You better not wake me up at 2 am cuz I'm not doing that with you

Carnaval.It's this big fun festival before Lent. Yeah, Mardi Gras is just Tuesday, and this is a full weekend. So most of my friends here went to islands and places where it was warm. I ended up going to Marburg, Germany to visit the one and only Stephanie Tesch. I say it was a fair choice. And as any travel story on this blog goes, it's not without travel issues. Ready for this?!

So I leave Friday during the day- as in... I skip classes. Whatever, so I get on my bus. No big deal. Haven't traveled to Madrid before... let alone by myself, but it was fine. I get to the airport, ask someone where to go for Ryanair and I'm on my way. I'm there MUCH too early. My flight isn't even up on the screen, so I buy a Cosmo to kill some time. I got bored of killing time. That really shouldn't come as much of a surprise. My boredom led to wandering around and stumbling across my gate! What luck. I decide to pop a squat and attack Harry Potter y la Cámara de Secretos. I'm there for a long time, and I mean a LONG time. The flight before mine had been boarding for what seemed like hours, so I decided to go check the big screen again, look for my flight and.... it's been moved. Okay, I say to myself, I have plenty of time. I did, too. I walk down there. The screen says Frankfurt, all is well. I get up to get in line to start boarding and the screen changes to Santiago! Not cool, Ryanair, not cool. So I go back to the big screens, and it says that Frankfurt is leaving from the gate where I just was. Determined to find out the truth, I return to ask the employee who has no idea what is going on. Typical. Back to the screen for me, to find out that my flight has been moved back to the gate where I was. Everyone dashes there like crazy and lo and behold, the flight from before is still boarding. Little weird, but we all wait while across the room a sign shows up with Frankfurt on it. There is a mad dash to be first in line. I'm thinking, FINALLY. Then an employee comes up to tell us that our flight isn't leaving from that gate. We're leaving from the original one. Yes, of course we are. Another stampede ensues and then we can finally start boarding. By this time, however, I have made a friend from Madrid... originally from the States. She was studying there, and now living there. Whatever. We were flight buddies up to the airport- we even got some beer together while we waited for our buses to bring us to the train station. Which is another little fiasco in itself.

Inside, the schedule told me that my bus would leave promptly at 6 pm. So my new friend and I are drinking our aforementioned beer whilst waiting until about 5:30. I've already bought my ticket, but I decide to head on outside to wait. There are a smattering of people, and new friend and I part ways. Unfortunately for me, I find out that the bus doesn't leave at 6.... it left at 5:30, a mere few moments before I leave. This is already really crappy because our flight got us there a little after the 4 something bus left, so now I have to wait again.... until 7 to leave. Can you believe it? It was horrible. On the plus side, I made another friend. This one was from Cataluña, a region in Spain. She's learning English and we talked until the next bus came while we got some food. It was a little hectic, but finally we got on our bus and made our way to the train station where my dearest Steph was waiting for me. From that point there was still more transportation to get from Frankfurt to Marburg in which we caught up a little on each others' lives and I recounted my lovely little airport tale.

If you couldn't already guess, we got in a little late, so my first night in Germany was pretty chill. Steph brought me over to one of the many Doner restaurants (which we also have in Spain, but with much fewer selection) to grab some real food to bring back to her apartment. I was pretty wiped since I had to get up before the buttcrack of dawn. (I forgot to mention that, but my bus to get to Madrid left at 6 am.... what crap). We basically ate our food and chatted before turning in a little early, but it was fine. After all that transportation drama I needed a little break.

The next day was our explore Marburg day. We went into town to check out some of the shops. The street looked like Diagon Alley, and I pretty much adored it. Yes, Harry Potter truly is everywhere. Anyway, the little street adventure was fun. There were tons of little shops with just random and cute things. There was also a comic book store with Spiderman in front hanging from a wire. (Fun fact! Spiderman in Spanish is still Spiderman; however it is pronounced Spee-derman.) Oh, and a gummy shop! Seriously, nothing but gummies in it. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't purchase any. What on earth was I thinking? Our wanderings then brought us to the grocery store to get some toilet paper. Exciting stuff, I know. Although, I did buy some very good chocolate. Then it was back to chill at the apartment a little bit before our excursions for the night.


After some viewing of 500 Days of Summer and Cosmo reading, we went back out on the town. This time we were meeting up with two of Steph's friends: Carissa and Christina. We were going to out go to eat with them, but Steph said I needed some Auuflauf (which I can't spell, and that was my poor attempt), and I agreed. They went to a salad place and I got some yummy baked pasta dish with some German beer. SUCCESS! Then once our nice little dinner was done, we went back to the dorms in order to make our masks for Carnaval the next day. It resulted in massive amounts of glitter everywhere. I feel a little bad for Christina. She probably has some in her lungs now. It was a lot of fun, though, and I got to meet a couple more of Steph's German friends before we went out for the night. We didn't stay out too long because unbeknownst to us, the club was Raggae dance hall. Needless to say, we could only watch the potheads dance so long before we decided it best to head on home. After all, we did have to get up kind of early in order to make our way out to Cologne for the Carnaval festivities.

This day is a blur in my memory, plus I didn't take many pictures, so I really have no idea what happened in what order. I remember a long train ride with beautiful German country side and a silly porter man that was really friendly. In Cologne, there were lots of crazies everywhere. People were dressed up as almost anything imaginable, and most of the men were dressed like women, Cologne being the gay capitol of Germany and all. Anyway, we watched the parade for a while before meeting up with Christina's friend who is studying there. He's a real German, and he showed us around all day. It was a big wander-fest that led to some McDonald's and a completely packed metro. Good times over all. We were really only there a few hours before we had to get back on the train to Marburg, but whatever. It happens. I honestly felt like I used the trip to really get down all modes of transportation- especially in Germany. Coming back was also more fun, because this time everyone was drunk. They weren't even that young, either. It was like my parents and their friends after a few too many drinks on Halloween. I loved it.

The next day was me getting up obscenely early to get back to Valladolid. More transportation and some of it on my own- well, most of it. Steph got me to the train station and then I was on my own from there. No difficulties this time. I slept a lot more once I was on the plane, too. I was wiped! Finally got back to home sweet away from home only to find out that my mother had been freaking out for an entire day about my whereabouts. I didn't die, obviously, but she's silly. And that was my Carnaval/German experience.

Don't post that on Facebook; I look like a demon.

This one's short because not much happened between Portugal and Carnaval. We had a weekend in Valladolid. We proceeded to party it up and drink. We also checked out a free photo exhibition from this really famous woman photographer from Germany during WWII. This was the time of some spring break planning and just trying to make it to Carnaval. There was some breaking down and eating of Burger King. Aaaaaaaand..... BREAK!

the crucifiction of ronald mcdonald

Let's play some more catch-up, shall we? I'm also avoiding studying for exams, so lucky for all you story-listeners, I'm a procrastinator. The tale today will be about Portugal. I went to Portugal on Feb 19. I'm very sorry that I continue to suck royally at this blogging thing.

