The Final Countdown

Sup loyal blog readers,
This will be the last post that you will see from us! This moment has to be the most bittersweet moment of our lives. We love it here with all our hearts, and the experiences we've had will always be dear to us, but the promise of our own showers, beds, pets, friends, and (let's not forget) family is incredibly exciting. All the times we were lost, tired, and frustrated were nothing in comparison to the amazing people we met, places we saw, and experiences we had. We spent months and months planning this trip, and we can hardly believe how quickly it passed. Today was our last day in Madrid and our last in Europe. We tried to be adventurous and take a day trip to Cordoba, but we can thank the railway workers that decided to go on strike for squashing that idea. I'm all for working rights and such, but really? They couldn't have held off until we left? Oh well. Instead of our day trip to Cordoba, we decided to take a day trip to Parque de Retiro: a beautiful park in Madrid. In the center there is a man-made pond, and the best part about that pond was that you could rent little boats to out on the water with. Sarah and I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and we eagerly hopped in. I made Sarah paddle at first and laughed at her efforts... Boy was that dumb, cause when it was my turn, I did way worse. You all know my lack of hand-eye-coordination. Enough said. After that, we pulled out our kindles, found a free patch of grass, and relaxed. We didn't realize that we would spend hours in that spot drinking in the sunshine and enjoying the light breeze. Sarah and I love one specific Spanish tradition: the siestas. We made it our goal to have one everyday. After our brief nap, we went out for our last dinner and had a traditional Spanish rice dish. Now, it's time to pack up and get ready for a long day of traveling tomorrow. USA here we come!
Love and miss you all!
See you soon!

Built above water; walls made of fire

Wow, I cannot believe today marks our last destination! It is a strange feeling to finally accept the fact that we are on the homestretch, but nonetheless, still have time to see Spain. So we were up bright and early and were energized with a full night's rest (100% sarcasm) for our train to Madrid. It was really hard to say goodbye to Barcelona not only because of the beach, but because of the wonderful friends we made as well. Shortly after arriving to Madrid, we actually learned that the Real Madrid football team is in Ann Arbor today. Looks like we traded places! Of course, I was wearing a Michigan shirt and some local was pointing at my shirt and muttering something in Spanish. I put the pieces together and knew he was referring to the event. How weird! Well anyways, we made it to our youth hostel and were pleasantly surprised at the central location (literally the first time that ever happened to us). We were able to relax for a few moments then walk around the square and meet up for our beloved activity: the free walking tour! This one was our favorite from any city and we owe it all to our amazing tour guide. She had story after story about the city and her own experience living here, which gave us a really good mix of the history and current culture. Also, Madrid's history is insanely fascinating. The city is filled with Muslim architecture and influence, yet there is also a blend of Christianity and Jewish customs. The picture we had in front of a gated cathedral is a super interesting area. The Catholic cathedral is shown on the hill, but underneath is the historic Muslim wall. Back in history, the Muslims built the wall with flint so that when he Christains attacked the area with arrows, the wall would spark into flames and scare them away.Behind us in the picture is a fairly new fountain of the Jewish star. That particular area was once a place where all three religious groups lived in harmony, and it's a small piece of history that we learned about. After our walking tour, we came back to the hostel and took full advantage of the siesta. We only just barely woke up in time for a late dinner out on the town square with some delicious tapas (however, we both agree our tapas in Barcelona were better). We are now back in the hostel and await our final day as tourists!







- Sarah and Ruby

Bye-bye Barcelona!

Dear lovely blog readers,
If you want a little piece of heaven, then I suggest you go to Barcelona. The beach, the sun, and the city combine to make a delicious slice of perfection. We woke up today refreshed and ready to go. The best part about our youth hostel is that there is free breakfast... You have no idea how beautiful that is. Today was also the day we made some amazing friends! Our roommates are from Hungary, and they are fantastic. We decided to go to the beach together and soak up some sun (like Sarah and I needed any more... Picture a bright red tomato). At least this time, we came prepared with sunscreen. If you want the ultimate relaxation technique, then go to Barcelona, go to the beach, buy a cup of sliced pineapple, and watch the water. Where was this stress reliever during school? After we added another layer to our burns... I mean tans... We set out with our roommates to the FC Barcelona stadium. Sarah is the soccer fan, but don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a man in uniform. And there were plenty of pictures of them to look at. The Hungarian girls know some Spanish, and they had a blast teaching them to us. I guess they enjoyed hearing us butcher the accent. After we walked through the stadium, we realized how hungry we were. We ran into a supermarket and armed ourselves in order to battle the hunger. We made it back to the hostel and feasted on sandwiches, chips, Oreos, milk, chocolate, and melon. It was cheap, but it was perfect. We ended the night with our new friends, and I could not have pictured a better way to spend our last day in Barcelona!
Love and miss you all!












