twentysomething.. and the life ahead

Enthusiastic. Grad Student, World Traveler want-to-be.

[meckaemccall-blog]

A good vent....

FRUSTRATED! that is how I would scratch the surface of how I feel about today! I mean seriously, isn't a mentor suppose to lift me up and encourage me? Not tear me down, I mean I guess the talk was necessary, but you will never know what I face when I walk into the room. You  will never understand, not in this school or ever! Im just so done! Tomorrow is Friday, I will come in with my head held high, I will not let you rock me, or push me down. I will continue and I will be become stronger. I don't care, I will prove to you I can do this! And I will do this! 

I can do all things through God who gives me strengthen me! 

I know if he has brought me to it, he can bring me through it! 

[c0ntemplations]

Get excited about the little things. About wearing a new outfit for the first time. About Sunday brunches with your best friends. About the new cute guy in your class. About finding an extra dollar in your pocket. About anything that even remotely makes you happy because as you grow up, passions fade and enthusiasm gets mistaken for foolishness. So don’t let the grey world stop you from shining.

note to self  (via elauxe)

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22 things I did while I was 22

Well tomorrow is my birthday!! And while I will be feeling twenty two for a couple more hours I decided to write a list of 22 things I did while I was 22! 1. Went to Scotland 2. Graduated from Harding! 3. Got into the graduate reading program 4. Got my first apartment with Sarah :) 5. Went to London, England 6. Went to Paris, France 7. Went to Italy: Rome, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terra 8. Went to Munich, Germany 9. Saw and went into the colosseum! 10. Hung out under the Eiffel Tower 11. Made some awesome mew friends! Jessica, Kelly and others 12. Saw Lion King and Wicked in London 13. Went to Barcelona, Spain 14. Went to the warner brothers making of Harry Potter!!! 15. I shot my first gun 16. Caught three fish my first timing "fishing" 17. Set foot in the Mediterranean Sea multiple times! 18. Was able to teach and spend time with students in Falkirk, Scotland and in Beebe, Arkansas 19. Went to Disneyland multiple times :) 20. Reconnect with friends from high school! 21. Being able to keep I contact with friends as they are spread across the United States and in other countries 22. Been blessed with another year with my wonderful family! Overall 22 has been a great year with great people and amazing adventures! 23 I may stay more in the states but I am still so excited for what the future holds for me!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Being Single

Now I have my moments as a twenty something year old who is single. I mean I have friends who are married and some who are even expecting their first baby. I mean I know people who are my age who just seem to have their life all together being married is part of that. 

I know that going to a Christian University is something that didn't help with feel like I was less than someone who is my age of younger and married or engaged to be married. However I came across a article on face book today by Jarrid Wilson called Being Single isn't a disease. Now at first I was kind of put off by the title! Because I know its not a disease and even hinting that its not makes it almost sounds like it is. However, at the very end of the article he writes.

'If you are single, you’re just where God want’s you to be. And until He prompts you otherwise, don’t stress out about your current relationship status. Don’t let your singleness hold you back from accomplishing great things. And don’t let the consuming topic of marriage ruin what God has in store for you right now…." 

And reading this was just so great and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Its a nice message that I needed to remind myself daily almost. That I am exactly where I am suppose to be. Whether that is Grad school, Arkansas, and being Single. 

Here is the full article ! 

http://jarridwilson.com/being-single-isnt-a-disease/

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Disneyland Dreaming

So I am totally doing this to myself but today would be the PERFECT day to go to disneyland. I don't have class or work today; however I currently live in Arkansas! So thus making today not the perfect day to go to Disneyland. But I can't but wish I was in california at Disneyland with one else but my best friend in the world Ashley! 

Now here is my list of top 5 must do when one goes to the Happiest Place on Earth!

