Well, it is my last night in Madrid. The program technically ended today, and we were supposed to leave this morning, but I didn't take the group flight and my flight doesn't leave until tomorrow morning. So since my roommate's been gone since 4am I've had the entire day to myself. It wasn't necessarily good though.

So my senora did me this 'favor' of letting me stay longer, but not without a price...I woke up to overhearing her on the phone (she's VERY loud on the phone) saying how she didn't really care that I was staying, but she sure as hell wasn't feeding me. FYI, it's still May 1st (the date the program ends) and I think that technically she is OBLIGATED to feed me on May 1st. But whatever, I didn't push it. I also got up and she said "Jacquelyn didn't tell me she broke her lamp..." and I was like "oh I didn't know she broke it." And she was like "Yes you did and you should have told me." Ok, I DID know, but she doesn't know that! She's in bed now and I said goodbye and we made piece. I wish her nothing but the best...it is hard to live with certain people and I guess we clashed...I honestly think it was just entirely too much estrogen...I hope everything turns out well with her.

Anyway, I had a nice day by myself visiting the spots I consider 'my spots' that I wanted to see, etc. My dinner was a little sad though. Everything's closed because it's the equivalent of labor day today, so I had very limited options....I ate at McDonald's!!! I hadn't eaten at a McDonald's in YEARS! It was so strange! (though delicious...) It was interesting being in the city center today (Sol) because tomorrow is the bicentennial of when Napoleon invaded Madrid and marched his army right into Puerta del Sol! (May 2nd, 1808) So there are grand festivities planned. The streets were PACKED.

How I'm feeling about leaving: I recognize that this is the end of this point in my life. I don't necessarily want it to be the end but...it is. And I'm not that sad. I just feel a little uprooted. Like, I love my bus routes, I love the metro, I love the culture and everything I've learned. I love just LIVING in Europe! It was an amazing experience and I think it's helped form who I am now. But when everyone else was moaning and groaning about how sad they were to leave I...had no tears. I'm not a crier to being with, but I'm really not that sad because I recognize that this part of my life is over, and I have So much to look forward to! I'm excited about my internship this summer, I'm excited about my classes this fall, and I'm excited about seeing my family and Ed again. I missed them A LOT. I think that DOES have to do with why I'm not sad to be leaving...I really really missed Ed. I wasn't lonely most of the time, but...I love him in my life, and I would just prefer it that way. In any case, I'm just so lucky that I have been able to do this and I'm lucky I do have a lot to go home to.

I am sad that this will not be my home anymore...I loved it being my home...but....so what? Life has 'sads' and 'happys' and that's just the way it is! I'll get over it!

My last two nights, where we partied hard, I'll chronicle later...I don't feel like it now. Plus I have to finish packing. LAST BLOG FROM SPAIN!
ADIOS!

Valencia and my final week in Madrid

I'm not really in the mood to blog, but I need to chronicle what I did in my four days in Valencia.

Well, firstly, I had my very first trip to the Mediterranean! I'd never been there before and now I hvae. I filled up a water bottle with sand, shells, and water and when I get back to the states I'll transfer it into something nicer.

Also, they have this AWESOME museum there called "Ciudad de los artes y ciencias" which means City of the arts and sciences. And it is indeed like a city! It has a huge three story science museum, an imax theater and the largest aquarium in Europe! The aquarium is called "L'Oceanografic." That was definitely the coolest part. It has leafy sea dragons, a couple beluga whales, HUGE aquariums where you can walk under tunnels that make it look like you're inside the aquarium and all sorts of stuff like that. They had a different building for every major body of water in the world. (pictures on facebook)

I also went to a museum called Museo de las Fallas. Which commemorates a yearly celebration they have in Valencia which involves big floats being made. At the end of the parade they are all burned to represent a cleansing for the new year (though it's in March). The best of the floats are saved and put in this museum. They were definitely pretty cool.

We went to the Lladro porcelain factory. That was cool. It's a really luxurious kind of figurine. I got some great pictures of those too. The cheapest piece you could buy with like 175eur, for a small little mermaid or dolphin or something. We got to go 'behind the scenes' and see how the porcelain is created (the molds) watch how they glue every piece together (with liquid porcelain) and then we could watch them paint it. It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

All in all, I LOVED Valencia. It was just as cool as Andalucia because the weather was GREAT and it had the beach, but it was nicer than Andalucia which was a little ghetto. Valencia was gorgeous, I got to wear flip flops and a dress, a spent two days at the beach, and I could definitely live there. In general I think beach communities are just happier places to be. Everyone is laid back because of the large amounts of sunlight taken in.

I am currently in my last weekend in Madrid. I leave next Friday. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, honestly. I go back and forth. I really miss my family and my boyfriend. But I also have gotten quite settled here. I have my regular spots, my routines, I love the living with the whole 'euro' vibe. It's very comfortable yet stimulating all the time...But then again, the moment I leave my senora's house will NOT be too soon... I can't wait to get out of here in that regard.

We'll see what happens!

A note on exchange rates

When I first got to Spain in January, to take 100eur out of the ATM cost me about $145. Now, to take 100eur out (That same 100eur that will be me the same amount of stuff I could get in January) costs $157, and going upward because the US's cut of 80,000 jobs last month has made foreign investors weary of American currency.

I've probably lost about $200 because of this! Maybe it's good I'm getting out while I can...

Greece!

I've been bad about updating. Ok, I'm finally updating the end of spring break. This is after Ed left. I went to Greece with a bunch of the crowd. They'd gone to Santorini (an isle) earlier in the week, but I just met up with them and stayed in Athens. We definitely filled up every day I was there too.

Monday, March 17th, 2008:

I arrived in the late afternoon. The metro leaves from the airport. It's about an hour and I get to practice reading my first Greek letters. I remembered more than I thought I would. Plus, since the names of the metro stops are translated phonetically to English, I could compare. Like "Syntagma" equals Συντάγμα.

After checking into my hostel "Athens backpackers" (which backs up right to the Acropolis!) I met up with Jacquelyn and Vivian and ate dinner in the Plaka, a cute little neighborhood full of restaurants and touristy things.


Tuesday, March 18th, 2008:

Today was the big site-seeing day. Lucky for us, to get anywhere was walking distance because the buses were on strike. We climbed to the top of the Acropolis (the hill where most fo the ancient Greek temples are mounted) saw the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of Athena Nike, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, the Stoa of Eumenes, the ancient theatre of Dionysus, and the Erechtheion. Down from the Acropolis, but in the same area of ancient temples I saw Hadrians Arch and the temple of Olympian Zeus.

My impression of the Acropolis is that it was very humbling. To know how many people (in sheer numbers!) had walked there before me, not to mention how influential the people were and that they had lived and died two thousand years ago just made me feel so small, which is I guess how it's supposed to be. It also made me feel capable; like one day I could do great things and I also felt blessed and honored to be able to witness these structures before they crumble and are nothing more than worn down rocks.


Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Last full site-seeing day. We met up with friends at Parliament and watched the changing of the guards. Pretty interesting. Their outfits were....ethnic (re: goofy). I got to see some Byzantine churches. (ex: The Kapnikarea on Ermou street, Aiya Ekaterini church) These were only 1000 years old so people didn't give them too much status. I thought they were awesome. Then we decided to climb to the top of Lycavittos Hill. It's called a "hill" but it's really more of a mountain! It took some effort to get to the top but the reward was worth it. I got to see one of the little white-washed domed churches so characteristic to Greece. I felt like I was in a post card! The church is called Ayios Gregorio, which means St. George. Also it was the BEST VIEW. You could really see the vastness of the city. It's the capital of and the most populous city in Greece and it spreads as far as the eye can see. (well, until you hit mountains I could see all sides of Athens, and all the way down to the Mediterranean.)

Later as we were walking around and most of the group went to go have sandals made by some famous Greek cobbler, I went to the archaeological site Kerameikos. It was awesome! It used to be Athens' most important cemetery. I saw a tombstone that pre-dated democracy! It was very elaborate which was outlawed when the Greeks invented democracy and had the idea everyone should be equal, therefore tombstones were more normalized. This was also where there were remnants of the "Sacred Gate" (the world's largest gate for a while) which kept out the Persian invaders in about 479 BC. The sacred gate was here and the dried river bed of the River Eridanos. This was where Pericles stood to give an oration commemorating those fallen in the Peloponnesian war.

As I was walking back towards the hostel, I visited one of the most historic places, in my opinion, that really matters. I got to stand on the rock where St. Paul preached to the Athenians and they converted to Christianity! I stood where a direct friend and apostle to Jesus Christ stood! It was amazing. Then I walked back and went souvenir shopping. It was gorgeous.


Thursday, march 20th, 2008

Getting to the airport was a bit of an adventure because we'd intended to take the metro and it was on strike that day. Athens taxis are notoriously hard to catch and that was quite an anxious experience. But we made it ok. Got back to Madrid and Spring Break: Europe was officially over!

Reflections on Greece
I used to think it was just Spain that was political. But apparently it's Greece too. (and probably all Europe) Everywhere we went were strikes and protests! Like my teacher Noemi said "With the Spring, come the strikes." I loved Athens. Very easy to get around- walkable. Everything was interesting and beautiful. I'd love to come back to show my Dad because I know he'd enjoy it. I'd love to come back with Ed because it's a tad romantic too. The food was the best.

I couldn't have asked for a better Spring Break.

So I have chronicled my Spring Break with Ed pretty throughly. That also means that it's REALLY long. So you only have to read what interests you, I have listed the events chronologically and with a number so you can read more in detail what you want, or you could just browse this first part and get the gist. So first is this list, and then whatever you want to read more of, go to the bottom of the post and find the corresponding number/letter. Btw, this only covers my Spring Break with Ed. I also went to Greece but I'm going to do that one in a few days.

Amsterdam

Friday March 7^th:

A1- Arrived in Amsterdam alone, stayed at Christian Hostel
A2- Visited Anne Frank House
A3- First Impressions of Amsterdam- language, bikes, trams, niceness, blonde, etc.

Saturday March 8^th:

A4- Picked Ed up at the airport!
A5- Stayed in a house boat that was a hostel! Really cool
A6- Walking around A’dam
A7- Met these two Irish guys and went out to Breakfast with them
A8- First night of nightlife…

Sunday March 9^th:

A9- Went to the Rijksmuseum/weird tram guy trying to sell us drugs
A10- Canal boat tour! SO cool, saw lots of A’dam
A11- Sex Museum!

Spain

Monday March 10^th:

S1- Flight over on a discount airline
S2- Our Spanish Hostel
S3- Reina Sofia Museum
S4- Museo de Jamon!
S5- Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor
S6- Saw where Ilived…kind of….
S7- Don’t remember what we did that night!

Tuesday, March 11^th

S8- Class/Sorrollo Musuem
S9-Retiro! Rowed little boats!
S10- Experience Spain! Wine and Tapas
S11- Purse Theft! The chase!
S12- Mixed drinks are so much better here

Wednesday, March 12^th

S13- Prado museum
S14- Asian Karaoke!
S15- Review of what Ed thought of Spain

London

Thursday, March 13^th:

L1- A little difficult figuring everything out: learned that Londoners are the nicest people EVER.
L2- Perfect timing for Ryan
L3- Everything was just so “English”
L4- Camden town
L5- First English Pub, followed by quiet night in the dorms.

Friday, March 14^th:

L6- Seeing the town, walking around
L7- It is SO expensive here!
L8- London Aquarium
L9- Saw the movie 10,000 bc…ehhhh
L10- Partied like Englishmen! (well not really…but we danced our hearts out!)

Saturday, March 15^th

L11- Portabello Road!
L12- Back to the airport

Amsterdam AGAIN!

But just for 12 hours: 9pm Saturday – 9am Sunday

A12: Happy to be back. Walked around coffee shopping…
A13: A’dam is REALLY shady at night
A14: Passed a dead woman on the sidewalk….
A15: In the freezing cold train station with nothing to do but try to keep each other warm.
A16: The end of our trip together: my thoughts.

-------------------------------------------------

A1: Because I wanted to meet Ed and not have him even be a second in Europe where I wasn't there (because that would be a waste!), I got to A'dam a day early. I wasn't really sure what I was doing so I chose to stay in a Christian hostel called "Shelter City." I knew they had a lock-out and I would be in an all female dorm, so I figured it'd be safe too, especially because I didn't know what to expect from A'dam. It turned out to be a GREAT decision. They had a free hostel dinner that night and it was a lot more Christian than I thought and the staff put on skits and there was a visiting group from Northwestern College in Iowa doing a missionary trip to Amsterdam. Everyone was so nice and I was SO happy a chose to say there. I'm sure my parents were happy too that I was safe.

A2: That day I was by myself, I visited the secret annex where Anne Frank lived for years in hiding with two other families. I'd read the book when I was younger and it was really interesting to see exactly the house and rooms where she lived, and was betrayed. The museum was run really well too.

A3: So this is what I thought of Amsterdam: It was a beautiful city! Even though it was rainy and cold (the first thing I bought were gloves!) It was beautiful to be constantly on the water and it was very european how bikes got the right of way in every situation. While there I learned to constantly be multitasking: watching out for Bikes, Cars, and Trams! Riding on a tram was pretty cool. Also, EVERYONE is perfectly bilingual and it put me to shame that many people spoke more than just English and Dutch. Everyone also thought I was dutch, I guess because I'm blonde and a little nordic looking. Dutch was interesting to listen to also. They could speak my language really well and as I would even attempt to read street signs I would butcher theirs!

A4: I was so anxious waiting for Ed I was almost nauseous! When I finally saw his face I was overwhelmed like I can't even describe! I couldn't believe he was actually standing in front of me! I hadn't seen him since December 17th!! It was a little weird for the first hour or so to actually look at him. I kind of had to reacquaint myself with him again, his face, his voice, his everything. But after a little while I was at home with him again and SO happy. :)

A5: The hostel we stayed at was called the "Vita Nova." It was a house boat on a canal about five minutes from the train station. It was pretty cool to be staying on a boat! Our room (or "cabin") was small of course (boats always are) and the ceilings were low, but it was just for the two of us and was all we needed.

A6: So after Ed rested up a little we took a walk around Amsterdam! I showed him everything that I'd discovered from walking around yesterday (it proved useful that one of us knew a tad about where we were going). I showed him the "smartshops" where they sell magic mushrooms inside the stores! Like, in little sealed plastic containers! I still can't believe they're legal like that!

