were all these guys with annoying sound makers in their mouth that made them sound like a duck? Very noisy)

I have to say, I paid 10 euro for a bunch of Tapas. I didn't get even CLOSE to full, and It wasn't even that tasty...I'm convinced it was the place we went to though.... The Sangria was AMAZING though. Soooooo good.

We then wandered around for AGES just looking for something to do, we all dwindled off one by one, Until it was just Nick, Maria, Mel and I.

Maria had some absinthe, so we mixed it with apple juice and drank on the 'beach' which took us about an hour to find. No one would listen to my directions... lol.

I had a waffle covered in caramel. Sound's amazing right?? was about a 3/10.... Too dry?? needed ice cream lol.

Anyway, overall good day.

Things that mad me happy today; Sangria, Barcelona's buildings, good company.

Things that made me sad today; The disappointing food so far,sSeeing so many things that remind me of Paul;

Day 16 - The rich and famous

So today was a pretty cool day, firstly in the morning I ran around trying to find my last few souvenirs, I have the BEST story for Paul's souvenir, but I can't tell it here hehe.

After that rush, I JUST made it to the bus to go to the boat/booze cruise to Saint Tropez. It was a 2 hour bus drive to our first stop at Port Como. It's a cool little town right on the beach (which I also visited) that resembles a more spread out version of Venice. Pretty cool.

Then we made our way and boarded the boat to Saint Tropez, the booze was kind of crap, so I didn't really drink any lol. I also took motion sickness tablets, but it was SOOOOOOOO rough I was close to being sick anyway, but luckily I didn't.

The tour guide was pretty funny, he just told us heaps of stories and showed us the homes of the rich and famous. Kind of a gossip cruise really. but was still fun.

Then we had a couple of hours in Saint Tropez, so Rachel, Nick and I (two people who I met through busabout) hung out, had a wander around, and had some food.

We had these rolls, with like hamburgers in them and any kind of fillings, but they put chips in the roll?? It's really weird, but REALLY good.

I also had a proper Nutella crepe (national dish check)

We didn't get back to the hostel until like... nearly 12am. But all in all a good day.

Things that made me happy today; Nutella crepes, not getting sunburned.

Things that made sad today; Not owning one of the hundreds of massive yachts and houses I saw...

Day 15 - FOOD

So today again was a little shaky. I went shopping at H&M.... I tried on SOOOO many things but I didn't really like anything, walked out with two things... Oh well

Then I SKYPE'd with mum, dad and Paul.... That sucked, I just instantly started crying... I miss home a lot.

But I did man up and go out. I got dressed and walked into old town here. Lots of little shops, and flower stalls. I ate some amazing food! I had a seafood salad, with bread, and a macaroon.

Then I had a desert, vanilla icecream, raspberrys and cream (got a pic of this one :)

THEN I had some delicious little French pastries. So yummy.

After all of the eating, I went to chill at the hostel with all the crew I had met. And then we all went out to dinner. So everything here is Itilian food?? Weird, but we are pretty much on the boarder.

Had some wine, then some beers on the beach. met ANOTHER girl from Frankston... Could not believe it!!

All in all, a pretty cool day.

Things that made me happy today; EPIC deserts

Things that made me sad; Missing home :(

Day 14 - Two weeks mark.

So, today marks my two weeks away from home...

I successfully caught the bus to Nice today. But I woke up this morning feeling really sick like with the flu, so I did sleep most of the bus ride, but from what I saw it was BEAUTIFUL. And I still got lots of good pictures.

We drove through 4 countries today, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco and France. So weird how you can do that here in a few hours???

After we all checked into my hostel (heaps of people I met in Switzerland have come here also) we all went and got dinner, then got some vodka and slushies and sat on the beach... Pebble beach... Ow!!! The water is really nice, but the pebbles are as bad as I expected.

I realised today I came TOTALLY ill prepared for weather THIS hot. There is a H&M close though, so I'm going to go have a quick look there and see if I can find some more summer appropriate clothing today.

I've gone over my budget this week :, but I didn't even reach it last week, so i think I will be ok. I've also had to pay two lots of accommodation in this budget week. So I think everything will work out ok.

Things that made me sad today; Waking up feeling so sick.

Things that made me happy today; Feeling much better by the afternoon?!?!

Love you all! xoxo

Day 13 - Mates

So, last day in the lovely Lauterbrunnen Switzerland!

I will miss this place, but I also feel like I accomplished a lot here, I saw a lot, and I made a heap of friends.

We were going to hire some bikes today and go riding around town, but that fell through because everyone was too hungover lol. So we just got some wine and had a few drinks instead LOL.

Forgot this! We went to dinner and had cheese fondue and rosti, two national dishes of Switzerland. Was VERY good!!!

We ended up playing a game of Kings, VERY funny. Everyone was pretty drunk. And the rules were just all over the place. Just how it should be. We again went to the bombshelter, but the people were boring compared to the night before. So we left lol.

So Ive discovered, that I wont be able to blog everyday because on the bus (which is every few days) I don't have wi-fi, so I cant update for the day before. But I will update everyday, just eventually. Sorry about that, and also sorry about the lack of photos, they're getting very difficult to upload.

Anyway, my last day in Lauterbrunnen was very cruisy spent with some cool people.

I love and miss you all.

Day 12 - Living in a postcard

So today, all the girls on the Bussabout got up and went to see the Trummelbach waterfalls. They were VERY cool, but it was a pretty decent hike for me (fattie grunt) but I did it, and feel good about it. I took lots of photos, but they’re getting hard and time consuming to upload… You will all see them when I get back anyway.

We were lucky with the weather, they said it was going to storm wall weekend, but it’s been amazing!

Switzerland is SOOOOOOOOO, I feel like I’m in a postcard! Everything is so picturesque. I took so many freaking photos! You will all see them, I might even just do like one blog update of photos.

Later that day we walked into town and got some cheap-ish booze, and had a small creek party that night. Why a creek party you ask? Well it was the only way we could figure out to get the booze cold LOL. We shoved it behind some rocks in the creek, the water here is so fresh and cold, it worked perfectly, and we only lost ONE bottle of vodka with like two shots left. Successful I’d say. There turned out to be like 30 people hanging out there with us. We are the party.

Later we went and got much more drunk at the bombshelter again, but it was less interesting without the naked 18 year olds lol.

This was also a good day. I like this place a LOT more than Paris…

Things that made me happy; the beauty of Switzerland

Things that made me sad; Getting mildly sunburnt, and the price of food L