So, its been a long week! Starting with Monday afternoon after classes Jess, Allie, Bj and I went in search of the perfect retirement gift for Prof. Campbell. Herron entrusted the Alisons and Jessicas with task of pooling the money and picking out the gift, so the pressure was on. Bj took us to a little watch shop in Differdange where we picked out a conservative, yet flashy silver swiss made watch. We studied the rest of the afternoon for the accounting midterm tuesday. Tuesday we had classes until 12, accounting exam at 1--then 4 was when the real mayhem began...the retirement party.We showed up at 3:45, expecting a nice casual affair, however we were greeted at the door by the already slightly intoxicated prof. Herron. Running the bar was Stew and Ryan, fully stocked with several cases of white/red wine, champaign, and a keg of bofferding. By the time Campbell arrived around 4:45 the crowd was huge and thouroughly inebriated. This afternoon is pretty much justified as a "Mulligan" for all parties in attendance. Alison played soccer and came back an hour later drenched and grass stained, Allie played waitress and served everyone the delicious appetizers, Jess mingled with everyone as usual, and i engaged in overly deep conversations about morality and religion...overall pretty standard. Previously several students arranged for drink specials at our favorite neighboorhood outdoor cafe, Cin Cin for 7 that night. The obsurdity of the night continued, Allie and I were home and asleep by 10:30.Wednesday we had a pretty layed back day, we had classes outside then watched movies in the cave. Thursday we had class then caught the 4:02 out of Diff for Lux City, the TGV (really sweet/ fast train) to Paris, transfered by metro to Paris Lyon, then had sleepettes for the 13 hour train to Barcelona. Sleepettes are really maybe the most miserable thing to sleep on ever. They are simply little chairs that recline until your head is inbetween the legs of the person behind you, plus our car was freezing--so i opted to sleep curled up sideways in my "sleepette." I definitely recommend spending the extra euros for the couchette if at all possible. So around 6:45 am i am abruptly awaken by Alison telling us to get off the train, i found it a little odd that we were getting off before my 15 minute warning alarm went off--but it was 6:45 am, so i obeyed. Well, we were not at the right stop, and were actually in the middle of nowhere somewhere near the border of France and Spain. Clearly a trainstation that would be taking a large number of people to barcelona would actually have a building...However, we got lucky--caught the next train to Cerbere and recovered our course within 30 minutes. We waited and waited at Cerbere for our train to take us the next 3 hours to Barcelona...it didn't come. (We later found out that the train workers went on strike? Am I a little American to wonder how you could seriously go on strike against the train station in a country as socialistic as france??) Anyways--luckily we had talked to the grouop of 9 guys who had a different itenerary, and were able to get on their train out of Port Bou which was 10 minutes away.(Allie broke her wine glass in Paris and cut her finger, but don't worry mom took care of her ;))-----------> 
Ok, so chaos getting to Barcelona...but we made it!! We checked into our 4 star hotel Caralonia Atenas located off the metro stop Clot. We purchased a 3 day unlimited metro pass...2nd best buy of the weekend. (we took the metro everywhere! the city is huge and confusing, and our hotel was kinda out of the way) We stopped by a Catalonian diner a couple blocks away for some pizza. We finally showered, hung out for a bit, then set out for Las Romblas, the main street of Barcelona. That street was a carnival of activities, we couldn't go a 
block without stopping to watch the various street performers. A few of out favorites: the random techno/house music band that used drums and various metal instruments, jess and i stopped to dance a little; the juggling Pele who put on a shirt while balancing a soccer ball on his head while standing on a ladder. <--yes alison and i stopped for a picture!; a man doing amazing spraypaint artwork on the sidewalk; and
my personal favorite the authentic musical indian performance complete with loincloths, bongo drums and lots of feathers. After a couple hours of this amusement we were hungry again and opted for the Attic, a cute trendy restaurant recommended in our book and right on Las Ramblos. I was so excited to try Sangria for the first time, but unfortunately i didn't like it at all. As i understand it, it contains red wine, brandi/whiskey, cointreau, oranges, and fruit juices--i might make it without the brandi or whiskey. We moved to a sidewalk cafe and got another Sangria and hungout, just the girls for once, it was nice! Saturday morning we got up early to go to the Picasso
Museum over toward Gothic quarter. The museum was in a beautiful 14th century castle renovated for the exhibit. It had more than 3,500 pieces from all periods of his career. The exhibit started with his early work in portraits, then to landscapes, then more complex still lifes, then into cubism. The transformation from room to room is incredible, while each room sequentially relates closely, it is so hard to comprehend the genius behind an artist who reinvents himself every decade. The Cubism was definitely my favorite exhibit, although at first it was rather confusing and disturbing, it really grew on me how the emotion wasn't necessarily in the brushstroke but in the dimension. Ok, so Allie wasn't big on the art, i think she walked through all 3,500 pieces in 15 minutes and was done. As we walked down the street in the gothic quarter i ran into none other than the Caroline Geier. I could not have been more excited surprised and shocked, it was wonderful! She was traveling with her older sister through
Europe, i just happened to run right into her! Sooo weird how that happens! Last summer i ran into Lisa, my grandbig, at the Vatican--you know, just a random monday morning at the Vatican?
