Sevilla, DejaVu

First off, last night... changed my life forever. No lie.

Uhm, do me a solid and if you're really going to read this, don't judge me.

I'm sitting here with one of the girls that I went out with last night, trying to piece together everything that happened. As it was our last night in Granada of course we went out to celebrate... but we celebrated a little too hard.
Everything is kind of blurry still, but here's what I remember:

Acting like a wine-o with four friends in the street.
1E shots.
lots of them...
2E body shots
not a lot of those.
some "specialty" drink.
another drink at the club
dancing with everyone, and i mean everyone
getting kissed by a strange spanaird
walking home with two friends.
making it home
waking up and being late for the bus...

here's what I don't remember:
the taxi ride to the club
actually getting to the club
dancing with someone the second we got there.
kissing a few different people.
my friend telling me she was leaving.
my friends getting me guys
sitting outside and talking to strangers
smoking a cig. (sorry mom)
half of the walk home...



Yeah, so we had a great night. Don't remember a lot of it.
Had the hangover from hell today -- barfed my brains out at the second largest Cathedral in the world next to the Vatican... "que dios lo bendiga"

Gracias a Dr.R for getting me back to the hotel safely.


So today is our first day in Sevilla, and it's awesome.
Aside from the hangover, it's been great.

I love it because everything is familiar to me, and I know where I am.
It's like a strange Deja Vu kinda thing.
We were walking down the road and out of nowhere I was like "Hey! I know where I am!" and Dr. Rodrigo was like "uhm... how?" haha it was great.

We ate some yummy bocadillas I got a salmon creame cheese one... i'm such a Jew sometimes. And ate like half a jar of olives, YUMMAHHHHH.

And we walked back, now i'm about to KTFO!
:)

Yeah buddy.



Doin more culture stuff tomorrow.

Cathedral, Castle, Palace, House, Church stuff...

It's one of the other.


Buenas noches. '<3

Ultimo dia en Granada

Before I start, stuff I should have brought:

Hair products
All makeup
Pillow
Work out clothes -- shorts specifically
Washcloth
More clothes
Baby oil/better lotion
Advil liqua-jells
ALL MY VITAMINS, ALL OF THEM!
Full set of face wash
More sunglasses
Large purse
New strapless bra.
Back up headphones
Perfume/Body spray
More/better deodorant
More comfortable flats/sandals
Light/Airy shirts
Pocket dictionary.

I think that's it... just wanna make sure I don't forget.

Ayer y hoy, mi ultimos dias en Granada:

Ayer tenía mis exmanes finales, pero, solo en una clase. Los otros tenía que escribir escritotios sobre autores antiguos, fue aburrido pero aprendí mucho de los autores Nicanor Parra y Gerardo Díego. Fueron poetas mas famoso de su tiempo, y Parra todavia es mas conocido.
No me gusta nada de mi clase de liturarua española, solamente hablamos de romanticismo y de tipos de lituratura que no entiendo en ingles, ¿¿como puedo entenderlos en español?? 
Me encantaría mis clases de gramatica y de lituratura hispanoamericano porque fueron con la mismo profesora. Ella fue tan divertida y comprendió que nostoros estudiantes nesescitabamos mas ayuda.
Deseo tener una clase con ella en otoño.

Pues, hoy es mi ultimo dia... Estoy triste, pero tambien emocionada. Estoy triste porque me encanta mi familia, Maite es la mejor madre de todo en españa, puede cocinar mas mejor que mi padre, no diga eso a él porfa. Mi hermanita, Ir, es muy preciosa y voy a extranar ella MUCHO! Hasta mañana, no podemos ver Phineas y Ferb nada mas juntos! Ay, voy a llorar.

Voy a extranar esta ciudad, pero voy a regresar en un mes, eso no es mas triste. Pero, tambien me echaré de menos las alumnos de mi programa, y de mis clases. Son personas diferentes, todos son de diferente estados y familias diferentes. Entonces le quiero a todos.

Echaré de menos mi familia mas de todos. Y esta ciudad, la gente, el calor, las coches, la comida, TODOS.

A mí, me encanta España, y ahora me encanta Granada... todavia creo que Cadíz es mejor, pero soy sesgada.


-- mi hermanita me ayuda con eso... :)

Now, in English:

Yesterday I had finals, but only in one class. I had to write essay for the other ones about famous dead poets... it was super boring but I learned a lot about them, like Nicanor Parra and Gerardo Diego, they were really famous in their time, but Parra is still famous today.
I really didn't like my spanish lit class because I couldn't really understand what we were talking about... I mean, I don't understand romanticism in English half the time, how am I supposed to understand it in Spanish?? I looooved my Grammar class and my Latin American lit class, probably because it was with the same professor. She was super nice and really understood that we, as foreign students, needed more help. I really hope I can take one of her classes in the fall.

Well, today is my final day here. I'm sad but I'm also kind of excited. I'm sad because I'm really going to miss my family. Maite is the best mom in Spain, she can cook like no other, probably better than my dad but don't tell him ;) (sorry padre). My little sister here, Ir, oh I'm going to miss her so much. After tomorrow, we won't be able to watch Phineas and Ferb together...ugh I might cry.
I'm really going to miss this city, but it's not too bad because I'll be back in about a month. I'm really going to miss all the students from my program and from my classes. Everyone's super different because a lot of us are from different states. I really love them all, and I'm going to miss them bunches.

But really, I'll miss my family the most. This city, the people, the heat, the cars, the food... everything.

I've always loved Spain, and now I love Granada... Cadiz is still my fave, but I'm biased...

--- my little sister helped me with the spanish part. (only made three mistakes ;) ))


Tomorrow I leave for Sevilla at oh-god-thirty, and I'll be heading home on the 7th after a stay in Madrid!

Catch ya on the flip side.

Buenas tardes.

<3

New Words and Fun times.

Que te jodan por culo. – fuck you

Vete a tomar por culo.

Que te den por culo.-- do it in the butt.

---bafan culo – italiano

Que lo jo dan – fuck him

Que cajones – BALLS!

Que coño dices – what the fuck are you saying?

Un quilipollas – ass hole

Capullo – ass hole

No tiene cajones – you aint got balls

Cabron/pulpo –touchy man

Manda cajones –grow some balls

Un alma gemela-- soul mate 

Yeah, so those are my new phrases. :) 

On to the fun legends and what not. 

Yesterday I went to the hottest place in Granada, on the hottest day. 

It was beautiful, but hotter than the 7th circle of hell. This Saharan Heat Wave has GOT TO GO! 

I touched the "Piedra Negra" black rock, that brings you a soul mate within the year, if not a wedding with your true love now. 

At lunch today I learned that if you hear ringing in your right ear, its good, left ear bad. 

If your right palm itches you have to pay for something in the near future, but if your left palm itches you'll receive money in the near future.  

I found my bottle of Spanish smell. And I couldn't be happier. 

Legit, it comes in a Liter, and it smells exactly like Spain did last time. 

I'm so excited. 

:) 

Spain won. We'll probably play Germany.

The saying "No Hay dos sin Tres" -- learned that a while ago. But found out it stands for the fact that Spain won Eurocup last time, then World cup, now they're about to win Eurocup again?

"Can't have 2 without 3" :)

I LOVE SPAIN! :)

YAY

So far away, but so close.

I'm leaving Granada in four days. Four days and I won't be in this house anymore. Four days and I'll have to say goodbye to my wonderful, wonderful host mother and her precious and annoying daughter.

I've really enjoyed myself in Granada thus far.
While I'm probably going to repeat this entry in a week when I leave Spain all together I really feel like getting this out now.

I've learned a lot about people in general, I've learned a lot about myself, I've learned a LOT of Spanish, and I've had a LOT of new experiences.

About people:
I've learned that no one is ever really happy with themselves. Everyone has insecurities. Everyone see's the worst in themselves regardless of their confidence level. The people I've met here are some of the most beautiful people I've met, inside and out, but they all have crazy insecurities and crazy thoughts about themselves.
I've learned that you really know who your friends are very quickly. I've learned that you can not figure someone out in six weeks, and that people are always going to be a mystery to you unless they want to let you in. Unless you find a miraculous way to earn their trust, you really won't know someone. -- A mile wide and an inch deep -- It's really all you're going to get.

