well, well, well. hello barcelona.

I LOVE Barcelona. Probably more than any other place in Spain I have ever been. I don´t think I have ever seen a place that has palm trees and beach, nightlife, a huuuuuuge fresh food market, incredible and innovative architecture, and shopping... combined into one rich-cultured, many-launguaged city.

The place is just bursting with life... which is more than I can say about how I was feeling when I got there after getting about one hour of sleep on the freezing cold, uncomfortable bus ride. But Larissa, Kristen, and I toughed it out, were crazy tourists and packed everything into two very long days.

We arrived at 6 in the morning, waited at the bus stop for it to get light (so we didn´t have to walk around the city looking for a hostel in the dark), took the metro to calle boquería, and found a cheap hostel. And cheap is the correct description... maybe creepy is a better word. It was called a youth hostel, probably because it was painted with weird pictures and shapes everywhere, and the sign above the bathrooms read ¨toy-lets.¨ Ha, not so funny. But, it came with breakfast and was only 16 a night, so we settled. It ended up being extremely cold and uncomfortable in there... we had to wear every single layer we packed because the door to the porch outside (which just conveniently happened to be right next to my bunk bed) was broken and didn´t close all the way. The second night I wised up and forked over the extra 2.50 for blankets. Sheesh. I guess if I look on the bright side, the freezing-ness of our hotel encouraged us to spend as much time out and about as possible.

And as a sudden update, I discovered today that not only did I receive three small, bite-like red bumps on my back, but about three more on my face, and three or four on my right hand/arm. I freaked out, thinking... oh no! maybe the hostel has given me an incurable disease or infection! so i went to the spanish doctor, who said they were only mosquito or bug bites of some sort and prescribed me a 5 dollar cream to use for elimination purposes. well, the good news is, i´m not dying. the bad news is, i probably hate the darn hostel more than anything in life. and now, the 7 layers worth of clothes that i wore to bed in the freezing cold hostel room must be washed... including my huge puffy jacket. that will be great fun. thank you arco youth hostel.

DISCLAIMER: don´t stay at arco youth hostel in barcelona. it is on calle boquería and it has a big, creepy green door. DON´T DO IT. you will get sick, freeze, and end up going to spanish doctors who tell you that you have nothing to worry about except for silly mosquito bites.

moving on.

after dropping our stuff of at the hostel, we traveled around the city...first stop? el mercado boquería (the huge food market). it´s one of the most famous markets and europe, and i now know why. IT ROCKS! it was possibly my favorite part of the trip because my appetite and love of food is probably similar to that of somebody obese.

we went, bought 1 kilo (a huuuuuuge bag) of strawberries for 2 and a half euro! we would spend that amount on some tiny little carton in the u.s. we continued to buy fresh baguettes, sandwiches, clementines, apples, platanos (banana sort things), chinese chicken, pasta, cantelope, etc. over the next two days. the only thing constant about our trip was our daily trip to the market for lunch. and it was just about the most delicious thing ever.

after the market, we rambled down ¨las ramblas¨ ha, like the play on words? ok i´m cheesy. our hostel was right off las ramblas. there was a ton of history and important buildings here, and we saw the plaze real (on of the several hundred plaza reals in spain) complete with palm trees and a pretty fountain. we then continued on to see a large statue of christopher columbus. apparently he is pointing in the wrong direction... not towards the americas.

we walked along the dock.. saw the beach (kinda... we saw the water but not the sand) and were in amazement that there were so many tropical palm trees in the middle of winter! on our walk back, we discovered some cool shops on the side of the road where we found some bargains. i´m always hunting for bargains because even bargains add up faster than you could imagine.

next, we went to the paseig de gracia, a more upscale area with fancy shmancy shopping, and of course the buildings by Gaudí! and i had never heard of these buildings, so i will explain for those of you who don´t know about them.

guadí was an artist/architect who created a series of houses/apartments/parks in barcelona in a modernist (i think!) style. basically, they are the coolest looking structures i have ever seen. he doesn´t like straight lines... or so it seems because all his buildings have curvy walls, curvy fences and gates, and everything is different than you would expect a building to be. casa batlló is the one house that we toured the inside of. the outside is covered in beautiful mosaics and the balconies to the windows have a gate that resembles a mask or a skull head.. pretty eerie. the inside is a masterpiece of beautiful stained glass, walls painted like mosaics, winding staircases, huge windows that look out onto paseig de gracia, and so much more.



we saw a bunch more other houses and buildings in the area, visited a coffee shop for some mid-afternoon coffee/cookie crackers, and decided to get dinner. we wandered and found this silly little place called BO. It stood for bueno y original, but we laughed at the body odor reference. it was delicous, and we were exhausted, so it was great.

we met a friend of taryn´s (one of our program-mates in pamplona) who she knew from the time when she used to live in barcelona. fernando. we met him at a bar and spoke in spanish to him and his friends... some pretty good practice! it was nice because he was from Ecuador, and it´s much easier to understand his accent than the accents of people from Spain. But we were tired and very happy to sleep in our horrible, evil hotel after our trip to this bar.

the next morning we walked around the casa batlló in the morning (we only saw the outside of the building the day before), did some more sightseeing in the area, then got lunch at the market again.

