"ball till u fall"

Hi, I'm Zahara and I really love nutella. Leaving Countdown

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The only downside to traveling is your immune system acting like a fool

I'm sick and it's cold and can we please discuss how I'm literally wearing a blanket around my neck

And I have to study for this stupid art history midterm which the professor gave no study guide for SO I'M LITERALLY SITTING HERE LIKE OK WHAT DO I STUDY

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My Camp Nou Experience

Camp Nou was everything I imagined it to be, I still can't believe I was there.

We took the metro to get there and there was this really sweet man on the metro with his grandson (who was fully decked out in Barca gear omg and his grandpa was holding a giant Barca dufflebag) and he directed us to the stadium because the grandson apparently had football practice (I CALL IT HE'S GOING TO BE A STARTER ONE DAY). But once it came into view, I honestly felt numb with excitement. There are no words to describe what you feel when you first lay eyes on it from the outside.

Once I got in, OH MY GOD. The museum is beautiful and filled with so many things. Rows on rows of trophies, a ton of jerseys, and pictures, some that even dated back to the early 1900s. And the shapes of the trophies were different too. They also had cleets and a football from back in the day, it was amazing. The glass counters that contain everything light up and the rooms are dark, so literally everything is glowing like you're in heaven. 

And then I laid my eyes on the treble trophies and the Champions League trophies and I sprinted so fast, let me tell you. My roommate grabbed me and was like, "We'll make our way to those, I promise!!" because I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I couldn't figure out how to get to them LOL. But it was so surreal. To be standing in front of all these trophies that the players I love held themselves. That was heightened when I saw Messi's three Ballon D'ors omg. Like HERE THEY ARE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

There are also a ton of tv screens everywhere, with certain footage playing. In one room, there were about 10 screens and they had footage of Iniesta's goal against Chelsea with Pep running from the bench and a few clips of Messi in the clasico and I may or may not have teared up omg like I can't believe I'm here. In Camp Nou. Experiencing all of this. And I think the dramatic music in the background may or may not have contributed to that.

After that, I made my way into the press room and it's funny because my roommate's mom, the night before, was like "Make sure you don't lose Zahara in the stadium!!" and my roommate was taking a picture of something and she turns around and I'm gone because I ran into the press room skgjfhghjkf. And that's when I noticed the press room and there was a Champions League trophy sitting on the desk and a camera set up and this guy approaches me and goes "Would you like your picture taken with the trophy?" and I was dying at this point like, "How much?" and he told me and I look at my roommate and go, "I'M DOING IT!!!" and ran again. And yes, I did get a printed version of it and plan to hang it in my room. 

I also got to see the changing rooms and once again, it was just so unreal. I couldn't believe I was in there. It all hit me like a ton of bricks. I've seen this exact changing room on tv so many times and here I am, standing in it omg.

Also, at one point, I made my way down some steps and I heard Cant del Barca and I ended up in this room that had a ton of headphones hanging from the ceiling and you can put them on and listen to the song. In this room, there was also this giant television screen with a ton of people in Barca gear singing the song together. And yes, I did break out into song omg and my roommate looks at me like "-___-" (she's not really informed about soccer because she grew up around hockey).

And it's not just football inside the stadium, there's jerseys and memorabilia of basketball and racing and a ton of other sports as well. I snapped a picture of Pau Gasol's Lakers jersey for my best friend. 

One of my favorite things about the museum and Camp Nou in general were all the giant photos of different things that were blown up. I saw some tifo displays (the som i serem one is my favorite) that were the size of the wall, the players, the actual stadium, etc. I stopped by this one and had to get a picture :')

And then, the botiga. Aka heaven on earth for a Barcelona fan omg fdgkjhdgfjkgdf. 

THEY HAVE EVERYTHING UGH. I ended up getting a black iphone case, this season's warm up training jacket, a keychain, a few postcards, and the picture with the trophy. The girl at the register was so sweet omg (we discussed how much we both love San Francisco because I'm from that area) and she saw my debit card and saw my name and goes "What?! My name is Azahara!" WHAT A COINCIDENCE, IT WAS DESTINY I TELL YOU.

I took a million pictures and there's probably an entire book I could write on my experience there, but it was absolutely phenomenal and I don't think I could ever put it into words. To love something a lot and dream of seeing it and then finally getting to, it's unbelievable. Just sitting here now, back in Italy, I can't believe I was there. It was breathtaking and you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it and you'll know what I mean when you all get to see it. It was all so wonderful. The pitch, all the old photos and trophies and jerseys, the press room, the changing room, the botiga, just everything about it.

And that goes for Barcelona as a city as well. I fell in love with the place. It's beautiful, it's clean, the people are friendly, the metro is super efficient, the food is great, the beach was great, I just loved it so much. I was bummed out the entire plane ride back. The city and Camp Nou was everything I imagined it to be, it felt like I was at home. The last dinner I had there, I left and even said, "Bona nit!" and whenever people would look at my Iniesta shirt and go, "Barca, eh?" I'd happily respond with, "Si, visca Barca!" and I couldn't do that anywhere else. I have five free extra days when my semester ends and if everything works out, I may try and go back. It was that amazing. I'm still in awe, I still can't grasp it. It was everything I dreamed of. 

