School's out for summer!

I just took my last exam and I guess you could say I rocked it.

Two more nights in Granada.... let the party begin!

Coming to a Close

Only four days left in good ol' Spain. It didn't feel like it was really ending until I started packing and cleaning my room. A few people have left already and more are leaving tomorrow and Tuesday. This is the not so fun part.

I have one exam left and it is an open-note exam so it should be fine. I was supposed to type a five page paper for my culture class, but I spilled an entire glass of cranberry juice alllll over my computer and now it won't even turn on. I'm praying my protection plan covers being an idiot aka spill damages. So anyways, I am now going to write the paper by hand and if he has a problem with that, I'll bring in my sticky computer and ask him to show me what he would have liked me to do. And if worse comes to worse, he's a little guy and I could win in a fight.

We had to take a post-diagnostic test measuring our level of improvement over the course of the semester. I got an 80 percent on the test I took prior to coming here, and on the test we took last week I got a 92 percent. Not too shabby, huh? (Plus I learned all the swear words and that alone is reason enough to spend a semester here if you ask me)

I leave Wednesday morning from Granada and then spend the day in Madrid before flying out at 6 am Thursday morning. Only a few more days, I better go out and enjoy them!

Hasta luego.

Touché, Antonio.

Yesterday at dinner we had pork chops and rice. As I was finishing my rice, I noticed a tiny little pink thing under a carrot... A tiny little pink thing known as a shrimp. When I looked again, I found lots of tiny little pink things.... Antonio tricked me and gave me the shrimp rice instead of the vegetarian rice, and being as trusting as I am, I ate it all and never bothered to question it! I asked him if he knew he did it and he said yes!!! He said he knew that I would like it if I tried it.

I was owned by Antonio.

The worst part of it all? It was the best rice I have ever had... in my life.

Spaniards: 3
Gringos: 0

Nicely played, sir.

Granada Shenanigans

Tuesday, Rachel and I were sitting on a bench near the fountain and a 70 year-old man came up to us and asked to sit next to us. He told us he had never sat next to two more beautiful girls on a bench before. He then told us we needed to go to the beach because we were whiter than the snow on the mountains. After that compliment, he asked if we had boyfriends in the US. We told him no and he was shocked... How could two beautiful gorditas (little fatties) like us not have boyfriends?! He then gave us his number and told us to call him before we left town.

True Story.

Travelled Out

Ok, I made it back from Paris in mostly one piece. I need about a three day coma to catch back up, but it was way worth it.

The first night I got to the hostel and they told me that they gave our room away because I showed up an hour later than I said I would. The lady at the hostel said they had an available room in some random guy's apartment across town.... It wasn't actually as sketch as it sounds and it worked out really well. Brie and I shared the bed and two Canadian boys that were in the same situation as us, shared the futon in the living room. The owner of the apartment, David, is a firefighter and he stayed at his friend's apartment for the night. Plus he gave us 40 free metro tickets, the equivalent of over 40 euro.






The second night they gave Brie's room away and her and Rachel and Justin went to another random guy's apartment for the night while Christine and I stayed there. Don't worry, I wrote one amazing review for that hostel. The last night we stayed at a nice hotel and finally had a good night's sleep.

The best part of the entire weekend was having a picnic in a park while a violinist played for us the entire time. It was great... until a bird crapped on me... twice. Other than that it was a great
afternoon and a fun trip.









And with that trip, I've wrapped up all the traveling planned for this semester. I've never been happier to be back in my tiny bed in Granada. Just three plane rides away from being back in America!

F to the RANCE

I travel to Paris with my one kidney to meet Brie tomorrow, Christine and Rachel on Friday, then Justin on Saturday.

If you need to find the cool kids, we'll be in Paris.

Dropped Like a Bad Habit

Over these past three months I have met so many different people, from so many different places, doing so many different things with their lives. A lot of them took breaks from their lives to come over to Europe and just explore and see what life has to offer. I've had a lot of time to think while I've been over here I've been inspired by some of these people and their ability to do what makes them happy instead of what is viewed as a safe life plan. I've decided that I am not going to keep going down the safe path in terms of a career and that is why I have decided to drop my education major.

