well here i am tying up all loose ends in spain as i pack up my stuff, use up my internet time, and write my last blog. its really sad, obviously i dont wanna come home yet, but i suppose it will be nice to sleep in my own bed, eat spicy food, and . . .thats about all the stuff i can think of right now. i'm just getting back from rome, brussels, and london. i left for rome last tuesday, early in the morning, and waited to meet my friends in the rome airport baggage claim. the first major occurrence in rome was not a good one, as one of my friends had her bag lost. as of the time i left rome, 4 days later, she still didn't have it, i think its pretty safe to say that its not coming back. its funny, the guy with the airline didnt speak fluent english, so he couldn't even doctor up his explanation to her 2 days after it was lost. he simply said: "we have no idea where it is." comforting. anyway, rome itself was a great place. weather was really hot, but it was a small price to pay to be in that city. food was great, sights were incredible, people were friendly. bus transportation was free too cause nobody ever pays for it, so that was a bonus. i couldn't believe the amount of history rome has, the roman forum and the pantheon are about 2000 years old, and a lot of it doesnt look much different than it must have back then. on friday morning, i left for london but changed planes in brussels. instead of hopping on the next morning flight to london from brussels, i spent the day there and flew out in the evening. my professor here described brussels as "the most boring city in europe." with expectations like that i suppose i couldn't be let down. at any rate, i got off the train from the airport in the middle of the city and just started walking. no map, no knowledge of the city really, just kinda wandered. it was actually a lot of fun, it was interesting trying to orient myself and i ended up meeting a nice woman who told me where i should go since i only had 5 hours in the city. the grand plac, as its called, was pretty lively. there were a bunch of streets branching off it with restaurants, chocolate shops, and stores. i bought a couple shirts and had a belgian waffle for lunch (which was sooo good. . .i couldn't even finish it cause it was so rich). in all of my adventures in brussels, i forgot to buy belgian chocolate. i was mad, with my sweet tooth i couldn't even remember to buy a box of the best chocolate in the world. . . i'll be not tasting that for weeks. . .excuse the pun. anyway, i left brussels at around 5:30pm and got to london a little later. london was a great time, i stayed with chad, keya, and tyra, who are all studying at LSE for the summer. there were so many students from u of m it was unbelievable, i kept running into people i had either met or seen before, it was crazy. in london we took one of those city bus tours, which was actually really extensive and fun. i was a total tourist, i didnt care. i saw the changing of the guard, saw the lion king (wow), national gallery, the works. i've concluded that i am only concerned about looking like a tourist when i'm in a non english speaking country. weird i know, but i guess i feel more confident that i'm not gonna get taken advantage of if i can understand everything that is going on around me. i guess its just my stupid american ignorance shining through again. damn that. . .