5. Take a picture with the characters! 

4. Eat a Churro! Because they are honestly the best ones on Earth!

3. See World of Color -- Water show plus your favorite Disney Movies and songs! Its a win win! 

2. Ride on Indiana Jones !!! Well it is my favorite Ride and (usually) the first thing I do when I go! 

1. Lastly, Go with the people you love! In my case its going with my best friend Ashley! I mean someone who you can be a complete idiot with. Someone who will wear mickey ears with you and sing every theme song with you! 

[meckaemccall-blog]

A pop of Pink!

So since I graduated in January, I have moved in to a apartment with one of my best friends. And while I was home I was dreaming about how I wanted my new room to look. Because I didn't want to just bring my dorm room into my new room. So i day dreamed and spent multiple hours (guilty) on pinterest in order to get some ideas. I came up with a look that is relaxing and just want I wanted. The main color schemes are navy and gray and white with my furniture being basically black. And I love it! But as of late I realized that it is missing something, and that is a pop of pink! I love pink it really is one of my favorite colors, my other being navy blue. But pink is a color that really matches my personality and I realized that my room needs some pink just to make it pop some more.

I would do the shades of pink with sliver :) 

maybe not these sheets exactly but something like that! 

and I want something monogrammed but I haven't decide.

Now this is just me brain storming because you have to have $$ to actually do any of it. But this is where I am thinking now. But I love my room as it is! It has the main idea of what I want it to be but hopefully I will figure out the rest in due time! lol 

(I will probably post a apartment wish list sometime in the near future! ) 

[meckaemccall-blog]

2014

So this year I started grad school. Actually I have just finished my second night. And I won't lie I am a bit overwhelmed! 

However, I am really excited about what is going to happen. In a sense or the idea the plan as of now I am going to have my masters at the end of the year which is crazy to think about. 

Now, I have always wanted to blog, but I never really thought I have any thing interesting to write about or that someone would want to read. I am also not a great writer. Actually I have thought that I never liked writing. Hight school actually ruined that for me. Yet, here I am writing. Just my thoughts because something pulled me out of bed and said,"hey write this down." I have talked about wanting to journal or blog or something so why not. What is stopping me. 

yes, No one may actually read this but you know there are billions of people on this earth maybe someone will. But then again maybe the won't. But that shouldn't stop me from writing. So as of now it won't. I will write to my imaginary people who are reading this. maybe some person who is utterly bored somewhere at 2 in the morning. I am in the past I have written about my awesome travels. 

I don't really know where I am going with this. All I knew is I wanted to write. I wanted to put words out to the great world wide web. Yes, I did just call it that. And No i am not an 80 year old women. 

But anyway, I am writing all of these nonsense just to say that starting now that I hope to at least post a tumblr thing at least once a week! I mean it may help get some relief out as I go through grad school. I could also talk about the books that I am reading. 

By the way I am reading a book called, Faith, Hope and Ivy Jones. I am only one the 4th chapter but so far so good! It should get really interesting. I also have a list of books I do want to read. 

Well anyways

Live.Laugh.Love<3

[meckaemccall-blog]

It's no laughing matter; I graduate in 2 weeks from today!! #decembergrad #reallife

[meckaemccall-blog]

" I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterwards. And maybe that's true if beginnings but it's not true of this, now. I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose too, every day that I wake up, everyday that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me." Tris

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

[meckaemccall-blog]

I miss my best friend!! I miss Disneyland, and Gilmore girls marathons, and just hanging out! @browneyedgirl22 this is one of my favorite pix of us!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Ready to travel again!! #travel #quote

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#tbt #throwbackthursday also I am missing London a lot!! Take me back !!!

[meckaemccall-blog]

#throwbackthursday to the time we spent like 4 hours on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Free travel part 4!

