Barcelona and some!

Hola todos! Well hola madre y Cece! (because i know you guys read this! :)) So Barcelona was amazing!! I definitely think that it was my favorite city I have been to in Spain. All of the buildings were just so cool and classy and the beach was gorgeous! I just think that the vibe of this city was so unique. It was a big city feel but way more relaxed than any other city that big I have been to. On friday me and Kellie went to the beach while Eden was at work (she met us later). The beach was so pretty and very crowded. At first we sat down with our towels on the sand and then we saw some lounge chairs and asked how much they were. They were 6 euros to rent for the day and me and Kellie decided to do it! It was one of the best decisions we ever made. I can not tell you how relaxing it was to tan on the beach in Barcelona in a lounge chair...I was basically in heaven. Me and Kellie took turns going into the water because we couldn't leave our stuff unattended. The water was so warm compared to the water here in Oviedo it was wonderful! After the beach we went back to Eden's apartment and hung out for a little then went out to dinner to a place with really good seafood tapas. We had sangria and shared calamari, shrimp, and croquetas. We were out to dinner pretty late so we just went back to Eden's apartment and watched a movie and went to bed (we were all pretty tired from spending all day at the beach too). Saturday morning we got up and decided to do a bus tour around Barcelona!! This was such a good idea because it was sooo hot and we did not want to have to walk everywhere because Barcelona is really spread out. Basically I was obsessed with this touristy bus thing...i took a lot of unnecessary pictures of the bus because of how excited I was. It was a really cool way to see all of the city. We got off at the stops for La Sagrada Familia and Parque Guell. La Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's cathedral that was still in the process of being finished when he died. It is MASSIVE. It was only supposed to take 30 years or something but has obviously taken way longer than that. They are still working on it and expecting it to be done by 2012 i think? It was really cool. I like Gaudi's work because it is so intricate and strange. Parque Guell was done by Gaudi as well and it was SO COOL! I loved it. It was such a unique set up and what not. There were soo many people there. My favorite part about the park was the view from the top of the park. I was able to see all of Barcelona!! It was beautiful! On the bus we also passed by La Casa Botillo (and the other house that I forget the name of) which was also done by Gaudi. That was really cool as well. We decided not to go in because it was pretty expensive and had a really long line to get in. After sightseeing we took a siesta before we went to dinner which was much needed!! After dinner and getting ready we had a few cocktails on the terrace of Eden's apartment...i felt like I was on Sex and the City!! After a few cocktails we went to a really cool bar and hung out there for awhile and then went to a club!! It was soo cool! It was called Club Opium Mar and was so tight! I really really felt like I was in Sex and the City or on The Hills when I was there. We had to leave kinda early (4 in the monring haha which is kinda early for Spain) because me and Kellie had to be up at 8:15 to get ready to leave for the airport so needless to say I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night. Overall Barcelona was soo fun and very relaxing!! Im glad I spent my last weekend in Spain there :) Now I am back in Oviedo for my last couple days here :( I am sad but at the same time pretty excited to go back home. I have been here for almost 2 months so it is about that time. I can't believe that it is almost over! It went by so fast. This week is just basically getting ready to go home and for my final and do the last couple things I want to do!!

Well yesterday I went on an excursion to Gijon (even though I have been there A MILLION times) to go to the roman bath's museum. I was really glad I went because it was a beautiful day and we went on a walk that had such a nice view! Being near the ocean always makes me happy I realized so I enjoyed the scenery. The roman bath museum was not as big as i thought it was going to be and stuff but it was interesting. I sort of knew that Rome had a huge influence on Spain but I didn't really know the extent of it. The baths were discovered in the beginning of the 20th century during an excavation and there were 5 rooms discovered. There are a lot more rooms but they are not able to excavate them because they are underneath the cathedral...bummer. Anyway it was really cool to see and hear about how the roman culture influenced spain so much. I am so mad! I forget what i was gonna write in here...i was thinking about it during class (while i was listening of course) because it was something about class i know! I think it was just that just being in a classroom with people from a bunch of different countries has taught me so much. I like my advanced class because we talk about things that are useful to know about the culture instead of just going over grammar over and over and over again. It is really cool. And I love my teacher! She is just so fun! I can't believe I am going home in like 10 days... it has gone by so quickly! I have had a blast but not gonna like I am looking forward to being home in the states. 8 weeks is along time to be away from everybody and everything and just being away from comfort. Tomorrow night I leave for Barcelona! I am really excited! Me and my friend Kellie are going to go visit our friend Eden there who has her own apartment so it will be nice not to have to stay in a hostel and what not. I get back sunday afternoon so i will talk to you then...hasta!

Update!

Well since I haven't written in this since tuesday ill give a little info on what I have been doing this week! Wednesday a bunch of us went to this new beach called Luanco, it was beautiful! It was a little cloudy but it was still warm. Thursday I just kind of hung out I think.... hahah and school of course. Friday I just went to class and everything was fine until I had really bad stomach issues. It was s frustrating because it was like I had a reaction to something that I am not supposed to eat...but I did not eat anything that I wasn't supposed to!! Needless to say it was VERY frustrating. I could not walk, or stand up, and was having piercing pains underneath my belly button (what used to happen to me all of the time before I took my blood test thing) that feels like knives cutting into my stomach (great feeling right!?). So class was very uncomfortable for awhile there and i had to take a taxi home because i couldnt walk....it was a low moment. But after relaxing the rest of the day I felt a lot better. Friday night we went out in Oviedo and it was so much fun!I I had a blast!! Saturday my alarm didn't go off to go to the excursion which I was kinda bummed about but it was okay because the weather was kinda bad and I definitely didnt mind sleeping in! Saturday in the day I just kinda laid low (which was amazing) and watched some movies! I was okay with doing this because i knew that we were all going to gijon that night for the big festival there called La Semana Grande! I watched the movie It's Complicated and Baby Mama. It was really nice to watch movies in bed, it made me feel at home :) Saturday night was soo fun!! We left Oviedo for Gijon at like 11:30 and got to Gijon by midnight. When we got there the firework show was going on and it was awesome! We walked towards the water to go to the bars and clubs. Being by the water with all the boats was amazing! It reminded me of Catalina and it made me miss it alot! It was so pretty by the water....i tried capturing it in pictures but it just didnt happen. There were so many people in Gijon because of the festival so the clubs were all packed which was cool. The clubs in Gijon were a little better than the clubs in Oviedo because it is a bigger city and it is a city that everyone visits in the summer. We went to a couple clubs and danced the night away... it was beyond fun! At one of the clubs they even played Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys!! All of us were so excited! I got back to Oviedo at like 4 am and went to bed by 5. I didnt wake up this morning until 2 in the afternoon! Late I know but it felt so good to catch up on my sleep. The nightlife here is way more tiring than the states...but it is also way more fun! Today I met with Magda again and we just hung in the park and talked. It was cool because we talked about cultural differences and stuff and it was really interesting! Tomorrow (we dont have school because it is a holiday!) we are planning on going back to Llanes to go to the beach, if weather permits, which will be fun. Over all this weekend was a success! WOO!