we wanted to go to the museum of chocolate... me being a chocoholic of course. but we passed it somehow on the way there, ending up in this amazingly great park. there was a pond, palm trees, a small waterfall, and egyptian-looking buildings. i think it was one of the prettiest things i have seen in spain! it was just incredible because barcelona had so many very different things to see in one city! we felt like we were in egypt or persia or in some scene from aladdin! and larissa found a small soccer ball under the bushes, so she as excited.

we found the chocolate museum on the way back, made our way to the gift shop, and purchased the smallest piece we could find. although my tour book said they had the best chocolate in barcelona, it was rich, but not the best i have ever had. then we got gelatto.

we saw the sagrada familia, another of gaudí´s works, his life´s goal actually, which is still being completed today. it is huge and gave me the chills.

ok, we found a spanish restaurant for dinner (so we thought.. it turned out to be slightly americanized, but what can you do?), went to a coffeeshop to avoid the freezing-ness of our hostel, and went to sleep super-early.

for we had to wake up at 6:30 am to get to the bus station before our bus left.

and that is my trip. that is barcelona in a nutshell. that is all i have to say about it for now.

so, i encourage everyone to see barcelona at some point in his or her life. i encourage everyone not to stay in a bad hostel. i encourage everyone to be rich before going to barcelona because it costs about 15 euro to get into every museum, and if you are me or any regular person, you have to settle for seeing the outsides most of the time.

and the best advice i have is this: remember that wherever you are, things are never as good as they could be if you are not with the people you love. (no offense to the kids i travel with.. we have discussed this anyway...we have great times despite what i´m saying) i think barcelona would have been a gazillion times cooler than it already is had i been with the people who i really wanted to share the experience with. so yea, studying abroad is cool. but i don´t think anything could compare to going on these trips with people who i love.

i just wish you were all here with me, that´s all.

oh, so much to think about!

I don´t have much time to write, but I just HAVE to today. There is so much excitement in my brain. For some reason, today was wonderful, and it doesn´t even have to do with the fact that I bought a box of pretty delicious cookies or that my spanish dad brought home about 10 pounds of swiss chocolate (ok, maybe the happiness does have to do with that a little bit... I can´t deny that I´m a raging chocoholic)! I am just super happy with my day. And let me share why.

Today started with classes. Average, nothing too exciting... I ate a huge lunch that I shouldn´t have eaten... but here´s where my day starts to get good...

Well, I went swimming! And the pool at the gym here was beautiful and there was only one other man in the pool. I felt so at peace because no matter where I am, a pool is a pool, and I could swim in peace. And the lifeguard lady even gave me a swim cap to use! (I guess it´s mandatory, but that´s fine with me!) So, after my swim, some lady was really friendly to me in the locker room, saying hi and cya later... and although that seems so trivial, it´s so nice when people are friendly here because I sometimes feel hostility when I make social mistakes and cannot speak well. So I just said hi and cya to her and I felt happy because I could disguise myself as a spanish girl!

Then, I rushed home, took a wonderful shower (I guess showers feel better after you swim and come in from the very very cold weather). Then, I met with my intercambio again. This time, things went a lot better - it was less awkward, and I realized that I really do like him. He is nice, he helps me a lot with my spanish, and there is nothing better than getting more practice. I think it helped that this time we went ot a more chill cafe where I drank tea (and liked it... kinda... which is a change for me) and it was so pretty! He told me it was modeled after this fancy ship that used to take people from Paris to Russia. They gave me cookies with my tea. And to top it off, they played music buenísima! And I told him I could only stay two hours... so it was nice to not have to struggle through 4. I feel like we split the spanish and english time equally. We are planning on meeting again on Tuesday. It´s great cuz he has a car and can take us places much easier than the bus can.

After that, I bought my bus ticket for... drumroll please.... BARCELONA. And it leaves tonight at 1 in the morning! So this way, we don´t have to pay for a hostel for tonight... we can sleep on the bus. It´s only a five hour ride, so we will not get much, but whatever. I don´t care... we are going to barcelona! Which, from the pictures and descriptions i have seen and heard about, is incredible. We are leaving Sunday morning so we have 2 full days there.

After we bought tickets, I bought some gum and cookies at the grocery store, always nice. I also discovered that to buy the face soap I usually use, it would cost the equivelent of 15 dollars. Forget it! I will have a pimply face... I cannot pay that much for a bottle of soap!

Tonight I had a great dinner with my spanish mom... we talked a lot. And then my spanish dad came home with his 10 pounds of chocolate... it was something out of a dream i swear... he placed about 9 or 10 bars (one of them is like 400 grams worth of chocolate, it´s the biggest thing i have ever seen) on the table. Ahh! Then we talked for an hour about the places I should see in spain, and Pepe, my spanish dad said that my spanish speaking and comprehension has reallly improved in the past week. i haven´t noticed, but maybe it´s true! and if so, yay! good to hear.

and that is my fabulous day. woo. i am packed and ready to go... now i just have to convince myself to do some homework before i go. ok. i have about an hour and a half for homework, i should do that.

ahhhhhhhh yay! i´m in such a good mood.

oh school... school... school

I finally feel like I´m getting a schedule together here. I know what I´m doing everyday (minus the weekends, the times when I need to decide where I want to travel).

