FLIGHT DAY FML

Oh the wonders of continuous travel for more than 25 hours. My day began with Brooke. Over sleeping her alarm and rushing out of our cuddlefest only 1 hr before her flight boarded! Yikes! But lakshmi and I woke up on time!! I got up earlier cause I was anxious. I thought itd be a good idea to get breakfast before we left, so I left a little before lakshmi and told her I would get her a magdelana (muffin) STARBUCKS WAS CLOSED AT 8 AM! Ludacris I know! Apparently they don’t open till 8:30 aka whenever they want cause the sign said 8 am. So I chilled in the lobby oogling Hillary’s secret service men until Lakshmi and I cabbed to the airport.

When we got to the airport Lakshmi and I were un pocotin slap-happy. Reality was setting in that we were separating so we were coping by denial and laughter. When we got to the terminals we decided to meet back up for breakfast after we checked in because we weren’t ready to say goodbye (haha literally live in the same town in the US lol) Except our plan failed when I got to the delta line and it was backed up for miles. I stepped up to the like at 9:10 and was checked in by 10:15 (flight at 11_. Yeah, it sucked. So Lakshmi stopped by while I was in line, and we said our goodbyes.

After I checked in I was kinda rushing to security, I knew I had time but I was a little worried. My boarding time was 10:20….So I got thro one security line, only to be stopped by another. Once thro that one I was at the gates. Not bad. I hadn’t had breakfast, and I was about to board a 7 hour flight to JFK. I grabbed a bocadillo (sandwhich) and an orange juice at the first café I saw. I threw the orange juice into my purse (big mistake…still regretting that one) As I am walking, I feel wetness on my leg. Yup the lid wasn’t on and my delicious pulpy oj was all over. I snatched my passport and boarding pass, and rushed to the bathroom to literally throw the contents of my purse in the sink and rinse everything. Problem solved. I ran to my gate.. ooops another security line. At least when I finally got to the gate, I just waltzed onto the plane.

The rest of my day was rather uneventful. Unless you count my purse reeking of acidic oj mixing with black leather and my final flight getting delayed a few hours. Honestly I was so tired and confused I don’t even remember the rest of the day. Well at 2 am home sweet home I was…..and there I stayed. For a day or two that is….

My last day in spain….A long uneventful and sad day

In the morning, Lakshmi, Ally, and I got up showered, stole breakfast, and called a cab to take us to the airport (Lakshmi wasn’t about to drag her maimed luggage on the train)

I think I was almost near depression on the ride. I really didn’t want to leave Spain, and for some reason it was hitting me right then when we were leaving Barcelona. Ally was on a later flight, but she waited in line with Lakshmi and me while we attempted to check in. We were exactly standard 2 hours early for our flight (we thought we were better than that….1 hr was enough NOT!) The line for our airline was outrageous! We stood there until we had 45 min for flight time, then we split up and covered all the lines. I even attempted to use the rush check-in. Apparently you have to be 30 min from departure to be considered rush…

Somehow we got checked in…30 min to get to the gate, we got this. Lakshmi and I hugged ally and took off running to security. Oh security. The lines weren’t super long, but Spain just really isn’t as efficient as the USA. When we finally get to the front, we throw our stuff in bins and wait to pass thro the X rays. I look behind me, and I see lakshmi letting some Middle Eastern women in front of her! What the heck! We have 20 min! Well then the women turns to me, “you did not respect the cue, I am first, let me pass.” Then she and her son proceeded to take their sweet time putting their items one by one into a million bins. Apparently the one time Spanish people respect lines is in the security line at airports (ayayay!)

Needless to say, we arrived at our gate just in time for the first zone to board. We even had time to sit for like 5 min! When we finally got on the airplane, we crashed, hard. One hour later and we were in Madrid!

Ally’s flight was just a little later than ours, so lakshmi and I decided to wait for her in the airport. By a little later, we mean like 3 hours. Hahaha we didn’t realize it was thaaat much later, but luckily we found an internet kiosk. The lady that was using it before us put in waaaay too much money so we had 2 hours worth of internet that we didn’t have to pay for!

When we finally met Ally, we cabbed to her parents hotel. This was the first time I remembered that leaving spain, although sad, meant I was going to see my friends and family again! That got me a little anxious to go home. Which was good because prior to now I had just been dreading it. Ally’s parent’s hotel was extremely nice, and apparently free! Her dad travels a lot for work. When we got to the room, first thing we had to do was rip off Ally’s cast and throw her into the walking boot her mother so kindly wore all day on the plane. One stinky foot later, we were starving. It was her family’s first time in Spain, and I was kinda amazed at all the things the three of us were telling them about life in Spain. I didn’t even realize the things that I had picked up.

We ate traditionally and it was delicious. Paella de pollo, followed by café con leche after the meal. After supper we walked back to the hotel, and met up with Brooke and two of her friends that she did the camino de Santiago with for her last week (they are both from spain and knew ally through church, brooke had gotten really close to them over the last week) I should mention that when we got to the hotel their was a lot of people outside, we had to squeeze it out of one of the workers, but he finally told us Hillary Clinton was in Madrid, and staying at our hotel that night! Crazy! So all of us girls went out for one last drink in Spain. Oh yeah! Ally’s younger sister Rachel was there! I love her. She’s very different from Ally, but they are best friends since I feel like I knew ally forever I felt the same about Rachel. That night we had a little slumber party. We pushed the two full beds together so that Rachel, Ally, Brooke, Lakshmi, and I could all sleep together and no one had to sleep on the floor……a great way to spend the last night in Spain!

Day #3 in Barcelona: BEACH!!!!!! (magic hair makes a comeback)

Alrighty, so I suppose I should begin this day with the 7 am train ride home. Absolute success! After so many fails we finally did it right. We got some crazy looks from the people commuting to work, but you'll have that lol.

So we get off the train and crutch to our hotel, just in time for breakfast!!! Oh the wonders of cereal. This was a really great night. Lakshmi, Ally, and I got pretty close, and we could have kept talking through the next day I think. At 8 am we forced ourselves to lay down and crash.

Our plan was to wake up around 1 get on the train and get to the beach! but....somehow we got behind schedule. We woke up a little later than 1...like 2, then we showered and "putzed" (as lakshmi always calls it). So we didn't get to Barcelona until about 4:30 pm. Considering our last meal was breakfast at 7 am, we were starving. We attempted to go to the indian/vegetarian place again, but it was closed. So we splurged for some paella at a nice restaurant across the street.

By the time we finished there, it was about 6 pm. Perfect time for the beach right??? haha we decided to jump in a cab, but naturally we got a little distracted. There is a really famous market in Barcelona that sells fruit, veggies, candy, and other yummy stuff. We just so happened to stumble upon it while we were walking to get a cab. It was slightly overwhelming tho. There were tons of people, and although the fruit looked amazing, we didn't get anything. So slight detour over, we get in a cab to the beach.

Oh the beach was glorious. I really don't have to say much about it because we were at a beach! What do you think we did? layed in the sun? got in the water? talked about the night before? duh! Although one funny story that came out of our beach adventure was the return of my magic hair. Lakshmi refers to it as my weapon lol. In the rest of spain, I more or less stood out, but in Barcelona there are a ton of tourists and people from other countries so I am less of a rarity. BUT...on beaches in barcelona, blonde hair will still get you free lounge chairs for you and your friend in a cast!

After the beach, we FINALLY made it to the indian/vegetarian place for dinner. I liked it a lot. It was fun having lakshmi there so I knew what I was getting into. Even though it's not "her kinda indian," she was still better off than I was. Of course today, we were smart enough to bring a change of clothes/makeup in our bags with us. We took turns changing out of our swimsuits in the bathroom of the restaurant, with minimal stares from the other diners.

We had kinda planned on making our last night in Barcelona a crazy one, but we were too tired when it came down to it. We splurged on a cab home (actually only 20 euro, so less than we expected).

Oh so sad, I never wanted to leave Barcelona.