About myself:
I've learned more about myself in the past six weeks than I've probably learned in the last twenty years of my life. I've learned that twenty is in fact very young, and that I have my whole life ahead of me. I've learned not to worry about my future, because it's already happened, and it's already going to happen... Whatever is planned, will be. Tomorrow, in a year, in ten years. It'll all happen in good time. I don't need to rush it. I'm trying to maintain my youth, and find my place in the adult world at the same time, when really I don't need to try to find it. I'll find a place in this world when the world is good and ready for me.

About Spanish:
I've learned how to call someone a "player" in the Don Juan sense of the word, I've learned how to say "boobies", "cool", "friend with benefits", "AIDS", and "shot", and a few other insignificant phrases. Along with my immature language I've borderline perfected my grammar skills. I still get a few tenses wrong here-and-there because I don't think before I speak sometimes, imagine that, but it's getting better over all.

My new experiences have been documented here and there.



I guess here I'm just realizing who I am a little better. Being away from my daily routine and away from people that I really know helps me express who I am. Because when I'm around people who don't know me I sort of have to reiterate who I am, and almost explain that yes, I am still a child at heart, I can be mature when I really want to, I can be a sweet heart, I can be a hormone driven young lady, and I can be a bitch.
It's kind of complex, but it's who I am. :)

And I'm starting to love me. Spain is good for the soul.
It's good for peace of mind.

For me at least.

I just wish there weren't so many skinny bitches here... makes me want to go on a diet...
I love my personality, I'm working on loving my body.

Hasta Mañana.

<3

Mucha agua Mucha agua mucha mucha mucha agua!

Festival de San Juan.

Remember when I gave you all a summary of what happens at this Festival? Welp, my research really didn't prepare me for last night. I went to the Lucha de Agua and the Playa.
It was hella fun.

We left for Apujarra, the mountain city, at 9:00 and made it there around 10:30 or 11:00 with the news that Spain had just beaten France. We arrived at something that looked a lot like the Feria, a small Snellville days, if you will. Everyone was starving, and all of the food looked amazing, but everyone left their wallets in the bus which was now locked up behind a fence.
At 11:30 everything was still pretty quiet, nothing was happening except a few kids running around with water guns. Everyone was getting pretty bored and we were ready to go to the beach. However, at the stroke of midnight a fire cracker went off and horns started sounding through the streets. People who were outside taping up their doors as if a hurricane were coming quickly fled to the security of their own homes and I looked around and saw people in fire fighter costumes attach hoses to outside water lines... Yeah, it got pretty crazy.

The first offender was a tall male, with a bucket filled to the brim with water. I thought he was going to run into the festivities but instead dumped the water directly over my head. Soak #1. After that C and I ran strait through the crowd of people, dodging falling water from the balconies above and tried to avoid people with water guns. However, NOTHING, I mean NOTHING, can save you from a determined man in a fireman's uniform with a soaker hose.
He took aim and I ran squealing like a five year old down the street through a good foot of water flooding the streets. After getting just out of reach from him, another man stood on the opposite side of the road doing the same thing. This happened for at least four blocks. People standing on corners with soaker hoses, people throwing buckets of water from their rooftop, people with hoses soaking innocent bystanders from their roof top, and water guns everywhere. I was armed with a water bottle for all of fifteen minutes until I got sick of refilling it. Buckets really are the way to go.

At 1:30, after an hour and a half of getting soaked and dancing to techno music out in the street in the middle of a mosh pit, we headed back to the bus so we could venture out the beach.

Everyone grabbed their bags to change clothes and headed to secluded areas. Being that I was freezing and really couldn't care less what people saw at the moment seeing as how I'd already had 2 nip-slips, *cringe* oh that phrase, for the night I started changing behind the bus. Right next to a group of spaniard boys. They kept looking at me like I was going to flash them... But thanks to middle school gym locker rooms, I've learned how to change most everything without showing more skin than absolutely necessary. After a quick 15 minute change from dry to wet, cold to warm, we headed back into the bus for the beach!

On the bus I made the mistake of PTFO (passing the Eff out). We got to the beach and I was already groggy. Our friends had secured as spot by one of the large bonfires for us, thank goodness, and we set up camp. I looked around and realized we would be sleeping here tonight, and there weren't any tents in sight... hmm. When we exited the bus we were given Tinto De Verano, red wine sprite mix, so everyone cracked theirs open and started getting a buzz. H1, had a bottle of rum, and kept reciting Jack Sparrow lines... not well mind you, and kept asking me if I wanted some... I'm not a dark rum kind of girl, dark anything kid of girl really. But I tried it anyway... went down smooth thankfully, but left a god awful taste in my mouth.
After about fifteen minutes of shooting the shit with everyone A was approached, duh, by some guys sitting across from us. Being that I'd already said multiple times that I wanted to find a boy that night, she insisted that I come along. Sure, why not?
When we sat down with them they said "Quieres chupito? Es muy fuerte!" ... Do I want a shot? A strong one?... Sure, why not?
Low and behold homeboy had Absinth. The real kind. The kind that isn't legal in the US. Shall I describe for you what a quarter of a cap-full did to my insides?!
He poured a little more than a slash into a cap, and I shot it back. Horr-I-Ble. I felt it burn in my throat, down to my stomach. I felt tingling in my butt, all the way down to my toes.
I FELT THE SHOT IN MY TOES PEOPLE! THAT'S WHY THIS ISN'T LEGAL IN THE US! 
Wooh! After that we were served Rum and Coke. Good rum too! I could barely taste it. "Muy suave" as homeboy #1 stated. I honestly don't remember their names... I didn't care too much.

A and I quickly tried to dodge Mr. Creepy and his friends Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. When it didn't work very well we just sat down with our friends again. Had this night been an episode of Jersey Shore, and I were Pauly D and A were Mike, we would have blown the Grenade Horn. Fo Reals. Not a single potenchy around.

Funny Peeing outside story before I continue:

When we first got to the beach everyone really had to pee. So we all ventured out to find a good alleyway to use because there are NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS in Spain. Everyone found their own spot to use, and I was the last to find mine... Apparently I'm pee shy. Everyone formed a half circle around me and I squatted, to realize that nothing was coming out... A started singing to me and T kept talking. I told them that I couldn't go while they were talking and they all just stood there laughing hysterically at the fact that I was getting pee shy when they all just opened the flood gates to their dam's of bladders. I finally got a little bit to come out which was enough to suffice for the time being.

After A and I had our run in with the three stooges, we both really had to pee again. T said she wouldn't go with me because I couldn't go last time... A happily obliged. We walked in the opposite direction for a spot that hadn't already been marked by someone. We found some bushes on a deserted sidewalk in front of some apartments. So, we squatted down in public, and pee'd in one of the most open air places we could find apparently... missing the bushes completely and peeing on the side walk...

While I know this would never fly in the US I know for a fact that this is NOT indecent exposure in Spain and it is NOT violation of public property. They consider it natural, and most police officers will help you find a place to pee when you're drunk, if they're not too drunk themselves. (The one thing they don't do is perverted tourists.)


Anyway, at about 5:00 the whole scene started to die down a little. Everyone was gathering into crowds to find places to hang out/crash. at 6:00 W came over and told me her bus would be leaving in an hour so she wasn't going to go to sleep. At 7:00 when everyone left I was hit hard by Mr.Sandman. I was completely and utterly uncomfortable lying on the sand on a towel that was too small, but my eye lids were droopy and I was ready to sleep. At 7:15 I was awoken by rain sprinkling on me, and pulled my crew hoodie up close to cover my face and drifted off again. At 9:00am I was woken by families entering the beach, and people around us looking like they were part of "Occupy Atlanta". It was a funny sight to behold for sure. Everyone huddled together for warmth, towels everywhere, hair a mess, people with too much clothes, people with not enough, and other people just going about their every day life. Had there not been a festival, I would have though the homeless of Woodruff Park had taken over a beach in Salobreña.

At 12:00 we caught our bus to come home and are now sitting happily in our home with food about to be put on the table.

