The Last Post.

Alright, here it is. The conclusion to all my travels. This is a sad blog. Here's what I can recall about my trip home: I woke up, packed my belongings, checked out of the hotel, caught the bus, caught the tube, and then I was at the airport. I got all checked in and everything and in the terminal by 11:00 or so. Of course there was "free public wifi" but I couldn't connect to it. So once again I was stranded chillin in the airport with no electronics. I went and got some food and a drink in an attempt to spend my last pounds. I exchanged my pounds and euros but ironically the exchange rate had gotten better, even within the last week, so I didn't get an even exchange compared to what I traded it in for. But I guess that's economics and just the way the world works. After that, I had killed enough time to go find my gate and sit there for awhile. Finally it was time to board and I was on my way towards the Western World!
Nine hours later we landed in Atlanta. The flight was fine. As the man who sat next to me put it "I've traveled alot for business and I've never seen anyone sleep the whole flight and still wake up for every food distribution." ... What can I say? I've got my priorities in line. When we got to Atlanta there were really bad storms so we had to sit on the runway waiting for a gate to pull into. We sat for quiteeeee a while. Long enough that I thought I was going to miss my connecting flight to Wilmington. Finally we pull into a gate, then I have to hike ten miles to go through passport control, reclaim my baggage, go through customs, recheck my baggage and go through security and catch a train to the next terminal. Then I kick it up a gear and literally sprint 38 gates down the terminal... only to find out that my flight to Wilmington was also delayed and would be boarding in about 2 minutes. I guess if I had moseyed on down I would have missed my flight but the sprinting may have been a bit unneccessary.
I wait at the gate for about 30 seconds and boarding begins. In my head I'm just like "yay, this is it, almost home!" We get on the plane and pull out onto the runway. Then we sit. For about an hour. The pilot tells us there's 15-20 planes in front of us (some sitting for over 2 hours) and we're just waiting in line. Apparently the storms were only to the south, so the pilot decides to go over to the runway that takes off north and within about 20 minutes, we're up in the air. That plane was the coldest plane I've ever been on in my life. Like I was wearing closed shoes, jeans and a North Face jacket and was still shivering. Possibly would have been hypothermic if the flight had been any longer. No worries though, I still slept. We get to Wilmington and Mom is there waiting. We got back to my apartment and went to bed (because 13 1/2 hours of being on a plane is a lot).
Now that I'm home it's weird. I keep thinking about what would I be doing at this time if I was still in Spain. What is my Spanish family doing right now? What is the weather like today in Ubeda? I miss it. I was unpacking my clothes and some of them still smelled like my Spanish casa. I had a little wave of homesickness. But then I think back to where I was before this trip. Not even sure if I wanted to go. I wouldn't even know where to begin to explain it all. Some of it's just inexplicable. The people I've interacted with, the friendships I have made, the places that I have seen, those experiences can never be replaced. And sure, with time the memories will fade, but I know that taking advantage of this opportunity and living in another country for a month has completely opened new doors for me for the rest of my life. And it's things like that, that can never be taken away. I know that one day I'll return to Spain. I love it too much not to. And the experience will be completely different. I can't wait.
But now that I'm home I guess I should finish up drinking this sweet tea and take my crazy dog to the lake in this 100 degree humidity. Nothing like being back in good ol' NC.

Home Sweet Home

I MADE IT HOME!!!

The best smell in the world was the warm, salty Wilmington air getting off the plane. The story of my travels will come tomorrow for one last entry. My day may have been a little bit hellish. But right now, it's about 5am London time and I've almost been awake for 24 hours. Awesome, time for sleep.

Carolina, keep calling me hooooomeeeee

I'm finishing packing up right now and then I'll be on my way to the airport! So excited to be home tonight and sleep in MY bed! I listened to this song this morning. Only made me more excited to be home. I leave here at 13:05 London time and get into Atlanta at 5:35pm American time. Then I get to Wilmington at 8:55pm! YAY! I can't wait to have my phone on again! Ha, so materialistic. And I get to see my doggies soon! I'm getting so excited to be home! I can't believe this day is finally here!

The Championships at Wimbledon!

What a day today was! I woke up at 5:45 this morning and got ready then went on my way to the Championships at Wimbledon to get in queue to get a grounds ticket. And guess what? I GOT IN! I spent all day at Wimbledon. Such an experience. It was AWESOME. I’ve watched Wimbledon on TV pretty much every year since I can remember (thanks, dad!) and it was completely surreal to be there inside the park, with big names such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadel, and Serena Williams. Although I didn’t have centre or 1,2,3 court tickets to see the high ranked matches, you can sit out on the lawn and watch them on the big screen. I was in disbelief watching the match and hearing it happen from inside the stadium at the same time.

We were able to find seats (on the front row) on court 18 for John Isner (USA) vs Nicolas Almagro (Spain). It was like a homeland match (my real country vs my second home country). It was really cool seeing someone who represents my country (and my state- he’s from Greensboro, NC) out there playing in a tournament with players from all around the world. Unfortunately, he lost, but the match was fantastic. It was very competitive, and the tensions were tight. On one serve he hit 141mph… freakin amazing. He also had 28 aces. You may remember him from the 11 hour game that was played last year. This one only lasted like 5 or 6, I think. Minus the 2 short rain delays, the weather managed to stay really nice all day. I might even be a little sunburned on my cheeks. I even had the full Wimbledon experience and tried strawberries and cream. Quite delicious.

Now, I’ve got to pack all my belonging in my suitcase so I can be ready to go to the airport when I wake up in the morning. I’m a little concerned about how taking the bus and the tube will be with all of my luggage, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Even though I’ve had an extremely awesome time in Europe, I can’t wait to be back home with all my friends and family and pets.

The Hyde Park Experience

This morning I woke up feeling pretty good about being able to get Wimbledon tickets (they didn’t go on sale until 9am this morning for tomorrow). At 9:01, by the time my request was processed there were NO tickets left. How the hell do you sell out of something that fast?! Blew my mind. So that was a fail. I took my time getting ready and eventually moseyed out to the bus station to be on my way. I was walking to tour the Royal Mews and I literally walked right into a changing of the guard ceremony. As in, I was walking down the sidewalk and a police made me stop. So I got to see the changing of the guards in front of the Guard Museum. It was pretty cool. I wanted to video it or at least take pictures, but my battery on my camera didn’t charge for some reason when I had it plugged in. I think when I turn off the overhead light, all the plugs shut off too.

After that quick detour, I made it to the Royal Mews. I toured around, it wasn’t as cool (big) as I thought it was going to be, but I still enjoyed it. They had a few royal horses on display and I just wanted to ride them. I need a horse. Could’ve bought one with all the money I’ve spent on this trip. Ha! Anyways, they had all the coaches on display and one of the Queen’s Rolls-Royce. After that went and met up with Kate and we ate lunch then headed to go to Hyde Park.

Let me tell you something about concerts in Hyde Park. It’s a fucking free-for-all. All tickets are general admission and it’s literally a game of how many people can fit into this space. Completely insane, but so much fun! The concert was really very good though. There were 3 bands I’ve never heard of before, but they were bearable. Then Zac Brown Band was amazing. And so was Kings of Leon. All in all, today was wonderful!

Now, I’ve gotta get to bed so I can wake up at 5:45 (yes, I know) so I can meet Kate and we can wait in queue to try and get into Wimbledon in the morning. Hopefully most people have better things to do with their Thursday mornings than wait to watch tennis matches. Ahhh, I’m so excited, I hope it works out!

Things are lookin up!

Today I liked London a whole lot better than I have been. I got up this morning, ate my breakfast and then went and met Kate early so I could join her class to walk around/ get a free tour and whatnot. We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was just cleaned up into “pristine condition” (according to Kate’s professor) for its 300^th anniversary. Apparently that 300^th anniversary happened to be today. And you know who happened to be there “celebrating”? The Queen. THE FREAKIN QUEEN OF ENGLAND. We literally just stumbled upon the Queen. We saw a big crowd and Kate’s professor told us that normally when crowds like that gather a member of the royal family is close by, so a guy in her class asked an officer who informed us that the Queen was inside and would be out shortly. So we waited the longest 10 minutes of our lives. She was so precious in her little blue outfit and hat and white gloves, greeting the little school children waving British flags. You can tell the Englanders love their queen. Everybody cheered for her as she walked out of the church and got into her car.

After that we continued our walk to other sites like the wharfs, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London Bridge (is falling down, falling down - I know I’ve been singing it ALL day), and the Tower Bridge. Pretty cool stuff. We ate some fish and chips for lunch at a little restaurant by the Tower Bridge. It was good, but tasted like any other fish fry I’ve ever had. Sorry London, you lose this one. Then we had ice cream with Cornish cream. Not really sure what that is but it was real good. After lunch we headed to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It was super cool. It had all these specimens and anatomical things. Kate and I both enjoyed it and then laughed about how we’re just nerds for loving that museum. (Literally, it was one of those.) Then we went back to Kate’s to have a little bit of time to relax and get ready and eat dinner before it was time to head over to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see Wicked!