After 15 years of school, I've almost started to hate learning. It's not the actual material that I hate, but rather the system of teaching and learning the new material. I've thought about it all semester and I've realized that I don't want to spend my life working in a system that I hate... Who wants their kid to be taught by a teacher that can't stand the school system anyways?

Yes, this is a big change and somewhat of a risky decision, but I've never felt so free. I can do whatever I want with my life - there isn't a set plan. It's scary and liberating at the same time. I'm going to complete a couple of business minors before graduation in May of 2010 and then just see where life takes me.

Plus this means I can work in another study abroad trip. Yessss.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
--E.M. Forster

My Trip to The Sun and Back

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to spend a weekend on the sun, simply travel to Sevilla and Cordoba. How glad and I that I decided to study in a mountain town?? SO GLAD.

Sevilla was beautiful and would be a great place to spend a few days in (during the winter months). My first mistake was buying a ticket for the tour bus that drives you around the city. While I was seeing everything Sevilla had to offer, I was simultaneously baking myself. I left the bus at 3pm with a nice red tint and zero energy to do anything else. I forced myself to visit the Cathredral, the third largest in the world, and then I walked around for a few hours. I met some people at the hostel and spent the evening with them.

I left for Cordoba at noon the next day and met Christa there. The entire purpose of going to Cordoba was to see the Mezquita, a super famous mosque that is well-known throughout Spain, and we wound up seeing the whole thing within 20 minutes. We had no idea what to do with the remaining 6 hours of our time there and sat at various cafes trying to avoid the sun's death rays until it was time for us to head back to Granada.

Moral of the story: Cordoba sucks. Don't go there, ever.

Now I'm back in Granada with my sweet sunburn and waiting for the next trip. Just four days until Paris... should be enough time to pack and then immediatly re-pack again. Almost done....

I have no words

Can we please take a moment to talk about how Spain only recognizes 5 continents and according to my professor claiming that there are 7 continents "is just like you greedy Americans, always wanting more of evertyhing."

....WHAT?!?!

It's not like we are talking about a plate of french fries! We are talking about the actual world!
I am speechless.

Spaniards: 2
Gringos: 0

Also in recent news, I walked into a small store this weekend and was greeted by one of the workers. After asking me if I spoke English, he asked me if I could write down the correct spelling of "Kentucky Fried Chicken" so they could google it.
Seriously.

San Sebastian Success Story

The weekend was great, the weather was great (for the most part), and I finally saw the city I have been wanting to visit since I found out about Spain. The 12 hours of traveling to get home yesterday was almost worth it too :)

The best part is that it was just cold enough for us to avoid the water all together. I win.

I wasn't in Bilbao long enough to do much other than visit the Guggenheim Museum. This museum was so cool it almost made me apprecieate museums in general. Almost.

Really?!

Not only have the construction workers torn up the entire entryway floor, they have now started working on pipes and we have ZERO WATER. That means no sinks, no showers and no toilets. That also means that I had to walk through the rain to the residencia to shower this morning and that our toilets have become like porto-potties.

Thank God I leave in 10 minutes. Get me to San Sebastian before this apartment complex collapses.

A Nice Dose of Culture

This past weekend was one of three remaining weekends I have left in Granada. We went to La Alhambra, a Flamenco show, and a bullfight. I could live here forever, don't tempt me.

This weekend I am heading to Bilboa and San Sebastian in the north of Spain to meet up with Brie and a few of her frenchy friends. I'm gonna see what the Basque Country is all about and what northern Spain has to offer. Brie is trying to get me to go into the ocean, a.k.a blue liquid death, but I plan on standing strong and avoiding the water like the plague. I will watch from a safe distance while Shark Bate and her friends attempt to surf in the jelly fish infested waters.

I leave tomorrow and come back to G town on Sunday night. Let's do this thing.

Organs for sale

The good news:
I just got done booking my flight to and from Paris for the first weekend in May. Brie, Rachel, Christine and Justin will all be there together at the same time. Party in the hostel.

The bad news:
I had to sell my left kidney to afford the airfare alone.
(Maybe we won't party too hard.)

Je déteste déjà la France.