Oh Happy Day. :)


Hope you enjoyed this post. Because I sure enjoyed my night.

<3
Buenas Tardes

FunFunFunFunFun

¡Que Divertido!

Last night was extra fun. I went out with Maete, A, and C. We went to a Salsa club for noche erotica around midnight or so. We were seriously the only ones there. It was pretty awesome. You got a raffle ticket with every drink which got you a drawing for an 'erotic prize'. They had something that reminded me of 'The Great American Challenge' and lots of condoms and suckers. I got a gum flavored condom and passion fruit flavored lube. Yay...

After a very strong mojito, and a drink that was probably a combination of 12 liquors I danced with a guy, well tried to. He taught me how to salsa I guess? He made me do all kinds of weird turns and stuff and all I could really do was squeal in fear and try my hardest to keep tempo. It's actually kind of difficult, for me it was anyway.

At around 1:30 the place got really packed, but not many people were dancing. It was kind of a sausage fest and it got really awkward, really quick. No. Me. Gusta.

At 2:00 we headed out and went to Maewest. Again.

When we got there we ran into H1 and H2, R, T, and a few other people from our group who's names have slipped my mind due to a drunken stupor and short term memory loss.
We all started dancing to some Spanish music that none of us understood, then they played "Empire State of Mind", the New York song, and "Yeah", the Atlanta song. Needless to say, we showed our American Pride and danced like stupid white girls the entire night. Around 2:30 everyone was boo'd up with a boy and making our erotically on the dance floor. Everyone, except me.
It really reminded me of Mean Girls, in the scene where Glen Coco gets two Candy-Ghrams, and the guy is like "And none for Gretchen Wieners." ... yeah, story of my life.

So, I started hanging out with Maete, and we just talked until 4:30ish, rejoined the dancing crowd, and still, no one asked to dance. I'm seriously going to put on a hot girl disguise and wear nothing, because that seems to get people noticed.
Seriously, all I want is a good dance session and a sloppy kiss. Just that one night of 'What was I thinking." But in Spain.
Judge me/Ground me later.


So that was our night. Me getting twat blocked and all my friends getting some... Jelly.

But it was a night for the books for sure. I stayed up with Maete after we got home, while A stayed behind with her boo-thang. We talked for a minute, ate some toast and drank looooots of water. She told me that the guys here haven't taken too much notice of me because I don't look as exotic as A and T, they're both african american, and not from Africa, which is new to these guys. I look like a Spaniard, go figure.

So yeah, It's not that I'm ugly, Thank God. I just look like everyone else...
Hmm.

Maybe I'll die my hair blonde or something?

... meh



I'm going out tonight for the Festival de San Juan and won't be back till Sunday.
If I haven't posted/updated a status by Monday, please send out a search party to find me.

I should be fine though, our entire school is going. :)
Don't worry



<3
Buenas Tardes

Sleep is my best friend.

Last night there was an event at school around 8:00 and they did an E.V.O.O tasting. (extra virgin olive oil, honestly, watch the food channel.)
I got there a little late because I had to come home and change first, this heat makes everything smell of sweat and stank.

BREAK:

Just got told to go eat breakfast, and I'm really falling in love with bread, so I'm gonna write a descriptive essay about the bread here. Get ready, it's gonna be good.

I walk our to the TV table, it's a small round table, sitting about three feet high, so when I sit down in the chair meant for the dining room table I can reach my plate perfectly. I can smell the bread. Fresh, and warm. It's got a smell like warmed butter and bread crumbs like the ones we use in stuffing on Thanksgiving. It's hard from being toasted, and crumbly from being a day old. As i spread the butter on it, the smell moves throughout the space surrounding me. I can taste it before I even try it. Before my senses take me over, I grab the strawberry marmalade. It tastes as if someone grabbed a hand full of strawberries and smashed them into a jar. That's it. Just plain strawberries in a jar. It's divine. As I continue to spread marmalade on my bread I can smell the mix of bread, butter, and strawberries floating towards me. I can no longer resist it's smell and dive in for a bite. There's a crunch, and a toughness caused by the toaster, but a sweet soft center with just the right amount of butter and strawberry goodness to make the experience magical. Bread here is heavenly. It's a wonderful experience that everyone should enjoy. It's hard and soft all at the same time. It's sweet and savory all at the same time. It's a great mix of everything good in the world... It's my little fairy tale. :)

I love bread.


NOW, back to olive oil.

I got back up to the school at around 8:15 because I walk from East Jesus Nowhere every day. When I got there the room already smelt like olive oil. I felt my pores open and soak up everything. I saw our professor, DVR (ha!), M, C, H1 and H2, and J. We all sat together and caught up with everything that's been going on. I hadn't seen either H for a while so it was good talking to them. When the presentation about the olive oil started I got a little skeptical about the whole thing. The man and woman leading the show were rubbing olive oil on their arms, hands, neck, face, hair etc. It was strange, like, fifty shades of strange.
So the two hour presentation started with lots of pictures and history of olives, history of making olive oil, how THEY grow olives, how they MAKE olive oils, the process etc. Really boring stuff.
Religion and olive oil... it was really weird. All I wanted to do was try it, enjoy it, and get home for dinner.

So we learned how to taste olive oil, a lot like tasting wine. Sip, swish, yumm. I sort of just guzzled it though, my bad.
They gave us bread with cheese that had been, from the looks of it, soaked in olive oil, and some gaspacho in a crust shell YUMMMMM. We were instructed on how to put olive oil on it and what not. 'Twas amazing.

After that they showed us a video of some woman doing an interpretive dance to olive oil... she took off her shirt 25 seconds in, and was naked, rolling around in olive oil by the first minute... yeah.

The score thus far stands as this: 2 butts full on, 2 sets of male genitalia, 1 set of female genitalia, and lots of boobies. If you're kids are sheltered, then don't let them come to Spain. Vale?

After an awkward five minute video consisting of full on frontals of some strange woman with a fetish for olive oil we all left realizing we'd all missed dinner. So we went over to the hooka bar again and had an amazing meal. The cous-cous, holy crap. Word's can not express how amazing it was. I took one bite, told the guy i loved it, as a joke he said "Oh, you no like? Here" and started to take it away, I seriously almost punched him.
After sitting there for an hour with everyone we headed back home. I was craving chocolate yet again, something about Spain makes me really want chocolate all the time, so we stopped and got some. I was a happy camper to say the least.

Headed home at god knows when. And I just woke up a minute ago.

Yes I skipped a class today. I regret nothing.

All we're doing is hearing presentations from people who don't really know what they're talking about, or have no concept of public speaking.



Tonight is going to be FUN!
I'm spending tomorrow with Ir, the little girl we live with, because I kind of flaked out last night since we got out so late.
Shrek, Breaking Dawn, and whatever else she wants to watch. (ALL IN SPANISH!!!!) YES!



Buenos Dias
<3

Word to the Wise

When traveling....



Bring your own hair products, like gel and what not. Especially if you have curly/unmanageable hair. The straiteners and hair dryers are amazing here, don't worry about that. But my hair does weird things if I don't use Garnier or Tresemé products... which they don't carry in Spain.

Bring all of your medicine with you, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Advil, whatever... because if you get it sent in a care package it'll get stuck in Madrid for a week because they think you're smuggling in Heroine.
-- or if all else fails just use FedEx or UPS, whatever is international, because they don't check stuff.

Bring more rather than less. I've been buying really pointless things just because I tried to pack super light for this trip. BIG MISTAKE. BIG. HUGE!
I have no club clothes and very few nice outfits... which I need for our Erotic night... HA!
Oh I can't wait for this weekend.


Keep track of the Euro-Dollar rate. It changes daily and weekends are higher than others. So when you go to an ATM or exchange money, weekdays, mainly Wednesday's are the best days.

When someone says "oh, say that again" ... odds are you're saying it wrong. If they 'like' your accent, they'll listen to you but with a smile trying to figure out where you're from.

They love American's, but only if you buy something.
When I bought gifts for the 6 pack today, the woman was super nice, gave me a great discount and told me she's always wanted to go to "Floor-EEEE- Dahhh" but there are too many hurricanes. I told her Georgia is great... :)


Today has been fun. We're doing an event again tonight, I'm pretty sure it's the Olive Oil tasting!! YES!! :)
Time to be a chunker.