We made it to Wicked on time, after walking in a complete circle after getting off the underground. Lesson learned: always look left AND right. Wicked was so good, as always! I was a little bit concerned before if they’d have British accents or not while they were performing. They did. After Wicked, we took the tube back to Kate’s stop where I switched lines and began my journey home. I made it through sketchville alright and to the bus station, then power-walked from the bus stop back to the hotel. Watch out Londoners, I’m getting comfortable with your means of transportation! The tube is actually very easy, just like any other city metro or subway. It’s the buses that are hard to figure out. Then combine the two and it’s a lethal combination.

Tomorrow, I might try to do a thing or two in the morning before meeting up with Kate at 1:30. I really just want to sleep in, since I haven’t since Ubeda, but I can sleep when I get to America. I wanted to go to the horse parade at Buckingham Palace but I think I’m going to stay in the hotel and be online and try to get Wimbledon tickets for Thursday morning (yes, they only go on sale the day before). That’d be a really cool, once in a lifetime event to see a famous tournament, if I could make that work! Then tomorrow afternoon we’re going to wander around the Hyde Park area and then see Kings of Leon and Zac Brown Band (and 2 bands I’ve never heard of before) perform in Hyde Park. I’m excited. ZBB is seriously one of my all time favorites, and last summer they put on an amazing concert. I’m hoping for a repeat.

I’m glad I’m enjoying London now. I thought I was going to be miserable for the whole week, since that’s how it started out, but really, things are fine. I stress myself out too much and I’m too paranoid. Yeah, sure, I’m in a giant city by myself, but there’s plenty to do and I can do whatever the hell I want to, on my time! I have no one else to please! This is a dream vacation for some people! Other than the occasional loneliness, I’ve been okay with so much “me time”. I only have 2 more days to explore this wonderful city, so I’ve got to take advantage of it while I’m here!

London Day 2

Today went very smoothly compared to yesterday. I woke up, ate my little English breakfast then set out on the bus, then the tube, and made it back to Westminster with no problem. I wandered around there for a couple hours. Literally wandered and hoped that I would stumble upon something cool. I semi caught the changing of the guards. There were SO many people there, you have to arrive super early to see the actual changing and they didn’t have the parade today, so that was sad. I walked around St. James’ Park for awhile (great people watching), found St. James’ Palace (too bad you can’t go in), found Green Park (boring, but pretty) that lead right up to Buckingham Palace so I decided to walk along the front gate of the palace. Then I kept walking around the side where I found a museum/tour thing of the royal stables! I didn’t have time to do it so I think I’m going to go back for that. I love horses. Such a dork, I know.

Then it was time to go and meet Kate after her class. Things went without a hitch and we found each other perfectly. Then we ate lunch, waited for her roommate to get home and went to Portobello Market, which is a street market in Notting Hill. It was fun to walk around and I wanted to buy things but didn’t want to have to carry them for the rest of the day. My bank account thanks my laziness. After the market, we hopped on the tube and went to King’s Cross which is where platform 9 ¾ is from Harry Potter! I could hardly contain my excitement. Until we got there and walked from the underground station to the overground station and they were doing construction (as they are everywhere to prepare for the Olympics next year) on the platform. It was closed. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME?! So I asked a guy who worked there and no worries, they moved it outside the building. Not the same, but it will have to do.

Then we went back to near Kate’s and ate at a little pub because it was raining and we didn’t want to stray too far in the rain. After dinner we headed back over to Westminster to ride the London Eye. It was pretty cool. I had my doubts about being locked in a glass capsule hundreds of feet above a river with a tide. We get in our little (actually, quite big) tank and in with us come a family from Pakistan, a trio of middle-aged Asians that each has an injured body part, and a normal American couple. The family from Pakistan asked us to take a picture with their daughter. Who knew we were celebrities? It was pretty bizarre. Especially since you’re literally stuck with these people for 30 minutes. I’ve never seen so many pictures taken in my life…let’s just say, stereotypes were fulfilled.

After the eye, we went our separate ways. I was nervous about having to get home in the dark because the walk between the tube and the bus station is pretty sketchy. But I did it. A bike came riding up behind me and I think if I had had means of a weapon, the poor man would’ve been dead. Let’s just say, I was a tad bit jumpy. Oh well, all’s well that ends well. Tomorrow I’m going with Kate’s class on a tour of some things, so that should be fun. I have to get up real early to make sure I’m there in enough time that she’s not late for class. Then we’re going to a museum and later that night we’re seeing Wicked! Should be another great day barring Jack the Ripper doesn’t get at me in the night while I’m trying to get home. (Good thoughts, I know, but that’s all that goes through my head while I’m walking.)

First Day in London

Today happened. Not really sure where to start. I woke up and got ready and all that jazz. I went down for breakfast thinking I would just grab some fruit and maybe some cereal. Wrong! They cooked me a full English breakfast with toast, eggs, ham, sausage, hashbrown, and get this: baked beans. Weird, right? Then I set out to a giant fiasco that almost caused me a panic attack. I went to find the closest bus station. Not too bad, it’s relatively close. I wait forever (maybe 20 minutes) for the bus to come. I get on and attempt to pay and the driver tells me I can only pay with exact change. Good thing all I got out the ATM was 20s. So I walk back to the hotel and ask the guy working for change. He gives me a 5 and tells me to buy a bus pass with it, don’t worry about the change. It kind of weirds me out a little bit when a stranger just gives me money. I’m not comprehending the instructions that he’s giving me about getting a pass so he sends one of the guys working here with me to this little convenience store near the stop. Turns out you can only buy legit passes there, not day passes. So I bought a week pass figuring I’ll probably get my money’s worth out of it. Then I sit at the bus stop for another 20 minutes before the next bus comes around.

I get to the bus station (mostly because it’s the last stop on the route) and wander around until I find something that says it might be going towards Richmond Underground Station. Finally I find a little bus hut that has a line that goes right to the station. I got on that bus when it came around and literally probably held my breath the whole way that it was the correct bus. Eventually we got there and I found Kate. An hour after I was supposed to. I hate being late. Hate it. Then we hopped back on the tube (after I purchased a week pass for that as well) and went to Westminster.

We walked around and briefly saw the big things. Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, etc etc. Ate lunch at Pret A Manger. Delicious. Then we went back to Kate’s flat to figure out our itinerary for the rest of the week. I’d say we’re pretty set with solid plans. If I can just figure out the buses and the tube, we’ll be golden. And if it would just be a little warmer and not rain so sporadically throughout the day, that’d be nice too. Well for some reason I’m exhausted, probably all the stressing out I’ve done all day about getting places. It’s been a learning experience and definitely a day that just tested my character and confirmed my faith. Tomorrow it’s back to Westminster to explore some more and hopefully catch the changing of the guards and then when Kate’s done with class I’m meeting her to go to Chinatown and Soho. Then back to Westminster at night to ride the London Eye. Should be a good day!

I made it!

Oh my goodness, what a day. What a freakin day. I didn't have internet all day and I was bored so I blogged into a word document which will be copied and pasted below...no worries. Then I got here and the internet kept going out. So here's my day:

18 June 2011

13:02

Right now I’m sitting in Madrid-Barajas airport, just chillin. We wanted to make sure we got here early in case something went wrong. Well, I got here around 11:30 for a 3:25 flight. (Amanda’s is at 2) It didn’t take long at all to check my baggage and get through security (even in Spanish) and now I’ve just been boppin around the terminal tryin to figure out where I need to be. Amanda was in a different terminal so even though we’re on the same airline, we’re going to different countries, so we got separated. It’s scary to travel by yourself. Lots of prayers have been sent up today. I guess it’s kind of odd that it’s so intimidating for me to travel by myself, because I do it in the States all the time with no problem. I suppose it’s just the unfamiliarity of the situation. I have to figure out what puerta my flight leaves from. On the printed ticket it just says “AB” so I'm at terminal one, which has A and B gates, then they put it on the monitor. I’m so early that my flight hasn’t been posted to the monitor yet. Hopefully, it will be soon. There’s no internet in the airport and I can’t text. You’d be surprised how boring it is to kill hours without electronics. Thankfully, I remembered to charge my ipod last night. So I’m just listening to some music and people watching. As long as I can find my gate, I’ll be a-okay.

This morning I woke up and we walked down to the plaza after breakfast so I could buy another smaller suitcase. I’m so glad I did. My suitcase weighed in at 24 kilos. 24 kilos happens to be the max weigh before you go over. I keep getting real lucky with my baggage weight. I get to take the small one and my bookbag on the plane with me. I will probably go find something to eat then go find the gate and sit around there. Once I’m on the plane, half of the hardship is over. England shouldn’t be too bad. I get into London Gatwick and there’s supposed to be a train called the Gatwick Express that takes me to London Victoria, where I should be able to grab a taxi to take me to my hostel. Before I do all that, I have to switch mu Euros over to pounds. I only have about 60 Euros left. Even less after I go buy some food. Good thing I have some American money to exchange. Except, the exchange rate there is even worse than with the Euro. I didn’t think that was possible. Well, it’s now after 1pm so I’m going to go attempt to navigate myself into the right place. Oyyyyy, here I go! Buen viaje para mi!