Day #2 in Barcelona: GO CAR GLORY

Ok so after having such a ridiculously hard day yesterday, day #2 in Barcelona was bound to be much better.

We took our time getting up. Holiday inn=American=continental breakfast! yay!! Of course, we had to smuggle food up for our illegal guest ally, but it went fairly smooth all in all. By the time the three of us showered and ate it was lunch time. We figured we would be frugal and go to the grocery store to grab a snackish lunch. Peanuts, water, and fruit was about the best we could do. So we got on the train with that. (this time lakshmi and I knew what we were doing, and got to barcelona fail-free.)

The renfe (train) took us right to las ramblas, which was awesome because now we would know how to get home! So off the train, we realized we had no plans. We snapped a picture (this cute old lady took it for us) then we picked a direction to walk. But ally umm...cant walk. So literally two steps in we see this little yellow car parked. It's called a GO CAR. A talking car that YOU DRIVE around the city. It tells you where to go and also a little info about the sights you are seeing (there were lil brochures in the back that we stole). PERFECT. We hopped in a cab and gave him directions to the place.

The go car place was in a lil sketch back alley just off las ramblas...literally just off the cab cost like 3 euro. But oh well. We bought the car. I was the only one brave enough to drive in barcelona, but I didn't have my driver's license (because I figured it was useless in spain....i thought wrong). So Ally and I just worked around it by trading wallets. We look similar enough. The place is pretty cool actually. It's all international kids that work there. The girl checking us out was australian and later we met one from ireland and one from romania. I am pretty sure I heard a US accent too!

The down fall of these cars is that they are a two seater. Lakshmi was a little hesitant to get in, so we decided to let ally go first, then pick up lakshmi later. Ally and I fell in love. We loved our lil talking car...until it broke. We were enjoying all the sights, when our lil person just stopped talking. aka we are riding solo in barcelona sin GPS! Thank goodness i have the sense of direction of magellan. I got us back to the office (this is when we met the romanian and irish "lad") they fixed us, and off we went. Not for long tho, she died again. We did this little cycle a few times...but made some friends on the way. When it finally worked, I picked up lakshmi and had a wonderfully simple tour of barcelona. I was so sad to get out!!

From that starting point, we decided today was a success. Next stop...FOOD. Why not test our luck and find the indian-vegetarian restaurant? Of course the day couldn't be that perfect. We found the place just fine (after talking a cab driver into driving us 2 blocks), but naturally the place was closed. Stupid hours. it was closed from 2 till 8 or something like that. So we went to Que Pasta?? which is a play on words because que pasa means what's happening, but this was like a noodles and co. You pick the pasta and sauce type of deal. It was um...not good. We each got the same pasta, big mistake cause we all hated it, but we ate it cause we were hungry.

While dining in the tiny hallway that is Que Pasta, we decided we were pulling an all nighter tonight. aka we were gonna need new clothes. A light bulb went off in our heads (i guess it was prolly my idea...i was pushing for a funny story), lets just buy new outfits and ditch what we are wearing!! So we did. We scrambled around H&M for an hr or so, before it closed, and literally got head to toe outfits (i even had to get a bra cause i didnt have one before! TMI...sorry) Anywho while in H&M our italian friends called us, so after we met them, and decided to hang out in a bar until discoteca time.

We went to a lil pub, found a big table upstairs, and just sat around and talked for a few hours. It was really fun actually. When 1 am hit, the bar was closing (this is a first in my spanish trip..bar close before 7 am what!) We decided to head to the bathroom and get changed (note pics on facebook lol) and the italians went back to their hostel. At 2 am, we met back at the bar and went to a discoteca.

Let's just keep in mind that its 2 am on a Wednesday in Barcelona. You would think a lot of people would be out right? Haha it was dead. But we managed to have fun and make it till the 6 am train (i thought it was 5 am earlier but it was 5:59..ooops)

I shall leave the rest of the morning for tomorrows post.

Day #1 in Barcelona: LET THE FAILS BEGIN

Alrighty, lemme just tell you all a lil something about lakshmi kantamneni and hannah simonson. We have a little bit of trouble en la ciudad de barcelona. hehe.

To begin our glorious journey to the city, Lakshmi and I began our day at 4:55 a.m. We had our luggage so the only alternative was to take a taxi to the airport. 24 euros ($37) later, we arrived at the airport. I would classify the expensive taxi as fail numero uno! The next fail began in the security line. Checking in went smoothly, but I had to go through security twice. I left water in my water bottle!!! I got clear through the line, then they made me take my water bottle to the bathroom dump it out then walk through again. Fail Number Dos! We arrived at the gate though in plenty of time, and had a relatively wonderful flight to Barcelona. Aka we passed out for an hour. I dont remember take off...landing woke me up.

Arrival in Barcelona airport was great! It's a little busier, but fun. We went to baggage claim, and then realized we need to figure out how to get to our hotel. The intelligent women that we are, we called! Fail number three comes when I call and say "hello do you speak english or spanish?" The lady hung up on me. Lakshmi calls and says "Hola, hablas ingles or español?" "English." says the receptionist. Apparently, they hate me. So anywho, the lady advises us to take a cab....then proceeds to say it'll be about 30-40 euro!!! NO THANKS! we go with the train option. We are beginning to realize that Victor may have known what he was talking about.

We bus and walk and walk some more, and then we are finally at the renfe station (renfe is like amtrack, not metro, because we are leaving the city for our hotel.) Yup, our fears our true. The lady at the renfe window takes one look at our hotel confirmation and says "you know this isnt actually in barcelona." =FAIL #4!!!!!

Oh well the train out there was only 1.80 euro so we went with it. This next part is my favorite part of the day. To get to Molins de Rei, we had to get off the train at a stop midway and connect to a new train. So Lakshmi and I exhausted and carrying 50 lb suitcases, attempted to navigate a train station. At this point I'm so exhausted and pissed and slap happy that even McDonald's sounded delicious. Anywho, we finally get to the correct platform, and have a seat on the ground (not really sure if that is socially acceptable in spain but i didnt care) So as we are sitting there some lil hoodlums come up. They are all less than 80 lbs, wearing skinny jeans, carrying skateboards (no judgment), and I give them about 12 years old max. They start giving lakshmi and I shit! All I can think is seriously? do we look like we are your age? is this flirting? is this harrassment of foreigners? idk but needless to say, one of them ends up jumping on lakshmi's suitcase! literally he was making baby noises and he just sits on her luggage! it was so funny because lakshmi and I are too exhausted and confused to react, so we just let it happen...good thing a train came quick and the boys got on. But of course they knew some clever hand gestures to make from the train window. I believe they also mooned us, but lakshmi and I were laughing so hard we couldn't even look.

Once our train came we got on, and made it safely to our stop. This story I still can't even tell people without laughing. We were standing at the corner of the road, contemplating how to get to our hotel (imagine that), when an old man walked up and gave us directions. We didn't even have to ask! He advised us to walk...just four blocks. We were on the home stretch, so we went at it, dragging our suitcases behind us. HAHA literally dragging!! I'm not going to lie, I was a little concerned for lakshmi's health. She was dying as we were walking. I could hear her struggling the whole time, but I was tired and impatient so I ignored her. I will forever remember lakshmi's face when we finally got to the lobby of our hotel, and she wipes sweat off her forehead, then simply looks down and says, "oh, that was hard. I lost a wheel apparently." hahahaha she maimed her suitcase. FAIL #5

Alright so you can imagine what lakshmi and I did when we hit our hotel room. NAP! Well actually I couldnt sleep, so I went grocery shopping and showered and such. We awoke a few hours later to go get our lovely ally bear from the airport. Oh FAIL #6 about to begin. As we walk up to the train station to go back to barcelona (this time much more successful without our bags), there are a bunch of people outside waiting for a bus. When we get inside, the guy at the ticket window informs us that a lady died on the tracks at a stop close to ours, so the trains are shut down/moving slower! ayayay!!! We still buy our tickets (we dont have any other choice), and head to the platform. There is a train on the way we wanted, and tons of people. But its not moving! We sat on it for awhile, having no idea what we are doing, when another train pulls up. Literally everyone makes a mad dash for it. So when in Spain do what the spanish do right!?!? So we dashed for the other train. Well.....it went the wrong direction. But what do we do? oh just stay on the train until the last stop (approximately 30 min in the wrong direction).   So long story, we get off the train, we get back on, we get back off, some lady helps us, and we head to barcelona. 50 min later we make it to the airport and meet ally!

