I made it to BCN safely. Just thought I would write a short post so you all know I got here. Everything went fine with the flight and luggage and now I´m at the youth hostel. They have free internet here, so I figured I might as well use it for a little.

I just got here a few hours ago, so I haven´t done much. I have bought shower gel etc. and towels so I can take a shower, and I think I´ll take a nap after my shower. I am incredibly tired after not getting any sleep last night. And I feel disgusting, it is very warm here and very humid and sticky, not really that nice.

I already have a Spanish cellphone number. The Vodafone store is right by the youth hostel so just bought a SIM card there. If you want the number, let me know, though I will also be using my German phone here (I will just not have it on me all day, but I will check it whenever I get home).

Tomorrow I will go to the university to get all the enrollement stuff done and then I will start hunting for an apartment. Cross your fingers I will find something soon!

I am as good as done with packing [which is good as I leave for the airport in about 5 hours, no sleep for me tonight] so here goes my London review finally.

The trip was really great. It was probably not your average London trip, as I barely saw any of the typical tourist attractions but since I had been to London before that was cool. We saw three Shakespeare plays at the Globe. They were great. The Globe is a rebuild of the original theater at which Shakespeare used to stage his plays, if you have seen Shakespeare in Love you know what it looks like. The atmosphere was really unique. The plays were all done traditionally with beautiful costumes and with very little of the text cut, and it was great. I actually understood a lot and I was surprised. We also attended a lecture by a Globe actor as well as a tour of the Globe and a theater workshop. The workshop was really great, it was lots of fun. It actually makes you want to start doing theater (if my parents read this they’d be very happy about that, hehe).

We were supposed to see a play at the Regent’s Park open air theater as well but it was rained out and they only played for about 20 minutes. It would have been staged in some kind of WWI scenario which, I guess, would have been interesting in contrast to the very classical setting of the other plays.

Other than the plays, we went to see an exhibition at the British Library which was called Sacred and it was an exhibition of Holy Books of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, very interesting! Then we also saw an exhibition, Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Franz Hals, at the National Gallery.

Other than that, I just spent time wandering around London, shopping a little, and I also met up with a friend twice who lives there. I was able to buy two more of those therapy pillows I love so much (called Squeezy Love). I already had two of them so now I have four. Just a shame I cannot take them to Spain, but I have no space whatsoever.

Anyway, I still have some things to do until I leave so I will end this here. I’ll write again as soon as I can once I have internet access in Barcelona. Take care!

In 48 hours I will already be in Barcelona. I wonder where the time went… The past few days have been busy. I finally finished my termpaper, and sent it to my professor in the mail today. I will be able to get my Zwischenprüfung on time. I was worried for a moment because my professor told me she might not be able to grade it before October but she told me, as long as the date on the certificate is from this semester, the Zwischenprüfung will get the same date. (And the date on the certificate is the date I handed it my termpaper, i.e. today’s date.)

I have been trying to get everything done before I leave, and right now it’s all looking very good. I still have some errands to run today (one being buying a a suitcase and a carry-on sized trolley), but nothing major. I will be packing tomorrow, and then I should be done with everything on time. I have to leave for the airport on Wednesday at 0500. My flight leaves at 0735, and I will be in Barcelona about two hours later. I am still debating whether to go to bed at all tomorrow night, as I am often up until 0300 anyway, and that would be around the time I have to get up on Wednesday. And since I will be at home by myself, I have to rely on my alarm clock to wake me, not sure if I want to risk that.

My parents left on a week-long retreat yesterday, so I already had to say goodbye to them. I won’t see them any more until Christmas. It is kind of sad, and so weird being at home without them here. I am fine being in Heidelberg or other places without them, but in their house is just a bit strange. The house is so quiet and I feel a bit lonely.

Anyway, I have been working on my fitness a bit lately as well. I took up running again Sunday a week ago, and I am about to finish the third week of my program tonight. I did not run for a few weeks because I twisted my ankle a few weeks ago, and then had no time because I moved out of my apartment and spent a week in London. Yesterday I went for a walk in the Englischer Garten (English Garden) with a friend, and it was just gorgeous. The weather was beautiful and the park is amazing anyway.

I have also been hanging out with my friends as much as I can. Saturday Eva joined me for my run, and it was nice to run with company for a change. Last night I went to the Escobar with Julia, we had dinner there (Mexican food, mmmm!) and I also had a Mojito. It was a good time. Tonight I am meeting up with Aleks, and tomorrow afternoon with Tanja. I wasn’t able to see Tina at all since I have been in Munich, because she is doing an internship in another city right now so she hasn’t been home, but the plan is that she will be visiting me in Barcelona in a few weeks.

Anyway, I will end this here. I am going to write a review of my London trip later, but other than that, this will be my last post from Germany. I will hopefully find a place to live within the next week though, and then I will be able to post again. Until then…

I started running a few weeks ago. I am still working on the couch to 5K plan (which is an excellent program if you want to start running, by the way), and I am still closer to couch than 5k, nothing exciting just yet.

But a good friend of mine, Kirsten, is training for her first marathon right now. Not just any marathon, but it is for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. She is doing a fundraiser right now and she will be running to help put an end to leukemia. She will also be running in honor of a friend of mine who has leukemia.

She is a great inspiration to me - she is who got me interested in starting to run actually, and she is working so hard to reach her goal.

You can read her running blog here: http://runforlife.vox.com/. Just from reading it you can tell how much she loves running, how motivated she is, and how much she would like to participate in this marathon.

It would be great if you could help her reach her goal of CAD 4,500 by donating some money to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society through her site. Any small amount would help. To donate & for more information, visit her donation site: http://www.active.com/donate/tntvan/kirsten

Thank you!

I just got back from London last night, and originally I wanted to write about it today but I kind of never got around to it, so I will just post some photos for now. A post about the trip will follow shortly. But minus some frustrations, the trip was a blast! I had a really good time in London.
You can also see all of the photos here.