Power outages suck and the eventual Spain trip

So yesterday night at 11 PM we lost power here. It didn't come back until 4 PM today. Reading fanfiction and stuff on a public computer in the Fishbowl is kind of disconcerting. Not that I mind that much what people see me reading...it's my own business, not theirs. I had to (unfortunately) throw out my ice cream. It was quite sad.
By the way, I was on the way to my Oral Exam for German when someone yelled out my name from a car. I feel bad not figuring out where or who she was. Oh well, random incident of the day.
So I decided yesterday to start planning my eventual vacation to Spain. I figure I might as well start now, since I don't think I'll be getting much vacation anytime soon. To get in a good grad school I'll need to work in a lab for my next 2 summers or so, and then once I'm at grad school I'll be there all year long (no breaks). And there's no way I could study abroad. Firstly they prefer Spanish majors. Secondly you need to be at least a sophomore, but more likely a junior or a senior (I have a lot of credits but not many count towards my GPA). Thirdly, junior year is when I'm supposed to start my research, and there's no way I can go abroad for a semester if I'm working for a professor. I don't even know if I can escape Ann Arbor next summer (though I really, really want to). I do want to go to another University for research, just so I'm experiencing something different. Unfortunately, if I do get a break between my Umich schooling and my work at Emory, most likely I'll be working in Ann Arbor. That's why I'm so jealous of people who get to go on vacation! My brother was lucky enough to get a break between college and work. I may have to wait 7 or 8 years before I get my break.
I could try to go during Spring Break, but I think it would be really expensive. And travelling to Europe is so expensive anyway. I mean, Jackie is going to London for 8 days and is spending $2400, when half of that time is probably spent doing band stuff. Plus, can I really convince my parents to dish out $1000 or so for a week in Spain? I would have to go with a bunch of people, and I can't think of anyone else who is as desperate to go to Spain as I am. And I kind of want to go alone (even though that's probably dangerous), because I feel like I'll have more freedom to do whatever I want.
Well, I better keep up with my Spanish if I'm going to go to Spain. I checked out Borders' collection of Spanish books, but there wasn't much contemporary stuff from Spain. I feel like I know like no slang whatsoever and I have no feel for conversation. Not like people are going to expect perfect Spanish from me or anything...