14:11

I found my gate! Once they posted it up on the monitor, it wasn’t hard to find at all! Now I’m just chillin at the gate. They’ll probably start boarding around 2:45 or so. I’ve now gotten a new high score on brickbreaker twice. Playing games is all my phone is good for right now. I ate a bocadilla and some jamon flavored chips for lunch. Oh boy, am I gonna miss Spanish food! Soon I get to enjoy fish and chips, hope it’s as good. My clothes will probably appreciate the fact that I’m not eating Spanish food anymore, they’re probably tired of being stretched. I can’t believe today is really my last day in Spain. Forget last day, I’m into my last 2 hours. The last 4 weeks went by so incredibly quickly. I feel like just yesterday I was wandering off the plane in Madrid thinking “what the hell have I gotten myself into?” and wondering if I was going to be completely miserable for the next month. I wasn’t. A week from today I’ll be back in America. I have such mixed emotions. I think by next Saturday I’ll be ready to be home. I didn’t get homesick in Spain because I had my American friends, my Spanish friends and family, I had an actual home, I lived in a town and had a normal daily routine. I think being a tourist in London is going to make me feel more like I’m traveling. I just got to take it for what it is and try to enjoy every minute.

15:34

My flight has been delayed 40 minutes and I’m still bored out of my mind. I am spending some quality time in the Madrid-Barajas airport. It gave me more time to spend my Euros though! I bought a candy bar and some bifrutas which is leche y zumo (milk and juice). I love that the chocolate bars here all have hazelnut. It’s like we use peanuts/peanut butter in the USA. But hazelnut is way tastier. What’s weird about this airport is that nobody gets off the plane at the gate. Like the people get off wherever arrivals are, then the plane comes to the gate. So bizarre, but I guess it works. I also realized that when I get to London, I’ll actually have gained an hour back into my day. That’s nice. Except everything I own is set to either Spain time or American time. Actually, I think everything is in Spain time. Sorry, America. The plane just pulled up to the jet way but it doesn’t seem like anything is happening. I guess I’m going to go hover near the boarding gate anyways. Better safe than sorry.

19:41 (Spain time)

18:41 (Britain time)

I made it! I’m sitting on the Gatwick Express, which is a train that goes directly from Gatwick airport to London Victoria, which is the main metro (excuse me, tube) stop in London. From there I begin my terrifying taxi adventures. My flight wasn’t bad at all. Of course, I’m a little upset at myself for falling asleep before takeoff. I wanted to see Madrid while we flew away. The seat that I was in was in front of the emergency exit row and didn’t recline. There’s a nice knot in my neck now. It’s real gloomy here in London. The sun is shining but there are still a ton of dark clouds hovering. I don’t get it. I miss the Spanish sol. The exchange rate here is 1 pound for a little over $1.60. I pulled out 200 pounds from the ATM and it probably froze my bank account in America for taking out so much in American dollars. Everything went really smoothly when I arrived though. After walking 10 miles to get to customs, I filled out a little card, waited in line, handed it to the guy and had a nice conversation, and went on my way. He was asking what I was doing in Madrid and when I told him studying he turns to the guy next to him (who is struggling to communicate with a Spanish speaker) and asks if he needed help. We all just laughed. The people here are nice too, I guess. The biggest shock for me is hearing English everywhere. It’s really weird. That and when I go to communicate with somebody, I’ve got my brain trained now to think in Spanish. So now I have to translate my thoughts from Spanish to English. Weirdest thing ever. Well, my battery is dying on my computer so I guess I’ll just stare at the window and take in London. Going real fast and backwards, of course. Brilliant.

22:09 (British time)

Of course things were going WAY too smoothly. At the London Victoria station, I got off the train and went up to the taxi line up thing and got in a taxi. I give the guy the hotel’s address and he looks at a map and starts driving. Turns out he didn’t really have a clue where he was going. We had to pull over a couple times to look at the map again (with a magnifying glass) and he even had to run into a place and ask where my hotel was once we were in the right district thing. When he pulled over I could’ve sworn that I was about to be murdered or sold into slavery or something. He picked a nice quiet alleyway to check his stupid map. Finally he found it and dropped me off. The price was like 60 pounds but I bargained down to 40 (I was expecting to pay around 35). Then I get in my hotel, which is really more of a bed and breakfast, and go to check in and my credit card won’t read on the machine. They tell me they don’t want to waste my time (waste my time?) and they’ll give me the key and we’ll try again tomorrow. Uhhh, okay? I bring all my stuff up THE STEPS to my room and it’s about half the size of my dorm room freshman year. Literally, with my suitcases on the floor, there is no floor. I share a bathroom with the other people on the floor but at least I have my own room. The bathroom also doesn’t have a lock…interesting.

I get all set up and finally figure out which converter plug goes with Great Britain and decide to blog because well, everyone is waiting to see if I made it here and of course the internet cuts out. I’m eating the rest of my jamon chips and the other half of my candy bar for dinner. It’s dark out and there’s nothing immediately next to the hotel I’m in, so I’m not really game for venturing, even if it is for food. I will probably buy some dry foods tomorrow and just keep them here for instances like this. Also, there is a kitchen downstairs that I’ll be investigating in the morning. Well, I suppose this post is long enough and I should stop rambling. In the morning I’m attempting to figure out public transportation and meet Kate. And by figure out transportation, the hardest part will be to get to a station from my hotel, the rest will be okay. I’m gaining confidence in my navigational skills. I reckon I’ll go enjoy some good ol uncensored British television and chill in my bed. Hopefully no one’s in the shower when I wake up in the morning. That’d throw off my whole day. I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Gotta embrace my last week abroad!

Spain today, England tomorrow

So last night we went out for one last hoorah after dinner. It was pretty fun. Then today we went to the Reina Sofia Museum, which has artists work such as Dali, Picasso, and Miro. I liked this one a little more than the Prado. We saw the Guernica, which is a pretty important painting in Spanish history. After we went out for lunch and then went shopping again. Tonight for dinner we ate at the world's oldest restaurant (according the Guinness Book). It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. And also very expensive. We all ordered different types of meat and passed them around. Veal, suckling pig, cornish hen, lamb, and filet mignon... ahh delicious. We had 6 different bottles of wine with our dinner. Pre-food wine, one for tapas, 2 for the main dish, and 2 for dessert. It was such a fun last time to be together and enjoy the wonderfulness of Spain with the family of friends I've been traveling with for the last month. I can't believe it's over. As of midnight (2 1/2 hours ago) we're officially free of anything school related.

My flight to London is at 3pm tomorrow. Let's hope everything goes smoothly. I'm still really nervous about having to nagivate airports by myself. Not just navigating airports, but getting to and from them. Oh boy, this is going to be interesting. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I can do this! In London I have to take a train and then a taxi. Getting in a taxi by myself is one of my biggest fears. Think about it: they can take you anywhere they want and no one would know. Uhhh, yeah. So if no one hears from me within the next 24 hours, someone call the London police. Tomorrow I'm going to call Kate when I get there and meet up with her after I've found my hostal. I'm so sad to leave Spain, but I am excited to see familiar faces and see another country.

The feeling that I have now is about the same as I had the night before leaving to come to Spain. It's that anxious, but excited uncertainty. I'm learning to like it...kind of. I'm supposed to have some free wifi in my hostel in Londres so there should be an update tomorrow. But it's late here and I've gotta get up early to pack (what's procrastination?) and get on the move. Wish me luck!

Madrid

So last night we went out to see some monumentous things and eat some food. I take back what I said about hating cities. I just mostly dislike them. There are parts of Madrid where it's a lot more laid back and doesn't feel like you're in a big city with a lot of people and traffic. This morning we went to Museo Nacional del Prado. There's a ton of really, really fantastic art there. A lot of Valazquez, Goya, Bosch, Titan, Rubens, those guys. Got to see the real Las Meninas, which is pretty cool. We were there for about 3 hours and you could probably spend days in this museum, it's so freakin huge. There was some art that reminded me a lot of the kind of art that my grandfather painted. It was really cool to see very similar paintings in a world renowned museum. Then we went and got bocadillas and sat on a patio. Now we're just chillin/siestaing until about 5 when we're going to go shopping. I have to buy a new suitcase (it's cheaper to pay for 2 then to pay for the overage rate which is by the kilo) and some new clothes and possibly some presents for people!

Tomorrow we decided just to stay in Madrid for another day instead of traveling to Toledo or Segovia since everyone has to travel alot on Saturday. It's hard to believe that I'm descending in on my last 24 hours in Spain. I'm sad, but the more I think about it, the more I know it's a "until next time" not a "goodbye". I love this country and I'm definitely coming back when I can financially. On Saturday I take off for London to go see Kate. We've got tickets to see the play Wicked and a dinner cruise on the River Thames and are going to get tickets to see Zac Brown Band and Kings of Leon in Hyde Park. Hopefully I'll get to do some other things like see Big Ben, the London Eye, etc, etc.