This weekend, for me, I think Barcelona is the place to go. I think we have a group of three or four (perfecto!) and we can take an overnight bus to save money rather than staying at a hostel for another night. Now we just have to but the tickets and find a hostel. Easy as pie.

Now the trip I´m planning to Portugal... a little more difficult. I have to find an airport to fly out of, a way to get to that airport, and travel there in the most effecient way because we don´t have many days to see much. The good news is that Ikur says his aunt has a hostel/place to stay for us! Yay... we got connections there!

Trips to Granada, France, and Bilbao are the other must sees... I think. All this planning is crazy! But it´s got to be done. No regrets! The good news is that it´s winter (and the bad news too I guess). We won´t have great weather anywhere, but, on the bright side, we will have reduced prices for everything in this non-tourist season!

I felt like I had a lot of things to write today, but I am now drawing a blank. I just wrote 3 entries in my spanish diary that we have to keep for one of my classes... so maybe that took a lot out of me.

I´m still feeling really lonely and estranged from everything... so far nothing is feeling better. I hope it will happen eventually... I just need to loosen up a little bit and embrace the fact that I AM in Spain and this IS my life for the next couple of months. And now that I think about it... this is not enough time. I should have stayed for two quarters cuz there´s no way I´m gonna be fluent in this time unless I have a rapid turn-around.

Although I feel like this blog sets me behind, I will keep writing it. The thing is, every time I write or speak in English, I regress back to a state of mind in which I do not want to be.

Ok, I´m feeling that this blog is a bit dull... it needs more color. Ok here goes... the most exciting things of my day.

Today I went to the bathroom in the boys bathrooms by accident and only realized after I came out. That was smooth. I had to wear Amaia´s too-big shoes cuz I didn´t bring anything suitable for snow. We will go shopping tomorrow before my community service starts.

Oh! I have come to a new realization. In Spain, in Pamplona, or maybe even only in my gym here, I am stronger than boys. Ok, not stronger, but I guess my muscles are more visible. It´s kinda weird. I think the thought process here is not ¨let´s see how much I can work out so I can completely pig out and eat as much as I can later,¨ but more of a ¨well, i guess i´ll work out a bit now and then eat normally later.¨ they don´t work out so they can eat, they don´t eat so they can feel so really full. But all these boys in the gym (because it´s really really rare at my gym to see many girls working out... weird!) are pretty wimpy looking (by american standards, i guess). and the other day when we were watching tv, this calender of muscular guys came on a commercial. amaia said eew they don´t look natural. so the view... at least from what i can see, in this part of spain, is that it is not natural to be all muscular or in a girl´s case, really skinny... you can be healty looking by just not being overweight... by just being normal. and everyone here looks normal. it´s so rare to see someone overweight walking down the street.

but i cannot change my ways. i work out a lot. i eat a lot. and that works for me. and do you know what else works? i neeeeed sweets in my life... aka chocolate, gummy bears, cookies, brownies, etc. and i´m going through a severe lack of this, which is driving me crazy! i hope i adjust... then maybe i´ll be healthier for life. but i don´t think my love for chocolate can just disappear into thin air. sad.

today i got rice with vegetables and chicken at the dining hall. and guess what my spanish mom just happened to make me? yes. you guessed it.

rice with vegetables and chicken.

lucky me.
i think i overdosed on fruit (2 clementines, 1 orange, 1 banana), rice (2 huge plates), and chicken (4 pieces) today. sick. o yea, and bread... I ate like a full baguette loaf, more here, and toast for breakfast.

i think i´m gonna die of food overdose... this cannot be healthy.

enought about food... let´s talk about something else.

today i learned that spain makes the biggest chunk of money from tourism (it´s almost completely surrounded by beaches) and the life here is just so much happier than in other european countries. apparently, according to my mom, in most other countries in europe, people are in their houses by 5 each night. here it´s like 10 or 11... people are out and about. i love that... how fun. i think i´m getting a biased view cuz everyone i have met just loves spain. but the life here is good. i guess i have to take into consideration that i´m living/learning from a people who are pretty well off. and pamplona does have one of the highest qualities of life of all the places in spain. so who knows. i might be seeing another part of the world, but i´m only seeing part of this other part of the world.

enough blabbering. the end.

san sebastian y bares con mi hermana

well well well. i´m not in such a writing mood, but here goes nothing. my group and i went to san sebastian yesterday, and it was quite an experience. it is about an hour or two away from pamplona, and we just took a bus both ways. when we got there in the morning, it was sunny and the weather was nice... perfect for a walk on the beach! san sebastian is on the northern coast of spain, and just breathtakingly beautiful. i guess it´s the most expensive place in spain... and it makes sense.

one of the many parades

we went on a special celebration day, so there were parades with all the little kids in the town all day. we knew the drumbeat by heart by the time we left. a lot of the kids were dressed in little military outfits, but there were also adults dressed as cooks and housewives. everything was packed, and because this was so unusual for san sebastian in the winter, i think it was a perfect time to go.


a little town on the mountain we wanted to ride up... but we couldn´t.

the first thing we did was walk all across the beach to get some good photos. later in the day, we climbed the mountain... my favorite part of the day. there was a castle at the top with a huge statue of jesus and some cannons and just some amazing views in general.