Anyway, our Portugal trip. We decided that we would take an overnight train to Portugal. We went through Renfe, which gave us much grief throughout the process, but whatever. We wanted to take a train, so we did, but only after our master plan. Most of us having difficulties sleeping on transportation decided to hit up the chups bar before our excursion so the alcohol could make us sleepy. Pretty sure it worked. Almost all of us slept- then again it was 3 am when we finally got on the train. I slept. Sorry that there isn't much more to tell of that ordeal.

We got there the next morning, grab the metro to where our hostel should be, go to check in. We can't, so we decide to drop off our bags and check out the ocean/river. It's right where they meet, so I say it's the ocean. We got distracted by a market with a bunch of cool handmade stuff. It was good times. It also became a frequented location for us during that week. This market was also very close to the water. By that time, it was pretty much downpouring and very, very windy. It was still very pretty.

 

first view of portugal

plaza and the view of the ocean

the plaza

the ocean!

So after our rainy adventure, we decided to head on back to the hostel to check in. The man working just laughed at us. We were still an hour early, because our watches were still on Spanish time. So yes, in case you were wondering, Portugal and Spain are NOT in the same time zone. So we had to go back out into the Portuguese streets to find something to do. Somehow we decided it would be a good idea to stay OUT in the rain (although there was an amazing market where I bought the coolest scarf ever) and basically turned into drowned rats before ducking into a restaurant for some much needed gofres (or waffles). It was also at this time when we did some tourist shopping before deciding that the weather was too disgusting and thought it best to go to the aquarium. We had to hop back on the metro (this thing became our best friend, I swear) to get there, and then we still had a ways to walk. It was fun, though. We got to see these cool fountains and just wander until we finally get to the aquarium, which really looks more like some floating science lab. It was built for the world fair when it was there however many years ago. I don't actually need to know this stuff.

Anyway, the aquarium. I really enjoyed it. Not only were there awesome mosaics outside, the inside was pretty amazing. The center was a huge open aquarium filled with a bunch of different kind of fish- like sharks! We kept coming back to this as we moved our way through the different oceans of the world. They had penguins and sea otters! They were absolutely adorable and probably my favorites. I got some videos of them playing in the water. As far as wildlife went, nothing was that out of the ordinary, but it was still a nice break from the gross weather. Also, never saw somewhere themed like that. You go from a room with giant fake glaciers to one filled with a humid mist.


We actually killed a LOT of time in the aquarium, but then after we wanted to go in these gondola/basket things that brought us along the coast. Let me clear this up first, I HATE BEING ENCASED OVER WATER! Yeah, that's like my biggest fear. Some of you may understand my hatred of bridges. It's really not bridges that I'm afraid of; it's being stuck in a car going over a bridge because that car can fall off into the water, I'll be trapped and I will drown and die! Okay, that's a little dramatic, but that was also my sentiment towards these stupid gondolas, and everyone thought it was hilarious to push this fear to the end. I mean, yes, the view was spectacular, but when fear is creeping in the corner like the most magnificent creep of all times, it kinda kills the full WOW factor. I survived it, though.

Once we were done with these shenanigans (including some ice cream buying and puppy playing), we finally got to check into our hostel. About damn time, right? Well, it didn't matter much because we wanted to go out and explore more. There was a castle in Portugal that we wanted to see during the day, and by this time it was night. Lemme explain something about old castles. They are on top of hills. I was sick of hills, so I was kinda not in the mood for going to see a castle at night when we couldn't even get inside. That being said, we split up and Emily Kurmis, Andrea, and I went down to the beach again and had a nice little chill time talking and walking through the (freezing ass cold) water. We waited forever for the adventurous crew to return before meandering our way back into the hostel to get organized for dinner making- YUM!

Steven was our trusty cook once again. I was the shopper helper along with someone else... like I can remember now. I guess that means I should be better with this? Probably. Anyway, we went to the grocery store. Wow... couldn't find like anything we really wanted. Also, in Portugal, not only is the time zone not the same as Spain, neither is the language! It was hard finding the food we needed, but eventually we got it down (and some personal little wine boxes) before we headed back to the hostel, but not without being offered pot like 5 bazillion times (okay... like three times). It was dinner time, then- naturally. The hostel was pretty bustling at that time because there was a dinner that they were putting on. That meant we had to wait for the kitchen, but it also meant we got to mingle and social drink a bit before Steven made our huge feast that we were unable to eat. We ended up pawning it off on some large group of drunkards that were from everywhere and silly. In general, the night was full of drunkards and silliness. We made friends from Brazil who tried to read our fortunes and teach us sassy things in Portuguese that I can't remember, but that's life. It was just a really fun night in general, though. The lounge felt more like a big international party, and it was really a shame that we were only there the one night.

The next morning was our Monastery/market day. We had breakfast in the hostel, which was nothing spectacular, before we made our way to the bus area. We stopped at the market again. There were just so many cool handmade things, plus some homeless man with the most adorable puppies on the face of the earth. We played with them; it couldn't be stopped. Then we got on our train/bus/whatever mode of transportation to the Monastery. We luckily got in for free (unlike the bus which was rather expensive). I really only liked the Monastery because it reminded me of Harry Potter, but do you really expect anything else from me at this point? Good. So when we were done wandering around the Monastery, we wanted to check out this market that we saw on the way over. It was like a giant farmers market. There were some cool things and dumb things as any market goes, but it was fun. I ended up lusting after this leather purse and splurged on it. Shoot me. Then it was time to leave, and Steven thinks he can run down to the coast really quickly. WRONG! We ended up waiting for him FOREVER and then it was pretty much rush central to get back to our hostel to get our stuff and back on the metro to get to the train station, and this is where the fun ensues.

So we get there, and we're looking for our train... we don't see it anywhere. We think... hmm, that's odd. It was. So we ask. We are then told that it leaves from Platform 1. Awesome. We go to Platform 1. Our nerves are high because Steven stopped to buy postcards and we're getting pretty close to the leaving time. We want to ask someone to calm said nerves. There is this nice older gentleman that takes a look at our ticket. He tells us it's not right. The train coming in isn't international. Commence major freakout session. We go tearing off down to ask someone. We say don't split up. What do we do? Split up. We are literally running everywhere, only to find out we WERE in the right spot. Our train was moved back a few minutes, and it was right all along. Life was fine and dandy, besides the fact we were convinced we almost missed our train. Something must always go wrong, though, right? Right. At least when we travel. So I decided to relax by reading pretty much the whole way home. It was perfect.

it's totally the well from army of darkness

shit guys, i really suck at this. it's been a really long time, and i honestly have no excuse besides i just get really bored.. like bored beyond the want of doing anything. I'll try to be better I promise. So I have about 3 weeks to catch you guys up on. And by 3 weeks, I mean 3 weekends, because let's face it, the weekdays are a little on the dry side. I go to class, sometimes a lot and sometimes a little, I do homework, teach, go to intercambio and every once in a while a fun thing (like the Beatles tribute last Thursday). Maybe if I stop failing so much, I'll be able to tell you all about the nuances of Spanish life, but it really isn't all excursions and travelling.

