Should be studying.

Really, I should be. However, two years of mostly journalism classes have ruined me in that way. I got too used to turning in projects and stories instead of taking tests.

I have one week left here.

I think I'm going to "miss" my flight. Though that's probably a bad idea...my dad would kill me. I do want to stay in Barcelona but right now I need to go back home, graduate, get my life in order and figure out a feasible way to get myself back over here. Before I'm too old to enjoy this city.

This past weekend I went to Berlin and Prague with Megumi. The cities were a lot different than many of the other places I've visited. There was a certain austerity to them. Remnants of their communist past perhaps.

Thoughts:

*Brno, Czech Republic is hardcore. And they have an Interspar train. Probably the scariest form of transportation I've ever encountered.

*Prague is beautiful, just as everyone says. However. The city seems polished for tourists. I'm sure if you were to venture out past the popular part of the city it would be much different. Even within the city center there were parts that just looked...so gray and concrete.

*Megumi and I have decided guys from the U.S. are highly undesirable. (For me...I can make exceptions sometimes.) We met these guys staying in our hostel and all they talked about was going out at night and getting wasted and buying overpriced absinthe. They lack a certain sense of class. They have a way with words and a tone of voice that seems like they're trying too hard to be apathetic. The second night a Brazilian guy joined the mix. We instantly liked him more. He seemed genuine and interesting. He could talk to us about things other than alcohol. There are always exceptions, true, but many American guys need to get it together a little more.

*The Prague castle is hard to figure out. We were never sure we were there. I think we were.

*My Europe guidebook says that "40 years of culinary isolation and centralization under the Communists allowed few innovations in Czech cuisine." Megumi and I beg to differ. Maybe the food isn't innovative, but it was delicious enough for us! Right after we got to Prague we tried these things called trdlo. It's a pastry that's baked around a giant rod. They pull it off the rod (with a big hole in the middle) and it's coated with a glaze of sugar, almonds and cinnamon. It's so warm and yummzzzz. There is also goulash..it's like a beef stew with dumplings. The food is so cheap and it's all warm. I'm sure also very unhealthy.

*It gets too dark too early in that part of the world. The sun shouldn't set at 4:30PM.

*Our second day in Prague we had an adventure at the train station because we were trying to acquire tickets to Berlin. I had already looked up the train we wanted to take. I was trying to explain to the ticket counter man that we needed to go to Berlin through the company Eurocity. He told me that Eurocity wasn't a city. Ugh! Yeah, obviously. "One ticket to Eurocity, please." Luckily we figured it out.

*The train ride to Berlin was gorgeous. The landscape in Czech Republic looks more run down than Germany. I'm just saying. They're both way prettier than Texas' landscape though. I'm such a geographical snob.

*Berlin was tough. It's the toughest city I've ever been to. The language, the people, the food, the history, the buildings, the nightlife, the weather. Everything about that place is SO intense. Megumi and I had a motto for the trip: Prague es suerte y Berlin es fuerte. (Prague is lucky and Berlin is strong.) ((We did have good luck in Prague.))

*Our main problem in Berlin was that we were supposed to CouchSurf with this guy Udi, from Brooklyn. Udi told us we could stay with him. We texted and called him once we got there. No response. Then I got online to send him a message through the web site. He was coming back from a trip in NYC so I thought maybe he'd run into delays. That night we never heard back from him. My friend's Europe guidebook which I am borrowing saved our life! We found a hostel in there, walked with our luggage in the freezing cold and they gave us a room. The next day we checked to see if Udi wrote back. Nothing! Then we saw that he'd last logged in from Berlin, so he was back and just ignoring us! Ugh UDI! From that point on, every time we toasted we toasted to Udi's demise. I wished that he'd get punched in his glasses and that his bike (if he has one) would get in a crash and then his girlfriend (if he has one) would dump him. All in the same day. I don't wish anything too terrible upon him, but he really screwed up our time in Berlin. The second night we arranged a plan to stay out all night. Everything was fine until Megumi got too tired after dinner. We went to the airport in the middle of the night and slept there. The best part was when we got off the S-Bahn at the airport stop. Megumi chased down the conductor because it was so dark and scary she thought we were at the wrong stop. He yelled to us that it was right as the train was pulling away. We walked underground and then along this long sidewalk to the airport entrance. We saw a fox! WTF? Megumi likes to recall that we went on that "scary airport walk where we almost got eaten by a fox." It wasn't quite that bad, but close.

*I want to return to Berlin when the weather is nicer. I am fascinated by Berlin's history. I want to read more about it before I go back.

*Prenzlauerburg is cute.

*I had the strongest drink of my life in Berlin. I also had absinthe. The strongest drink was actually a White Russian that I could barely sip without making a face. The absinthe had no effect. I think I am immune somehow.

*German people are very much how I imagined them to be.

*Sunday I was in three cities in one day. Woke up in Berlin, ate dinner in Nice, France and went to bed in Barcelona.

*Nice was nice, but I think it's too posh. I developed the worst headache of my existence while I was there and I think it ruined the experience a little.

*We saw the craziest man ever while we were waiting for the bus back to the Nice Airport. He was dancing to Justice vs. Simian "Never Be Alone" on the edge of the promenade while wearing leather pants and a vest. He had long hair. His dancing was totally spastic. Everyone would quietly walk by him in fear. It was cold outside. There wasn't a shirt under his vest. Crazy...dancerz.

So that's my trip. Those were my trips. I think it'll be awhile before I get to do much more traveling because I'm so broke. Worth every penny.

I'm only spending money on "fun" and presents while I'm here for the next week.

Tomorrow Andrew is coming. A part of my Texas life is crossing with my Barcelona life. I'm really excited. It'll be nice to share what I've known here with someone from home. :)

I hope my last week is happy, fun, wild and full of smiles. I am going to try not to cry on Monday night when API has the goodbye dinner and I have to say bye to everyone. I'm going to try not to cry when I have to say bye to Megumi when she leaves with her parents to tour the rest of Spain. I'm going to try not to cry when I have to leave Ana. I'm going to try not to cry when I pack my stuff up and leave my room. I'm going to try not to cry when I walk through the Gothic Quarter streets on the way to the bus. I'm going to try not to cry when I see Barcelona from my plane window and know that this experience is over.

This semester has shown me that life is beautiful.