A7: As we were walking, we were loosely looking around for the Van Gogh museum. As we were staring at a map, these two Irish guys asked us if they could borrow it. Long story short, they turned out to be SO COOL and we went and got breakfast together. We did what a couple young kids in Amsterdam would do, if you catch my drift and had a really great time. Their named were something along the lines of Rich and Eoin. Both 20 years old. cool, cool, guys. Just in A'dam for the weekend too. As we were walking around Ed got hit by a bike!!! I told you about that multi-tasking! But I think it was a little difficult after our breakfast in the coffeeshop... HAHAHA

A8: By nightlife I mean that we went to the hotel to take a nap before going out and were both passed out by nine and slept all night! But that was ok, because we both woke up at about 5am and just talked for a couple hours and got to know each other again because it had been SOO long. That was an awesome morning.

A9: The Rijksmuseum was pretty cool. Lots of old art. Lots of HUGE art! It's amazing how they can paint with so much detail! The line to get in was really long, but hey, that's part of the experience, right? We took the tram back and there was the WEIRDEST guy trying to sell us cocaine on the tram. Very strange experience, but that's Amsterdam for you.

A10: That afternoon, instead of going to the Van Gogh museum we decided to cough up the 9eur each and take a canal boat ride tour! It was SOOO fun! I'm so glad we did it! We went all along the canals of A'dam. I felt like I was in Venice. We saw the smallest Canal house; only 1.5 meters wide! How does anyone live there? They are all so lopsided too! I can't believe most of them are still standing. We had a great view of the NEMO, which is a science museum that is IN the canal and looks like a sinking boat. The conductor also pointed out "The largest floating Chinese Restaurant in the world." As if there are others??? It was pretty cool though. Look at my photos on Facebook!

A11: We were wondering around later and found the Amsterdam Sex Museum, which is apparently the oldest sex museum in Europe. It was only 3eur to get in so we wondered on in and saw all this stuff on sex through the ages dating back to the romans and ancient chinese and sexual images on pottery found in archaeological sites! Interesting, but more dirty than interesting. Very "Amsterdam." I couldn't tell you where it was though, it just kind of popped up on us.

S1: Our first flight on a discount airline was....discount. General seating worked in our favor. Ryan air is like McDonald colors and there is NO luxury at all; the seats don't recline, there's no magazine pocket in front of you, etc. But we didn't need anything fancy. It was cheap and got us where we needed to go! Madrid!

S2: In Spain we stayed at the Hostal Numancia near the Tirso de Molina metro. It was not the nicest looking building, but it definitely had character! I thought the room was great. It lacked things like a closet or mirror, but with the two twin beds pushed together, it made it a king, and the ceilings were high and we had a nice big window. I liked it.

S3: After a short rest we went to the Reina Sofia modern art museum. I'd had this planned out because I knew Ed would like it. We got to see all sorts of modern art that he's interested in, especially since he took an art history course on it. Picasso, Miro, Man Ray, and most especially Dali. We hardly were able to scratch the surface of this museum, but maybe one day we'll be back and see all of it.

S4: Amsterdam was really expensive because we didn't really know where to go to get cheap food, but in Spain I took him to Museo de jamon! The Spainish love their ham and this is my favorite place to eat lunch because I hardly ever get anything for more than 2eur and am always satisfied!

S5: Showed him around Madrid: The Puerta del Sol ("Sol"), characterized by Tio Pepe! Saw the cafe, Faborit, where I like to study, Plaza Mayor with some cool art work on the buildings. Just the basics.

S6: I had to go home and change out my clothes for clean ones (I'd packed very little for Amsterdam) but because my senora is who she is, Ed had to wait in the hallway of the apt. building as I did this! Jacquelyn got to meet him though which is good, and he got to put a picture to where I go everyday.

S7: I can't remember what we did this night. Help me out, Ed!

S8: I had a class from 11:15-12:45, so while I was doing that (and being extremely antsy because I just wanted to get out to be with Ed!) Ed went to the Sorrolla museum which is just down the street from my school. I haven't been there but it's only like 1.50eur to get in, so I should go before I leave Spain.

S9: It was a beautiful beautiful sunny day, so I skipped my afternoon class and we went to the park "Retiro." Which is like Madrid's central park. We walked around in the sunlight, took photos. It was beautiful. Ed suggested that we see how much it cost to rent a row boat for the lake. I'd never looked because I figured it'd be a lot, but it was only 4eur or something like that. It was SUCH A GOOD IDEA! It was breezy, sunny, gorgeous, and now we were in a boat on a lake together! Those were some of the most content moments of the whole trip. :)

S10: So that night I had a group project to do. Our project is on wine and we needed to visit a street in Madrid, sample a bunch of different Spanish wines and interview some people in the bars. At first I really didn't want to because Ed was there, but in the end we figured it'd be fun for him and he'd get to experience more of the Spanish culture than I probably would have showed him. So we went to four different wine bars in the old part of Madrid, tasted 16 different Spanish wines and ate some tapas. It was a really fun time. but....

S11: In the very first bar we went to one girl in our group Carolina, asked us to watch her purse as she did an interview. While we were watching it, some guy came up to us, on his cell phone and said in unintelligible english "speakyenglich??" he had to repeat it over and over again until we understood. The second we said "yes" he darted out the door, and with another guy and we realized that it was a team: one to distract us, and one to steal the purse. We take off out the door and run as fast as we could up the street but they were already gone! I felt SOO horrible that her purse was stolen. She was obviously very upset, but she handled it very well. Ed was such a good friend that night; he went in and out of little hole-in-the-wall bars and places around looking for where the guys might be hiding, while Carolina went to make a police report. We didn't end up finding the guy but the next day, the police found carolina's purse stashed somewhere and so she got it back. They'd taken the cash of course, but everything else was ok. I realized that now there's been a full 1/3 of students from our program robbed. I'm SO careful now, and I think Ed's a little worried about me now too. Just have to be vigilant!

S12: at the end of that crazy night, I wanted Ed to have a mixed drink in Spain so I could show him how much alcohol they put in the glass (a ton!!) Standard is always a full half of your glass filled with liquor! The bar tender filled it up half-way than said (in Spanish) "you're not driving are you?" And then gave him maybe another half a shots worth. This guy proved me right! I'm going to feel so cheated when I get back to the US!

S13: The next day I wanted to take Ed to the Prado. How can I describe the Prado in one paragraph?? I can't. It's HUGE. We also didn't even get to scrape the surface of this museum but I got to show him a few paintings I'd really want to and we wandered around in awe of how cool it was. We also got to see some of the people who have the job of reproducing famous works: That was Picasso's job when he lived in Madrid! It was pretty cool.

S14: We weren't really sure what to do with Ed's last night in Madrid, so we wandered around looking for a movie theatre and wanted to get some ice-cream. It turned out it was too late for all the movie theatres but before we found any ice cream we found an Asian karaoke bar! The drinks were WAY over priced (10eur for a rum/coke!) but we got to sing songs, and money comes and goes, right?? Ed sang some gnarles barkley, Alicia keys, and Doobie brothers and was a HIT, of course. I actually somehow found it in me to sing and I sang "A dios le pido" by Juanes. First time to sing in Spanish! I did awful by the way, because I underestimated how many words per second there were and found myself out of breath! But who really cares anyway, because we had a great time.