Friday: July 5: France: well we woke up in Paris and woke up with their attitude too! Today was just one of those days that didn't go as planned! Things I've learned today .. When you go into something with a certain mind set it affects you're whole day! Not all French people are rude. And showers are a gift from God! Okay so when we go to Paris we decided to get coffee and breakfast and a plan! And that's about as far as our positive attitudes got us! After we are and had a plan we than decided to get in a train to make it to a free walking tour. So we went to put our luggage in a locker we got a large one and split it between the three of us. That was a frustrating ordeal. Then we went to buy tickets everything was okay until we realized we had to use a card for the machine! And when I got up there I realized I had to buy allies too and I had this huge line behind me as well as some Asians creeping up super close behind me I just kind if broke down. I realized today that you can only stay strong for so long. I know that it takes a team to do free travel I am still okay with not being an adult and 2 weeks is a long time to be on our own in another country(ies). So we went out side and found a McDonald's and used their wifi. We just relaxed and regrouped and collected our thoughts .. Well two of us did. Alli then got to a pint where she didn't want to do anything .. Which was really frustrating after I just broke down. She at this point is so ready to go home it's hard to appreciate where you are and what you are doing when you have people who have attitudes like this. Attitudes really are everything. Well we talked her into going to the louvre. Because this is something she has really wanted to do. Now the problem here is that Jessica and I don't really care. But we went but the louvre is expensive. €12 is a lot of money especially when the British museum is free. We saw the Mona Lisa and some really cool sculptures. It was a neat experience but we were just friend and ready to go to our hotel. We left and headed back to the train station to get our bags. And hopped back on the train. We are a little further out but in a nicer area. Well when we got to the hotel they told us that our stay was cancelled. He was very nice about it and as he explained and we realized it was because we booked this hotel with allis card that got stolen and was cancelled because of this thus the card didn't go through. The guy was really really nice and he told us if we waited he would find us another place to stay. We waited patiently and it worked out he found us a nice hotel in the same area. The guys working the desk at the next hotel was also really kind got is quickly up to our room. We decided that due to this morning we all deserved a nice nap and a shower and a good meal . -- but have no free the day was saved. After our naps and showers we did get a really nice meal of pizza that We all shared and crepes! Which this was my first time every having one and it was Nutella and delicious! Afterwards we headed to the Eiffel Tower and just hung out there. Goofing off and watching the sunset. We ended up staying until 11 when I Eiffel Tower sparkles! We also decided to create our plans for tomorrow but we shall see how well we follow them tomorrow! I'd say the ending of today was a complete success! Saturday: July 61: France: today was a wonderful kind of stressful but still fantastic day in Paris! We slept in which was fantastic! We got a late start but we headed to the Eiffel Tower for lunch. On our way we grabbed a baguette and some cheese. And we sat under the tower and took in the wonderful sun! Afterwards we then walked to the arc de triumph! It was pretty near experience .. One thing that I didn't expect to see there was their tomb of the unknown soldier. It has an eternal flame. It was a really cool moment to sit there and enjoy that! It also got us talking about the tomb of the unknown soldier back home. Afterwards we headed on the underground and headed to Notre Dame. It was a little smaller than I thought it was going to be. But it was still awesome. There was a street performer who basically mimicked the people that were walking around the area. We also was calling our people like they were famous! It was really funny and he was good at what he did. Afterwards we walked around the church and we ended up coming upon a small orchestra. They were wonderful and of course Jessica had to stop and listen which i was okay with plus there was wifi! We then finished our time in Paris with some ice cream before heading back to our hotel to pick up our bags and heading to the airport. We also stopped to get a nice fresh baguette for dinner. When we got to the underground we asked the guy working there for help. We ended up having to buy a special ticket and he showed us how to get there. Well the second train station he told is was not being used but the next train on the line got us to the train we needed. A train ended up breaking down so we had to wait patiently for at least three other trains before our train came. It was a good thing we waited the train that came before the one we waited for was jammed backed with people and was really stuffy! We finally made it to the airport and headed to our terminal it was here that we had dinner and finally boarded our plane and were headed for London! Ohh by the way we ended up sleeping in the airport! So this should be fun!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Free travel part 3!

