A Very Uncomfortable Bus, The Beach, and My New Trabajo :)

Well hello there!

This one is in English.  Obviously. 

So, a lot has happened since my last post.  It's almost October people!! Shoot gurrrrrl! 

Last weekend we went on our first overnight trip with the group.  We left on Thursday morning,

I'm just going to go ahead and interrupt myself there.  The night before our bus left at 9 am, some of the girls and I thought it was a good idea to go out? Yea.  I don't know.  Oscar (the host brother that took us to Madrid when we had to run from the police.. yes, the fun one) invited us all to go out with him because it would be the last time we all saw him.  Ever.  Of course we went.  It was a ton of fun and we'll miss him dearly.  Mostly because he was a smartass and spoke fluently in sarcasm.. even in English.  Back to the original thought...

at 9 am.  This bus was absolutely awful.  The seat were such a tease.  They were just big enough for you to feel comfortable, but as soon as you wanted to lay sideways or put your legs up, the seat seemed to shrink.  It was annoying.  

The first stop was the hotel de Don Quixote.  He's pretty great.  Don Quixote is the first book ever written in history, and it's in SPANISH.  It's a big deal.  But let me ask you, why didn't Señorita Golen have us read that? Huh.  I have no idea.  We read La Catrina.  Stupid.  Enjoy my lovely face:

Next stop, Córdoba.  We toured the inside of a mosque that has switched hands between Catholics and Muslims for hundreds of years.  It's not a cathedral, but the decorations and structures inside the building are so unique.  I loved it. 

We also walked down the famous "street of flowers".  It was beautiful, but my photos do it no justice. 

At the end of the street, we found Miguel.  He was nice.. looking.  And sounded amazing too. :)

Our next pit stop was Sevilla.  We stayed in a hotel here.  We saw a park that was famous for it's romantics and smell of flowers, the plaza de España, and the plaza de Americas. 

Parque de Maria Louisa

Plaza de Americas

Plaza de España

The next morning we spent the day in Sevilla walking around Alcazar Real.  It's sort of like a huge, open reception hall looking place, except it's really important and prestigious.  I pretty much shut down this day though.  Whoops.  I was tired, sun burnt, and I wanted the beach. 

La plaza.. and Jody's hand. (Hi Jody.)

A flippin sweet fountain thingy.

However, we did meet a peacock.  We named him George. He got incredibly too close for comfort.

AND FINALLY, we made it to Cádiz.  As soon as we got there we all ran to our rooms, threw on our swim suits and skipped into the ocean.  That's where we met a rude awakening.  High tide.  There was seaweed gunk EVERYWHERE.  I was gagging.  So instead, we found the pool. Heaven. :)

The next morning we had a "short" tour.  It was not short.  Obviously, that's why I used quotation marks. Anyway, we saw yet another amazing cathedral, the fish market, and a monument dedicated to Spain's constitution.  

The constitution monument.

The fish market.. get it gurrrl.

The view from our hotel room!

Our AMAZING Italian dinner.. (this will come up later in my blog too..)

And the aftermath.. we obviously hated it. :)

The girls and I on the beach for the sunset. <3

And of course we had to make fools of ourselves at some point.  WE LOVE CHOCOLATE. 

So yea, that was my 4 day weekend.

As for this week already, well, there were a few mishaps, but also a few great things.  To start things off, I accidentally told one of my professors that churches were made of shit while we were standing in the cathedral.  It was great.  Two days later, I told another professor that I ate dick over the weekend while trying to explain to her how amazing our chicken parm was at the Italian restaurant (told you it would come back).  You see, there are some words that are just so close in spelling/pronunciation, but oh so far away in meaning.  For example, madera=stone but mierda=shit.  Pollo=chicken but polla=dick.  IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW PEOPLE.  IMPORTANT THINGS. 

Today I tutored for the first time.  I'm working with a 13 year old Spanish boy helping him to practice his English.  I ended up getting lost, AGAIN, but a kind man saw me with my map and offered to help.  He spoke very little English, but used his GPS on his phone to show me where the student lived.  Funny part: I was literally 17 steps away from the house.  So close, yet so far away.  This guy, César, asked if I was looking for an intercambio, which I was!  (An intercambio is an exchange.  When I say intercambio I mean that we will meet once or twice a week at a cafe and he will help me practice my Spanish and I will help him practice his English.  It's a great way to help yourself while you help others.  Service hours?? Just kidding.  But really.)  So not only did I make my very first hard earned euros today, but I found an intercambio and we're starting tomorrow!  How exciting!  

But let's not forget what got me all these cool things.. getting lost.  I'm awesome.

Ok, I think that's all for now.  

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

9/11

So, I know this is a little late, and I apologize for that.

'm going to share a post from a fellow Versailles High School graduate.  Although she was two years younger than I when 9/11 occurred, I think she depicted exactly how I feel about it in her post from yesterday.