Buenos Dias
<3

Granada, Day 22.

We're leaving here on the 29th, and that really didn't occur to me until last night.
(This entry is going to bounce around a lot, so please try to keep up.)

On Monday we were talking about going to a Salsa club just me and her so that I can learn how to dance better and so that we can just have a girls night. She told me not to tell Ashley because she's become a "Robahombre" -- man stealer. She said we should go this weekend, but I told her I've been planning on going to Barcelona. When she though about next weekend we both sort of moped a little... I'm not going to be here next weekend...

Last night I was sitting with our host mom at the dinner table watching England v. Ukraine. We were rooting for England, because Ukraine sucks and we really want Spain to play them. I told our host mom that I've been trying to get a group together to go to Barcelona because one of my BFF's is going to be there with a friend. However, I didn't realize that over here if you want to go somewhere on a Saturday, you have to buy your ticket three weeks before on a Tuesday... (not literately, but pretty much). So since tickets are few and far between and hella expensive, I told her I'd probably just stay here.
Her face, I kid you not, lit up like the fourth of July. She quickly busted out saying we should go to this salsa club, not only because it's awesome, but because it's a "Noche Erotica" ... yeah, google it. What I gathered from her speedy description of what's to come:

Her best male friend is a stripper, a good one. We have to buy a 'grown up' gift and take it to this party to swap or something, and we get to drink a lot, and dance the night away followed by a strip show of some sort with lots of erotic things?

Sounds fun right? :)

Yesterday I was talking with some girls in my class about going to Barca this weekend too, and they told me about a festival happening in Apujarra, remember that place I wrote about with the freezing cold pool?
Well, they have a huge water fight in the streets. I'm talking, people standing on their balconies throwing buckets of water on people walking through the streets, people in the streets dumping water bottles on you, and the occasional 'bomberro' -- fire fighter, coming through with a hose and just soaking EVERYONE.

Sounds fun right? :)

We also talked about how it's the festival of San Juan -- Festival of Fire and Water.
If you go to the beach on this night, before midnight you'll find an 'amante' lover. You jump in the water to wash away evil spirits. After midnight you wash your face and hands three times in the ocean to guarantee three wishes. You let the waves hit your feet six times to ensure a pregnancy within the year. You jump over a bonfire three times to cleanse and purify yourself, and to burn all of your problems away.

There are a few other rituals I'm sure but that's all I can find right now.

It's also the shortest night of the year, because it's the Summer Solstice... so it just seems like it's full of magic. Our host mom calls it the night of magic actually. Here it's said that Solsitces are noches de los hombres, which are nights where spirits from the 'other side' can come to Earth, like God's, Saints, spirits, errthang.

in case you want the Spanish version:

http://arquehistoria.com/historiasla-noche-de-san-juan-leyendas-fuego-y-magia-460

Sounds fun right?  :)

Our professor was even talking to us about it, except more on the educational side. She said that there's a whole other side of Día de San Juan, and it's about celebrating the Spanish Language. It's called "El Dia E" There have been a bunch of videos on youtube and on the website "Eldiae.es" about peoples favorite words in Spanish. I chose "perdóname" (excuse me) just because I like the sound, but I also like "Sueño" (dream) and "Amor" (love).
 Also pretty cool.


The Spaniards are really into this magic thing and I really like it. They have little "Brujas" (witches) everywhere. I found some that are supposed to bring you love, a good job, hope for the future, a family, all kinds of things. They're really awesome.
They also believe heavily in angels and spirits and such.
It's like a mix of Catholicism and Paganism.

Honestly, it sounds like my cup-o-tea.


Reasons again why I'm falling in love with Spain.


If you want to know something specific, like school, weather, food,  junk I'm not writing about, let me know. I'd be happy to oblige.


Buenas Tardes
<3

Fines de Semana

WARNING: PARENTAL ADVISORY. SOME CONTENT IN THIS ENTRY MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.

Just a little disclaimer. Most of this is acceptable... The stuff about Saturday is a little risque, just a heads up. :)


This weekend was one for the books for sure. Friday was really relaxed, all I did was go to school and hang out at home. We had a fantastic lunch, like too much to eat, called "Patas de Pobre" -- poor man's potatoes, which consisted of copious amounts of baked potatoes and onions, two fried eggs, and four sausage links... not exactly poor mans platter, but the potatoes and onions are simple, which is where it got it's name. (I'm going to ask her how to make it so I can cook it for you familia!)
After the crazy amounts of lunch food, school was a challenge. I felt like I'd just eaten thanksgiving dinner and needed to sleep, or watch football or something.

After making an insane trek back home, our host mom, MaeTe, prepared dinner... ¡Uf! I always feel bad when I don't finish a plate, which has happened a total of two, maybe three times since we've been here. And I went to throw away the food I couldn't eat and she asked me if I was sick. Ha! No! Just full from the fantastic lunch we'd eaten 5 hours ago.

That night I got a text from M saying she'd just been accepted to Grad School! WOO HOO! She wanted to go out and celebrate... which I couldn't really agree to because we had to wake up at 7:00 the next morning for a trip. Thankfully she saw reason and we postponed the night until Saturday.

Which leads me to my next topic... the racy/fun/memorable one.
 Saturday started like last week. We all met up, at midnight to start our noche de fiesta (night of partying). First we hit up Mo Hi Too, again, and A got a guy to pay for her drink and a round of shots. Yes, this is how the night started. A drink and shot... I'm so responsible.


After about thirty minutes of overheating and boredom we headed out to walk to the Discoteca. We left super early so we just walked really slow trying to find another place to go to before the dancing. When all else failed we just headed strait to Maewest. The guys in front of us got I.D'd and everyone kind of looked at each other worried because only two of us had I.D's on us. However, because we have A with us, lady legs, security men tend to look the other way and just welcome us in with open arms. Lovely. :)

We got to the door, paid and got two free drink tickets. I had my first ever Vodka and Redbull. It was gross, but I couldn't taste the alcohol so that was nice. I just wish I liked Redbull more... again, product placement, I should really be getting paid.

So we start dancing, and being ridiculous kind of like last time. We were looking around for some friends we were meeting and saw nothing but old guys and a few college kids... apparently it was grandpa night at Maewest? This old guy kept following us around, like old old guy, and it was hella creepy. On top of that the music kind of sucked so we didn't really dance too much, rather than walk around looking for people we knew.

At about four o'clock everyone started to get really tired and wanted to head home. We had to pry A away from some guy that wouldn't leave her alone and wanted to bring her back to his place or something, negative ghost rider, I saw taken, that's not acceptable.

So after thirty minutes of telling homeboy we needed to leave he slipped her his digits and let her free. We started walking home and everyone was grumpy because A was super drunk and wouldn't stop talking, and C was freaking out the entire time.

--- THIS IS THE WEIRD PART---

As we got closer to our apartment we started seeing less and less people because we live in East Jesus nowhere. About three or four blocks from our house though I heard something down a side street. In my naive drunken stupor I looked over to see what was happening and there was a guy standing in the ally, pants on the ground, having happy time. In. The. Middle. Of. The. Sidewalk. What. The. Hell. I told the other girls and we started power walking. A, being crazy as she is, said "Haha wouldn't it be funny if there was another one in the next ally?" ... Low and behold, another guy doing the exact same thing on the next road... Spaniards. Are. Weird.

We really kicked it into high gear to get back to our apartment. In my paranoid frantic state I looked behind me to make sure no one was following us I guess, and perp #2 was now in the main road watching us walk away so he could finish the job I guess? CREEP. ER.

Again, we kicked it up a notch, walked T, a girl from school, all the way home then booked it back.

A few choice words were shared between T and I about A, but that's really needed to finish this entry...

 The next morning, with a hangover from hell, I asked Maete if this was normal behavior, the whole men doing their thing out in public, she said something that loosely translates into "No, but there's weird people everywhere." True.

So, with a killer hangover and nausea worse than ever I checked fabo to see that M and C were still wanting to go to the beach. A conversation I vaguely remembered from the night before. We met up at 12:00 Noon and headed for the Estacion de Autobuses.