I thought I knew Spanish and then I came to Spain

Don't worry, everything I spent the last eight years of my life memorizing was just shattered in a swift 20 minutes of class today.

Spaniards: 1
Gringos : 0

Just Kidding

Instead of my planned trip to Sevilla and Cordoba, I'll be in my tiny bed in Granada dying slowly.
I guess going non-stop for two and a half months has finally caught up with me.

Boooooo.

Just an Update

• Life in Granada is going great.


• I'm headed to Sevilla, Cordoba and Las Alpujarras this weekend
  
• Next weekend I'm visiting La Alhambra, going to a Flamenco show and hitting up a Bullfight with my study abroad program.
  
• Our history professor called out the entire class today for sucking at translating numbers. I don't know what the deal is, but it is literally one of the hardest conepts for me in Spanish... and apparently I am not alone. She told us she is going to review numbers with us on Thursday, even though at our level we should have them down. Don't hate on the Gringos, we're doing the best we can.


• Only 50 days left of The Best Semester Ever.

Dare I Say Best Spring Break Ever??

Here's the short version:

We got to Galway and hit up an amazing pub with local live music. I'm actually moving there. After spending two awesome days in Galway, we took the train back to Dublin and set up in the castle. We took actual showers and slept in an actual bed. Amazing. The parade on St. Patty's day was maybe the coolest thing I have ever been to. We also hit up the Guinness Factory, the second coolest thing I have ever been to. After an excellent time in Ireland, we left for London. We were only there for about 19 hours, but it was enough to get some sweet pictures for my scrapbook and to see the city. If you ask me, it was basically an English version of Madrid. I had to leave the next morning for Barcelona, and forgetting that London is an hour behind Spain, I woke up an hour early for the airport. Don't worry, I got to the airport three hours before my flight and was the first in line at the ticket counter. Sweet life.

Three hours later I was at the hostel in Barcelona, waiting for Brie. I had to register for my classes for next year and actually have the biggest joke of a schedule ever. After a long day of waiting, Brie made it to the train station and we headed back to the hostel to pass out. The next four days were awesome and they included renting bikes (and crashing into walls), going to the beach, shopping and meeting fun people at the hostels. Sunday was actually the worst day of my life when we waited around all day for our trains and then I boarded my "hotel train" at 10pm where I was told I would have a bed, only to realize that I was going to be sitting in a seat across from an old couple for the next 11 hours. Worst 11 hours of my life. But I made it back to Granada and collapsed in my bed and am now almost caught up on my sleep.








Future trip plans include Switzerland and Greece, but we'll see how it goes and how far my money can take me.



Aren't you glad I gave you the short version??

For Your Knowing Pleasure

I am alive and I found Brie. We are about to rent bikes and tear up Barcelona.

2 points for every person we hit

Spring Break 2008

Galway, Dublin, London, Barcelona

• 4 cities
• 3 plane rides
• 3 train rides
• 7 hostels
• 1 hotel
• 10 days

Bring it.

"It's time that I go, I can sleep on the road. It won't be soft, but it will be on my own."

I'm Losing It

I think I'm in a state of Spanish-Overload.... We just got back from lunch and I tried to tell Antonio I didn't want an egg and I said "sin hueve." The word "hueve" doesn't exist and I ended up with an egg (huevo) on my plate. THEN I asked him if I could have more potatoes and ended up saying "Puedo tener mas potatoes" instead of asking for "patatas." It's probably good I'm getting out of this country for a few days because I literally can't speak Spanish anymore.

Also, the past few days there has been a disgusting stench in the hallway of our apartment that intensifies daily. The smell is at its worst near the door of the old man who lives downstairs. We usually see him walking down the street everyday and we haven't seen him in over a week.....

Ireland, anyone?

In the Words of Ralph Waldo Emerson....

