Viva la reina! (Long live the queen!)

Ah, such spectacular things have come at the end of my trip, and somehow I am sure I will not do them any justice. My last final is in just an hour, and I'm so excited, because that means I'll have 6 more days to do whatever I want around London. Not too bad!

Last week I had the fortune of running into a little old British man in front of Buckingham Palace who informed me the President of South Korea would be there in a couple of days and the Queen was going to come out of the Palace in a huge processional to meet him. I made it out that morning with a group of friends from Regents plus Maike's sister, and we got to see an incredible royal display of the palace guards and we got too see the Queen as she passed, twice! We also got to see the President of South Korea, Prince Phillip, Prince Edward, and Princess Sophie. It was all very exciting, but it sure was FREEZING COLD!

This weekend I traveled to Spain for the final trip of the semester, and it ranks up at the top of my list for weekend excursions. It was absolutely beautiful, there was incredibly cool, symbolic architecture, and I got a LOT of chances to practice my Spanish. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though most of the written materials in Barcelona are in Catalan, everyone that we encountered also spoke Spanish. I ordered for us everytime we went to a restaurant, negotiated with the hostel staff, and was able to ask people questions whenever we needed this. All of this was really to my surprise - I had no idea I could be that conversant.

Some of the trips highlights were the Catedral de La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Gaudi that has been under construction for 100 years, Casa Batllo, also by Gaudi, and the Picasso Museum. We also spent time walking along the Mediterranean Sea every night of the trip, and we were sure to eat in Tapas bars for dinner every night. I did have a chance to try paella for lunch one day, and it had rabbit in it, Mom!

The shopping was really great in the city, although the value of the dollar is dropping so heavily that everything is getting quite expensive. Today, the exchange rate is $2.07 to just £1. Ahhhh! When we got here, it was only $1.80 to £1. I got a few souvenirs for myself and for others.

There was some real idiots staying in the hostel with us - Spanish boys coming in drunk and loud at 5:00 am when we had to get up at 7:30! And it seemed like every couple of hours someone new came in anyway. None of them knew how to do it quietly. I was also very sick that night, so I think I probably had less patience than they deserved...

I will be back in the States in just a week. I'll be in Springfield on Wednesday, Dec. 15 until sometime that weekend, then on to Wichita. Now for that final...