Last stop in Spain

This morning in Sevilla, we went to these gardens and walked around for a few hours. There was a maze to play in (whether or not you were supposed to actually play in it, that's up in the air) and peacocks to chase around and try and catch the babies. So clearly, we were kept amused. After we went to find somewhere to eat, headed back to the hotel, and then got on the Ave to Madrid. We took an 8 hour bus ride in 2 hours. The thing flies! And to no one's surprise, I took a nice little nap on the train. I miss my siesta time. And now we're in Madrid, which is our last stop before going our seperate ways. I still can't believe Saturday is my last day in Spain. Then a week from then I'll be home.

When we got in Madrid we had to take the Metro, but only one line. Still, with ALL of our heavy, heavy luggage we had to lug it (yes, I just had a lightbulb moment why it's called luggage!) up and down 3 flights of steep stairs. It was a struggle. Then once we got up on the street level, we walked (ran people over with our suitcases) a few blocks and finally found our hotel, where we had to man-handle the suitcases once more. The great news about the hotel is that there's free wifi! My professor didn't think that there was going to be, but to our surprise, there was. The bad news is, occasionally my computer decides to break. There's something loose between the screen and the other part and sometimes the screen doesn't turn on. So hopefully I'll be able to update and post pictures and talk to people, but if not, I guess I'll be going to bed at a decent hour.

We have about an hour and a half until we go out to explore Madrid so I may get another little nap in. Madrid is WAY different than any city we've been too. It's basically New York City in Spain. Complete with Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King and KFC (none of which I've seen since being in Spain). I don't really like it as much. I prefer little ol' Ubeda. Cities just make me kind of nervous and sure, they're fun to visit but you won't ever find me living in a big city. I'm going to take advantage of our downtime and siesta! Luego!

Cordoba!

Today we took a little day trip to Cordoba. We woke up, ate some hotel breakfast, took a bus there (naptime, once again) and then explored a cathedral, a mosque, some bridge and maybe some other things. Cordoba is pretty but it wasn't my favorite place we've visited. We walked around alot and saw alot of touristy things. The traveling that we're doing now is part of the program so I guess it has to be educational. So yeah, that's what we did all day and then we came back to Sevilla, went out to dinner, and came back to hang out at the hotel. (Well, we were supposed to go to bed since it was 12:30am, but seeing as how it's almost 4 now and I'm still awake, clearly that didn't happen.)

Tomorrow we go to Madrid in the afternoon, after spending the first part of the day in Sevilla. It still hasn't really hit me that I won't be going back to Ubeda after our travels and especially that I'll be leaving Spain. So sad. I'm excited for Londres though, I've been talking with Kate and we've got some exciting things planned. And even though I'm dreading going home, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. I miss my friends and family and pets. I've learned so much about myself on this trip. Life is about learning to compromise the balance between everything you love. People, places, activities, everything.

And on that note, I'm headed to bed so I can get up early and pack (did I mention we have to leave in 5 hours?) before we head off to enjoy the last of Sevilla and go to Madrid. The hotel in Madrid may not have wifi so lo siento if that is the case. I will do my best to find a little cafe or to purchase some minutes and be quick. Adios!

Cooling off in a fountain from the 100 degree heat!

Sevilla!

This post is gonna be quick because I need to get to bed. For those who even knew I was traveling, clearly I've made it to Sevilla safe and sound. Slept for all 5 hours on the bus. Surprise, surprise...I know. We got here and checked into the hotel since we had all of our things then went to see the world's biggest cathedral. It was cool, but I kind of feel that once you've seen one, you've kind of seen them all. I guess this one is different because Christopher Columbus's remains are supposedly in this one. It did have a clocktower that you ascend and it had a really pretty view of Sevilla. After we just kind of wondered around looking at the city. We "bar hopped" for dinner. Tapas aren't free here with drinks. Reason #837482734 I miss Ubeda already.

So we departed this morning. Seriously one of the saddest moments of my life. I hated saying goodbye to my family. The tears welled up in my eyes but I was able to keep myself from crying. Anyone that knows me knows that I don't cry. Ever. So, kind of a big deal. It was sad to say goodbye to mis padres and Amanda's fam (my second family) but it was most sad to say goodbye to mi hermano. I think it was equally as hard on him. He about cried this morning when we were talking about how we'd miss each other. Last night I said goodbye to Oscar, who is really my brother's best friend, but I'll claim him as one of my best in Ubeda. We made them hug us, none of that kiss, kiss, beso, beso shit. I really hope that one day I can make it back to Ubeda. Part of my heart is always going to be there. In the city, in the people, in the culture.

Well, as I said, this won't be long. We're getting up real early to head to Cordoba in the morning for the day. Hopefully, I'll be able to gain access to the internet again but in case I don't, sorry for the lack of updates. But keep checking back :)

Birthdays and Discos

Yesterday I did a whole lot of nothing. Then in the evening around 10 I went over to Amanda's for her brother's birthday party. 18th birthday parties are just a little bit different here than in the US. And by a little bit, I mean a lot. First off, it's a boy's party, so his only friends that came were boys. His sister's had one girl friend with them. There was family and then a few Americans and mi hermano. We literally sat around a table, ate tapas and talked. Then all the kids went to play futbolin, ping pong and basketball. Then we all sat back around the table for cake. Amanda's dad went and cut roses from his garden and gave them to each girl there. We all put them behind our ears. He kept telling me I was the most beautiful because I am so tan. The people here are obsessed with the fact that my skin is a darker color and my hair is not black. But anyways, it was fun, and once again I love the people here.

After we left Amanda's house we went out to botellon (yes, it happens every Saturday). I wish American's did that. I guess it's the equivalent to a house party where everyone stands in the yard because no one has yards here. Except way better. Then after botellon we went over to the discoteca and got our dance on til 6:30 in the morning. Like literally, the sun was starting to rise. Also, I still can't get over how they dance here. If you ever go out with me, at some point I will bust out the Spanish disco dances. In that case, do not walk away from me. It's like salsa and hip hop had a baby. Sometimes it's just plain salsa. Like I salsa-ed with mi hermano in the disco. Sounds absolutely bizarre to anyone not from Spain. Salsa is a fancy dance but it's also part of the culture. Then this morning mi madre woke us up at 9:45 because she had gotten churros and you have to eat them while they're hot. So I've had a nice little nap. Siesta will be wonderful later. I also have to pack my things. I can't believe this is the last day in Ubeda. 3 weeks went by faster than I ever imagined they would.

I'm not really sure what today has in store but I'm gonna try to make the best of it because literally I don't know if I'll ever be back. It's crazy how some people get put in your life for only a short amount of time but they've influenced it so much. I don't know if I'll ever see any of these people again. I want to, but having a reality check with myself, I know I won't. I say I'll keep in touch with people, and maybe at first I will, but it's literally two separate worlds. But if any of my Spanish friends ever get the opportunity to come the US and actually make it, you bet my house is open to them.

El ultimo fin de semana = muchas fiestas

The fiesta with our familias last night was really fun. Every family is special and brings a different aspect to the experience. After the "dinner", which was really just drinks and tapas in a bar, we met up with my brother and his friends and got a few drinks and then after that met back up with our American friends. We went to this bar that had a dance floor in it. I still haven't grasped the concept of dancing in Spain. One song is American (but they dance like Spaniards), the next is Salsa and then every now and then there's a Flamenco. Let me tell you, the American kids busting out the Flamenco may have been the highlight of all the drunk local's night.

So that was a good night. This morning told me so. No one who lives here gets hungover. I don't get it. Every single one of us Americans was this morning, but none of our Spanish friends. And I believe they want to go out again tonight. I don't know how that's gonna go. I just had my siesta. Very late, but it was neccessary so I made sure it still happened since we didn't even get home til about 5:30am.

Well my brother just came and flipped on my light and told me that it's time to get up and do something. Oh boy, wish me luck. But in all seriousness, I need it to survive the night. We are going over to Amanda's house for a birthday party for her brother at 9:30. He just turned 18, which is a big deal here. He's considered a man now and can drive and drink by himself (you can drink earlier, but with parents there), and he just graduated school. I have a feeling that this birthday party is going to be a bit of a culture shock. But who knows, maybe they have their parties like Americans. Who knows? Now, it's showertime then time to get ready and head to fiesta some more. Vale, perfecto.

Olive fields foreverrr

I forget what the last thing I wrote was so I'll just write about yesterday. We went to an olive oil factory. It was pretty cool to see how they make it. The guy who was showing us around was absolutely hilarious. So first of all, an olive tree can't be picked til it's 15 years old. Talk about an investment. When the olives are ready a machine shakes them out of the tree onto this umbrella thing that then dumps them into a truck. Then it comes in, they go on a belt thing to be sorted, cleaned etc. Then they get all juiced and squished and then they get made into oil. (Sorry that's real vague, the guy talked in Spanish.)

Then we walked up the world's longest, steepest mountain to get to the actual town part of Sabiote. One of the other American's host mom works at a school there so we stopped in, talked about America and had a little fiesta. Everywhere you look around this place there's olive trees. Everywhere is an understatement. Then we walked more uphill to go get the bus. Note: there was NO downhill walking all day. Our bus was a little late so I didn't get home in time for lunch. I missed it by about 30 minutes, but when I got home my lunch was sitting out on the table for me looking all sad. I hate to think that after today I only have 2 more lunches here.