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

The Highlights

Ok, I'm back and let me just say that Germany is AWESOME. Munich was one of the coolest places ever and the trip was so much fun. There's no way I can write everything that happened in the past six days so I will give you the short version:

1. Rachel lost her passport in Barcelona and had to stay behind one day to get a new one from the American embassy. Luckily there was one in Barcelona and she met us in Munich the next day.
2. We went to the Dachau concentration camp and it was one of the most eye-opening experiences that I have ever had.
3. We tried to go to Salzburg, Austria but the train system ended up breaking down 45 minutes after we left and we sat in a parked train car in the middle of Germany for 4 hours before being shuttled back to Munich in the smallest bus I have ever seen. Standing smashed up against a bus window with horrible smelling people was definitely a great way to spend 2 hours. I highly recommend doing it in your lifetime.
4. We met 2 boys from England and they were two of the coolest people I have ever met. We hung out with them throughout the whole trip and they kept buying us vending machine beer from the hostel. I am trying to bring the concept of vending machines that hold beer back to US.
5. We had pizza for lunches and dinners 6 times during the trip and the last night in Barcelona I had half a bag of cheetos and 2 bananas for dinner. I highly recommend never doing that in your lifetime.
6. Rachel risked her life every night for 5 nights while I slept above her in the creakiest bunk beds I have ever encountered. I chose the top because I didn't want to be the one catching the top bunk in the face if it went down.
7. We found a Starbucks and practically lived there when we weren't living at the pizza place. German coffee beats Spanish coffee any day.
8. We made it back to Granada yesterday at 7:30 and not one of us made it to our 10am classes.
9. I am still exhausted but that's the price you have to pay to live the dream.

Sevilla on Friday. Just enough time to unpack and repack my suitcase. Yesssss.

Munich, Here I Come....

We leave for Germany in approx 2 hours. Whoooo!

Hamotionally Exhausted

This may be what it comes down to. I can only eat so much ham in my lifetime.

Bad Life Choices of the Day

In no particular order:
#1: Wearing my favorite clogs to class
#2: Wearing my last pair of clean jeans to class
#3: Not packing my umbrella in my bag in case of emergency
#4: Getting out of bed

Little did I know today that when I put on my clogs (aka tractionless shoes of death) that I would be stepping out onto wet pavement. The relationship my clogs and wet pavement create is that of rollerblades on ice. My brisk 12 minute walk to class turned into a 25 minute gliding struggle. I'm sure it was a sight to see me trying to go up and down hills holding onto buildings and poles. I did finally make it to class, just with a little less dignity than I had before.

This was only the beginning.

After getting out of my 11:30 class, we discovered that it was raining, wait, monsooning. The roof of the patio in our school was leaking and it was actually raining inside of the building. I tried to wait it out but to no avail. I finally started back to my apartment after packing my backpack with papertowels in hopes of protecting my computer and Ipod. As soon as I got outside of the school my socks were soaked on contact. I started my glide/shuffle down the hill and slowly my jeans started becoming wetter and wetter. After my 30 minute walk home I walked into our room and my roommate looked at me like I'd been hit by a bus.

I am now wearing my american eagle sweatpants and my nikes (poop free). My little pink umbrella is tucked securely in my backpack because as soon as I left to come back to school, the rain ceased and the sun came out.

Touché, God.

Turns Out I Don't Speak Italian

Let me just start by saying that Italy may be one of the coolest countries I've ever seen (and I've seen almost five total including the U.S. and Canada). Spain definitely has some competition in the favorite country category. The food is better, the heating is better and they actually have grass (which was nowhere to be found in Granada on the poo day). The coolest part is that in the middle of this huge city there are ruins everywhere. Pieces of buildings from the Roman Empire are still scattered throughout the city and its amazing to see. But even with it's grass and heat and edible food, Spain still has a bigger piece of my heart.



We got to Rome at 10 in the morning and checked into our hotel around noon. We visited all of the touristy stuff that we could handle for one day and then we went back to the hotel and passed out. My biggest complaint about Rome is it's transportation (or lack thereof). They have only 2 metro lines and neither of them take you into the middle of the city. I think we walked more that first day than we did the entire week before in Granada. The next day we had a guided tour of the city via bus and we saw the Colosseum and Vatican City. We didn't get a chance to go into anything there but it was still amazing to see. The Pope actually addressed the people on Sunday at 9 in the morning and since I'm neither Catholic or a morning person, I slept right through that.