- Sarah and Ruby

Location:Carrer de la Pobla de Lillet,Barcelona,Spain

Barcelona!

Why hello readers, it's been crazy that today we finally made it to Spain, our final country. Do you know what I love more than early morning trains? Early morning flights! And not just any flight- the delux and luxurious Ryan Air!! So yeah this is my written confession of mistakenly thinking that an 8:30 flight to Barcelona was a good idea.. We woke up at a whopping 3:30 am to make the trekk from the cab to the shuttle to the airport, then back in the cab and to the youth hostel. Fortunately, one look outside the airplane window was enough to keep us alert and ready all day: water! Once we arrived and dropped our bags off, we immediately set out again to the downtown beach area where we enjoyed a beautiful walk on the coast which led us to a popular beach. Those of you who know Ruby and I well are well aware of the fact that all we need to entertain ourselves is a place to sit and a good book. Throw in the Mediterranean Sea and a clear blue sky and you will have us lost in our own worlds for days. Nature literally had to snap us back into reality with a sudden storm, so we made it out just in time to miss the rain. It was actually insane once we entered the metro because the storm had everyone ducking for cover. We didn't even make it down the stairs without getting caught in a tangle of tourists. After coming back to the hostel yet again, we showered and made another quick turnaround to meet Laia, the Spanish assistant student from last year. She lives here in Barcelona and graciously took time out of her busy day to walk us around the city and show us the main historic and modern areas. On our way through the town, we found a nice restaurant to enjoy our first tapas meal. We desperately tried to eat at a normal Spanish time, but in our attempts, we ended up devouring our dishes way too quickly. In the short time we had to digest our meals, sleepiness had struck us, and it struck us hard. Wandering around the plaza at night, we had some ice cream and watched the streets transform into a lively night life setting. However, we were running on a few hours of sleep and had been nonstop moving all day. We headed back to the hostel in the hopes of rejuvenating our energy for another day in Barcelona tomorrow.

Last Day in Roma

Ciao blog readers!

Today was a good day. Nothing too exciting, but a good day nonetheless. Forgive me if this post is a little dry. We have been on our feet nonstop for the past 12 hours, and I am beyond pooped. We decided to take two walking tours today: one that led to the Vatican and one that led the 

Colosseum. Both tours started by the Spanish steps, and both tours covered a lot of the same monuments as yesterday's tour. It got a bit repetitive, but at least it was free. The funny thing is that while the monuments were often repeats, the information for each one varied depending on who was leading the tour. Some facts completely contradicted ones that we heard earlier, and it became almost a game to see how many anomalies we spotted. The Vatican tour ended outside the Vatican, and Sarah and I decided to buy a ticket to explore it. When yesterday's tour guide told us that this was the worse time in the year to visit the Vatican, we thought he was being dramatic. Yeah, we were wrong. The Vatican was packed, and I mean PACKED. Sarah and I were herded from room to room like cattle, and we could barely breath in the stifling atmosphere. We tried to tour the area as fast as possible, but the I swear that place is just one huge maze. Like the maze in the 4th Harry Potter book, it seemed like there was no end in sight. Yeah, I just had a nerd moment. After we escaped... I mean exited...the Vatican, we had to book it back to the Spanish steps, once again, for our second tour. The Colosseum tour was pretty cool because we walked by the Roman Forum. The ancient structures looked epic, especially with the modern buildings standing in contrast with them. The tours were informational and all, but two in one day may have been a bit ambitious. We made it to the hotel and collapsed on the bed from exhaustion. Not gonna lie, Rome is not Sarah and I's favorite city. Sure the history behind it is amazing, but the enormous crowds, the suffocating heat, and the icky public transportation system has left a bad taste in our mouths. So, it's been real Rome, but tomorrow we are traveling to Barcelona, and beach day here we come! 