S15: So all in all, I LOVED having Ed in Spain because I'm here all the time knowing that he has no idea where I am all the time or what anything looks like. I always want to show him things when I'm out and about and now I've finally been able to! He won't be clueless anymore when I tell him I went bar hopping in Sol or something like that. He even got to see where I go to school. I don't know what ideals he had about Spaniards before, but I think whatever they were, they improved, which is good, because I really love it here. I'm so happy he finally made it. One more stop: London!

L1: London, of the three cities, was the one I was the most clueless about. But it all worked out because we figured it out together. On the bus from the airport, at the tube station, and on the city bus, we met the nicest people in the world! They went out of their way to help us find where we were going and did things they didn't really have to. (The coach driver drove us past our stop to where we were really going to need to be so we didn't have to walk.) The stereotypes were proven right!

L2: We were staying with our friend Ryan but honestly didn't really know how we were going to meet up with him. He had our arrival time in the airport but had NO idea how long it would take us to get to his neighborhood. (Highgate)We planned to meet him at this tube station, but couldn't even call him to tell him when we arrived. Ed had been saying that it would all work out because that's just the type of guy Ryan was. And guess what?? The SECOND we got off the bus in front of the tube station, Ryan was walking up! It was PERFECT timing! And he didn't even do it on purpose It worked out perfectly, and without a bit of stress, just like Ed said it would...

L3: On the way walking to Ryan's dorm, I can't even describe just how "English" everything was. We even passed a "Ms. Channing's School for Young Girls" or something like that. I felt like I was in the "A little Princess" movie. I loved it. Sure, it was rainy, but I really felt like I was "there." Ya know? It's hard to describe.

L4: After getting settled Ryan took us out to "Camden Town" which is an area where they have stands that sell cool t-shirts and all sorts of emo-wear. I bought some animal earrings! (black cats!) And we ate some cheap chinese food, and the most delicious donuts I've ever had in my life. They melted in my mouth. It was a cool little area and apparently the birth place of punk.

L5: On the way home Ryan took us to a pub, the name had an elephant in it, but I don't remember exactly. Very English also. Smelled like any old bar. Had a "pint." I loved being in England, despite the rain. After a drink we went back to Ryan's dorm to watch a movie and chill out. (we'd been traveling all day). Half way through the movie his friends came in and we were chatting and when they left, instead of putting back on the movie, the three of us really caught up. We had hardly spoken in more than two years so there was a lot to talk about and it felt really good. We all had stories to tell!

L6: This was really our only day to SEE London properly, so we went to Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, we saw Westminter Abbey, the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) which includes Big Ben! And a whole bunch of other things. We saw the London eye too!

L7: The only draw back is that our stupid DOLLARS are hardly worth a thing when you change them into pounds. The exchange rate is fully 2 to 1, so every thing was not only expensive because we were in a big city, but DOUBLE that because our bank accounts were full of dollars! If I'd spent another day there I would have been starving on the streets! I loved London but couldn't spend a long amount of time there unless I was being paid in pounds.

L8: The one big site we went to was the London Aquarium. Ed said that it was one of the best in the world, so I'm really glad we got to go. It was certainly huge. We got to see all these sharks, and Ed got to share his aquatic expertise with us. I'm so proud of him sometimes. It was really cool.

L9: To do something chill we decided to go to a movie around dinner time. We saw 10,000 bc. Umm...cool special effects. REALLY cool... kind of a weak plot. Kind of like no plot. I drifted off at the end. I'm glad I saw it in theatres because the effects were way cool, but I'd save your money and rent something else if you miss it in theatres.

L10: That night all of Ryan's friends were going to their neighborhood pub called something along the lines a "Bugaloo" or "boogaloo." It was SO fun! The DJ was playing very danceable oldies. And while we could only have one drink each because my credit card wasn't "safe" enough (English credit cards have a special microchip in them, and that place only accepted those) We had an amazing time and danced SO MUCH! There was a big crowd and we got really sweaty but it felt good! It had been a long time since I got to dance like that. And of course Ed was a crowd pleaser! (I wouldn't expect anything less)

L11: Since our flight didn't leave until early evening we had the morning to do some stuff. We decided to just go to Portabello road which is an outdoor market that is really famous. You can get all kinds of stuff from Antique instruments, and household goods, to fresh bread and produce. It was interesting! And there was a song about it in a disney movie I used to watch when I was little and now I get to say I've been there!

L12: back to the airport. The reason that we were flying back to Amsterdam is because that's where Ed's plane flew out of. We didn't bother reserving a hostel for that night because there would have been no point. We were in the city for less than 12 hours so I figured we'd stay out all night...easier said than done.

A12: When we got back we were happy to be there again! It was nice to be some place familiar and it felt a little homey, especially since we'd liked it so much before. We went to a coffeeshop and had a good time talking and drawing pictures. At about 1am though they closed so we were back on the streets looking for more coffeeshops or cool bars to go to.

A13: What we learned doing that is that Amsterdam is REALLY shady at night. As we were wondering we found ourselves in the redlight district and there was nothing but the nastiest, creepiest men on that street at almost 2am. I was the only woman on the whole street and felt VERY uncomfortable. I was so glad Ed was with me. Just on that little walk we had some guy fake Ed out to punch him, Someone try to sell us "coca-cola" which I'm sure you can guess what that was, and ecstacy. I was so uncomfortable and worst of all, at 3 when all the bars closed we had NO place to go. And it was FREEZING. Ed's flight didn't leave until 9am so we had six more hours to kill...the WORST hours to be in the city. (But at least I had Eddie with me. :) )

A14: This was the most disturbing thing that happened: We were taking a walk along the canal by central station and we pass a woman lying down on the sidewalk, fetal position. She was lying so still. I figured she was homeless and had just decided to sleep there. As we got closer we realized that she was dressed fine and carrying a shopping bag and wasn't homeless. I just figured she was in a rough point in her life...I didn't even think of doing anything because I didn't know WHAT to do. This sounds bad, but I really noticed her panty-line, and in retrospect that should have tipped me off that she was lying TOO still...but it didn't. And we walked around her and kept on our way. I turned around to look at her face because I felt really bad for her, and her eyes were closed and her face was scrunched up....but I kept walking. About 30 minutes later or so, Ed and I are walking back in the other direction and we see an ambulance there, with no sirens and everybody moving slowly. They had the woman we had passed on a stretcher and covered in a white sheet. Ed and I kept rationalizing that maybe she wasn't dead, but there's no denying that she was. I'm sure that she was already dead the first time we passed her. I said a little prayer in my head but was very disturbed. At least Ed was with me. But I've never seen anything like that in my life....

A15: Our last few hours in Amsterdam were pretty unpleasant because we decided to go back to the train station where it was much more safe and stay there until we could go to the airport. It was so cold! We just sat on the ground and watched south park episodes on the ipod and when we'd get too cold we'd get up and walk around. We did this for hours and poor Ed had the sniffles the next week. At least we were together.

A16:I went to the airport with him of course and went with him as far as I could go. It was a little sad because I had finally gotten to see him after missing him so much and didn't want him to go! I hadn't seen him in about three months but right when we were back together I just loved him so much again like I had before! In a way though I was happy because I felt so blessed that he'd gotten to visit me at all...it wasn't easy to organize and very expensive and I really appreciate that he came. This trip marked about the half-way point of our separation, so every day that goes by I get a little closer to seeing him again. We had such a good time. And I really had to just keep thinking, money comes and goes and not to worry. It was really unforgettable and not something a lot of young couples get to do. Can't wait for our next adventure!