I guess we decided throughout the trip that our personalities molded in the the sex and the city characters: in order (me, jess tepas, alison billy, allie dixon)We decided to try to find the restaurant Moussel for lunch since it was the site for Barcelona to get 5 ex
atra credit points for Business Law. Moussel is an authentic Catalonia restaurant. Herron's instructions were to go in, sit in the basement, speak to them in French, appologize for not speaking Catalonian, and tell them to bringout whatever they wanted for lunch. Well, we did speak in French, however, for fear of receiving the traditional octapus dish we ordered catalonian chicken, potatos, red wine and salad. After lunch Alison and I convinced the girls to come with us to the F.C. Barcelona museum and stadium. It was incredible! The stadium is so huge and impressive, and their fans were wild. 
This was the day before one of the championship games that Barcelona was playing in, so there were a lot of people there. I made a few purchases, some of which might be the sweetest birthday presents ever for a certain 15 year old ;)We went back to Las Ramblos on a whim to get our noses pierced. Ok, i was seriously considering it (haha ok maybe not). But all the
places had already closed for the night (take a deep breath fam) So we changed plans and went in search of Paella! It was good, not great--I think I might americanize the dish a bit for future reunion dinner parties. We had audience of about 15 gentlemen in town for a bachelor party, which was annoying, but we did get a standing applause after dinner.
That night we had big plans to get a little taste of Barcelona nightlife...so we went back to take a little nap.Around 1 am we set out for the metro station 
and met Seamus in Las Ramblos. He took us back to their hotel to meet up with the rest of the guys. We made it to the dance club Razzmatazz around 2. The streets of Barcelona were a sight to see at 2 am...the cover was 15 euro and there were probably 2,000 people in the 5 story club. It was amazing, completely ridiculous, the music was house and club mixes ive never heard before. i loved it. which is probably why i stayed until 6. We knew the sun came up around 7 and decided to make the trip to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was the most
incredible awe inspiring feeling to sit on the Medeterranean and watch the sun rise, having not even been to sleep yet. A few brief moments, and it was over...back to reality, and back to catching the 7:45 metro back to Clot.....Finally Sunday was declared a beach day! When we finally woke up, we wandered the 6 mile walk from Las Ramlos to the beach area. The weather wasn't great, but it was extremely relaxing! Oh...and i'm sure you were wondering what my #1 best buy in barcelona was (since the metro ticket was #2) ...we all got 5 euro massages on the beach!!! Allie was the first one brave enough 
to get one. We were all a little shy at first at the sight of the spanish woman climbing on top of you and removing your top...but it was like the best massage i have ever had! Oh, and of course the triple couples massage helped me get over the awkwardness of it too! The beach was actually an afternoon of entertainment all in itself. A man who sang and balanced a tray of 50 donuts on his head named bumbalino came and hung out with us for a little while
and took a pic. Ahh that was basically our barcelona trip. We met an overly friendly french man on our way home. He was an artist/choreographer of strip shows/journalist? He spoke pretty good english, and showed us videos of his questionable place of employment on his cell phone. We have met some pretty random and interesting people on our journey.So back to the academic portion of our journey...because i hear that coach tom believes it to be questionable. I am actually receiving 8 credit hours from the business school for the program. (however the majority of the subject matter that i learned outside of the classroom is really what is important) I took my International accounting final yesterday which went well. Business Legal Studies is by far my favorite course. Although the mean score on the midterm was a 65% i feel like we have learned a lot. The final for the course was a case study that Herron prepared, and was a group project--me jess allie and alison. We were given 20 legal terms (such as promissory estoppel, statues of fraud, multiple assignments, burdens of proof) our assignment was to pick out contractual agreements from the case study, define/describe the legal elements to the contract problem and decide what the legal outcome is. This was pretty similar to my nerdy obsessions with Hi-Y youth in government and mock trial from high school so the project basically became my life for the past 4 days. Honestly, i probably haven't slept. We compiled the final project this morning, and it is glorious. Watermarked, binded, and tabbed...you wouldn't expect anything less ;)yes, i can sometimes be "that girl."We had a little cookout after watching the seniror's BLS464 presentations this morning, then Cody, Mike, Dylan, and Monique all left....i'm still in denial. So, now allie and i are about to leave and pick up some flowers for our euro-mom. Tonight everyone who is still in Diff is going toCin cin then halfway house to party it up one last time in Diff.As for me...ill be here most the afternoon tommorow, ill take a train either to lux city or all the way to brussels and spend the night. My flight leaves Saturday at 12:40!--home at 7:30 U.S. time!Currently Listening to: Track 17 on the Modern cd ;) for barcelonaCecilia- Simon and GarfunkelBlue and Yellow--the Usedxoxo jess
So now i find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I just took Allie to the Differdange train stop. I sort of just stood there with tears and my eyes for a while. I just don't know if i could have done this trip without her, we looked out for each other. She might be one of the most caring and fun individuals i have ever known, and its definitely a reassuring feeling to have shared such an experience with such a person.
in drinks, they consume overprocessed carbohydrates like its their job, they take 2 hour siestas during the most productive hours of the day, they live in tiny houses with a tiny washing machine, they sell water at extortionist prices, they hang their underwear on a line in their backyard, they look at you like you are nuts for jogging on a saturday afternoon, they allow their dogs to poop on the sidewalks, they take their dogs into nice restaurants, they listen to all american music--yet they speak no english.
Is Europe the place for me? probably not. ok well, no it's not. Understanably I have a some tanning, hair cutting, manicuring, and 2- a-day work outs ahead of me before i can begin to believe i am still, at least in part, the same person. But that brings me to a thesis project that i would like to work on this summer. It is incredibly interesting the diverse impact that a european experience can have on different personality types. Are you the type to see things or are you the type to experience things? I hope for the most part that I engaged enough of my subconscious to take from this trip everything imaginable. "Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
