Helena's Super Secret Ninja Missions

So I may or may not have lost (some) interest in my blog, for a number of reasons. For one, my laptop is still having problems--I took it to the repair shop over two weeks ago and from what I could understand, they fixed the original problem by clearing everything out, but I still can´t have it back because they seem to have created a new problem. For whatever reason, they changed my laptop´s language to Spanish, and appear to be having difficulties with changing the language back to English. At least this is what they told me over the phone a few days ago. Incompetent much? Anyway, the point of that whole story is to tell you that I usually write my blog posts at home, when I´m bored and/or procrastinating, but since I haven´t had my laptop at home, it hasn´t been happening.

I´m so dependent on my computer. I suppose I already knew that but I didn´t realize the extent of my dependence until recently. In the past two weeks, I´ve basically been living at the library...Well I suppose that´s an exaggeration--when I´m at home, I can (sometimes) use my host mom´s computer. And I finally got a Barcelona library card!

Anyway I guess I should probably try to catch up on updates on my trips to Madrid and Montserrat, as well as my new Swedish roommate (who does not speak Spanish) and my internship (challenging but not particularly stressful).Oh, and my acceptance into a London study abroad program, of course. I believe that´s all...

By the way, let me know if you want my posts to be automatically sent to you via email; I recently found this great function that lets me do that...

Here´s to technology!

This past weekend was a blur of activities in Madrid and Toledo. We took a train from Barcelona to Madrid, and it was great because I got to sleep! However briefly...

This was taken inside the train station in Madrid. I think it's the most beautiful train station I've ever seen.

When we arrived to Madrid, I met up with K in the hotel lobby. It was so exciting; I hadn't seen her in months!

I had my first churros con chocolate with her!

Then our program took us to several different bars for delicious tapas, such as pimientos de padrón, which I highly recommend. Every once in a while though, you get a spicy one. It's a fun surprise. We also got some delicious ice cream, while W befriended these random Serbian men.

I took a picture of the place so we'd be able to find it again. More on that later...

At around 1:30, we went off to McDonald's (my first one in Europe). Very classy, I know. I was really excited to see that their Happy Meals came in those adorable cardboard boxes, like back in the day. I did not get one, despite the fact that they came with Hello Kitty toys. Another interesting fact: McDonald's here sell cerveza (beer) for about a euro. I found it quite bizarre.

On Friday, after a busy day at the Prado Museum and Reina Sofia (both of which were walking distance from our hotel), we went off to dinner and a flamenco show! Then I introduced K to the clothing chain stores in Spain, and I purchased a new dress, which has awesome hand shaped pockets. I was actually quite impressed with the pockets. We wandered the streets of Madrid on Friday night, which was fun; it was great to be able to catch up with her.

On Saturday, we took the train over the Toledo, which probably would have been significantly more impressive had it not been pouring for most of our time there. My shoes were not waterproof, and thus very uncomfortable. Fun fact: we had a tour guide who would comment on things from the 18th century and then point to a Starbucks and say that it was from the 21st century. Anyway I would absolutely love to return to Toledo and enjoy it in the sunshine.

When we got back, A and I spent at least an hour, searching for the crepe/gelato place in the pouring rain. We knew it was basically just off Plaza Mayor, but we weren't sure what direction it was in, or what street it was on...We kept asking random shopkeepers about it, but nobody had heard of it. We also tried to call someone on the program's staff, but that failed as well. After a while, I was about ready to give up and go to Farggi, this chain that I still have not been to, but A was sure that we were close, so we continued on, and found it very shortly after. It was abnormally exciting and completely worth the effort.

This was a Nutella and hazelnut one. It was a lovely dinner.

The day after, we woke up fairly early to check out of the hotel and wander the streets again. We checked out one of the Dunkin Coffee branches (they had several varieties of Boston-related donuts) and I purchased (another) new dress.

Here's to successful crepe missions!