This past week was kind of a 'let's recuperate' week because Barcelona was so jam packed with activities and sleepless nights.
The only noteable things that I can really recall from the week are as follows.
All of which taking place on Friday:
I woke up early in the morning to dreary grey skies outside of my window. There had been a threat of rain all week and I really thought it was ludicrous, apparently, it wasn't. The clouds outside my window reminded me of that Dido song, so I took a picture and sat down to upload it. I really thought that I'd looked at the 'sun' for too long because I had spots in my vision as thought I'd stared into a bright light for more than the 30 allotted seconds for such activities.
However, half way through my walk to school I felt a massive headache ensue and thought it was just pressure from the rain and that it would go away.
When I sat down in class and realized that the thirty minutes that I'd thought had passed has only been a mere fifteen I excused myself and went home with a MASSIVE migraine now hitting it's peak.
I slept for the next two hours until K came home. I got up and sat with her squinting at all of the lights and we walked to an herbal remedy store to get tea for migraines. God Bless this woman, really. She gave me this tea for an extremely reasonable price, seeing as how it worked, and told me exactly how to take it. Ah. If it weren't for her, I'd probably still be holding my head in strait up pain.
So after two cups of Magic Tea R and S came over and we started talking about movies and what not. We all watched Tangled, or as the Spanish call it Enredados, and part of 'The Notebook', or as the Spanish call it,'El Diario de Noa'.
Saturday, I met up with R to plan Italy and to study, but S couldn't meet so we decided to just go shopping instead. K and A joined us and we all got really cute outfits. I feel like such a girl with them, they all dress me up like a life size barbie.
After our shopping extravaganza I left with R to go to Tapas wearing my new outfit and we went to a few different places just to show her friends around the town and show them what free food looks like and how good it is.
Today, Sunday,
We went to Nerja, a really beautiful beach and Filijana (Phily-hana), a little town made up of small white houses. ALL white houses. It's really pretty, google it, or check out my facebook photos.
So at 8am we headed out to go to this far of beach for lunch, a great view, and more cultural things.
The look out at the beach was wonderful, it reminded me SO much of Cadiz. It was way hotter than any of us expected though, which sucked, because we were all in boots and hoodies, and it was actually beach weather.
We sat and had lunch at this amazing Paella place, with a paella pan that was about three feet in circumfrence FILLED with yummyness. It was amazing, filling, and just all around mouthgasmic.
After lunch we went down to the beach and sat in our clothes under our rain umbrellas and just talked about life and how hot it was.
R and I went to get drinks and tapas before we had to leave which worked out beautifully, then headed to the white city.
There were a bunch of great look outs and all, but after laying on a beach for two hours, all anyone really wants to do is take a nap... which was impossible while we were walking uphill. But it was beautiful. The scenery really reminded me of pictures that I'd seen of Greece.
It was really a beautiful place, with great views and unforgiving heat, buuuuut take some give some.
We all slept like rocks on the way home, which was epic. :)
That's it.
Dinners ready
Deuces.
<3
Buenas Noches!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
My Weekend In Barcelona. -- This is gonna be a long one, hold on tight.
If you don't feel like reading everything, I've separated out videos that show the fun stuff, but should you feel like living moment by moment with me in Barcelona, read on. :) It's quite a trip.
Friday, the 21st, after school I repacked my bag to make sure everything that I'd need would fit in my backpack. I successfully packed my journal, one set of jammies, a bajillion pairs of underwear, three pairs of pants, a few shirts and a pair of shoes. I crammed in a washcloth and some snacks for emergency reasons.
At 8:00 on the dot everyone showed up at our apartment and we grabbed two cabs to head to the airport, which was mildly pricy. At 8:30 we got to the gate and waited thirty minutes to board. We ran into a few students from our CEA group and chatted them up about how they were going to Oktoberfest and we were going to Barcelona. I bought a magazine that clearly showed Kate Midletons chesticals, and Lindsay Lohans vag... they really don't censor here... at all. Like, nothing.
After we boarded the plane we found that they don't supply complementary airline food like they do in the US, but they do play awesome music during take off and landing.
On the plane we ran into two girls who work for "Bus2Alps" and they helped us get to our hostel and got us oriented to where we were in the center of the city. They told us about their many trips and how to intern with them and get a job after college.
For people who know how RA jobs work, it's like that, but you take people on tours. As an intern all you have to do is shadow a tour leader and live here for free... I've officially found my after college job. :)
When we started off towards our hostel we passed the Gothic Cathedral which was lit up pink, like Cinderellas Castle! It was so awesome. There was a concert happening for the Mercé festival which was pretty legit. Thanks to R for finding that wonderful gem.
We arrived at the hostel at 12:30pm ish and got our key to get into the room. At 1:00 we left on an adventure to find ICE BARcelona.... which was about an hour walk away from our hostel. We figured it'd be worth the walk to get into a bar made COMPLETELY out of ice, however, we were severely under dressed and about an hour late for our reservation... so we decided to get Shawarma instead, which was a terrible terrible idea. But I guess we've been spoiled by our Arab friends in Granada who really know how to cook it.
So we tried a more direct route on the way back and got into the hostel around 3, finally sleeping around 3:30 or 4. The hostel really wasn't too bad, but the room smelt like strait up sex, 'smells like romance' is what all the condom advertisements say. It was a big room with lofts with curtains that reminded me of Hook, where all the lost boys live, with double rooms underneath all of the lofts. Thankfully I knew the girl in the double with me, ugh, that could have been awkward.
Saturday, the 22nd.
The next morning everyone got up at 8 to get free breakfast, meet up with A's friends and get started on our Gaudi walking tour.The supplied breakfast was Cereal, which is a delicacy around these parts, and coffee which is sacred.
We tried walking to Sagrada Familia, over by where A's friend lived, but ended up getting lost, surprise and asked a stranger how to work the Metro. Bless his heart.
When we got out of the Metro, we looked up directly at Sagrada Familia. Ho-Lee-Crap.
It's so BIG! and Beautiful!
It's really the opposite of "The White House Effect" the whole, 'I thought it'd be bigger' thing? Nope. Not at all. It was perfect.
We met up with A's friends and dropped off all of our stuff and then worked our way back to the city centro to get to our Walking Tour.
We met up in the main plaza and had this tour guide from Ireland that kept asking us if "that was okay".... Jesus she was obnoxious. But she took us where we wanted to go, and we saw a lot of Gaudi things. I fan girled out. Don't judge
We saw Palau Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà ("La Pedrera"), and the Parque de Gaudi. It was SO amazing! Everything that I'd seen in pictures was literally right in front of me! I really felt like a child in Disney World for the first time. It was so great.
After the tour we ventured off to find somewhere to eat lunch, and ended at the worst place ever. The pictures made everything look amazing, however, when I ordered the hamburger I pictured the massive chunk of meat that was pictured, and what I got was a slab of spam shoved between two massive buns with a slice of lettuce and a teeeeny amount of mayo. What. In. The. World. Word to the wise, don't eat at Chinese places in Granada. They don't look Chinese, but if the people working there are Asian, don't go. Sorry I'm not sorry.
When lunch was over we found a little piece of grass to sit on and we stayed there for about an hour and a half, until 4:00pm or so. (Tour was from 11-1, we were at the park for like, 2 hours.) We ventured off yet again to the main area of the city closer to our hostel to see the parade that was going to happen at 7. However, by this time everyone was hungry again. So after walking around for about two hours we found a place to get lunch that seemed promising from the outside. Come to find out, upon entering, it was a Tarantino restaurant. They had posters of all of his movies, photos from his shoots, and place mats that said Tarantino. The food was AMAZING, and I ordered my first Cosmo. I expected the fruity drink that I've sampled multiple times.... But apparently in most places they use the cheap-o vodka and in Spain they use TOP SHELF so I took a sip, tasted some cranberry and then my throat and stomach were burning from the alcohol. My jaw tightened with EVERY sip. I asked the extremely nice waitress to make it a little less fuerte. She laughed a little and fixed it. Much better.
We finished dinner just in time to make it to the prime picture taking spot for the parade. It lasted for about an hour or two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFcEbGQxaHE
After that we headed back to the main plaza for a light show. Which we weren't totally expecting, but when more than 1000 Spaniards gather around for something, you normally want to be there.
When I say that they dubstepped the building, I don't mean that it had crazy music playing out of it, I mean the light show made the building look like it was moving and disappearing . These kids know what they're doing. It was so legit. Here's the video link if you don't believe me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXaeLQ-jCFI&NR=1&feature=endscreen
After that we helped A back to her friends place, and we met up with the guys were supposed to couch surf with. (It's now midnight-ish). They told us that they were with a friend not far from A's friends house so it really worked out quite well, so we thought.
When we met up with him he told us that we were going to a party with him before we were going to head back to sleep. We weren't too thrilled about it, just because we'd been walking all day, and we now had out backpacks with us.
As the party came to a close we gathered our things and headed downstairs to meet them to find out how we were getting home. That's when we were told that two of us would have to stay out and keep partying, because they didn't have room for us, and we'd have to come home later with other friends... Um, No. (It's now 2:45/3:00ish)
So we called A again and asked if it was possible to sleep on her friends floor, which it wasn't. We told him not worry about it, and walked around to find a hostel close by or a hotel with room. We really weren't worried about the cost, we just wanted to not sleep on the street.
After walking around for about thirty minutes we found a hotel and asked him for a room, which he didn't have. But he told us to use the computers to find a place to stay. After 30 more minutes of looking we FINALLY found a Holiday Inn. THANKS BE TO JESUS! And the wonderful man at the reception desk took pity on us and gave us a room with two singles in it. We were in no condition to turn that down. Seriously. No. Condition.
So we slept like kinds for 20E that night, and got to take a shower, with clean towels, and soap, and slept on clean sheets, and had air conditioning.... I really felt like a princess. "You don't know what you got till it's gone." Truer words have never been spoken.We finally got to sleep that night at 4:30 am, maybe 5:00 and woke up at 9:00 to make it in time for Breakfast, check out, and the Human Towers back in the main plaza.
Sunday, 23rd.
We four ate like Princesses, K, A, K2, and I. By princesses I mean, we ate three croissants each with yummy jelly on them and drank like, two cups of coffee each and got purified water for our bottles. It was really nice. We left around 9:45 to get to the Metro to catch a ride back to the hostel we'd stayed in the day before. Checked in an hour early, and left our bags in the luggage room, which was a life saver. And homeboy working the reception desk was ATTRACTIVE, no lie. Super hipster, super cute.
After finishing up with Mr.Sexy Pants, we headed to the big plaza, where we saw the dubstep light show, to see the Torres Humanos, which consist of about fifty people forming a base, with rows of either 2-6 people stacked 5-9 people tall with a small child of 3 to 5 years old climbing to the top of said tower, climbing over, and shimmying down. My 'mothers heart' broke every time they climbed higher than three people. It really broke when one tower fell and the little baby kid just feel strait down the center of the human tower... pobrecita.
Here's some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUzyUcHjBcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ACPS7E708U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEiFHwiubFc
After the three hours of human tower adventures, around 3pm, we realized we were all starving and decided to hit up a place that the girls we met on the plane recommended called "La Flauta". We left the plaza for our thirty so minute walk and ran into some of the best back streets of Barcelona that we'd encountered. There was a small market set up that consisted of about six or seven tents. One was all meat, one cheese, one chocolate, one honey, one soap, and a few other misc ones. The chocolate one was of course my favorite. There was a guy sitting there rolling out chocolate dough things, and rolling them into truffles and then covering them with coco. They were 1E each, so we shared them and Holy Crap on a Cracker, they were amazing. The coco exploded in my mouth, and the chocolate was so rich, and so sweet, but it was just the right amount of bitter than I didn't need a whole lot of water afterwards... (We stopped there on the way back and bought bars of chocolate... yeah, I have a sweet tooth, whatever.)
After our sweet spot stop, we kept walking and ran into 'Happy Pills' a store that sells candy with prescriptions on it reading things like "for grey skies', 'for better sex', 'for that time of the month', 'for mean girls' etc. they were funny.
When we finally got to La Flauta we saw that it was closed, and for some reason they didn't have their time table up, but then we realized it was Sunday, and it kind of made sense. Some of our group wanted to walk all the way back to where our hotel was, but we saw a place that was open, and full of Spaniards, which normally means it's good, with a Menu that was only 14E. I still think it was a sign that we landed there, because it was fantastic.
We sat down, ordered two bottles of wine and a bottle of water, and got started with our menu. The appetizer was more than satisfactory, and I honestly would have been happy with just that, but then they took the plates away, gave us about thirty minutes to chill, and brought out the second plate. That day I felt like a real Spaniard because not only did I finish everything, but it took me three hours to do so, and it was completely acceptable. COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE! :) After that we were given a choices of desserts and I got this flan thing that was SO GOOD. All of this was 14E. WINE INCLUDED! WHY IS THIS NOT A THING IN THE US?!