After an hour and a half of busing we made it to Almuñecar. There's a beach there with smooth rocks instead of sand and water that's about as cold as the arctic ocean, I'm pretty sure we were in the Mediterranean though. We stopped at a place to get lunch and had a three course meal for 9E. LOVELY! :D

-- MORE RISQUE THINGS COMING UP --

After lunch we headed to the beach and saw that it was clothing optional... odd, especially for a family beach. But, M had been talking about going topless at least for a little while on the beach. She. Was. Ecstatic. The first thing we did was test out the water. It was super clear, you could see all the way to the bottom, but it was soooo cold. I made it knee deep and scooted out. I laid down on my towel to soak up some Vitamin D. Right when I got comfortable M said "okay, let's do it." So, laying on my front I took of my top. It felt SOOO weird!! I was just laying on my front and could barely stand being half naked on the beach! There were kids everywhere and I just felt like I was violating their innocence or something! -- Culture difference between America and Spain. ---

After about 15 minutes, M said, okay, for real. And we turned over. TALK ABOUT WEIRD! I've never seen my boobs in the daylight! EVER! They've never been exposed to the sun before! Maybe when I was a baby... but that's not the same! I kept my hands up to cover them because I felt slightly embarrassed. M saw me and said "You're gonna have hand tan lines, stop being a p****."  (because talking about happy time is acceptable and saying that P word is not)

I dropped my hands and felt myself turn red. Talk about embarrassing. However, after about 20 minutes of sunlight and 90's hits courtesy of my iPod, I started to relax and get used to the exposed feeling. It was actually kind of liberating. That being said, I probably won't do it again, but it was a fun experience.

After 8 hours on the beach we headed back home and got stuck in traffic for a full blown hour and a half, making our bus ride 3 hours. But! we saw an amazing sunset! So... it was kind of worth it :)

That was my weekend.

Club and Beach.

It was so awesome. :)

I'm really excited to come back for the fall.




<3
Buenas Tardes.

Flamenco and Fútbol

Yesterday was a pretty nice day. School and everything was nice. Nothing out of the ordinary to tell you about.

But! After school yesterday I stayed late with W and G and we went out for Tapas and Cañas, I got white wine instead of cerveza, but that's just me. Not a beer person, at all.
We sat and talked about how much we were loving Spain, how much we've learned, how tired we are of actually studying and not vacationing... this is a lot of work, not just a fun vacation time.... and how much we're going to miss being in Spain!

We all went out because there was a Flamenco exhibition happening at the school that night about two hours after our class let out. And let me tell you, it was AWESOME! The place was crowed with students from CLM, (Centro de Lenguas Modernas) and other parents or teachers, but mainly American students. There was a small stage set up in the court yard in the middle of the school, where the guitar player, singer, and dancer performed. The guitarist was amazing, like, better than I'd ever heard. The singer had his usual flamenco sound, which isn't amazing, but it has it's moments... and the dancer, WHOOOOO WEEEE. She was EPIC. Her feet were moving so fast at points that I couldn't see them, and she was stomping so hard I honestly thought she was going to break the makeshift plywood stage.

After five or so dances everyone headed out to go over to the Moroccan restaurant over by the school. Everyone had a great time because it was the first time in a while where everyone got to sit and talk, and catch up. The majority of us are all on different schedules. The only people I see on a daily basis from our program are my room mate and another girl who's in all my classes.

Anywhooo, around midnight everyone ventured home. I was pleased to find out that walking alone at night in Granada is not bad. It's about the same as walking alone in say, downtown Lawrenceville, except there are more people out here, and most of them have been drinking... So it's still a little sketchy, but pretty save none-the-less.

The next day classes were again, same ol' same ol'. After my last class though, I went out shopping with M and C. We went to H&M and I got a GORGEOUS DRESS and a cute tank top, then went to the Moroccan stores and I haggled down for some Aladdin Pants!! :) YAY! I've been wanting them for the longest time! Well, like, since we got here... three weeks ago... ish.

So we went shopping, got some fun stuff, and then sat down at a restaurant and watched the game! I think my alcohol tolerance is growing because I didn't get quite as much of a buzz as I normally do. Granted I'm really only drinking small qualities but, apparently it's adding up. We sat down for dinner and had Sangria again (still not as good as the stuff in Madrid), and two glasses of white wine. Got a nummy nummy hamburger and nummy nummy fries and sat and yelled at the TV for an hour and a half with the drunk Spaniards next to me. 'Twas amazing.

After we finished all of that fun nonsense, Spain winning by 4 points, C M and I headed back home. But, we stopped to get some goodies at a cute tourist shop.

MADRE! I FOUND THE COIN PURSES LIKE THE ONES THEY SELL IN NEW YORK! 

And I got my postcards and bought C a jersey for her brother. When she pays me back, I'm going to get a Silva one. :) He's a cutie, or the goalie one... because he's awesome.

So that was my last two days. Lot's of culture stuff, and some money spent.
Nothing major, but still amazing :)

I'll have a lot to write about on Monday, so stay tuned!!

<3

Buenas Noches! 

Things I'm learning

In Life:

I like guys in books, better than guys in real life... so I think I'll stick to them for a while. No one is going to walk up to me in the street and be like "Where have you been all my life?!" So, until I move past that fantasy, I'm not going to be looking for any romance... because if I can't have that, I don't want it.

In School:

I hate grammar and litterateur in both languages, English and Spanish. At least the romantic period... because this poem junk is really getting on my nerves. I can't understand Shaksperian language in English, how THE HELL am I supposed to comprehend it in Spanish?! One of my professors keeps trying to use Spanish History to help us understand it... but seeing as how I haven't taken a Spanish History class.... the point is kind of moot.

In Spain:

People here don't show emotions. They're taught not to cry in public because it shows vulnerability, and apparently it's weird if you walk around with a stupid grin on your face, which I've been doing. I've been smiling like an idiot every day, mainly day dreaming about the fact that I'm in Spain, or listening to a stupid song on my iPod, or remembering stupid stuff, nothing I don't do in America, but here, people look at me like I'm an alien... I don't think they're used to showing emotions here. ¡Que loca!

In Spanish:

We're taught in the States to say "Puedo tener un ____" translated into "Can I have _____" But here, we're told not to say that, because they interpret it as "I can have____" and they'll respond with something along the lines of "Okay, I can have a car... now what do you want?" It's hilarious. The other day I asked a guy for something or other and he said "Ask me in Spanish, and then you can." And i guess he noticed by the confused look on my face that I didn't understand, because I had asked him in Spanish. So he corrected me and told me to say "Me pone un _____". BUT! If you only say "Me pone." It means something along the lines of "I want you now." ... sexually... PLEASE BE CAREFUL! OH! And when you go ask for an ice cream cone... be careful how you say cone. CONO -- correct. COÑO -- vagina.
Seriously. They're relatively close, so please, please please please, practice a little before you get over here. Madre. Padre. Talking to you.

About myself:

I'm learning a lot about my personality here. I fit in quite well with my host mom and her daughter, because they are very laid back. I'm learning that I am actually comfortable in my own skin, aside from a few insecurities. A friend here keeps saying that she's fat, when she's a size three. My other friend says she's never going to find another boyfriend, when guys here keep trying to pick her up. I'm surrounded by a sea of people with strange insecurities and I feel like Cady in Mean Girls when she says "I have bad breath in the morning..."
It's kind of strange realizing that I'm not the only one with super irrational insecurities, and I'm finally realizing that it's time to move past them. I'm not saying this is going to happen over night, but I think it'll happen while I'm here. I feel good here. I feel like I belong, because I look like everyone else. It's nice not being the only curvy person in a room. All these white girls and their size 4 butts and no boobs that are 5'7" ... jeeze. Here, there are plenty of people who look like me and it feels great!



In short, I've never felt this amazing. I've never felt this welcome.
Spain really is getting to me...
It might be the water...
Or the bread...
Or the booze...


Either way, I'm sold :)

<3

Buenos Dias


I'll write again tonight about the Flamenco thing and how our Tapas go :) 

The Reason...

... why I haven't been writing often, and when I do, it seems choppy.