After lunch, I siesta-ed (claro) and then had to get up to go to a 2 hour repaso for my test that was this morning. And my test, I mean final exam. I either did really well, or really bad. I followed what I thought were the rules, but I may have made them up. So either they're all right, or all wrong. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Our 4-5 page compositions are due by tomorrow night. I think mine's mostly ready, maybe just one more scan over to make sure it's alright. Finally, this paper has been taking for-ev-er.

When we all finished our tests today, we went and had a fiesta with our Spanish friends. They're so awesome. What's better than good food and good company? We also got little certificates for completing the intercambio. They did too. We had a little graduation, it was precious. After school, a bunch of us went to a store to buy some clothes. I'm proud to announce that I actually bought nothing for me, as bad as I wanted to, but finally knocked some gifts off my list!

I'm not really sure what the rest of the day holds. Clearly, siesta despues almuerzo. Then tonight at 8:30 we're having a big dinner/get together for all the host families, which should be fun. After that, I'm probably going to be forced to go out with my brother and friends. And by forced, I mean invited and I'll willingly go. I mean, it is my last weekend in Ubeda. SO SAD.

No biscuits

I really don't ever want to leave Ubeda. I love my family and my friends and just life in general.

Today Amanda and I cooked lunch for my family. We made chicken and dumplings, baked beans, baked apples, and spinach dip. They loved all of it. I must say, for my first solo attempt at actually making the dumplings, they turned out really well! They kept telling us that it was so good, and I was glad because I was a little nervous that they wouldn't like it. I also found out that they don't have biscuits here. What's a life without biscuits in it? I may have to attempt to make those as well, for breakfast or something. They also don't have birthday cake here (or my brother is stupid and didn't know what I was talking about) and apparently madre's birthday is Friday. So "tomorrow we go to the store and get ingredient so you can teach how to make a cake." Fabulous. I may have to make the icing too. This is gonna be fun. Anyone with simple cake/icing recipes with the most common ingredients possible, send them my way!

Yesterday, after we went grocery shopping for lunch today, my brother thought it would be a good idea to teach us how to drive a manual car. So. Much. Thinking. It's one of those things that I'm not good at because you need coordination. I actually wasn't that bad, but it was hard, and had there been other cars close to us, it may have been a wreck. Literally! Imagine learning how to drive a stick shift in another language. I love the daily challenges here. Then right when we were finished with our little driving lesson it started to downpour again. I love when it rains here. It's so much prettier than when it rains at home. The sky stays a pretty dark blue color and the lightning illuminates the mountains in the distance.

On Wednesdays and Thursday we have an "intercambio" with the class of Spanish students. Today was wonderful. We all finished our assignment early so we had time to just hang out and talk (in Spanglish, of course). They're such amazing people. I've never been surrounded by so many just genuine people everywhere I go. Yes, the town does have a few creepers that honk their horns when they drive by and shout "guapa" or "rubia" (if you're blond) but atleast they're harrassing you by telling you you're beautiful? They're obsessed with staring at Americans here. EVERYONE STARES. I'm not really one to talk because I can get a good stare in, but these people are so obvious about it. And I know it's because I'm American, and I look different. Oh well, let them marvel in my beauty. I'm okay with that.

And now, it's siesta time. I spent too much time goofing off with Amanda and Dani after lunch and now I'm like 2 hours late on my siesta time. After siesta, it's time to work on my paper again and then hang out some. Speaking of my paper, last night my brother stayed up to look at it after I finished. I thanked him and told him he didn't need to stay up. To which he replied: "No pasa nada (it's nothing/ don't worry about it). You are my sister (sees-ter). My little sister. I do anything for you" So sweet, right? I've known this kid like 3 weeks and literally he would do about anything for me. Probably the number one person I'll miss when I leave Spain. Okay, all this talk about leaving is seriously making me depressed. Someone slow down the time until Monday morning. I don't want to go!

Who put sugar in the salt shaker?

Yesterday when the storm calmed down some, Amanda and I made a shopping list and went to Carrefour to buy some groceries. Why, you may ask. Because we cooked her family an American dinner for lunch today. Have you ever been in the grocery store for about 2 hours trying to find everything on your list? I have. First off, we have about 4 sticky notes worth of items to buy. Then we are in a grocery store we're not familiar with. And also, everything is in a foreign language. It was awesome. The "world" section of the grocery store is Chinese and Mexican. That's it. Also, you weigh your fruit before getting to the checkout. Just in case you were wondering.


Then after we went grocery shopping we walked all the way home with the groceries (thankfully, the rain has stopped). One bag ripped as we were leaving the parking lot and the others didn't tear until we were literally 200 feet from the house. That was a fun experience. Never again. Then I hung out with Amanda and her familia for awhile. They're so funny. Here's one of the pictures we took on her Macbook. They think it's absolutely HILARIOUS.

And then last night I stayed up to about 3 writing only half of my paper. Luckily, mi hermano stayed up with me and helped me translate it. Although it's really fun to hang out with him while I do my homework, it's mostly counterproductive. This morning I woke up, went to class, then went to Amanda's house. I delegated while we cooked. We made bbq sauce and grilled chicken with it, broccoli/cheese casserole with crackers on top, salad, and spinach dip and pinwheels. We were going to make apple pie for dessert, but we couldn't find all the ingredients that we needed to make the crust. So we made the filling and put it on bread. Except let me tell you something. Sometimes salt and sugar look very similar when in unlabeled containers. Ask Amanda about that. Her familia will probably forever make fun of her for that little mishap. We'll probably all be laughing about it for years. So we promised them that we'd make it again with sugar tomorrow or the next day, because they were really excited to try it.

It's so sad that in less than a week these amazing people will no longer be in my life. It's one thing to miss my friends and family at home; I know that I will see them again within a certain time period. I don't know if I'll ever see these people again. These people that have opened up their lives and homes to share everything with me. These people that I spend my free time with. These people who have been my best friends for the past 3 weeks and helped me navigate through a foreign country. I'm really going to miss Spain. Ubeda in particular. I love it. I love the town. I love the people. I love that life is so simple and beautiful. I'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to have this experience. Words really can't explain how awesome it has been.

And now, Amanda is over at my house and we're supposed to be working on our papers but you know how I feel about welcoming distractions. I might siesta while Amanda writes. I mean, I did only get 4 hours of sleep last night and who knows how tonight will shape up. Probably another late one regardless of if I work on my paper now or not. Soooo, siesta it is.

La Tormenta

So, as I previously mentioned, "when it rains, it pours". Turns out I can predict the future. After not having seen a drop of rain for the past 3 weeks in Ubeda, it started thunderstorming as soon as we finished lunch and went to take siestas. I love sleeping to a good rain and thunder. I just woke up from my siesta and may go sit on the porch and just watch the rain. The only thing is, when it rains here it drops like 40 or 50 degrees. (It also generally goes up about 30 or 40 degrees from morning to afternoon everyday.) Probably, I'll just sit in my nice cozy bed and listen to the rain on the window...and work on my paper so maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. Ugh, I hate schoolwork no matter which country it's in! Adios!

When it rains, it pours.

From the title I'm guessing you can take a stab at how the weather is today. Absolutely clear when I went to class this morning and pouring when I got out. It then stopped about 3 minutes after I got in my house. No paraguas (umbrella) for me. So walking out into a monsoon was just the icing on the cupcake after my 3 page test on the subjunctive today. Let's just say that hopefully, somehow, by the grace of God, I did well on it. And my paper that I wrote, well, let's just say my teacher thought it needed quite a bit of improvement. This week is going to be jam-packed with school work and I am NOT a happy camper. At all.

On a happier note, last night me, Amanda, Dani, Oscar, Antonio, and some guy, I forget his name, all went out and got hamburgers. Hamburgers. Hamburgers. Is that enough emphasis? I got an American food in Spain. But to be fair, they're a little different in how they're cooked. We got fries too, they come covered in mayonnaise and then we put ketchup on them (fancy sauce!). It was delicious. After we left the hamburger place, we went and got some helado (ice cream). I'm going to need a serious workout regimen when I get back to the US.

Occasionally there's some things that I hate doing here. For example, here you make your bed and clean your room before you leave in the morning. And not just the lazy make your bed like I do at school. We're talking up to military standards. That's how it is in every household here. I'm lucky if I'm wearing clothes that match and have all my stuff for school before I leave. That's way too much responsibility in the morning. Another thing I hate doing here is showering. First off, the "hot" water is not hot. It's a nice warm temperature, but only for about 5 minutes. Then you might as well be standing in the freezer soaking wet. Also, the shower is a normal rectangular shaped tub but the spicket is along the long side. I'm pretty sure the Americans got it right with putting it on the short side. Or just make the shower a square. I'm not really sure about this one. And the best part about showers here: getting back to my room. The Spainards put their clothes on in the bathroom. If anyone knows me, then they know that I hate getting dressed right after I take a shower. So every night I make a mad dash to my room in my towel. Across the marble floors. Then when I make it to my room (and yes, make it, because I have to go down a long ass hallway), I usually just chuckle to myself and think "is this real life?".