When we left lunch, around 5:00 we realized that we hadn't gone to the Picasso museum, which was free on Sundays, so we had to! With our sleep comas threatening to take over we hurried over to the museum and experienced Picasso's transformation from his early years, to his blue period, to his cubist movements. It really was quite an experience. I love Picasso, so it was really a great learning experience, seeing as how all I really know about him is his cubist work. He had a 'Las Meninas' fetish.
After the museum we all were feeling the food coma hitting full effect so we walked back to the hostel and A headed out to meet her friends. We said our goodbyes outside on the corner because there was a parade going on and wanted to see it before parting ways. However, while we were waiting a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and R's dress flew STRAIT UP. Marilyn Monroe stile. It was quite a spectacle, but what made it even funnier was the fact that a seven year old boy and his family say. The mother walked by wiping under her eyes to symbolize tears of laughter and the father just kind of looked and shook his head, the son however was shyly hiding behind his mother smiling ear to ear, looking over his shoulder in hopes of catching another glimpse. After, K2 tried to make her feel better by saying "At least you weren't wearing a thong," to which R replied "Oh no, I am..." which caused the lot of us to erupt in a fit of laughter. I'm talking, bent over at the waist, welling up with tears. Gosh it was great.
When A finally said her goodbyes and we recovered from the side splitting event we entered our room to find a guy pulling a towel up quickly around his waste and a girl bursting into a fit of laughter. I dropped my bag, and headed to the bathroom to let them recover while my friends stayed in there to set up our cots.
When I re entered the room, I regretted ever leaving because homeboy looked like a young, scruffy, Australian, Billy Zane with a body like Ryan Gosling and hair like a god. THEY DON'T MAKE THOSE IN THE STATES. We sat and talked for a while instead of taking a nap and they told us about how they hate Americans, and we agreed wholeheartedly. For the most part anyway. They told us that they hated all of the traveling Australians because they act like they do at home, just worse. They also told us about a dragon parade happening that night, which R had been DYING to see, so we of course planned to go.
At 9:00 we left our room and went to witness an amazing spectacle. Everyone had scarves wrapped around their face as though they were walking through the desert, or from an old Western, with hoodies on and long pants... It was about 80º outside, so I realized how serious this dragon thing was when I got there. These men started walking down the street with huge sparklers that were swinging around on poles spraying the crowed with embers. I have a burn mark on my hand, a small price to pay for the amazing experience really.
People were running in the streets to play in the fire and spraying sparklers and were chased by people dressed as devils with fire suits on. It was really awesome!! The pictures I have don't do it justice, so here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzpgS2Q_2M
At 10:30 we realized we only had 30 minutes to get to Sagrada Familia to see the light show, so we hopped on the Metro, which was packed tighter than a jar of pickles. It was quite terrible. But we knew we were getting to Sagrada without walking, so it was fine.
The four of us landed at the stop and met up with A to go see the show and find places to eat tapas. We found a not so prime spot to see the light show, but it was still really cool. Halfway through the show I seriously thought to myself "There's no way that they're going to dubstep a Cathedral right? Isn't that like, sacrelig?" ... Oh no, They did it.
They DUBSTEPPED SAGRADA FAMILIA!
I freaking LOVE Spaniards.
Here's the Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS9NBwQ3fO4
After the amazing show, we got some Chupa Chups, those great two flavor lollipops. The design of which was created by Salvador Dalí, betcha didn't know that, well, I didn't.
We then went on an adventure to find Dow Jones Bar, which is a Stock Market bar designed to look like Wall Street. They did a really good job of it too! We landed there around 2am or so, right as the stock market crashed! So I got a Pink Mojito, which did not come close to being as good as the one in Granada, but it was only 3E, pretty good deal really. After I gulped that down I got a shot called "Pink Taco", which was terrible, I mean, terrible. It was supposed to be Banana something, which I thought would be good because I've come to like them, but no, not at all. But I guess it did the job, because I didn't feel stupid doing the figure 8. (that's our drunk test, thanks to R)
After that we hopped on the Metro with A to ride back with her to Sagrada, then got back on a went back to our hostel. We got back at about 3 or 4, and EVERYONE was asleep by then. I felt bad going in and leaving because the door squeaked so much, but it's not my fault I can't see in the dark, so whatever. After we settled in R and I shared a bed to stay warm, because Barca is SO cold at night, cuddling is nice. When we laid down the Ausie boy woke up and left to go to the bathroom... in his boxer briefs, and K2 got a full show because she ran into him in the hallway, but when he opened the door I got a full side view of strait abs, bed head, amazing biceps, and just, amazingness. K2 came in and said "Got those fit him good." HAHA. I was so freaking jelly.
The next morning, we again woke up with the sun at 8am to get breakfast and to get to Sagrada Familia before the rush. We made it there at 9 and thankfully the line was super short. Tickets were fairly cheap to get in so I wasn't too upset. We walked in and it's really breath taking even from the outside, it was funny to see how much they can change the face of it with lights when there's so much there. There's so much detail in it, that it's almost unbelievable. The inside is filled with stained glass and the sun was jut hitting them when we went in, so there were streaks of color all over the place. It was quite a sight to behold. Here's the virtual tour.
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/docs_instit/vvirtual.php?vv=1
Click the tabs at the top to see everything. You're welcome.
After about two hours in the Cathedral we headed over to Camp Nou because K wanted to see where Barca played. It was really cool. They had Iniesta posters everywhere. (he's the best player in the world, it's a real title.)
When we were finished seeing the outside of the area we went back to the perfect restaurant again. The menu changed unfortunately, but it was cheaper this time, so that was fantastic. Again, we got excellent service, with excellent food. No complaints, tons of recommendations.
When lunch was over we wandered back home taking our time, but moving quick enough to get back in time to catch the bus to the airport.
We stopped and bought post cards, misc things, and I got a coffee mug for half price. One more for the collection. It's great :)
I really want to get one from every place I visit. Start a collection of them, kind of like shot glasses, but more expensive, and takes up more space. I really need space bags.
After that we picked up our bags, caught the bus and got to the airport to get home. At the airport security took literally five seconds and we were greeted by three women dancing and handing out perfume samples. Like, legitimately dancing, it was pretty weird.
The flight home was kind of rough, but we survived.
We hopped the bus to get to the city then made it home.
Over all the weekend was really amazing, and I really hope that I get to go back some day.
Wouldn't change at thing about it. :)
Sorry this was so lengthy
<3
Buenas Noches
Friday, the 21st, after school I repacked my bag to make sure everything that I'd need would fit in my backpack. I successfully packed my journal, one set of jammies, a bajillion pairs of underwear, three pairs of pants, a few shirts and a pair of shoes. I crammed in a washcloth and some snacks for emergency reasons.
At 8:00 on the dot everyone showed up at our apartment and we grabbed two cabs to head to the airport, which was mildly pricy. At 8:30 we got to the gate and waited thirty minutes to board. We ran into a few students from our CEA group and chatted them up about how they were going to Oktoberfest and we were going to Barcelona. I bought a magazine that clearly showed Kate Midletons chesticals, and Lindsay Lohans vag... they really don't censor here... at all. Like, nothing.
After we boarded the plane we found that they don't supply complementary airline food like they do in the US, but they do play awesome music during take off and landing.
On the plane we ran into two girls who work for "Bus2Alps" and they helped us get to our hostel and got us oriented to where we were in the center of the city. They told us about their many trips and how to intern with them and get a job after college.
For people who know how RA jobs work, it's like that, but you take people on tours. As an intern all you have to do is shadow a tour leader and live here for free... I've officially found my after college job. :)
When we started off towards our hostel we passed the Gothic Cathedral which was lit up pink, like Cinderellas Castle! It was so awesome. There was a concert happening for the Mercé festival which was pretty legit. Thanks to R for finding that wonderful gem.
We arrived at the hostel at 12:30pm ish and got our key to get into the room. At 1:00 we left on an adventure to find ICE BARcelona.... which was about an hour walk away from our hostel. We figured it'd be worth the walk to get into a bar made COMPLETELY out of ice, however, we were severely under dressed and about an hour late for our reservation... so we decided to get Shawarma instead, which was a terrible terrible idea. But I guess we've been spoiled by our Arab friends in Granada who really know how to cook it.
So we tried a more direct route on the way back and got into the hostel around 3, finally sleeping around 3:30 or 4. The hostel really wasn't too bad, but the room smelt like strait up sex, 'smells like romance' is what all the condom advertisements say. It was a big room with lofts with curtains that reminded me of Hook, where all the lost boys live, with double rooms underneath all of the lofts. Thankfully I knew the girl in the double with me, ugh, that could have been awkward.
Saturday, the 22nd.
The next morning everyone got up at 8 to get free breakfast, meet up with A's friends and get started on our Gaudi walking tour.The supplied breakfast was Cereal, which is a delicacy around these parts, and coffee which is sacred.
We tried walking to Sagrada Familia, over by where A's friend lived, but ended up getting lost, surprise and asked a stranger how to work the Metro. Bless his heart.
When we got out of the Metro, we looked up directly at Sagrada Familia. Ho-Lee-Crap.
It's so BIG! and Beautiful!
It's really the opposite of "The White House Effect" the whole, 'I thought it'd be bigger' thing? Nope. Not at all. It was perfect.
We met up with A's friends and dropped off all of our stuff and then worked our way back to the city centro to get to our Walking Tour.
We met up in the main plaza and had this tour guide from Ireland that kept asking us if "that was okay".... Jesus she was obnoxious. But she took us where we wanted to go, and we saw a lot of Gaudi things. I fan girled out. Don't judge
We saw Palau Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà ("La Pedrera"), and the Parque de Gaudi. It was SO amazing! Everything that I'd seen in pictures was literally right in front of me! I really felt like a child in Disney World for the first time. It was so great.
After the tour we ventured off to find somewhere to eat lunch, and ended at the worst place ever. The pictures made everything look amazing, however, when I ordered the hamburger I pictured the massive chunk of meat that was pictured, and what I got was a slab of spam shoved between two massive buns with a slice of lettuce and a teeeeny amount of mayo. What. In. The. World. Word to the wise, don't eat at Chinese places in Granada. They don't look Chinese, but if the people working there are Asian, don't go. Sorry I'm not sorry.
When lunch was over we found a little piece of grass to sit on and we stayed there for about an hour and a half, until 4:00pm or so. (Tour was from 11-1, we were at the park for like, 2 hours.) We ventured off yet again to the main area of the city closer to our hostel to see the parade that was going to happen at 7. However, by this time everyone was hungry again. So after walking around for about two hours we found a place to get lunch that seemed promising from the outside. Come to find out, upon entering, it was a Tarantino restaurant. They had posters of all of his movies, photos from his shoots, and place mats that said Tarantino. The food was AMAZING, and I ordered my first Cosmo. I expected the fruity drink that I've sampled multiple times.... But apparently in most places they use the cheap-o vodka and in Spain they use TOP SHELF so I took a sip, tasted some cranberry and then my throat and stomach were burning from the alcohol. My jaw tightened with EVERY sip. I asked the extremely nice waitress to make it a little less fuerte. She laughed a little and fixed it. Much better.
We finished dinner just in time to make it to the prime picture taking spot for the parade. It lasted for about an hour or two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFcEbGQxaHE
After that we headed back to the main plaza for a light show. Which we weren't totally expecting, but when more than 1000 Spaniards gather around for something, you normally want to be there.
When I say that they dubstepped the building, I don't mean that it had crazy music playing out of it, I mean the light show made the building look like it was moving and disappearing . These kids know what they're doing. It was so legit. Here's the video link if you don't believe me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXaeLQ-jCFI&NR=1&feature=endscreen
After that we helped A back to her friends place, and we met up with the guys were supposed to couch surf with. (It's now midnight-ish). They told us that they were with a friend not far from A's friends house so it really worked out quite well, so we thought.
When we met up with him he told us that we were going to a party with him before we were going to head back to sleep. We weren't too thrilled about it, just because we'd been walking all day, and we now had out backpacks with us.
As the party came to a close we gathered our things and headed downstairs to meet them to find out how we were getting home. That's when we were told that two of us would have to stay out and keep partying, because they didn't have room for us, and we'd have to come home later with other friends... Um, No. (It's now 2:45/3:00ish)
So we called A again and asked if it was possible to sleep on her friends floor, which it wasn't. We told him not worry about it, and walked around to find a hostel close by or a hotel with room. We really weren't worried about the cost, we just wanted to not sleep on the street.