Midterms Midterms Midterms

It has been a while since my last update and that's because I've been preparing for midterms. Last week I took them so they're finally OVER!! I have a minute to breathe. Well....kind of. I still want to finish a book by tomorrow for one of my classes and I have like, 200 pages. I just want to write an essay on it Wednesday night. So I guess I could finish it Wednesday.

APART FROM THAT!

Madrid is great. The weather has warmed up. Yesterday I went to the Retiro (the main park, like central park) and read and chatted in the grass because it was so nice out. I even got a little sunburned! Which kind of felt good.

There's a saying with Spain: "With the spring comes the strikes." Apparently going on strike is all the rage in the spring time. There are also protests almost everyday. I've seen two (two Wednesdays in a row) One for better wages for disabled people and one for something else, something with doctors but I couldn't really tell. The worst though is that the bus drivers are on strike!!! How annoying! They aren't striking everyday. It's a conditional strike: every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. SO on those days we have to take the metro (which I enjoy) but since the WORLD is taking the metro it's PACKED. Why don't they just raise their wages already??

Worse, is since my Senora hates the metro, because she can't take the bus on certain days, she just stays home. ugh...... Actually, my Senora and I are getting a long better. She's been pretty nice recently. I still avoid extraneous conversation, and I don't ask her any questions. My dad thinks that while we went to Andalucia the school might have called her, because they knew we were having issues.

In any case, life is very fun here. I'm very excited that ED IS GOING TO BE HERE THIS WEEKEND!

Now, I'm working on making my resume fit the internships I want to apply for....by "working on" I mean THINKING of working on. I'll start when I get back from Spring Break.

IN CONCLUSION:
-Springtime
-Strikes
-Vacation
-Learning more and more Spanish

That's life.

Trip to Andalucia Feb 4th-10th, 2008

About a week ago I got back from my trip to Andalucia. The first four days were with my class as an organized "excursion" and then for the weekend a few of us went to Carnaval in Cadiz. That was an adventure for sure. Andalucia is a city, but I'm referring to the province in Southern Spain. We went to Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada (and then Cadiz). So here are my reflections and notations on the trip.


Drive down south:

I don't know what I was expecting the plant life to be like but it certainly wasn't what I saw: A lot of it was desert and reminded me of driving from Los Angeles to Dallas through the rocky, mountainous desert. We were driving through rocky terrain, there was no soil, and there were cacti. In retrospect I SHOULD have expected this because southern Spain is just a hop away from North Africa and the Sahara. Also there were FIELDS AND FIELDS OF OLIVE TREES! That's what I expected to see when I go to Greece, but apparently Spain is the #1 producer of olive oil in the world (even over Italy). So that was interesting.

Cordoba:

We only stayed here for the day. Cordoba is important because during the 800 years that the Arabs ruled Spain, Cordoba was the capital for them in Spain and North Africa (the Caliphate). So the sense of it's former days as an Arab capital was really obvious. We toured the Mezquita (mosque) where construction began in the 700s. There was a cathedral built within the Mezquita after the Reconquista (when the Christians took over again in the 1200s). The cathedral wasn't that impressive but the mosque was. It was HUGE and there were tons of columns everywhere. For 1000 years it was the second largest Mosque in the world. (now I think it's the third.) The gypsies in Cordoba were more aggressive than in Madrid.

Sevilla

Late that night we drove an hour and a half (barely) west to Seville. This place was BEAUTIFUL. Now the scenery changed to tropical. There were palm trees and orange trees all over the place. Orange trees lined every single street and they were in full bloom. The next day (Feb 5th) we took a tour of the Reales Alcazares, which was where four royal palaces were grouped together to make a huge complex of luxury. These Alcazares were mostly used by the Arab kings when they ruled, and then later some of the Christian kings lived here too. Since a Muslim garden is supposed to be like paradise and be a treat to every sense, they were beautiful! Full of plants, birds, fruit, fountains. etc. Also, because this is where Columbus came when he returned from the new world, all the gardens are decorated in tropical plants that he brought back with him from the indies. (ex. birds of paradise, all kinds of palm trees, fruit trees, ficus trees, etc.)
Feb 6th- We stayed in Sevilla two days, so on the 6th, which HAPPENED TO HAVE BEEN MY 21ST BIRTHDAY, we got to go to a Flamenco show. It was a really beautiful, intimate setting. I'd never seen Flamenco before and it was not what I expected. The dancing was, but the singing wasn't. It was a lot more tribal wailing than I figured. Beautiful none-the-less. Later that night we were hitting the town and a few of us stumbled upon this bar in an alley that turned out to be a really cool underground place (kind of like Churchills in little haiti, for my miami buddies). There turned out to be an impromptu flamenco show! And that was REALLY cool because we were seeing what the locals see.
*Note: I also climbed the Giralda tower and got to see the grave of Christopher Columbus.

Granada

Next day we made the drive even further to Granada for our last stop. Basically all we saw in Granada was La Alhambra, the AMAZING ruins of a city within a city in Granada that was a great fortress of the Arabs. (means "city of the red brick" in Arabic) It was huge and beautiful. If there's one thing I've learned about Arab architecture is that it seems more intricate than any other I've encountered. The carvings and tile work must have taken SO LONG to do....I can't describe it in words. You'll have to look at my pics on facebook. We also made a stop at the Capilla Real and saw the tombs and coffins of Isabel and Ferdinand. That was pretty interesting.

Cadiz

That was an adventure in itself! The first day was really stupid and confirmed for me that it was just a huge waste of money. (Because the only reason I wanted to go was because I thought I was going to go to Morocco first, and that didn't end up happening.) The second day made it almost worth the money. We went to the beach (atlantic ocean) and while it was way too cold to get in the water, the weather was pleasant and eerily windy. That night though, was the Carnaval celebration...PARTY LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN! It was just thousands of people my age in crazy costumes, getting drunk. There were no bathrooms either...which I won't get into.... people were also doing debaucherous things. I actually saw a couple DOING IT in the middle of the street with 100 people around them. I couldn't believe it. I ended up having to leave the party kind of early (3ish) because I needed to go back to the hotel, get my stuff, then head to the airport because my flight was at 7:05. Have you ever been to the airport drunk? well...I can cross that off my list! Not to mention I was alone. It was just crazy. This was a tiny airport too. When I got there I was apparently TOO early and the airport was CLOSED! I sat outside with some Spanish girls also waiting for the Madrid flight. As we were sitting outside, we could see birds flying around INSIDE the airport and even a cat wandering around! I kept saying "How'd the cat get in??? Maybe we can get in!" Apparently backwardsness like that is typical of Andalucia. Just to add to it, when they finally opened security, I went through and put my bag on the xray thing and NOBODY WAS WATCHING THE XRAY MACHINE! If I'd beeped going through the metal detector nobody would have been there to stop me. And to top it off I had to walk onto the runway to get onto the plane. I guess they're not worried about terrorism...So eventually I got back to Madrid and went to bed at 9:30am on Sunday, Feb 10th. (avoided the senora ALL day)

What a trip!
I was surely ready for a normal week in Madrid.
I took 117 pictures and they're all on facebook if you want to look at them.

