By the time the sun was up this last Thanksgiving Day, my mom, Rachel and I were long on our way to the wonderful city of Barcelona.  Perhaps it was the elation-born adrenaline, but I had absolutely no problem switching time zones as we set foot on our third continent.  I'd spent the night before sifting through four years of Spanish notes, and now, as we collected our suitcases and found our chauffeur, all I could do want soak up the familiar airport-coffee smell and the beautiful intermingling of català, español, and English. I was surprised at how much I was able to understand despite how different everyone warned tradition Spanish would be from Mexican and Peruvian.

  Our hotel was just a block off La Rambla, with a view of a museum in front of which all the cool kids go to skate.  After dropping off our luggage, we set off for the Boqueria, which we'd heard is the "Nordstoms of grocery stores."   Amidst countless tiny stands selling exotic fruits and cured meats and creative candies, hundreds of people bustled and bought.  We purchased dragon fruit, figs, and a coconut-mango smoothie {and yes, the rumor that Americans are accustomed to much more sugar than other countries is very true}.

  I was very disappointed to find out that my father had actually considered moving us from Boston to Barcelona when I was a child.  As the head of the international program for a software company, living in Europe would've made his work much easier, but they told us they'd rather him relocate to Amsterdam {an offer he obviously declined, seeing as we moved to Arizona and he began working for himself instead}.  But I can completely understand why my dad loves the city so much.  Barcelona is this metropolitan center of Catalunya in Spain where the typical skyscrapers of the modern world mix with the cathedrals of medieval Catholicism and ancient ruins echoing of the old Roman providence.  
  I made up my mind.  I absolutely 100% want to live in Barcelona at some point in my life.
  As a tourist, I highly recommend using the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, which picks up all around the city every five minutes and gives information about every sight passed with earbuds, language of your choice.

Along La Rambla. If you want to be weirded out, look up the bizarre Catalan Christmas tradition, Caga Tio {see all the logs on the middle right side of the picture?}

Along La Rambla.  The Spanish love their candy.

 We walked around La Rambla, and then we wandered our way into the Gothic Quarter.  Legend has it that Barcelona was founded by the Greek hero Hercules {or if not, then by the father of mighty Hannibal}.  The city flourishes around the old Roman wall once built as a defense for the ancient port town of Barcino.

Catedral de Barcelona

I must say that I first fell in love with Catholic Cathedrals when I visited Peru, and that appreciation only grew in Europe.  Although different from my own religion, there is a tangible sense of peace within.  The high ceilings and intricate woodworking and beautiful shrines to their saints stand despite time as a symbol for a long love of religion.

Santa Maria del Pi

     One other thing to note on is how kind and charming the people of Catalunya were to us.  Let me tell you, I will for sure be back.

This year I decided to switch things up, so instead of going with the group I typically go with, I attended Winter Formal with my sister, our long-time friend Katie, and their dates Dale {Rachel's friend from the theatre} and Tyler {whom Rachel and I have known since we were toddlers living in the same ward in Boston}.  I asked out Victor, a Spanish exchange student staying with one of my other friends.
Seriously, it was so chill.  We ate out at Texas Roadhouse and then watched Dale's and a bunch of our other friends perform at the Funkytown concert.  At the dance, the whole room was decked with Christmas trees and lights and fake snow, and for the first time I actually pushed my way into the moshpit.  Can you believe I've been missing out for this long!?  The heat roared and the music poured  and we just danced like there was no tomorrow.
Afterwards, we drove up to the same mountain I hiked up for Homecoming, this time bringing hot chocolate and a heck of a lot more blankets. Is it bad that we may or may not have flashed lights at the other two couples?
  Thanks for the party!

me and victor

katie and tyler

rachel and dale

  This whole school year, I've tended to reserve blogging for special events like vacations and holidays and the occasional really good Saturday night.  But being unable to find the camera cord to upload photos from Europe and Winter Formal, I realized that perhaps I've neglected other more serious parts of my life.  I mean maybe it was because, after all, this is the Internet and some of this stuff is personal.  But when it's made such a big difference in my life, perhaps it's worth sharing.
*edit: to clear things up, no, this is NOT about me feeling melancholy or missing any of the old relationships/friendships.  I have ZERO remaining feelings.  rather I wrote this as a reflection because I realized how triumphant I now feel.*    
  It's weird to look back now and see how differently than I expected that weird thing called high school played out.  I was always wrapped up in my own little world, shy and silent on the outside but bursting with endless loud ideas beneath my eggshell.  Needless to say, I had a really hard time feeling like I fit in-- anywhere.
 I did manage to find a group of friends and even a boyfriend.  I compiled plenty of enjoyable memories, and-- oh man-- was I convinced for almost two whole years that I knew what "true love" was.
  Yet still I'd go through these periods of inexplicable sadness unquenched by fun Friday nights.   I didn't feel right where I was {although still convinced the relationship was perfect} yet was completely incapable of making any change that might help me feel more... important?  Is that the word?   Finally, at the time of junior Prom, it seemed everything was working out.  I started to become more connected with some of the people in my friend circle, and everyone in my prom group was dating each other.  What I didn't know what that it would never last.  When summer rolled around, everything fell apart.
  We needn't go into the drama.  What I will say is that the breakup dragged on for a month, and that I was very naive {especially towards the very end} thinking that I could still pick up the pieces and make everything picture perfect again.  I just reread the breakup post from August and about died laughing when I saw that we "stilled poked each other with pencils" and that the sole reason for the breakup was "to get ready for his mission."  HAHAHA.  The day after that post we got in a huge fight where the truth was revealed and then we never really spoke again.
  Now here's where we really begin.
In a moment when I thought this was bound to be the worst year of my whole high school career, I said "Girl, get ahold of yourself!" and just like that decided to make a change.  My friends weren't really being that great to me, a secret of mine was spilled and gossip started flying around behind my back.  Yet when I made up my mind to not cry over silly things, to not be a victim and to take control of my own life, suddenly I felt happier than I'd ever felt in my entire life.  I gained a sense of self esteem because I recognized how useless it was to hide behind my own fears and self-pity.  How trivial were my "problems" compared to the million other things I could be dealing with, so why not turn it into something better?  It doesn't mean I was a witch; I dealt with things passive-aggressively, and let me tell you silence made such a bigger statement than a screaming fight ever could have.  And I'm not saying that anything was easy.  I had to be brave in the sense that I made changes in my social life-- both in who I spent my weekends with and with how I interacted with people in general.  I forced myself out of my shell to become more talkative and suddenly realized that the big bad world may not be that big and bad after all.
  The funny thing is, things have really been working out.  The moment he said, "It's over," I thought everything was over, and yet within a matter of days things slowly but surely started taking an unexpected turn for the better.  It was just a matter of positivity, a matter of doing the best I could  and then just rolling with it.   I've met new people I get along better with.  I've encountered opportunities that I otherwise would've forgoed.
  If I were to go back in time and meet the girl I was back in August, I don't know if she'd recognize me.  I've changed so much.  But I would never take anything back.    