After walking around for about thirty minutes we found a hotel and asked him for a room, which he didn't have. But he told us to use the computers to find a place to stay. After 30 more minutes of looking we FINALLY found a Holiday Inn. THANKS BE TO JESUS! And the wonderful man at the reception desk took pity on us and gave us a room with two singles in it. We were in no condition to turn that down. Seriously. No. Condition.
So we slept like kinds for 20E that night, and got to take a shower, with clean towels, and soap, and slept on clean sheets, and had air conditioning.... I really felt like a princess. "You don't know what you got till it's gone." Truer words have never been spoken.We finally got to sleep that night at 4:30 am, maybe 5:00 and woke up at 9:00 to make it in time for Breakfast, check out, and the Human Towers back in the main plaza.
Sunday, 23rd.
We four ate like Princesses, K, A, K2, and I. By princesses I mean, we ate three croissants each with yummy jelly on them and drank like, two cups of coffee each and got purified water for our bottles. It was really nice. We left around 9:45 to get to the Metro to catch a ride back to the hostel we'd stayed in the day before. Checked in an hour early, and left our bags in the luggage room, which was a life saver. And homeboy working the reception desk was ATTRACTIVE, no lie. Super hipster, super cute.
After finishing up with Mr.Sexy Pants, we headed to the big plaza, where we saw the dubstep light show, to see the Torres Humanos, which consist of about fifty people forming a base, with rows of either 2-6 people stacked 5-9 people tall with a small child of 3 to 5 years old climbing to the top of said tower, climbing over, and shimmying down. My 'mothers heart' broke every time they climbed higher than three people. It really broke when one tower fell and the little baby kid just feel strait down the center of the human tower... pobrecita.
Here's some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUzyUcHjBcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ACPS7E708U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEiFHwiubFc
After the three hours of human tower adventures, around 3pm, we realized we were all starving and decided to hit up a place that the girls we met on the plane recommended called "La Flauta". We left the plaza for our thirty so minute walk and ran into some of the best back streets of Barcelona that we'd encountered. There was a small market set up that consisted of about six or seven tents. One was all meat, one cheese, one chocolate, one honey, one soap, and a few other misc ones. The chocolate one was of course my favorite. There was a guy sitting there rolling out chocolate dough things, and rolling them into truffles and then covering them with coco. They were 1E each, so we shared them and Holy Crap on a Cracker, they were amazing. The coco exploded in my mouth, and the chocolate was so rich, and so sweet, but it was just the right amount of bitter than I didn't need a whole lot of water afterwards... (We stopped there on the way back and bought bars of chocolate... yeah, I have a sweet tooth, whatever.)
After our sweet spot stop, we kept walking and ran into 'Happy Pills' a store that sells candy with prescriptions on it reading things like "for grey skies', 'for better sex', 'for that time of the month', 'for mean girls' etc. they were funny.
When we finally got to La Flauta we saw that it was closed, and for some reason they didn't have their time table up, but then we realized it was Sunday, and it kind of made sense. Some of our group wanted to walk all the way back to where our hotel was, but we saw a place that was open, and full of Spaniards, which normally means it's good, with a Menu that was only 14E. I still think it was a sign that we landed there, because it was fantastic.
We sat down, ordered two bottles of wine and a bottle of water, and got started with our menu. The appetizer was more than satisfactory, and I honestly would have been happy with just that, but then they took the plates away, gave us about thirty minutes to chill, and brought out the second plate. That day I felt like a real Spaniard because not only did I finish everything, but it took me three hours to do so, and it was completely acceptable. COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE! :) After that we were given a choices of desserts and I got this flan thing that was SO GOOD. All of this was 14E. WINE INCLUDED! WHY IS THIS NOT A THING IN THE US?!
When we left lunch, around 5:00 we realized that we hadn't gone to the Picasso museum, which was free on Sundays, so we had to! With our sleep comas threatening to take over we hurried over to the museum and experienced Picasso's transformation from his early years, to his blue period, to his cubist movements. It really was quite an experience. I love Picasso, so it was really a great learning experience, seeing as how all I really know about him is his cubist work. He had a 'Las Meninas' fetish.
After the museum we all were feeling the food coma hitting full effect so we walked back to the hostel and A headed out to meet her friends. We said our goodbyes outside on the corner because there was a parade going on and wanted to see it before parting ways. However, while we were waiting a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and R's dress flew STRAIT UP. Marilyn Monroe stile. It was quite a spectacle, but what made it even funnier was the fact that a seven year old boy and his family say. The mother walked by wiping under her eyes to symbolize tears of laughter and the father just kind of looked and shook his head, the son however was shyly hiding behind his mother smiling ear to ear, looking over his shoulder in hopes of catching another glimpse. After, K2 tried to make her feel better by saying "At least you weren't wearing a thong," to which R replied "Oh no, I am..." which caused the lot of us to erupt in a fit of laughter. I'm talking, bent over at the waist, welling up with tears. Gosh it was great.
When A finally said her goodbyes and we recovered from the side splitting event we entered our room to find a guy pulling a towel up quickly around his waste and a girl bursting into a fit of laughter. I dropped my bag, and headed to the bathroom to let them recover while my friends stayed in there to set up our cots.
When I re entered the room, I regretted ever leaving because homeboy looked like a young, scruffy, Australian, Billy Zane with a body like Ryan Gosling and hair like a god. THEY DON'T MAKE THOSE IN THE STATES. We sat and talked for a while instead of taking a nap and they told us about how they hate Americans, and we agreed wholeheartedly. For the most part anyway. They told us that they hated all of the traveling Australians because they act like they do at home, just worse. They also told us about a dragon parade happening that night, which R had been DYING to see, so we of course planned to go.
At 9:00 we left our room and went to witness an amazing spectacle. Everyone had scarves wrapped around their face as though they were walking through the desert, or from an old Western, with hoodies on and long pants... It was about 80º outside, so I realized how serious this dragon thing was when I got there. These men started walking down the street with huge sparklers that were swinging around on poles spraying the crowed with embers. I have a burn mark on my hand, a small price to pay for the amazing experience really.
People were running in the streets to play in the fire and spraying sparklers and were chased by people dressed as devils with fire suits on. It was really awesome!! The pictures I have don't do it justice, so here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzpgS2Q_2M
At 10:30 we realized we only had 30 minutes to get to Sagrada Familia to see the light show, so we hopped on the Metro, which was packed tighter than a jar of pickles. It was quite terrible. But we knew we were getting to Sagrada without walking, so it was fine.
The four of us landed at the stop and met up with A to go see the show and find places to eat tapas. We found a not so prime spot to see the light show, but it was still really cool. Halfway through the show I seriously thought to myself "There's no way that they're going to dubstep a Cathedral right? Isn't that like, sacrelig?" ... Oh no, They did it.
They DUBSTEPPED SAGRADA FAMILIA!
I freaking LOVE Spaniards.
Here's the Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS9NBwQ3fO4
After the amazing show, we got some Chupa Chups, those great two flavor lollipops. The design of which was created by Salvador Dalí, betcha didn't know that, well, I didn't.
We then went on an adventure to find Dow Jones Bar, which is a Stock Market bar designed to look like Wall Street. They did a really good job of it too! We landed there around 2am or so, right as the stock market crashed! So I got a Pink Mojito, which did not come close to being as good as the one in Granada, but it was only 3E, pretty good deal really. After I gulped that down I got a shot called "Pink Taco", which was terrible, I mean, terrible. It was supposed to be Banana something, which I thought would be good because I've come to like them, but no, not at all. But I guess it did the job, because I didn't feel stupid doing the figure 8. (that's our drunk test, thanks to R)
After that we hopped on the Metro with A to ride back with her to Sagrada, then got back on a went back to our hostel. We got back at about 3 or 4, and EVERYONE was asleep by then. I felt bad going in and leaving because the door squeaked so much, but it's not my fault I can't see in the dark, so whatever. After we settled in R and I shared a bed to stay warm, because Barca is SO cold at night, cuddling is nice. When we laid down the Ausie boy woke up and left to go to the bathroom... in his boxer briefs, and K2 got a full show because she ran into him in the hallway, but when he opened the door I got a full side view of strait abs, bed head, amazing biceps, and just, amazingness. K2 came in and said "Got those fit him good." HAHA. I was so freaking jelly.
The next morning, we again woke up with the sun at 8am to get breakfast and to get to Sagrada Familia before the rush. We made it there at 9 and thankfully the line was super short. Tickets were fairly cheap to get in so I wasn't too upset. We walked in and it's really breath taking even from the outside, it was funny to see how much they can change the face of it with lights when there's so much there. There's so much detail in it, that it's almost unbelievable. The inside is filled with stained glass and the sun was jut hitting them when we went in, so there were streaks of color all over the place. It was quite a sight to behold. Here's the virtual tour.
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/docs_instit/vvirtual.php?vv=1
Click the tabs at the top to see everything. You're welcome.
After about two hours in the Cathedral we headed over to Camp Nou because K wanted to see where Barca played. It was really cool. They had Iniesta posters everywhere. (he's the best player in the world, it's a real title.)
When we were finished seeing the outside of the area we went back to the perfect restaurant again. The menu changed unfortunately, but it was cheaper this time, so that was fantastic. Again, we got excellent service, with excellent food. No complaints, tons of recommendations.
When lunch was over we wandered back home taking our time, but moving quick enough to get back in time to catch the bus to the airport.
We stopped and bought post cards, misc things, and I got a coffee mug for half price. One more for the collection. It's great :)
I really want to get one from every place I visit. Start a collection of them, kind of like shot glasses, but more expensive, and takes up more space. I really need space bags.
After that we picked up our bags, caught the bus and got to the airport to get home. At the airport security took literally five seconds and we were greeted by three women dancing and handing out perfume samples. Like, legitimately dancing, it was pretty weird.
The flight home was kind of rough, but we survived.
We hopped the bus to get to the city then made it home.
Over all the weekend was really amazing, and I really hope that I get to go back some day.
Wouldn't change at thing about it. :)
Sorry this was so lengthy
<3
Buenas Noches
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Last Few Days
Nothing major major has been happening, but a lot is going to be happening this weekend.
So in case I forget to write, I figured I'd keep you updated on what's happening thus far.
I've started going out and exploring. Mainly with people, just because it's nice to be lost with people, rather than alone.
We all ventured up through the Albazin and all around Plaza Nueva the other day.
It was really fun.
We got a lot of Helado, K got a skirt, S and I just walked around and had fun.
It's been really great.
Classes are hitting an interesting point right now. We're learning a lot of colloquial things. It's really nice. Like how to tell people no in more than one way. Because unlike English, it's ugly to be repetitive in Spanish. :)
That's why it's so pretty. :)
So this weekend I'm going to Barcelona.
To do list:
Sagrada Familia
Gaudi tour
Ice Bar
Stock Market Bar
Picasso Museum
Enjoy the Festival.
:)
I'll take like five billion pictures...
how many can you fit on a 4GB?
Meh it'll be enough.
<3
Buenas Tardes.
So in case I forget to write, I figured I'd keep you updated on what's happening thus far.
I've started going out and exploring. Mainly with people, just because it's nice to be lost with people, rather than alone.
We all ventured up through the Albazin and all around Plaza Nueva the other day.
It was really fun.
We got a lot of Helado, K got a skirt, S and I just walked around and had fun.
It's been really great.
Classes are hitting an interesting point right now. We're learning a lot of colloquial things. It's really nice. Like how to tell people no in more than one way. Because unlike English, it's ugly to be repetitive in Spanish. :)
That's why it's so pretty. :)
So this weekend I'm going to Barcelona.
To do list:
Sagrada Familia
Gaudi tour
Ice Bar
Stock Market Bar
Picasso Museum
Enjoy the Festival.
:)
I'll take like five billion pictures...
how many can you fit on a 4GB?
Meh it'll be enough.
<3
Buenas Tardes.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Spain VS States
Not to get all philosophical on you, but I'm about to get all philosophical on you.
In my classes I've been learning about the proper way to ask for things in Spain. The direct translation from English to Spanish is not the way that they ask for things, like it would be in Italian or something. Spain is much more Latin based, as is French. Instead of asking "Can I have," or "May I have," they simply say "Give me." and it's not considered rude.
It's simply telling people what you want.
In the States if you tell someone "Give me." at a restaurant, odds are there will be spit or some foul substance in your food... here though, it's rude when you say "Thank you" over and over again.
The way that I see it, is that people in the States are far too concerned with being politically correct and we take things much to personally, myself included.
We as a whole should probably stop worrying about hurting peoples feelings and stop worrying about asking for what we want.
My friend R last night made a good point about this. We were dreaming out loud about wanting to ride on the back of a moped while we're here, all Lizzie McGuire style, and she said something along the lines of, "You're going to have to ask for it, no one knows what you want unless you ask." And here, it's as if they don't even ask for it. They know what they want, and they tell you.
