Monday through Friday has been only mildly interesting for me. And that's probably how it's going to be most of the time too, unless I make some friends. Which is a harder task than it seems to be, might I add. Mildly interesting is perfectly fine with me though. I can spend the week focusing on working out, eating healthy, and taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of before my school semester starts. Monday was like any other Monday, poopy. I woke up feeling groggy because I went to sleep too late the night before, I had said to myself that I would wake up early enough Monday morning to go downstairs and catch breakfast before all the good stuff was gone. Yeah, that didn't happen. I went back to sleep after Mike woke me up to tell me he was leaving for training and re-awoke an hour later. Mike came back for break around 10 am, we watched the news (and tried to understand it) for a bit, then we talked about our weekend plans, and I told him that I had spent some time searching for universities that I could earn my degree from completely online since I wouldn't be able to be there physically. I actually found an "Editor's Choice" article with their ranking of the top 25 best online degree programs. Number 1 was Walden University, I was interested but they had some weird age requirement. I had to be at least 24, which I found strange. Number 2 was Post University. I may have jumped the gun a little, I pretty much applied to Post right away after reading the article's description of the university. I was pleased with what I read though, they're ranked 19th in the nation for best online bachelor's program, their courses are offered in 8 week modules which means I can earn my degree in close to a year give or take 3 months, the student to teacher ratio is 23:1 so it's a smaller class size which is nice, and their online bachelor's program has won at least 3 awards this past year. After I applied I read into them a little bit more, I found they have a physical campus as well located in Waterbury, Connecticut, they've been around since 1890, and even if you're a completely online degree student you can come to the school and walk across the stage when you graduate. So I thought those were all pretty neat. Anyways, after all the school talk with Mike I hopped in the shower and got ready to go to the gym. When I was walking to the gym a man slowed to ask for directions, while I was crossing the street (that doesn't have an actual crosswalk). First of all...I don't understand you, secondly I'm not THAT familiar with the area yet, thirdly you really had to stop me while I was crossing? Couldn't wait until I was on the sidewalk? Like bruh, there were cars speeding past me in the other direction. I said to him, "Lo siento, no hablo mucho espanol, I'm not from here." He smiled, nodded, and drove away. I felt bad though, I wish I could have helped. Although even if I could understand him fully I probably wouldn't have been able to help him much anyways, like I said I'm not that familiar with the area yet. I got to the gym and after last week's "bracelet/gate not working" frenzy I was relieved to find the gates cooperated with me. I think I found the trick to it, nobody else seems to do it, but I take off the bracelet and just tap it around the sensor screen a few times and it seems to work. It's weird that doing the whole bracelet/gate thing actually stresses me out a little, I'm always afraid it's not going to work and I'll have to go and try to ask someone to help me (notice I said try). I think I might be an introvert. I just looked up the definition of introvert and it says, "a shy, reticent, and typically self-centered person". The first two yes, self-centered? No. I care about others and the things they do and want in life. I'm so off track here, okay so when I got passed the gates of the gym (or hell, same thing)...(just kidding), I just went through my usual routine, put stuff in my locker, hit the elliptical, workout chest/back/arms/abs, and then walked back home. The events that follow are also things that have become typical, I came in and met Mike for lunch, we talked for a bit, went upstairs, he took a nap, I was using my laptop and had found the BBC news channel on TV (which is in English and they don't try to do Spanish voice overs, probably because it's live), and before I knew it the clock read 7 pm. The normal dinner time here is like 10 pm, I like to eat around 7:30 pm. I find 10 pm to be too late, at least during the weekdays anyways. We went down to eat dinner, Mike wanted ice cream so we walked across the street to the gas station and bought ice cream, went upstairs, I showered, washed some clothes, watched a movie, and fell asleep. Tuesday and Wednesday were roughly the same except Wednesday Mike was going to be home later than usual because he had a spin and yoga class to attend after his second training, so I