ciao bellos!

bueno chicos!!!
porfa perdonenme que no haya escrito nada por más de un mes....

if you can read that you rule

you guys i´m still having so much fun here in BCN. sometimes i have anxiety issues when i think about going back!!! i got back a week ago from semester break. YES it´s true...we had christmas break which lasted for like 4 weeks and i traveled to greece, brussels, madrid, and wandered around bcn with my fam, then had two weeks of a lot of school and exams, then 2 more weeks of VACA!!!! when we were leaving italy (my last destination of that break), my friends and i were discussing how hard it will be to get back to "reality". hah....hah...hah

me and my friend andrea went to Istanbul, Turkey then to Italy where we met up with our friend Mo. Istanbul has been my favorite place so far because the food was DELICIOUS!!!!!! and the guys were so hott!!! but actually the guys are so hott in every country i go to but turkey it seemed like there was an exceptional amount. plus they love american girls so it just seemed too easy. hahaa....but we drank a lot of tea, smoked a lot of hookah, and played backgammon!!!! plus my favorite cousin reenie was looking out for me and emailed her friend Chad who lives in istanbul...he took us all around and showed us a lot of good places. for the superbowl we went to the american consulate and i pretended like i cared at all about who won (but of course i was rooting for the cardinals....) and i was sad for 4.3 milliseconds (if that´s how you spell that word) until i was on to flirting with another marine. the marines were so cute and very hospitable...i missed my dad´s chili but hanging out with marines can distract you from the delicoius, spicy, amazing chili i´m accustomed to (barely)

in italy we flew into milan, took a day train to venice, walked around venice for 4 hours then took a night bus to rome, and walked around rome for 2 days before we travelled back home. my favorite things in italy were the colosseum and pizza...it´s really amazing how you learn aobut all these places when you are 8 years old in school then years later you are literally walking on history!!! i love it!!! there was a building in rome that was built to celebrate the unity of italy and there were these 2 guards guarding what is called the tomb of the "unknown soldier". as interesting as that sounds, we were more interested in the cute guard on the right hand side. even from afar a girl knows when someone is looking at her so me and andrea started messing with him....we were smiling and giggling and waving and we could see that he was grinning....so we took it a step further and did the "CALL ME" hand motion...(hand=phone, put it to the ear, and mouth the words CALL ME) so the best part was that he smiled even bigger and shook his head YES (thank goodness!) in front of all the people that were taking pictures and whatever...

ok so i just read that and i guess you had to be there but believe me it was hilarious....

now my favorite cousin mike is visiting!!! the first day he got ehre we went to razzmatazz with a bunch of my friends and we all danced till like 5 am!!!!!! he got tired after a while though because by like 445 am i saw him, eyes closed, swaying back and forth (not to any rythm btw) so that was my clue that spikey needed to go to bed...which he did and he slept until like 7 pm the next day!! haha.

classes are still really fun. life is great

i never go a day without thinking about how happy i am and how lucky i am...i know that this experience is once in a lifetime and i´m SOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky to have had the chance to do it. anyone who is reading this has helped me get to this point some way or another and i just want to say thank you again!! i love all of you and miss you tons. hope everything is going well for everyone and would love to hear from you guys!! jcollin5@illinois.edu

hellooooo

hey everyone!!!!

i haven't updated in so long...that's how i've been starting all of my posts lately...what can i say?? It just means that i'm busy or having fun...both are good things!!!

I just finished my winter break and it was great.  I started out in Athens, Greece and stayed with my friend Stephanie's aunt and uncle.  Her uncle is a native of Greece and their family is so great!!  Christmas wasn't as sad as I was thinking it would be since I was with a family like them....

Anyways, Athens wasn't as pretty as I was thinking it would be, but I had the idea of the greek islands in my head.  It was still really interesting!!  We saw the Acropolis which was amazing!!!  It's so old and the history there is incredible.  The old Olympic stadium was impressive too because it was made of complete marble and over all of these years it looks great....Plus I got a great Christmas present....a brand new baby cousin!!!!  Congrats Maureen and Kevv!!!  I can't wait to meet alex :)

After Athens Stephanie and I went to Brussels, Belgium and met up with Sam and Moe.  Brussels is a really pretty city as well...we went to a bunch of museums.  My favorite was the Musical Instrument museum they had because I had never gone to one of those before!!! They had all of these really sweet instruments from all over the place and from a zillion years ago to the present....

We spent New years in Brussels...it was toooooooo much fun.  

From Brussels I went alone to Madrid where I met up with my familiy!!!!  It was so great to see them!!!!!!!!!!!  Despite the overly crowded streets, the see-through bathroom door and the "a bit too small" hotel room, we had a blast in Madrid.  I think they had more fun in Barcelona.  Out of the two, I definitely like Barcelona more, but I'm slightly slightly biased.  We found a couple of our favorite places to eat and I took them sight seeing.  We drank a lot of wine, played a lot of cards, over all a great time!!!  I miss them now so much though!!!!