I've been locked up in my room for the past four days reading the "Fifty Shades" Trilogy. It. Is. Epic.

Not only have I taken a whole new look at life, but every time I see an attractive Spaniard in a suit I automatically think about the books, forget where I'm going and then have to run to class. Also, every time an indecent Maroon 5 song comes on, I think about the novels as well.

Please, six pack, if you're reading this right now, or really anyone for that matter, if you decide to read this trilogy, don't let me know. I know the thoughts it's given me, and I don't want to know that you're thinking it too. My mother already tainted this for me. Ha!

Now, after I've given you a hearty reason as to why I've been kind of vague, here's a real description of a night on the town in Spain. :)

10:30 -
A and I finish dinner and are ready to start preparing for our night out. We'd previously discussed plans with people from other groups during out trip the Apujarra, a tiny village in the mountains with lots of cool shops. We were ready to go :)

11:00 -
Text M and see how it's looking over on her side of the road. C has backed out, but M is still ready to go, as soon as she finishes dinner.

12:00 --
A and I are ready, and have the OK from M to head her way and meet her up. We're dressed to a T, however I look short and round because I didn't pair the right things together, ANYWAY, we meet up and quickly discuss which bar to hit first... but as we look around, EVERYTHING is closing.
We start walking up to the city and find a few people leaving what looks like a Candy Store... it is a candy store, but it sells liquor. Lot's of it. Small airplane bottles, large handles, the works.
So, we stop in and buy a diet coke and three airplane bottles of Jack Daniels... not my fave, but it's better than Vodka.

Mom if this is making you nervous, stop reading now :)

12:30 --
We pulled a super alcoholic move by squatting in a side street, downing our bottles and chasing it with Coca Cola Light. Plenty of people walked by us, wondering why we were squatting... drinking in public isn't illegal in Spain... it's actually encouraged.

1:00 --
A says it's too early to hit the Discoteca because they aren't really busy until 3 or 4 and I'm seriously thinking to myself that I'm not going to make it that far... We start walking around and A remembers a place we stopped by last time we took an adventure loop around the city. Before we make it to said destination we see a bar called "Mo Hi Too". It's BUMPIN'. M quickly says, "Damn place is packed" followed by Unnamed bar tender responding with "Yep, always is." IN A BRITISH ACCENT! *Swoon*
So we walk in, he walks by pointing at all three of us individually calling out "Mojito, Mojito, Mojito?" We all respond with girlish smiles saying yes and giggling. First. Mojito. Ever.
After about an 30 minutes of anticipation M, A and I received our gorgeous drinks. The mint was super fresh, the sugar gave it a weird texture, oh my goodness it was amazing. M said it was the best one she'd had, A kept complaining that she needed something stronger. She quickly downed her drink and asked for a shot, of Vodka. M joined her, I sat back and watched.
Later they quickly rallied me, and persuaded me to take a 'baby shot' which was half Vodka, half flavored rum or something. It was delicious, but I figured that should be the last thing I drank... I'm a lightweight.

2:30 --
We're standing outside "Mo Hi Too" talking with still unnamed bar tender asking him where we should go, he says in his amazing accent "About 6 meters that way and on your right, come I'll take you." Needless to say, we all obliged willingly, looking back, probably not the smartest thing, but there were three of us, no worries. So our attractive unnamed bartender got us in free of charge with his business card, Hello Mr. Grey, and the Bouncer gave us all two kisses on the cheek and let us in. Bar Tender told us to go strait downstairs and ask for drinks, soooo we did.
A ordered me a Vodka and Limon, same for M and she got Rum and Coke. This. Was. It. We were just standing around, talking over the loud music of the bar/club drinking down what we had, and then realized we had to pee. We waited in line for over 30 minutes and remember that Unnamed Bar Tender told us to come back at 3:00. And we missed him...

3:30 --
We hail a taxi and start to head home. But halfway home I really get the urge to dance. I didn't want the night to end without actually going to the Discoteca we'd been talking about all day! As we start to pass it I ask the driver to stop, and tell A and M we should really go. They look at the place, it seems deserted look at each other, then look at me and give in. I guess the child-like enthusiasm I had was hard to say no to. Thank God. We head up the massive amounts of stairs and to the door. Pay the stuck up blonde chick and go in. Holy Crap. I've never seen anything like this. Maybe in movies, but that's different. People were everywhere, there was barely room to move. With my head being lighter than air I held on to M for dear life as we attacked the crowd in an attempt to reach the bar. A was on a roll. She ordered me another drink, and I obliged. Sipping rather slowly. We started dancing and ran into J and M2. That's when the night commenced.
We were just dancing together to the music. Singing inaudibly under the bass and loud speaker system having the time of our lives. When "Survivor" by Destiny's Child came on it was over. We belted it and danced like there was no tomorrow. A was quickly whisked away by her Spanish Lover and the rest of us kept on dancing keeping an eye on her periodically. Halfway though our seemingly innocent dancing a man comes up grabs my by my waist and starts dancing with me. Alright, not to bad, a little close but I mean, we were in a club. Then out of no where he starts talking in my ear, inaudibly, and drunk. I think he asked my name? Anyway, when I don't respond he starts biting my neck and I immediately pull away, leaving him enough room to plant one on my mouth. His tongue reached down my throat and I quickly pulled away. I almost slapped him. Really. M saw my face apparently grabbed me and said "Mi novia!" and gave him a pissed off look. Probably best to be seen as a Lesbo than a slutty American girl around Drunkard #1 anyway. After our run in with Mr.Drunk we head up to the Bar because M2 wants a shot. She asks me what I want and I shook my head. M happily obliged and told her Rum... Thanks.
So we all take another shot, quickly ask for a lemon, because we're pansies and left thanking the bar tender profusely. J stops me before we hit the dance floor showing me her watch. 5:45 am. WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!
I suddenly realized how tired I was, told M and she shrugged, pulled me to the dance floor and we danced one last song. After it ended we looked around for A, not knowing where she was. We didn't see her and in a panic fled the dance floor and headed to the Patio... She was sitting snuggled on the lap of her Spanish Lover. Smooth.

We told her we were ready to go and headed out the door. M made a quick observation noting that the sun was coming up. Shoot.

6:10ish --
We're actually en route to M's house planning on walking her halfway to make sure she was safe. Until Drunkard #2 approached us. I'm assuming he thought we were hookers, but when we told him to go away he just kept following us. I got super agitated because I was tired and coming down from my buzz. I took out my ipod and said "I'm calling the police" made a convincing show of it all faking a phone call and everything, and he quickly disappeared not wanted a scene... he was probably illegal. So after we avoided him, Drunkard #3 decided to show his face. He kept rambling on in Spanish that I didn't understand so I faked another call hoping that he would leave. Apparently he saw the previous act. He kept following us nonchalantly and we took a wrong turn in the hopes that he really was just going to his place. After a minute we turned back around and took M home. A and I turned on our heels and headed back home. A was hecho-ing pedos EVERYWHERE, and it was hilarious. (google translate)
On the way back I looked at the clock, 7:00 on the dot. We walked the 10 minutes back to the house and crashed into bed, trying our hardest not to make much noise.
Bundled up in blankets and hoodies because it'd gotten very cold... or so we thought.
At 12:00 I woke up dripping sweat, peeled off my hoodie, checked my ipod and fell asleep with it in my hand. At 1:45 I woke again to the smell of food. I headed out to pee and ran into our host mom. She looked at me, wondering just how damaged I'd been from the night before. Aside from being a little queezy I felt fine! She tuffed and said "Where are my churros"... I flushed and ran to the bathroom. On my way back out, bladder relieved, she stopped me outside the kitchen and I told her more about the night, again she asked "Where are my churros", when I didn't respond she grabbed her Crock off her food and tapped me on the butt. Then laughed with A and I for about 15 minutes. She asked us what we wanted for lunch and the rest of the day was spend reading Fifty Shades of Grey and resting once in a while. Followed by watching Spain v Italy.


Eventful weekend no?

:)

<3
Buenas Noches

A Few Of My Favorite Things

My favorite things about Spain, followed by a short description of a discoteca. :) Hold on to your panties.

