I had my last exam yesterday. It went okay, especially considering how little I had studied. Somehow I was bitten by the lazy bug in the past few days and I didn’t study more than four hours which was only about enough time to read through and summarize my notes. I think I’ll pass the exam but we’ll see what grade I’ll get [the exam only counts 50% towards the final grade], not that it matters anyway. So now I am completely done with school here.

After the exam I went to buy a box to pack a bunch of my stuff to ship home. I found an inexpensive way of shipping it, and I really hope it works out. The box is 50×50x40cm and weighs a bit over 25kg I guess [just 15kg of that is books and notes]. I had called GLS, a delivery company, but they told me that they only work with businesses in Spain. But the guy gave me the number of someone who does individual shipments. I called her and she told me that she works with GLS and that it would be shipped with GLS, and I’d pay €32 for 25kg or €36 for over 25 up to 30kg. I assume the way it works is that it is sent through her account with GLS and she charges a little more to cover her costs. I really hope this is legit but I got the number from the guy at GLS so it had better be. She is coming tomorrow to pick up the box [I hope she shows up!] and I will make sure she gives me some documentation and also her full name and some other contact information. The reason I am not just sending it with Correos [through the regular post office] is that it would cost me about €90 for 25-27kg which is so expensive. And another plus is that with GLS it will be picked up. If something does go wrong and I have to send it with Correos [obviously I would not leave the stuff here], I will have to see how to get it to the post office on Friday evening or Saturday morning [before my flight].

I have also been able to sell most of the things I wanted to sell. My roommates have bought some of my stuff, and right now all I still have left is my desk chair and lamp. If I cannot sell them I’ll give them to my friend Clara, but it wouldn’t be that bad  as I’m only selling each for €1 anyway. The main concern was to sell the wardrobe and mattress which I did [and along with some other small things I have made a total of €67 so far. [Let's just skip the part where Nuria and I hauled the wardrobe - which thankfully was very light - down the stairs from 4th [US] / third [UK & D] floor because it was a tiny bit to big for the elevator.] Of course I spent much more in the beginning but I didn’t expect to get back as much anyway. I am also keeping some things [curtains, towels, blanket, comforter], most of which is in that 25kg box.

By the way, I decided not to make any more day trips. That does mean I will not go to Girona, Figueres, Tarragona or Montserrat, but I had so little time left after my last final that it would have been really stressful to do that, and I figure that I’ll come back to Barcelona sometime, and just have to wait until then. That way, I’ll still have some places left to see when I visit. Clara’s mom offered me a place to stay whenever I want to visit, which is very sweet of her. She’s a very nice lady. She and Clara also washed my laundry for me [I only put the first load in the washing machine], which was so so so nice of them! I originally just wanted to wash it there, and then take it back home to dry and fold, but Clara said it would be easier for them and for me, if they just let it dry at their house [only took a few hours anyway as it was very warm and sunny yesterday] and if I came back at night to pick it up, and by then they had even folded it for me. So amazing! The reason I asked to wash my clothes at their house is that our washing machine is not working very well and doesn’t spin-dry and worst of all, the clothes smell after coming out of the washing machine. It is pretty gross! Luckily I don’t have to use it anymore. I now don’t have any dirty clothes and will wash some clothes at one of the hostels I am staying at, and then again when I am back in Germany.

Monday, Clara and I went to see Indiana Jones at the movies. I am not sure I liked the whole alien part of the plot, but other than that it was fun to watch, just like all the other Indy movies. Yesterday I said goodbye to Clara and her mom, though I’ll actually see Clara again after I come back from Andalucia and before I leave for Germany, and to one of my roommates, Anais. She is in France until next week and then when I come back from Andalucia she will be in France again, so we won’t see each other anymore. That really made me kind of sad. I wasn’t too sad about leaving Barcelona so far but saying goodbye to friends is always tough. Tomorrow I am hopefully meeting up with Iveta for coffee or something and with Anna for dinner, and it’ll be time for two more goodbyes. Speaking of, a week ago, Carmen came to visit in Barcelona for a few days and we met up with Anna for coffee and it was really nice to see her again [but she is from my university at home so no doubt this wasn't the last time we hang out].

I went to the grocery store earlier, and I am not sure if you’ve heard but the truckers in Spain have been striking since Monday I think, and stores are running out of fresh products, water and fuel, as they block[ed] high ways from/to Madrid and the French/Spanish border. My grocery store still had some fresh fruit but no fresh vegetables or salad at all. And not much water either. It was quite a sad view to see so many shelves empty. I really hope the strike will stop soon. I won’t be in Barcelona after Saturday, but I doubt that Andalucia’s grocery stores are looking much better either. The fishermen are also on strike [for the same reason as the truckers, gas prices] and have been for almost two weeks, but seeing as that doesn’t affect me [I don't eat fish], I didn’t know until I read that CNN article I linked to. If this strike continues it will also likely affect the transport of above-mentioned box, as it will be transported on ground [in a truck], regardless of whether I send it with GLS or Correos. There is nothing in there I really need soon, and likely, even if the strike continues for another week, it would make it home before I do, but I would like to know my stuff has arrived at home safely as soon as possible.

Today I did the last bookings for my trip. I booked the bus trips from Sevilla to Córdoba and from there to Málaga and then to Granada [for a total of €35, can't complain]. I also bought a ticket for the Alhambra for June 23rd, my birthday. It is very hard to get a ticket on the day of visiting [my roommate Nuria told me they had to be there at 5am to get tickets], so the best idea is to buy them online before the visit.

I am now pretty much ready to leave, I have even packed most of my stuff already. [I did that while also packing my other suitcase, to figure out what to put on top and bottom for going back to Germany in two weeks. I also printed out all tickets and hostel confirmations at the library today. Unfortunately I thought I had already printed out my flight ticket but actually hadn't so I have to go to the library again tomorrow to do that. I looked up the weather forecast for the cities I am going to for the next 10 days, and what can I say, [as you can see] between 29 and 34°C [84 - 94°F] throughout the entire time [the last few days of my trip aren't in the weather forecast yet, but I doubt they'll be much different. I'll probably be whining about how hot it is there soon enough. Summer has actually broken out here too, finally, with all that bad weather in the past month. It was 28°C [82°F] here today and it’s supposed to stay sunny. Looks like the low has finally moved on.

Okay, this post has gotten really long, but I hope you can bear with me. I will post my SPF tomorrow, but except for that, this will be my last post before I go on my trip. Depending on computer access [which should be fairly good] I’ll be able to post on my trip though and maybe even upload some pictures already. I’ll definitely keep posting short messages on Twitter though, so keep an eye out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 22:56 and is filed under Friends, Life in Spain, Movies & TV, News / Weather, Photo, School, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.