We say things such as "Please close the door." Granted, in the States, in Spanish classes they will add a "Please" to the structure, but normally it's said here as something along the lines of "Close the door!!" but it's completely normal.
I hear all the time that countries in Europe are 'rude' or 'hate Americans' which is a fallacy in itself, because they don't hate 'Americans' they hate 'people from the United States'... there is a whole other South part to America people, let's start calling our country what it is like everyone else in the world.
I digress... European countries are not 'rude' they just aren't saddled with a stigma of being politically correct. They don't care what people think, no one does. Fashion wise, sure, as in, you better not leave the house with those shoes on. But personality wise, their culture just accepts that there is no such thing as being politically correct.
You can't just walk around on egg shells your whole life trying not to offend anyone!!
Let me be clear, 'political correctness' and 'tact' are two different things. I'm not telling you to come here and be a heinous bitch, use your common sense people.
In Spain, it seems to me that everyone here is all about getting to a place that makes them happy. They tell you what they want without any second guessing. They tell you what they're doing without any hesitation. And they tell you what they think without giving a damn what you have to say about it.
There is no personal space, there is no 'excuse me', 'please', and 'thank you'. There is just a basic understanding that people are human, that they're going to make mistakes and that you will too. There is a basic appreciation for family, friends, and strangers.
-- I know that last part sounded like a closing paragraph but I just remembered something.--
Back to the "Can I have," part... In the States I feel like we hear a lot of "I can do this." "Can I do this?" A lot of "Can I" or "I can" statements. People here very rarely say "Can" unless they really have NO IDEA if they can or can not do it. They say things with conviction here. It's "I will" more often than "Will I?" and "That's that" more than "Is that right?" It's so much more, fuerte here.
Also, I'm going to take a detour down the family trail here. People in Spain don't start reproducing normally until their mid thirties. They see teen pregnancy as an epidemic as much as AIDS or HIV. They don't see it as a glamorous thing like we do in the States. People wait until they have lived their lives to start helping someone else live theirs. My program director is almost fifty and she just had a baby. Granted, she looks thirty, but she's still going strong. Two babies! TWO! At FIFTY! Can we please marvel at that for a moment?
And while I was hiking parents took their children through ragged terrain just because they could. I mean, back home I feel like children are given video games to keep them busy while parents just sit around. Why don't we climb stone mountain on the regular back in Atlanta? "Because we don't have time." ?! "Because it's hard." ?! ... I know I'm from the United States, and I will forever be a citizen, and that I am completely patriotic, but sometimes I lose hope in our people.
That's my rant for now.
And in true Spanish fashion, if I've offended you, I don't care.
This is my blog. My thoughts, go make your own. :)
<3
Buenos Dias.
In my classes I've been learning about the proper way to ask for things in Spain. The direct translation from English to Spanish is not the way that they ask for things, like it would be in Italian or something. Spain is much more Latin based, as is French. Instead of asking "Can I have," or "May I have," they simply say "Give me." and it's not considered rude.
It's simply telling people what you want.
In the States if you tell someone "Give me." at a restaurant, odds are there will be spit or some foul substance in your food... here though, it's rude when you say "Thank you" over and over again.
The way that I see it, is that people in the States are far too concerned with being politically correct and we take things much to personally, myself included.
We as a whole should probably stop worrying about hurting peoples feelings and stop worrying about asking for what we want.
My friend R last night made a good point about this. We were dreaming out loud about wanting to ride on the back of a moped while we're here, all Lizzie McGuire style, and she said something along the lines of, "You're going to have to ask for it, no one knows what you want unless you ask." And here, it's as if they don't even ask for it. They know what they want, and they tell you.
We say things such as "Please close the door." Granted, in the States, in Spanish classes they will add a "Please" to the structure, but normally it's said here as something along the lines of "Close the door!!" but it's completely normal.
I hear all the time that countries in Europe are 'rude' or 'hate Americans' which is a fallacy in itself, because they don't hate 'Americans' they hate 'people from the United States'... there is a whole other South part to America people, let's start calling our country what it is like everyone else in the world.
I digress... European countries are not 'rude' they just aren't saddled with a stigma of being politically correct. They don't care what people think, no one does. Fashion wise, sure, as in, you better not leave the house with those shoes on. But personality wise, their culture just accepts that there is no such thing as being politically correct.
You can't just walk around on egg shells your whole life trying not to offend anyone!!
Let me be clear, 'political correctness' and 'tact' are two different things. I'm not telling you to come here and be a heinous bitch, use your common sense people.
In Spain, it seems to me that everyone here is all about getting to a place that makes them happy. They tell you what they want without any second guessing. They tell you what they're doing without any hesitation. And they tell you what they think without giving a damn what you have to say about it.
There is no personal space, there is no 'excuse me', 'please', and 'thank you'. There is just a basic understanding that people are human, that they're going to make mistakes and that you will too. There is a basic appreciation for family, friends, and strangers.
-- I know that last part sounded like a closing paragraph but I just remembered something.--
Back to the "Can I have," part... In the States I feel like we hear a lot of "I can do this." "Can I do this?" A lot of "Can I" or "I can" statements. People here very rarely say "Can" unless they really have NO IDEA if they can or can not do it. They say things with conviction here. It's "I will" more often than "Will I?" and "That's that" more than "Is that right?" It's so much more, fuerte here.
Also, I'm going to take a detour down the family trail here. People in Spain don't start reproducing normally until their mid thirties. They see teen pregnancy as an epidemic as much as AIDS or HIV. They don't see it as a glamorous thing like we do in the States. People wait until they have lived their lives to start helping someone else live theirs. My program director is almost fifty and she just had a baby. Granted, she looks thirty, but she's still going strong. Two babies! TWO! At FIFTY! Can we please marvel at that for a moment?
And while I was hiking parents took their children through ragged terrain just because they could. I mean, back home I feel like children are given video games to keep them busy while parents just sit around. Why don't we climb stone mountain on the regular back in Atlanta? "Because we don't have time." ?! "Because it's hard." ?! ... I know I'm from the United States, and I will forever be a citizen, and that I am completely patriotic, but sometimes I lose hope in our people.
That's my rant for now.
And in true Spanish fashion, if I've offended you, I don't care.
This is my blog. My thoughts, go make your own. :)
<3
Buenos Dias.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Ode to Nana
Today was crazy for a Saturday.
I woke up at 7am to a dark room and a growling stomach, only to be told that I had twenty minutes to prepare for the hike we were going on. I quickly got dressed and scarfed down some fruit.
At 8:00 the bus came and picked everyone up and we headed out about thirty minutes outside of Granada and began our trek up the steepest incline that I've ever seen, for my rowing friends I swear it was a two mile long version of 'The Hill." and I really wanted to kill myself halfway up.
When we got about a fifth of the way there we turned around to a fantastic view of the Sierra Nevada, yes same name, different country/continent. When we finally made it to the top the sun was finally at it's peak and I was sweating bullets. We took great pictures and admired the fake looking view from where we were.
I've never seen mountains like that outside of a movie. It really reminded me of some sort of Lord of the Rings kind of scenes.
On the way down it was a slippery slope. There was loose gravel everywhere and almost everyone fell and busted their asses. It was really quite hilarious, but pretty scary seeing as how we were at the very top of the mountain, and there was nothing but dirt and bushes to catch us. Sounds comfy hu?
When we made it to the less difficult area everything seemed pretty awesome, as if it would be smooth sailing from then on. Au contrare my friend. We went into this cave type structure and there were a bunch of rocks coming out at us from either side, making it extremely difficult to stay on the elevated sidewalk over the river.
There were handles placed about 6 feet apart from each other going down the rock, so if you're tall you can just swing in a spider man like style from handle to handle, however, if you're vertically challenged like me, and have a wingspan of about 5'4" then you're kind of just making handles out of weird niches in the rock... the perks of being short... great.
After we made it out of the jigsaw puzzle that was climbing through a cave, not even up or down, we saw people scaling a seemingly smooth rock face with little to no assistance from people on the ground. They were just free climbing with a few clips and some rope. NBD. We saw my future husband too. Super tan, back like a greek god, shirtless, dark hair, beautiful... and rock climbing... too bad I'm scared of heights, looks like the wedding's going to be postponed.
After we admired the view and the skill it took to get up there, we crossed a bridge that can honestly only be compared to the one in Shrek / Indiana Jones. I kept thinking to myself "SHREK! I'M LOOKIN DOWN!" It was seriously held up by wire rope with a few metal things going down the sides to look like hand rails. But the boards that it was made from were spaced so awkwardly that it was completely possible to miss your footing and fall face first potentially plummeting to you doom... or at least that's what my over active imagination came up with.
Once across the bridge we headed downwards to a lovely view of a waterfall that seriously must have been in a calendar somewhere by now. It was so cute, and peaceful looking. I wanted to play in it, but wet socks are probably the worst thing ever.
After our scary life-endangering trip we all went up to a little cafe and got cervesas and tinto with some amazing tapas. I've grown to like to beers here "Alhambra" and "Mahou". Both very mild, and kind of remind me of Bud Light, sans after taste. Still delish, and drinkable to boot.
Then we took a journey back to the bus stop that took FOREVER yet again, and everyone promptly passed out on the bus.
When we got back to our home stop we got out and found this man selling PRICKLY PEARS!!! 5 for 1E! So of course I took him up on his offer. He actually gave us 6, which was amazing, so K, A and I all snacked like thieves on the walk home. It was quite an experience, and I now really like Prickly pears! :)
That was our afternoon.
I finally awoke from my slumber a while ago to the news that we've been selected for free entry to a club along with a complementary bottle of champagne. YEAH BUDDY. :)
I'll letcha know how that goes later.
<3
Buenas Tardes
I woke up at 7am to a dark room and a growling stomach, only to be told that I had twenty minutes to prepare for the hike we were going on. I quickly got dressed and scarfed down some fruit.
At 8:00 the bus came and picked everyone up and we headed out about thirty minutes outside of Granada and began our trek up the steepest incline that I've ever seen, for my rowing friends I swear it was a two mile long version of 'The Hill." and I really wanted to kill myself halfway up.
When we got about a fifth of the way there we turned around to a fantastic view of the Sierra Nevada, yes same name, different country/continent. When we finally made it to the top the sun was finally at it's peak and I was sweating bullets. We took great pictures and admired the fake looking view from where we were.
I've never seen mountains like that outside of a movie. It really reminded me of some sort of Lord of the Rings kind of scenes.
On the way down it was a slippery slope. There was loose gravel everywhere and almost everyone fell and busted their asses. It was really quite hilarious, but pretty scary seeing as how we were at the very top of the mountain, and there was nothing but dirt and bushes to catch us. Sounds comfy hu?
When we made it to the less difficult area everything seemed pretty awesome, as if it would be smooth sailing from then on. Au contrare my friend. We went into this cave type structure and there were a bunch of rocks coming out at us from either side, making it extremely difficult to stay on the elevated sidewalk over the river.
There were handles placed about 6 feet apart from each other going down the rock, so if you're tall you can just swing in a spider man like style from handle to handle, however, if you're vertically challenged like me, and have a wingspan of about 5'4" then you're kind of just making handles out of weird niches in the rock... the perks of being short... great.
After we made it out of the jigsaw puzzle that was climbing through a cave, not even up or down, we saw people scaling a seemingly smooth rock face with little to no assistance from people on the ground. They were just free climbing with a few clips and some rope. NBD. We saw my future husband too. Super tan, back like a greek god, shirtless, dark hair, beautiful... and rock climbing... too bad I'm scared of heights, looks like the wedding's going to be postponed.
After we admired the view and the skill it took to get up there, we crossed a bridge that can honestly only be compared to the one in Shrek / Indiana Jones. I kept thinking to myself "SHREK! I'M LOOKIN DOWN!" It was seriously held up by wire rope with a few metal things going down the sides to look like hand rails. But the boards that it was made from were spaced so awkwardly that it was completely possible to miss your footing and fall face first potentially plummeting to you doom... or at least that's what my over active imagination came up with.
Once across the bridge we headed downwards to a lovely view of a waterfall that seriously must have been in a calendar somewhere by now. It was so cute, and peaceful looking. I wanted to play in it, but wet socks are probably the worst thing ever.
After our scary life-endangering trip we all went up to a little cafe and got cervesas and tinto with some amazing tapas. I've grown to like to beers here "Alhambra" and "Mahou". Both very mild, and kind of remind me of Bud Light, sans after taste. Still delish, and drinkable to boot.
Then we took a journey back to the bus stop that took FOREVER yet again, and everyone promptly passed out on the bus.