Saturday Laura and I went to Florence to see the city and a few of her friends. On the train ride over there, we got kicked out of first class and the dining car before we actaally figured out where we were supposed to sit. The city was amazing and we had so much fun with her friends. They took us to a place where you can see the entire city and about 10 people came up and they all brought food and wine and we hung out until sunset. SO awesome. We had to use the bathroom in the middle of the outing and the only one around us was at a little bar down the road from us. We each had to buy a drink before they would let us use the bathroom, creating a viscous circle... we went back there three times throughout the day.



On the train ride back to Rome we encountered the creepiest of all creepers who, as luck would have it, worked on the train and told us where to sit. The entire car he put us on was empty and he came in and sat in the same compartment as us... We created a barrier using the middle seats and we were huddled as close to the wall as possible. When he got up to leave he shook our hands. Two minutes later I was in the bathroom scrubbing like I've never scrubbed before.




And now I have to go scrub my brain.

Kickin' it Hobo Style

The Good News:
We booked our flight from Malaga to Dublin for the weekend of St. Patricks Day

The Bad News:
We can't find a single place to stay


Please send cardboard boxes.

You're a tricky one, Antonio

Well it's been an insane week to say the least. We have been trying like crazy to book our Germany trip and have started to look at traveling to Florence from Rome this Saturday. We had every credit card problem you can imagine (including double and triple charges!) and the flights we wanted kept changing. We finally got our stuff together and Germany is all set. We may try to take a day trip by train out of Munich but we need to get through Italy this weekend first. We have to be at the bus station to leave for the aiport at 5:30 on Thursday. When I first read that, a little part of me died... but I guess it will be worth it in the end. We get to Rome at 10:30 and will be there until laaaate Sunday night. We get back to Granada at 1:30 a.m. Monday. We are going to try to squeeze in Florence on Saturday since it's only 60 euro round trip by train and that will give us 10 hours there. It's going to be a super long weekend but I'm pumped for it.
We've already started looking at Ireland for spring break and it looks like we are going to try to hit Galway for Friday and Saturday and then take a train to Dublin for Sunday and Monday (St. Patty's). After that everyone want to come back for the Santa Semana festivities in Granada but I want to keep traveling. I'll have to see if anyone else is interested or if maybe I could go visit Brie for part of the week.
Classes started and so far, so good. I've had three of the five and so far the professors are great (none of them trying to ruin my life like last time). I really like the school and it's location (even though I have to walk 2 miles UPHILL TWICE A DAY to get there). Who needs the gym when you live in the mountains?
We went exploring the other day and it was such a bad life choice. We got lost in the Albaycin a.k.a. the mountain town part of Granada. We walked around for two hours up and down hills and by the end of it I wanted to die. Like I said, who needs a gym.
I got an email this morning from my cell phone provider over here saying that they turned my phone off becuase it was reported stolen... I definitely have my phone in my possession and I also have a nice $169 dollar charge to my credit card to replace my lost equipment... I'm waiting to hear back from them via email and hopefully they will turn my phone back on asap. What a pain, nonetheless.
Well it's almost time to go eat lunch and maybe today Antonio won't trick me into eating bread with hidden tuna in it.... These cooks are stealth.

New shoes ASAP

You know when you step in poop on the street and then you can never get the stench completely off your shoe? Welcome to my life today. On the way to school I managed to step in the biggest pile of doo imaginable. Of course I was wearing my nike´s and of course I stepped in it right on the huge indent on the bottom... I didn´t even notice until the middle of class when I smelled it and then I promtly left the room. The poo removal was unsuccessful and I am now wearing clogs. Lame.
We went to a Mexican restaurant last night (this morning) for the Superbowl and it was awesome. The place only had Americans and the announcers actually spoke English. Everytime there was a commercial break though, they would just zoom out and show the entire stadium. So needless to say, I´m out of the loop on commercials and will probably end up watching them online later. We got home around 4:30 and had class at noon so it wasn´t too bad. My roommate fell into the room at 11 this morning and is still sleeping. She´s really good at making great life choices.
We´re about to book our trip to Germany for the end of the month so I gotta go. If anyone would like to send me new nike´s or a power washer, it would be greatly appreciated.