what would it be like to live here?

we ate at this turkish place because all the regular bar/restaurants were packed so we had to go a bit off the beaten path. it ended up being delicious, despite the fact that the pizzas we ordered ended up being wraps.

some cannons on top of the mountain we climbed

the day was one filled with nature, a nice change from a lot of the tours we have gotten of cathedrals, museums, and such.


when i got home, my spanish sister amaia (finally! i learned the spelling) asked me if i wanted to eat dinner and go out with her and her cousin and good friend. so... i did. and it was so fun. she cooked dinner (chicken with this cheese sauce and home-made french fries...ahh! how is she 21 and sooo good at cooking?) and it was a bit confusing cuz the speech was fast. i just tried to listen to what they were saying to get a general idea.

then it was cute because amaia was trying to teach me how to put on make-up. well, she´s a painter, so i guess it makes sense she likes to paint stuff on her face too every once in a while. haha. it was pretty cute... because, i just can´t really describe her. but she´s like this cute, giggly girl and it doesn´t even matter to her that i don´t understand half the things she says. she just laughs it off and tries again. i don´t think i could have gotten a cooler ¨sister.¨

we went out to a couple of bars that she likes and the whole night was great because i was actually immersed in the life of a young spanish person. maybe that sounds cliché or corny or something, but it was really cool to actually go to the spanish hang-outs. and because i think amaia and i are similar, we like the same kind of atmosphere...

bar-hopping is a big thing in spain, maybe more-so than in the u.s. i think. we ended up in 3 last night. the second one we went to had darts... and thats why we went, but some guys had signed up for 14 games, so we couldn´t play. but we danced and it was great because dancing is one of those universal things. she could translate the spanish songs for me and i could translate the english ones for her. and the whole time, whenever they talked about anything, they were nice enough to slow down for a minute and make sure i was following (which, when they slowed it down, i could most of the time). i was just really appreciative because that´s exactly what i need... people to be considerate and take the extra time with me - that´s how i´m going to learn. overall, it was a great night... i really like amaia, her friend (i can´t even attempt to spell her name... atriz?) and ikur.

ikur (amaia´s boyfriend), random boy, amaia (my spanish sister-isn´t she cute?!), amaia´s friend (atriz? can´t spell) at bar portales. they played U2 for me!

today was a pretty relaxing day... i went for a run in the ciudadela again, did a bunch of homework, and went to a very beautiful cafe with liz, meghan, terry, and brian. we sat outside because it was the last nice day for a while. then... we went to buy candy at the candy store! we all know i cannot live in a world without chocolate.

on to more homework...

a few more pictures.

american, british, irish, american. oh the people we meet in spain.

it´s my room!

so, this is my big white bed.

the cute spanish family of mine.

my really cool spanish sister and her boyfriend. he is in the process of painting this one... and they are the subjects.

el encierro. this is where the running of the bulls ends each year...

the fountain by my house. this is the plaza de principe de viana... and it´s how i know that i´m headed in the right direction.

Happy Birthday Korea!

first off, i want to wish korea a very very happy birthday! because i cannot give you your gifts, i thought i would at least take pictures so you can have some birthday fun! so... i hope you enjoy, and your gifts will arrive very soon! (with me, in march! sorry for the delay!)


the second is a bangle, not a ring. just so ya know korea. hope your day is wonderful and the best bday ever!

from rock-bottom back to the top

Today has been a very emotional day for me. For some reason, when I woke up, everything seemed to go wrong. I was getting a gazillion text messages from all my friends trying to figure out how to get tickets for our trip tomorrow and then my phone said i needed to buy more minutes already! it´s so frusterating because talking only by text messages is so difficult and nobody can seen to figure things out when they are together... there are too many people to coordinate. on top of that, i just wasn´t understanding anythign in spanish that my family was telling me. it´s like, sometimes, i get so exhausted that i just don´t have the energy to really listen to them. it takes this intense concentration, and i swear, there has not been a day that i have been in spain that i am not completely and utterly exhausted by the middle of the day. when i go to sleep, i can´t even sleep. it´s like this never-ending spell. i am so preoccupied with thoughts and dreams of being in the u.s. and worries about the next day and a bazillion other things.

last night i had a dream that my whole family - aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and all were here in spain. i don´t know where in spain but we were in this huge white room with a huge table for everyone. we were all eating this cake with apples that my sister here, amaela (i still can´t spell her name cuz it´s a basque name and i get the letters confused!), made and it was huge! she really made a cake (un pastel) in real life, but it was like 1/10 the size of the one in my dream. and then my aunt jill started speaking to me in rapid-fire spanish and i was so confused. i think that´s when i woke up.

i keep having these really realistic dreams that really weird me out because i feel like they are real and i´m reallly there. it´s probably cuz this is the only way i can really see the people that i love... in my dreams. maybe that sounds cheesy, but i think that´s why it keeps happening.

anyhow, back to my crazy day. so the morning was just horrific. and then i found out that i had to recharge the minutes on my phone already. i have to pay 10 or 20 euros (between 15 and 30 dollars) each time to get more time/text messages on the phone and i feel like i´m gonna spend like a gazillion dollars! ugh. i was frusterated.