I WANT A STOMACH TRANSPLANT AHORA

thats all. :)

Well today was quite the day here in Oviedo! School was just a normal day until my conversation class began. So each day we have a new topic that we discuss (movies, entertainment, literature etc) and today's topic was modes of communication. A Simple, normal, and pretty boring topic that I really don't have a strong opinion about. The conversation started out normal until we got really off topic and it turned to education (keep in mind this is a room half full of people from the states and about half from Germany) which got a little more intense because they were for sure stabbing the education system in America....and then it proceeded to head down the path of RELIGION!! YIKES...as you can imagine this conversation took a turn to awkward town really fast. Basically it turned into the Germans accusing America of not being a free country because we are not allowed to teach one type of religion in our schools and how we can not discuss religion in the class room etc etc. We all tried to explain that that is a freedom for us but they did not understand. One of the guys even asked us to answer this question...he basically said "So if you had to choose between being able to practice your own religion or not having religion taught in school you would choose not having religion taught in school?" All of us tried to explain that we do have freedom of religion and that is why we can't strictly teach about one religion (except in private schools etc). We even went into depth about how at our university we can choose to take religion classes and that we learned about all different religions in highschool but it had to do with history and blah blah blah...needless to say it was very hard to explain in spanish lol. I actually really enjoyed conversation class today because it was so controversial! I was able to stay really active in the convo! Anyway, after that I came back ate lunch, took a 20 minute siesta, and then headed off to meet my conversation partner! I was really nervous because I had no idea what to expect! Luckily she was such a sweetheart!! It was really fun to talk to her in spanish and in english...i think this is going to help me a lot! We talked about the movies that she has seen in english, twilight, our travels, our studies, and other stuff! She even has heard of "On the Rocks" an acapella group at University of Oregon that is really good! I had no idea that they were that good to get all the way to Spain! She was really excited when I told her that that group was from my university! it was really neat! After I hung out with my conversation partner for about an hour and a half I met Reme so that she could take me to the herbal thingy place. She was soo helpful and I ended up getting some fruit pill chewy thing that I am not sure what it is at all, but well see if it works haha. After the herbal thingy place Reme took me out for a beer and we sat at the cafe for about 2 hours! It was really fun! I was impressed with myself that I was able to hold my own on the spanish front for over two hours! We talked about all the cultural differences between here and the states and the different traditions etc. It was really cool talking to someone who has visited the states multiple times so she knew what I was talking about when i mentioned stuff from home. After our little date I walked around by myself to get back to my dorms. It felt really nice to be out and about by myself and knowing where I was going and stuff. I was in such a good mood and then I came back in my dorm and say the SADDEST thing I have ever seen. A dead kitten :( I was NOT okay when I saw this, I was devastated. Luckily it wasn't gatita, but it was a really cute black kitten with white paws...SO SAD. Sorry to end on such a depressing note haha...but anyway tomorrow we are hopefully going to a new beach near Oviedo called Luanco! It is supposed to be really pretty! Hasta!


PS I WANT THIS AHORRA

Omg I am so excited for tomorrow! I am doing something that I am really happy about...so there is this thing here in Europe called Tandem. It is a program where two people are sort of conversation partners..i guess that is how you would describe it in the states? But anyway so it is really big here in Spain and at the University of Oviedo because a lot of the people here want to learn english, and there was an opportunity to sign up for it and I took it! Sooo I finally got an email back from them this afternoon and was matched up with a partner who is Spanish and speaks a little english and wants to learn the language with my help! So we are meeting tomorrow at 5:10 and half the time we are going to talk in Spanish so she can help me, and half the time we are going to talk in english so that i can help her! Apparently student's who have done this program have increased their ability to talk in spanish by a lot so I am really excited. I feel like this is something that I would never get to do in the states and it is such a cool opportunity to do here in Spain! Anyway, my tandem partner emailed me today and we have been kinda talking! She even added me on Facebook! Her name is Magda and she seems very sweet! She said that she was really excited to meet me and talk! I am kind of nervous because it seems like her english is pretty good which means i might look really stupid trying to learn better spanish but I am more excited! Also, tomorrow after my Tandem thing, Reme is taking me to a herbal medicine store with herbal remedies and plants that are only made from natural things...so kind of like a hippie store in the states i guess? haha. Well see how it goes!