We had our hearts set on the hard rock cafe in downtown barcelona for our first night's meal. After we grabbed ally, we got on a bus and made it there lickety-split! Our first unfail of the day as far as transportation goes. It was super easy to find the Hard Rock, the wait wasn't too long, and although it was overpriced, the food was good. I hope this isn't incriminating, but I am going to admit to something illegal here. We each ordered water with our food. We are getting used to paying for water at restaurants, so we couldnt complain. However this bottled water was a little fishy. A. they gave us each the same bottle with different amounts of water B. they were already opened when we got them C. it tasted like tap water D. they removed our glass bottles from the table before we finished our meal. Dontcha think they refilled the glass bottles with tap water and then charged us for them???? i think so! So when we got our check, we payed, for everything...minus the water. We sent ally (crutches girl) ahead to give her a head start, then lakshmi and I dined, paid, and dashed!! (much classier than dining and dashing because we had a cause to stand up for)

After our criminal mischief, we took a stroll down Las Ramblas, the famous shopping/tourist street in barcelona. We got pulled into a tourist bar for young people early in the night, but it was sorta silly and there were a lot of young people there. Drinks were also very expensive, so we called it an early night and headed home on the 11:30 train. Naturally that was a FAIL #7 idk how we made it home to be honest (that makes it sound like we were drunk but thats not what i mean I just mean that i was so tired and lost idk what happened). Thank goodness we speak spanish and can ask for directions.

THE WAIT IS OVER I AM HOME WITH WIFI!!!!!!!!

Holy I need to catch up. Good thing I took notes on my life while I didn't have internet! Lets begin where I left off with my last day in the blistering heat of Sevilla.

Alrighty, after the wonderful flamenco experience the night before, Lakshmipoo and I were a little sleepy. We had planned on meeting Jessie and Keely at 9 am, but....that didn't happen. (don't judge us it's so hot we really can't enjoy ourselves until after 6 pm). So we finally rolled out of bed and showered midday. I can't remember what we did for lunch or anything...oops. We did however walk around Seville. Oh yes and there was a plan to go to a swimming pool, but that never happened because we were a little creeped out by the locals who invited us. As we speak, my photos are being uploaded to facebook, and I am thinking I will organize them onto my blog so you know which pics go with which story.

So after lakshmi and I did some sight seeing and napped (again no judgement the heat wipes you out!), we decided to go out for some tapas before we met Keely and Jessie for flamenco. We went to a cute lil place, spoke some spanish, and ate like spaniards at 9 pm. It was fun!

We met at the cathedral. Jessie and Keely brought a few girls they had met at their hostal. One was from San Diego State studying all semester in Saragosa. The other was 26, broke up with her boyfriend, quit her job, and decided to travel until she ran out of money (AWESOME!!). So we went to a neighborhood known for night life, and attempted to find flamenco. All we found was tapas and tiny bars. It was a week night so not much was going on. The neighborhood was gorgeous, and right by the river so it was worth the walk.

Lakshmi and I headed home at about 1. I was hungie and we had to get up at 5 the next day for our flight to barcelona....now that's a whole other story.....

Fla-freaking-menco!

Last night was so awesome. We went to an underground little flamenco bar, and it was seriously one of my favorite cultural experiences thus far.

First, we met up with keely and Jessie. They brought with them a girl named kat. She was staying at their hostel. She was great tho! We all were hungry xo we decided to get a nice dinner. I'm trying to forget how much I paid. It was un poco expensive hehe. But it was so delicious. We went to an adorable Italian resturant. I was in the mood for veggies so I got a salad with strawberries, warm goat cheese, walnuts, and balsamic. It was unbelievably good. The cheese was amazing. Lakshmi and I de decided to go big and we split a chocolate souffle for dessert. OMG.

After dinner we wandered around the tiny streets looking for this flamenco bar Jessie had heard about. Map quest herself led us around. It was so hilarious when we found the place I have no idea how we got there! Anywho it was this kinda hole in the wall bar. I felt like I was in a cow barn almost. It was insanely hot, there where huge fans, and misters on the ceiling. We got there at about 1030 and the show was set to start at 11. Of course it didn't start till later but whatever hehe.

Ok they don't teach you in class how freaking intense flamenco is. We learned about how it isnt really a dance you can learn, and how you have to feel the pain of the gypsies in order to have the passion to dance like them. But wow.

So quick history lesson, flamenco started in Seville or somewhere near it. It originated with the gypsies, but what influenced by the arabs and the Jews. Gypsies are a group of people here that, similar to the jews, don't relly have a homeland. historians say they came from India. They were the lowest class in the caste system, so the fled. From then on they have been nomads. They are kinda natorious for sticking in a clan and stealing hehe.

So to make a long interesting story fit in my blog, I'll just sum it up as flamenco is a lot different than most people think. Its spontaneous and passionate. At the bar, there were two men one with the guitarra (he sang) and the other played a drumish thing (honestly to me he was sitting on a barrel and hitting it). There was one women dancing, but also she is part of the music because she pounds her heels and claps a lot. It was amazing I took a few videos. You'll see.

Today we haven't done much. Just explored. Broke down and got star bucks...oops. Now we are napping in the room. Well Lakshmi is napping, I am watching one tree hill. Tonight we are going to a different flamenco place I believe. Then, it's off to Barcelona at 7am tomorrow!

Good morning (or afternoon depending how you look at it)

Hi everyone! It's a beautiful day in Seville. I spent the morning wandering around the most gorgeous neighborhood. I saw the largest gothic cathedral in the world (third largest cathedral minus gothicness). I met up with Jessie and keely, girls from Iowa who are traveling together. They just got here this morning though. They did the overnight bus too. Although it sounds like theirs was worse, they had a layover from 1130 pm to 3 am! Any who so I met them at the cathedral (it's lakshmis day to go to granada, she left at 6am I didn't even hear her go) and the three of us explored a little bit. I can't decide if Seville is the most pretty city we have been to or not. It's a lot different. Almost like the difference between Arizona and Chicago. How do you compare! After sitting at a cafe with Jessie and keely for lunch, they needed a nap. So they went to their hostel. I explored for a little while on my own, then it got to be 1:30 and I was sweating so I decided to go back to the hotel.

And here I am a wonderful nap later. I think im going to go wander around for awhile until lak gets back. Then we are meeting up with Jessie and keely to go to a flamenco bar tonight! I'm so excited for that.

It hasn't hit me that I am not going back to Valladolid. I loved it there. I wish I could transport the city to the US. I'm going to miss it so much. I have absolutely got to figure something out so I can keep taking Spanish classes (I finished my minor this spring). I really don't want to loose everything that I am learning here. Its been fun while I'm at the hotel alone the door man has been talking to me. He is this lil chubby old man that is constantly smiling. I told him about the predicament, his advice was "go to a bar, make a Spanish man fall in love with you, then make him chase you to the states. Personal tutor." hahahahaha he is so cute! He giggled and said "en serio, mal idea." (seriously though, that's a bad idea) what is funny tho is one of the professors from Pennsylvania (the Luis of their group) lives in phillidelphia now but he is from Valladolid. He met his wife when she was studying here 30yrs ago. She told him to come to the states for her and he did! After 5 months or something. Crazy cat.

42 degrees celcius=107.6 farenheight. Yay!