plus, i had to figure out how to purchase bus tickets to san sebastian, another part of northern spain that my friends and i are gonna travel to tomorrow. (it should be really cool! there´s a special festival going on tomorrow where all the niños (kids) will be in the street in costumes, playing instruments, etc. 2,000 of them! and san sebastian is a city by the water... many beaches, should be beautiful because the weather here has still been in the 60´s every day. we figured it would be better to see the beaches before it starts snowing).

anyhow, back to the frustration. so my phone wasn´t working, a billion people were messaging me, and i couldn´t understand a single word my family here was saying. and then... i didn´t realize this, but i was supposed to go to school to eat today even though i don´t have friday classes. i guess my family is only required to provide me with lunches on saturday and sunday. i didn´t realize this. my mom here said it was fine and there was enough food for me. but i felt bad cuz i was kinda imposing... and i vowed to remember that friday is a day that i need to take the bus to school to eat there (even though the food there is like salty paradise and i want to puke it all up. it´s pretty much the most unhealthy food... especially compared to the super-healthy food my family here eats).

so after all this stuff, i was just about ready to crack. i just felt so frustrated with myself for being in this new country, not being able to communicate with others, understand anything... and i was really feeling the horrible bad culture shock results. they warned us that after the first week, the novelty would wear off and we would get frusterated with everything. i didn´t think it would happen cuz i was so happy at first, but i see how this is possible. it´s like this: i have been here a week, and i seriously think my spanish has gotten a hundred times worse. every day i try and try again but much of the time, it´s very easy to regress back to english when my friends and i are struggling.

i think the icing on the cake was yesterday. i met my intercambio. an intercambio is a spanish student that the program here pairs you up with... they help us learn spanish and we help them learn english. we are supposed to meet once a week for an hour each time and switch back and forth between spanish and english at every section. well, i met mine yesterday. he´s 32, took me to a bar, and i felt like i was on a freakish, awkward blind date. it´s not like he did anything to make me feel uncomfortable. bars are very normal places to hang out here in spain... and it wasn´t really date-like. but i felt really weird in the first place, with a random man in a random bar without anyone i knew. he was a very nice guy. but i expected to be gone maybe an hour or an hour and a half... and we were there for 4 hours! he then asked me if i wanted to go to another bar to talk longer and i said, very awkwardly... trying not to be rude... that i needed to go home. we probably talked one hour in spanish and 3 in english and that made me upset because i just think he was being selfish. he explained to me that he really just wanted to practice english as much as possible... and i understand that. but i want to practice spanish as much as possible, so next time i need to speak up more and tell him that. it was really interesting to talk to someone who lived in spain all his life, but it was exhausting. trying to understand semi-broken english, fast spanish, and thinking of responses that would be simple-enough english for him to understand, or correct-enough spanish for him to understand really really took it out of me. i just wanted to go home and sleep.

but of course i didn´t. i needed to see my friends who i could vent to in english. because sometimes you just need to speak in english.

my intercambio, fernando, wants to meet as often as possible. i told him once per week was enough for me. because, honestly, i would rather spend time talking to my family here... i feel more comfortable in the house, and here i know i will be getting practice at spanish.

so there. that´s my bad attitude stuff. now onto the good.

so i finally met my friend meghan and we spoke in english and ate food in a bakery and went shopping and all was good again. i got my bus ticket, i recharged my phone, and i filled my belly. i felt like a billion dollars. because i just needed to talk to someone... someone who knew exactly how i was feeling. we are both going through the same frustrations.

we decided something. it´s just impossible to study abroad without a sense of humor. every day you are going to make these horrible, terrible, embarrassing mistakes. people are going to laugh at you. (like the time i ran to the bus cuz i thought i was gonna miss it and everyone was laughing at me cuz that was definitely not the case) people are going to look at you funny. (like when they see that i´m moreno - brown hair and eyes - talk to me, and then realize i don´t speak spanish very well) people are going to get frustrated with you. YOU are gonna get frustrated with YOURSELF. because that´s just how you learn. you learn through mistakes, through social faux paus (did i even spell that right ?!?), through some of the funniest experiences. and the thing is... you just have to take it with a grain of salt. or else you will just fall apart. just shatter on the ground like a sheet of glass. and it´s all just ok because this is life and life is about learning and adapting and being able to change.

and i am. i have never faced so many challenges in my life. yes. i have had challenges. but this is one constant challenge. this is the challenge to top all challenges. everyone should do this. i finally understand how it is for someone to move to another country and learn the language and the culture and everything about the people and the politics and the land and the way things are done. and it´s hard... but i think it´s gonna be worth it.

so maybe i speak too much in english with my program-mates. and maybe i´m not reading my books for school enough. and maybe i´m not getting enough sleep. whatever. it doesn´t matter what i´m doing... watching tv, looking at my surroundings... this is all learning.

alright, i need to stop thinking i´m a philosopher here. haha i probably sound so corny. but yea, i can deal with corny after all the stupid things i have done in the past week with a billion spanish people laughing at me.