The Children of 9/11

This past summer, when I went to New York with some family, we had the honor of visiting the 9/11 memorial.  I remember the butterflies in my stomach as I waited in line to see the beautiful sadness that I was about to witness.  As I stepped onto the grounds, I remember an instant feeling of appreciation and awe.  I've never experienced that kind of sweeping emotion before.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry for the lives lost or rejoice for the brave souls who stepped forward that day and entered into His awesome graces.  It's a day of utter confusion, yet a day of content.  A day of understanding.  A day that was equally as important to me as 12 years ago.

I remember walking around the two buildings and touching as many names as I could on the plaques.  I wanted to touch every single person who stood up for my freedom.  For my small, not yet significant life as a 9 year old.  For every freedom I've been able to practice in my twenty years of life.

My dad is a volunteer fireman, and the only thing I can remember from that day in the 3rd grade, is thinking over and over again that he was going to leave us and go do his job.  I didn't care that it was hours away from us, I thought that every firefighter in the world was going to be there helping, and I just remember being so selfish about it.  I didn't want him to go.  I wanted him to stay and be safe.  Of course he didn't go.  I just couldn't comprehend that at the time.

As young children in America, we understood the severity of the situation.  What we couldn't comprehend was the effect it would have on the rest of our lives.

Never forget those who lost their lives that day 12 years ago.  Always remember those who gave their services and those who continue to give their services today.

That's all for now.  Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

Un Día Mal y los días después de- A bad day, and the days after

Hola mis amigos.  

Oye.  Hoy era una día muchas mal.  Estoy frustrada, cansada, y tengo hambre.  Tengo hambre siempre, excepto cuando es hora de comer.  No sé, pero es terrible. 

Este mañana, tuvimos un tour de Alcalá.... Oye!  

Era en viernes cuando escribió sobre el tour.   

Después del tour, mis amigas y yo reunimos en la plaza a once y media.  Fuimos a el bar se llama La Media Pinta a las doce.  Después de una bebida, tres de las amigas fue a las casa.  Jody, Jenika, Kristina, y yo queremos ir a un otro bar.  Un chico americano ese conocemos en la calle nos enseñó dónde ir.  A el nuevo bar, conocemos chicos españoles!  Muy bien!  Nos invitaron al club.  Bailamos toda la noche hasta a las seis en la mañana.  Estuvimos loca!  Y practicamos nuestra español con los chicos, y ellos practican su inglés con nuestra. 

Ayer, fuimos a Madrid con el hermano de nuestra amiga Sara.  Se llame Oscar.  (Es muy difícil no pronunciar que en inglés.) Nos llevó a Madrid en el tren.  Es muy normal para los jóvenes beber en las calles, pero es necesario por que tenga cuidado.  Corrimos dos veces de la policía!  Es diferente de los Estados Unidos.  Si corres, tú estarás a salvo.  Si hablas con ellos, le impondrá una multa.  No quieres una multa.  Así corrimos dos veces y perdimos nuestras bebidas.  Lo único bueno fue que tuve que orinaren las calles de Madrid! JAJAJAJAJA!  Yo sé que mi madre estará orgullosa! 

Después de corrimos de la policía, me duele en el estomago, así no quiero pasar quince euros para la club Teatro Kapital cuando no siento buena.  Jody y yo caminamos a cerca de Madrid por cinco horas.  Estuvimos loca.  Oscar estuve preocupado que me siento mal, y él dijo que viniera en el club de todos modos y vomitar en su baño.  Él hace reír. Jajajaja. 

Y, ahora es lunes.  No tengo mucho tiempo para escribir.. Me gusta hablar con vosotros, y no me gusta pasear el tiempo en mi cama.  

Hasta aquí, mi vida en España es muy divertida, pero muy diferente de los estados unidos.  Todas las cosas son diferente: la comida, el tiempo que nosotros comer, durmiendo, el dinero, etc. Estoy aprendiendo, y que es más importante que todas las cosas. 

Hasta luego! 

So.. yea.  Just copy and paste all of this into google translate and it probably won’t make perfect sense, but I need to start practicing my writing.  Especially in past tense, and all the blogging I do is in past tense, so this is good. 

Happy Reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

¡Mi vida en España!

Holaaaaa!

No, I'm not going to write this in español.  I am having an overload of spanish in my life right now, and I don't feel the need to subject you all to my pain as well.  Yes, pain.

Here it is.  The famous first post after leaving your home for another country.  It's just so nice to possess this power in my hands.  Everyone waiting, wondering when I'm going to share my experiences with them (and again, by everyone I mean mostly Marisa and Mother dearest).

Enough with the small talk.  (There's a fly in my room and its driving me insane.)  I don't even know where to start though, but I guess the beginning is always good.

My first plane trip.

I almost puked.  For real.  I hate roller coasters and the first plane was a little "puddle jumper" or whatever they call it.  Everyone was practically sitting on each other and the plane bumped and jolted every few minutes.  Jody was worried that I would vom all over her.  Whoops.