Tuesday: July, 2: Germany; today is a full day of travel and trains! We also go through three different countries all to finally make our way to GERMANY!!!! Ahhh I don't think you can tell that I am excited!!! But I am! We started I. Venice and our first train takes us Verona, Italy. Where we will get off and wait for our train that will take us through Austria to get to Munich! Which means we went through the alps to get there! they were breathe taking. It's one of those times where I have dreamed of going somewhere for so long and that dream is finally coming true! It's really hard to believe it but it is and I'm so pumped! When we got there we had a bit of culture shock due to obvious language switch! But people on our train insured us that everyone speaks English... So that was a relief. Once we got to Munich we wanted to look into getting a night train to Paris. We ended up finally getting the tickets we may end up not being together or at least one of us but it gets us where we need to go and saves us money! But it will also be a great adventure that is unlike any other! From there we headed to our hostel. When we got there and got our room one of your roomies was there and he stunk! We went out to look for fruit and bread but everything was closing. We ended up walking to McDonald's and enjoyed a drink and ice cream. We then went back to the hostel and figured out what we are doing for the next few days here in Munich, Germany! Wednesday: July 3: Germany: today we are making our way to Dachau concentration camp memorial site. We hopped on the S2 train and the rode a bus to the site. When we got there we got the audio guide. We then began our way around the memorial site. We walked in through the gates that the prisoners would walk through. The saying work being freedom written into it. The site was sombering and humbling. To see where the barracks once stood and where they took roll call. How the prisoners where looks so down upon they were basically not considered humans. Another thing is the watch towers all around the perimeter of the camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp the one that all others where to use as an example. They have memorial sites for the different religions and a memorial circle you can walk to see a grave of the unknown prisoner and a site for the ashes. We also saw the dad chambers which weren't ever used for massed killings in Dauchau and the crematory. It was so unbelievable to walk through there knowing so many people had lost their lives there. It was humbling. After we left dachau we went back to our hostel. We were all a little bummed out. So a nap was needed. Well afterwards Jessica and I wanted to go explore some more .. So we did. We ended up going looking for schloss Nyemphenburg and it was absolutely worth going to go find. It was a palace that was also a park. It was open to the public to go explore and discover the grounds. It was breathe taking and a great way to end our day in a very positive note! We also took so much public transportation today! Jessica an I know how to get around Munich using everything from train, tram, and bus! We are just that good! When we got back to the hostel that night the wifi was being iffy so we went down to the lobby. We had a soda and we meet a few people including our new drunk friend Ryan who is basically a disgrace to society! But overall it was a great day full of insight and wonder! Thursday: July 4: Germany: Today we woke up early to catch a train to füssen to go to Neuschwanstein castle. We got a little later start then planned and we almost missed our train ... But we didn't an we were headed to Cinderella's castle! When we got to füssen we got on a bus that took us to a small town at the bottom of the mountain. While we where there we walked around and did a little shopping. We then got our tickets which I am so thankful I reserved! We the got on a buss and headed to the castle. Once we got there we walked over to a bridge that gave us a scenic view of the castle and the surrounding area. There was also a great waterfall that could be seen from the castle. Afterwards we then went on our tour inside the castle. The castle was built in the 1880s but was never finished due to the untimely death of the king. The inside was beautiful and grand and in the kings room along it took 14 carvers 4 years to carve the bed and all the wood in his room! It was ridiculous! The castle was beautiful inside and out. Afterwards we then took a horse drawn carriage back down to the town. It was the perfect way to end our stay at Neuschwanstein castle. Once we got on our train heading back to Munich. Once we got to Munich we headed to Munich city center in order to fine this clock that we heard about. We found the clock however it didn't sing or light up... That's kind of been our luck with things that are suppose to be magical! But it was still really cool to see. We also had a nice German dinner for wieners and pretzels! It was pretty good! And it was basically hot dogs which is appropriate for the fourth if July. When we finished we went to the hostel and picked up our bags and then went to Munich train station to get on our night train to Paris! Happy Fourth of July! When I wake up tomorrow ill be in Paris!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Free tracks part 2