i just had so much fun... talking to amaela and her boyfriend ikur. we were cooking pizzas and ikur was teaching me about the languages in spain (there are 4 of them!). and i just really like them. i feel really lucky to be in their company. because, i tihnk this is why, they are just different than anyone i have ever met. these artsy, spanish young adults, so in love, so adorable, and so interesting. and i might not understand a lot of what they are saying, but they have a good sense of humor with me about it. i can read their emotions because that´s something universal i think. i can understand that when they laugh... it´s not something mean. they aren´t laughing at me, they are just amused by the fact that i have such a hard time understanding them. i can´t really explain the connection me and amaela have. i think it´s just something so cool because we like each other so much despite the fact that we have really only been able to say so little.

i think i´ll stay in tonight. i feel like i need some time to catch up on sleep, homework, blogging, emailing, etc. it´s just nice to relax.

primer día de clases.

first day of classes. it was alright, but i think it´s gonna be very hard at first to adjust to all classes in a different language. it´s crazy cuz it´s stuff at the level that i would be learning it in english! i am taking a class about short stories and we are learning about the construction of short stories - i swear my english class at home was on an easier subject matter! however, i cannot be discouraged by the fact that i sound like a big dork when i speak spanish.

my friends and i were talking today about how we would sound to spanish-speaking folks. something like this:

heeee-loo, uuuuuumm, i...(pause for about 10 seconds) ate deeener uuuuuuuuuum with my family last night. The foody .....(another awkward pause)...... was pretty! No, no. I dont´know. I mean... (pause)........ tasty!

That´s seriously what we would sound like I think. With really awkward facial expressions and hand gestures. Basically, like complete dorks. I´m pretty sure my family here makes fun of me behind my back (not in a malicious way, but in a ¨wow, she´s got a lot to learn, that silly little american¨ way).

lunch at the dining hall was pretty good today. they have this wonderful yogurt here and delicious fresh bread with every meal. however, i also had very salty broccoli and potatoes that were all yellow. and rice covered with a sauce that vaguely reminded me of that which would cover spaghetti-o´s. anyway, i´m getting by, and that´s all that matters.

at my house, on the other hand, my spanish mom is like a freakin professional chef. yesterday, for lunch, she made an entire chicken that was cooked with a lemon in it, we had slices of ham (raw, it´s some kind of delicacy over here... and they claim that it´s really good for you, though i can´t imagine how cuz you can see the fat marbled throughout the entire thing), and soup, and tons of stuff. And she made me pasta with tomato sauce for dinner... very nice of her considering that they hardly ever eat pasta over here. she is trying very hard to make things that i like, and i was in heaven. if i wasn´t bursting at the seams, i would have finished the entire pan!

anyhow, i am going to check out the gym pretty soon... the rock climbing wall, weight room, and other various activities that are similar to those at ping.

i feel discouraged. although before i was saying how it´s funny how ridiculous i sound when i talk, it is really quite sad. i have not seen any improvement in my spanish since i arrived, and i think i have even gotten worse. when i type in english like this it kinda defeats the purpose. i start thinking in english again, which messes me up when i try to go back to spanish. a friend in the program who was also here last quarter said it takes about a month to fully understand everything. but i just dont´see it happening because even when i read things for classes, there are a good amount of words that i don´t understand. words like ¨to get dark¨or äppear¨ or many words that i would not ever even use in english. i just don´t see how it can happen, but every day is a constant battle with embarrassment and frustration. i try to take it lightly. it´s not a big deal. but it kinda is... my life lacks the normalcy. i try to walk down the streets silently most of the time because if i dont´talk, i can blend in (thank goodness i´m moreno! (brown hair and eyes)) Everywhere we go, even when my friends and i speak spanish, people stare at us. We are really aliens. a bunch of my program-mates have blond hair, and at night, many boys shout out rubios! (blonds!) it´s a sensation over... blond girls are very different. my friend larissa and i joke that we are going to make a moreno only club so we won´t get shouted at in the streets. whatever, i know i will feel better when i speak better spanish.

let´s try more photos.

another picture of the castles in olite

me with larissa and kristen

the really cool bunk beds in our madrid hotel

we love bus rides! i´m posing with a fish face cuz we just ate that crazy paella.

more buildings on the way into pamplona.

ok, enough for now! time for workout!

running in the park.

ok, i went running in the ciudadela today, the really sweet park that i have a picture of on my blog. it´s absolutely gorgeous, and the weather today was perfect, like 60 degrees. but i don´t know for sure cuz they use celsius here.

anyway, i´ll post some pictures for you.


this is the plaza del castillo, the meeting place for all my program-mates. it´s right by my apartment and in the middle of the oldest part of town.


the streets of pamplona


the cathedral is the most important historical building of pamplona


nature here is amaaazing. my host family loves mountain climbing.


when in spain, do as the spaniards do... wine tasting at the bodega. they drink wine like i drink water.


on the top of a castle in olite. very very high up.


when i was here, i liked to pretend that i was a princess on my balcony.

let me know if you want to see more pictures... there are many more where that came from! by the way, my email is ds325505@ohio.edu... i like emails! or facebook messages, or whatever.