Superbowl Monday

Holaaaaa. Today marks the one week mark in Granada (it feels like I´ve been here for at least three, but whatever). We went to La Alhambra with our school today.... bad life choice. The giant fortress could have been one of the coolest things I´d ever seen, but we got put in a group with a horrible tour guide... she yelled at us for taking pictures and kept making us rush from room to room. She talked about the most boring stuff and picked the least interesting rooms to visit. I´m now exhausted and my legs are slowly dying. We´ll definitely have to go by ourselves and see the place because it was bor-ing today.
We´re going to this churro place tonight where they give you churros and a huge pot of chocolate to dip them in. It´s going to be a nice, chill night and then we´re all heading home to sleep before Superbowl Monday tomorrow... since we´re 6 hours ahead, we are supposed to get to the bar at 11:30 for the pre-game. It´s going to be a long day tomorrow, followed by an even longer day Monday when we have to be at class by noon. Maybe I´ll take my first siesta on Monday because I have a presentation in the evening class.
It´s almost time for dinner and I am almost completely starving. Cross your fingers for some edible food tonight! Talk to you all soon. Hasta luego.

Me encanta Granada!

Even though we had to basically climb a mountain to get this view, I'd say it was well worth it!

Loving life

I just got back from dinner and tapas with some of my friends... I feel like I just met some of my best friends who I wouldn´t have even know without this trip.
I love life right now like I´ve never loved life before.

More pictures to come!

Not exactly Mardi Gras

Hola a todos. We just finished our placement exams.... what a pain in the culo. The interviewer I had kept asking me about my psychology classes instead of my Spanish classes so I was completely thrown off track. I still managed to do alright though and I ended up placing where I need to be in order to get credit, so everything's good. I ended up changing my classes and now I have one at 10 and one at 5 on M/W and one at 10 and 1130 on T/R. I'll find out the time of my grammar class later this week. Instead of my music class I have history now.... a little less boring but waaaaaay better than having class at 8:30.
We are going to La Alhambra this weekend (the famous fortress) with the school. We will be going again with API but we wanted to see it sooner rather than later. Next weekend we are going to Carnaval in Cadiz. For 21 euros they bus you there and back so a bunch of people from our group are going to go. You have to dress in costume in order to fit in... that should be interesting! They say that the Cadiz Carnaval makes Mardi Gras look like bingo at a retirement home (exact quote). Can't wait!

Ham, ham and more ham.

Finally some Granada ones. Just a few of the surrounding area where we live.

We're on the internet in the residencia that we come to eat at. If I am served any more ham in the next couple of days I might starve to death. If someone could please explain the Spaniards' facination with ham, I would greatly appreciate it.

http://www2.snapfish.com/shareethumbnailshare/AlbumID=209447588/albumcount=1/p=55291201621511413/l=349866705/g=48537976/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/pns/share/p=55291201621511413/l=349866705/g=48537976/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Late for class

Well I'm alive... and I'm 21!! We went out last night for a few hours and got all you can drink Sangria for 5 euros... the best deal we could find. We headed back home around 2 since we had class today. The grammar classes are killing me because I already know all the garbage they are going over and it's four hours a day. Real classes start next week Thursday and we're supposed to get internet at the apartment sometime in the next few weeks and then I can keep up with this regularly. I have to head to class now but I have a few pictures to hold you over :)
Enjoy!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=209437055/a=48537976/t_=48537976

Bienvenidos a Granada

Well we finally made it to Granada last night. It´s not quite what I expected but it´s beautiful none the less. We thought we would be going to a tiny little town in the mountains and it almost feels as big as Madrid! I´ve been lost more in the past 15 hours than I have all week.... they don´t really have straight streets that lead you to where you want to go, but instead they are all curvy and take you to different curvy streets. Hopefully I´ll know where I´m going by the end next week!
We moved into our apartment last night and found out that we share it with three Spanish guys who also go to the University of Granada. At first we were a little creeped out by the idea of living with three guys but after we met Jose last night, we realized it was going to be fine. He´s super friendly and very patient with our Spanish... he doesn´t speak English so I guess he kind of has to be! We met him at 11 and stayed up talking with him until 2 in the morning! He also offered to go snowboarding with me and let me borrow his extra board! We haven´t met the other two guys yet but he said they are nice too. Cross your fingers!
We eat at the Residencia down the street from us and its full of Spanish students (great way to practice talking!) and they actually serve you like in a resturaunt. When my landlord was explaining that I don´t eat seafood or fish, the cook gave me a funny look and then asked if my roommate ate seafood and my landlord responded ¨No, she´s normal.¨
We also found out that we get internet at the apartment next week... sooo excited. The food is good, the apartment is nice, my bed is super comfortable and I´m already having a great time. I´m meeting up with three of my friends tonight to go out and see what we can find to do. Everything is within walking distance so it should be a good time.
Time to go drink some Fanta Limon. Hasta luego.