There's also a few things I miss about America. The first one being Chick-fil-a. I was talking about it yesterday and realized that I reeeeaaaallllyyy wanted a sandwich and some Chick-fil-a sauce. (By the way: no ranch or bbq or honey mustard here, only ketchup and mustard- if you ask.) Then I had to laugh because even though I'm in another country, of course I wanted Chick-fil-a on a Sunday! I also miss texting and being in pretty constant communication with my friends. I use my phone as my alarm and out of habit for about the first week checked the text messages. I miss driving my car. It's not that I hate walking everywhere, because I really don't mind at all, but sometimes you just need to put down the windows, turn up the music and drive to nowhere. Okay, really it's not that bad and I just feel like complaining today. Sorry.

I suppose that's all caught up on my life now. Other than last night I was up til 2 studying and writing a paper. But whatever, that's pretty typical for me. Procrastination station over here. I should be working on my paper some before everyone comes home for lunch in about an hour but let's be real here, why would I do that? I'm thinkin an hour siesta before lunch is a perfect predecessor to the epic siesta that's probably going to occur after lunch.

Malaga!

I'm mostly writing because I have a 4 page composition (yes, in Spanish) due tomorrow as well as a test on the subjunctive/indicative/conditional tenses. Welcome to procrastination at it's finest. I'm also writing because I just returned from Malaga and I don't want to forget everything that I wanted to share about it. Although, I'm sure I've already forgotten half of the cool/exciting things. I need a camera crew to follow me around. Or just for my eye to be a video camera and record everything so I can watch it again. That'd be pretty sweet.

Friday morning I woke up super early to catch the 8am bus to Malaga with my classmates. It's about a 4 hour bus ride, so I had plenty of time to catch back up on my sleep. We got to Malaga and found our hostel. It was really nice for being a hostel. We put our stuff up and changed into our bathing suits and set out to explore/find the beach. I love Malaga. It's beautiful. I really like the architecture of the buildings and it's right on the Mediterranean Sea so it's all beachy and blue. We found the beach and then realized that nobody had a towel. We also had a little culture shock when we remembered/ saw that they have a "no tops" rule. Oh well, we were there and laying on our clothes seemed to do the job of keeping us from getting overly sandy. Then the two Europeans that were with us decided to go swimming, so everyone followed. Let me tell you how fucking cold the Mediterranean Sea is. I'm pretty sure I literally stopped breathing for a second when I went under water. And the people from here just frolic in it like it's no big deal. But none the less, now I can say I've swam in the Mediterranean. (That's 3 different "oceans" in 4 months...not too shabby!)

Then Friday night we decided to do this pub crawl that the hostel offered. It was pretty fun. We went to like 4 different places, some bars, some clubs (but not discotecas- they're different). It was fun and we drank alot and danced alot. Malaga night life is hoppin. There were people out everywhere, of all ages! We got back to the hostel around 4:30am and passed out. (Some of us literally, some figuratively.)

On Saturday we woke up too late to get the free breakfast so we got dressed and went to a little cafe for some food. Then we went to the Picasso Museum. It was pretty cool. Picasso was such a good artist. His early stuff is amazing and then his later abstractish stuff is pretty cool. Like I guess you have to be pretty crazy to see what he sees in some of it but it's still great art. Then we went to some other art museum. The art was really good but I'm not that into art and for me they kind of all look the same after awhile. Then we went to the beach again. Then we spent Saturday night in the bar. Fabulous.

Today we walked around, ate lunch at a cafe and caught the bus back. Now I'm just hanging out with my hermano about to learn some Spanish grammar and procrastinating on everything I need to do for tomorrow. My grades won't be happy about that. And my guess is, neither will my parents. (hey, mom and dad!) We are going out to dinner in about 2 hours. Yes, that is 10pm. Apparently, on Sundays, you go out to dinner. Fantastic. I love not doing homework and staying up all night to be tired all the next day. Welcome to my life. Always.

PS Today is my (real) brother's birthday. He's 19. I miss him. Happy birthday, Harrison!

Just another day in Spain

Well, well, well, let's see, yesterday was another pretty average day. I woke up, went to class, came home, ate lunch, siesta-ed for about 25 minutes (we'll get to that later), went to some museum, got some cerveza y tapas, and then went home and did all the homework I had, ate a little pizza for dinner, studied some more and went to bed. Bowling the other night was excellent, I bowled quite well, if I do say so myself. I won, so I guess that's something. The bowling alley in Ubeda was closed (it's open different hours on different days) so we went to Linares, a nearby (but not so nearby) town. The bowling alley there (it's a much bigger town) also had a movie theater, a Burger King, an arcade, a pizza restaurant and a play thing (think: McDonald's play area x5). Apparently I wear a size 38 or 39 in the shoes here. So just add 30 to your US size if you were wondering what size shoe you wear in Spain. Who knew?

So today was the first day I had a real siesta all week. Monday we had to go pottery it up, Tuesday I went with Dani to his school, then yesterday we had to go to a museum. Excuse me professor, but siesta is a big part of the culture. There's a reason everything is closed and we're the only people in the street. We went to this archeological museum. Which would have been cool if I liked looking at clay pots and cement ruins that you can't even tell what they were. And also, maybe if I was well rested it would have been better. I'll admit it, I was a little grumpy while we were there. Okay, enough ranting about sleep.

Today has been a pretty good day. I woke up, went to class, came home, ate lunch, SIESTAed for a solid two hours then went to the Academy, where my mom works, to talk English with some students. They are SO precious. They were all like 13-14 years old and were in awe of our American-ness. They had a million questions. We were talking about something and I said "My friend Justin...something or other" and they were like "JUSTIN?! YOU KNOW JUSTIN BIEBER?!" Apparently, there is only one Justin in America. My padre asked "Do you like Spanish man?" (men). To which my reply was just a simple "Yes, they are nice." and he said "shot the sheriff". I don't know if that was in appropriate context or no, but way to watch some American movies. My parents work at the Academy and were showing Amanda and I off to everyone. At one point she introduced us as "mis chicas" meaning "my girls"...they're so proud to be able to introduce us to people they know! Absolutely adorable.

The internet at my house has been down yesterday and today so now I am sitting at my friend Amanda's house and me, her and her sister are all sitting on our computers. My padre says "I try to mend the wi-fi." (note: it's not wi-fi, it's wee-fee). My brother has been in Malaga since yesterday morning and it's been kind of lonely at home without him. He went there for a job interview and has a test for it tomorrow. Then he will come home...after I leave for Malaga for the weekend. Ironic, I know. I'm excited to go to Malaga, it's got some beautiful beaches and our whole class is going, minus Amanda, who has to go to Casa Rural with her family for the weekend like she told them she would. How sad.

So my real dad got my fligt back to the United States changed. I'm going to London to see my friend Kate after I am done in Spain, but I booked my ticket as round trip so I would have to go back to Madrid to fly home. Now I get to come home from London. Yay for not having to navigate a foreign airport in Spanish!! Getting back to Spain from London is now one less stress that I have to worry about. I do, however, need to figure out how to get to London from Madrid. aka purchase a train ticket. Then I have to figure out where I'm staying. I think Kate is going to be living in a dorm so I'm thinking I'm not going to be able to stay there. I will probably get a hotel, just because I will have ALL my things and I don't trust staying with other people in a hostel.

That's it for now I suppose, I'm just hanging out with Amanda and Marta and then we may go run in el parque and later we are going to see a movie with her whole family and getting pizza. I think they want to try and make us feel more American. Ha! Adios!

Schooled

Well, it turns out pottery isn't my thing either. I don't understand how I'm so bad at things that are cool. I guess I'm pretty average in everything I do. Thanks Mom and Dad for making me try everything and never getting good at anything. So the pottery place was cool. It was like watching a magic show watching Paco Tito make his pottery. Then when we got the chance to do it everyone seemed to just pick it up like it was easy or something. I can assure you, it's not. There's no diligent way to coordinate how fast you spin the wheel thing with the foot pedal, add water, touch the clay so it molds how you want to and think all at the same time. There's just not.

Paco helping me

Got a little dirty...

So last night I didn't do anything because I had alot of homework and I need to be getting ample sleep. Amanda was over for a while and we hung out with my brother. Then today I went to class, then ate lunch, had a quick siesta and then went to my brother's school where he teaches with him. I've never been so popular in my life. I felt bad because those kids spoke way too fast for me to understand them, but they let me play (um, more like schooled me in) soccer and basketball. Even the kids that were "bad" at futbol were better than the good kids in the US. It was funny because there's also the same kids in the class. You know, the bigger red-neck looking kid who's the bully, the skinny little loner, etc. Then they had a fiesta and I've never seen children eat up so much food so quickly. They were super cute and of course I forgot my camera.

Now, we are waiting for Oscar to come get us so we can go bowling. Yes, bowling. Not thinking that they had it here I said something about it. Turns out they do. Soooo, now we're going. My biggest concern is how I'm going to get shoes. Because the sizes are different here and I have absolutely NO idea what size shoe I wear here.