Starting with excursions. Three weekends ago we went to the province of Valladolid. Yep, you heard me; we went on an excursion to our own province. Valladolid is the center of it, or capital of sorts, so we went around to some historic sites- three exactly. This seems to be a little bit of a pattern. Anyway, our first stop was La Villa Romana, or Roman village. In case you guys weren't aware, Spain used to be controlled by Romans around the 1st century. This is why Spanish is a ROMANtic language, also why I said some things about a Roman aqueduct in Segovia. Anyway, they found this old village buried underneath a farm type area and began to excavate it. It's in incredible condition still. Really unbelievable.

Fake excavators on site

some of the original mosaic tiling

more of it

these guys actually had running water back then. crap!

 

 

 

So after we hit up the historical aspect, we went to this reenactment place just on the other side of the field. There were some fake drunk and in love Romans walking around. Can't say I understood everything, but it was very interesting to say the least. We were also brought out to help sing a love song? Which basically meant we read a love poem with a lot of character. Naturally, the girls did a better job with this. Then after we were given wine with roses which somehow ended up tasting more like meat. Don't ask me how they did it, but they did. So we sipped on that while lounging around the rooms getting  a feel for what it was like to be Roman. I've learned that they had shitty beds, but everything else wasn't all that horrible. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures.

So once we were done with that business, we made our way over to some other city. I was sleeping and don't pay much attention to where we are going, so I don't know the name of it. All I know is that we were going to see a castle in ruins, which was pretty awesome. We got to see some dungeons, climb way too many stairs, and get a great view of the city. I was a big fan.

these would be the creep stairs leading to the dungeon in which prisoners would be chained to the wall to drown when it rained.

This is the well at the bottom of the stairs. The light at the top is the sun shining outside.

View from the top.

Countryside

This was this pedestal at the top of a windy tower, so we do we all do? Stand on it of course.

Our last stop of the day was Tordesillas. This place is really most famous for being the home of Juana la Loca, one of Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter. She basically went nuts after her husband died and was kept in a prison of sorts here. It really wasn't anything too exciting. We wandered around a bit, heard the extended version of what I just told you, and looked at miniature buildings in a museum. Definitely my least favorite part of that excursion. And that pretty much concludes what happened on our Valladolid excursion. Stay tuned for the previous missing two weeks!

That's What She Said

Ouch, sorry once again folks. Life is surprisingly quite busy, and I am unsurprisingly lazy. So Barcelona, and some other fun things that have happened. We'll start with the flight. It was fine. Valladolid airport is SUPER tiny. I mean, there's like nothing there. So that's where we flew out. It was a good predictor of how the weekend would go. We were silly and started making way too many "That's what she said" jokes that continued on for the rest of our trip. It was short, too. I guess that's because Barcelona's really not that far, but then we needed a bus to get to Plaza Catalunya before walking to our hostel. It was late and dark and we didn't really have a good handle of the city, but we're just very unprepared travelers. Luckily it has always worked out for us. Anyway, we DID get to the hostel safe and sound. The place was amazing. With a name like Hip Karma, we were thinking it'd be totally sketchy, but it was really nice. The bed were bunked and curtained, which I enjoyed a lot. We had free wifi, a kitchen (with everything needed to cook), and the bathrooms were super nice too for being community style. Basically, our  hostel was wonderful. I really kind of miss it.

Saturday brought us delicious french toast courtesy of Steven, our great chef of the weekend, and a trip back to Catalunya to purchase some tour bus tickets! Yes, we are dorks, but it was actually really nice. We rode on the second level so we got to see everything and it brought us directly to the places we wanted to hit up. Tourist buses are cool, man. Anyway, that day we got to Montjuic, which is this old gypsy village up near the mountains. It was also this village that the Spanish government cleared out in order to host the Olympic games in Barcelona. Kind of douchey if you ask me, but the stadium was flipping awesome. We got to go inside and look around a bit. Most of it was closed off, but it was so weird thinking that not even 20 years ago, some of the best athletes in the world were competing here for the honor of their countries. There was also a cool fountain and other great things to take pictures of. Of course, they are on Facebook. We also met up with Andrea's friend that was studying in Spain around this time, too.

After our Montjuic adventure, we walked around looking for some food and found this little tapas place. The food was pretty good, and the owner was super nice. A couple of us also got a drink, and dang! was it strong. Not even joking. I was buzzing hardcore after one sangria. It was ridiculous. But then after we made it down the port and coast. It was right at sunset, and although we wanted to make it all the way to Barceloneta, the beach, I think we got some wonderful pictures anyway. Also, some crepes, YUM! Later that night, Emily and Lisa went to the Barcelona game, so we headed back to the hostel for some more of Steve's cooking and some ridiculous dancing. It was a great time. After being outside all day, it was nice to just chill a little in the hostel and have fun.

Next day was our Gaudi day. Gaudi, for those of you who don't know, was an architect during the Modernism art period. He was pretty much a forerunner of the movement and was a a complete genius. Basically, I have a crush on him. Anyway, we hit up La Sagrada Familia, which is Gaudi's masterpiece. It's uncomplete and has been worked on for over 100 years now. Although Gaudi died some time ago, all of his scale models and plans have remained. Even unfinished this place is absolutely stunning. I walked in and my mouth literally dropped open. There is no way to describe exactly how it makes you feel but I could spend forever in there looking at things. The facades on the outside are Biblical stories and the artwork is just stunning. Then you get inside and everything is colorful with the stained glass and precise. The details blew my mind. Everything is contoured as well. There's not a straight line in the place. I would love to go back to see it once it's been completed.

Later we made it down to Park Guell, which is where Gaudi lived and has been turned into a huge park. This place is also gorgeous. Near the entrance there's a lot of Gaudi's work, and as you move away it turns more into manipulation of nature to accent the beauty and make pathways and such. Emily and I explored quite a bit of it and got to see the entire city from one of the hills at the top. We were also little rebel children and jumped a fence to get back over to the main area. There were also some guys playing music in this little alcove in the front. They sounded unbelievable. The echoes just made my mind go blank and listen to how beautiful the sound was. We caved and bought CDs, but I say it was quite a good investment.

That night was pasta night. Steve was basically our live saver when it came to food. It was so good, even if he said it wasn't, but whatever. We enjoyed it and then it was time to cruise on over to the bar for some FOOOOOTBAAAAAAAALLL! Yes, I did indeed watch the game in Barcelona. I wish I could have been home for it, but here I got to drink in a public place and swear at the top of my lungs without getting yelled at by my parents. Before the game started, we also sang some Karaoke, crazy right? It was "Hey Jude," and it was actually a lot of fun. However, I don't think I'd like to sing in  front of a group of people in a country where people actually know me. Also, there were some guys that we met from Spain in Packer jerseys. They admitted they were fans and when we asked them why, they asked us if we knew about "That 70's Show!" Yes, they are Packer fans because of a TV program. Love it! But the game was so exciting. I pretty much was one of the loudest people there. Staying up that late was totally worth it. I also lost my voice for a few days afterward, and now I'm sick... so I'm not sure if my voice is a little off from the game or being sick.

