I'm in Spain!!  I love it here!

 I flew out of Cedar Rapids.  I left on a Friday morning and arrived in Spain the next morning.  One of my connections was in New York and my plane flew over Manhattan and the Atlantic Ocean, which had white caps on it.   I hadn't seen an ocean in four years!  I drank some red wine on the flight to Barcelona and fell asleep.  When I woke up, the sun was rising and I was over the mountains of Spain.  Then, I saw Barcelona and the Mediterranean.  

 My friend, Juan Carlos, picked me up from the airport and we took a couple of trains and a bus to my flat.  The view from my place is fantastic!!  I'm living in the mountains west of the city.  

 JC said that Shakira lives in a mansion in these mountains b/c she is dating one of the Spanish soccer players.  

 Juan immediately took me to the center of Barcelona.  This street is Las Ramblas, it has beautiful maple trees on each side and runs all the way to the beach.  It is always packed with people.  

 A theater.  

 A busy market.  

 Cute ponies.  

 Parrots and palm trees.  

 The harbor.  

 JC and I got the best ice cream cone I've ever had in this store.  It had one scoop of cappuccino and one scoop of dark chocolate with brownie chunks and caramel and a waffle cone.  It was fantastic.   

 Their chocolates were works of art.  

 Sunset at the beach.  

 Juan just about broke a leg getting this sea urchin.  He convinced me to venture a ways on these 6' tall cement blocks, but then I got too scared to go further.  Height aren't my cup of tea, but Juan just went sky diving after he graduated.  He is fearless, hence he almost fell off a block.  

 Then, we momentarily crashed a party/wedding at the 5 star hotel next to the beach to get a photo with these fabulous ladies.  One of them then proceeded to go up the stairs behind us on her stilts--impressive.  

 Then we took the metro to La Sagrada Familia, a giant cathedral designed by the famous Spanish architect, Gaudi.  

 The next day, I mustered up the courage to venture into the city alone.  This is the square at the center of Barcelona.  The art work is quite beautiful.  

 An Italian greyhound--maybe it's actually from Italy.  

 I went to mass at the cathedral.  It was in Spanish and I could pick up on a few words.  I was just happy that it wasn't in Catalan, the native language of this part of Spain.  

 There were multiple musicians playing in the streets near the cathedral.  

 This was a little museum.  

 This Irish man was giving a tour and talking about how Catalonia wants independence from Spain (he is holding their independence flag) and many say that Madrid owes the region money.  

 This is the vet school.  It is a open, airy building.  

 People take their dogs on the Metro.  

 View of La Segrada Familia from the Park Guell.  

 More buildings designed by Gaudi.  

 The roofs are mosaics.  

 Gaudi's house from the early 1900's.  

 I went to a mall in the center of Bcn and this woman walked in right before me wearing a wedding dress.  Kind of random.  

 This is Melissa, whom I love dearly.   

 Ashley came out with us on Tuesday night.  ( :

We went to the London Underground, which is rather ironic b/c I will be in London for real in a few weeks! 

Yesterday, my bible study was fantastic.  There is a guy in our group from Colombia and he was really interesting.  He said that getting a PhD has always been his dream and it's super rare to get the opportunity if you're from Colombia.  He also talked about how he served in the army for a while because it is mandatory to do a year there and then he decided to get out because one of his friends died.  And he also talked about how everyone is Catholic there.  He said when a politician was scheduled to give a pro-abortion speech, all the bishops moved the mass times to the same time so that hardly anyone even showed up to the talk.  Lastly, it was nice to hear him talk about his faith life.  How he had decided to believe in God and how that is helping him not feel so alone now that he is not even on the same continent as his family.  

After bible study, we decided to go hiking in reactor woods via candlelight and a giant glow stick (that's all we could scrounge up out of Ashley's trunk, which was actually pretty impressive).  And then we got about ten feet down the trail before chickening out.  It was rather amusing.  Some other time maybe.  Then, we walked into Cafe Mood which was interesting.  The scantily-clad bar girls got up on the bar and Melissa looks at me and says, "look Allie, it's you."  I didn't know this before, but apparently dancing on the bar is something that is retained in people's memories forever, despite the fact that I was not scantily-clad when this occurred.  It's retained for good reason--that was definitely one of the most fun nights that I've spent with Melissa.  Going out with her is usually an adventure.  

The sunset at my family's farm was AMAZING tonight!

I'm back in Ames for a couple of days (until Thursday) to have some fun before I leave for two months!

I stumbled upon this in my fav places.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/paws/cats-as-fonts
#6 is too funny.  I chuckle every time I look at it.

I'm done with my residency applications, I just put the last one in the mailbox!  I don't know why I dreaded doing them in the first place.  Silly me.  Now I can just have fun the rest of the week, although I've been having fun all along and just working some of the time anyway.  I went to a labor day weekend picnic with Ashley Waller and her family and then to another one with my extended family.  My cousin was home from Boston and it was nice to get to see her.

Yesterday, I went to church and the priest gave a good homily.  It wasn't very deep but encompassed the heart of being a Christian.  He talked about his relationships with his parents, which were each very different.  His mom gave and enforced many rules, while his dad didn't give any.  He loved his dad dearly and always tried to please him, while he begrudgingly followed his mother's rules.  His father showed him how he wanted his son act by being an example.  Then, the priest said that his relationship with his dad resembled much more closely his relationship with God than his relationship with his mom.  And some folks think Catholics only care about rules--too funny.

Then, I had lunch w/ Ashley again and hung out with my high school friend, Dani Bell last night.  Her mom made lasagna and we had a bonfire.  It was quite lovely.  ( :

I went to a wedding w/ John over the weekend.  We were at the rowdy table that drank 8 bottles of campaign.  It was a good time.  

 Now I'm in the Wisconsin Dells on vacation with my family.  I'm living in luxury but was pretty stressed out last night about the amount of work that I need to get done.  My email has exploded and I have to apply for at least 5 residencies.  I went to a water park with my brother, dad, and my dad's friend this morning and have got a little work done this afternoon so far.  I'm feeling less stressed today.  ( :

 Mallards!

 My brother, David, and niece, Keira (the little one on the left).  

They are super cute.  

This is a great photo!!

 Percheron draft horses.  They are gorgeous.  

 A big and beautiful team of mares.  

 I got an ISU tattoo.  Just kidding, it's fake.  

I just got back from a Christian Veterinary Fellowship BBQ.  They had a panel of profs and practicing vets talk about how they incorporate Christianity into their work life and it was really refreshing to hear their wisdom!  I got to catch up with some good friends too!