When we got back to our home stop we got out and found this man selling PRICKLY PEARS!!! 5 for 1E! So of course I took him up on his offer. He actually gave us 6, which was amazing, so K, A and I all snacked like thieves on the walk home. It was quite an experience, and I now really like Prickly pears! :)
That was our afternoon.
I finally awoke from my slumber a while ago to the news that we've been selected for free entry to a club along with a complementary bottle of champagne. YEAH BUDDY. :)
I'll letcha know how that goes later.
<3
Buenas Tardes
Friday, September 14, 2012
It's been a fun week. :)
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been busy, sleeping and being creative.
Here's a run down of the week.
Sunday was really chill. We stayed in all week just doing nothing, literally. We sat inside all day recovering from Friday and Saturday.
Monday I had classes, like every other week day from 10 to 2, and just kind of wasted the day away again. It's really just too hot to do anything in the afternoon and the whole city shuts down from 2 to 5 anyway.
Tuesday after school I went with K and A to meet her friend from school and we walked around the 'park' that they have in Granada. It's like a walkway surrounding the river thing that they have here, and there were a bunch of work out equipment tools that are just open to the public. They're pretty cool and seem mildly effective. That night we made a huge dinner and it was the greatest thing ever, but I started feelings a little sick so I planned on going strait to bed.
However, K2 our friend from school, said she wanted to go get some Helado, so we headed out and got some AMAZING nutella caramel peanut chocolate helado. It. Was. Fantastic. We walked around a lot and saw a few back streets that are completely photograph worthy, but my hands were full of ice cream so I just looked on in amazement.
Wednesday was fun. K and A had intercambios to go to, so R and I met up with my friend S from class at the Correos. We headed out for dinner to get Shwarma which was a FANTASTIC idea. It's so good here, it's ridiculous, granted, I've never had it anywhere else. But it's really life changing.
So the three of us talked for a little while and pretty much agreed on being "The three best friends that anyone could have." It worked out really well. Then we started walking around a bit and headed to the theater. R and I went to see Brave, because tickets are 3E on Wednesdays while S headed home. R and I kept it super classy by taking in a box of red wine to the movie. I mean, what is Disney without some adult humor, really.
Thursday was eventful as well, at least in the afternoon. After school a big group of K and A's friends met up at the Mexican restaurant, yes, ironic, and I joined them for lunch. It wasn't the best food ever, but it was alright. I probably won't go there again, unless it's for their tinto de verano. :)
After the seemingly stellar lunch by K and A they took super long siestas until around 8pm. I sat up and wrote a story that I'm working on.
I gotta get creative somehow, I can't just burst out in song here... I have neighbors...
After everyone awoke from their coma we went to buy tickets to the hiking trip that's happening early tomorrow. It's 10E for a T-shirt, guided hike, and bus ride there and back. It seems pretty legit, and this way we'll know the trail and can take it again when it gets a little cooler. :)
Today was uneventful as most days are. I learned from our substitute that "Puedo tener un coño de vanilla?" Is not the same as "Puedo tener un cono de vanilla?" Which is also not the same as "Ponme un cono de vanilla." ... one is sexual, one is incorrect, one is correct. It was kind of mind blowing really. (Same guy who gave me the mind fuck last week.)
But all in all I'm really happy here. I'm learning a lot and experiencing more already than I thought I would.
I'm making friends, feeling great, and getting everything out of this that I feel like I should. :)
<3
Hasta Luego!
Here's a run down of the week.
Sunday was really chill. We stayed in all week just doing nothing, literally. We sat inside all day recovering from Friday and Saturday.
Monday I had classes, like every other week day from 10 to 2, and just kind of wasted the day away again. It's really just too hot to do anything in the afternoon and the whole city shuts down from 2 to 5 anyway.
Tuesday after school I went with K and A to meet her friend from school and we walked around the 'park' that they have in Granada. It's like a walkway surrounding the river thing that they have here, and there were a bunch of work out equipment tools that are just open to the public. They're pretty cool and seem mildly effective. That night we made a huge dinner and it was the greatest thing ever, but I started feelings a little sick so I planned on going strait to bed.
However, K2 our friend from school, said she wanted to go get some Helado, so we headed out and got some AMAZING nutella caramel peanut chocolate helado. It. Was. Fantastic. We walked around a lot and saw a few back streets that are completely photograph worthy, but my hands were full of ice cream so I just looked on in amazement.
Wednesday was fun. K and A had intercambios to go to, so R and I met up with my friend S from class at the Correos. We headed out for dinner to get Shwarma which was a FANTASTIC idea. It's so good here, it's ridiculous, granted, I've never had it anywhere else. But it's really life changing.
So the three of us talked for a little while and pretty much agreed on being "The three best friends that anyone could have." It worked out really well. Then we started walking around a bit and headed to the theater. R and I went to see Brave, because tickets are 3E on Wednesdays while S headed home. R and I kept it super classy by taking in a box of red wine to the movie. I mean, what is Disney without some adult humor, really.
Thursday was eventful as well, at least in the afternoon. After school a big group of K and A's friends met up at the Mexican restaurant, yes, ironic, and I joined them for lunch. It wasn't the best food ever, but it was alright. I probably won't go there again, unless it's for their tinto de verano. :)
After the seemingly stellar lunch by K and A they took super long siestas until around 8pm. I sat up and wrote a story that I'm working on.
I gotta get creative somehow, I can't just burst out in song here... I have neighbors...
After everyone awoke from their coma we went to buy tickets to the hiking trip that's happening early tomorrow. It's 10E for a T-shirt, guided hike, and bus ride there and back. It seems pretty legit, and this way we'll know the trail and can take it again when it gets a little cooler. :)
Today was uneventful as most days are. I learned from our substitute that "Puedo tener un coño de vanilla?" Is not the same as "Puedo tener un cono de vanilla?" Which is also not the same as "Ponme un cono de vanilla." ... one is sexual, one is incorrect, one is correct. It was kind of mind blowing really. (Same guy who gave me the mind fuck last week.)
But all in all I'm really happy here. I'm learning a lot and experiencing more already than I thought I would.
I'm making friends, feeling great, and getting everything out of this that I feel like I should. :)
<3
Hasta Luego!
Saturday, September 8, 2012
This is why people hate Americans.
Yesterday was Friday, aka, Funday Friday. :)
I'm sure all of you back in the states realize that it was a short week, and have figured out that short weeks tend to last longer than the regular 7 days of normalcy.
So for our 4 day week we re-learned a lot of grammar and focused on learning spanish to the best of our abilities... I'm going to start using my point of view now, don't want to speak for everyone here...
I was becoming overwhelmed by just how different the teaching style was, realizing that yes, I may have to study for things I've already learned, just because they are so different here, and when the metephorical bell rings notifying you that you actually understand something, it's really good not to forget it. So I've really been racking my brain for extra space, praying to the heavens above that I can get "Call me Maybe" and "Fergalicious" out of my head and make room for the new grammar rules and regulations that are being forced upon me. However, when the aforementioned songs come on in the clubs grammar rules seem to take a back burner. DAMN YOU CATCHY CHORUSES!
So in short, my school week was filled with headaches, brain overloads, and, pardon the expression, mind fucks. I didn't realize just how ineffectively I'd been taught so many things. I'm really getting a few different outlooks here. One on Language, which is what I'm really studying, and one on Education, and just how flawed and insufficient our school systems in the US are. It's quite an eye opening experience... Doc would be proud.
Aside from the crazy school work, I've actually been on the computer far too much. I think that Monday I'm going to go buy some books in Spanish, like "Cuentas de la Alhambra" by Irvin Washington, it's all these stories about things that happened in the Alhambra, which is pretty much within eye shot every day. Google it, it's a beautiful place.
I've been extremely lacking in my adventures lately, like, staying inside, doing pretty much nothing. Mainly because I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep at night, but also because it's still really freaking hot outside, and everything here is an out door activity. Damn you active cultures, why can't you all just be lazy like Amurrcans.
Anyway, my social life has exceeded any expectation that I could have possibly set for myself. I'm honestly making friends, which I didn't think would totally happen. There are a lot of girls here who are complete sorostitutes so I'm sort of steering clear of them, but there's a group of at least 9 of us who hang out regularly now. It's really fun! Our personalities all kind of fit together. Some of us are a lot more introverted than others, but it's really not so bad.
There's a group of four of us, girls, who actually do remind me of Sex and the City. Yeah... of all of us, I'm probably the Samantha... I regret nothing. :)
So last night a group of 7 of us when out for Tapas and clubbing. We went to Routa de Tapas first and got wine and some small tapas. Then we went to La Bella y La Bestia.. something like that, it was the Beauty and the Beast in Spanish. This place, let me tell you, the Tapas were a meal and all we paid for was a drink each. It. Was. Epic. Whilst in the middle of enjoying our tapas we realized that we were right next to Granada 10, which was the club we had just gotten free entry to via a super nice young lady. However, upon entering we realized why it was so inexpensive... No one was there.
When people finally did arrive they were all Americans, so the music quickly change from the regular BOOMCHICABOOM of Spanish Club music, to the NANANANANA of American Club music... To say it killed the mood was an understatement. The 7 of us all headed out and to our respective homes at around 4am, and the night felt kind of like a waste. But whatever, I had fun for a while so it was worth it. :)
Now, time for some more homework.
<3
Hasta Luego
I'm sure all of you back in the states realize that it was a short week, and have figured out that short weeks tend to last longer than the regular 7 days of normalcy.
So for our 4 day week we re-learned a lot of grammar and focused on learning spanish to the best of our abilities... I'm going to start using my point of view now, don't want to speak for everyone here...
I was becoming overwhelmed by just how different the teaching style was, realizing that yes, I may have to study for things I've already learned, just because they are so different here, and when the metephorical bell rings notifying you that you actually understand something, it's really good not to forget it. So I've really been racking my brain for extra space, praying to the heavens above that I can get "Call me Maybe" and "Fergalicious" out of my head and make room for the new grammar rules and regulations that are being forced upon me. However, when the aforementioned songs come on in the clubs grammar rules seem to take a back burner. DAMN YOU CATCHY CHORUSES!
So in short, my school week was filled with headaches, brain overloads, and, pardon the expression, mind fucks. I didn't realize just how ineffectively I'd been taught so many things. I'm really getting a few different outlooks here. One on Language, which is what I'm really studying, and one on Education, and just how flawed and insufficient our school systems in the US are. It's quite an eye opening experience... Doc would be proud.
Aside from the crazy school work, I've actually been on the computer far too much. I think that Monday I'm going to go buy some books in Spanish, like "Cuentas de la Alhambra" by Irvin Washington, it's all these stories about things that happened in the Alhambra, which is pretty much within eye shot every day. Google it, it's a beautiful place.
I've been extremely lacking in my adventures lately, like, staying inside, doing pretty much nothing. Mainly because I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep at night, but also because it's still really freaking hot outside, and everything here is an out door activity. Damn you active cultures, why can't you all just be lazy like Amurrcans.
Anyway, my social life has exceeded any expectation that I could have possibly set for myself. I'm honestly making friends, which I didn't think would totally happen. There are a lot of girls here who are complete sorostitutes so I'm sort of steering clear of them, but there's a group of at least 9 of us who hang out regularly now. It's really fun! Our personalities all kind of fit together. Some of us are a lot more introverted than others, but it's really not so bad.
There's a group of four of us, girls, who actually do remind me of Sex and the City. Yeah... of all of us, I'm probably the Samantha... I regret nothing. :)
So last night a group of 7 of us when out for Tapas and clubbing. We went to Routa de Tapas first and got wine and some small tapas. Then we went to La Bella y La Bestia.. something like that, it was the Beauty and the Beast in Spanish. This place, let me tell you, the Tapas were a meal and all we paid for was a drink each. It. Was. Epic. Whilst in the middle of enjoying our tapas we realized that we were right next to Granada 10, which was the club we had just gotten free entry to via a super nice young lady. However, upon entering we realized why it was so inexpensive... No one was there.
When people finally did arrive they were all Americans, so the music quickly change from the regular BOOMCHICABOOM of Spanish Club music, to the NANANANANA of American Club music... To say it killed the mood was an understatement. The 7 of us all headed out and to our respective homes at around 4am, and the night felt kind of like a waste. But whatever, I had fun for a while so it was worth it. :)
Now, time for some more homework.
<3
Hasta Luego
Friday, September 7, 2012
American Shoes on a Spanish Street
Let's be real for a minute. Cobble stone is quite possibly the most unforgiving form of ground there is, aside from marble side walks. It's extremely uncomfortable to walk on, and you really have to have on some form of hiking boot to not feel the uneven stones between your feet, and I'm walking around in flip flops with a sole made out of mushy things that are starting to conform to the contoured pavement. On the marble sidewalk it's almost just as bad, I don't feel the ground, but I slip a lot and ate it super hard on some stairs yesterday.