Three Day Weekends

So much has happened in the past few days that I can't even remember all of it. Long story short: I'm having an amazing time in Madrid.
We walked around the city for the majority of the day yesterday and then we had meetings about our classes in the evening. I ended up placing in the superior grammar review class and I have absolutely no idea how I got there. I may be switching down depending on the first day. This is the class that only lasts for 25 hours total so I may be able to handle it. I also got my schedule for the rest of the classes and I have Spanish Art, Teaching Spanish as a foreign language, History of Spanish Music and Spanish Culture and Civilization. I have 3 classes on M/W and 1 class on T/Th.... which means: THREE DAY WEEKENDS! My class on Thursdays is over by noon too and I have class at 10 all week long.... not too shabby! My only complaint is that I have two morning classes on M/W and then I have to go back 3 hours later (after siesta) for my last class. But I really can't complain!
They also talked to us about signing up for extra curricular classes. I'd like to take a Spanish cooking class and maybe basketball or tennis. We have to wait until next week to figure it out though.
We leave tomorrow morning to see Toledo and from there we bus down to Granada. Here's a link to some of the pictures I took in Madrid so far. Enjoy!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=209394866/a=48537976/t_=48537976

Moldy Fish

Well I finally made it to Madrid..... I've been awake for 39 hours now and my retinas have been on fire for approximately 19 of them. There were no delays at the airport and I actually ended up having the entire row to myself on both flights. I got another stamp in my passport at Amsterdam and somehow managed to evade customs at Madrid again. So twice I've been to Spain and twice I've got nothing in my passport to show for it.
The people in my group are awesome and I've already made plans with a bunch of them to go out for my birthday. We went out to dinner tonight and we got to choose from two entree options: chicken and rice or swordfish. The entire room smelt of moldy fish all night and I can still smell it right now. I forgot how ridiculous the food is over here.

Well that's all I've got in me right now. More tomorrow after I extinguish my retinas.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Today's the day! My flight leaves at 4pm from Detroit Metro and I fly into Amsterdam around midnight our time before catching a plane to Madrid. I'll get there around 9:30am (3:30am our time) and we'll be staying in Madrid for four days to do some traveling around the city before driving down to Granada on Friday morning.
Cross your fingers for no delayed flights!

Goals

There are a few things I hope to accomplish while in Spain:

1. See at least five new cities in Spain
2. Travel to at least five new countries in Europe
3. Spend St. Patty's Day in Dublin
(sub goal: get to Ireland)
4. Ride a camel in Morocco whilst avoiding being spit on
5. Meet Salma Hayek and her bff Penelope Cruz
6. Learn how to cook at least three edible Spanish dishes
7. Take over 1,000 pictures
8. Avoid foreign jails
9. Become fluent in Spanish
10. Find a baby named "Burrito" and bring him back to the U.S.

GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Holiday From Real

Everyone keeps asking me if spending four months in a foreign country scares me. The answer is absolutely. The thought of leaving everything I know for such a long period of time scares the bejesus out of me, but that's also what makes it so exciting. While this trip is going to be a great way to improve my language skills, see new places, and meet new people, the aspect I'm most excited about is finding out who I can be when I'm outside of my comfort zone. I'm looking at this semester as an opportunity to figure out exactly who I am and what I'm capable of being. I'm positive that there will be times when I wish I never signed up for the trip and times where I want to jump on a plane back home to the people and places I left behind. But I'm also positive that in the end it's all going to be worth it and that I'll gain much more than I'll lose.

All new people. All new places. All new experiences. All new me.

"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The 'hard' is what makes it great."

--Jimmy Dugan