Anyways, sorry my life is dulling down some. I think I'm just getting used to things and not everything is as exciting anymore so I don't remember it. And for that, I apologize.

Salsa!

I don't have time to siesta today so I guess I will update about life in Spain. (since yesterday). Yesterday ended up being a pretty lazy day. My host parents go salsa dancing every Sunday evening and they invited Amanda and I along this week. Sorry, no videos this time. I'm going to try to copy Amanda's blog post to here because she describes it perfectly. We pretty much had the same experience. Except I wore flats (still not the high heels needed) and I was already at my house. Yep, as for dancing with rat-tail man, thank goodness he had patience.

"I know that I briefly told you about my dancing experience...but for those of you who really know me, you know that dancing is one of my favorite things to do. So I'm going to elaborate for you about how awesome these three hours were....

Ok, so I arrive at my friend Sarah's house wearing what I think is a very cute and appropriate outfit, but I was soon told by Sarah's father that my sandals were going to be terrible for dancing lol (of course he said all this in Spanish which I understood about every other word, but his look said it all) Sarah's mom comes in and looks like something from a movie. She is wearing a denim dress with pink strapy (i know not a word Jessica) heels. I tell her how beautiful she looks and again get looks because of the shoes. Around 7:00 we head to the place where we will be dancing. Upon arrival I get real nervous because there are a lot of people (a lot of older people) here. Most of the women have on tight dresses and all are wearing high-heels. Of course, Sarah and I get passed around being introduced to people always with two cheek kisses. Sarah is introduced as their daughter from the USA and I'm the friend who is always at their house lol, (but really they love me). The dancing starts with one male instructor leading a group of 12 middle-aged women in new dance steps. This guy's clothes are so tight it is ridiculous, pero I don't know what is more ridiculous, his tight clothes, his vive la salsa shirt, or his one dread that looks like a rat-tail. Nonetheless, this man is like an angel on the dance floor. His hips and feet move in ways I ever dreamed of.

The dance lessons continued for about and hour and then the men and women took the dance floor together. I have never seen such dancing. Everyone was different but gorgeous. There was one man who looked like he could have been a college linebacker, but his feet moved like a ballerina. This man asked Sarah to dance and she did excellent. Then of course it was my turn.

So people...picture the scene. a small blonde girl with sandals on, taking the dance floor with this large and older man who could have been my dad. He spoke no English, but yet thought he could teach me how to dance. and yes, he surely did! It was so awesome just being led and not relying on conversation and words to dance. I messed up often, but he was so kind and helped me get back on beat. The night continued on as Sarah and I danced with each other and her parents.

Then, it happened! Rat-tail man asked me and Sarah to dance. Whatever, I thought, this will be just like before. Nope I was wrong. It was only me and him on the dance floor. Of course we started out with a crazy move and I was terrified, but we had a blast. We dipped, and spun, and did some dirty dancing moves (don't worry parents they weren't really dirty). At one point, he
literally dragged me as quick as possible all the way across the dance floor. It was crazy. We nded on a dip and the crowd went wild (in Spanish) lol. No but really everyone said I did good.

Oh what a night. It was ended around 9 because I had to be back to my house for dinner and to study! But I definitely plan on going back to the Salsa club next Sunday and bringing it back to America. Just wait friends!"


So yeah, while dancing with middle aged Spanish men isn't exactly my cup of tea, it was definitely really fun and I enjoyed it alot. It's crazy how much you can communicate through dancing and body movement because literally the people there spoke no English. I wish I was good at dancing, but that's the thing. Nobody here judged. They all thought I did "great" (probably just being nice, but let me have my moment) and were really encouraging. I know I didn't do well. Please, rat-tail/vive la salsa shirt dude had to stop like 3 times in the middle so I could get back on count with him. And at the end he did some fancy spin thing then dropped me (like dancing dropped, not for real. a dip?) and I thought I was about to hit the floor. This guy probably weighed about 15 pounds less than me and was about half the width. How the hell he caught me blows my mind.

Today has been pretty average. I woke up this morning, went to class, learned some things, took a test, turned in a paper (in Spanish, of course), came home, ate some lunch (yummy pasta thing, "salad", bread, watermelon) and now I should be siesta-ing but it's a sad day because there is no siesta today. Why? Because I get to go make pottery at 4. I'm pretty excited to be a pottery-ist. Ceramist? Hopefully, my hands-on art project skills are better than my dancing skills.

Also, in the USA, everyone is celebrating Memorial Day. Yep, that doesn't exist here. So Happy Memorial Day to all the American Soldiers, past and present. Thank you for keeping America and our freedoms safe. And a very special shout out to my real brother for his service to our country! :)

Granada, Futbol y Borracha

Hmmm, so much to write about, I hope I can remember it all! We went to Granada early Friday morning and spent the day walking up and down (mostly up) mountains. We just walked around enjoying Granada and then we walked/climbed up to Alhambra. Talk about a fucking hike. It sits up on a high mountain. But it was really cool. It was huge. I couldn't imagine living there. There's like a palace part and a fortress part. It's really pretty. Here is a video I took from across the way of Alhambra. Granada, especially Alhambra, is pretty touristy. (Example: Amanda was wearing an NCSU shirt, some guy made the wolfpack hand symbol at us. Small world. Literally.) It's still really tranquil while also a huge city. I would love to go back to Granada someday and see everything else it has because we only saw a very small part of the city since we were only there for 2 days. Me with Alhambra in the background

Yesterday we went to the Cathedral. There literally aren't words that can describe it. I'm still marveling over the immaculate detail and size of this church. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are buried in one part of it, and that part is considered sacred so no photos were allowed. There is another part where they actively have mass and you could take some photos in there of certain things. It just blows my mind how something so awesome was built without any technology and just to think about how much time it took someone to carve out the designs and make the stained glass window. I love when I literally can't fathom something.

This picture does absolutely no justice to the detail and architecture of the Cathedral.

Last night was the Barcelona vs Manchester United Champions League Cup game. BIG DEAL here. Like we're talking everything but bars shut down and when Barca won there was just mass chaos in the streets. The police blocked off the main square here so people could celebrate. Completely insane. Also completely insane is where we went last night after the bar. It's called Botellon. You just go out to where there is a bunch of warehouses and there's hundreds of people out there just drinking in the street. It's a cheap way for everyone to hang out and drink. The policia rolled through and just said hey to everyone. We stayed there til about 5am and we were among the first to leave. I have no clue how these people do it! Here's a vocab lesson: the spanish word for drunk is borracho/a.

Amigos

I don't know what's in store for today. Probably a good rotation between napping and homework and eating. As promised, here are the videos of my family showing me salsa and Amanda and Dani flamenco-ing. Hasta luego!

Gone to Granada

Just a little heads up, I'm going to Granada for all of today and most of tomorrow and will be without internet so don't expect any new updates until atleast Saturday night or Sunday! Sorry, I know it'll be rough not to hear from me. It's so early now. Just about 7am. I've been up for an hour and have done nothing that I needed to get done before we leave. But I am talking to a couple people from home on Skype. It's like 1am/bedtime there. Still is so weird to me. I guess I better go get dressed/ready, pack, and get breakfast so I can leave to walk to the bus station on time. It would kind of suck to miss the bus to Granada...

The Subjunctive

Who knew I would get yelled at if I didn't update this thing every day. Sorry people, sorry. So much has happened in the past 2 days I hope I can remember it all! Let's see on Tuesday I don't think I did anything too exciting. Just class, lunch (tortillas with some tomatoey sauce), siesta, went for a run around El Parque Norte with Amanda, dance party, homework, bed. Pretty typical day for here I suppose. Running around the park was like death. Between being in a high altitude, 90 degrees of blazing sun (it's stronger here because we're closer to it on the mountain) and hills, I thought I was going to quit breathing and die from exhaustion. Then yesterday we had class for one hour less than normal and went to Baeza for the afternoon. It's Ubeda's "sister city". It's a little more modern in part of it, but there is an older part too. I uploaded a video of the panoramic view from Baeza. If you look really, really hard you can Ubeda in the background.


After we got back from Baeza, I came home and siesta-ed like there was no tomorrow. I woke up and ate some lunch that was left for me. It was lentils in some kind of Jumbalaya like thing. (Use you imagination here.) Then I went shopping with Amanda and her hermanas, Marta y Sofia. After that we went back to their house for a little and then it was time to meet up with some of my classmates for drinks and tapas. I invited my host brother out too. It was a good time. Maybe too good of a time, because every single one of us struggled to stay awake in class today.


Speaking of class today, we were learning the subjunctive, which doesn't really exist in English. I hate it. Hate it more than the past and future tenses, ser vs estar and por vs para all combined. Well, it may be a tie if it's all combined, but still. Spanish is such a difficult language to learn. In English we have I run, you run, he/she runs, we run, they run. In Spanish each person is a different conjugation of the verb. UGH.