Soo It is Sunday night and I am EXHAUSTED. Friday night was really fun! The espicha was just as fun as i remembered and it was nice getting to know the new people that are here! The other people that are studying at the university are from all over the world. There are people from Russia, Tusnia, Germany, Japan, and Italy! It was funny because there were several tables of food and the table that we were all standing around (we as in the only americans there) had ZERO leftovers of food, and then you look at all the other tables with the europeans and international students and there were TONS of food left. All of us just laughed and went over to their tables and continued to eat. After the espicha we went out to our favorite bar (bar campa) and hung out. I unfortunately had a little too much to drink and decided to go home early and get into bed. The next day was the excursion and a lot us were not able to make it because of lack of sleep and other reasons hahah so we relaxed all day which was SOOOOOO nice. I feel like i never get down time here to just chill and sleep in so i really enjoyed it. We all went out to dinner and then got ready to go out! Saturday was really fun! I got to know all of the new people in our program and they are all really cool! Today i got to sleep in and just did my hw and lounged. It was kind of a gloomy day so it was nice to hang out inside. Tomorrow I have to talk about an anecdote in front of the class in Spanish and i am kind of nervous....all of the germans in my class are SO good at spanish and it is really intimidating. AND they all speak english too so I feel really stupid around them. Side note it is soo cool having people from all over the world in my class. Most days we spend the last hour of class talking about our country's and the stereotypes associated with them and stuff. Did you know that even though Spain is considered a Catholic country...most people stopped going to church? My teacher was telling us that they are "catholic" only because their grandparents are "catholic" etc etc. She said there would maybe be 20 people at church on a sunday here...which is so weird! Everything is still closed on sundays and she said its just so that the spanish can catch up on their sleep from the weekend haha. It was also interesting to hear what the other countries thought about us...it was not good let me tell you. Americans are all:Fat, ignorant, stupid, only eat McDonald's, arrogant...etc etc. SOOO thats great hahah Anyway...today I had a re-realization that I am in Spain..it was really weird. I think it was because I skyped with friends and stuff this week and realized that I haven't seen or talked to anyone in so long. I am really proud of myself that I did this because I am learning so much about myself and other people.. its really cool! Tomorrow Remev(an older women who helps us) is taking me to the Farmacia to get some herbal remedies for my stomach problems so well see if that helps!! Adios!

Okay so yesterday I had a pretty bad day. As everyone knows I have the most random and ridiculous stomach problems, and they have gotten progressively worse here. I have not gone one day without having some sort of stomach issues and for the first half of my experience I kind of just went with it and hoped it would get better. For some reason yesterday I had had it with my stomach and completely lost it when I got home from school. I think all of my frustration was just pent up and I finally let it all out. It is so frustrating because I am not eating things that I am not supposed to and I can barely eat anything here and so when I have all these stomach problems here its extra frustrating because I have no idea what is going on....ughh. Also my conversation yesterday was really frustrating. My teacher is pretty condescending and stern and when she asks you a question she just points at you and gives you this look like she is waiting for you to say something stupid so that she can criticize you....ugh I almost cried in class yesterday when she literally corrected everything i said in a condescending manner. AND the weather was really gloomy yesterday (which was nice because it wasn't scorching hot but it was really humid) which i think made things a little worse as well. BUT after I got out all of my frustrations through my tears I felt SO much better. Because I had a bad day I was really happy when everyone was going out on the town because I thought that it would be a perfect pick me up to get out of the dorms and explore! There is a plaza that everyone goes to here called La Plaza del Sol. At night it is where all the young people drink. There is a bar there called Bar Campo that we go to every time we go out. There were quite a few of us there last night which was really fun. We were all having a good time! There was a band in the plaza that played an impromptu concert sort of thing and it was soo cool! Everyone was dancing in the streets and singing along. I really enjoyed the music...it was really upbeat and fun. A girl that we were sitting with from Oviedo said that they were playing music that was typically music played during the Paso Doble which is cool. It made me really want to learn how to Salsa dance!! It was all fun and games until the police came and told them that they had to stop playing....BUMMER. Everyone was yelling at the police and saying something along the lines of things Americans would say if the cops busted a party hah. After we sat in the plaza for awhile we all went to the clubs. I had SO much fun dancing last night! They played music that we all knew and it was just really nice to let loose. I didn't go to bed until 3:30 last night (which is earlier on the weekends haha) but I still survived class today! I even talked a lot more in conversation. Tonight we are going to an Espicha ( a traditional Austurian fiesta with food and mucho sidra! ) that the school puts on for us. I went last session and it was soo fun!! There was free food and drinks and dancing and mingling! Just what i need to kick start the weekend! Tomorrow there is an excursion to La Senda del Oso which I don't really know much about...but I am going! I will let you know how it goes!

Ps I want a new one of these...


Because I feel like this all of the time..