Well we are alive and well after our first day in Sevilla, um but we are sweaty to say the very least. After napping this morning at the hotel, we decided to just walk around today. We asked the hotel people where shopping was and they pointed us in the right direction. We thought maybe we shouldnt go out until after siesta time, but we didn't listen to our instincts. Note to self: ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS. At 2pm in Sevilla, not only is everything closed for lunch, but it's 110degrees and people are hiding in air conditioning! It didn't take us long to realize we needed to hide as well. We sat in a cafe for a long time, then stumbled around el corte ingles, the Spanish version of Macy's which stays open through siesta. By then it was five, a little cooler (aka 97), and stores were open. Lakshmi and I did what we do best, we shopped.

After shopping we started to go back to the bus stop but we stumbled upon gay pride parade! Wonderful little parade with party buses and scantily dressed men. The people all just buy alcohol and walk along with the parade. The bus Lakshmi and I wanted wasn't running due to the parade, so we stopped quick at a pizza place, then entertained ourselves by walking home with the parade. Lakshmi is headed to Granada tomorrow for a day trip. So we are back at the hotel kinda early. She has a long day tomorrow. As for me, idk what I am going to do. Possibly go on a tour of some palaces.

It's gorgeous here. It's a lot different than castilla Leon (the province that Valladolid and Madrid are in). It has a lot lot lot more Arab influence. It's really neat to see. We are thinking water park on Monday. It's ridiculously hot! Maybe flamenco bar Monday night?! Yay it will be fun!

Lets just take the bus all night...yeah thats a good idea

So. It's saturday morning for me here in Sevilla espana. Lakshmi and I just spent the last 12 hrs traveling, by bus! From 1130pm to 845 am we were on it. Shoot me. My neck is killing me. Thank goodnessn for Spanish drammamine, at least i slept.

So yes lets see where was I last. I believe I had just mentioned the farewell dinner/noche de San Juan festival but hadn't actually experienced either one. So I will begin there.

The farewell dinner was intense. We joined up with a group from Pennsylvania that we had our classes with, so there was about 50 students altogether. Um not many people have been to Spain but for those of you who have or have been to Europe in general, things are smaller here. Much smaller! There isn't a banquet hall we can just rent out, so needless to say things were cramped. And let's not leave out the detail that in Spain the alcohol is cheap. They make these giant juice boxes (like 1 liter) of wine for the fine price of 55 cents! I cant tell you how many people had poked straws in the top and were drinking them out of their purses before dinner (the four boys were less subtle, they had 2 liters bottles of "coke") but any who you get the picture. Combine the recipe of 50 twenty somethings (more than half from the east coast), free wine on the table with cheap wine in their bags in a tiny little room. It equals loud, very loud. But fun, and the food was great.

The noche de San Juan was literally the biggest beach party i have ever seen. There were like 2000 people on the beach that night. There was one huge main bonfire, but then other kids just sat down and made their own little ones. There was a whole lot of intoxication going on too. Drunk people surrouded by flames. Sounds like I recipe for disaster right? Kinda. It was good tho. I actually used my Spanish a lot cause we fused groups with some people that I knew from a pizza place in valladolid. They randomly saw us and remembered us. It's always good when you can break out of the American crowd.

The next morning was our graduation. Our group struggled hehe. But we all made it thro and it was really nice that they recognized us like that. They really seemed to appreciate us for coming here and attempting to experience their culture. I had never really realized that before. Like when I am struggling to think of a word or pronounce something horribly wrong I would get embarrassed. But in reality, i am the one speaking the other language. They only speak one and many of the people i meet haven't been to Portugal let alone the us. It's good to hear that people like it when we come here and learn and try to understand their culture.

After graduation we had lunch with our family. I couldn't nap for some reason so afterwards lakshmi and I wanted to get out of the house and just hang out in Valladolid until we had to leave our little home :(... We went to a plaza and people watched for a bit, then when 5pm hit and the stores reopened, we went to the shopping area to recharge our cell phones for the last week. My friend ally has been really down lately because she broke her foot (hopefully I mentioned that but if not here is the abridged version, ally was dancing on a marble floor and stomped to hard and broke a bone in her foot. Osteopenia anyone?) she can't do much walking and stuff with her Spanish style crutches, so i called her to hang out. Convenient for us, so lives across the street from the beach so we decided just to sit and people watch there. It was really nice, and some of our Spanish friends came and we said goodbye to them. At 9 we went home for dinner, and that's the last I saw of Valladolid.

I'm so sad I'm never going back there. I love the city. I want to live there! Minus the fact that i would need to bring a small population of iowans/Illinoians/coloradans with me hehe. (ok I'm lying only one coloradan)

P.s. I'm not sure why I was infatuated with recipes today...maybe I'm hungry.
Oh and is it Illinoians or illini? Estoy confundida.....

Exams!

Yay I have one down and one to go. I guess that prolly means I should be taking advantage of the free time and studying haha but honestly I don't think it's really necessary at this point. It's sooooo crazy we are done with class.

So any who last night was cool. For some reason our good ole professor Luis decided to take us out for tapas the night before exams. It worked out well tho because lakshmi and I were lazy so we studying all afternoon and then met the group at the plaza mayor at 9. Oh goodness our afternoon tho. Apparently mari and vale thought it was extremely necessary that their already white ceilings got repainted white. So 8 am yesterday I wake up to mari knocking on my door (which when I went to bed the night before she was not there...) she told me I had to shower because I wouldn't be able to later. I informed her I showered before I went to bed and I would just go a day without it lol. Any who by the time we got home literally the apartment was a mess. Mattresses in the living room plastic everywhere. It was claustrophobic to say the least.

Um so yup we just locked ourselves in our room, then we realized we were like hot boxing it (minus the weed) it got intense in their cause we had the windows closed and door shut. We were sweating while we studied hehe a good workout.

Yup so then Luis decided to take us out. It was good cause the kitchen was a mess and we couldn't really eat dinner. We went to this sketch little bar, but it's a really famous place because it's where the bullfighters go after their fight. I thought it was interesting. There are a bunch of original pictures and two mounted bulls! They also serve bull tail!! I asked Luis why if the place was so famous why it wasn't nicer. But Luis explained how bullfighting is really kinda an old persons sport. He grew up here and lives here every summer, but has never gone to one! Crazy.

Well tonight is a legit holiday, like every week here I swear is something, but this one is a real one. Tomorrow is the day of saint John (San Juan). Tonight is the shortest night of the year, and everyone celebrates by partying on the beach (the gorgeous river beach of Valladolid hehe) San Juan was zachias's son and the story is that when he was young he would jump over fire. So tonight they have a big bonfire, burn old things from the past year, and then when they fire dies down they jump over it. Its to celebrate the coming of summer and beginning or a new year. I equate the whole thing to getting shit faced on new years, making a "resolution" and passing out outside in the snow!

Haha welp I will try and blog tomorrow but I won't be at school really, just for graduation whoop whoop!

Just saw ally's blog and it's way better than mine :(

I suck at blogging apparently. I just saw my friend ally's blog, and its phenomenal she has like pages and bible verses and she talks about her feelings. Man, I feel like a loser. Hehe just kidding I don't want to make a career outta this. I could make a career out of traveling tho. Who wants to sponsor me?

Any who. Mari and vale got home this morning. It was sad that someone in their family died but they were very chill about it. It was also nice to have the house to ourselves. We figured out how to turn the Spanish dubbing off. OMG we watched two movies, say yes to the dress, some terrible knock off of what not to wear, and friends. It was glourious.

So ally broke her foot dancing on a marble floor at school. Her bones must be weak (she's a vegan, I suggest supplements) but now her trip is basically ruined cause she is in a cast and Spanish crutches are like the wrist stick ones ya know.

It's been so great I am getting really excited and really sad. I love Valladolid!

No tengo un titulo

Buenos dias!! Hopefully everyone still reads this and hasn't forgotten about me....

Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow is my last day of class, then thursday I have finals, then Friday we have graduation and Lakshmi and I are getting on a bus to Seville. It's all going by so fast! So weird I am totally excited to travel tho!