Converse for the rest of the trip, yeah?
So, Today's Friday... I was so excited on Wednesday that I decided we should have a celebration of sorts to celebrate making it through the first week of classes. It hasn't even been a hard week, and all I want to do is celebrate the fact that the week is over... This is like college. HA! This is college.
Today in classes I was again called on quite frequently by my professors or given more challenging material. Begonia, our director, said it's because I have a good accent and people think that I know Spanish better than I do. Thanks for the vote of confidence guys, but let's not pick on the chick who can imitate just about every accent, mkay? But I kind of felt like a star student, which abroad means WAY more than it ever could in the US. I know to some people I probably look like "that student" but you can hate on someone else, because I'm doing what I need to do, to ensure my future goals... you're here for elective credits...
After class we all sat around and had lunch and instead of taking my siesta like I knew I should have, I looked at pictures of Dylan O'Brien and listened to his interviews... I really need to stop, because I spent almost two hours on the computer and missed nap time completely. The moment I went into my room to pray for a moment of sleep my room mate said "Hey, Meg what time do you want to go shopping? We can leave in 10".... meh. I needed black shorts...
We headed out shopping at around 6:00pm and I loaded up on stuff that I figure I was going to get eventually. I got some super cute black shoes, a pair of really lose pants, some cami's, a belt, and black shorts. So I got what I needed, aside from one top, and a few things I didn't necessarily need but for everything I bought, which is all good quality, I spent just under 40E. Everything was somewhere around 6E, except the shorts because they were kind of fancy. I love rebajas. (Sales from July to August)
During our shopping adventure we landed at a gelato place which was packed, so we decided "hm, why not, let's give it a try". We walked in and my waist line immediately regretted it. It was the BaskinRobins of helado. There were at least 30 flavors, all of which looked amazing, and I honestly had time picking three, let alone narrowing it down to one. There's chocolate kinds, fruity kinds, Spanish kinds, liquor kinds, vanilla kinds, ALL KINDS! As I started to narrow it down to chocolate, I saw the mother of all helados. It's the Spanish equivalent to White Turtle. Do you know how long it's been since I've hat White Turtle from Brusters? THIS WAS BETTER!!! It was so creamy, so caramel-y, so nutty. UGH I had a mouthgasm on the street it was so good.
After our shopping adventure and day of amazing helado, we headed back home to get ready for a Flamenco event that we'd bought tickets for earlier in the day. I finally got to shower, an event which hasn't happened for three days, and shaved my legs, another event that hasn't happened since I got to Granada. It's okay, be disgusted. I'm pretty sure the guys here shave more than I do.
So we all go ready and ate eggs with toast for breakfast, I love it! BRINNER! They do it all the time!
We then headed out right down the street to a bar that hosted the show. We got Sangria and Tapas while we were waiting and then the music started.
Side Note: For those of you who don't know I'm a huge jazz fan, it speaks to my soul every time I hear it and I really want to learn how to play it/sing it. It's great improv, great sounds, great everything. I love it more than life itself.
Flamenco is different to say the least. However, it's almost like Spanish Jazz. You can really hear the emotion that the singer, guitar player, and dancer all put into the song. They really pour their hearts out. It really got to me. I mean, I didn't get all teary eyed while we were watching it, but still, it really is a powerful thing. Jazz music = soul, Flamenco music = heart.
At midnight, when the show finally ended, I realized just how late it was and how tired I'd become. I headed back to the apartment with A and K and we crashed super hard. Last nights sleep was possibly the best that I've gotten.
I'm not emailing professors, trying to get my financial aid strait and finishing up this blog for you fine folks. :) Hope you enjoyed it.
<3
Buenos Dias.
Converse for the rest of the trip, yeah?
So, Today's Friday... I was so excited on Wednesday that I decided we should have a celebration of sorts to celebrate making it through the first week of classes. It hasn't even been a hard week, and all I want to do is celebrate the fact that the week is over... This is like college. HA! This is college.
Today in classes I was again called on quite frequently by my professors or given more challenging material. Begonia, our director, said it's because I have a good accent and people think that I know Spanish better than I do. Thanks for the vote of confidence guys, but let's not pick on the chick who can imitate just about every accent, mkay? But I kind of felt like a star student, which abroad means WAY more than it ever could in the US. I know to some people I probably look like "that student" but you can hate on someone else, because I'm doing what I need to do, to ensure my future goals... you're here for elective credits...
After class we all sat around and had lunch and instead of taking my siesta like I knew I should have, I looked at pictures of Dylan O'Brien and listened to his interviews... I really need to stop, because I spent almost two hours on the computer and missed nap time completely. The moment I went into my room to pray for a moment of sleep my room mate said "Hey, Meg what time do you want to go shopping? We can leave in 10".... meh. I needed black shorts...
We headed out shopping at around 6:00pm and I loaded up on stuff that I figure I was going to get eventually. I got some super cute black shoes, a pair of really lose pants, some cami's, a belt, and black shorts. So I got what I needed, aside from one top, and a few things I didn't necessarily need but for everything I bought, which is all good quality, I spent just under 40E. Everything was somewhere around 6E, except the shorts because they were kind of fancy. I love rebajas. (Sales from July to August)
During our shopping adventure we landed at a gelato place which was packed, so we decided "hm, why not, let's give it a try". We walked in and my waist line immediately regretted it. It was the BaskinRobins of helado. There were at least 30 flavors, all of which looked amazing, and I honestly had time picking three, let alone narrowing it down to one. There's chocolate kinds, fruity kinds, Spanish kinds, liquor kinds, vanilla kinds, ALL KINDS! As I started to narrow it down to chocolate, I saw the mother of all helados. It's the Spanish equivalent to White Turtle. Do you know how long it's been since I've hat White Turtle from Brusters? THIS WAS BETTER!!! It was so creamy, so caramel-y, so nutty. UGH I had a mouthgasm on the street it was so good.
After our shopping adventure and day of amazing helado, we headed back home to get ready for a Flamenco event that we'd bought tickets for earlier in the day. I finally got to shower, an event which hasn't happened for three days, and shaved my legs, another event that hasn't happened since I got to Granada. It's okay, be disgusted. I'm pretty sure the guys here shave more than I do.
So we all go ready and ate eggs with toast for breakfast, I love it! BRINNER! They do it all the time!
We then headed out right down the street to a bar that hosted the show. We got Sangria and Tapas while we were waiting and then the music started.
Side Note: For those of you who don't know I'm a huge jazz fan, it speaks to my soul every time I hear it and I really want to learn how to play it/sing it. It's great improv, great sounds, great everything. I love it more than life itself.
Flamenco is different to say the least. However, it's almost like Spanish Jazz. You can really hear the emotion that the singer, guitar player, and dancer all put into the song. They really pour their hearts out. It really got to me. I mean, I didn't get all teary eyed while we were watching it, but still, it really is a powerful thing. Jazz music = soul, Flamenco music = heart.
At midnight, when the show finally ended, I realized just how late it was and how tired I'd become. I headed back to the apartment with A and K and we crashed super hard. Last nights sleep was possibly the best that I've gotten.
I'm not emailing professors, trying to get my financial aid strait and finishing up this blog for you fine folks. :) Hope you enjoyed it.
<3
Buenos Dias.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
So, Continued.
First off, I miss my brudder. Saw his face today on Skype. He's probs the reason that I'm not going to stay here all the time just yet. Not guilt ridden, just cuz I love him to death and don't want to miss out on his first years in high school. (do me a solid and don't tell him that)
Today at school was quite a blast. I got there on time today instead of 20 minutes early and got comfortable. My professor came in and we started talking about our nights and then got busy on class work. We started going over Ser y Estar, which is fairly easy stuff to grasp, and I remember working on it in the Spring, so it wasn't too hard. However, he gave us a whole new way to think about the way we use the verbs and how when you combine these words with certain adjectives it means something other than what it sounds like... so by the end of the two hours my brain was gasping for air. He said "Comprendais?" and looked around, and it was my cue to look up slightly overwhelmed. I put my pen down and literally sighed with relief.
It isn't a hard workload, but it's a lot.
When we were dismissed everyone went outside for a break to walk around and sit in the sun, which, even though it was hot, felt amazing. It was just nice to get out of the stuffy rooms really.
After about thirty minutes of mindless chatting with people who I still don't know the names of, we headed back into the school for round two. Our professor came in and she immediately reminded me of Tía Carmen. :) She's extremely laid back, wanted us to be relaxed with her and everything.
Side note: I've been really luck to have been in this school before, and to have had teachers who are extremely progressive and teach by the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" method, as in, we learn from each other, not just from the teacher. Everything is kind of up to the students here. We tell them what we want to learn, and based on that they line it up with where we should be in relation to our level, and how they can teach us so that we also advance grammatically. It's an extremely student friendly environment.
So while we were sitting in class, everyone was asked what their favorite part of España was, and because I smiled super huge when she asked, I was the first one called on. "Tapas y Siesta" was my immediate response, which turned into an outburst about how Spanish I was already, and that we should go on a field trip to find the best tapas close by. You're welcome clase.
At 2:00 when class finally ended I could hear my stomach growling in protest to my lack of food. I sprinted home expecting to find K and A in the kitchen because I know they want to wait, but I know how hungry I am, so they must be just as much. However, they weren't there. My first thought was that they probably went to the store... after five minutes though I thought they'd gone to lunch without me, then when I heard the key in the door as I opened my e-mail I knew that they'd gone to get their student I.D.'s, and thankfully they got mine as well.
When all was settled we started making chicken with veggies in some Indian sauce that K got at the store... then we had the great idea to put it over pasta and Voila, we had a meal for lunch. A great one at that.
Once I'd finished my plate I hit a wall and desperately needed a siesta, however, I remember the promise I'd made to Jorge about meeting him to take him my passport. Thus the journey began, a hop over a road, a skip to the left and a jump over a Catedral (Spanish spelling, don't mock me) and bam, we were at their office, only to be greeting by Daniel holding his son. CUTE!
After deciding which courses to take and how to go about the rest of the week with the CEA staff we journeyed back home to sit around and play on our selective computers.
Somewhere around 8:00 R came over with her room mate M2 and we talked for a bit about our first world problems and how one of the five classes we're taking might not transfer back, and how we might have to walk to school twice a day instead of once... yeah, FOR REAL first world problems... I'm just living here in Spain with a host mom and what not getting great food and cultural experiences, and really don't want to exercise at all by walking thirty minutes... no I feel you, I just feel like a privileged middle class American every time that I actually complain about it... but the struggle is real people. It's really real.
After they left we made fried rice... again. But it was still really good. Because this time we added onions... We're such freaking Americans. However, we did have enough to actually fill us, and still have some left over. Thank JESUS! I feel like I've kind of been skimping on meals, and that's really not okay... for me at least.
So once dinner was over I skyped with my Padre and Hermano, caught up on everything and shared with them the wonderful journeys that I'm going to be partaking in in the next few months. Here's the run down:
Barcelona*
Nerja*
Portugal
Paris
Córdoba*
Sevilla*
Madrid*
Morocco
(maybe Cadiz*)
The one's with * are in Spain, the other ones require a passport and I get to get more stamps and look cool :)
I am so excited. But I'm also really tired, so I'll talk to you guys tomorrow and tell you about anything eventful that takes place. Or just the random stuff like I've been doing... I'll probably keep documenting the rando's.
<3
Hasta Mañana
Today at school was quite a blast. I got there on time today instead of 20 minutes early and got comfortable. My professor came in and we started talking about our nights and then got busy on class work. We started going over Ser y Estar, which is fairly easy stuff to grasp, and I remember working on it in the Spring, so it wasn't too hard. However, he gave us a whole new way to think about the way we use the verbs and how when you combine these words with certain adjectives it means something other than what it sounds like... so by the end of the two hours my brain was gasping for air. He said "Comprendais?" and looked around, and it was my cue to look up slightly overwhelmed. I put my pen down and literally sighed with relief.
It isn't a hard workload, but it's a lot.
When we were dismissed everyone went outside for a break to walk around and sit in the sun, which, even though it was hot, felt amazing. It was just nice to get out of the stuffy rooms really.
After about thirty minutes of mindless chatting with people who I still don't know the names of, we headed back into the school for round two. Our professor came in and she immediately reminded me of Tía Carmen. :) She's extremely laid back, wanted us to be relaxed with her and everything.
Side note: I've been really luck to have been in this school before, and to have had teachers who are extremely progressive and teach by the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" method, as in, we learn from each other, not just from the teacher. Everything is kind of up to the students here. We tell them what we want to learn, and based on that they line it up with where we should be in relation to our level, and how they can teach us so that we also advance grammatically. It's an extremely student friendly environment.