Madrid

So I just had my second day of classes for the new session and they are going pretty well. I really like my advanced teacher, she is really animated and helpful and doesn't make us feel stupid when we make a mistake. So Madrid this weekend was really fun, but definitely more of a learning experience. I for one did not realize how HUGE Madrid is. I just thought it was going to be like San Francisco or Los Angeles, but NO it was bigger than both of those cities combined! I definitely was not prepared to conquer this big of a city in only 3 days. BUT we did the best that we could and I think we did pretty damn good job! On Friday, traveling kind of got the best of us so we were all really tired. We left the dorms at like 7 am and didn't get to the hostel until like 2 pm so it was a long day. But we still did some touristy things! We went to the plaza mayor and the puerta del sol (which are famous plazas with pretty buildings, sculptures, and TONS of shopping!) Don't worry I didn't really buy anything for myself but I did by gifts for others!! On Friday we went to dinner at Burger King because that was the only place that we could find and could agree on. I regretted my decision to eat there later on that night because it did not settle well with my stomach...ay ay ay. After dinner we got ready to go out and left the hostel at like 12 am (early for Spain). We didn't really know much about the night life here so this was the most difficult thing to conquer in Madrid, and sadly to day we did not conquer it haha. On Friday we did go to a gay bar which was really fun but we were so tired that we went back to the hostel at about 2 ish and went to bed. It is a good thing we went to bed kind of early because we had a big day ahead of us at the Museo del Prado! Saturday we went to the Museo del Prado which I was really really excited about. I am not huge on art or anything but I knew of some really famous paintings that I had learned about in my spanish art classes at Oregon that I was really excited to see. My favorite painting at the Prado was Las Meninas by Velazquez. I have learned so much about this painting through all my years of school that it was amazing to see it in a museum and stand in front of it. It was a pretty big painting and I felt really lucky to have seen it in person. We saw a lot of Velazquez, Greco, Goya, Rembrandt, Breughal (sp?) and some other famous people that have slipped my mind at the moment....(i have them all written down somewhere!) After the Prado we went to the Parque del Buen Retiro to see El Palacio del Cristol (which we later found out was an exhibit from La Sofia Reina). The park was REALLY REALLY big (as is everything in Madrid it seems) and we had a hard time finding the palace. The park was beautiful though so it was nice to look at everything. After the palacio del cristol we stumbled upon a strange museum in la casa de velazquez. I am still not sure what it was...but we think it was something about the digestive system??? I have no idea lol. After the park we went back to our hostel and napped which we did a lot of this weekend. For dinner we had a nice long dinner at this italian restaurant..it was sooo good! It was such a comfort to see food that I love to eat at home! Since the night before we went out too early, we decided to go out way later. We left our hostel at about 2 ish and went to a pub that we stumbled upon that ended up being really cool! We hung there for awhile until we tried to go find a club. We got really confused because we didn't know that the bars closed at 3 am so that everyone would go to the clubs which didn't open until 3 am. So we tried to find clubs or bars that were open and we did not have any success. We even met some people from Brazil who are living in Madrid and went to find clubs with them but they couldn't find any that were open. Needless to say we felt a little defeated and went back to bed. Sunday we woke up and got ready to go El Palacio Real (the royal palace) I was VERY excited about this because as we all know I would kill to be a princess of any country haha. The palace was breathtaking on the outside. I had never seen something so huge and beautiful at the same time. When we went in I was in heaven...i finally found somewhere that I could permanently fit in! ( :) hahaha ) There were big gorgeous chandeliers everywhere and luxurious curtains, furniture, and decorations. Every ceiling in every room had these really elaborate paintings on them and sculptures...it was really phenomenal. The tour didn't take very long so after the palace we just went back to the hostel and slept yet again haha. We went to a buffet place for a late lunch/early dinner after we napped and then dilly dallied until we were going to go out. All of us were determined to get this night life down the last night we were there...and surprise surprise we did not! We even talked for like 20 minutes with the guy who worked at the hostel about which clubs to go to and what time to leave etc etc. We ended up in a sketch part of town where nothing was open...we were pretty done with Madrid night life after sunday..we were all kinda bummed that we never ended up going to a club in madrid...but esta bien haha. Monday morning we had to be out of our hostel at 11 am and our flight was not until 9:25 at night so luckily we were able to leave our bags at the hostel. We kinda just did some shopping for souvenirs and gifts for people, then had lunch and hung out in starbucks (the first one we saw in Spain!! so exciting!) unitl we left for the airport. When we got to the airport (5 hours early haha) we said goodbye to our friend Eden which was sad but we will see her in 3 weeks when we go visit her in Barcelona!! When we were at the airport we all talked about how we were excited to go back to Oviedo because it is what feels comfortable to us...this was really exciting because it reminded us that we were having such a great time in Oviedo that we wanted to go back!! :) We didn't get to the dorms until around midnight so we were pretty tired for the first day of new classes but it all worked out! Over all I am really happy that I went to Madrid because I saw things I have always wanted to see. It was a huge learning experience for me and I am excited for my next traveling adventure do Barcelona :)

Madrid Manana!!

I am sooo excited to go to Madrid tomorrow! I leave for the airport at 7:15 am yay! I get to Madrid at like 12 or something and we are gonna check into our hostel. Our hostel is Albergue Juvenil (look it up it is tight!!) We are going to go to the plaza mayor and puerta del sol tomorrow and then go out at night. Saturday we are going to the Prado and the Sofia Reina, Sunday we are going to the Palacio Real and the Palacio del Cristol at the parque del buen retiro. and then monday well do whatever we didnt get done. (I dont leave Madrid until 9:25 at night). When I get back to Oviedo I start the second session of school! I will be in advanced class which will be interesting haha. I will write when i get back from Madrid! Hasta Luego!
I am sooo excited!!!!

well tomorrow is my last day of class for session one! I have already been out of the states for 4 weeks!! crazy... It has gone by pretty fast! I few things I have learned half way through my session:
1. Where all of the pharmacies are and how to stay some key phrases like "I need help going to the bathroom", "I think I have a bladder infection", "Do you have pills for those?", and far more interesting phrases that I just can't even put on here.
2. Wine is cheaper than water
3. A siesta (nap) is MANDATORY to be able to function(especially because nothing is open during siesta time)
4.Any thing that can go wrong,will go wrong, and when it does just take it with a grain of salt; the spanish do not stress about anything
5. There are NO clocks here...I never know what time it is.
6. Spanish women just look evil and intimidating...they are actually very nice and helpful
7. Mosquitos WILL bite you every night
8. No one's hair looks good in humidity
9. Americans do not have the feet to walk everywhere in heels or sandals
10. Dogs are just as important (if not more) important here and are not on leashes
11. Nudity is totally accepted and encouraged
12.Eating outside will cost you more
13. Do not go out to eat in big groups
14. Chocolate is only available in the morning and afternoons (had to find that out the hard way)
15. Cars WILL NOT stop for you ( I almost got hit today..yikes!)
16. Elderly women are more fabulous here than anywhere else in the world (they are still rockin' high heels todo el tiempo)
17. You look more American than you think you do
18. Eggs and ham are in everything
19. Fashion here is a lifestyle
20. Watch where you walk! People will not move for you, they will just bump into you!