Monday was our last day and we were going to go to Las Ramblas, a big outdoor shopping street, and the beach. It was a lot of fun. Emily met up with her friend that lives in Barcelona while we wandered a bit. Most of the stands were very touristy, but we did find a big market where Andrea and I tried cactus flower and coconut juice. Surprisingly delicious. I also got some music by a Spanish composer at this little Beethoven music shop. We wandered around until we met back up with Emily, right after getting some good ole-fashioned KFC and McDonalds. So we continued on our quest for the beach, but not before stopping in a sex shop for all of 2 min. It was a little awkward being in there during broad daylight with other people in there. It was back on the road again, and we finally reached the sea to make our way down to Barceloneta when the other Emily realized her wallet was missing. It turned into a frantic search to find it; however, our attempts were fruitless and we instead had to go to the police station to file a report. Hopefully all will go well. Emily got her cards canceled right away and still had her debit card and passport, so it really was the best scenario for a bad situation. By this time we had to head on back to our hostel and get all of our stuff to get back on the plane to Valladolid. Again, another good flight. We got there on time, so this silly little fanfare played, but then we had to wait for over an hour for the bus to get us back into the city. That part was rather unfortunate.

And that was pretty much our Barcelona trip. I'll be updating soon on the rest of our adventures over the past week or so.

When in Spain, Buy Hooker Boots

Again, it's been quite some time. Do I see a pattern coming? Might just be that. Life is getting to some of the mundane parts. We're full time students. Our History class has been reinstated (cuz our professor was gone for two weeks), and I've already had 2 tests with another tomorrow. I should be studying for that, but I thought of all of you instead and decided to update you on my life. How sweet am I?

There is probably going to be no order to this, and I will write things as I remember. We had a fun weekend out. We finally found the chocolate shots! We were really proud of ourselves, and the place is pretty nice. Basically, we will be going back. And on our return, we never ran into the perro! It's so wonderful. I'm really glad that we've had a few walks back in complete safety. Although, we do plan escape routes every time we walk back.

I also started teaching on Monday. I'm helping an 8 yr old girl with her work in school. She attends a bilingual school here in Spain, so her classes in English change often. I'm also supposed to  help her with her speaking. It's pretty low-key and laid back, but I really enjoy it. The first session went well, so I'm looking forward to keep working with her. Plus, I get paid pretty damn well.

We went to see Todo Sobre Mi Madre on Tuesday... so, yesterday. It's one of our cultural excursion type things. It was good, but a little weird. There was a lot of Spanish cursewords, and therefore I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I'd suggest it to many people because, one) it was in Spanish and two) not sure who would really be into it. Almodovar is a different kind of director, but very famous here in Spain. He also directed Volver. I guess if you really like Penelope Cruz I'd tell you to check him out, cuz she's in a lot of his films.

Let's see, what else? The World Cup trophy was in Valladolid the other day. The queen also came to visit. Our Barcelona trip is planned (and said planning involved some damn good frozen Bailey's coffee) and we depart tomorrow. That led to an inevitable trip to the bus station today to figure out how to get to the airport. Along the way we found a Domino's and a sex shop. Oh, I love this place.

I guess that's it. Like I said, it hasn't been nearly as exciting lately. Maybe it still seems exciting to you all, but it's really starting to become my home, so it's slowly becoming just as boring as Eau Claire or Geebs. Haha. Also, I do miss the snow, guys. You're all on the news for it here in Spain. Makes me wanna come back to watch the Super Bowl (which I will still watch in Barcelona this weekend). Until next time.

They Aren't Applauding Cuz We Left, Right?

Jeeze, I'm really starting to suck at this, lo siento chicos. Basically a lot has happened since I last updated, so I feel like this is gonna be a doozy. Let's begin with about where we left off, last weekend. I'm sure something happened in school, but I know you all don't want to learn about what I'm learning. Oh, besides the class thing, we went to El Castillo, which has the most amazing churros con chocolate on the face of the earth (or at least that I've tried so far) where we were invited to some Celtic music thing later that night at a cafe. It ended up not being exactly what we expected, but a good time nevertheless. Plus it was away from Calle Santiago where the Grim lives (because he showed up again Thursday night after we went out to the bars). And then the next day we went to Segovia.

I'm not going to gush every detail of the day here because it would probably bore you all to pieces, so I will just give a preview and (hopefully) soon there will be a fully commentated slew of fotos on facebook. If you don't have my facebook, you're probably a creep and should stop reading about my life. Just kidding, but seriously. Anyway, Segovia; it's pretty spectacular. It's even smaller than Valladolid, but unlike this precious city in which I'm currently living, Segovia has a giant freaking aqueduct at the entrance to the city. This aqueduct was the product of the Romans in the 1st century. It's still standing quite solidly without any use of cement. It was a little terrifying but awe-inspiring at the same time. We proceeded to be lead through the city by one of our 3 male professors because apparently the women know nothing about Segovia. That's probably not true, but the male teachers are the ones with subjects that deal with visiting cities. We learned a lot about how the city was built/decorated before they let us loose for a  small break. We checked out the Catedral (Cathedral) there which was the last gothic cathedral constructed in all of Spain. Besides costing 3 euros, I'd said it was pretty neat, but it wasn't any warmer and I'm not particularly religious so I could've done without in all honesty. Following the Catedral, a small group ventured over to the contemporary art museum. It was much better and cheaper. One of the exhibits was cinematography about a woman who painted her lover's shadow and is now the only art left after an attack. There was also some strange hand puppetry about Zeus and one of his lovers. It got awkward. Then the last was a room with different photos of people standing in front of famous art which appeared like they were in the art itself. The last thing we checked out were some Esteban Vicente pieces. They were very he-got-paid-for-this-how?, but I did enjoy it. The only problem was that my mind liked to make me think that the colors were bleeding into one another when they definitely weren't. Also, one of the employees followed us around the entire time like we were going to pocket one of the paintings the size of an ancient computer and run off with it. And then it was time for Alcazar! So this is the castle is Segovia. We got a very awesome tour of it, led once again by one of our professors. Lots of history, humor, and horror. The fotos will explain much better about some of these themes. Then we got the chance to walk up to the top of the tower, which I did, of course. 152 steps later (yes, that is bigger than the Hill in Eau Claire), I got to see one of the most gorgeous sights of my life. We once again had some free time in which we looked at touristy shops and bought some delicious concoction from a sweet shoppe. Seems like it went by fast, and it did, but dang I was sore by the end and slept the whole way home.

That night we returned to Valladolid and our houses like little freezie pops. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I KNOW it's freaking cold in Wisconsin, but you also have ski jackets. I have a fleece and the interior coat from my winter jacket. Not sufficient, especially when walking about 30-45 min home at night. Our host mom wanted us to go take a shower (not together) to warm up... which is extremely weird because I can't even leave the hot water running when taking a shower, so she must have been really concerned. Which reminds me of this great story I haven't yet shared.

So, I'm on our balcony hanging up my laundry when Belen lets someone in the house. She calls Katie out and I hear a man's voice. I'm mildly curious, but don't leave my chores at that moment. Of course this didn't last long and I went to see who was here. It was a police officer in full uniform. Belen asks if he needs to talk to me, too, and he says yes! It was the casual exchange of niceties before he drops the bomb. "Documentation" I'm sure you can figure out what that means. At the same time, Katie is coming out of our room with her passport in hand. We have NO idea what's going when Belen bursts out laughing! Turns out it was a huge joke and the police officer was her friend that she invited up since it was so chilly.