So while we were sitting in class, everyone was asked what their favorite part of España was, and because I smiled super huge when she asked, I was the first one called on. "Tapas y Siesta" was my immediate response, which turned into an outburst about how Spanish I was already, and that we should go on a field trip to find the best tapas close by. You're welcome clase.
At 2:00 when class finally ended I could hear my stomach growling in protest to my lack of food. I sprinted home expecting to find K and A in the kitchen because I know they want to wait, but I know how hungry I am, so they must be just as much. However, they weren't there. My first thought was that they probably went to the store... after five minutes though I thought they'd gone to lunch without me, then when I heard the key in the door as I opened my e-mail I knew that they'd gone to get their student I.D.'s, and thankfully they got mine as well.
When all was settled we started making chicken with veggies in some Indian sauce that K got at the store... then we had the great idea to put it over pasta and Voila, we had a meal for lunch. A great one at that.
Once I'd finished my plate I hit a wall and desperately needed a siesta, however, I remember the promise I'd made to Jorge about meeting him to take him my passport. Thus the journey began, a hop over a road, a skip to the left and a jump over a Catedral (Spanish spelling, don't mock me) and bam, we were at their office, only to be greeting by Daniel holding his son. CUTE!
After deciding which courses to take and how to go about the rest of the week with the CEA staff we journeyed back home to sit around and play on our selective computers.
Somewhere around 8:00 R came over with her room mate M2 and we talked for a bit about our first world problems and how one of the five classes we're taking might not transfer back, and how we might have to walk to school twice a day instead of once... yeah, FOR REAL first world problems... I'm just living here in Spain with a host mom and what not getting great food and cultural experiences, and really don't want to exercise at all by walking thirty minutes... no I feel you, I just feel like a privileged middle class American every time that I actually complain about it... but the struggle is real people. It's really real.
After they left we made fried rice... again. But it was still really good. Because this time we added onions... We're such freaking Americans. However, we did have enough to actually fill us, and still have some left over. Thank JESUS! I feel like I've kind of been skimping on meals, and that's really not okay... for me at least.
So once dinner was over I skyped with my Padre and Hermano, caught up on everything and shared with them the wonderful journeys that I'm going to be partaking in in the next few months. Here's the run down:
Barcelona*
Nerja*
Portugal
Paris
Córdoba*
Sevilla*
Madrid*
Morocco
(maybe Cadiz*)
The one's with * are in Spain, the other ones require a passport and I get to get more stamps and look cool :)
I am so excited. But I'm also really tired, so I'll talk to you guys tomorrow and tell you about anything eventful that takes place. Or just the random stuff like I've been doing... I'll probably keep documenting the rando's.
<3
Hasta Mañana
Second Day Of School
Reminders to tell you about:
--Classes, and how I turned the topic of Tapas into a class outing.
--Classes, and how I'm learning how to talk slang talk.
--Cooking, and how I'm becoming a beast and making everything over pasta, even things that don't go in pasta... and fried rice.
-- hanging out with friends
-- where i'm going for the next few months. :)
<3
Buenas Noches!
--Classes, and how I turned the topic of Tapas into a class outing.
--Classes, and how I'm learning how to talk slang talk.
--Cooking, and how I'm becoming a beast and making everything over pasta, even things that don't go in pasta... and fried rice.
-- hanging out with friends
-- where i'm going for the next few months. :)
<3
Buenas Noches!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Dryer, The Dinner, and The Day After.
Man I could be an author, look at these witty titles.
As a continuation of the dryer story... It didn't really work. The washer works great, the drier just blows around hot air... so I had to go buy a stand for my clothes which was about 12E and some pins which were 3E. Not too shabby.
I now have fresh clothes, and a nude bra with pink stains on it, because apparently the detergent here is way stronger and likes to make purple bras run pink... Lovely.
Needless to say I don't know how to sort clothes... Thanks a lot Padre.
While I was watching my clothes dry I went through my CEA handbook and looked at the useful tips, which I found quite useful... imagine that. Once my room mates got home from their walking tour of the East Jesus Nowhere campus we started making our very own fried rice. Yepp. I made fried rice. Eggs, Veggies and All. :)
As our dinner settled K and I sat around and planned our trips for the fall semester. In addition to our included trips to Morocco and Portugal, we are planning on going to Madrid for a weekend, Barcelona for four days, during a festival, and Italy. I don't think Paris will be a possibility just because it's so expensive, and let's be real... the Pizza in Italy outweighs the Croissants in France... Sorry.
At about 1:00am we actually got to sleep, and it was really nice because I actually fell asleep. Thank ya Jesus. I awoke at 8:00am due to some obnoxious construction that's happening in our building... that was fantastic. So I made myself a strong cup of coffee, way stronger than needed, on accident, and was jonesing all day. I stayed up for class though! So that was amazing!
Once the time came to head to class, 9:30, I left and wandered around some side streets to find the building. Our classes are literally five minutes away from our apartment... it's pretty epic. My professors are super awesome. One told us about all of this funny stuff people say on accident, and sound like they're on drugs, another told me about all of the slang ways to say Vag, and boobs. It was super fun... but I'm pretty sure if my class totally understood thought, because no one laughed... and I did... and the professor looked at me knowingly like, 'yay finally someone caught on'... and everyone else just looked kind of bewildered... Yeah, I'm not sure.
After class I headed to go to the office with K and A to go to the CEA office to talk to everyone about classes and programs. After which we headed to our land lords restraunt for free tapas, sangria, and piña coladas. We ate a lot of tapas, including Paella, shrimp, some lettuce things, and bread, with endless sangria, which got kind of strong after the third pitcher. So you know, there were like twenty of us, not just three people sharing three pitchers of sangria. Cool your balls. <---college vocab right there.
Once we got a little buzz on we headed out to walk around and find our school books, and shop a little. K and A bought their books, my professors said it wasn't totally mandatory, but I might go buy one later. We went down the Arab market street and I bought a tray made for olives, because there's a little spot to put the seeds!! And I got a sheet/tapestry thing of the sun and moon. It's really cute and really different. I also got another Spanish flag, which is going to one of my best friends, and a the Andalucia flag. I'm pretty sure I spent somewhere around fifteen, twenty euros... but it was all cute stuff that I totally need....ish.
After our shopping adventure we headed home and are now waiting on R to get out of classes so that we can plan our Eurotrip. It's going to be a night of planning, and fun ness. :)
I'll keep you posted, and as always...
<3
Hasta Luego
As a continuation of the dryer story... It didn't really work. The washer works great, the drier just blows around hot air... so I had to go buy a stand for my clothes which was about 12E and some pins which were 3E. Not too shabby.
I now have fresh clothes, and a nude bra with pink stains on it, because apparently the detergent here is way stronger and likes to make purple bras run pink... Lovely.
Needless to say I don't know how to sort clothes... Thanks a lot Padre.
While I was watching my clothes dry I went through my CEA handbook and looked at the useful tips, which I found quite useful... imagine that. Once my room mates got home from their walking tour of the East Jesus Nowhere campus we started making our very own fried rice. Yepp. I made fried rice. Eggs, Veggies and All. :)
As our dinner settled K and I sat around and planned our trips for the fall semester. In addition to our included trips to Morocco and Portugal, we are planning on going to Madrid for a weekend, Barcelona for four days, during a festival, and Italy. I don't think Paris will be a possibility just because it's so expensive, and let's be real... the Pizza in Italy outweighs the Croissants in France... Sorry.
At about 1:00am we actually got to sleep, and it was really nice because I actually fell asleep. Thank ya Jesus. I awoke at 8:00am due to some obnoxious construction that's happening in our building... that was fantastic. So I made myself a strong cup of coffee, way stronger than needed, on accident, and was jonesing all day. I stayed up for class though! So that was amazing!
Once the time came to head to class, 9:30, I left and wandered around some side streets to find the building. Our classes are literally five minutes away from our apartment... it's pretty epic. My professors are super awesome. One told us about all of this funny stuff people say on accident, and sound like they're on drugs, another told me about all of the slang ways to say Vag, and boobs. It was super fun... but I'm pretty sure if my class totally understood thought, because no one laughed... and I did... and the professor looked at me knowingly like, 'yay finally someone caught on'... and everyone else just looked kind of bewildered... Yeah, I'm not sure.
After class I headed to go to the office with K and A to go to the CEA office to talk to everyone about classes and programs. After which we headed to our land lords restraunt for free tapas, sangria, and piña coladas. We ate a lot of tapas, including Paella, shrimp, some lettuce things, and bread, with endless sangria, which got kind of strong after the third pitcher. So you know, there were like twenty of us, not just three people sharing three pitchers of sangria. Cool your balls. <---college vocab right there.
Once we got a little buzz on we headed out to walk around and find our school books, and shop a little. K and A bought their books, my professors said it wasn't totally mandatory, but I might go buy one later. We went down the Arab market street and I bought a tray made for olives, because there's a little spot to put the seeds!! And I got a sheet/tapestry thing of the sun and moon. It's really cute and really different. I also got another Spanish flag, which is going to one of my best friends, and a the Andalucia flag. I'm pretty sure I spent somewhere around fifteen, twenty euros... but it was all cute stuff that I totally need....ish.
After our shopping adventure we headed home and are now waiting on R to get out of classes so that we can plan our Eurotrip. It's going to be a night of planning, and fun ness. :)
I'll keep you posted, and as always...
<3
Hasta Luego
Monday, September 3, 2012
They should make a nursery rhyme for this.
This morning I woke up at O-God-Thirty to head up to the Correos to see if I needed to take the placement exam. I had to make sure that everything was in order, to ensure that I wouldn't miss anything important.
When I got there Jose told me I could go home, Thank God.
I slept for another hour or so then headed out to get groceries so that we could have lunch. I loaded up on fruits and a few veggies. Got lots more olive oil and got a few spices. Gotta have that hot sauce.
When I got home I unpacked, cleaned up a little and decided to brave the washing machine.
Let me tell you, this washing machine is something to be reckoned with. It's a front load, with three nobs and three buttons, all labeled with ancient hieroglyphics. So I tried my best to put everything where I thought it needed to go, and then though better and looked up an owners manual. TAH DAH!
I found the manual in English, thank god, and walked over and finished everything properly. I did put the detergent in the "Pre wash" instead of regular wash, but I honestly think it'll be okay. Then! Come to find out, it is a dryer too! That's why there aren't any clothes lines in the building. Hooray! However, that process was a little messy too. I thought it just went strait to washing, turns out you have to turn the nobs and push the buttons some more... I discovered that after opening the door and having a half gallon of water pour out onto the floor...
But now I feel super accomplished and ready to take on the world. I'll keep you posted as to how well the dryer works. Bout to make lunch for everyone. PATATAS FRITAS!!
<3
Buenas Tardes
When I got there Jose told me I could go home, Thank God.
I slept for another hour or so then headed out to get groceries so that we could have lunch. I loaded up on fruits and a few veggies. Got lots more olive oil and got a few spices. Gotta have that hot sauce.
When I got home I unpacked, cleaned up a little and decided to brave the washing machine.
Let me tell you, this washing machine is something to be reckoned with. It's a front load, with three nobs and three buttons, all labeled with ancient hieroglyphics. So I tried my best to put everything where I thought it needed to go, and then though better and looked up an owners manual. TAH DAH!
I found the manual in English, thank god, and walked over and finished everything properly. I did put the detergent in the "Pre wash" instead of regular wash, but I honestly think it'll be okay. Then! Come to find out, it is a dryer too! That's why there aren't any clothes lines in the building. Hooray! However, that process was a little messy too. I thought it just went strait to washing, turns out you have to turn the nobs and push the buttons some more... I discovered that after opening the door and having a half gallon of water pour out onto the floor...
But now I feel super accomplished and ready to take on the world. I'll keep you posted as to how well the dryer works. Bout to make lunch for everyone. PATATAS FRITAS!!
<3
Buenas Tardes
Sunday, September 2, 2012
What do eyes, tea, and arab people have in common?
They're all have bags! *Bah dum CHHHH*
...Yeah, to say I'm sleep deprived would be an understatement.
This morning when I got home I crisscrossed my way around the apartment looking for water, bread, and acetaminophen. Anything to prevent the next days headache.
So at 10:00 I awoke to the church bells ringing for some ungodly reason... Like, it's a Sunday bro, and everyone was out last night... Let's be real.
After the abrupt awakening I realized that the 3L of water I drank last night wasn't enough so I downed another 1,5L and sat on the sofa watching the Spanish version of "The X Factor".
At about 11:30 everyone woke up and we sat around talking about how great the night was. I decided that I was extremely hungry, and started to make toast, when K suggested we make rice, so we did with the Mango Curry Salsa, yepp it was amazing. We watched TV whilst eating our lovely brunch and it happened to be "Rugrats Gone Wild", IN SPANISH. Yepp, it was pretty amazing.
