im leaving a family behind

just got in to barcelona!!! hooray for spain! i´m very happy, i atleast somewhat know the language here. much better than italy or czech rep. anyhow! immediately my spanish started to return to me. hopefully ill get much better by the end of this trip! this hostel is so weird though, especially compared to my last one...Chianti. Its really far out of the center part of town, pretty quiet and deserted. and everyones just, relaxing! no partying! its nice, for once! im sure ill find something to do tomorrow though heh.

its amazing how already i miss my chianti family. i went back there from florence yesterday and spent last night and today hanging out with my friends. its really quite remarkable how 6 people from such different backgrounds were able to come together and create such a bond, such a family. i really miss them already, things arent as much fun without those kids around. ah, oh well...i guess thats the beauty and the horror of traveling. making new friends...then losing them. but i actually do think these friends will be life long, as strange as that sounds...but we DID spend 2 weeks straight together having a blast!

one thing i didnt understand was...where were all the hot italian men? seriously! i mean i wasnt like searching hard core, but even on the street i never saw one. only hot women. thats not right hahah!! oh well. somehow, i think ill survive heh. oh! so barcelona!! i walked off teh plane and it was sooo much colder than in rome!! i thought it was supposed to be warm here...whats going on? ah! and last night, lorenzo...the hostel owner of Chianti in Rome, took me on his scooter!!!!!

First, let me explain that Lorenzo is bascially my crazy Italian uncle I never had. He adopted the 6 of us bascially into his family while we were in Italy, and took a particular liking to me. We cooked, drank, all hung out. Hes like 45 with kids and just the sweetest most wonderful person. So we all went to a bar last night after wating Team America..of course....and I told Lorenzo I was sad! I wanted an Italian man to sweep me off my feet and whisk me away on his scooter...and it didnt happen! So he said, to make me happy, he would drive me the 4 blocks home hahahaha and he did! So it wasnt the whole romantic shpeal I dreamt of...it was better! With my crazy Italian uncle, me half drunk whizzing away down the streets of Rome!! It was so liberating, so free! I want one now haha. I thought I was going to die half the time, but thats the fun of it!

Now looking back at Florence, I wish I had seen more sites. It was just so hard, since we all had major colds, 3 of us with the chicken pox, and way too much drinking...i think we needed a bit of rest. Oh well. I plan on going crazy with seeing all the sites here in Spain. I dont have my party friends to distract me!

As I flew from Rome to Barcelona tonight, I thought of home the entire time. Of how I missed it, of how amazing it really is. Im very excited to return someday, still dont know when...but I just know things will be a billion times better than they were, in every way. Because I have changed, me as a person and my views on life. Im excited to see how others take to it! Everyone I meet on this trip is either from Australia or Canada. Where are the Swiss? Germans? Italians? Anyone? Hehe.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I miss you and love you and wish I could be there celebrating it with you!!! XOXOXO

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Free As A Bird,
It's the next best thing to be free as a bird.
Home, home and dry
Like a homing bird I fly, as a bird on wings
Whatever happened to the life that we once knew
Can we really live without each other
Where did we lose the touch
That seemed to mean so much
It always made me feel so
Free as a bird,
It's the next best thing to being free as a bird.
Home home and dry
Like a homing bird I fly--a bird on wing
Whatever happened to the life that we once knew
Always made me feel soooo
Free