Back to the frigid night, we decided to go out, but not far because 1) we didn't think we could make it and 2) we didn't want to walk on Calle Santiago. We ended up finding a little cafe not far from home. We got hot chocolate and it was a good time.

Sunday was a relaxing day. Got some more churros con chocolate with Andrea, Kelsey, and Esteban before seeing wizards on our way home. Yes, there are wizards in Spain. Okay, probably not, but they were wearing cloaks and looked like wizards, no joke. So I've decided I need to try to get into the Ministry of Magic here, somehow. The rest of the day was sleepy, lazy, and homework filled which is never fun, so I will not bore you with those facts.

So these past three days... I'm just going to sum up. School is going well still. I don't think it's ever going to be too bad except facing my oh-so-favorite professor. I talked to the family of the little girl I'm going to be teaching. So I have made my first official Spanish phone call. It was frightening and an experience I wish not to repeat. Tuesday led to the discovery of Blanco, a clothing shop that is freakishly like ModCloth... I might have some problems over here. It was also the day of the first meal I didn't like! It was mushrooms, so you can't really blame me, right? And then the big event of today was my getting a library card and checking out the first 3 Harry Potter books in Spanish. It is my goal to read them while I'm here, and I'm very excited. One last exciting thing before I go, Superbowl Sunday. I'm gonna watch it at a bar here at 2 am in the freaking morning! Pumped!

I'll Call Him Hot Pudding

Oof. It's Thursday already. Where we last left off, I was about to purchase my Grammar book, which was not in... yet again. Let's just say we had quite a few troubles with buying that book. I walked down to Fray Luis about 9 million times (and by that I mean like 5 or 6), but I did have great fun in the different bookstores. I really would like to return to Maxtor to spend a day looking through books there. I have a bit of an inanimate crush on the place, is that weird?

Hmm, let's see what else has happened. The days seem like a bit of a blur because we're finally getting into a routine around here, which is very nice. Also, I tend to waste a lot of time sleeping for much longer than siesta allows. Naps here are short; my body doesn't agree. So the proceeding tales have happened sometime between Monday evening and now.

Shopping: Yes, I've been shopping. It's good and bad. There are tons of rebajas (sales), so I don't feel too bad. I'm also doing pretty well because there are a lot of things that I could just buy impulsively and have not, so kudos to me on that one. I did buy jeggings, though... Not so sure how I feel about it myself, so please no judgment. 1) They were on sale, 2) they are extremely popular here, and 3) Andrea told me I needed them. They will stay here upon my return home more than likely. There was also a vair vair cute shirt that those that would judge about the jeggings would approve. Don't worry, I'm not completely insane just yet.

Cafes: We've stopped at a few cafes. I like them a little too much. I need to stop. Coffee here is completely and inexplicably wonderful. I always want more. Also had some good little sandwiches and ice cream. Phwoar! I have an addiction to helado (ice cream), so I'm surprised it took me this long to get some. I'm pretty sure there are some photos that shall be on Facebook in good time. There are tons of places to go here, though. Almost every time I turn around there's something else to try. Fun stuff.

Class: Class is well... class. We definitely have things to do, but it's no where nearly as much work as back home. I appreciate it. It also almost feels like high school because we don't really leave the room unless it's break. Beside that, I'm liking all the subjects so far. Some classes are much better than others, but I attribute that to the professors more than the subject area. None of the professors are bad, just some are less enthusiastic than others. And yes, I am actually doing by work around. It's not all fun and games- although there is a lot of that today.

Food: I love the food here. It's beyond yummy (almost all the time). I can't really remember too much of what we've eaten, but I had to put this in here for my funny story of the day. So I don't know if you all know this (I know my mum does), but I had a HUGE problem eating things like fish and chicken when I was little. If it had bones, I couldn't do it. My mom would take the meat off the bones, and even then I found things wrong with the food (like veins). Today we had some fish... with the spines still in them. I couldn't look at it. I did eat it, but I was freaking out the entire time. The one and only time I have not wanted to finish my food here. Okay, so that wasn't really as funny as I thought it would be. As cliche as it sounds, I think it was one of the things you had to see.

Other than that, I'm really loving it here. I feel like I've been here for such a long time already, and it's also crazy to think that we've really only been here a week and a half. Even more, I feel ready to go home at any moment. It's a weird conglomeration of feelings. I could easily stay in Valladolid like this for the rest of my life; I'd just have to take you all with me.

I Need to Buy Tooth Pasta

Still alive everyone! I know you were probably worried since it's been a while and the last thing I spoke of was seeing the Grim, but todo es vale!

So it's been a pretty good couple of days. We did not sleep in nearly so late on Sunday (even though I stayed up until halftime of the Packer game... so like 4 am or later?). We couldn't sleep in so we could go to the free Oriental Museum. Yeah, I know that sounds really strange because I'm in Spain, but they like to learn about other cultures here, too. Like I said, it was gratis, and apparently connected to a church? We walked into what we thought was the museum, and it turned out to be a mass. Needless to say, we quickly turned around and left feeling awkward before moving next door to the actual museum. It was very cool. I took a lot of fotos if you have not already seen them in Facebook. It was a grand time to be had by all. It had everything: comedy, pain, romance, music. Then after we left there was some big market type thing... I don't know, but I found more Harry Potter stuff! Wow, makes my life a little better here as if it's not stupendous enough.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. We ate and did homework. I siesta-ed for much too long again. It came to bite me in the butt later. I ended up writing the end of Cinderella (Cenicienta here) in Spanish. We'll see how that went. My reflexive verbs and object pronouns are probably really sketch, but whatever. It's called learning, after all. What else...? Yeah, I think that was all of Sunday.

School again today. Lunes (Monday) sucks even in Spain with wonderful classes like Grammar and Culture. We took a little break where we bought Magnum Gold! It's ice cream over which we get way too excited. Also, we spoke in Spanish for pretty much the entire time (over an hour). It's really good for us because when we have more than 2 or 3 people we convert to English very easily. Later we're going to go shop and hopefully buy our Grammar book. Oh well, more adventuras!

El Perro y el Creeper

Welcome back, all! So discoteca was not discoteca but a good time anyway. There was mucho confusion about getting to the place. Lisa (who talks to everyone!) started asking some random guys about discotecas and bars, so they brought us to the bar region of the city. It seemed a little sketch for a while, but we had a ginormous group, busy streets, and we left them as soon as they brought us to the area of the city. Anyway, we eventually ended up at this bar...... STOP! We had pre-discoteca across the street! It took us about a million days to decide on what to get, so we all just got a shot of honey rum and some woman there took our picture and offered us free shots. Well, no one but Esteban y yo were willing to, so we didn't. Back to this one bar. We thought it was discoteca, turns out no, but we had a grand time. It was quite loud, which was undesirable and ended up meandering back to some other bar with muchos less people and a bit too much American music. It was alright, and we ended up leaving at about... 2:45. We got home with no problems, but I didn't get to bed until much later because I was talking to people.