 I apparently seemed to have more difficult time flinging the clay pigeon disk out for someone else to shoot than actually shooting it. I was dying laughing because the disk would fly out of my hands the complete wrong direction and shatter.  And yet only milliseconds after the picture below was shot, that clay pigeon exploded.  After a few hours I'd had such a fun time with such a fun group of people!
It's still Veteran's Day, though, great as it is to have a day off of school.  So I must say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the brave men and women who risk their lives for the freedom of this nation.  And I know that sounds cliche- but it's true.  I wish I could have such an honorable quality.  I have so much respect and gratitude and love for that.

Wow, was the whole month of October just crazy!  As I'm busy writing essays, applying for college, and working, it's fun to remember the most relaxing vacation I've ever been on: Puerto Peñasco, México.
If you're going to visit Rocky Point, I highly recommend you stay at Bella Sirena Resort.  Although the other hotels are all right smack dab on the beach, this one is set back just enough to have several pools of varied temperatures.
 We spend almost the whole time either in the water or splayed out in the sun {or both, since the ocean was so calm we could take tubes out}.
 Vendors sold homemade tamales and jewelry and lime-sprinkled mangos carved like roses.

Whole schools of fish would pop out of the water, and I even had these two absolutely tiny fish {so clear that I could see florescent organs} that were unafraid and apparently fascinated by the bright color of my swimsuit, since they kept nudging me.  I literally sat there is the shallow sea for ten minutes as the pair refused to leave my side.
At low tide we would visit the tide pools, where boys caught sting rays in cups and I got pinched by a crab.  Rachel and I managed to rescue 10 starfish that had gotten trapped in shallow water and walked in the dark through the rather trecherous sea terrain to a deeper pool.
Our cousins were staying in the same resort, so Paige and I spent hours together in the jacuzzi or beneath the stars on the beach just chit chatting about life and making fun of drunk college guys who tried to hit on us.  That darn girl also got me hooked to Gossip Girl as we stayed up till who-knows-when on Netflix one night as well as a few other chick flicks.
Other adventures ranged from riding on the banana boat {where Sophie was so proud for not falling off when some of the older kids did} to venturing out to the city.  Little shops lined the streets with empenadas and clothing and trinkets.
My birthday is 10/10, the date everyone always says is "lucky."  Weird as it may seem, this year I turned 18, which means that I'm now terrified that I might get framed for some crime and thrown in REAL prison.  Fortunately, it also mean I can buy goldfish, I can give my own permission to get a massage, and I no longer have to abide by city curfew {as if I ever stay out that late haha}.  

the great thing about fall beach vacations is that you can go to the mall where the swimsuits are discounted to $2.97 a piece.  we bought so many it was ridiculous.

I asked my parents to wake me up early that day so I could watch the sunrise.  There is hardly anything more beautiful than the orange sunlight shattering on the sea with that morning breeze tickling your cheek... as we watched, my parents told me {again} my birth story of how, since I was the first baby, my mom had no idea she was in full-blown labor despite the awful contractions because the doctors sent her back home telling her she was full of it {sorry Mom}.
The biggest adventure yet?   We hopped on a boat and went parasailing over the Mexico coast.  I love heights.  How exhilarating it was to be practically flying, nothing below me but the salty wind and a bird's-eye view of the never-ending ocean and the city and the fishing boats with the hundreds of seagulls perched on their sails.   I had Lorde's Team stuck in my head the whole time, so I think I'll have that wonderful memory engrained in my brain every time that song comes on the radio.

that itty bitty shape below is in fact the boat

Birthdays are also a terrible excuse for so much junk food but heyyy it's vacation.  I was also shocked beyond belief at the gifts-- not only a gift card to get my nails done and another for a session with a makeup artist, but I got a new phone!   Thank you thank you thank you!
 
Seriously though, if you're wondering about a nice, relaxing vacation, I HIGHLY recommend Rocky Point.  Despite the rumors, it's safer there than in Phoenix and honestly, tourism is one of their top sources of national income.  I absolutely loved it!