Friday, June 28; ITALY: today we woke up in Rome! How crazy is that! Well we started today by heading to the train station so we could get our eurail all taken care of. However; when we first got there we didn't know where we needed to go so we stood in the wrong long until we found the right line and got our number and then waited to get that figured out. Once our number got called we got our tickets validated and we know what to do come tomorrow when we head to Florence! Also while in the train station ordered a cappochino and a donut which where really good! Also side story .. jessica and i had to use the toilets well we couldn't find any and we are just looking one when we finally found one we just headed in ... Not realizing it was the men's bathroom until we came out! Now that that was taken care of we then made our way to the colosseum! Now we were really hungry by this point and we were trying to find a little cafe, well we ended up walking into a little plaza and who else what there but Elizabeth and her mom! We talked and made plans to meet up tomorrow for the Vatican City at 9. From there we are lunch and made our way into the colosseum! Now the outside of the colosseum is amazing and breathe taking ... Just wait and go inside because it will make you stand there in awe! It's crazy to think about what has happened here about 2000 years ago! The inside of the colosseum is beautiful the ruins just move you as you thing back and know that people's lives where taken away here. We climbed up the stairs and looking even deeper into the catacombs it's just awe inspiring! Then you look out outside of the colosseum and it is always just beautiful! I understand why people fall in love with Italy. It is beautiful and amazing! Also while in the souvenir store a group of p2p came in and it just brought me back 10 years ago when I was one of them! How that gave me the love I have for traveling and for Europe! Well as we headed over to the Trevi fountain we had a little mishap and allis wallet got stolen when we bought so fruit. We then when back to our hostel to get everything taken care of. Afterward we headed back to the Trevi fountain! And it was absolutely amazing! It was even more special then what you see in the picture! Afterwards we meet up with ViVi from Harding had dinner and some great ice cream! Besides our little mishap today was a great day! And I'm excited to see what tomorrow holds! Saturday, June 29: ITALY; after getting in really late last night we decided to sleep in today! And trust me I am always okay with sleeping in! This morning we loaded up our stuff and headed to the Vatican City. We took the metro to the Vatican and walked with our backpacks and all! It really felt like what I thought free travel would feel like. It was a little rough after wards in this little market area we sat down for some awesome pb&js sandwiches! Afterwards we headed to the termini to get on a train to Florence! This would be our first of many trains! It was nerve racking because no train was just heading to Florence. When I finally found a train that would take us it was a fast train. We showed the conductor the tickets and he was trying to explain we needed reservations but he wasn't very good! But he finally let us on. Well when he came to take our tickets we realizes we now owed him for the reservation of our seats we happily paid and we got to Florence within an hour. When we got here we headed to our hostel. We are barely just outside the center and it wasn't a far walk what so ever. We checked in and then made a plans for the evening and headed out to the duomo. When we got there we walked around and bought some fruit to hold us over for a little while. We then decided to climb the tower of the duomo. It was a total of 428 stairs! It was crazy but the view was spectacular! Once we came down we went to the front of the church and had what else pb&js sandwiches. Afterwards we went to find the academia. We kind of just wandered the streets and the signs that lead is there. I thought there was a look a like David statue but I didn't see it. We didn't make it to the academia before it closed so we just looked at all the leather shops! It was so nice and I found some things that I really want! I'm going in between a wallet and a purse so who knows what will happen! afterwards we walked back to our hostel and made plans for tomorrow! Today was a fantastic day! I really understand everyone's love for Florence it