Yesterday we walked to the bus station with some other girls. Only took us 1hr but whatever. When we were walking home an old lady asked me for directions, and AFTER I spoke to her and told her where to go she said "de donde en espana eres tu?" aka where in spain are you from aka she thought I was from Spain! Hahahaha it was a proud moment in my life.

We had to go to the equivalent of radio shack after getting bus tickets because I am an idiot and I brought my old blackberry charger not my camera charger. The guy that worked there was really nice and he let me charge my battery at the store without buying the charger. El era un majo (its a word they only use in Spain for someone that is super nice.) I have been called that only once, when an old lady was standing and I gave her my seat. It was an honor hehe. The old people here are sooo active. They are always walking around or pushing each other in their wheel chairs.

So Lakshmi and I are alone again. Someone in mari family died. So they left in a rush last night to go to the wake and today the funeral. It's going to be weird eating lunch by ourselves. Haha oh well it's an adventure.

Its Monday!

Finally Monday of my last week of school it's so weird! I have been here for so long,but I feel like it was just yesterday I got here. I can't wait to be done with school, but I really will be sad to leave. I love Valladolid. It's such a great city.

Well today is Monday so we aren't really doing anything. Lakshmi and I need to go by a bus ticket today. So that will be a trip haha. Its a long walk. Last night after supper we walked it to make sure we know how to get there. So fri night begins Lakshmi and my big adventure! Thursday night should be fun too because theree is a festival on the beach and it is after our finals! Yay!

Oh my gosh i forgot to add in my post about the weekend that Saturday night we went out with our teacher! He is from the south of Spain so he dances much better than the men of the north, haha or so he says. But it was very fun, and odd haha.

Salamanca fue un exito!

Well it's Sunday afternoon here. Good morning all you Americans! we had such a great day yesterday. We went to Salamanca which is a beautiful city. It has a really cool history, I am feeling like I am learning a ton when we go to these cities for the day. The entire town is made out of the same brick, and it's so gorgeous. From far away the brick looks like it's dirty, but up close it is really just ribbons of colors in it. I really like it. We did our sightseeing and then during our free time I hung out with brooke ally and Lakshmi. They are good girls, buut I shop toooooo much with them. Oh the money you blow in Europe. I got jeans tho 10 euro! Originally 45 so m impressed. We didn't know whether or not we were going to stay in Salamanca a lot of the girls did, but when it came down to it we didn't want to. It's just q lot of extra money when I feel like we got a good hold of the city in a day.
So about 8 of the Iowa kids decided to return to Valladolid and the rest stayed which was nice. Cause then it forced us to split out of the big group of Americans.

When we got back it was dinner time aka 10 pm. Ally took us to a really yummy italian restaurant (just me lak and Brooke and ally) I got a calzone the size of my head! But the best part was our waitress. She spoke broken English but she was just so sweet. Typically Spanish women are kinda cold but she loved us! She told us all about how she likes the us more than British hahah.

After that we took naps and then decided to meet at 1230 to walk around downtown. There is a big festival kinda because people are getting done with school. Summer begins!!

This morning Luis took a few of us who were functioning to the sculpture museum here in Valladolid. It was sooo awesome its a lot of old wood carvings from the catholic church in hthe tenth eleventh twelfth thirteenth blah blah centuries! So old stuff hhehe but it helps to learn about the history it makes things interesting, aftr he took us to yummy ssnack pre lunch. A common tapa here is the croquet a it's a fried ball with a creamy filling. They are savory tho not sweet.

Anyways I gotta go I'm sweating cause I am stealing Internet and the only place it comes in is in the bright sun. So sorry there is tons of errors in this post but I can't see the screen haha

Mira mama una chica rubia natural!!!

Haha I was running yesterday and a little boy yelled "look mom s girl with natural blonde hair!" haha little does he know....

Well today is Friday thank goodness. I'm bored of school and I am ready to be done. Thank goodness only four days left!! Last night was pretty boring. After supper, Lakshmi and I didn't want to go out, but we took a long nap so we figured we wouldn't fall asleep. So we went for a walk at like 12 it was fun. Haha we figured out we are walking like 2 hrs a day. It's insane.

Yup so I'm boring now just hanging out.

Hello wednesday

Yay we are getting near the end of school! The Asians finish tomorrow and after that only four more days! The friday of our last week is a graduation ceremony haha. So I haven't really been up to anything in the last 24 hours. I had a normal day at school, oh then we had our final conversation partners. That is always a good experience. I had a different girl this time. She was really great. She gave us good tips about where we should go for our final week. Sounds like Valencia, Seville, and Barcelona are must sees, but I also want to stop in Granada to see the alahombra. Lakshmi and I plan on figuring all that out tonight, and getting tickets tomorrow. This weekend is Salamanca. We have heard that it is awesome so I am really excited.

Catch up post lisbon

Here is the low down on this week. I have nothing going on.

Sunday: we woke up at 2 pm. At the food our mommy left us for lunch, went to the beach, and came home to watch our annual Sunday evening movie with our host mom.

Monday: I went to class, Ate lunch, napped, went to the beach, ran (I found a wonderful new place to run by the rose gardens. I love it) and then there was talk of salsa dancing (haha salsa is Latino not Spanish but they don't really have like flamenco classes) but after supper we all met up and it was just a lot of not knowing where we were going and everywhere we went was closed. The girls maybe don't realize that people don't go out so much during the week. The weekends are so fun I don't really think it's worth it.

Alrighty now I'm all caught up! That is my life!

Last day in Lisbon

Alrighty, so it is now Saturday and everyone is exhausted and our train doesn't leave until 4 or something like that. We thought maybe we would go to the beach but when we woke up we realized it wasn't worth it. We had to quick shower and pack because check out was 11. After we checked out of he hotel, keely had this great idea to get American breakfast somewhere. So she asked the hotel lady. Fail. The lady told us a train to take and gave us jank directions once we got off the train so we were tired and crabby and in the middle of Lisbon starving. After attempting to find eggs and pancakes for an hr or so we gave up and went into a random restaurant. Everyone was slap happy but pissed at the same time it was hilarious.

Our breakfast was a fail so we decided to go to the one place in Lisbon that we really bonded. THE MALL. Haha it was right next to the train station and there was a grocery store so we figured we could sit there for the next 4 hrs. Which is exactly what we did. We set up camp los estados unidos right in the center of the food court and chilled. Haha we got food and stuff and some people would get up and walk around while we watched their bags. It was fun actually, miserable but fun.

So next we got on the train. This time I bought portugese Dramamine first (the first time was kinda bad so i figured on no sleep it would be terrible, forgive me for getting a little assistance with sleep) let's just say 10 hrs on a train is awful. But we got home eventually, like 2. Then Lakshmi and I had a nice 40 min walk home then finally finally finally we slept!

I believe it's now thursday and I'm going to sintra!

This catch up of journaling and blogging is seriously intense. Good think this week so far we have done absolutely nothing so i am not really getting further and further behind.

So it's Thursday now and we had mixed feelings about today. The girls that were hung over saw the sun when they woke up and decided they wanted to go to the beach. Lakshmi Brooke ally and I however werent so bad and we had heard sintra is a must see. Im so happy we went there is was awesome!!! When Luis told us to go there he said it was a fairytale. He wasn't lying!

So basically you have a 40 min train ride from lisboa to sintra for 4 bucks round trip. Everything is cheap it's awesome. Any who we are at the train station (there was a star bucks it was amazing) any who the people behind us realized we were American. So we talked to them for awhile. They were a family with a guy and girl in college. From San diego, they owned a shampoo company. The dad was super friendly haha I feel like he was more interested in talking to us than his kids. He even sat by us on the bus while his family sat somewhere else. Haha who knows.