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I don't think I'm bringing any regular clothes omg

[barcamadness-deactivated2014110]

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LESS THAN 48 HOURS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR BARCELONA I AM TRYING SO HARD NOT TO RUN ONTO MY TERRACE AND SCREAM SDKJFHKJFGDHJKGFDJK

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Amalfi Coast

I don't have any words except it was beautiful and amazing and I need to marry (we saw like 4 weddings actually lol) someone who lives up there (or plans to buy real estate there) because I could get used to just lying out on the beach and eating pizza UGH.

Lying out on the beach with the best margherita pizza I've had since I've been in Italy.

The view from the terrace of my hotel when the sun was going down, it was breathtaking omg. 

The water was really clear, even at night! 

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Went out to dinner with some of the most amazing Italians tonight, wore lipstick for the second night in a row, and am currently packing for my trip to the Amalfi coast tomorrow (I leave at 7 am lol I should probably get moving if I want to get any sleep). There aren't enough words to describe how thankful I am for this entire experience, for all the new friends I've made, all the places I've visited and have planned to visit, all the new food I've tried, the architecture and art I've seen, the chances where I actually had full on conversations with people in Italian, and especially, for being genuinely happy about life. If you ever get the opportunity to travel for a lengthy period of time and learn about  another culture, please take advantage of it, you won't regret it. 

[hatecrimes-deactivated20160925]

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Florence this weekend

Amalfi Coast at the beginning of October

Barcelona

Sweden

Cinque Terre

Paris

Venice

UDINE TO SEE ALICE!!!

I have to fit Pisa and Milan somewhere into my schedule

And then London may be my last stop 

WHY CAN'T I LIVE HERE OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH

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Went to Siena today with my art history class and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. The Duomo (cathedral) is stunning omg, I died when I stepped inside. The scale of some of the Duomos I've seen are ridiculous (they're massive) and I always wonder how in the world people created these, thousands of years ago, without cranes or the technology we have today. The bottom picture is of my roommate Olivia, Ian (the people I'm closest to out of our group of people tbh), and I, waiting on the steps of the Duomo!

[la-vecchia-signora]

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Literally 30 minutes away from this game and my Dante professor is going and I tried so hard to get tickets for it but they were sold out like what why is this random Dante professor going like why can't you give your tickets to me what is a Dante professor going to do at this game like honestly it makes no sense OKAY

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So interesting story about this jacket thing. I forgot my hoodie in the states and it got really cold here one day so I was like okay, you know what, I'll just drop by the Italian equivalent of Forever 21 and grab a basic hoodie. TOO BAD THERE WASN'T ANY THERE SO I HAD TO SETTLE FOR THIS HALF HOODIE HALF TURTLE NECK THING. So whenever my head gets cold or it's raining I'm like welp I'll just pull on my hood--OH WAIT I CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE THERE LIKE IDGI IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNCTIONAL OR IS THIS SOME EUROPEAN FASHION THING

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tru life my brother is a bigger torres fangirl than i am

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In the last few days, I:

went grocery shopping for the first time and it was....quite an experience. They don't let you touch the produce with your bare hands like they do in America so you have to wear plastic gloves and the shopping carts are little baskets on wheels. I found a lot of things I eat at home though: pringles, oreos, my favorite brand of yogurt, etc. And they make you pay for your plastic bags too, so they advise you to bring your own.

went to Prada with my Italian friend Giulia (she is pure class ugh she is everything I aspire to be in life) and she said that it takes one time to fall in love with that place and she wasn't kidding dkfjhfgdkj it was heaven and my roommates and I looked like excited kids in a candy store. I ended up getting a cream colored leather cardholder and hopefully can go back to get something for my sister or mom before I leave.

went to some insane outdoor celebrations for the joust festival that's happening here at the end of this week.

had my first week of classes and I have so much reading and like three 10-12 page papers to write :( Everyone is really overwhelmed and it's hard to focus when you want to travel to a million places.

finished a jar of nutella in like three days and had to get another one and my roommates think I'm crazy omg.

booked my train tickets for Rome and got my tickets for the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, etc. I've been reading about these places my entire life and in a week I'll be able to see them in real life, it's so insane. 

booked a flight to Munich for Oktoberfest!! 

am currently planning my trip to Barcelona with my roommate Olivia (there's a storm rolling through so we figured why not get it done now), we're getting ready to book our flights in a little bit!!

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oh and you know how italians do that double kiss cheek thing

i may or may not have cried inside when andrea came up to me to do it

it was so awkward omfg

i stopped and went "am i doing this right"

FGKSJHHDGKJFKJDGF OKAY GOODNIGHT