There is a lot more that I have learned but those are some key things that I try and remember everyday. We'll see what else I learn next month!! Hasta luego

I HATE MOSQUITOS

I literally feel like I am in a horror movie. Me and my roommate just went on a 20 minute mosquito hunt in our room. There were three in our room and they were attacking us! We only thought there was one but they kept showing up...my roommate saw one go straight for my face ah!!! I am sitting in bed terrified that they are still in here haha. We tried to catch them but nothing was working...we even have an anti mosquito repellant in our room and it is not working! (we might be doing it wrong cause all of the directions were in spanish) We are doing everything right! WIndows closed when the lights are on and windows open when the lights are off...it is so frustrating! I saw it bite me too! it was so scary! it got me in the leg and then under my shirt and it creeps me out how it got there! It was pretty comical seeing our reactions to these mosquitos. I was running around the room/hall with a dish towel screaming and jumping and my roommate was stomping around the bathroom trying to kill the one that was in there...haha. We both can not stop itching because we feel like mosquitos are all over us! Since I have been here i have gotten atleast 10 bites from them.. they are los diablos. And now im freaking out that I have Malaria or something...great. Bottom line..MOSQUITOS SUCK

Llanes and Santiallana del Mar (and identity theft! ah!)

So last night we all went out even though we had to be up for an excursion at like 8 but it was worth it! We went to the clubs and met different people who are studying here and are in our classes too but this was the first time we all kinda hung out, it was fun! The night life in Oviedo is obviously not as crazy as Madrid or Barcelona, but I enjoy it! I didn't get back to the dorms until a little after four in the morning so I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night, but esta bien! I am really happy I went to the excursion today because both of the towns were beautiful! We first went to Santiallana del Mar which is a pre-romanasque town in Cantabria. The buildings there were phenomenal! They looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. And the streets are literally ALL cobblestone, like real cobblestone, it kind of hurt to walk on them but it was okay! We didn't do much there just kinda walked around and looked at all of the buildings. I felt like I was in Under the Tuscan Sun ( the movie with Diane Lane) because we were in the country side of Spain (even though the movie takes place in Italy but whatever) and everywhere around us was green and had beautiful flowers next to it. It is exactly what i pictured the Spanish countryside to look like. After Santiallana del Mar we drove back towards Oviedo to go to Llanes. I was asleep on the ride there so I did not notice how beautiful the drive was. I would've taken pictures but they wouldn't have done it justice. When we go to Llanes some of us went to lunch at a place called La Amistad and had tapas. I had croquetas (cause I had been craving them since the last time I had them) but I kinda wish that I got fish because I tried some of my friends fresh cod and it was delectable. But we are going to go back again so next time I will get fish! After lunch we walked around and tried to find the beach which was a success. I literally died when I saw how gorgeous this beach was. I can not even describe to you how obsessed with it I was. It was like a little slice of heaven in an already picture perfect town. I was kind of upset that I didn't bring my bathing suit but it was okay because there were more sights to see! The main reason that we wanted to come to Llanes was because of the Cubas de la Memoria on the beach. (a bunch of colorful cubes that are on the water by the beach) I am not sure what they stand for because I am having a hard time finding any information about them! I know that they are by the artist Agostin Ibarrola but that is about it. We were all really stoked when we saw the cubas and we were very happy that we came. After taking a few pics and trying to take in as much as we could of the view we went down to the beach and just dipped our feet in the water. I was so happy I could have stayed there all day. We all decided that we have to come back because the beach was so breathtaking. I seriously would not be opposed to retiring in Llanes. There are not that many good pictures of Llanes or Santiallana del Mar on google so when I upload my pics to facebook I will try and add them on here too. When we got back to Oviedo I realized that I didn't have any cash for tonight and so I went to an ATM to get some out. My card was declined and said that I needed to contact my bank. I was a little concerned because I hadn't used my credit card or taking out cash in about a week so I did not think that my bank had froze my card. Long story short someone somehow found out my information on my card and used it in Tokyo and tried to spend an ample amount there. I was very stressed to say the least. My credit card company said that there was no way that I could get a temporary debit card until they sent one to me in hopefully a week. The problem with this was that I had absolutely no cash on me, had no food, had no water, and I am going to Madrid this weekend and for sure need cash. Needless to say I lost it. I was very overwhelmed because I had only slept four hours that night, just started having some more bad health issues, and all of a sudden did not have any way of getting money. YIKES. Luckily (after a few long and stressful expensive phone calls later) I have another card that I did not know I was able to take cash out of with so I have some money until my new card comes. After this whole ordeal I seriously needed some comfort food and my friends knew that. We went to an Italian restaurant and I had spaghetti with butter and parmesan... best. meal. ever. I am for sure going back to that place because the people who owned it were really friendly and they have my favorite food there. After dinner I got ready to go out but was feeling really uncomfortable with my new health issue of the day (seriously I have so many problems here! I feel like if I conquered everything here nothing will phase me back in the states :) ) and was really sad that I was not able to go out with everyone. I think it was a good decision because I am exhausted and want my health to be good for when I leave for Madrid on friday! Right now three of us are watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which is always a great way to end a night! Tomorrow a lot of people are going to the beach but I think I am going to stay in bed so that I can be healthy! It has been a very long, (and a tad bit stressful) day and I can not wait to lay my head down on my pillow and conk out. Adios!!

This week I kinda felt that I didn't really do much and was just kinda being lazy, so I decided that yesterday I needed to walk around and go out at night. It is so easy to get into a comfortable routine like one at home, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am in Spain and staying in the dorms hanging out is not always going to be the best way to use my time here! It is just so easy to stay in the dorms all day (especially when the weather is crappy) because we are all so tired from everything. Yesterday I took a nap and wanted to walk around this really cool open air market they have close to the dorms but when we got there it was closed! It kinda sucks having school when we do because when we get out of school everything is closed for siesta time! So we just walked around a little to get out of the dorms. Random but I keep forgetting to talk about the little kitten outside of our dorms! She is abandoned and is probably only about 2 months old. She is sooo cute! I call her Marie or gatita. She greets us every morning when we leave and every afternoon when we come home. Sometimes she'll wait for us right outside of the door...it is so cute! We always play with her in the afternoons. This afternoon she was acting really different, and we were all concerned. She seems to be really sick and we don't know what to do! There are people here that feed her 3 times a day and we give her water so we know that it is not hunger, but it is frustrating that there is nothing we can do. Her whole attitude was different today, she didn't meow or come up to us or anything. She was shaking and really disorientated. It is really sad :( I wish i could take her to a vet and take care of her but i cant bahh :( Anyway... last night we all ate dinner at the dorms and then went out to the bars. We kinda just hung out around the bars all night and then went home. I unfortunately did not make it to class this morning because of a rough night.... :/ BUT i am allowed to miss two and I haven't missed any so I didn't feel that bad. It felt really nice sleeping in ( we never get to do that here ugh) and just having a day off from everything. I pretty much have been recovering from last night all day today and we are all going to go out to dinner and then the bars and then the clubs! Tomorrow I have an excursion to Llanes and Santiallano del Mar( i think that is where it is). I did not go on the last one because I was in San Sebastian so hopefully this one is fun! I am FOR SURE missing American food right now. I have been eating the same thing everyday and it is getting really old. Like I literally eat the same 3 meals every day...I am trying to save money so my choices are very limited. Here are some things I am craving at the moment....

