ehh, way too lazy to think of a name ;)

¡Hola!
Lo siento for the long wait (for those of you who still bother to read this thing :) I have a lot to tell, so brace yourselves for a long one!
Way back in March I went to Ireland to spend some time with my sister Jill, who was there for a graduation present from my parents. We ended up starting the trip on great terms. Long story short, I ended up waiting for Jill to pick me up from the airport on the road outside the airport for 2 hours at midnight (it was FREEZING!) while Jill had parked and gone inside to look for me. Jill also didn't have a cellphone on her, making things rather difficult. We finally found each other after I received a call from my aunt in Italy (!) telling me that Jill was looking for me and my mom was getting worried.... (only I could get people in 3 different countries worried about where I am). After this mishap we had no problems at all. We spent the first two nights in a little bed and breakfast and exploring the Irish countryside outside of Dublin. We visited the Powers Court, which Jill loved because she felt like she was in Pride and Prejudice, all that was missing was Mister Darcy (although she also had to state right afterwards that she could never marry Mr. Darcy because he was a jerk, ohhh Jill ;) We also went to an old abbey, a waterfall and some random castle ruins on the side of the road. Ireland is an absolutely amazing country and so beautiful. There are lots of sheep though, I am pretty sure that they outnumber the people who live there. My favorite thing with the sheep is that they are everywhere... roads, fields, yards, and soccer fields, which made me laugh because the Spaniards would never allow this, lol.

 The next morning, after a short run, we checked out and headed to the hill of Tara. After it taking us both a pathetic amount of time to find the entrance, we spent some time wandering around the old royal grounds. There were of course sheep there, and a running club running circles around the hill top, lol. Then we headed to Dublin for the day. We spent some time wandering around, then Jill went to study for 5 HOURS, and I went to to wander around some more. I ended up spending 40 minutes watching a street show and hours wandering around all the city sights. The next day Jill left and I met up with my friend Michele. We bought some tickets for a bus that took us around the city sights that we could hop on and off at any time of the day. We went to the Guinness factory then killed some time wandering the city before heading to the airport. We spent ages at the airport because she is paranoid. Every time I mention that to her though all she says is "London.." and I shut up :). I loved Ireland though. The people were so nice and open and the country is beautiful. 

My next trip was to Germany to visit a friend of mine, Anna. She was an exchange student in Centralia my sophomore year. It was a nice visit. We biked around her small town of Kamp-Lintfort and I met her friends at a birthday party later that night. They were all very nice to me, and some were willing to talk to me in English which I really appreciated, because I now know how hard it is to speak a second language. The next day Anna, Max (her boyfriend) and I all went to Düsseldorf. It is a nice city, with the Rhein river running through it. We walked around a bit, then went up a tower so we could see the entire city. Afterwards, we headed back and watched Max's basketball game. That night I went with Anna and her friends went to an old shut down steel factory, which has had neon lights added to it, and people can walk up to the top whenever they want to. It was wicked cool :) The next morning I headed back to Spain. 

Well that's a wrap up of my latest travels. Other than that, I have been busy with school. Yes despite what you all may believe, I do still attend that. And it's starting to get tough, meaning I have entered the due date month. I have a 7 page paper due next week, I'm writing about fútbol. I also have several projects due, and I had all my tests last week. But, nice weather has arrived here, and I spent the last two days at the beach, and today I went hiking :). In two weeks I have spring break. I get 2 weeks off! I will spend Semana Santa with my host family, with their family in Cartagena. Then the second week my host sister and I are going to Italy to visit my aunt Colleen. I am excited, especially because I will have to speak Spanish for the entire break :) Well that's all I believe. I will post some hiking pictures soon! ¡Hasta luego! ♥