On the road again...

Hey everyone! Its me again, and from the road this time! I hit up Barcelona Tuesday through Friday (staying with a friend who studied in Toledo with me, and is now doing research in Barca), and I am currently in my hostel in Munich waiting for Jason and Lynn to arrive! These last couple weeks I have learned a lot about myself and I wouldnt exchange the experience for anything in the world (even though it had its great times and its tough times)

The last few weeks I have learned that:
-I am, in no way, to the stage in my life yet where I am ready to surrender myself 100% for love or to a relationship
-I need do be doing something to be happy
-I need to be outside everyday, at least a little, to be happy.
-I don't like being alone
-Often times I am too serious
-Traveling isn't fun unless you have someone to share it with
-Your heart and your head dont always agree
-Find something that makes your truely happy, because money is soon spent and gone. Money won't keep you happy forever.
-I miss the Butchers and my heart yearns to see them.
-I am fat, and I don't like it.
-I miss having a structured life.
-I want a dog.
-I need quality "re-finding shannon time" surrounded by people I love and ppl that have the same values.
-Ready for a quality Milwaukee summer.

With all this free time...

Well, wouldn´t you know it, with all this free time I have, I have been doing a lot of people watching. After careful analysis of the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that "Aladin Pants" as I like to call them, have hit the Spanish Fashion market, and hit it hard. I have seen everyone from ladies in their 50s to girls in their teen years wearing them... and I can´t figure out why?

Enough of wishy-washy Shannon

I am sick of this new indecisive person I have become! Where did confident, decisive, dont look back Shannon go??

Well decisions have been made and I am sticking to them. I am staying until June and here is what I plan to do:

Moving in with my boyfriend and his Uncle for 2 weeks to avoid the horrible costs of hostels (saving some money for the time I will be with Jason)

Meeting Jason and Lynn after the hit up France and Italy so we can do Prague and Germany together.

I will see you all after I get back to the states on June 13th! Love you, and thanks for all the support!!

Spanish living... on my own.

Well, I´m back in Madrid! And I must say, I am loving it! I have seen different parts of the city every day, and have had a lot of "me time." However, I´m not going to lie, having my boyfriend this close and seeing him everyday is probably affecting my perspective a little bit :)

So here I am again, pondering on whether or not to stay... at this point I feel that I am just wasting money. I have no urge to travel and "see more"... I kinda want a stable life for a while.

However, everyone keeps telling me I will regret it if I come home, so here I am, still on the fence.


CAN SOMEONE JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO! THANKS! :)

Tour de France... Tom Morrison Style

Well where should I begin?? Lets see... classes in Spain ended, we had a closing ceremony, I went out to the irish pub we frequented in Toledo one last time with my friends and went home to pack. Finding myself exhuasted I went to bed planning to wake up at 7 and do it in the morning before leaving for Madrid (and eventually France). All went as planned, I left a bag in Toledo with my host family and off I went. And who did I meet at the train station? A Notre Dame girl and her boyfriend heading to Italy for a week. Out planes left at the same time so we rode the bus together, and braved the long metro trip together. FAST FORWARD... Once in France I found my dad and diane with out toooo many problems(thats another story). The following are the day by day events:

-First dinner in Paris with Harsh, Maryse, dad and diane
-Breakfast and lunch and we are off to the first Chateau
-Fountainebleu, Holiday Inn
-Chateau de Blois, Cheverney, Wine Tasting, Cheneceaux (murdered the spelling of that) and Bed and Breakfast (wine, broken english/french and pizza)
-more chateauxs, more wine, next B and B, Villandry, met nicest British man and a dog named Pongo
-Ussè (sleeping beautys castle) Saint Mont Michele, Holiday Inn, best dinner ever
-Normandy Beach, Cemetary, Paris
-Eiffle Tower, Arc de Triumphe, some famous shopping street.
-Dad to airport, Notre Dame (mass and tower tour), lunch, reading by the river, park (where i was stalked by a man and decided it was time to leave), dinner with Harsh and Maryse.

The question still remains: to stay or not to stay, but more importantly... where to stay!!

Emotional roller coaster...

With the last week approaching (exam week), and the departure of all my new friends, leaving my new home, and my boyfriend looming in the air, I can't help sporadically go from laughing to crying... and I can't figure out why! Here are my thoughts to as why:

1. Everything I have come to know and be comfortable with is about to change... once again.

2. I am going to have to say good bye to people I have met and grown to love, not knowing when I will see them again.

3. I need to decide if I want to stay on my own for 2 months or if I want to go home (its always on my mind and causing me a lot of stress... one the one hand, I know I will never have this opportunity to travel with Jason ever again, but on the other hand I really feel like I need to go home, I need familiarity, and a stable life for a while...)

4. I think I've finally let myself realize that I am in fact in love with my boyfriend... just in time to leave him.

5. I miss me family even more that I have seen my mom and sister and realize that I'm missing out on being a part of their lives (going to miss Jenna's first prom, Jason's last band concert etc)

6. Exams start in two days and I haven't started studying

7. I am just an emotional person

Just a quick note:

This weekend was chill and consisted of:

Thursday night, I had full intentions of heading to school and playing soccer with the kids that live at school. As soon as I get there most of my friends are leaving, to head to a friend's house. We met some really sweet dudes from California that graduated last May. They have been living in Toledo since September and are living here and teaching English for a year! How cool is that? Anyways, we always head over there to hang out before we go to the bars. It was really relaxing, played a few casual card games and listened to music on the terraza. Went home around 2 so I could wake up in time (around 7am) to catch the bus for the school day trip to Cuenca.

Friday: Went to Cuenca where we went to a science museum and visited a monastary on the way home. Didn't feel well when I got home so I stayed in, lay in my bed and watched Sweet Home Alabama, Bride Wars, and an episode of 24.

Satruday: Slept in, went to the mall, watched Chaos Theory, and went to the hookah bar with my friends.

Sunday: Slept in, went to a cafe to do homework and get some coffee, went to school to do some homework, came home to watch Bedtime Stories with Nicole and Jeff, more homework, watched Charlie Bartlett.

Overall, did a lot of movie watching.