HAPPY EID TO ALL MY MUSLIM READERS OUT THERE. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Love and miss you all!

Sarah and Ruby

When in Rome- day 2!

Why hello loyal followers! Today was our first full day of Rome and boy did it feel good to spend the day exploring rather than traveling. We are extremely happy with our change of hostels and we left for the city center in great moods. We decided to spend the afternoon in the main square of Piazza Delia Replubblica. What's crazy about Rome is that you can walk anywhere and somehow find an ancient monument. I honestly don't even know what the half of them were, but every building seemed to have an importance. We quickly stumbled upon a fountain and readily dashed to stick our feet in. (On a side note, the weather has been crazy. Constant heat and humidity with random rainstorms). Since we were still pumped from the Bastille concert last night, we chilled with our feet in the water while listening to music. We were really living the life until a crazy old man yelled at us to take our feet out of the fountain. I don't know what gave him the authority to do that since he himself was walking through the fountain to retrieve coins, but we didn't mess with the insanity. We hopped out and kept moving through the city. Of course, we stopped for lunch and had some pasta because a day in Rome isn't complete without it. Exploring several shops and monuments, we finally made it to the Trevi fountain with high hopes, but were in horror with the image that we saw: scaffolds. Left and right. The entire fountain completely drained. Unfortunately, we were not able to make our wish with a coin into the fountain. They totally stole our Lizzie Maguire/Mary Kate and Ashley/ every other movie based in Rome moment. But nonetheless, the day must go on, so we walked to the Spanish steps and were able to bask in the glory of that with some delicious (and extremely expensive) gilato. Once there, we met up with another free walking tour group and spent the next few hours learning about the Spanish square, Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, and much more. Our tour guide was an Italian and super entertaining. He said that Rome was made of three things: marble, water, and scaffolds. Definitely spot on with that description! We ended the tour at a cheap pizza shop which was too convenient to not take advantage of. After dinner, we made our journey back to the hostel where we had to endure the most stuffy train and tram rides of our lives. The tram from the train station is 8 stops away, which takes about 25 minutes. Not too bad compared to the rest of our trip, except for the fact that it was hotter than the sun with more people crammed in than I thought was humanly possible. But let's be real- anytning is better than walking. Now we are back at the hostel ready for another day in Roma! 

The series of unfortunate events.. Except for the last one

Hi blog readers!
Let me begin by saying that this post will feature mostly my complaints and laminations about today. It all started with our train from Venice to Rome. As if leaving Venice wasn't hard enough, Sarah and I had to endure a frightful experience on the train. Let me set the seen for you guys: picture me innocently reading on my kindle in the aisle seat of a moving train. Now picture a man running down the hallway of said train, projectile vomiting on everything in sight. I cannot thank God enough for sparing me and Sarah from the spray, but not everyone was so lucky. One poor girl got it in her hair *insert shudder*. So, that was a great way to start the day. It gets better from here...not. We made it to our youth hostel, but our journey included a 30 min wait at the bus stop, a 20 min hike up a road with our backpacks, and a 30 min wait in the reception line in the rain. Well, turns out our hostel was a tad bit sketchier than Sarah and I were comfortable with. So, in an effort to regain some sanity, we decided to find a different hostel. Well, you might be thinking: hey, problem solved. Wrong again. We had to make another 20 min journey up another hill and wait another 45 min for the next bus. This time the rain was gone, but the sun was unforgiving. At last we made it to our new (not sketchy) hostel, and collapsed into bed for a much needed hour nap. The only thing that got us out of bed was the promise of the Bastille concert, only a few short hours away. We decided to take a cab (having had enough walking for today... And a lifetime), and we instantly knew that we made the right decision. Our feet were especially happy. The concert was 50 shades of perfection. We had a great view of the band, and Bastille did an incredible job. It made us completely forget about our awful day! We owe you one Bastille! Now, we are back at the hostel chugging down a liter of coca-cola and getting ready for bed. It was a perfect night!
Love and miss you all!









- Sarah and Ruby

Location:Piazzale Prenestino,Rome,Italy