mi vida está fantástica

i´m on the computer of my ¨sister¨here. she is back from the school for the weekend and she has to go back for exams monday. first off, i need to tell you about her. (by the way, my spanish dad is here too!) ok amaela (i think that´s how you spell it, it´s a basque name, which is another language spoken in this region cuz i´m in basque territory when i´m in spain. it´s pronounced a-maya) is soo so cool. she´s an art student, i think i told you... at a college nearby in bilbao. she´s like exactly how you would expect a spanish artist to be. super creative looking and really original. she came in wearing an argyle cardigan with this shirt that said in english ¨i like my men how i like my chocolate - sweet and rich¨haha and had this sweet clip in her hair. she dresses almost exactly like noodle does! in a spanish version though. anyhow, she came is kind of hard to understand. but i guess she is looking for a flat with her boyfriend. she told me all the best bars to go to and it was quite funny because my spanish dad was being silly like real dad and telling me not to stay out too late (but in a joking way, of course - kids here stay out til like 6 or 7 in the morning!) when we went to one of the bars she told me about, it was the coolest thing ever. i guess only i and two other girls i was with thought so. the others didn´t think it was as cool. but it WAS cool because it was like a bar version of the donkey. they played jack johnson and matt pond pa and i just about freaked out when i heard it. matt pond pa in spain? good music! we were talking to these nice spanish boys who were informing us about the city and how they studied abroad in michigan. they told us more places we could go... and then we left.

but this is all straying off topic - basically, amaela is really really cool. it was just so great to have the whole family home here. they were so happy to see each other and when they interacted, it was as if it was our family was here. i saw the same sarcasm, jokes, teasing, everything! and i guess it was just really encouraging to me because it´s just so true that everyone everywhere is exactly the same. people are all the same. the culture could be different, so much could be different, and people still laugh, love, cry, throw fits, and everything. it just makes me emotional to think about their interactions, and i think it´s because i miss you guys so much. i am just wishing i could be sitting in my own family room. but i do love it here... everything about spain is just so great. i love it. but i just feel like i left my life behind and i am excited to pick it up where i left off. like i´m living, but not really living. i love every day, but i know it´s just a snippet, and then things will go back to normal.

luggage arrival has made my life so much more comfortable already. i can´t tell you how happy it makes me. i felt like i was on survivor or something. i would never survive on that show. it was tough. i think pilar liked her gifts... the chocolate maybe more than the cd. they haven´t listened to it yet. i´m hoping maybe amaela likes it.

i really am loving every minute of this. i just know how lucky i am to be seeing all this for REAL in person. it´s just beyond words. i hope that i am still feeling so excited when i get used to life here. but it´s gonna be wonderful to be able to understand the people around me and communicate better.

yesterday was our first excursion. we went to olite, an old town in navarra, the region that pamplona is in. it´s very close to here, but it is just beautiful. it´s a town of many vineyards and bodegas. i think that´s what they are called... the wine factories. we visited a bodega where we got to see how the wine was made in this huge, huge metal things and the barrels it is stored in and everything. it was interesting... wish i would have understood a little more of what the tour guide was saying though. we also had a wine tasting right there at the bodega and i have come to the conclusion that white wine is my favorite... so sweet! and besides white wine, i like younger wines (jóvenes) more than older ones (crianzas, reservas, and gran reservas - the oldest). the younger ones are frutier. anyhow, we also went to the museum of wine and learned more about it! wine is such a huge thing here. The people drink it with every meal... almost. it´s been pretty weird to have wine at every meal, especially when we are on school sponsored trips. it´s hard for me cuz if i drink like two glasses i´m feeling tipsy, so i have to refrain. it´s gonna be a miracle if i don´t come back an alcoholic.

just kidding! alcohol here has a different meaning really. it´s not so much drinking as a mode of getting drunk. it´s a very social thing, but the attitude is very different. it´s just strange for me to adjust because i´m used to not being allowed to drink alcohol at all, and here, i am offered it at every single place i go.

anyhow, we also saw this amazing castle that was restored from the middle ages. it was fantastic. gorgeous. beautiful. the insides were very simple, but the architecture was just incredible. what a day. we played tag and soccer with the little kids who lived in the village, and they were ADORABLE! loved it. we also saw another church, maybe the third one i have seen in spain. they are very important historical landmarks. it is pretty interesting, which is suprising to me, cuz i´m not a big history buff. i have learned in spanish more about rococco, barouque, romantics, and gothic stuff than i ever have in english.

what else? lunch was good again, there´s like 7 courses for every lunch. it´s their big meal, not dinner. today i had this brothy soup and steak for lunch. i´m feeling pretty weighed down right now. i need to do some serious running here. haha! my parents here are watching spanish soap operas - telanovelas. ok, the other thing is this. they keep claiming that the food is really healthy. well, yes, it is all extremely fresh, that´s for sure. but there is so much meat! i don´t know if that could be very good for me. my mom here keeps cooking more and more things for me. i need to escape so i´m not obese.

anyhow, i hope everything is well at home. i miss you guys incredibly.

p.s. my address is


Avenida Zaragoza 10 2(degree symbol)dcha.
31003 Pamplona
España Spain

here in pamplona!

ahhh it´s so good to be online! i cannot stand this lack of communication i feel.