truly is amazing! Sunday: June 30: Italy ; today we decided to do a little day trip to Pisa and to cinque terre! So we took a local train to Pisa! The best part about local trains are that they are free!!!! Thanks to our global pass!! So as we took the train we got to enjoy amazing views of the Italian country side. Once we got to Pisa we went on our search of the leaning tower! When we got there we realized the tower was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. But it was still pretty impressive. Especially with the fact it hasn't fallen down! But of course we took some fun pictures of us keeping the tower from calling down and some great perspective pictures. We also had a nice pb&js lunch with the wonderful view of the tower. Afterwards we decided to look for some fruit... Except it turned Into shopping! So much for not spending money. But I did get the cutest red authentic Italian leather purse! And did a mention it's RED!!! so outside my normal shopping zone! After we did some damage to our wallets we headed back to the station and hopped on a train to monterossa in conque terre! Once we were there the views were amazing!! The ocean was beautiful the blues around it was breathe taking! We spent some time just seating out looking out into the water and enjoying the view. We then got gelato ... And when I say gelato I don't mean a little thing with a cone I mean a master piece with strawberries and gelato. It was just a perfect little piece of paradise!!! After we indulged ourselves we headed back on our free but extremely ghetto train! We ended up meeting and having a great conversation with a surgeon from Baltimore. We exchanged stories of our trip and what we plan in doing next. He was a great guy to run into! When we finally got back to Florence we headed back to our hostel. Where we spent our last night! Florence was so amazing and so welcoming I loved it! Maybe my favorite part of the trip so far! Monday: July 1: Italy: today we head to Venice! We planned on leaving around 9:30 however; that turned into getting up at 9:30! Once we were on our way to the train station to figure out what train we needed to take. We realized that we needed to get reservations so we did unlike the other time where we spent about double. But this give us a fast train and gets us there faster! So we got the reservation and waited for our train to arrive. And then we were on our way to Venice! When we pulled into the station And walked out the great canal and everything we imagined and seen Venice could be. We then decided to go find out hotel. And let me tell you that was no easy task! We went to the information desk and they told us what bus to take. We bought our tickets and got on the bus. We then asked people around us what stop to get off at. Well by the time they told us to get off Jessica and I heard two different things. I heard wait for the next stop and she heard this stop now. Well I heard incorrectly! So we ended up going two too far until we got off! From there we walked to our hotel. And let me tell you it wasn't an easy place to find!!! But once we found it we basically put our stuff in and then headed back to Venice. Once we got back to the island we headed to find dinner. When we were crossing the bridge I saw the Purdys who I knew were in Italy. But it was really nice to talk to them for a bit. We then continued our search for food. We ended up stopping at this one place but the longer we sat there the more unimpressed we were that we never actually ordered food we ended up paying for water and then continued our search some more. We ended up crossing over the main bridge and found a cute sitting area looking out on the water and the prices weren't too bad either. We took our seats! I had a bruschetta and spaghetti for dinner and it was absolutely wonderful! By the time we finished eating an accordion player came over and began to serenade us. It just created the most perfect moments as the sun was setting over Venice. It was everything that you think of when we think of Italy! From there we walked and looked for dessert. We found a place that had wifi and tirimasu. From there we ended out night with more gelato and ran into the Purdys one more time. From there we took the shuttle to our hotel. Besides the minor detail of our hotel our trip to Venice was awesome! And our Italian dinner was perfect! It was a pretty great way to end our stay in Venice ... Tomorrow we head to Munich, Germany!!!!