Cue this morning... that came and went before we got up at an early hour of 2:30 pm. Buenisimo! Yeah, it was very late because the alarm clocks in our moviles (cell phones) are way too quiet. Because of this, we did almost nothing. We missed churros con chocolate with Andrea, Esteban, and Kelsey, too... We did have some rice with mushrooms (gross) and shrimp though. Our host madre really likes to make us eat a lot of food though, so we did not finish. We also did not siesta after due to our massively late start to the day. I did get most of my homework done. Maybe Katie and I can go on an adventure in Campo Grande tomorrow instead of doing that. I also talked with the parentals. Then before you know it, it's time for cena (dinner). It was also un gran tiempo (great time). We had huevos fritos (or fried eggs), and Katie doesn't like eggs. She tried really hard to eat it, but she just couldn't do it. She felt really bad and made THE silliest faces trying to choke down one more bite. My entertainment in Espana.

After dinner, we had a little time to get ready (by the way, I still can't bring myself to wear leggings by themselves). We were off once again. We wanted tapas (appetizers) and started fumbling around the city for a good place even though Esteban's host madre gave him a list. The first place had too much seafood and was really busy, so we returned to the Plaza Mayor where Lisa proceeded to ask these guys about tapas. They looked really confused before asking us if we spoke English. Turns out they were Swedish and in high school studying abroad! Que comico! They were of little help, but it's okay cuz we found a place. I wasn't hungry so tapas will be for another night.

After that we returned to the same bar as last night (the second one with no people). I add that only because tonight it was completely packed. Craziness! It was a lot more fun... and also way less fun in some ways. There was a huge asshole there that Andrea and Lisa met. These posts will probably include a lot of Andrea and Lisa meeting boys. Anyway, he took my beer, shook it up, and sprayed it all over the floor. Rude. We stayed away from him after that. But it was good. We chilled there, danced, and enjoyed ourselves before leaving at 2.

The only notable thing about the walk home was that we saw the grim. No fricken lie. I was going to have Esteban take a picture of it for me to put in the foto book I'm making Eric when it came running at us and growling! I was frightened like none other. Terrifying for realsies. So if this thing doesn't get updated in a while, you can figure that the grim caught up to me. And on that note, buenas noches

I'm eating a chocolate sponge

OUR ALARM CLOCK SUCKS! Aka, my iPod. Did you know that when you plug in an iPod to charge to a computer in a different time zone, it will change the iPod's time to said time zone? No, well now you know. Anyway, that was our predicament this morning. Everything was vale (okay) because we got up and to school on time. We also didn't miss the bus, but there were soooo many people on it. I guess Fridays are just more popular. But seriously, it was ridiculous.

We had class again. Imagine that?! Anyway, it was good. Had some more oral expression, history, and grammar. I'm thinking we're going to have a lot of grammar. Also, oral expression should actually be called speaking and vocabulary. Phwoar, are we learning some new words. Like despota... I look it up in the dictionary, and it tells me despot. Very helpful, dictionary. Turns out it's an adjective for a tyrannical person... like Hitler or Stalin. Anyway, history was good. Everything we're learning at the moment has nothing to do with our finals, so it's fun. Also, I won't have it for the next 2 weeks because Agustin won't be here. Woot! And grammar... it's grammar. Still doing that subjunctive thing. I learned about some Spanish metaphors. Good stuff. I also learned the difference between tener que + verb and necesitar + verb, but I won't bore you with those details.

After class we checked out the cafeteria which is muy cerca (very close) to our building, because we had to wait for Esteban. We only had 3 hours of class, whereas he had 4. So we chilled there. There was some ice cream buying and very bad Spanglish. We are freaking pros. Anyway, Esteban finally left class and we could return a casa. Again, success here. We got this city down... or at least our route home. So we had our lunch (lentils... They're actually good!) and no siesta when we really need it because we are festajamos-ing (going out basically) tonight.

Then we went on another adventure to buy our grammar book, and it's STILL not there. However, we looked around the store and there are so many funny books in there. It's known for languages, so there was a lot in English, too. Pictures to ensue in Facebook. So then on the return, we found this wonderful little store where everything costs about 2 euros. I got a necklace, leggings, eyeshadow, and a coin purse, because the they have euro coins here which make it impossible (another word to read in either language) to shut my wallet. I really like it there, so I'm there will be a definite return. And for now, we are waiting en casa for dinner before going out to the bar across the street from us, tapas, and la discoteka!!!

I'm dyslexic so I read "imoron." Also, I suck at siesta

Hola again mis amigos! Today has been a not so exciting day, but I will impart my happenings anyway. Katie and I got up on time. This is a first and huge accomplishment. We probably deserve a cash prize for it, so if you're interested, let me know. Oddly enough, we were late to the bus stop and had to wait for the next one. Really, Espana? Anyway, the second bus is different from the one we're normally on (aka, there are no accordion sides). We got there in time, so there wasn't a problem really, plus we beat the walkers (Andrea, Steve, and Kelsey) who left earlier today and still were un poco late.

So then it was that whole class thing. Only 3 today, still 4 hours. Literature included answering questions about the middle ages of Spain. I knew most of the answers from high school, but whatever. We have some homework for it, but it went by quickly. Then we had art. I'm really excited for this class. Ivan is really cool. He reminds me of Pace. Quick information break: According to Ivan, we're in the city with the second most amount of bars! He also had us listen to interesting songs. If you want to check them out (and are not offended by bad language) go to these links. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2spZ-NDfS4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PsnxDQvQpw&feature=channel. Then we had two hours of grammar. Really not as bad as it sounds besides it being the subjunctive. Except for writing a full page in Spanish about our first day here in 20 min. That was horrible (you could read that bilingually if you really want to). Then we were done!!!

We walked home again, except this time, we knew what we were doing. Yeah, we're pros. We didn't use a map. Turns out we walked the wrong way on Paseo Belen which totally messed us up the other day. We got this down though, so we feel a little better. Also, what is also wonderful is that we walk past "Tu Secreto" a little dirty lingerie store. We have a laugh each time we walk past it. I'm sure one day we will have to stumble into it. It'll be some good stuff. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Then we were home. We siestad for too long... again. We're still tired. We also really haven't done anything besides eat dinner and do homework. So begins the life of a student. I still blame the siesta...

You Can't Sing in the Shower Here

This is what I learned in class today. First day of classes, woke up late. I have an issue with setting my alarm clock for the right time. We're working on that. Otherwise, class... it's pretty basic. I had completely different classes today than I did yesterday. We had geography, oral expression, literature, and culture. Oral expression is for speaking in Spanish with one another and our prof. just walks around to help us. It's nice, and I made a friend from Taiwan in the class! Geography will be... interesting. It's super introductory right now, but it's about all the parts of Spanish geography, not just the land... and really, not just Spain. We looked at the Spanish territories and even Portugal. I like literature (surprise, surprise). We're not reading any entire novels (que lastima!) but doing a survey of literature from different time periods and how they influence modern writers. Plus, we played a game in class today. How cool is that? And my ultima clase (last class) was culture. It's really short (only 10 hours this semester) which is muy triste (really sad). The prof. is crazy- but awesome. We talked about how Spanish people like to stare at others and don't shower for a long amount of time because there are lots of droughts. Yeah, less than 5 min people, and I'm succeeding, but as soon as I'm back in the States, hour long shower, baby.