right now i´m in some spanish class with real spanish kids but the teacher let me and a friend come in to use the computers during class. how confusing! i couldn´t understand what she was saying at all! i just had my first class and it was pretty good. she talks fast but she uses mostly words taht i understand, and that´s quite a step up from some of the tours i got yesterday. i think i will do ok in class, but it is gonna be very hard i just attended my first 400 level class ever! eek!) anyhow, my suitcase has arrived and will be delivered to my apartment today! i´m sooooooooo so happy. i can´t even describe in words the comfort it gives me. phew.

this is so strange. i swear, half of my thoughts are in spanish now! when i wake up, it´s difficult to start in spanish. but i find myself replying to people automatically in spanish sometimes now. and perhaps it isn´t too long from the time i will be dreaming in spanish!

this life is crazy. i feel like there are a gazillion new suprises everyday and i often want to cry or laugh or something because i´m so overwhelmed with excitement. there´s just so much emotion in me. but i miss everyone soo so much and there is nothing i can do to get that out of my head. i dreamed i was home last night and i was crying of happiness but i knew it would end so soon and i didn´t want to go back to spain. tears are welling up in my eyes at this moment. being here is so bittersweet. i miss everything and yet i have so much to learn here! i´m so so overwhelmed. in a good way though.

i can possibly get text messages... try this number and we´ll see if it works, but keep in mind it costs 10 cents for each of us for each message i think. 01134638718280

hope it works! i´ll message back if i get messages.

depressing and lost luggage.

we arrived here safely early this morning. Madrid. Unfortunately
our baggage was lost, putting a damper on everything. It's cool here, but I'm extremely depressed
and
moody from lack of sleep, difficulty communicating with everyone, weird food and food schedules, and
the
expenses this lost baggage is causing both Kristen and I. We spent about 10 dollars on two pairs of

underwear and toothbrush (each). I want this to go away. I think they will send our bags to
pamplona - we
gave them our addresses.

on a good note, we ate in this really cool cafe for lunch and ordered some spanish food. we saw some

amazing architechture too. the bank of madrid - i think it's the oldest building in spain. our hotel is right by the puerta del sol, the center of the city, the "sun" of the city.

but i feel like we would have had the energy and time to do a lot more if we didn't have to deal
with all
these baggage problems. i miss you guys a lot.

This is the point in my trip where I almost want to turn back and go home. But I know things can only get better from here. I am going to need to go out and buy some things to hold me over until we get our luggage in a week or so (ugh so depressing, I had EVERYTHING i needed).

two days left.

So, i just learned these things.





1. there are no smoking sections anywhere in spain - they smoke in airports, all parts of restaurants.


2. you can drink in the street.


3. public displays of affection are totally acceptable.


4. the ok sign is very offensive, and a thumbs up has no meaning


5. i cannot understand about 1/4-1/3 of the spanish that i read


6. stores close at "lunchtime" 1-3 pm


7. wine is cheaper than coke (the pop, that is)


8. bread, olive oil, and ham are very good.


9. people like to stand uncomfortably close.


10. my host mom might hate me. i'm scared.


11. you are a party pooper if you go home at 4 a.m. oh no.


12. there is history in every part of pamplona. cathedrals, etc.


13. when people meet me, they will kiss both of my cheeks.


14. i better start liking coffee now, cuz it's the most popular thing to do.


15. i am FREAKING out.


16. Oh yea, I'll live next to this:

La Ciudadela

i leave in three days

My errands are run. but my bags aren't packed. i think you could say i'm procrastinating. it just doesn't seem real that i'm going to be in another country for like 8 weeks! i have never been farther than cancun in my life. i barely speak or understand spanish. what was i thinking?

i guess this is the period you would call denial. like, what am i doing? i'm leaving everything i know.

i'm leaving EVERYONE i know. and i think that is the scariest part. i keep looking at my parents and getting all weird and mushy. i leave them constantly for ou. i have been away from them for longer than this. but i haven't been unable to reach them. well, i can reach them. but what, 5 minutes a day by phone?

and my friends! i am used to not seeing people at other schools, but my ou friends are my soulmates. family away from family. i can't believe everyone is just there without me. ou is in session, and i'm sitting in cleveland! what? i hate it. i want to be walking up huge hills, seeing ADAM TORRES in the NEW front room. i missed that tonight. that is my culture. adam torres in the front room. having no life because i work at too many radio stations. using my huge computer in the dorm room. haha. what a beast. i'm leaving this:

so, i'm sure in a few blog entries, i'll be contradicting this entry... loving things. at least that's what i hope. right now is the worst time because i'm thinking about all the things i'm leaving and that i'm missing, and not really about what is to come.

but when i get past all this worry, i'm excited. when would i ever, EVER, in my life live in Spain? for 8-ish weeks? never. never. never. i have to take advantage of this when i can.

ok, i'm living right next to this park called La Cuidadela with a host mother - Pilar. Can't wait to meet her. the park next to me is shaped like a pentagon/star. it has free art exhibits and huge stone walls and fun stuff like that. i'm meeting new people. people who look at the world in such a different way from me. i don't really know everything that i can write about that will be exciting yet, but that will be upon me soon.

for now, i'm gonna try to get everything i need to done. like maybe sleep. it's 1:10 in the morning and i just don't feel like sleeping. but i should, and i will, and i'll wake up and pack and pack and pack.

miss friends already :(

my blog isn't working.