My Last Entry for 2004

Hello Everyone,

Well, this will be my last entry for the year, as of now there are only 5 hours of the year left. I will be sure to update next year in 2005. :)

I have thought about my resolutions for the new year. For starters, I will be coming home and starting to pay off my huge ass student loans. Lord knows I have been stressing out about that since graduation.

But aside from that, I will continue to improve my Spanish and hopefully German. My Spanish has been improving lately, which I am happy about. I just don´t want to forget it once I come home.

I will also start making plans to go to China sometime this year after I come home. Just something I have to do in this lifetime.

Anyways, those are just my plans. I won´t be making any plans to give up chocolate or to eat healthier because that would be just useless. I would be lying to myself. At least I don´t smoke. Can you imagine how hard that would be to give up smoking ?

Tonight I will be having dinner with my roommate´s family. We will be doing the countdown together and eating grapes. In Spain we eat one grape for each month and then we drink Champaigne, or as we say in Catalan, Cava.

Okay, hope y'all enjoy the new year. Felíz año nuevo.

Ciao.

The end of the year is here.................

Hello Everyone,

I read the news about the Tsunamis and earthquakes that hit Asia, and I feel just awful for those people. Some guys from my job took a vacation in Thailand. I hope that we will see them on Monday when I go back to work.

I read somewhere that there is a chance that West Coast of the US could be hit by a tsunami. Don´t know how big or small that chance is, but it doesn´t make me all warm and fuzzy inside. CA is also due for a huge earthquake in the future. I shudder just thinking about it.

I really, really want to come back home. I had origionaly planned on staying here at least till June, if not longer. But if I don´t start feeling better I just may go in another month. I shouldn´t be feeling this way. I should be happy right now.

In the mean time, I am just waiting for the year to pass and for me to go back to work and teaching English. Maybe I will feel better then. I have spent my whole vacation in bed, and listening to my roommate telling me how to take care of myself.

Anyways, hope y'all make the best of the rest of 2004.

Ciao.

Happy Anniversary to me :)

Hello Everyone,

First of all, I may not be online tommorow, so I wanted to say Happy Anniversary to me !!!!! Tommorow is my one year anniversary for writing this AOL Journal. I have written so much on this journal.

I don´t really have the flu anymore, but I do have a nasty cough that I am trying to get rid of before the New Year. I can´t friggin´ believe this. I spent most of my vacation in bed. It would have been so nice to see and explore Barcelona a little bit.

I have been thinking about my plans for the New Year, and I think that I will be going home sometime in May or June. It all depends if I get my working papers or not. Hell, even if I get my working papers I might go home anyways. This holiday season was really hard for me. I have never missed home so much. I just miss understanding everything and knowing how everything works. I feel helpless here. Anyways, we´ll see what happens as the months pass by and if things get better.

I hope that you all are all thinking about your New Years Resolutions. Hope 2005 is a wonderful year.

Ciao.

My Christmas in Barcelona

Hello Everyone,

Happy Holidays ! I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas. I was looking forward to mine. I was planning on spending it with my roommate´s family and we were also planning on maybe going skiing.

That was all before I got the flu. I got the flu the day before Christmas Eve and was therefore confined to my bed until today ( although I am still recovering). I had it all. I was shivering, sweating, puking, coughing. I couldn´t even get out of bed to get myself a glass of water.

I also called my mom back home, but apparently I called at the wrong time because they were in the middle of something when I called and didn´t have a lot of time to talk. So much for Christmas. I usually hate Christmas anyways, but this year definitely made me hate it even more. I am so glad the holidays are almost over and that I am getting better.

I am thankful that my roommate and his mom took the time to take care of me and check up on me now and then. My roommate made me breakfast in the mornings and gave me medicine. Because let me tell you, the cold medicine that I brought from the states did jack shit for my flu. His mother also came over and cooked for me and talked to me a little. I considered myself really lucky in this respect, because normally when I am sick in the states I am left to fend for myself because I don´t live with my folks.

My roommate´s mom also decided to clean my room for me today. I mean, that was really nice of her. But I am a private person in my room and my room is a mess. That is just how I am. I am fully able to keep the commom areas of the house clean. But when it comes to my room, I am messy and that´s how it is. So I was a little embarrassed when she touched my dirty clothes and picked up after me.

I have been thinking about the next year which will arrive in about 5 days and I really don´t know what´s gonna happen. But I can tell you this. If I don´t get my working papers by May, I am going back home to where I am an actual citizen and can understand everyone.

Sorry if this entry is not so happy, but ya know I gotta keep it real.

Ciao.

Things I realized here in Spain.

Hello Everyone,

Before I came here I wanted to be a Spanish citizen, or an Austrian citizen. It´s not that I don´t like being a US citizen, but I just thought that having a European passport would be exotic and cool.  I really wanted to be European and have the same rights as a European citizen. Why not ? After all, my mom was born and raised in Austria. I have a lot of family there too, and I like staying connected to my family heritage.

When I came to Europe, I got to see just how hated Bush and the US policies are. There was and still is so much Bush bashing going on. But the truth is, is that right now I am happy with being a US Citizen. Even though I think that our country has a lot of problems (What country doesn´t?) I would rather be a US citizen than any other country. I had to travel outside the US to realize that. I miss being in my own country. Sometimes there is no place like home. Barcelona is officially my favorite city, and I like staying here, but I would rather permanently live in California and be an American.

I realized that I have a lot more opportunities than a lot of other people in the world simply because I was born in the United States. A lot of people complain about the US. But ya know what ? I ain´t complaining. I talk to people from Argentina and the Dominican Republic and they wonder why the hell I am here when there are so much more opportunities in the US. Did you know that they are´t even allowed to set foot in the US without a visa ? And do you know how hard it is to get a visa ? People from poorer countries such as Argentina or the Dominican Republic aren´t even allowed to visit the US as a tourist. They have to apply for a visa first.

If I could give people any advice, it would be to travel and live away from home for a little while. It certainly broadens your mind and makes you more tolerant, not to mention smarter. Okay, moving along....................

I went to the US Consulate today. It felt good. It felt like I took a mini trip back to the states. But anyways, it was an interesting experience.

I have been to or walked by the consulate office of other countries. I´ve been to the Consulate office for Austria. It was a little attic in some office building. The consulate office for Thailand is an apartment space in the apartment complex where my student lives.

The US Consulate office is actually a big white house ( or 2 ) near Mt. Tibidabo (an expensive hill where all the rich people live). Just to GET IN you have to have a US passport, and they scan it. Then after they let you get in they make you walk through a metal detector and leave your camera and mobile behind. All the employees there talk to you through a glass window and there are cameras everywhere. I felt like a VIP member with my US passport and all.

I guess that with all the Anti-US feelings, they have to protect themselves.

I also got a chance to be a tourist all over again today and blew some of my paycheck. I also took lotsa pictures, but I will write more about that later.

Ciao.