So any who we get to sintra and we are starving. We ate at the cutest little cafe. I seriously can't even describe what this to town looks like. First of all it's coastal. It's on the side of Lisbon that is closer to the Atlantic, so amongst the mountains you can see the ocean. It's gorgeous with green plants and gardens everywhere. The city is very old and mainly just for tourists now. It's got like 5 palaces and 3 castles. We decided just to go inside one castle and we would walk by the others. Th castle we went into was a huge moorish castle at the top of this mountain, overlooking the entire town. We had to take a bus up, um it was terrifying. But well worth it. At one point we had to make a ten pt turn. The bus driver got up and asked some men to get out and help him, all in a days work apparently.

The actual castle itself was like a playground. You will just have to see pictures when I get them up. So after that, we decided to get some supper. We found a cute place outside that had something vegan and a hamburger for brooke haha. The guy that owned the place came up to us in the middle of our meal and took a picture of us and asked us where we were from cause apparently they have a facebook page for their restaurant. I'm famous!

Anyway, after a long day we got on the train and came back to Lisbon. We decided earlier as a group to see what barrio alto was all about at night. So after napping and stuff, we hopped on trains at 12 to go out there. Holy house party in the streets. It's a place with solid bars and the catch is people don't stay in them. You get a drink in a plastic cup then stand outside the bar/in the streets and drink it. It was a great place tho because it was a tourist attraction, but for young people. We met people from all over, London, Switzerland (haha my personal favorite because they thought for sure I was Swedish), brazil, and the US.

All in all we had a good time in Lisbon!

Fun Fun Thursday

Alrighty, lisbon post number two coming at ya. THURSDAY:

So after a night of relaxing in the hotel room, we decided to wait for kate and elise (the two girls who hadnt arrived from valladolid yet) to do anything. They didnt get there till 12 which was fine because it felt good to take long showers and eat normal american type breakfasts with huge amounts of tea at the hotel haha. We had looked up the tourist info for lisbon and decided that today would be the day we went to see barrio alto (which is the main shopping/partying center of lisboa) and maybe get some lunch there then head to the aquarium area and actually go into the aquarium and then be over there for dinner and possibly go out there that night.

So thats exactly what we did, train to barrio alto FAIL. we didnt get lost it was just once we got of the train we realized the hype about barrio alto is um that its all bars. LITERALLY ALL BARS. nothing was going on it was like a ghost town. so we were hungie americanas at like 1, and naturally we could see the river so we walked toward it in search of food. i would like to take credit for finding the cutest sushi place ever! i cant wait to upload pics for everyone. oh check my facebook ally masterson (my vegan friend) and keely kemp (my ginger friend) have uploaded some already! So anywho despues de lunch we did the aquarium. call me a nerd but i like to go thro the whole thing and read everything. so i felt a little rushed, but it was worth the money only like 11 euros.

after lunch we decided to get food. the mall we went to the night before was right next to the aquarium so the vegan ally and our picky group member brooke and i went there for supper. everyone else hit up a nice irish bar on the strip next to the water. it was so fun after we ate we just went and sat with them. its hilarious you walk into a place at 6 and they say are you here for drinks or a late lunch....but whatever.

alrighty now the fun begins. we realized we were losers for thinking that you go out after supper. so we went back to the hotel to nap and shower before we went out. at 12 we walked to kate and elise´s hotel (haha they were in the other holiday inn hehe) picked them up then subwayed to our little aquarium area. NO BUENO. there was no one there! and the only people that were there were 17 or so. so needless to say we stuck it out for like an hr (got a bar owner to give us free drinks for being the only people in his bar) then hopped in some cabs. You must remember beside me ally and lakshmi all the girls are soroity girls (minus keely but she partys purty hard) so this next part im ashamed of. They decided to jump in random cabs and say take us to the party. which the cabs willingly did. safely. haha

so now we are in some other area of town. no idea where but it was by the water and there was sail boats it was nice. the bars were packed and it was great everyone was dancing and you didnt even have to drink because it was like being at a middle school dance. so fun! we stayed out late lets just say that. its nice that the girls have experience getting crazy because we dont have to babysit. i appreciate it. haha anywho that was my thursday

And the marathon of blogging must begin...

Almighty so I'm behind I crammed a lot of living into the last few days so I may have to catch up in several posts.

I'll start with Wednesday. Holy early morning. 3am our train to lisboa left!!! It was intense. Train travel is slow and long, but I slept for a while and when I wasn't sleeping it was fun to see the countryside. We arrived in lisboa (in Spanish and portugese its lisboa and in English its Lisbon not sure why) at 10 am. There is a time change between the countries which seems silly. Any who it was so wonderful to get in a cab and say "english or espanol." and he replied "English, I have no idea how to speak spanish." haha I didn't realize no one speaks Spanish, literally no one. But anyway 6 euro cab ride later we got to our hotel, well a holiday inn, not our holiday inn. We attempted to check in but we were at the holiday inn a few miles from the one the cab took us to, so we walked. But oh well ya win some you loose some. It was an adventure.

We decided we needed food, and I had heard of a trolley that just kinda takes you through Lisbon to get a feel for the city. We asked our wonderful hotel staff of how to get there, and they told us that we could get daily metro passes for 4 euro a day. BEST DEAL OF OUR LIVES we lived on the metro in Lisbon I swear. So we found a cafe close to the metro, attempted portugese food which was the same as Spanish except even stricter regulations on free water! I don't know if I have said that glasses of water aren't really free here, some places yes, some places you ask for a glass you get a 2 euro bottle, and in Portugal YOU ALWAYS GET THE BOTTLE! Our last day we were begging the waiter for tap water. Sorry I got sidetracked there. So after lunch we found this trolley and it was so cute. Totally San fransico style. My first impression of portugal was that is is an ugly dirty version of Spain. but the more i looked at it the more I liked it. The city is situated on the tejo river but it's at the mouth to it's really wide and close to the Atlantic ocean. After the trolley we walked along the river cause it was gorgeous.

Lakshmi had heard of an aquarium in Lisbon that was "badass" so we hopped on a bus and went out there when we got bored. I am so glad we did. The area around the aquarium is like the science center in DES moines. A lot of education and kids mixed with a little bit of party. We decided not to go into the aquarium because two girls from our group weren't there yet, but there were these sweet cable cars that started at the aquarium and went along the water. So we rode those down and found ourselves at a strip of bars. Naturally we stopped. Haha then post one drink at 3 in the afternoon we went shopping. Oh h&m how we bonded. But oh well it was the first time any of us had really shopped so it was good. And we went cheap for dinner and ate at the food court of the mall.

We were so tired after this marathon day we just went back to the hotel (via our lovely metro) and chilled.

Portugal!

I love portugal! Everyone needs to book a trip to see sintra. It's a little town outside of lisboa. Ok that's all I have to say. Good night my dearest amigos.

Test day yuck

Hey so I just had my first exam this morning. It was harder than I expected but not bad. Everyone was kinda freaking out it's a little annoying. I have one more test in like an hr. I'm a little sleepy I don't really want to take it but hopefully after we finish we can just leave. I think I'm kinda sick. I just saw Luis and he said I looked like crap. Haha he is a funny guy. I feel a little better today tho so hopefully it's just a cold. We leave in like 15 hours for portugal! A red eye train it should be fun. There was a mess up with the hotel rooms it's now 80 euro a piece because some ones host mom said if there are extra people in your room they call the police. So that is a no no apparently. It's a little annoying cause one girl booked it without asking but idk its a holiday inn so it will be a nice place. Note to self do everything on my own from now on tho. Ok well I hope everyone is having a good time in los estados unidos! Hasta luego!

Ps I will look and see why you guys can't comment.