Rosalia, my crazy Senora.

I am not getting along with my Senora. All-in-all though, I've started letting it roll off my shoulders because I, and only I am in charge of whether or not this is a hostile environment. And nobody can 'make me feel a certain way.' I am in charge of my own feelings. And I'm going to choose that it isn't a hostile environment.

In any case, it makes a good story to tell what happened yesterday. This is a copy/paste of the email I sent my parents about it. I couldn't type it twice. It's pretty unbelievable. All of the conversations I've reiterated in English, but they weren't.
::
Last night my roommate and I were seriously yelled at! I still can't believe it. What happened was, earlier in the day we asked her if she wanted to go to church with us. And she said that she had gone yesterday (saturday) but that she'd go again so we didn't have to go alone. Jacqulyn and I were then like "oh we can go alone, it's not a problem" and she said "you don't mind going alone?" we said no, and then she gave us directions on how to get there. But apparently, we interpreted that as meaning that she wasn't going, when she still planned on going with us. So when it came time for us to leave, Jacquelyn and I walked out the door. When we got to the bottom we saw it was raining and went back upstairs to get umbrellas. When we got back up Rosalia (my senora) was there yelling "You left without me???!!! Well, if you don't want me to go, FINE! GO BY YOURSELF I DON'T CARE!" and Jacquelyn and I were shocked and we were like "I'm sorry I'm sorry, we thought you weren't going, of course you should come" And she continued saying "It is a real problem that you don't understand me when I speak; that we can't communicate! This is a real problem for me! You don't know any Castellano because you speak in English all day" (not true, by the way.) And she just kept saying "you don't understand me, you don't understand me!" (which is, by the way, her catch phrase) and we kept trying to insist that it wasn't the words we didn't understand, just that there had been a 'misunderstanding' and that it could happen even in your own language. but it was like we hadn't said anything at all. She was just yelling at us. "How could you leave without me! Why don't you listen to me!" As if we would ever be malicious towards her! I'm a little upset at this point about the way we were being treated and I said "The reason we thought this was because you asked us if we minded going by ourselves." Now, of course this whole thing is in Spanish, so I was paraphrasing her because I didn't know the exact words she'd used (which I probably should not have done) and she got six inches from my face and said "DO NOT SAY THAT I SAID SOMETHING THAT I DID NOT SAY!" And after an awkward pause, Jacquelyn and I just turned around and walked out the door and off to church. It was a ludicrous situation!

THEN!!!!!! THEN!!!! We were in church and when I turned around to pass the peace ROSALIA WAS SITTING BEHIND US! She'd come to church anyway! So I felt better when I saw that and thought "oh she realized we didn't do it on purpose and decided to come with us." but the real reason was to spite us, which I figured out when she dashed out of the pew at the end of service and wouldn't walk home with us. And so Jacquelyn and I are walking about 20 feet behind her discussing whether we should catch up to her when she turns around (I guess to see where we were) and I waved. She stared at me, and then TURNED BACK AROUND as if she hadn't seen me! So then we HAD to catch up because we couldn't act like we were ignoring her (even though that's what she was doing to us) and so when we were walking next to her, Jacquelyn made some small-talk remark like "oh, it was a different priest than last time" and she wouldn't respond! She gave us the silent treatment the whole time except when she said "When I was young I went to mass everyday." Then when we got back to the apartment it was dinner time and she sat with us at dinner and acted like it never happened!!

Doesn't that sound like a horrible situation!!!!??? How could she possibly think that we'd done it on purpose? Not to mention that every single time that I don't give her a response that's verbal enough she puts on a high-pitched and loud voice "No me entiendes, no me entiendes!" which is starting to get me so annoyed because I DO UNDERSTAND! I understand 99% of what she says, and the other 1% is the occasional vocab word, which I'll ask her (but God forbid I ask her twice...) The one thing I really needed to work on here was being comfortable speaking and she enforces the exact opposite in me by making me feel like I can't speak at all. I would consider myself almost completely fluent, and she acts like I don't know a word. Even just 30 minutes ago she called me in to tell me that the entire collection of Picasso's work from Paris is on display at the Reina Sofia museum until March 8th. And I said "Ya lo vi" and she promptly put her head in her hands and repeated to herself loudly "no me entiendes, no me entiendes!" because she couldn't possibly think that I had understood her because I hadn't been to the Reina Sofia. NEWS FLASH, ROSALIA! I went three weeks ago and saw it and we talked about it at dinner! So I had had enough and said, quite forcefully, "Yes, I do understand you Rosalia, there is a picasso exhibit brought from France to the Reina Sofia until March 8th. I saw it already." and she just looked at me and said "well, there are a lot of picasso's because half of them are just little drawings." and I said "si." and went to my room.

This is what I have decided: That I can not allow her to intimidate me from speaking Spanish because she makes me feel like an oaf, and lowers my self-esteem with my speaking capabilities (and Jacquelyn too!) I can't even ask her to repeat something (like directions or anything) without her saying "WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!!" She is frustrated so easily by us, for NO REASON. This is really not the position for her if she gets mad at us for asking questions. The point is, it's HER and not US and so I have decided to let it not upset me, because it's just too irrational to be taken seriously. If this is what 60 year old Spanish women are like, I'm glad I'm not ever going to be one. And don't worry, I'm still perfectly pleasant and polite to her and put on a cheerful face, because I don't want to influence her to make things worse for us.

I am pretty cheerful, because I just can't let an irrational person bother me, because it would be a waste of my emotions. Plus, I leave to Andalusia in the morning and she's already gone to bed, so I'm not going to see her until I get back next Sunday. so haha.

What I have done:

• Bought bus ticket from Granada to Cadiz
• Bought plane ticket from Cadiz to Madrid
• Paid my roommate for my half of the hotel room
• Booked my round-trip ticket to Amsterdam
• Booked my ticket from Amsterdam to Madrid
  
• Booked my round-trip ticket to Greece
• Booked my Amsterdam hostel
• Booked my Greece Hostel

What I still need to do:

• Book the flight from Madrid to London
• Book London to Amsterdam
• Book Hostels for both those places.
  
• Call the Gap about my last paycheck.
• Make up something fun to do for the English lessons tomorrow where I teach them clothing vocabulary.
  
• Read "Bodas de Sangre"
• Write my paper on "Luces de Bohemia"
• Mail those postcards
• Call my mother/brother.
  

Saturday, Jan 26th

Well, I'm finally settled. That's why I haven't written anything in a week is because I was just settling in. And now some commentary on Socialism:

Last Monday my roommate had a fever and didn't feel well. In the US, a fever (that wasn't too high) would not warrant a visit to a doctor, you'd just take some fever reducer or cold medicine or something. But HERE apparently, if you have a fever, the protocol is that you see a doctor. So my house mother told Jacquelyn she had the option of either going to the hospital for a consultation or having a doctor come see her at the house. Yes, that's right, a HOUSE CALL! I didn't even know they still did that. So she decided for the house call. My house mother called the doctor, and within an hour there was a serious, certified DOCTOR at our door. He inspected her and gave her some medication and guess how much it cost? 17euros!! How crazy is that? That doesn't even exist in the United States. I thought it was awesome. And if she'd chosen to go to the hospital, it would have been free.