Today's lunch was some fish (I think tilapia, maybe?) and french fries and a ham sandwich on special Ubeda bread (Mom's side of the family you will appreciate this: it's pretty much bread that is covered in seasoning salt) and cherries. Delish. And of course, as always, there was "salad" aka tomatoes, tuna, cheese, and maybe pears? in olive oil. Yummm. And just a bit about the olive oil here: the stuff you buy at the grocery store in America is NOT olive oil. The real stuff is so good and rich. The people here eat it like candy. They put it on everything. Even their skin is olive toned (okay...too far?). But seriously. Olives are everywhere and olive oil is more common than butter and grease in the United States. Hard to believe, I know.


The other day when I was talking about how horrible I was at Flamenco, I wasn't kidding... here is a video a girl in my class posted on youtube. I'm in the pink shirt. Seriously, try not to laugh TOO hard at my complete lack of coordination. I have a couple other videos I need to upload. Like one of Amanda teaching Dani how to Flamenco. (His reaction: "I am learning Flamenco from an American?!") Another is when my host momma and Dani were showing Amanda and I how to Salsa. Maybe in the next blog. This one is long enough and it's cutting into my siesta time!

buenos dias

I have about 10 or 15 minutes to kill real quick before I go to class so here's my funny story of the morning. First off, everyone here wears slippers or flip flops inside the house. They think it's really bizarre that I prefer to be barefoot. So I just finished my tostada y leche and I had gone back to my room to grab my water bottle to fill it up. When I walked back in the kitchen my madre told me that I "walk too quietly" and she "can't hear me coming"...I'm sorry, next time I'll stomp down the hallway. (Mind you, the other 2 people in the house are still sleeping.) This is after my hermano told me that I "close the door too loud" (the doors here are heavy! and the handles are kind of odd, I'll have to take a picture). Geesh, I don't know if I should be louder or quieter! I suppose I will go wait outside for Amanda now so we can walk to class. It's supposed to be a toasty 32 degrees here today. In celsius. That's a comfortable 90 degrees in Farenheit. And it's only spring here. Ayyyy!

Flamenco!

Today: woke up at 7:30, get ready for school, ate breakfast, met Amanda and walked to school for class at 9. Class was 9-1:30 and I reeeeaaaallllyyy struggled to stay awake. 4 hours of sleep plus a class in all Spanish on a book you didn't understand does not equal anything good. After school, I came home, did one of the pages in my workbook and then it was lunch time. We ate this thing that was like french toast (minus butter and syrup) with a slice of ham and pate on it. It was pretty good. I'm not the biggest fan of pate but I liked the bread and the ham.

I only was able to siesta for about 20 minutes (but believe me, I got 20 minutes of hardcore siesta!) because my class had to meet down at the plaza at 3:45 to go to our dance class. We were taught Flamenco... that is the hardest freakin thing I have ever tried to do in my life. I'm the most uncooridnated person in the world. You have to move your wrists, arms, hips, and feet all separate from each other but at the same time. And click these little clicker things in a rhythm in your hands. And all to the fast beat of the music! Needless to say, I sucked at it. But it was fun! After our lesson, we watched these little girls do different kinds of dances. Holy smokes, they're amazing!

After that, Amanda and I came back to my house and attempted the rest of the homework. My padre ended up showing us a video of him and my madre salsa dancing in a "recital" (for lack of better term). They've been doing it for 8 years, I think. When my brother got home, Amanda and I were having a crazy dance party and decided to teach him the cupid shuffle...who knew that the directions to the song (to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right...) were also in Spanish?! However, he was not too good at learning to "walk it out". They use their hips too much here. It was like a salsa version of walking it out. Amanda went home after our little dance party around 9:30 and then it was dinner time. Dinner was an egg sunny-side-up and some kind of ham and bread. It was pretty good. Now I need to go shower and finish my homework and go to bed at a decent hour tonight since I did not sleep much last night. Which unfortunately means probably not skyping anyone still living on the east coast (aka everyone I know). Occasionally I get homesick for things, but it's just when I'm talking about them to my family or when I see something that reminds me. I have to keep telling myself to live it up because in a month, this new, crazy, awesome life will be over! Buenas Noches!

Wanted: Sleep!

The first part of today was pretty uneventful. After lunch, I siesta-ed for 2 hours or possibly more and then mi hermano asked me and Amanda to go out with his friends. It was quite the experience but so much fun. The guys here are really nice (like most of the people in general) and it's fun to hang out with people our age. Well, most are 22-23, but close enough. Some guy thought I was 25...uh yeah, in 5 years. They are just as curious about America and English as we are about Spain and Spanish. We exchanged sayings (good and bad) and taught each other "real life" Spanish/English. The only problem is that if this drinking keeps up I'm going to be poor and my homework is never going to get done. I'm supposed to be doing my homework right now but I'm taking a little break. It's 2 in the morning and I just want to sleep. I'm learning to live with the consequences of my actions! Here's a picture and then it's back to homework and then sleep. Tomorrow after class (from 9-1:30) we are learning flamenco dancing. Ayyyy! (what they say here instead of ah! or ugh!) Gracias Dios por siesta :)

Recovery Day

Well, yesterday was quite an eventful day, I suppose. I woke up around noon and then went over to Amanda's casa around 1:30 and had lunch over there. Her family is really fun. They had a bunch of people over for lunch. We got schooled in foosball or futboline, as it's known here. It's a big game here. Like they play tournaments in bars for money and stuff. For lunch we had paella and then some good bread with sugar thing for dessert. After lunch, we didn't have enough time to siesta so we worked on homework a little before we had to meet our class down at the plaza. We went on a tour of some Ubeda museums and then it ended with dinner at the last place with some of the host families that overlooked the mountains and olive groves and was really pretty. They served Sangria at dinner, which was SO good and we were drinking it like it was water...probably not the best idea. Also at dinner, there was a belly dancer. One of the dads told us "this is not typical of Ubeda!"...I guess belly dancers can be comparitive to strippers a little bit?!

Amanda's padre, Me and Amanda with the Paella

At one of the museums

The view as the sun was going down...around 10:00pm

After dinner we walked to this bar that was actually really close to my house (the plaza is not) and we drank for a couple hours. It's kind of odd here how the bars work. You get your drink and then they just keep bringing you food (for free). They also give you a bowl of sunflower seeds and you just spit them on the floor. After the bar Amanda and I walked back to my casa. Her madre had told her to have my hermano walk us home or to call her and she would come pick her up because she didn't want her walking by herself. When we got to my casa, everyone was out for the night...and it was 3am! We walked to her house (about 3 blocks) and then her mom drove me back here. Her family really is so nice!

So now I just woke up for the day and I'm a little hungover. Apparently, that doesn't happen to anyone else here. They drink for hours and feel fine. Must be nice. They also apparently don't need sleep and make fun of me for sleeping so much. I think today will be a day of homework and possibly going to the pool at Amanda's casa. I had some bread thing with chocolate in the middle for breakfast that was really good. And I had my milk with breakfast, madre makes me. Dani asked if Amanda and I wanted to go get coffee or whatever with him and his friends later tonight so we may do that after hours of homeworking.

When in Spain...

Do as the Spanish do? My legs hurt so bad. It's a mix between sore from walking for hours everyday and pain from dehydration (they really don't drink that much water here). After siesta today, Amanda and I walked around Ubeda. We went in some shops in the market and we both bought some clothes. We were just wandering around, hoping we don't walk near the bad part of town (where there might be gypsies) and we stumbled upon this absolutely breathtaking ledge that overlooks the olive groves with the mountains in the distance. Since it has just kind of rained (like 5 drops for 5 seconds) there was even a rainbow!
Afterwards, we went and got tapas y cerveza. Today's tapa was calamari. Much better than snails. The beer here is much stronger than in America. Es una cosa buena. One cup and you're feeling pretty good. It's also fairly cheap. When I got back home around 9:30 or so mis padres had already left for the night. I'm not really sure where they went but they left a note that they'll be back late. Apparently, they're really into dancing (salsa, flamenco, tango, etc), so I have a feeling that's where they went. My brother is about to go out with his friends to get some drinks, but he has to be back early because he goes to Jaen for class in the morning. Right now he's listening to music and the majority of it is American. I think it's funny that they still listen to a lot of American music, even though it's in English. What if the only English you knew was Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the Black-Eyed Peas lyrics? However, the Spanish songs that are mixed in aren't bad at all, I may have to download some new music.

It's almost 11 and I'm about ready for bed. The days here are long and tiring but so much fun. I love that I'm getting used to the town and exploring all kinds of new things. I also love that taking a nap everyday is acceptable. Not just acceptable, expected. My spanish is already improving, even though it's still very broken. I like speaking with my family because they talk slowly and know that I can't form sentences sometimes. Being in public is a whole different story. I did do very well with the restaurant lingo today, I was pretty proud of myself for that. I may attempt to work on some homework before I get on skype at midnight. It's so weird that it's midnight here and only 6 o'clock at home. Like on the video it's daylight in Cary and I'm about to go to bed. For our homework we have to read multiple chapters out of both of our novels and complete some pages in our workbook, along with writing a page long paper using certain tenses. I hope that we only have this much homework because it's the weekend. I can't handle that much everyday! When would I explore if I always have to do homework? The kids here are crazy though, they study ALL the time. Maybe I'll take a lesson from that and get started on my massive amounts of homework (all in only Spanish, of course).