You've all been waiting...

And some of you have actually started nagging (no no, I need it). It's WAY overdue. So I finished my work before dinner specifically so I could write this epic blog entry. And watch more episodes of The Wire without feeling guilty. It really would be impossible to write about everything that happened over break, so I'll pick out a few highlights, and if you want to know more about a specific bit of my time, ask away and I'll regale you.

France was great, a whirlwind of phenomenal art, company, food, wine, and culture. One highlight was meeting Guy Sitbon, a renowned French journalist, who graciously led a fascinating tour of Paris (including a delicious lunch of Hungarian food) and shared his home when accommodation was lacking. I learned in Paris that wine gets me drunk often much faster than I realize, Metro systems are not as intimidating as they first seem, and Pan au Chocolat really means NOTHING outside of France.

I took a train from Paris to Lyon, where I spent a week and a half with Meg at her apartment, relaxing, partying, and meeting LOTS of Brits (sad, I know). We also ate a lot of Nutella. 'Nuff said.

Meg and I flew to Madrid, where we spent a truly amazing weekend immersing ourselves in culture (local and global) and eating lots of ham. I think we had as good a time as we did because we were guided by an AMAZING list Courtney made for Meg, including restaurants, museums, and other great things we might have missed otherwise.

Meg took off on Sunday morning and I hung out for the rest of the day before taking a train to Barcelona. Once there, I met up with Nicko just as he was on his way out of town. It was awesome to see him in person after so long, and catch up a little bit. Then I spent about a week alone, hanging out and exploring the city before my parents and brother arrived.

It was obviously great to see my family after three months away. There were some major issues with our accommodations, but once those issues were cleared up it was pretty smooth sailing. Interesting because this was the first touristy vacation my family has had since my brother and I were really old enough to have a say in what we were doing that day. This made for exactly twice as much discussion (and subsequent frustration) than our previous European trips. Despite this, we had a lot of fun, TOOOOONS of good food, and some really wonderful meals with native Spaniards.

I made it back to England to spend a night at the GORGEOUS estate (yes) of a family friend before setting off back to London.

I spent the day with Charlie, wandering around before he left the next day, and we had a great time in Covent Garden and beyond finding cool little shops. We rounded out the day with the traditional cartoon watching, which was simply perfect.

While at times stressful, annoying, and maybe even boring, the break was, overall, a great experience, and I even learned a little about myself.

NOW - onwards and upwards. Hopefully I'll post within a few days about my new classes, my plans for the semester, and even more exciting, my plans for a summer job. Can't wait!