Well I hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year.  I really miss everyone but I'm enjoying Barcelona every day....

PS I'm so sorry there are no pictures but my computer crashed on me!!!!  I lost all of my pictures and music....:( so sad

xoxoxox

Jess

startin trouble in BCN

I don't know if it's the spanish air or the fact that I watched Rocky Balboa in Spanish the other day, but it seems like everyone wants a piece of me. Last night my friend's bag got stolen so she went to talk to the bartender about it but while she was gone I just pulled her things closer to me (so nothing else would get stolen) but coincidentally a guy was walking past and he thought I was pulling the chair closer to me because I was afraid HE would steal something...which I wasn't!!! But he started yelling at me!! Now I'm not a fighter but I wasn't going to let him think that....so we kind of got into it!!! It was SO fun!!! And the best part is, i'm pretty sure I WON the argument!!!

THEN this morning I went to the supermarket to get some bread and I was waiting in line with this older woman behind me. I was going to be next until another cash register opened up so I started to walk over there but then little miss sass tried to cut me!!! So I walked a little faster and got back in front of her..............HA! I won that one too!!! I know she was trying to start something with me........

On the way home from the supermarket I started singing Eye of the Tiger (in my head, not out loud...well...i'm actually not sure) It might be a good idea to stay away from those movies for a while...

PS here our pics of me and my friends at the Barcelona game on Saturday!! They won!!! 4-0 vs Valencia. The game was fun but it doesn't compare to baseball games....but I'm slightly biased.

fotos!!!

mis amores, he cargado nuevas fotos...
porfa, haz clic aqui
besitossssssssss!!
yessi

pooping logs, prince harry, etc etc

well hello!!!!

my lovely family and friends, i know what you’re thinking...i’m the worst “blogger” ever!! I have two (in my opinion) very good reasons for being so...1) i have been extremely busy and 2) i don’t have internet in my NEW apartment!

yes, that’s my number one update: i moved!! I really liked the people I was living with before but they were a little older and our lifestyles kind of clashed. You can ask me for details later on...but I decided to just move because it would have been a long year living there.

So far, so good! I really enjoy the people I live with although I haven’t seen much of them (we all have opposite schedules). They are cousins, a guy (28—Fernando) and a girl (26—Silvana) from Argentina. They’re accents are really different from anything I’ve ever heard but I’m catching on little by little. Silvana is dating a guy, Juan, who is super funny and awesome to be around. Other frequent visitors are Claudio, Fernando’s brother, and Gabriel, Silvana’s brother. Gabriel is super cute but I think he might have a girlfriend. (lame) Claudio and Gabriel, sadly, are moving back to Argentina because they truly can not find work here. The unemployment rate is going up and up and up and it’s constantly harder to find work. It’s really scary. Fernando is also unemployed but he’s not giving up quite yet.

So I love the people I live with, but I feel like I’m living in an ice-box. I am, at all times, wearing the following at home: thick sweatpants, a hoodie (with the hood on), at least one pair of socks, and slippers. I just bought new sweatpants actually and I love them!!!

Not this past weekend, but the weekend before I was in London and I got to stay with Lindy!! She came to Barcelona a few weeks before so it was so great to see her again. Plus, she let me stay with her!! Her and her friends took me out and about in London and I really had a great time. It was fun to be in a foreign country that spoke the same language because it was fun to understand everyone perfectly. Their accents are so cute/funny. I had a little mishap when I got to London. For some reason I forgot the pin number to my phone and I couldn’t get it to unlock. In other words, I had no way of contacting Lindy when I got into London!!! Thankfully, she had given me her address and I found the building okay. She lives in a dorm-like building so anyone can walk in but you have to go through locked gates and stuff. Well I had no way of getting a hold of her and the SUPER MEAN SECURITY guy wouldn’t call her for me!!! It was “too late” even though I had told him 1,000,000,000 times (not an exaggeration) that Lindy was expecting me and stuff. So I lost the first battle but then I turned on the “desperate-sad-exhausted (the 3^rd part was true) face until the other security guard went up to her room and asked her if she was “expecting a visitor” which of course she WAS. ugh! but the moral of the story is that my desperate-sad-exhausted face always works!

It’s so funny how dependent we are on phones. It was a huge bummer not having a phone in London because I met Prince Harry! He told me I was the most gorgeous girl he’s ever laid his eyes on and that I desperately needed to give him my number. WELL I don’t know my number and it’s in the phone’s memory (true story) so I wasn’t able to give it to P.H. I really would have made a great princess.

Anywho, my favorite parts of London were Big Ben, the sauce at this one place we ate at called “the rocket”, and the museums (which were free)!!! We went to the British museum and the Tate Modern museum (it's an art museum). I loved Camden market, which Lindy took me to on Saturday. It’s the biggest market I’ve ever seen with all kinds of fun things to buy...!!! Also, ladies, guys in London are gorgeous.

