So far, so good

So far, so good. I´ve had a few days here by myself without any of the other students and I seem to be doing alright. I booked all of my hostels for January except for two (which I plan to finish right after I write this), and I´ve done 63 sudokus and I´ve played about a thousand games of solitaire, with real cards since I don´t have a computer in my apartment. I know, that sounds really boring, but I´ve actually enjoyed the last few days. On Sunday night I watched Oceans 11 with my host mom after dinner because it came on TV. She and I curled up underneath a big blanket and had a good time laughing at the movie. Then, lastnight, I watched the news with my host parents after dinner again, and just laughed and laughed at them. Manolo (my host dad) likes to comment on everything that is said on the news, so much so that you can´t even hear the news half the time! So Luisa (my host mom) just kept telling him to be quiet over and over again. She finally jumped over and covered his mouth... it was really funny. He chose that moment to say goodnight to us and to go into his room to watch TV there. So we started watching the season finale of Mira Quien Baila and I helped Luisa to wrap some Christmas presents for her girlfriends... I don´t think she has ever wrapped a present before in her life!! It was fun, though, and I think that they are actually enjoying having me around the house for more than just meals. Like before, I am still excited about Christmas next week with all of the family, but I also miss home a lot. Saturday was a very hard day, but a phone call to a wonderful friend really helped me through it. Then, I also got my weekly phone call from my mom, which helped too. I know that I´m going to make it through the next few weeks because I´ve got all of you encouraging me!!! So thank you!

Tomorrow I am going back to the airport to pay the money to change my ticket to May. Hopefully there will be no problems this time! After that, I have NO idea what I´ll do.. but I´m sure I´ll find something to occupy my time. There is still more of Barcelona that I can explore, so that could be on the agenda. I´ll just take it one day at a time, and before I know it I´ll be leaving for my month of travels!! Speaking of which, I changed my schedule from what I last posted!! First, the trip starts on January 3rd when I leave Barcelona and head to Marseille in France. From their I´ll be heading to Brussels, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Rome, Venice, Geneva, and back to Barcelona. I have about 2 days, sometimes 3 in each of the cities, and a lot of time on the train. I´ll be back in Barcelona on the 29th, so it is a pretty long trip. I´m really excited because it is so close, but I feel like I still have so many plans to make! I guess that´s a part of my next two weeks, right? If you have any pointers for me or anything that I should see in any of the cities, let me know!

Okay, I´m going to book those last two hostels and get out of here. Hope you are all having fun in the snow!!