When everything settled down, I sent a text to Maite about meeting up, and I went to her apartment to say hi and catch up. I didn't realize just how rusty my Spanish was, because I've been using a lot of English in the house, and all of our meetings have been in English...
Side Note: There's a college group here from Tulane, and they are required to take Integratted classes at the actual University, and half of these kids don't know the difference between Bolsa and Bolso, or how to say "Como estas?" ... It's quite tragic, and it pisses me off. All of the tours have an optional English version, just to make sure we get all of it, but why the heck would you opt out of Spanish when we're here to study Spanish? I mean, I was listening to these kind of tours when I was 18... these kids are 21+ and can't form proper sentences... Ugh. If I were their Spanish teacher...
So now that I'm done with my rant, meeting up with Maite was really nice. Irene told me about Monster High and how she LOVED the doll I got her. Maite filled me in on her trip and how all of her friends were doing. I asked her for some advice about laundry and the cooking and what not... She told me she'd make me lunch sometime and we could have patatas fritas... :) She's perfect really. When I finally said my goodbyes she told me that if I needed anything, anything at all to call her, ask her, any time. She told me she'd be home a lot because he house will be FILLED with girls soon.
Not to get all religious on you guys, but God totally had that one planned perfectly. She's really like a mom away from mom. :)
On my way home I realized how hot it was getting and started dreading the trip to the Albaizin. Just because I thought we were walking again, like we did with MaryCarmen... Not Fun. However, we got to take a bus and it was amazing, crowded, but way better than walking. However, when we were done we started walking for. ever. But the end result was totally worth it. We landed at an Arab Tea House and had the best tea that Spain has to offer. Granted, this stuff generally tastes the same from place to place, but it's still the best. Arab Tea could be a drug, or jazz music, it's that good. The Baklava was just as amazing. I've never had it though, soooo I can't say it's the best... everyone around me said it was amazing, and they'd had it before. OH! Funny part - so R and I sat there at a table to ourselves sand they bring out a plate with four pieces on them, so we each had two and enjoyed every last bite of those little suckers... there were six girls across from us sitting three to a table, and they each only had one and looked really upset about it, while R and I are enjoying the EFF out of some delish baklava. When our second plate came out one girl gave us a look like "Oh my God, that's so much sugar." and another girl had the nerve to say "Looks like you're hungry." BITCH! I hadn't eaten since 11 and I'm not about to let you lecture me about what I'm going to eat.
I did NOT come to Spain to lose weight... unlike your sorostitute perky cheerleader self. Callate
... Whew. Sorry.
As the crew started to leave, a group of nine of us headed out on our own to hit the streets with all of the shops on them. M3 got a pair of pants like mine, R got a little ball that can hold loose tea, which they sell EVERYWHERE here... can you bring that through customs?... Philly was pretty lax last time.
Anyway. So after some touristy things, R and M1 headed home to get to dinner, while the seven of us that were left went out for tapas. Honestly, I didn't eat a whole lot today, but I feel fine, just dehydrated really.
At the tapas place we all had a drink, which came with three plates. It was quite a deal really, 3E for wine and three plates? CHYEA! A started to look a little tired and ready to go home, which seemed cool, but I wanted to stay out. When K and A both said they'd wait, I took it as a sign that I needed to just go home with them... As much as it's cool to be peoples 'Yoda', I'm really sick of being the leader of this group... Quit asking me stupid questions. "Are we stopping here?" ... well see how we're not walking anymore? "Can I just pick the orange out of the glass?" ... no you should bob for it... What the frack? Really?
I am now sitting in my apartment with a mild chafe forming between my legs due to excess sweat in my alladin pants... Sorry for the grotesque pictures, but I want to document everything... kind of.
Today was fun, and memorable.
I'm making friends a lot easier than I thought I would.
Ha, I'm awesome. :)
(humble brag)
<3
Buenas Tardes.
...Yeah, to say I'm sleep deprived would be an understatement.
This morning when I got home I crisscrossed my way around the apartment looking for water, bread, and acetaminophen. Anything to prevent the next days headache.
So at 10:00 I awoke to the church bells ringing for some ungodly reason... Like, it's a Sunday bro, and everyone was out last night... Let's be real.
After the abrupt awakening I realized that the 3L of water I drank last night wasn't enough so I downed another 1,5L and sat on the sofa watching the Spanish version of "The X Factor".
At about 11:30 everyone woke up and we sat around talking about how great the night was. I decided that I was extremely hungry, and started to make toast, when K suggested we make rice, so we did with the Mango Curry Salsa, yepp it was amazing. We watched TV whilst eating our lovely brunch and it happened to be "Rugrats Gone Wild", IN SPANISH. Yepp, it was pretty amazing.
When everything settled down, I sent a text to Maite about meeting up, and I went to her apartment to say hi and catch up. I didn't realize just how rusty my Spanish was, because I've been using a lot of English in the house, and all of our meetings have been in English...
Side Note: There's a college group here from Tulane, and they are required to take Integratted classes at the actual University, and half of these kids don't know the difference between Bolsa and Bolso, or how to say "Como estas?" ... It's quite tragic, and it pisses me off. All of the tours have an optional English version, just to make sure we get all of it, but why the heck would you opt out of Spanish when we're here to study Spanish? I mean, I was listening to these kind of tours when I was 18... these kids are 21+ and can't form proper sentences... Ugh. If I were their Spanish teacher...
So now that I'm done with my rant, meeting up with Maite was really nice. Irene told me about Monster High and how she LOVED the doll I got her. Maite filled me in on her trip and how all of her friends were doing. I asked her for some advice about laundry and the cooking and what not... She told me she'd make me lunch sometime and we could have patatas fritas... :) She's perfect really. When I finally said my goodbyes she told me that if I needed anything, anything at all to call her, ask her, any time. She told me she'd be home a lot because he house will be FILLED with girls soon.
Not to get all religious on you guys, but God totally had that one planned perfectly. She's really like a mom away from mom. :)
On my way home I realized how hot it was getting and started dreading the trip to the Albaizin. Just because I thought we were walking again, like we did with MaryCarmen... Not Fun. However, we got to take a bus and it was amazing, crowded, but way better than walking. However, when we were done we started walking for. ever. But the end result was totally worth it. We landed at an Arab Tea House and had the best tea that Spain has to offer. Granted, this stuff generally tastes the same from place to place, but it's still the best. Arab Tea could be a drug, or jazz music, it's that good. The Baklava was just as amazing. I've never had it though, soooo I can't say it's the best... everyone around me said it was amazing, and they'd had it before. OH! Funny part - so R and I sat there at a table to ourselves sand they bring out a plate with four pieces on them, so we each had two and enjoyed every last bite of those little suckers... there were six girls across from us sitting three to a table, and they each only had one and looked really upset about it, while R and I are enjoying the EFF out of some delish baklava. When our second plate came out one girl gave us a look like "Oh my God, that's so much sugar." and another girl had the nerve to say "Looks like you're hungry." BITCH! I hadn't eaten since 11 and I'm not about to let you lecture me about what I'm going to eat.
I did NOT come to Spain to lose weight... unlike your sorostitute perky cheerleader self. Callate
... Whew. Sorry.
As the crew started to leave, a group of nine of us headed out on our own to hit the streets with all of the shops on them. M3 got a pair of pants like mine, R got a little ball that can hold loose tea, which they sell EVERYWHERE here... can you bring that through customs?... Philly was pretty lax last time.
Anyway. So after some touristy things, R and M1 headed home to get to dinner, while the seven of us that were left went out for tapas. Honestly, I didn't eat a whole lot today, but I feel fine, just dehydrated really.
At the tapas place we all had a drink, which came with three plates. It was quite a deal really, 3E for wine and three plates? CHYEA! A started to look a little tired and ready to go home, which seemed cool, but I wanted to stay out. When K and A both said they'd wait, I took it as a sign that I needed to just go home with them... As much as it's cool to be peoples 'Yoda', I'm really sick of being the leader of this group... Quit asking me stupid questions. "Are we stopping here?" ... well see how we're not walking anymore? "Can I just pick the orange out of the glass?" ... no you should bob for it... What the frack? Really?
I am now sitting in my apartment with a mild chafe forming between my legs due to excess sweat in my alladin pants... Sorry for the grotesque pictures, but I want to document everything... kind of.
Today was fun, and memorable.
I'm making friends a lot easier than I thought I would.
Ha, I'm awesome. :)
(humble brag)
<3
Buenas Tardes.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
First drunk post
Pardon the typos... i'm trying to fix them as i go... (that's five... six fixes thus far)
Tonight we went out to maywest and Mohitoo.
Started the night as typical american females with white wine, then headed to maywest (7) and got two free drinks. R and I went hard. A and K went less hard.
I'm still kind of drunk
sorrymom... not really sorry though
#biggirltime
had a great time at maywest
we were there for like, 5 hours, got there at 1ish, clearly i'm mad at math
Got our two drinks, too M2 and A's
My ears are ringing...
Had great fun
Met someone in the USNavy, also met an intercambio
Only kissed one.
Be Proud
He's gona help me iwth Spanish, I'm gonna teach him English
RES?UME BILDER!!!
;)
Do'nt judge me
Love you
:)
<3
Buenas Noches
Estoy baracha
Tonight we went out to maywest and Mohitoo.
Started the night as typical american females with white wine, then headed to maywest (7) and got two free drinks. R and I went hard. A and K went less hard.
I'm still kind of drunk
sorrymom... not really sorry though
#biggirltime
had a great time at maywest
we were there for like, 5 hours, got there at 1ish, clearly i'm mad at math
Got our two drinks, too M2 and A's
My ears are ringing...
Had great fun
Met someone in the USNavy, also met an intercambio
Only kissed one.
Be Proud
He's gona help me iwth Spanish, I'm gonna teach him English
RES?UME BILDER!!!
;)
Do'nt judge me
Love you
:)
<3
Buenas Noches
Estoy baracha
Hitting the Bars Tonight
I figured I'd go ahead and write about my day, because I'm going to be going out tonight, and I figure not a whole lot will happen between now and then.
Today we went to the Alhambra at around 10am, and we walked there... it's strait up hill for about 25 minutes. Lots of stairs, lots of hills, it's quite terrible, however the view is fantastic.
About halfway up we stopped to rest and to get a good pic, well, everyone did. I sat back and enjoyed it. I'm glad I got to go twice because the first time I lived behind my lens, and this time I actually saw how amazing the whole place is.
We went to the torre (tower) in the Alhambra and it really took my breath away. It was really great because I saw everything with kind of new eyes I guess. Everything was under construction my first time there, and this time everything was finished so it was ALL beautiful. I couldn't believe how different is was.
The only thing that was the same was the heat really.
After we finished that up K, A, R, and I went to Tigganis for helado, it was amaaazing!
When we got close to home we decided to go get potatoes, sugar, tomatoes, and other little things we were missing. Because we had potatoes I figured it'd be a great time to make patatas a las pobres. PERFECTO! However, our oven wasn't working, so we had to cook it on the stove, which was weird. It turned out great though. :)
... we were typical college americans though, and ate it over spaghetti to make it a whole meal... yeahhh.
So, now I'm sitting here watching -- animigos-- frienamies, in Spanish and writing.
Ay, it's going to be a good night tonight. First time out! :)
Time to go back into Spanish mode and get back into the swing of things.
Can't Wait!
<3
Buenas tardes.
Today we went to the Alhambra at around 10am, and we walked there... it's strait up hill for about 25 minutes. Lots of stairs, lots of hills, it's quite terrible, however the view is fantastic.
About halfway up we stopped to rest and to get a good pic, well, everyone did. I sat back and enjoyed it. I'm glad I got to go twice because the first time I lived behind my lens, and this time I actually saw how amazing the whole place is.
We went to the torre (tower) in the Alhambra and it really took my breath away. It was really great because I saw everything with kind of new eyes I guess. Everything was under construction my first time there, and this time everything was finished so it was ALL beautiful. I couldn't believe how different is was.
The only thing that was the same was the heat really.
After we finished that up K, A, R, and I went to Tigganis for helado, it was amaaazing!
When we got close to home we decided to go get potatoes, sugar, tomatoes, and other little things we were missing. Because we had potatoes I figured it'd be a great time to make patatas a las pobres. PERFECTO! However, our oven wasn't working, so we had to cook it on the stove, which was weird. It turned out great though. :)
... we were typical college americans though, and ate it over spaghetti to make it a whole meal... yeahhh.
So, now I'm sitting here watching -- animigos-- frienamies, in Spanish and writing.
Ay, it's going to be a good night tonight. First time out! :)
Time to go back into Spanish mode and get back into the swing of things.
Can't Wait!
<3
Buenas tardes.
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