Well I officially am going to Madrid next weekend!!! We have a short break in between sessions so we are going for 3 nights but staying 4 days. I am so excited! I can't wait to see Spain's capital and go to museums, shops, clubs, and just be a huge tourist!! It was actually pretty cheap to go for 3 days which is good. Nothing really happened today, just kind of a normal day. We went to a really old church here in Oviedo for a tiny excursion it was really cool but kind of something I would not go back to. After that we went to a mall here to go shopping. I didn't realize how intense this mall was going to be so I was not really prepared. It was HUGE it literally looked like a space ship and had soo many floors. I was a little grouchy because the walk over was very long and it was hot and humid so I did not have the best shopping day but I am hoping to go back there and fully do work! We walked back from the mall to our dorms ( i literally walked 10 miles today) and I just showered and made a really good dinner (salmon and cheese in a salad with some avocado and rice) and then some of us watched the movie Chocolate. I am trying to go to bed now so that I can be caught up on my sleep from the lack of sleep this weekend. It is supposed to rain here tomorrow which is kind of a bummer but I don't think any of us plan on doing anything but being lazy...everyone is always so tired here! PS I have never eaten so much chocolate and nutella in my life. Today I had brownie gelato and then came back and had loads of nutella. Since I can't eat most of the food I might as well eat the chocolate :) Here are some image of chocolates here!! enjoy!

San Sebastián

Well hola!! San Sebastian was sooo fun!!! We left friday after school and took a 6 and a half bus ride to San Sebastian which sounds a lot worse than it was. The only really annoying thing is that we had to make so many stops a long the way, which made the ride seem a lot longer. We got there at like 9:30 at night and were all very tired but very excited! We took a Taxi to our hostel but the taxi driver let us out at this huge plaza so we had to find the hostel our selves which was a little bit of a struggle but it worked out perfectly cause right as we were looking for it the owner was going inside! He was a guy from Australia and he was really nice. Since there were six of us they split us up into two different rooms but one of the rooms happened to be in a different location which was kinda awkward but we split up anyway. Me and two of my friends were in the location of the hostel closest to the bars and the Pier and my other three friends were in the hostel that was closest to the beach. It turned out that my room at the hostel was definitely the less nicer of the two...we didnt even have a window! it was soo funny. It literally felt like we were in a closet with three beds....haha. The other room had a window with a view of the ocean and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and was so much bigger! Oh ya and the picture that I put up of what Google said the Hostel was going to be....was definitely not what is was haha. But it was still better than I expected it and I am happy I had my first hostel experience there! After we all got ready we went to eat at the Mcdonalds there (which was sooo nice) and pretty expensive now that I think about it (6.70 euros for a chicken nugget and fries meal). All the young people were there and it seemed like the food was way better than the Mcdonalds in the states. While I was at Mcdonalds I ran into someone that I knew from Oregon!! It was so weird! He is in Jeff's fraternity and apparently is studying abroad in San Sebastian. It was crazy! The world is way to small! After we ate we went to a club and got a few drinks and socialized with the rest of the tourists ( i do not think that there are many locals in san sebastian). I met people from Holland in the bathroom and talked with them for awhile and then we ended up meeting a group of guys from denmark who were about our same age. (they were all very smart...they are Nano Scientists at the University of Denmark!) We all socialized with them for awhile and ended up going to the beach to hang out. We didn't get back to the hostel until like 4 am so we just passed out. The next morning (Saturday) we all were not feeling so hot from the night before but we knew that we wanted to go to the beach so we got dressed for that! ( we didnt have a window in our room so we couldnt see that it was very cloudy and drizzling haha) Once we saw that we were kinda dissappointed but were hoping that maybe the clouds would clear up. I wasn't doing to well and we thought that I might have had a bladder infection so I had to go to the Pharmacy there and the guy was nice enough to give me some medicine that you usually need a prescription for. (i love san sebastian because a lot of them speak english so i was able to explain what I needed!) I was kinda nervous to take the medicine because I didn't exactly know what it was so I decided to wait and see what I was like the rest of the day and it turns out I was feeling better so I am glad I didn't take it. ( I think I was having one of my many hypochondriac moments) We tried to go to the beach but it started to rain so we all took a nap and got ready for the night (which took awhile because we had no amenities to shower and had to improvise!) Saturday night was SO much fun!!! We went to the same bar/club from the night before and I met some girls from Russia and Sweden and talked to them a little bit and then the boys from Denmark were there too so we hung out with them again! We stayed there for awhile and tried to find another club to go to. We went to a couple and the last one that we went to was my favorite!! I don't remember what it was called but there were so many people there and they had an underground dance floor! They only pay American music in Spain (which i think is weird) so we knew all of the songs and had a blast dancing! They dance very differently in Europe so we all stuck out like sore thumbs with our American dancing. (I even got made fun of by a spanish boy for the way I was dancing...i was very upset!!! he was kinda being nice about it but not really) Us and the danish boys went outside and we learned some of their dances! They do a dance called the Microwave and it is really nerdy and funny. We also learned how to do the House and the Apple tree haha. It is kinda like our version of "The Sprinkler" and "The Shopping Cart". I am a pro at The Microwave dance so I would be happy to show everyone when I get back. It was getting pretty late so we decided to go back to our hostel and go to bed. We said our goodbyes to our new friends and wished them luck on their travels! We woke up Sunday morning all ready to go to the beach and luckily it was a beautiful day!!! The beaches there were absolutely phenomenal. I can not even explain how beautiful they were and how many people were on them. We went to La Playa de Zurriola and there were thousands of people (not an exaggeration i promise) there on the beach tanning and surfing. It felt so nice to relax in the sun. We were there for about 4 hours or so until we needed to take a bus to the bus station to head back to Oviedo. I could have stayed on that beach forever...it was amazing. The bus ride on the way back was worse because we got stuck in traffic for a little over an hour so it ended up taking over 7 hours to get back home. Luckily, for the last two hours they put a movie on for us to watch, it was the pixar movie UP!! I was really happy that it was a movie I knew and understand even in spanish!! We didn't get back to the dorms until 12:15 and we were all exhausted. Needless to say getting up for class this morning was a struggle because I didn't go to bed until 2:30 so I am going to take a nap now! But I am very happy that I went to San Sebastian! I think a few of us are going to go again next month!!