Here's me in front of Big Ben:

Here's me and Lindy at the Camden market:

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving (duh) and I really didn’t miss any of you at all. HA just kidding, I did. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because my program made us a great big thanksgiving dinner. We had to carve our own turkeys!!! There was one turkey per 6 people and they were delectable (cool word). Also, my mom and sister made me a great big batch of choc-chip cookies and molasses cookies!!!! It was just like t-giving at home!! I brought them to share (not my idea) but I’m glad I did because my friends and professors LOVED them. Two huge platters were gone before dinner even started...just like at home! I personally hate the rule “dessert after dinner”. I love having dessert before, during, and after!!!! my own little tradition continued....! One of my friends was so happy I brought the cookies, the very first thing she said to me (with a cookie still in her mouth BTW) was “you just made my f***ing day! oh and happy thanksgiving!!” it was so funny. home made anything makes everyone happy...

Then last friday I had people over (which was something I wasn’t allowed to do in my last apartment) for fajitas!! I cooked fajitas for 10 people!! It was so fun. We even had coronas to go with the mexican theme....everyone said the fajitas were good too!! I’m becoming quite the little cook...

Since living in this new apartment I’m also kind of a clean-freak. I dust and mop at least once a day!! And my room is organized!!! I know none of you who have ever seen my previous rooms believe that...but I swear!!! stop rolling your eyes

Barcelona never fails to intrigue me...I recently learned about "caga tió" which is a cataluna tradition. It looks like this:

I think tió is "trunk" in catalan. caga is poop. Starting this upcoming Monday, December 8 (feast of the immaculate conception), each family is supposed to give caga tio a little bit of food every night. Come christmas eve or christmas morning, caga tio "poops" out small gifts like candy or something. isn't that the weirdest thing ever??? I feel like Tim would have fit in well with Cataluna's christmas traditions...

School is fine...I got one of my midterms back and I got an A+! woooooo! haha, i hope it will be the same for the other two...duh duh duhhhhh. working at Raval is still so much fun, I hope my schedule will allow me to work there more days a week next semester.

well...that’s what’s new with me! I’m happy in Barcelona. It’s still really hard to be away from everyone but I’m changing (in a good way...i think) and becoming way more independent. It’s a great feeling :)

xoxo-jess

CoOoOoOoOLD weather!!!

My mom and my friend Elle told me that the weather has severely changed back home....I can relate!!! The high tomorrow is 16 degrees :( ....oh wait...that's celsius...haaaaahahhaaha that equals approximately 60 degrees F!!!! Poor babies :(

It was this time last year I really started to get excited to come to ESPANA!!!

I honestly hope everyone stays safe and warm!!!

OH!!! other good news. I've finalized my winter break plans.
Dec 18-24 Skiing in Andora (3.5 hours away) (never been skiing before!)
Dec 24-29 Athens, Greece with Steph!!
Dec 29-Jan 1 Brussels, Belgium
Jan 2 Madrid and I get to see MOM DAD AND AMANDA!!! YESSSS

xo
jess

visitors!!!

I had my first visitors this past weekend!!! Here's me, Lindy, and Pablo Picasso in the background. Last night me, Lindy, and some of her friends went to see the fountain show near plaza espanya. They really liked it because it's a gorgeous view of the city and the show is pretty to watch. Today we went to the Pablo Picasso museum. I LOVE pablo picasso. Plus it was free today! sweet!!! I feel bad for them because it's literally been raining on/off for a week straight so the weather isn't great to sight see.


This past Thursday I got to see Mr. Olson!! For those of you who don't know, he's my friend Maggie's dad, and he's an international pilot. He had a flight to Barcelona on Thursday so we got to hang out!! He took me out and I ate like a QUEEN!! THANKS MR OLSON!!! :)

PS don't you like his hat? We got one free witch's hat for every 3 pints of beer we bought.

oh, but there was drama. We were supposed to meet at 4 right in front of my university. It only takes 10 minutes for me to get there, and I had left at 3:40, PLENTY of time. GUESS whatttt!! the metro STOPPED working (randomly). So I was running around looking for another way to get there. I ended up taking the bus, which took forever. I was 15 minutes late and I was soooooooo scared he was going to leave, but he didn't! and i'm glad, because we had so much fun!!

At this Irish bar, we met a guy named Hans. He was from Holland. At first I didn't understand him and I couldn't tell if he was saying "Ireland" or "Holland". He told us he was going to school for "art" and for "painting", but we figured out he only paints walls...not pictures or portraits or anything. I didn't know you had to go to school for that?? Even though I could barely understand him, he was chatt and pretty entertaining.

Good news: Mari (one of the people I live with) knows how to cut hair!! She gave me a little haircut on friday night and it looks awesome!! I'm trying to grow my hair out but my ends needed some taking-care-of, and she did a great job! yesss

Hope everyone had a great halloween!!!
xo
jess