In case anyone was curious about stuff I did two months ago...

***I'm pretty embarrassed to say that this is basically two months late, but better late than never, I guess? I started to write this post about spring break on the bus to London last month and just now finished it because life/my new desire to spend as much time with my new friends as possible before I have to say a difficult goodbye to them got in the way. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy.***

I came into this semester telling myself that I was going to do it all while simultaneously doubting my ability to execute. My list of must-sees was exhausting just to look at, and I wasn’t very confident in how far my minimum wage swim teacher’s salary could stretch (with some help from the parents, of course). However, looking back on how much I saw on spring break, I’m starting to think that it’s possible…especially if I keep living off of microwavable pasta boxes and brie sandwiches during the week.

I'm head-over-heels in love with Lisbon, and I don't care who knows it. 

I backpacked through four cities in ten days, and each of them offered their own wonderful, magical, ridiculous, amazing, absurd and thought-provoking experiences. If you told my 15-year-old self that my 21-year-old self was going to climb on a playground (like a 5-year-old) on the beaches of the Mediterranean, drink wine while watching the sun set (or, what we could see through the clouds) over the city of Lisbon or eat churros at 2:30 in the morning before proceeding to go to a club that doesn’t open until 3am, I wouldn’t have believed you. I saw more in those ten days than my brain could process in two months, and I think it’s still catching up/recapping each time I look at the photos that I took.

Those ten days were ten of the most stressful days of my life, but they were also ten of the most remarkable days I’ll probably ever have. So, in honor of the greatness that was spring break, here’s a list of the top highlights from my trip:

1. Eating one of the best meals of my life for only 6.50 euros in Lisbon. Seriously, we got a full three-course meal for the cost of a beer at our favorite bar in Reims, and I’ve been wondering why I chose to learn French over Portuguese everyday since. My delicious pork and potatoes dish aside, the meal was most notable because of the people I was with and how we ended up eating together. Casey and I decided to go on our hostel’s free walking tour the first Sunday morning of our trip, and our guide was this super hilarious Lisbon native who preferred to throw up the bird instead of waving a flag to get us to follow him. He was super fun, so when he told us at the end of the tour that he was going to lunch at one of his favorite places and that he would love to bring people along, we couldn’t pass it up. Casey and I found ourselves following a group of five other girls to this little hole-in-the-wall place whose tables where so close together that I had to swing my leg over the chair to sit down. Over two hours later, I knew my first few Portuguese words, which restaurant I needed to go to in Madrid the next day, and had gained six new friends and potentially a couple pounds. I tried pineapple pop, Portuguese rice pudding and even Portuguese coffee (which is a big deal for me because I’m typically pretty anti-coffee, but when in Lisbon, right?). I need to go back. Not want, need.

I think I know what love feels like now.

2. Watching the sunrise over the Mediterranean after staying up all night long. This one, like most of my favorite moments, was definitely not planned. Kenzie, Katie and I went to a club called City Hall in Barcelona-nobody goes to clubs before 3am in Spain, by the way-and we ended up staying until what I would imagine was probably very close to closing time. Despite the fact that I wasn’t feeling my best and Kenzie wasn’t my favorite person at that moment in time, somehow I let her convince me not to walk back to the hostel (which was only like three blocks from the beach, score) and I’m so happy she did. It was a little cloudy, so it wasn’t the clearest of sunrises, but the fact that I was sitting in the sand watching it along the Mediterranean with two good friends by my side made it a moment that’ll be engrained in my head for the rest of my life. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that we came home so late that they were already serving breakfast at our hostel, so naturally, we sat in the lobby bean bag chairs and ate a bowl of Cocoa Puff rip-off cereal. Then we went to bed/took a nap/whatever you want to call that. It was epic.

It's hard to stay mad at Kenz when she takes me to see sunrises on the beach.

3. Seeing La Sagrada Familia. I can’t really place my finger on why, but for some reason this was always one of the top three places I wanted to visit abroad. Growing up, I was an awkward nerdy girl who watched Passport to Europe and other absurdly cheesy Travel Channel shows regularly, and ever since I first laid my eyes on Gaudi’s cathedral via my family’s old Panasonic, I was oddly enchanted by it. Gaudi’s style is simply something that you can’t find anywhere else in the world, and it’s hard to find any architect to compare him to. He was truly ahead of his time as far as both design and engineering go, and seeing his crowning glory was a seriously moving experience. I’ll never forget standing beneath the ---foot ceiling and just gaping up at it. I could have stood there all day. It’s no Sistine Chapel-Gaudi wasn’t about that fresco life-but it’s just so beautiful in its own remarkably unique way that I absolutely loved it. Although I adore the whole thing, I think my favorite part of the whole structure is the set of stained glass windows on the left when you’re facing the altar. This wall is covered almost entirely in warm-colored stained glass windows that reflect sunlight in the most breathtaking way I’ve ever seen. The colors range from deep, earthy reds and oranges to bright sunflower yellows in all sorts of different hues, and walking through the reflecting light cast on the floor and the columns that sit across from it is truly awe-inspiring. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt more at peace than I did in that moment, soaking in the warmth of the various shades of color and the literal heat let into the otherwise chilly structure. It’s hard to put into words what it is about the windows that make them so magical. They’re vast and intricate and radiate this warmness that fills your soul in an indescribably raw way, and I couldn’t be happier that I got to experience it for myself. 

I don't think anything can ever beat the beauty of these windows.

Purely breathtaking.

