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.