Then we walked home..... after we got lost. Luckily, we found some girls from our program. One of them is in my classes, so we recognized her and followed them until we could at least get on our map. Yeah... the map they gave us of the city doesn't freaking have the university on it. It's really dumb, but now, I think we know what we're doing, so we'll walk back tomorrow and then to school again on Friday because we don't know how long it takes us. Anyway, we were lost. We had an adventure and saw more of the city outside of Plaza Mayor. That being said we got back really late and ate lunch late because of it, but Katie and I finally ate all of our lunch. It was tuna (but it looked like steak, how weird!) and green beans with oranges for dessert. Also, since mi maleta (suitcase) finally arrived, we gave Belen our gifts for her and got to share some of the chocolates I got her, MMMM!

Right after lunch, we left to figure out why are phones cost money. It was a sad day because we couldn't siesta... craptastic. Anyway, it's because there's a connection fee, but after it's free. Also, we found our exact phone and plan at a different store for 30 less euros. We tried to return our phones, but apparently, you can't do that. We want to check at the other store to see if that's true. The employees there are much nicer anyway. We are even setting up an intercambio (language exchange) with one of the girls because she's taking English classes! In any case, the phone situation is really stupid and kind of put a damper on my fantastic day.

We decided to stay en casa since we've been out the past two nights and had pizza (SO MUCH BETTER HERE!) and rotillas (which is like pudding with a cracker on top... I don't know, but also very good). I also put all my crap away. I'll probably need to organize a little more, but it's sufficient work for now. Katie and I also watched La Casa de los Espiritus. It's normally in English, but this was dubbed in Spanish. It was really funny because we couldn't figure out why they were using vosotros (a verb form really only found in Spain) since it takes place in South America. Then Katie realized that it's in Castellano (what we speak here). We also learned cabron, which is a he-goat (there you go, Andrea!), bitch, bastard, a bunch of other ugly words of the sort. It was interesting to watch it in Espanol because I'd only seen it English, but this is Vino-a-go-go land and I must do as the locals do!

Cannibals in the Castle

Hola todos. This post will be much shorter. Not too much has happened because life seems to be starting a routine. It'll be nice, but a little less exciting. I guess that will make the special occasions even more special and this whole ordeal less of a vacation in my mind. I'm loving it nevertheless.


We had our first day of classes. I'm in the 5th level of 6, which I felt good about. We only had two classes today, history and grammar, and there wasn't much content in either. It was a special day since they kept us out so late last night. I think I'm going to like them a lot. We're focusing on two time periods of Spanish history (when Spain was the biggest empire in the world and from the Civil war until today pretty much). Agustin (our prof.) is very passionate about the subject and really nice. He's probably a little crazy, but he wants us to enjoy the class and history as much as possible, so I'm excited for it. We also apparently have one of the best professors for grammar ever. She also seems very nice, but we didn't do much work in grammar today. We'll be working a lot on the subjunctive (GAG!) but by the time we leave, we should be pros. That's the whole point anyway, right? Anyway, I think it'll be good. I don't really prefer taking classes, but if all of my professors here are like Beatriz and Agustin, it'll be a good semester, and I'll learn tons.

We also managed to get ourselves home by bus, except we're going to walk from now on. Our host mom asked us to so we're hungrier for lunch, but she just makes so much food. Today we had pasta with broccoli, and I don't normally like broccoli, but it was delicious. There was just way too much and she thinks that we don't like the food. So from now on, I'll be walking even more. Yay for my waistline!


Katie and I seistad again. God I love naps. Seriously, best idea ever. I could really get used to it. Then afterward, Kelsey, Andrea, Katie, and I went to go find our grammar books. It was an adventure. We got a little lost, but not too badly. Katie and I are learning how to navigate this city. Unfortunately the bookstore didn't have the books we needed, but I got a notebook and pencil for class tomorrow. All the notebooks here are like graph paper. It's super strange, but whatever. I'm becoming European now, haha. Then we had to head on home for cena (which is dinner) and it was at 8:30. I can really get used to the times for food here. I like it a lot. We had tortilla espanola again with tomatoes. The food here is amazing, and dinner is always manageable for Katie and I to eat.

After dinner, we made our way to Cafe Espana to see flamenco. It was like a little show in a coffee house back home. It was really awesome and I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but they were all horrible quality, so I deleted them. We also got bebidas (drinks) there. I tried a mojito, and me gusta mucho. I'm gonna have to stop having a drink every night. Tonight was the first night I had to pay for it, but it's really expensive, so it will have to be special treats, because I don't want to be poor. It was a fun night, though. I wouldn't mind getting to see more of the culture in that way, but probably not on school nights. Class starts at 9:30, but we need to be on the bus by 8:45 in order to get there on time. I wonder how long that will take to get home. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Boarding the Freedom Train

Ay dios mio! It's been a crazy couple of days. Let me start at the beginning.

Andrea's casa (I'm warning you now, you might need google translate for this blog because my mind is already starting to want to go directly to Spanish, and it's very possible that I will write a few words or phrases en espanol). Anyway, we left Andrea's in the morning after her grandparents came to say goodbye. Her grandma was asking us all these questions about going over to Spain, like if we were going to date and if we were excited/nervous. My favorite was when she said that we had the look that we were boarding the freedom train (hence the magnificent title). It was a pretty uneventful morning compared to the events about to conspire. The ride to O'Hare was nothing and then all the fun stuff happens.

This is my story of coincidences before the trip actually began. We were in the restaurante in the Hilton connected to O'Hare, and when we got there, I saw this girl who looked a lot like a girl I went to high school with during freshman year. I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't really sure, but then we overheard them talking about Spain and someone named Pilar (which is the name of Andrea's host mom). Turns out, they were also studying in Spain, but in a city more north than us. It's right on the coast, as where we are between the coast and Madrid. Anyway, when they were leaving, one of the moms said Kendra's name, and I knew it had to be her, so I asked if she had gone to Bay Port, and she did. It was crazy. That reminds me, I still need to add her on Facebook. Anyway, that was the little coincidence to start off this loco trip.

Now the fun begins, and by fun, I mean almost everything that could go wrong, does. So we're waiting at our boarding gate. Up until 30 mins or so before our flight, it's on time. Then... 30 min delay. No big deal. Andrea, Mitch, and I walk over to the gate and find Steve, Kayla, Nate, and Aryn. Then our flight is delayed again... Now we're a little worried but we figure that if our flight to Philly is delayed the flight from Philly to Madrid is also delayed. Turns out it wasn't, so they call all of us up to the desk (including 3 students from other universities). We're put on a direct flight with Iberia (we were flying US Airways) and are told to go and get our luggage at baggage and recheck everything. I'm glad they told us to do so, but they probably should have informed baggage that our luggage shouldn't have been put on the flight. So that's how we ended up flying to Madrid with our luggage on another flight.

The flight to Madrid was great. I slept quite a bit of it, but it was always at weird angles. Mitch, Kayla, and Steve made fun of me for it afterward, but who cares. I finally got comfortable using the lap desk with a pillow on it. The hydrocodone for my leg also helped quite a bit. I was awake long enough to get some food (crab salad!) and then before I knew it, we were in Madrid at 7:30 am... wow. That seems forever ago. I tell you the time because we left at 12, and were waiting for at least an hour before we got picked up so you can have a time frame for the crazy that's about to happen.