[meckaemccall-blog]

Free travel part 1

Tuesday June 25: ENGLAND: you know it's a crazy day when you wake up in one country and go to sleep in another! Today we were headed to Spain! Of course we got to wake up at the butt crack of dawn in order to catch our taxi to take us to the airport. Now to get this taxi to get us was difficult so we were just hopig that it would arrive this morning and thankfully it did. We loaded up and heading on our way. We ended up giving the guy all the cash we had since he didn't except credit cards! We were only about 40 pences short. Once in the airport we went to check in with wonderful Ryanair. We got everything good a going and made it through security almost seamlessly. Alli and I had to have our toiletries bag looked at again ... Mine was too big. But it was no big deal. We then went to get coffee ... Or I went to get coffee and we sat and waited until our flight and gate came up ... Which took about another hour! But we headed to our gate and got on the flight without having to pay extra bagging .. That in itself was a huge relief! We boarded our plane and we were heading to Spain! Once our 2 hour flight was over to caught a areobus that brought us into the city center. We then went to find our hostel .. It wasn't an easy walk ... And then once we got there ... It was the wrong one! Well the wrong one of the right one. We had the name correct but the location was wrong. So we then got a map to the proper destination and headed that way. We got a real good tour if that one street but then we finally made it to the correct hostel. We got moved into our room and just relaxed for a bit. Afterwards we then decided that we wanted to explore and wanted to go down las ramblas* we went and walked up and down the street looking for souvenirs. We made it to the bottom to the port if Barcelona. We found an awesome place to have gelato along the way and we had to stop. We also found this really cool tour of the Harbor and on the sea! The view if the skyline was amazing! From there we decided to head back to the hostel for a wonderful dinner of pb and j sandwiches with and apple and more peanut butter! We ended up talking to another girl at the hostel who is originally from wales! We talked about our travels. After we finished up buying the rest of our hostels which was exciting but exhausting. Today has been a crazy but wonderful first day if free travel! Wednesday June,26: SPAIN: Day two we began our day on a free walking tour at 11. So compared to yesterday it was a much later and the sleep was much needed. We went in the walking tour with our tour guide Chris in a group of about 10 total. As we walked through Barcelona we saw some beautiful architecture like the cathedral and the political office for Barcelona and Catalonia and some beautiful plazas . We also learned so much about the Barcelona history and how they are hoping to make a change for independent soon in the future. Our tour lasted about two hours. Afterward we headed to Barcelona beach. The beach is actually man made with sand from Egypt! It was brought in for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona to make the city more appealing and creating the tourist boom there is today! We did enjoy our pb&j sandwiches on the beach and I did happen to get quite a bit of color! From there we headed back to the hostel for a small break for the day. We then headed to dinner where we had a traditions Spanish dinner! It was pretty good! After wards we headed to a flamenco show and on our way we stopped from delicious dessert! The show was amazing, however; it wasn't what I expected ... It was a lot more stomping and a lot less/ no couple dancing but it was still amazing! From there we hopped on a metro to the magic fountains ... Or in our case the not so magic fountains! The show only happens on Thursday- Sunday and well today is a Wednesday therefore there is no show. However; the view of the surrounding areas where beautiful! And the collum and mountains and building where beautiful too! It was still a nice view and it was worth the small trip over there! Overall today was fantastic it was our last full day in Barcelona! This place is beautiful I'm so excited for what tomorrow holds! Thursday, June 27: SPAIN: today is our last day... So we started off our day heading to the sagrada familia it's a really famous church that was started being built in 1909 and it is expected to be finished in 2023 ... So it's taking a little while. We took the metro there and at first we didn't see it but when we turned around it was there standing beautifully! We got to go inside of it and tour it and it was beautiful! The architecture was amazing! We also meet part of the Harding group from huf there! We walked around the sagrada familia. The stained glass windows with in the church where beautiful. The doors had the gospels or John and mark I believe carved into them. I know I sounds like a broken record but it was absolutely breathe taking!! Once we were outside we meet up with Jessica's friend Hector and his friend and had lunch! It wasn't the best meal I ever had but it was good plus I got a diet coke so that is always a plus! We had a great conversation and i would say i made a few friends today:) We then headed back to our hostel and got our bags and headed to the air port. At first we went to the wrong terminal but we got pointed in the right direction. We then got through security and stuff without a hitch ... That was until the baggage ladies went crazy and made me put my bag into the thing! I tried three different times until it fit ... I pulled out my purse carriage and towel to make it fit .. But I was not going to pay the €60 if there was anything I could do about it! And sure enough I got it one ... And we were now on our way to ITALY!!!!