decided to go to the mall after the gym. We needed more laundry detergent and a few other items anyways. The walk back from the mall is partially uphill so it was sooooo much fun walking uphill with 10-15 extra pounds of grocery things in my gym backpack, a good workout though (extra calories burned, wooooh)! Also on Wednesday I finally decided to go through and blog about my fitness goals. I also joined reddit. My older brother told me about the site a while ago and the fitness/weight loss subreddits have proven to be very inspiring. I follow the "loseit" subreddit and it's just an internet community filled with people telling their stories, why they decided to start working out, how much they've lost, and giving each other suggestions/motivation/support. It may sound lame, but it's really great honestly. It's nice to be able to express all these things without judgment, especially when it comes to weight related things. Off track again, anyways after all that stuff Wednesday night ended the same way. Thursday was the same except I actually went down for breakfast, turns out that breakfast has more variety now. Before they only had sliced deli meats, cheeses, bread, fruit, juice, milk, and coffee. Now they have all that plus hard boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and various yogurts. Being that I wish to lose weight I stuck with cucumbers, the egg-white part of a hard boiled egg, a yogurt, 2 kiwis, and coffee. Mike actually walked in with a new player from Russia right when I sat down to eat breakfast. They sat down with me and Mike told me that his teammate was going to join us on Saturday to go to Barcelona city. The rest of Thursday and Friday were the same as the last few days. I had breakfast again on Friday and Saturday (trying to make that a habit), after breakfast on Saturday I went upstairs to get ready for our outing, Mike and I met his teammate downstairs and we all walked to the train station, which is ridiculously close and I didn't even know it, it only took 1 train to get to Plaza Catalunya so it's extremely convenient actually. Plaza Catalunya is basically the beginning of La Rambla, so from there we walked along the middle of the street and found the Decathlon (huge sporting goods store), we walked into a couple of other stores, and then decided to walk towards the beach. It's a pretty long walk so when the family that's reading this comes to visit make sure to bring your walking shoes! We stopped to have lunch at a place called Tapas Club, the food was really good. I had the shrimp and avocado salad with a Sangria Rosado, Mike had a burger with an Estrella Damm beer, his teammate had a pizza along with 2 Estrella Damm beers and 9 shots of tequila. Yes you read that right, 9 shots. This guy had 9 shots in one sitting, like WTF. I would have been on my ass after 5! We all had a good time though, we were joking around and laughing. I could tell Mike's teammate (his name is like Wolvo or something, I don't know how to spell it) was feeling pretty...happy...after the first 6 shots, he drank the last 3 down, we paid and left. Wolvo was on the hunt for this one specific bar on the beach called Maka Maka, it was down a ways more from where we were but we found it. We went inside, Wolvo went to the bathroom, Mike and I sat down and Mike turned to me and said, "I'm ordering something with bread or a lot of grease to sober this guy up!" That just might have worked too if Wolvo hadn't ordered another beer and 3 MORE SHOTS. But still Mike and I ordered a bucket of garlic and parmesan fries (they came in a literal bucket too), I ordered the Big Maka burger to share with Mike. Besides Belgian fries, those were the best fries I've ever had and the burger was good as well. After paying we left and walked onto the beach, I kid you not Wolvo stripped down to his boxers and ran into the ocean. Mike and I just stood on the sand cracking up, it was starting to get dark so when he came out of the water and put his clothes back on we started to make our way back to Plaza Catalunya. Wolvo was so drunk he was stumbling every so often and asked basically anyone he could where he could get some weed. It was all fun up until that point, Mike and I just didn't want him to get in trouble so we all got in one of those bike taxis to get back to Plaza Catalunya faster. This guy was literally yelling to random people as we passed them saying, "I NEED WEEEEEDDDD!" Then he'd go off and start rambling on in Russian. It was quite an adventure to say the least. We finally made it to Plaza Catalunya, walked down to the metro, got on the train, got off at our stop, walked to the hotel, and called it a night. Mike and I were pooped out, we fell asleep so quick. Next weekend we're going back to Barcelona city, but just us next time though! Here are some pictures from yesterday:
XX - Amanda!
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