4. The feeling of satisfaction when we finally got on our train to Charles de Gaulle to catch our flight to Lisbon (which is the same feeling we felt when we got on the Pamplona bus and Barcelona train, seeing as we were late to all of them). Rule number one of traveling: when traveling to a brand new place on a schedule, know exactly where you’re going and how to get there on time. Oh, and don’t expect to be able to put more money on your pre-paid credit card an hour before you need to leave for the train station (you may think it’ll take five minutes since you can do it online, but with your luck, you’ll end up on the phone with customer service for at least 30 minutes). I’m glad that I’m now able to look back at the fact that it took us six modes of transportation to get to Lisbon-cab, TGV train, Parisian metro, Parisian RER train, plane and some good, old-fashioned sprinting on foot-but at the time, it was basically the worst experience ever. Casey and I thought that we had all the time in the world since our TGV for Charles de Gaulle didn’t leave until 5:15ish Saturday afternoon, but we were sorely mistaken since we ended up missing our train, then taking a cab to the other station in hopes of making the connecting train and proceeding to miss that one as well. Although thinking back to how I felt in that moment still gets my blood pumping, nothing compares to the pure bliss/relief that I felt as I melted into my seat on the TGV and let out the biggest sigh to ever escape my lips. Thankfully my limited French speaking ability and the look of pure distraught on my face were enough to make the guy at the second train station window feel bad for us, so he exchanged our tickets for free-we actually ended up getting 10 euros back, because he’s an angel and if Casey ever has a child, she’s naming it after him-and gave us a free RER ticket to take us from Paris to Charles de Gaulle. He was a saint, and I’m not sure if I would have gone on spring break without him, so I’m eternally indebted to him.

I'm glad our friendship survived this trip.

5. Meeting locals and internationals alike/making friends in Lisbon. Good Morning Hostel is the shiz. Seriously, I think where we stayed in Lisbon is one of the biggest reasons why it’s potentially my new favorite city. From the second we walked in the door at midnight, exhausted yet relieved to finally be there, they made us feel at home. After he gave us our keys, the first thing the guy at the desk did was pull out a map and immediately start pointing out places of interest. He helped us get acclimated with the area and proceeded to show us exactly how to get to our room and how to open the door. The whole staff was so incredibly sweet-they even served delicious waffles every morning-and they fostered a comfortable environment that made making friends super easy. Casey and I went out with what seemed like the whole hostel on Sunday night, and we enjoyed a three-course meal and endless sangria, beer and happiness. We all proceeded to go out to a bar and a pseudo club afterwards, and we ended the night chatting until 4am with our new British friends on the hostel couch. I don’t know what it is, but there’s some sort of special bond among travelers. It’s one of the few life situations in which you seem almost equal because you’re all traveling, most people for the first time, to this foreign country that’s oceans away from home. You feel like you’re in the same exact life situation as the people around you, and it’s comforting to know that you’re not all alone.

They made us do team building activities prior to this photo.

6. Having one of my best friends show me around her new stomping grounds in Pamplona. Katie and I joke that we’re the same exact person: we’re both magazine writing majors, both from the Chicago area, both raised by intense hockey lovers, both romantically challenged, the list goes on and on. We were roommates last semester and had nearly the same class schedule; so needless to say, we spent a lot of time together. That’s why I was so ridiculously pumped when we found out that we both had gotten in to our respected study abroad programs. We do differ in one big thing; she studies Spanish and I study French, so this meant that we were going to be in two different countries. However, I couldn’t be more thankful to have her 9 hours away instead of a whole ocean away like the rest of my friends and family from back home. So, when I was planning a spring break trip to Spain, I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit her in Pamplona. While the city is small and less recognizable-like Reims, so I can relate-it was still definitely worth the trip. We explored the colorful, windy streets of Old Town, ate garroticos, the delicious pastry that the city is known for, pretended to be running from a stuffed bull in the gift shop (I snapped an epic photo of Kenzie before the dude told us you have to pay for photos, score), discovered the pure bliss that is Wok to Wok (why don’t we have it in the U.S.? It’s basically the Asian version of Chipotle and it’s life changing), experienced “Crazy Wednesday” at Valentino’s and got to make some fun new friends, both Mizzou kids and non-tigers alike. There’s something about studying abroad that just makes it easier to open up to people and get to know them, so it’s not surprising that we only got a couple hours of sleep before our early morning train to Barcelona on Friday because we spent our last night playing drinking games and chatting away about anything and everything in Katie’s apartment.

My platonic soul mate and I in Pamplona.

7. Spending some quality time with some of my newest, closest friends (and managing to not kill each other). I love all the people I’ve gotten close with throughout this experience. Seriously, it never occurred to me that they would sort of define it for me, but they definitely have and I couldn’t be happier about that. Take the “Mizzou kids” for example. The 7 of us are completely different people and I’m not sure that all of us would have become friends back at school, but we’ve bonded in ways that I’ve never bonded with friends back home and never will. When you’ve run through multiple train stations, stayed up all night dancing and mastered the language of Franglish with someone, you get to know each other on a completely different level, and spring break was that defining moment when I realized that these are friends that I’m going to stay in touch with for the rest of my life. Of course we had our moments of stress and frustration with each other, but I’m proud of us for keeping our cool and being patient with each other throughout the trip.

Taco Tuesday in Madrid got wild.

The squad and I like to imitate Spanish statues of bears getting drunk. 

Gotta love bartenders who take pictures for us AND who give us shots of the Spanish version of Fireball. Much love, brah.