Beach, two day week, raisin boobs and allergies. AWESOME

Well I am at school a little miserable. Last night we were watching a movie with our mom (a little Sunday night tradition we got going on) and I started getting really stuffed up. I have been getting a little bit of a sore throat but I'm pretty sure it just allergies. Miraculously the only medicine I brought to Spain was benadryl! Hopefully that helps I just took some. It would suck to be miserable in Portugal. Today in our culture class we learned all about the camino de Santiago. It sounds amazing if anyone wants to go with me it takes a month haha! Tomorrow I have two tests which sucks but I think they will be really easy, plus its the last day of school for the week so nothing can bring me down! Yesterday after I blogged we went to the beach. It's um kinda nasty water similar to the good ole raccoon haha, but the sand is good. Imported from the canary islands! Hahaha and there are people everywhere working out playing vball typical beach stuff. Maybe someday I will take pics of it...there just may or may not be boobies in the background (hence raisin boobs in the title, the old ladies have no shame) OMG there was a topless woman working out in thong bikini doing abs (knee huggers to be exact for those coach Roberts groupies reading this) it was r rated that is for sure. Which speaking of a little cultural tidbit about here is that nothing is sensored (a post Franco rebellion) on tv people are naked bleeding dying whatever! It's different but interesting for a culture who claims to be conservative.

Speaking of, Elaine unemployment is insane (40%)!! So in every city we go ( minus Segovia cause it's mainly older people and tourists) there are huge demonstration in one plaza. The ones in Madrid and barcelona are the biggest and have been getting a bunch of attention on the news. I saw madrids and I got pics! It's like a little tent ghetto in the center of the city. Well anyway ii learned today that the young people here are protesting against democracy. They don't believe it works in times of crisis. It's almost as tho Spain, a developed nation, has reverted to a third world country and needs socialism to get them out of it. I thought it was interesting and very different than our view in the united states.

I feel a lil awkward

Haha I'm sitting in a bar currently at 1:00 pm on a Sunday wearing running shorts and a tshirt surrounded by a bunch of people who just got done with church ( it's a Spanish thing to go to bars after church) whatevs.
We ended up not staying in Madrid yesterday. The city is really fun and gorgeous but we didn't really know what to do. Its like not super touristy so we kinda saw it in a day, like the museum prado and the palaces and stuff. It was a really really good day tho i liked it a lot. When we got home last night we knew our parents weren't expecting us for supper plus it was like 10 so we figured they were in bed our already done with supper. We went out to a cute pizza place, supposedly the best in town ( there is only like two tho so its not saying much) the pizza was delicious but it was like 12 euro and there was 8 slices for 5 of us. Didn't quite cut it. So we got some tapas at a bar on our walk home. We went the cheap route, which is the first time since we got here because Luis has been paying for our tapas the two times we went out. Um they kinda sucked haha. Well it worked out cause when we got home our parents had went to cigales, their lil pueblo, for the night. And so we raided the fridge. They still aren't home so it's a lil awkward cause they weren't expecting us. Oh well we will see how it goes in an hour or so when they get back! I love you and miss you all. I only have a two day week of school cause i go to Portugal Wednesday yay!

Feliz Fin de Semana!

Hey everyone! TGIF! And I'm already done with class while you losers are just waking up hehe. I'm chilling at a bar stealing their wifi. They don't really understand iPads so I don't think the bar tender knows what I am doing. Using the schools computers gets old and today while I was at school the internet was down....any who um last night. Tapas tapas tapas! Luis treated our group to a tapas crawl it was really fun and the food was delicious. We stayed out pretty late tho so I thought i was going to have a hard time staying awake in class but I was chipper hehe! I'm so excited to go to Madrid tomorrow. There are a few of us planning on getting a hotel and staying the night. Well actually a hostel. Which are completely safe place it's just that damn movie makes them sound bad so I didn't wanna say it. But I did haha. Its seriously like 20 bucks a night in a hostel it's sweet. Yeah so tonight we are just going to kind of hang out. It's finally a little warmer today so that's good. Hopefully by next week we can go to the beach! I'm still rocking short lines and they need to go. Well I will prolly not blog until Sunday evening. Ten un buen fin de semana! I miss you all!

Boring Day

Good morning everyone! I am really having quite a boring day. Just had class and a little nap now I came back to school to use the internet for awhile. It´s freezing here. Well not freezing but like 16 grados celcius whatever that means. It´s not normal apparently, and no one has proper clothes. Oh well it´s not too bad with a sweater on but I only brought one so it´s getting pretty tacky. I am going to go running after this because I couldn´t this morning. My host mom thinks I´m getting up too early (8 oclock) and she can´t sleep when she knows I´m gone. It really annoys me cause they dont care if we come home at 3 but waking up at 8 is waaaay too much. Whatever tho she was pretty nice about it so I am going to follow the rules. I´m getting excited for madrid this weekend! and a short week of school next because  IM GOING TO PORTUGAL!!! I hear its really really awesome there, and it will be nice to get away from Valladolid for a lil while. Well as far as last night goes I just met with my conversation partner. We went to the beach and had a coke at the bar there then walked home. It´s really good to do that every week it keeps you away from english all afternoon. I am also kind of getting to the point where my brain hurts. not because its hard just because im switching between english and spanish and its pretty difficult. I am also craving cereal and normal food. I love the food here I just want something normal!!!!

Day I Finally Lost Count

Hey so I didnt blog yesterday we just didnt have computer access. but I bought a train ticket to lisbon portugal for a 4 day weekend!! i cant wait i hear its super pretty. we decided on that place because i dont think i will ever get the chance to go there again so im taking advantage of it now. itll be June 8 to the 11th!!

alrighty i gotta tell you about the bull fight. it was intense. first they stab the bulls with little swords with pretty stuff on them then the matador comes out and waves the flag around to tire out the bleeding bull then they hand him the sword and he stabs the bull (sometimes through and through like you could see the sword poking out the other side) then if he is good he pulls his sword out of the bull...and finally the humane part. he gets a special sword and kills the bull by stabbing it right in the brain stem to severe it so it cant feel and it dies. then the horses come out and they drag the bull off.

glad i went but holy shit. enough said. (when I get my pics up its gonna be awesome)

so yeah that was all i did sunday, then monday was a mess after school lunch siesta, we all met at an internet cafe to plan our trips. well its hard to do on the internet so we ended up walking all over town to get to the train station and talk to them. which im really glad we did they guy saved us 200 euros which is like 300 bucks. But yep we just ate dinner and watched tv with Mari after that.

Now yesterday we actually went to the train station and bought tickets then walked around the city. We got churros and chocolate at the place luis reccommended, but idk they arent super sweet just a lot of fried dough. Not worth the calories. This morning has been good so far I think after class we will just go to lunch then we have our life in spain class with luis on wednesdays at five. thats the one where we meet with our speaking partners. hopefully i get a good one!!

Holy weekend!

Whoa I am really behind I did a lot of stuff this weekend. I will start with Segovia on Saturday...ITS BEAUTIFUL I loved it so much. We saw the aqueducts and a huge castle. I really can't tell you any more than that you just need to see pics....needless to say if you're planning a trip here it is def worth the day trip!

We got home at like 8 and ate with our family during the European cup! Barcelona won which was awesome the streets were filled with people and we always knew when they scored because fireworks would go off..there were no commercials during the game it was solid futbol. It was fun.

So then the next day was Sunday. We had asked mari if she goes to church and she got real excited and started talking really fast about her home town. We thought we heard her say her and vale would be going home for lunch and church from like 9 to 1 but apparently we missed something...we woke up the next morning and she was dressed up waiting for us with lunch all packed. It was cool tho cause we all went to this old church like we are talking old but huge like ginormous and soooo pretty but in their pueblo which is like a 10 min drive. After church we thought we were waiting for her brother to eat lunch with him but we were just going around to bars eating tapas and grape juice before we went back to their house ( yeah apparently they have their own house in cigales as well as their apartment in Valladolid) we had the most delicious meal yet paella is the traditional spanish meal with strawberries and appletart

The bull fight is its own post I will tell you about it tomorrow!!!

Day 7: whoa has it really been a week?

shit i have class right now. i will get back to you. im going to segovia tomorrow so itll be till monday till you hear from me!!

well i have some extra time today and i am bored cause all of you guys are sleeping!!!!!!