Trying to find our luggage became our quest. We leave through customs and everything is going swimmingly. At baggage claim, we go up to the desk and ask the man if our original flight is on time (it had already landed, which meant it left Philly on time) and where we could get our luggage. He told us to go to Terminal 1... we went to Belt 1 and there was nothing there. Finally, after waiting for a very long time, we went down to the help desk and filed a claim for our luggage with Iberia and hopped on this bus to Terminal 1. It was fricken far away. Seriously, I thought we were leaving the city because we were up on the highway and everything. And then once we got to Terminal 1, we pretty much explored the entire area. We talked to US Airways and Iberia and US Airways/Iberia (because apparently one works for the other?). Nothing. I don't know how much we walked, but it could have easily been a couple miles from one end of the airport to another. Eventually, we find where our original flight's baggage should be and ours isn't there (this includes some of the people our first flight who also got transferred. We made friends during all this, at least). So we figure that our luggage got to Philly after our flight from Philly left... muchas gracias! So we left the airport with our carryons and nothing else. Sad panda.

Once we got out of the airport, we spent an hour waiting on a late flight and were finally on the road. I slept, even though I wanted to see the country side, but it's all good. I needed the sleep, plus it made time go really fast because I woke up and we were in Valladolid about to meet our families! We got picked up by Belen, our host mom and took a taxi home. It's really close to a major street in Valladolid, which is awesome and we have a doggy! His name is Gabi (short for Gabilondo). He's super sweet and excited to see us all the time. He loves to give kisses. So we get home and unpack, which takes Katie much longer than me because she has everything, whereas I do not. Our room here is nice, too. We're sharing but it has enough space to be comfortable.

After we were all unpacked we went to talk with Belen and her friend Teresa came over. So we talked for about 2 or 3 hours on our first night. It was difficult, but it was good practice. I can't believe how much I already think in Spanish, or want to start conversation in this language. I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, she offered us vino, and it was really nice to just talk and get used to everything. She gave us a run through of the area on the map we were given. Then we ate at like... 9:30 or something really late like that. And then we didn't go to bed until about 10:20, and we were exhausted. It was a mental drain because we had to constantly think about what we wanted to say, but Belen and Teresa are so nice and willing to help. they think we're wonderful speakers and will talk like them by the time we leave. I hope so!

And now to today. We had a test... which I won't talk about too much. It was a placement test and took like no time, and then after we took a walking tour of part of the city. I learned a lot... spaced out a lot... and walked a lot. It's a little like Caesar, except not at all. And then we walked home from La Plaza Mayor which is pretty much at the center of the city. It's only like 15/20 min so it's not bad at all. Belen came to meet us with Gabi. The morning was pretty boring because it was mostly school stuff. I should have pictures on facebook of some of the stuff once I get my camera cord, though. Keep a look out!

After our tour and school type stuff, we came home for almuerzo (or lunch). We ate at like... 2:30. It was late, but it was actually the perfect time for Katie and I to eat. Belen always wants us to eat more. We told her we were strange Americans because we don't eat a lot. She's afraid that we don't like the food, which is completely untrue! Everything is very rich here. It's not too different from some of the things back home either. Then after lunch came the most glorious siesta of all time.

Katie and I slept for 3 hours when Belen came in to tell us our friends were here. Kelsey and Andrea live one floor below us. They asked if we wanted to go shopping with them because Emily and Leah were meeting up with them at our house, so we got up... looking all sleepy and whatnot and vamos a compras (went shopping in case the context clues weren't strong enough). We went to an electronic store so Katie and Kelsey could get converters and then down to Corto Ingles. Holy crap, that place is like a 7 story Kohl's! We went up like 5 floors before realizing all the shower stuff was probably on the first floor, which it was... but it was in an area we couldn't see from the entrance. Everyone there was very helpful and I even got some stuff from the States. I have Garnier Fructis shampoo, Herbal Essences conditioner, and Dove soap. Everything is in Spanish though. And then we went to get moviles (what they call cell phones here). Mine is the color "fresh turquoise." I love it. Well the name, the phone itself is pretty basic but it will help me accomplish what I want to get done here. So getting phones brought us almost to 9 when we went to eat dinner with everyone from the program.

The restaurant wasn't far from where we were and we got there in no time at all. Everyone was outside because for whatever reason, we couldn't get in- probably because they had to clear out the entire basement for us. There was so much food (y mas vino!). I tried jamon which is cured pig's leg and this bread with tomatoes on it, and then they brought out this salad with shrimp and mushrooms. I hated the mushrooms, but otherwise it was good. There was also battered shrimp that was deep fried like a mini corndog and what looked like a pizza pocket but with tuna and tomatoes. There was tortilla espanola which is made with eggs and potatoes. It was really good. I like everything and then we had what I think was pork as the main course... maybe beef with vegetables inside with a really sweet gravy. Then they finally brought out dessert which was flan with raspberry syrup on the side. This whole thing took about 2 hours to eat, so it's not that bad. There was also a band that came down and sang to us. It was so neat. They were really entertaining. And then we finally like at like 11:40? It was pretty late, so we don't have school until 11:30 tomorrow and we're done at 1:30, I think.

So that was my first couple days in Valladolid. It's been crazy busy and insane, but I'm already loving it here. I don't feel like I'm staying for the whole semester, and by the time it sinks in, it will be time to leave. I'm trying not to think about that kind of stuff because it's daunting so early on. But I'm happy here, and I'm having a lot of fun. Of course I miss you all very much and wish I could spend my time here with you. You should come visit me! I'd show you the ropes, but I guess that's all for now.

Pre-flight!

So it is 1:35 in the morning...... CST, still. I am not sleeping tonight, or at least that is the plan, because Andrea and I think it will help us to fall asleep on the plane. There might be a problem with this plan, maybe a couple problems. One of them being the fact that our flights will probably be delayed thanks to a lovely snowstorm in Philadelphia. We're not excited... actually we kind of are because we will all be stuck in the airport together. It might also mean staying up two nights in a row to be able to sleep on the friggin plane. We will drink mucho cafe (lots of coffee for you English speakers).

Stop asking me if I'm excited... I am, and I'm sick of that question. I'm also scared, so please don't bring that up, either. Right now it still doesn't even feel like I'm going to be in Spain for 5 months- not at all. I'm not really sure what to think... and I'll get back to you on that (look at that hook to keep you reading).

Today was final goodbyes, technically my last day in the States. It sucked a lot. I don't want to see everyone sad about my leaving because then it reminds me that I'm not going to see for a long time, and then I turn into a blubberball. I don't like it. I didn't wear make-up today for a reason. There were tears... Kind of a good thing that I won't see anyone tomorrow right before I leave. I really don't want to talk more about today (and last night I guess, because there were lots of goodbyes then, too)... because it's really bittersweet, and I'd rather not get all sad again. I know I sound like I don't want to go, because I don't... but I do. That's what bittersweet means.

I suppose that's all for preflight. I'm sure the trip there will be exciting, or in the very least interesting. I'll talk to you all when I'm in Spain... (yeah, still weird)