Holaaaaaa lovelies!!!
Long time, no update. Sorry 'bout that. I've been running around trying to get my life back in order after my whirlwind of a mini Eurotrip I took over Christmas vacation. I'm hoping to get pictures and descriptions up and running soon, but I wanted to write a quick post to let y'all know you're not forgotten!! Love and kisses and hugs and pining for all the food and people from back home that I miss, Alisha
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It's that time of day: new blog post time! What is this maddness?!? Who knows... Put on some chill music (Spotify's "Soft Pop Hits" playlist is fab) and grab a bowl of ice cream and a glass of wine, not unlike my current snack off choice , and let's ride. So yesterday was my friend's birthday (her name is Sima and you can check her stellar blog here). Turns out it was another one of her (and Deena's) friends' birthday as well. We were going to have a surprise for Sima at Deena's place, but she ended up going to a bar to help set up with her same-birthday friend. They were having joint party at a bar called Veinti 7. They rented out the bar and were able to bring their own homemade tapas in so that people could snack throughout the night. The bartender even hooked them up with discounts on drinks for everyone if you mentioned one of their names. Sweeeet! Some of the girls at the party were kinda rude (in my opinion), but all in all it was pretty fun. At around 2:30am, we wanted to go out dancing so me, Deena, and Sima went around the corner to a bar called Space Monkey, but the line was INSANE. After standing in a non-moving for about 20minutes, we decided to call it quits and head home to prepare for the next night (tonight). We're supposed to be going to this HUUUUUUUGE club called Fabric, so I will keep ya posted on that! Also, totally an aside, but of late I can't get enough of Ed Sheeran. #latetothegame, I know, but seriously. Also, I keep remembering just how fantastic Jason Mraz is. I've always liked him and I love rediscovering his work, both old and new. Another new favorite is You+Me. The other day when we were booking our Bilbao trip, Sima turned me onto them and they are fantastic. Originally was going to be a one-time/one-song collaboration between Dallas Green and Alecia Moore (aka Pink), but ended up turning into a much larger project. They just recently released a full length album, which I highly recommend checking out. It's sweetly acoustic and soulful. I personally would prefer to enjoy this beachside with a glass of wine, but Madrid isn't too bad. Win some, lose some, right?!? ;) Thank goodness for Spotify!
Alright, alright, so you've begged and clamored for more (well, okay, it's only been the loving madre) and I'm way past overdue for an update. Sooo here I am at Cafe Amargo (because where else would I be?) and let's begin, shall we?? What's on the agenda? Tons of back posts that I need to create and add, which I detailed before and will do I promise. Let's discuss the now. Right now, I've been going through MAJOR identity and life crises, etc. so I would like to extend all of the hugs and kisses and infinite amounts of love to all my friends that I've cried/vented/raged/questioned/etc. to/on. I've said it multiple times and I could never say it enough times, Y'ALL ARE THE GREATEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been quite difficult not knowing what you want in lit or anything and watching everyone around you who seems to have it figured out (and I know, I know, you shouldn't compare yourself to others, but let's face it: I'm human. SIDENOTE: Aren't you glad I'm not an alien?? Or am I?? #dontanswerthat). What's important is that I live my life for me. Trying to put unnecessary pressure on myself to figure things out is definitely not helping my situation in any way. So I'm just trying to focus on the positives and not worry about the negatives. Everything will be as it should, eventually.
Jump to today. Today is Thursday and it's after 2pm, so I've officially started my weekend. Monday, the 10th, is a holiday for something. I'm not quite sure for what, but me and a couple friends are taking advantage of the long weekend and traveling! We're headed up north to Bilbao in País Vasco (Basque country). It's right on the coast and right next to San Sebastian. I've been to País Vasco before when I went to San Sebastian. San Sebastian was a great beach town, but my friends and I didn't exactly plan things out the best. We ended up arriving in mid-March at 6am with nowhere to go. It was dark, cold, and we were miserable. Aside from that, we had a great time! País Vasco has some the absolute best food I've eaten in my life. This coming from a girl who doesn't eat seafood! If everything besides the seafood was phenomenal, imagine how some of the freshest mariscos (seafood) would taste! Definitely a must-see in my opinion is País Vasco. Technical note: I'm not quite sure how to re-add the categories I've made to all of my new posts. I may or may not be changing the layout in the future. Hang in there! Also, it's just coming to me that maybe I should post pics and reviews of my menú del días (menu of the day). They're my Friday treat to myself and I absolutely love them, but maybe making a conscious effort to document and record them will help me take pics! I always get super self-conscious and feel like I'm being super pretentious taking pictures of my food, but for you, my dear loves, I shall try. Let's try for tomorrow! I'm officially on my weekend and to my knowledge, I have no responsibilities. Well, perhaps this weekend I will plan my classes (lol okay, games) in my free time instead of doing it at 11pm/12am the night before. Vamos a ver (we shall see). At any rate, I have a ton of updating to do, so we shall see how much I get done. I will probably make a few separate posts to organize them all. Also, I will add pictures later, though I don't recall having taken many pictures. I should start carrying my camera around more often given that my iPhone from home works like an iPod (aka only on WiFi) and the camera on the iPhone 3s is less than stellar. I digress. Currently, I'm sitting at my new favorite cafe/bar. It's called Amargo: place to be (I'm not really sure if that last part is part of their name or a slogan or what...). This is my third time and counting having been here this week and I love it. Yes, I know, you may be thinking "How can you say that you're broke when you're constantly spending money all the time??". To that I reply, first and foremost, thank goodness for credit cards. Without a credit card, there is no way I would have been able to buy groceries, sheets, towels, my hostels/AirBnB stay, a gym membership, or running shoes (all necessities in my opinion). I'm all about smart credit card use (shockingly so considering how absolutely horrible I am at money management), but that's another post for another time. Anyhow, one of the reasons I am able to go out frequently is because certain things are quite cheap here. Namely, coffee and alcohol.
What else have I done? Oh! I officially joined a gym. Granted yesterday was my first day, but so far, so good. It's called Urban Fitness and it's maybe a 5 minute (at most) walk from my apt. For 6 months, my membership was €209, including the typical gym equipment/machines (obvi), all of the classes the gym offers (kickboxing, yoga, pilates, TRX, among many others), and personal training. Heaven! Especially considering the amount of weight I've gained and how steadily my health levels have declined since my arrival in this country. Last night I ran a 5k (though was slightly more with warm up and cool down) and it was shockingly easy considering I haven't run since the 10k in Chicago over the summer (side note: I totally meant to write a post about how awesome Chicago was and I forgot until just now). Quizás (maybe) I will run in the Rock & Roll 10k like I did last year. I'm thinking of checking out a yoga class later on tonight, so I will let ya know how that goes!
What else? Teaching is going to be a separate post. Apartment updates and legal things will be separate as well. Also, Barcelona things and some weekend things. Sooooooooooooo I believe that is all for now! Ta! xxxx |