Favorite things:
Fútbol is first, above all things.
Clothes is second, not awesome, but still cool.
Family is important, even if you're not family, you are.
Friends are special, you meet someone one time, and you're constantly greeted with affection.
Food is always fresh, no preservatives, everything is made here and now.
Bread! Bread is life here, and it's a good life to live.
Spanish water, aka Beer, is really good.
Boys, hit or miss, but one of my favorite things.
The smell, I don't know what it is, but I really wish I could bottle up the smell of Spain.
Siestas, nap time, loooove itttt.
History here is really extensive, and all of the buildings here seem to be older than dirt.
Shopping! There are a bunch of people selling Moroccan things because we're right here!
The sky is really blue here, bluer than blue.
School is different, but amazing too.


Discoteca:
Picture This:
Bouncers outside of a seemingly empty patio/restaurant looking place. Groups of two or three heading into empty doors leading to a seemingly empty room, and a stuck up blonde chick asking for our money. Handing her the money and collecting a ticket it seems to be a waste of time until the doors swing open. I can feel the music before I hear it, and am exposed to lighting work that would make an epileptic seize. There's a smell of sweat, hard liquor, body odor and cologne tainted by a smell of cigarettes. There are attractive boys everywhere, dancing very inappropriately with girls who appear to be under age.  I walk up to the bar with my friend and because she's tall, leggy, and black (not the spanish norm) she gets service immediately. She hands me my drink and we start to dance to Destiny's Child. The bass bumps in my ears and through my sternum. I can feel it better than I can hear it. I'm dancing with four friends, the leggy one has been whisked off my a Spanish god. We're having a great time. The stage is roped off, and the hardwood floor below us is slippery with spilled drinks. There's literally no essence of personal space, but rather a public space that screams 'please grab my ass, there's a reason I came here tonight'. Yeah, learned that one quick. Plenty of guys attempt to dance with us, but it doesn't happen. We all do cool twists and turns to get away from them, successfully avoiding those we don't want to dance with. One boy had the audacity to shove his tongue down my throat after I clearly said "basta" or 'enough' but that was barely avoided by M grabbing me and spinning me around . We all walk around looking for attractive guys, stopping at the bar and ordering shots. Ohh. I don't like dark rum, sorry Mom. But by that point, it pretty much tasted like water. We head back down the seemingly steep stairs back to the dance floor. By this point, it's already 5:00 am. We find lady legs and hang out outside talking to Spaniards and finding out where to go next time. Around 6am everyone starts feeling the slump and we all want to go to sleep. So we walk back. Leaving heaven on earth that is discoteca-land and wander home. Yelling at drunk men to leave us alone (in spanish) and avoiding stepping in dog shit.


Viva. España.

<3
Buenas Noches

Busy. :) Day 10

For those of you hanging on my every word, so sorry I haven't written in two days.

A lot has happened, and it's been wonderful :)

Granada is in full swing of the festival/celebration known as "Corpus Cristi" Google it. ;)

On wednesday the Feria started and some friends and I went to that. It was really fun! We rode this huge Ferris Wheel and we could see all of Granada from the very top! It was so awesome! Then, everyone else rode some horrible dangerous contraption, and I was not about to take part in that. (I'm not a big roller coaster person)
We spent a good three hours over there and made it back to the bust stop around 1:00am. We waited and waited for the number we needed, and it never came. So we hopped on the next bus and just got off where we recognized something. Everyone started walking back and we could see all the festival lights everywhere in celebration of Corpus Cristi. They're really beautiful.

The reason I don't have a good picture up is this.

The second I whip out my camera and get the lights into focus, which took approximately two minutes, I took aim and clicked the button. The second that I clicked the button to take the picture, the lights clicked off. ONLY THOSE! The rest were up, but the pretty ones, the ones I was dying to take a picture of, click, just turned off... Terrible.

Anyway we headed back to our designated apartments, and seeing as how we all live fairly close to each other no one had to walk alone.

H, one of the guys on the trip was drunk out of his mind and doing very stupid things... I don't think he's used to alcohol... Light weight. Two grande cervezas and no food will do that to a person though.

The next day at school sucked because I had only gotten about five hours of sleep. That afternoon though, I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey... kept me away, lemme tell you.

After I finished the book, yes in ONE day, I called my friends and told them I needed to go out. The book leaves you with so much angst, I had to leave!

So we went out for a night out of Tapas and Drinks, typical Spaniard living, and met some pretty great people, all servers and waiters, but hey, they were still pretty awesome.

So we had a few drinks, I started feeling pretty, and then M wanted to go home. As we walk back to my apartment I keep talking about the amazing book that is Fifty, and M was intrigued. Of course, I let her borrow it. She told me the next day that she'd finished it. Nice ;)

I'm now enveloped in that world and it's kind of taking over my life.

Today we're heading to the beach and going out to talk to Spaniards.

I'm excited. :)




<3
Buenos dias

Things not to do with AlkaSeltzer

Granada, Day 9

As previously stated, I've been slightly under the weather.
Sinus infection and what not.

But alas, I am better. Still a little stuffy, but nothing some Zertec can't fix. (I should get paid for the amount of product placement I use)

Just to make sure everything was moving along, I decided to go get some Vitamin C from the pharmacy. Doctor man was nice enough, walked in the back, brought me a tube, said adios and I headed home excited to get some orange deliciousness in my mouth!

So without hesitation I read the instructions on how to open the bottle. Simple enough, break the seal, pop it open, out pops orange deliciousness. YUMM! In my haste to taste that sweet familiar I popped it in my mouth and chewed vigorously.... but it had a weird texture.. like something wasn't right.

I stopped chewing, and pondered what was taking place in my mouth.

Extra saliva production? Expected, but no. Too little? No way. FOAM? YES!!
My Vitamin C had begun foaming in my mouth, and for some reason my first reaction was, 'Oh, I need water.' Without further ado, I took a huge gulp of water, and thankfully didn't swallow. I let the water sit in my mouth for about 1.2 seconds, and BAM. My cheeks filled up with foam almost immediately. I quickly covered my mouth in an attemt to keep all the fluid in, sprinted from my room down the hall with orange juice spitting between my lips, into my hand and down my arm. I ran to the bathroom reached the door and it was locked. I couldn't hold any more foam in my hands though so I opened my mouth and BAM. Everything was on the floor.

I told my Madre... she laughed hysterically.

I spent the rest of the day regretting ever having bought the Vitamin C, as it was now embedded in my nose, like when you inhale pool water.

Foreign Girl Problems... didn't read the directions, not that there were any to read...


Buenas Noches

<3

Granada, Day 8

Also known as, "Sorry I went out partying last night and didn't write."

Saturday we went to the Albaicin. Google it. I can't tell you exactly what it was, because we were told we were going there, but we went to about five different places yesterday. So I'll just summarize then, then tell you how my night went. :) Vale? (Spanish for 'savvy' like Jack Sparrow talk)

So A and I trekked over to Plaza Nueva in Granada. It was about a 30 minute voyage up hill through crowded streets of people celebrating upcoming weddings and Corpus Cristi. This man stopped A and asked her if he would marry her... or maybe he wanted  her to be the stripper for their party? I couldn't make it out. He had a heavy accent and he was slurring. Foreign Girl Problems.

After our run in with many 'a group of drunken Spaniards we ran into C and M on the street on the way to the Plaza. We walked together to try to find this very vague meeting space, seeing as how the Plaza covers about five square blocks. Lovely. We finally saw people we recognized, joined the group and were greeted by a tiny Spanish woman yelling things such as "I'll kill you if you're late again." or "Don't make me use my mom voice." Stuff along those lines.

We headed through the Plaza to our destination, stopping every so often to glance at old buildings that have been here since the 1300's or so, and looking at streets that used to be rivers, admiring old run down fountains that have decayed over the years and old men ancient saunas... that part was gross because our guide was PRETTY descriptive about the old men who used said saunas.