The second plane was better dealing with turbulence, but definitely not with noise/space.  I had a friendly (NOT) girl my age on my left and Jody on my right.  Not only did this girl next to me practically sleep on my lap/shoulder the entire 8 hours we were on this plane, SHE DIDN'T TURN OFF HER ELECTRONICS DURING TAKE OFF OR LANDING.  I honestly thought we were going to crash because of this stupid, rude, and obnoxious sleeping girl.  I had a mini heart attack.

Besides the stupid girl, there was absolutely no possible way I was going to sleep.  The little screens on each headrest for movies were so bright that the person two rows in front of me was bothering me.  Then there was the old person somewhere in the back hacking up a lung every 3 minutes.  And don't let me forget the baby.  Yes.  I HATE THAT BABY.  I was finally, after 4 hours, about to nod off into the land of dreams when this freakin baby started wailing!  Just screaming its little head off!  And did the parents hold it? No.  Did they coo at it? No.  Did they continue watching their movie? Yes.  Every one on the plane was awake at this point because of the baby.  And do you think it's possible to fall asleep with 50 other people moving and trying to get comfy again?  Wanna take a guess at this answer? Yea, the answer is no.  It's impossible.  Yet somehow, Jody was able to sleep.  And drool for that matter.  Sicko.

So we finally arrive in Spain.  The trek to the baggage claim seemed like a mile and a half.  And I was carrying a 23.5 pound backpack as well as a 27 pound carry on (without wheels).  I was sweating when I got there.  Rough.  I had to leave the baggage claim because I thought I was going to pee myself.  But of course, our bags were last off the plane and we waited almost 40 minutes to get them.  Even rougher.

We only waited an hour or so at the airport for the rest of our classmates and Magda, one of our directors.  At this point, it had been 18 hours since I had slept.  And I needed chapstick. Badly.

We were all dropped off separately to our respective host families.  Mi Mama Española is Àngeles.  My sister (mi hermana) is Rocio.  She's getting married on Saturday, and unfortunately, I am unable to attend.  Boo.  We live in an apartment about 5 minutes (walking) from la plaza (sort of like downtown in America) and about 20-25 minutes from the university.

We had an orientation today at the school.  Our Spanish Mom's took us on the bus.  They showed us around, gave us our class schedules, and we talked about the culture in a Spanish classroom.  It's basically the same as at home, except more things are considered rude.  For example, eating, stretching, or leaving for anything.  Our host mom's were supposed to come and pick us up from school as well, but a grad student lives in the apartment across from me, so he and I walked together.  It was awkward, in case you were wondering.  BUT, I found out he has a cat.  We'll be best friends in no time at all.

At siesta, MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY, I met my other sister, Mariposa, her husband, I can't remember his name, their son, and Paula, their daughter.  they were very nice and talked a lot slower in spanish for me.

After siesta (nap), all of the students in my program met at la plaza for a tour with Susana, our other director.  She gave us a brief tour around, showed us the bank, the post office, and where to get phones.  After, all the students decided to get tapas y bebidas.  Tapas are like appetizers basically.  A small portion of something.  So far I've seen fish, hamburgers (which were absolutely ratchet!), eggs, bread with cheese, calamari, and tuna.  Tonight I tried some cheese with bread.  It was like a sharp, white cheddar.  SO GOOD.  And, I had vino blanco called Alma.  Great choice.

At cena (dinner) we had an egg omelet with tuna.  It sounded so gross, smelled even weirder, but oddly it was delicious.  Also we had nagges? I can't figure out what they were called after I asked mi mama to repeat it 3 times.  They were chicken nuggets.  So whatever that is in spanish, that's what I had.

Tomorrow we have more orientation junk at the school, but after that the day is free!  Jody and I are going to go to the supermarcado (supermarket, nice friend word eh?) for champú (shampoo) and other things.

I haven't taken one single picture yet.  I apologize for that.  I'm just trying to get comfortable and know my surroundings before I start being all touristy.  It's very difficult to find your way around.  All the buildings and streets look the same.  Tonight, when I came home from tapas, my key somehow worked on the building next to ours, and I got all the way to the 7th floor to realize that it wasn't my doormat or my building.  It was so embarrassing!  My host Mom just laughed at me.  For like 5 minutes.  She's great.

In case you are curious, I'm 6 hours ahead of you.  It's 10:45 pm here, and I'm exhausted.  If you want to reach me, message me on Facebook.  Or we can skype.  I have a prepaid phone now as well.  If you get a missed call from a very strange number, just call me back.  I have to pay an arm and a leg to call America.  You however, can call me for free. It's very strange.  Also, iPhone blue messages, I can receive! And I can send them back too!  It's very convenient.

So I think that's all for now.

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

P.S. We have a dog named Pipi.  Pronounced Pee-pee.  As in I have to tinkle.  It's hilarious.  That's all now.