Here are some pics I could find of the beach we were at. oh ya and I forgot my camera battery so I have no pictures from this weekend...sad! :(

Today after class a few of us went to the beach in Gijon because it was really nice outside.On the way to the bus my stomach started to hurt really bad (what else is new) and it started to make me really frustrated because I know that I have not been eating things that I am not supposed to be eating because I have been making my own food and everything! At this point I was hot, hungry, frustrated, and walking almost a mile (probably an exaggeration) to get to the bus station and I about lost it. When we got there I went to a very dark place and my friends asked if something was wrong and I just started hysterically crying. I cried about how I didn't want to be in a bathing suit because the people in Spain are so thin, I cried about how I can't eat anything, I cried about how I just wanted to call friends and family back home and talk to them and ask them what to do about my stomach and what not, and i just cried. It is weird because I usually am a crier, but this is the first time I have cried since I have been here. I must have been bottling a lot of anxiousness up inside and it finally came out. After crying i felt a little better but I still felt really insecure. When I think of Spanish people I always think of curves and normal beautiful bodies....unfortunately (atleast in Oviedo) that does not seem to be the case. The women here are very thin and petite for the most part and are not rocking any curves. I guess I was expecting to fit in here because I think of Spanish women having hour glass figures and big butts (like me!! hah) and to feel way more secure than in the states but to my surprise I feel the opposite. I am way more insecure here than at home and I really feel like the Spanish people are way more judgmental than I thought. Once we got to the beach I felt better because there were people of all different shapes and sizes feeling confident in their bikini's (or lack there of). I swear I have never seen so many naked people in my life! After laying in the sun and getting an ice cream cone I felt a lot better and just came home, showered and made dinner (and almost burned the dorms down doing it..uh oh!) Some of my friends were going out and I really wanted to go but I thought it would be good if I caught up on sleep and relaxed before my big weekend in San Sebastian!! I felt kinda lame for staying in but since my stomach has been having some issues I wouldn't want to make it worse for this weekend. We are coming back to the dorms right after school to get our stuff and then taking a taxi to the bus station. The bus from Oviedo to San Sebastian is 6 hours...ugh...but I am hoping to sleep. We get to San Sebastian about 9 ( just in time for dinner) and then we are going to go out on the town! I am assuming saturday we will spend all day at the beach and then go out at night, and sunday we dont leave San Sebastian until like 5 which means well probably lay on the beach all day before then. I will get back to Oviedo probably around 11 pm at night on Sunday so I will update then!! I will not have my computer this weekend so hasta luego!!

Apparently this is the view from the hostel we were staying at (it was a little more expensive than we had hoped)

Well it is almost 6 oclock pm here and I just woke up from a nap about 40 minutes ago. I do not know what is going on, I am always SOOOOO tired. Everyday after school I make lunch here at the dorms and then take at least a two hour nap afterward. I NEVER nap at home so I think it is really weird that I have to nap everyday here to be able to function. I think it is because the days are really long here. I wake up at 8 am don't get back from class until 2:30 eat lunch, take a nap, wake up and various things till whenever. Class was super boring today we went over pronunciations for the first two hours....ay ay ay. All I kept thinking about was going to San Sebastian this weekend!! Me and 5 other people are taking a 6 hour bus ride and staying in a hostel right on the beach in san sebastian!! I am sooo excited!! Here are some pics!!







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Today was pretty good. Class was good because I finally felt smart because I understood everything in class today! After class we went on an excursion to Gijon. Okay not to be rude but it was soooo boring!!! The only thing we went to was a Bagpipe museum...im not even kidding. Me and my friend kellie were laughing sooo hard outside of the museum.we were like " our parents are paying 10,000 dollars for us to go to a bagpipe museum, are u kidding?!" it was hilarious. after the museum we walked around gijon and had chocolate covered churros....my second favorite thing in spain. I was really missing home (especially jeff) today so i needed my chocolate fix lol. After the excursion I just made some dinner and have been hanging out with my friends here. It was a pretty low key day and I was pretty happy about it. Kinda lame but thats all I have to say haha. Hasta luego!!

Churros con chocolate :)

Finally figuring things out!

Today was the first day that I felt comfortable at dinner in Oviedo and I was soo happy about it! I finally figured out some of the rules about what to order and how to order. Me and two friends went to a casual dinner (i realized the spanish like us better when we are in smaller groups) and had two tapas (croquetas and calamari.) It was nice! Side note croquetas are the best things ever. I am officially obsessed with them, they are fried balls with cheese and sometimes ham in them, they are like mozarella sticks but 100000 times better! I have literally had some every night, i would not be surprised if i all of a sudden turned into a giant croqueta by the time i get back to the states. Anyway back to today...after dinner we went for ice cream and OMG the ice cream here is at a whole new level than at home. I had La Trufeta (truffle) flavored ice cream and it was sooo good. It is kind of expensive for an ice cream cone but it is worth it. Class was a struggle today because I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night because of the fact that we HAD to celebrate Spain's victory in the world cup :). After class i took a nap and felt soo much better. I think I am finally caught up on sleep and I feel like a new woman. The only problem I am still having here is the mosquitos ( i have 7 bites and they are HUGE) and that my feet are always swollen/bruised, and they hurt so much! So if anyone has any suggestions for feet issues or whatever please let me know!!