We walked all through this small city to the Calle de Tristes (street of the sad, so named because there's a cemetery close by) and admired the Alhambra from another view. The further we walked, the higher we rose in altitude. -- For those of you who aren't Geography savvy, this means that if there are trees, they're scarce, and rarely in a position where they're needed.-- With no tree's for shade from the god awful sun, everyone looked like they'd just climbed the desert equivalent to Mount Everest. However, when we made it halfway up this dastardly hill, we stopped at a really pretty garden that was once owned by Muslims, Jardin de Carmen. It was really pretty, and shaded. Which was nice, because it was shaded. I didn't care about much else, because it was shaded. :)

As we left the wonderfully shaded Jardin I overheard a bunch of people saying things along the lines of "She needs to quit talking." "Yeah it's not like anyone understands her anyway." "I just want to go back out to the bar." DUDE! YOU'RE IN SPAIN! STOP COMPLAINING! I, with C in toe, almost turned around and smacked the fake blonde bleach off of this girls head. Que Bendito.

Anyway, we continued our trek and made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, or wherever we were. The view was AMAZING. Better than the view from the Alhambra, because the Alhambra was in the view!! We saw "The Great Wall of Spain" haha, which was a small wall build to separate the Muslims and Christians back in the day. 'Twas awesome.

Then, we climbed up a good bit more, where vegetation didn't even exist, and stood on this brick stage like contraption surrounded by stairs in every direction. It was one of those places where you expected there to be a fountain to play in, like in Centennial Olympic Park... I guess Spaniards don't believe in those? It was dry, hot, and as Tommy Pickles would say, "It was the time of NO shadows." But, a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do, so I sat there quietly listening as hard as I could, fighting the urge to just fall out on the ground and throw a temper tantrum about how hot it was outside. My self control has come a long way since last year apparently. (Bromando -- Joking)

So after we finished admiring the land of no shadows and nothing but blue sky, we descended from the tom of Mount Wanahakalougie and headed back towards civilization. That's when Dra. Rodrigo stepped in. She told us "Let's let them go ahead, we're going over here." I love having a local for a teacher. She's awesome.

She took us down these tiny streets that only God and Dra. Rodrigo know the names of and saw a bunch of tiny shops that reminded me of Canal Street.  Momma taught me well, I know fake/stolen when I see it. :)

We sat down at one of the restaurants, got lots of Cañas (small beers) and with them, for free, came an appetizer for each. Yeahhhh buddy.

So lunch for 1,40E? Sure.



Fast Forward:

That night the group met at 8 o'clock next to the burger king, which doesn't even have a Whopper... explicamelo. por favor. We went out with Dra. Rodrigo to better know the city we were staying in and learn about everything that wasn't on the main roads.
She took us though all kinds of twists and turns, to all sorts of Plazas. We saw a wedding, the woman was wearing a white flamenco style dress, how Spanish, and a lot of different street performers. They were all pretty awesome.
After the tour we sat down again for Cañas and Tapas. M and I had Sangria, which was pretty top notch, and everyone got some food. I however, had been constipated due to my sudden love for bread with EVERYTHING over here. Jesus it's good bread. So I opted out of pretty much any food heading my way, but alcohol makes me go, so I decided what the heck right?

1 Sangria.

After that M C and I headed out on our own to find Churros con Chocolate. MMMMMM. Ever been to Callaway Gardens? Know their hot chocolate? Imagine that it came in a dip form and you could spread it on EVERYTHING. Welcome to Spain dude. Welcome. To. Spain.

I had about five churros, each dipped in chocolate, with a bottle of water and a glass of red wine. Yuuummmm

1 Wine.

After receiving the best service we've had yet, we bid farewell to our lovely server, who was working on learning English, and headed to tapa numero tres. I had wine, M had Paulner, my new favorite beer.

1 Wine.


I kept it down tonight. 3 drinks, and done.

At each place we talked about school at home, school here, expectation vs. reality... I think I had the highest expectations just because I have a crazy imagination, boys here, boys at home, friends here, friends at home, travel, love, life, past, present, future, everything.
Mildly philosophical, mildly drunken ideas.

Since it was super late, and my room mate had the keys, I headed over to M and C's place because it was really close. I sent a text to my Madre to let her know I was staying over there because I didn't have keys and figured it'd be fine. So I went to their place, met their Madre, who has an accent I've never heard before. She kissed me on both cheeks, told me I was pretty, and that I have a beautiful name... Clearly they don't have many Megan's here...
I spent the night watching stupid youtube videos that made me laugh hysterically, braiding M and C's hair for them and talking about the differences between here and home. There were many.

The next morning I got to the apartment and knocked on the door. My Madre answered with a look of shock on her face.. I asked her if she'd gotten my message... apparently she didn't. She said next time just to call her, she didn't care what time. Vale, now I know. :)

So everything's good now. All rested and ready for the long haul that this week is going to bring. I spent all of today sleeping since I was up until 3 and woke up at 8 then came here and slept until 1 or 2. Finished HP4, Prisoner of Askaban, finished my homework and started my new Spanish book 'perdoname pero, quiero casarte conmigo.'


Oh, and this man showed me his butt today from across the street and asked me to shave it. You can't file sexual harassment charges over there... it's just part of every day life here. Second ass I've seen in 24 hours. Gotta love open Spanish men. No shame. What. So. Ever.
(the first one was a groom to be that they made dress up in womens underwear.)


Que es la vida. :)

Buenas Noches

<3

Granada, Day 6

I'm going to skip the summary of the day, it's pretty much going to be the same day to day.

8:30 Breakfast
9:00 Head to school
9:30 Class
10:30 Head home
11-3:30 Sleep and Eat
4:00-7:00 Classes
7:00-11:00 whatevs.

Here's the fun stuff.

Yesterday after class, around 7:00 I was walking home with one of the girls who's from my school back home. We walked past this woman with coupons for yougurt (european spelling mom!) for only ONE EURO! Duh, we took her up on the offer.

I told you that, to tell you this:
Today, around 7:30 after classes and talking with professors we decided to go exploring for said Heladaría (yogurt or ice cream place). Terrible. Terrible. Terrible idea. We walked to and fro for about thirty minutes before my stomach got the best of me and I had to get home. However, we were on a street that I'd never been before... But W, the girl I was with, knew exactly where she was... what we didn't know was how to get back to my apartment... I had a mini panic attack before I came to my senses and decided to use this Spanish language that I know pretty well to ask for directions. Too bad NO ONE in Granada has heard of Calle de Jose Recueras... I had to have asked seven people before anyone even had the slightest idea what I was talking about.
This one woman, with a voice like Fran from the Nanny and an accent like no other told me exactly how to get there, with lots of hand motions to make sure that I understood. I love Spaniards sometime. :)

So after wandering around for another 20 minutes or so I found a street that I was familiar with and booked it home so that I wouldn't miss cena (dinner). However, when I got home, stomach growling and empty as that great abyss they have in 300, Madre wasn't here!!! I was STARVING though, so I ate the remainder of my peanut M&M's and some sweet tarts.. which wasn't a great idea. Then when Madre got home about 30 minutes later  she made us Hamburgesas. I told her that they tasted different, and she then explained to me her dream.

She wants very badly to come to the U.S. and to have a McDonalds burger on the street or at least an American burger on the street. I told her about the burgers my mom makes, and how they're super huge and really good. She was super jealous. I told her if she ever gets a chance to come she'd be more than welcome to stay with us and we'd feed her burgers every day. :)

This woman is really changing my life.


After dinner I talked with M and C and we decided that we were going to go out and get tapas and vino, appetizers and wine, or in M's case, Sangria.
We stopped at a place kind of far away and had a class of wine each, tapas, and lots of bread. Lots. Of. Bread.

We sat down and a man with FLAMING BATONS came over and started twirling them around. He was pretty attractive with his dancing around with no shirt on self. Ha! But he was pretty much begging for money and I didn't feel like giving him any.
Judge me. Go ahead.
So after the Tapas we headed back in the general direction of our apartments and said our farewells.
We passed a bunch of Spanish men, WHO SMELT GOOD! That was a new one for me! HAHAHA

But this is a great college town. It's pretty alive at night.
Lot's of cutie patooties.

Gonna go find me a Spanish amante soon so that I can learn the language, and have one of those fun foreign romances that you only read about in those cheesy bodice rippers. ;)

Voy a dormir.

Buenas Noches

<3