Later that day, while Jacquelyn was sick in bed, I decided to go to El Retiro, the main, huge park in Madrid. It was beautiful...and spotless! The sidewalks were swept, there was no garbage anywhere, the bathrooms were pristine! And this is because they have SO many employees to do this. This is socialism for you. And I happen to like it at this point.

I've been shopping all day for airline tickets. Ed is coming to visit me!!! And we'll visit Amsterdam and London, and then after he leaves, I'm flying on to Greece, and maybe I can squeeze in Florence if my friend is in town that weekend. (It's his spring break too, so he might be traveling. In any case I'm spending a TON of money on all this. Madrid is expensive in itself, BUT, as my dad pointed out, I should live it up while I'm here and travel as much as I can. He says he won't let me starve.

Next week we have a school organized trip to Andalusia which will be really fun, and then afterwards I'm going to a Carnival in Cadiz (which is in southern Spain) and then we're going to Morocco for a day trip. I will have been to AFRICA! I bet things are cheap in Morocco too.

Need to start reserving Hostels for all these places.

My Senora is a big nag half the time. She nags me that I don't take the bus everywhere. I like the bus, but sometimes I don't know which route to take so it's just safer to take the metro. We also got into a slight altercation today. Jacquelyn and I, usually when we can't finish our dinners we ask her if we can just eat it for breakfast, and she always says yes. Yesterday night, she wasn't home for dinner so she left us two HUGE bowls of Spaghetti. We decided to just split one bowl and put the other in the fridge. This morning we were like "Can we eat the spaghetti?" and she was like "What?! You are only allotted 1 big meal a day, dinner. You can't have two. For breakfast you eat cereal or fruit or something, but you can't expect to eat two big meals a day. I'm generous but this was not included!" And blah blah blah. We didn't mean to start anything! Not to mention, that of course all of this is in Spanish, so we were responding with "si, si si" and she kept saying "Do you understand me? You don't understand me! You never understand me!" We understood every word we just didn't have much to respond with, but she didn't believe us. It was horrible. She wasn't yelling but she was just being....ANNOYING! Like, OK FINE WE WON'T EAT THE SPAGHETTI! So then Jacquelyn asked if since she wasn't going to be here for dinner, if she could just eat her dinner right then (because it was already ready) And she had another freak out saying she'd never been asked in her 15 years doing this if you could substitute one meal for the other. Her opinion is that if you aren't going to be here for dinner, then you forfeit your meal. Well, fine, but she just dragged it ON and ON and ON. She is SUCH A NAG

She complains when we don't ask her for advice, when every time we do she just complains or acts insulted that we don't already know and even HAVE to ask. I wish she'd butt out.

Sunday January 20th, 2008

Last week was my first real week of classes. Seems fine. The only class that seems hard is my literature class that is composed of analyzing Spanish plays of the 20th century. We have to read a play every week and a half and one week later a five page paper is due. The others will definitely be manageable. Plus, this semester I'm in school only t/w/th, so there's really no excuse for not getting my work done. Plus, since most people (namely my friends) did not luck out with such a schedule, my Mondays off I won't really have anyone to hang out with, so it'll be a good study day.

Friday we went to Segovia. It's a city about an 1hr 15mins north of Madrid. It was built by the Romans around the time of Christ and so there is a Roman Aqueduct running through the middle of the city! My pics are on facebook. It was functional until 1979 when the population of Segovia was too big for the aqueduct to support. So technically it still works, they just don't use it. Those Romans were amazing, huh!?

That was a fun day trip. We also toured El Alcazar, which was a huge fortress/castle, to protect various religions from various intruders (most recently, the Christian Spanish Kings keeping out the Arabs in 1098.) It was BEAUTIFUL. We also went to La Granja Palacio which was a beautiful palace build by Fernando V to look like Versailles because he was french and when it turned out he was the Spanish king too, he wanted to do it the way he was used to. It was pretty too. I've learned one thing: Castles are COLD!....but beautiful. I liked Alcazar more than La Granja.

About 12 people of our group went on to Salamanca after that. I was invited but it was too last minute and rushed for me to deal with it. And I'm glad I didn't go because I ended up having a little cold this weekend, and so that would have been terrible. They're planning another trip to somewhere, I think Barcelona, and I'll go to that one. I just need more than 12 hour notice.

Today I went to Madrid's "El Rastro" flea market. It was pretty cool, big, and had everything you could want. It's only Sundays and was SO crowded! I really don't think my roommate enjoyed it, so we didn't stay too long. But I'll go back again, probably closer to when I leave though. Bought some earrings, and a present for my step-mother.

I'm still not into a good routine, but this week of school should be normal.

There is some drama in the group over girls wanting boys and blah blah blah, but I'm not involved at all, so I'm staying out of it. I'm sure we'll all settle in...

Tuesday, Jan 15th

Today was the first day of classes for me. It seems like my Contemporary theatre literature class is going to be time consuming. We have a 4/5 page paper due every 4 weeks, until all six plays are covered. My Art History class is going to be interesting, especially because we get to go to all the good museums. I'll have an 8 page paper to do on Picasso's Guernica, but I feel like when I need to write it, I'll have more than enough information. I also am taking a Spanish Civilizations class which should be pretty interesting. Big group project for that one. Tomorrow I have one class, "Spanish Literature of the 19th C." I KNOW I KNOW it sounds boring. But I need three graduate level courses of to complete my major and I figure getting them done here will be easier.

So while the work seems like a lot, I don't think it'll be intellectually challenging, just time consuming. And I'll have to schedule myself pretty rigidly so I don't forget to do anything.

I turned in a form yesterday to teach English to little kids. It pays 12€ an hour which is equivalent to $18!!! So that's really good. This is supposed to be a pretty travel-filled semester, so I probably won't work more than five hours a week or so, but an extra $100 a week will be greatly appreciated. An extra ANYTHING. Plus, it might be fun.

A Cultural Note:

Before yesterday I thought Madrid (and Europe in general) was very clean until I began to see people littering EVERYWHERE: the metro, the sidewalks, throwing stuff all over streets. And as I paid more attention, I realized that these people aren't clean people, but there are guys in neon vests on every other street corner picking up after them! They do a good job, sure. But it makes me question personal responsibility. Is it my own culture stepping in when I judge them and say that they should pick up after themselves and be personally responsible for their trash? (there ARE trash cans on corners too). OR is it ok, because that is what these people are THERE for, that is their JOB?

Well, I don't care whether it's ethno-centric to say: I think people shouldn't litter. I think they should have personal responsibility for stuff like this. It will just enforce bad habits in their children who may NOT end up living in a country with trash pickers. I mean, half the people I've seen with dogs, let them do their business on the CURB of the SIDEWALK, because before you know it there will be a person coming along to scrape it up. GROSS. There isn't any grass or anything. Maybe people shouldn't have dogs if their not going to pick it up. I've only seen one guy do it, and it was right in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk anyway.

What do you think?

Monday was the first day of classes for most people, but because I don't have class Monday, I went to the Museo Reina Sofia. It's a modern art museum. I've never been one for modern art, but this place really changed my mind. It was HUGE and some of the art was just beautiful. It had at least 30 Picassos! And probably just as many Miro and Dali works. And I ended up liking a lot of this "modern art." It also had these really cool glass elevators.

