Isla de Mallorca!

Thursday

We got to Mallorca around 8:00 in the morning, and we were all MESSED UP. We'd taken sleeping pills to help us sleep, obviously, and avoid seasickness during the night. But the boat was freezing and none of us slept very well. So we were like zombies getting off the boat. We had to take the bus to the main building of the port, from which we hopped the number 1 bus to Passeig de Mallorca. We walked around for about 30 minutes, asking strangers along the way where Calle Apuntadores was. FINALLY we found Hostel Ritzi and checked in.

Luckily, one of our rooms was ready, and we settled in. Jordan Lee, Mel and I took 2 hour naps while the other girls showered.

Finally, around 11:45, we left the hostel. We got lunch at a cute little cafe right around the corner from where we were staying. It was a GORGEOUS day, so we sat outside and just enjoyed our relaxation time. We walked around, shopped a little, and wandered through the beautiful cathedral gardens.

We made our way down to the beach,

but it was too windy to stay, much less lay out, like we'd hoped. So we shopped around some more :)

We also stopped in a cute little pastry shop and had cake and coffee. Afterwards, we just wandered through the streets of Mallorca. Mel and I headed back early. Eventually the other girls came back too. I spent about an hour downstairs, watching some news and chatting with a new Australian friend, Jason. That's my favorite part about hostels - all the cool people you meet. Afterwards, I went back upstairs, and the 5 of us spent about 2 hours just hanging out in the room, singing old songs harmoniously. It was so fun.

At 11:00, we finally decided to go to dinner. We ended up at a random little restaurant, where we were the only customers. We had tapas (seafood salad, chicken, veggies, etc.) and little bocadillos. We also had Sangria to drink - and it was very good! Our waiter was satisfied with his work :) The fruit was delicious.

Afterwards, Jlee and Lana went to get some sleep (it was 12:45 by the time we finished) but SK and Mel and me wanted to spend a night out on the town! So we went to a little bar called Shamrocks, where the crowd was definitely an older one. There was a cool mariachi band playing, so we stayed there for a while.

Eventually we walked down 'the strip' looking for a good place with fun music to dance to. We hopped around, enjoying the different kinds of music each place offered, and finally made our way home around 4:00! It was super fun - but very late. As soon as we got back to the hostel, we were in the bed and fast asleep!

Friday

We woke up this morning around 8:45 and got breakfast in the hostel - it was DELICIOUS, too. A baguette, juice, jam and cheese, a muffin, cereal, and coffee. Afterwards, we showered and got dressed and packed.

Around 10:15, we caught taxis to the port, checked in, and got back on our ferry. We spent the entire day napping, studying, hanging out, eating, and enjoying our last day together. It was really fun, just being together. We spent the last hour or so at the front of the boat, just watching the gorgeous sunset. It was truly magical.

Finally, we made it back to Valencia around 9:00. The weather had been nasty, so it took a lot longer that we'd expected. We caught taxis back to my house, where they packed their things and headed to the hostel. We all need to get good sleep tonight because their flight is at 8:10 in the morning... which means an early wake up call!

This trip has been really amazing. It had the potential to make us all hate each other, having spent more time together than we ever have at once. But the Lord was definitely in it, and we are closer than we've ever been before. I feel like we've all learned more about ourselves, and about each other, than we ever expected to. It's amazing, and I am so grateful for my 4 best friends.