the rain in spain stays mainly on the plain

Poor poor internet options have kept me from documenting my thoughts. Who knew dial-up could drive me mad!? I believe my first words regarding a dial-up modem were..."how 3rd world!?" That´s something i imagine Paris Hilton would say. I hate that woman-girl-thing-dirty hotel towel that she is. It is so sad, I´ve come to find many Europeans believe American girls are all Paris Hiltons...as far as IQs are concerned. Three cheers for my friend Holly who is Ghana--that lady is really rocking the 3rd world and I am thrilled for her. Yay NAU adventurers! I wonder if my reaction to poor internet options shows me how high maintenance I am? I mean, Holly is showering in cold water out of a broken lead pipe, purifying her water with a neon light bulb and pays nearly 80 cents a minutes to use a dial-up modem and is smiling ear to ear. I don´t get wireless and I pitch a fit. Not good odds for future world travels. :/

Barcelona...what to say ? My adventures minus my dear companion Rob haven´t been as party-party and I´m glad for that. No one could keep up that routine for long. I don´t know how they do it. I´ve been feeling a bit better emotionally--not 100% by any means, but better. On the 21st there was a plane crash in Madrid and it really shook me up. Next to being ripped to pieces by a shark, I think a plane crash is my greatest fear and the most horrifying death one could ever have. It broke my heart to see the people crying, literally falling on their knees because their grief physically paralyzed them. The country still doesn´t know what happened. It seemed as though there was some sort of explosion during take-off in which an immediate crash followed and burned everything up. They won´t give official answers to the family for a few more weeks. That was really hard to witness. Melancholy and tragedy, not a good combo.

Luckily, I didn´t wallow in spectator grief for too long. My roommate pulled me out of my emotional pit and forced me to get out of the flat. Beate has been a great explorer companion. She is new to Barci as well. Today I decided finally to take some pictures around town... unfortunately, with this crap computer situation I´m currently in, there won´t be any up for a while. Argh.

I can´t describe how cool it is to be in Europe and not really feel the desire to take pictures. When your suddenly "living" in a new place I think you´re more concerned with familiarizing yourself with surroundings instead of clicking away at random buildings. Today I put my tourist shoes on and clicked my camera just like all the other schmoes.

I wish I could say I´ve just been having fun and exploring Barci like a little European princess...mostly I´ve been worrying that the fairytale will end before it begins. Finances suck. Money is evil and the Euro is a nightmare-hell-beast that takes my dollars and swallows them hole. Gulp.

I´ll report more as it unravels before me. I just noticed that my apostrophe key is acutally an accent mark...so just ignore the weirdness. :) Pictures are in the works, I promise. As for now...just Google the city and put imaginary Kimberly in the scene. xoxo