Monday, May 30, 2011

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!!!

Friday, May 27, 2011

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!!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

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!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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!

Monday, May 23, 2011

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!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

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!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

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