Bueñas tardes! i had a really good lunch and lakshmi and i just woke up from a nap (we are limiting ourselves now to an hr a day or else we dont sleep well at night hehe) and we were going to go to the beach but its a lil cloudy and we are lazy. they have a nice beach here but no one gets in so if its hot we are gonna sweat thus more showering (oh and theres lots of boobies hehehe) anywho so we came back to school to do computer stuff

i realized that i dont really say alot about culture cause my posts are normally really quick. but there is lots of cool stuff. i have culture class for 2 hours in the morning and everyday we talk about 'porque los españoles...' why do spanish people...its really fun. in my class its about half american students and half asian, three from korea, 1 from china, 2 from tawain or however you spell that and 1 from japan so its cool because for them spanish is their third language and english their second. our teacher doesnt speak english so it is kinda funny people trying to describe things to her cause everyone will translate it to different languages and the teacher will still have no idea cause no one can say it in spanish (you can also shout out curse words and everyone laughs and it doesnt even phase her) lakshmi and i do the same thing at home like over a meal when mari and vale are sitting right there and she is feeding us a lot or something we can say stuff like holy crap more food im dying over here i have a food baby! and mari will smile and ask if we want more. its fun tho and not rude cause conversation at dinner is super casual. people tell you about how they really value family and such here which is true they do but like its more coexisting. during meals we watch tv, we talk to but its on for like conversation starters and such and when vale is done he doesnt wait for us he gets up and goes to the couch. its interesting. oh and the meditterean diet!! mari sticks to it by the book. in spain there are 3 platos (plates) the first is either a legume, vegetable or pasta dish. next is a meat, and last is a fruit, then dessert of course. When you eat legumes the next dish is seafood whereas if you eat a vegetable the next dish is chicken or pork and if the first dish is pasta you can eat either. its hilarious because i didnt realize there was rules for cooking! today we had a veggie purre first, then like a ham and cheese patty or something (obviously i didnt eat that) then watermelon then tiny donuts. and yesterday we had this delicious lentil thing first, calamari second (lakshmi said it was just as good as any restaurants) then apples then we passed on dessert cause lentils are really filling. oh and there is always like a normal salad with a homemade vinegarette and tomoates in the middle of the table you dont put any on your plate you just grab a bite with your fork...

speaking of food i learned why tapas are called tapas. so in spain supper is like nothing.well back in the old days people used to go out to the bars have like 3 drinks then go home because they were kinda drunk and kinda full. well in order to make more money, the bars in the south of spain started making food so you would have one drink, top (top=tapa) it with a little food, then another drink, top that with food, then another drink ect...huh i thought that was cool!

oh yeah google morchilla (my whole class LOVES it)

Day 6:kinda getting annoyed that all the girls are in a soroity....

Hello, yesterday was a really good day. we went to class then had lunch with our family. our mommy mari sits and talks to us for like an hr after lunch. she told us yesterday she had breast cancer five years ago. she is very open about it and showed us her scars. also she said she got really depressed when she found out and now she takes a happy pill. its weird in spain they normally dont do a complete masectomy so i never would have known. vale is hilarious he just does what she says and sometimes he makes fun of her behind his back. sounds like we were really lucky other host families sound kinda weird. tonight we have a welcome dinner tho so we wont be eating cena (supper) with them of course at 9 pm...last night was also our first culture class, aka 1 cr hour for writing in journals everyday for luis our director. we went to a little cafe and we got free pop, well not free cause it was included in our tuition but then we met with our compañeros de hablar, our speaking partners. i was with another girl and our partner was javier it was really really helpful because he just walked us around the city and we stopped at a few cafes and talked with him about life here and other stuff. so that was good. he kinda got lost trying to find the street i lived on but i am just glad im not the only one who thinks this city is confusiing as hell..hasta luego!

Day 4/5 i hate these keyboards!

Hi! i am at the university i just got done with a marathon 4 hours of class..they are super laid back and easy tho. im starving but lakshmi and i are using the computer lab before it closes. Luis lied to us bringing your own computer is completely necessary. i also needed to charge the ipad so i am doing it here. Mari came home yesterday. she is really nice and a good cook. so far i havent had anything i hated, its just really different. like for supper last night we had french fires fried eggs yogurt and noodle soup, and bread of course. its silly the things they eat.i also got to run yesterday behind the university there are lots of trails and its just like a praire with plenty of people and a lil pond so its nice. super hot here tho, we didnt really know how hot because they talk celcius but we got these handy cell phones yesterday that have convertors. yeah apparently 40 degrees celcius is like 105 which was the high yesterday. all the news channels are talking about how it july weather in may. lakshmi and i went shopping a lil after that but the cortaingles is the shopping area and its really expensive kinda like the magnificent mile so we really didnt get anything. anyways tonight we have our culture class (the extra 1 cr hr) with luis. should be fun! ok im starving i need lunch adios!

Day 3: soy un estudiante de la universidad de valladolid

Well I am definitely going to know a lot of spanish when I arrive. We are just surrounded by it and the people are really good about correcting me and teaching me new words. We still just have a host dad, our mom is supposed to come home today but no sign of her yet. He loves her so much he always tells us about her. Last night was really fun we ate dinner with our dad ( he has his neighbor cook us lunch because its the big meal of the day but we had leftovers for dinner at 9pm) then we talked with him and learned all about his family, no kids and designed bombs for the government for 46 years. And of course we heard all about mari, su mujer. Well then we went out with the group at 11 no one sleeps here hehe Luis showed us the town there is is a plaza in the center that is great for meeting everyone. Its been fun we just all sat in a bar together but it isn't like here no one gets drunk it's just a place to hang out. Wine is like 2 bucks a glass! Anyway when in spain do as they do! So today we had a placement test at the university to see which class we are right for. Then we had a tour of the city and learned a lot about the huge old churches here. For breakfast we just had hot cocoa then we don't eat lunch until 2 but it's a big meal and after we did as the spainards do and napped til 6!! They shut down the whole city from 2-5 so everyone can eat and sleep it's so awesome cause then they get so much more done...ok well I'm having fun no worries I miss everyone tho!

Day 2: no sleep, stuck between a huge guy and a huge guy and alone in the airport for 5 hrs,

Mom don't freak out by the title. Haha but that sums up my day. An awful 8 hr flight to Madrid from Atlanta I am too nice and I gave up my seat so a dad could sit by his kids. He failed to mention that his seat was literally tiny I was between two 60 yr old men who didn't speak English and had big Spanish bellies hehe...anyway I got Here. But at 730 and I didn't leave the airport till 1 cause I had to wait for everyone. I have slept 2 of the last 35 hrs but whatever lol my host dad came and got me he is a cute little man, his wife is in london for a wedding she will be back tomorrow! Tomorrow it will be easier to get on the Internet because I am starting class!

I have arrived safe in Atlanta! I am quick eating before I head to my gate to leave the us! I sat by the cutest old man on the way here he was on his way to Florida and he had to bum gum and snacks off of me. So far so good!

Day 1: bored in des moines airport

Hi everyone! Haha although I really can't say that because at the moment I have zero followers. I decided to blog rather than attempt to remember to email everyone who said that they wanted to hear from me while in Spain. This is kinda cool hopefully I'm good about it and I keep everyone on their toes. So for now I'm using my cell phone as a hotspot and getting Internet from there...hopefully this works in Spain too because chances of my 60 year old host family couple having wonderful wireless high speed is prolly slim. Well for now I am just waiting for my flight to atlanta I should board here soon! Then I have an hr layover there and I'm off the Madrid! I'm starting to get excited I can't Believe it...well this 10 yr old kid next to me (luckily stunted and can't read)is annoying the poo out of me his mom and dad are too busy eating their hotdogs to realize that he is talking my ear off. I'm going to be rude and put my iPod in haha who eats hotdogs at an airport anyway!!!!!????

Well love you all!

P.s. Someone explain to mom what a hotspot is hehe