Tomorrow I don't have class until 4:30 so I'm going to buy my books, buy notebooks (which btw, they only make graph paper notebooks, not lined like we have: ANNOYING!), and mail a postcard.

The friendship dynamics amongst the group of us (about 25) are still settling out. Once they become more concrete I'll be able to comment. Now though, it's too early to tell. Even my friends are not by any means cemented. Hasta Luego.

Jan 12th, 2008

Last night was my first real night out in Madrid. I was told:

"You think you're not going to stay out all night and get back at 7am...you will"

well they were right. I did.

We went to this Irish pub called O'Brien's for a while and drank. They were having a special where you could mix smirnoff vodka with anything and it was 4€, which is about six dollars. That is awesome too because they seriously fill HALF of your glass (like, 3 shots; they're big glasses) with Vodka and then top it off with orange juice. So in three drinks I had like 8 or 9 shots.

Then at 2 we went to a "discoteca" or "disco" called "El Palacio" which was a a huge club converted from a palace. We got there at peak time and cover was 15€!! that's probably $22. I felt totally ripped off, but at least that comes with a drink. That vodka redbull pushed me into the drunk phase anyway. So a group of us ended up staying there and dancing. Jacquelyn, my roommate, and I each were dancing with different guys and speaking MUCHO español. At the end of the night when some drunk guy talked to me in English, I had to ask him to repeat himself because I couldn't comprehend what he said for a second. My spanish is getting really really good.

The other girls there from my school didn't seem interested in socializing with the spaniards. And maybe it was just me, but they seemed to be giving off a self-righteous aire, which kind of bothered me. But I just forgot about them and had fun with my madrileños. (people from madrid.)

Jacquelyn and I stayed until the club closed at 6:30am. I wasn't even tired until I left the club and then I was REALLY tired. But the whole time we were there I hardly even noticed all the hours pass. It was so much fun. I felt like I had a actual cultural experience too. So then because the metro was already open for the day, we were able to take the metro home, escorted by the guy Jacquelyn had been dancing with all night and his amigo. I slept from 7:45am to 3pm.

This party-all-night thing is awesome but I really couldn't do it all the time because I end up sleeping through most of the day. Late dinners (as is the culture here) really help energize you for a late night partying though. I'm going to try to keep staying out all night to only a couple times a week. It's too detrimental otherwise.

What I forgot to post the other day was a record of the sites I saw in Toledo, because I want to have a list of those things:
-La iglesia San Juan de los Reyes
-La Sinagoga
-El Catedral de Felipe II cuando él trasladó la capital a Madrid.
-El mural "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz" de El Greco

School starts for me on Tuesday. And tomorrow the "El Rastro" flea market where you can apparently find awesome stuff, good souvenirs, and a lot of pickpockets. I'll have to be really careful. Plus, I can't afford to have money stolen.

Hasta Luego.

Toledo, Jan 8-10, 2008

Today we returned from our little excursion to Toledo. It is a quaint little city/village about an hour south of Madrid in La Mancha (like Don Quixote de la Mancha and Manchego cheese) . La Fundacion Jose Ortega y Gasset has a campus there and we had our orientation. They taught us the lingo, like how to order from bars (you can't just say "una cerveza por favor") and all this stuff.

It was also important because we all got to meet each other. Because we're living with families in Madrid, so socialize outside school requires effort and it's hard to do if you don't even KNOW the other people, so with this orientation we stayed in the school's dorms for a couple of nights and really got to know the other people we'll be in school with for the next four months. A lot of them are cool, some don't seem too friendly, but I think that once I get to know them it will be different. It's so weird to have to make friends again! It's working out though.

Toledo is one of the most boring places in the entire world. Sure, it's cute because it's very medieval. Like, I felt like I was in a castle/disney world the whole time. It's a beautiful walled in city that was built in like, the 800s so everything looks awesome. Plus, Ferdinand and Isabella were really involved in its development so there is a lot of history. But as for activity...well you can't do a whole lot when only four or five people can fit abreast on the STREETS. And yes, cars do drive through, but only little cars, all one way, and...not a whole lot of cars. We went to some bars and a disco though and that was fun. But it was ALL americans. I think very few people actually like in Toledo, it's like a city for tourists. I'm glad I got to experience it, but I'm SO happy that I'm living in Madrid instead.

I made a few cultural notes:
-In cities like Toledo that are so old, they don't BUILD in the cities. You don't see cranes in the skylines. They work with what they have. I respect that. You don't see abandoned buildings, because they use them and renovate them, etc. It's something to think about.
-The europeans are SO energy conscious! I really respect that too. Because water and electricity are expensive in the houses you ALWAYS turn the lights off when you leave a room, (though that's not uncommon in the US) but also, all the restaurants and public buildings use skylights a lot and censored lighting. Like, if there is no motion in the bathrooms in restaurants for THIRTY SECONDS the lights will turn out on you. Not to mention that a ten minute shower is really pushing it. They conserve water like it's gold. I like that.

CONS:
-Shoes in the house at all times are a must. Even if it's just slippers. I HATE wearing shoes.
-There's a lot of time between meals. Breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 2, dinner at 9:30 or later. By each meal I'm STARVING.

My Senora (house mother) is nice. She speaks slowly enough for me to understand and doesn't care when we come and go. I don't know her too well yet so I'll figure that out in a few days I'm sure.

School starts monday and my schedule is AWESOME. I have three classes Tuesday/Thursday and one class on Wednesday afternoon! HELL YEAH FOUR DAY WEEKENDS! Voy a viajar MUCHO!!

Until next time....

Day One Jan 7th, 2008

Well I arrived today. What a trip.

I left yesterday evening, spent 8.5 hrs on the first plane and landed in Paris.

If I never have to spend any more time in the Charles de Gaulle Airport I'll be ok. It was quite a confusing experience. Mostly because I was changing from American Airlines to Iberia, so apparently that meant I had to go through customs and leave the airport entirely and then check back in. Unfortunately I didn't know this. I guess it's alright because I figured it out eventually. But it was really confusing!

I actually was able to speak a lot more French than I thought I could. I said:
"I need to change airlines. Where is Iberia"
"A bottle of water please"
"Where is an ATM?"
"Where is Termindal 2D"

While I was able to say this, unfortunately I was not able to understand their response really. So I'd either just pretend I understood, or ask them to show me. I also didn't really say "ATM" I said "money machine" because that's all I knew how to say. They got my point.

Once I figured out that stupid French airport, the rest was a piece of cake. Flew the two hours into Madrid, then I took a taxi ALONE from the airport to my host family's house.

My Senora (I don't know how to type the little ~ on the n) is nice. She is a woman named Rosalia who is probably sixty. She lives with one of her daughters Rosa, who is nice. And now she lives with me and Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn is my SMU roommate. She's nice also. Her spanish is pretty good. Probably about as good as mine, or almost. Rosalia doesn't speak a word of English so my Spanish will get better soon. I think it's already improved just in this afternoon. We talked for a long time, so I'm already feeling much more comfortable conversing. I also get my own room!

Tomorrow we're going to Toledo for an orientation where they'll give us our Spanish cellphones and class schedules etc. I'm getting even more excited!

It still doesn't seem real though. I don't feel like I live here yet. I guess we'll see. I hope I become more accustomed soon. I also feel very alone. It helps that Jacquelyn's here though. This is going to be quite an evolution and I guess we'll see how it goes....