Croquetas :)

WORLD CUP

WE JUST WON THE WORLD CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! This is unreal. I can not imagine anywhere else I would rather be to watch Spain win the world cup other than in Spain :) We watched the game with hundreds of other people in this huge plaza and a huge flatscreen....it was awesome!! I am not sure if there is class tomorrow because it is such a big deal that I am pretty sure the teachers will be too hungover to go to class. Haha, There were so many people in the streets and swimming in fountains it was so cool! I can't believe that I am here for this historical moment in Spain. I will never forget this!!!

Update

Hola todos! I'm not sure where I left off but I will just talk about some things that have happened! The last few days have been quite an adjustment. I think that the culture shock kinda just hit me at once. It was a long week and there have been a few things that have happened and kinda just bottled up, and then I started to feel really out of place in Spain. First off we are literally the only americans here and NO ONE speaks any english at all, and we stick out like sore thumbs. Everyone is super thin and fashionable and dark and we are all the opposite. It is really hard to be so different sometimes because everyone stares at us. We are so easily spotted and I have never been in that situation. Also, they are so many different etiquette rules here that I wish I understood. There are so many rules when you eat lunch or dinner at a restaurant. Sometimes you have to order drinks to get food, sometimes you can only order certain food at certain times, sometimes you need to share food with your friends, sometimes you can't share meals, sometimes you have to pay extra to sit at a certain table!! I can't even keep track of the rules anymore. It gets really frustrating when everyone looks at you and treats you like your a stupid american. The people who work in the restaurants make fun of us because our spanish is so bad and are rude to us because we don't know the rules and it makes eating kind of stressful sometimes. The locals are much nicer to us than the people working at restaurants are which is nice but sometimes they laugh at us because we can't speak spanish as well as they can. Anyway that is why I was feeling homesick for awhile but as my Papa taught me, when you are feeling homesick do something adventurous! And I did! We met some locals at an espicha ( a typical party for asturian culture that the school put on for us with dancing, food and drink) and we exchanged numbers and they asked us to go to Gijon ( a bigger town with a beach 20 minute bus ride from Oviedo) with them yesterday. We had an excursion to Leon all day yesterday so we were all really tired and grumpy and were not going to go out last night because of it. We were kinda sketched out because we had never hung out with these people and didn't know anything about Gijon, but they told us they wanted to go there because it was the begginning of a festival in Asturias called La Semana Negra. ( i think they said something about it being a week to celebrate freedom) So we went to Gijon at about 11 and the people we were supposed to meet were not there. We were upset because we had no idea where they were but it turned out they missed the bus and were there shortly after us. We had no idea where we were going because we had to take another bus to get there and we were kinda freaking out but when we got there it was so fun!! We met some more locals and they were so nice to us! One girl (sylvia) took us under her wing and showed us the ropes. La semana negra was kinda like a festival but way better! there was food, drinks, dancing, and partying on the beach! Needless to say it was a BLAST and we didnt get back to oviedo until 7 am!!!!

Day 3

OMG!!!!! Spain beat germany and is now in the finals for the world cup!!!! I can not even explain to you how amazing it was to be here for this historical event. they havent been to the finals like EVER!!! ahh!!! Me and a couple friends went to this tapas restaurant to watch the game and we had a lot of sider and croquetas (fried cheese and ham balls...muy delicioso). When Spain won everyone went crazy!! I am so blessed to have been here for this. We met up with some locals and they told us where the best place to celebrate was. It is my friends 21st birthday here and regardless to say we took her out. Tonight was probably the most fun I had here. I had some stomach issues because of the food and luckily I had enough friends to take me back to the dorms and help me. I am not that excited for class tomorrow because it was really boring. I am probably moving up a level in my spanish class, (thank god) and am taking a literature class about Fredrico Garcio Lorca. It is very hard to understand. Well see if there is enough room for me to go up a level. I am having too much fun here and actually cant believe I am in such a beautiful place. adios!

Day 3

Day 2

Today was my first official day of class at the university of oviedo and it was really fun! I seem to understand the professors here more than the professors at the university of oregon. The day of classes went by really fast. Today i had my first negative experience in Oviedo. 10 of us went to a Sidreria, ( a tapas bar with sider, the alcohol they are most famous for) and had a waiter who mustve HATED americans. He was SO rude to us...i have never been treated that way for no reason. While he was taking our order all he kept doing was shaking his head at us and getting angry...it was really frustrating because we didn't know why he was so mad at us. We just dealt with it and got out of there as fast as we could. We then went to a really cool sidreria place that had the sider coming out of a snake mouth! it was so cool! the night life here is pretty alive considering it is a tuesday, but we are hoping that tomorrow is going to be extra fun because of the world cup game vs germany! I am feeling a little homesick right now but maybe it is the sider talking! It is !:15 here and i should get to bed! adios!

Day 1

Wow today was probably one of the longest days ever! We had to wake up at 8 am to go to the University (which is a 20 to 30 minute walk from the dorms) to take a placement test to see which level of spanish we need to be placed in. Needless to say i felt estupido after the test. There was also an oral part of the test where we had to have a conversation with a professor, and apparently i did well on that part! yay! He told me that my spanish was very good! I do not know what level I will be placed in until tomorrow though so we will see! After that we had a break for about two hours and a group of us walked around and went to a breakfast place called La Cocina de Mama. They only served sandwiches so I just ate what was in the sandwich (minus the bread of course) which was ham and eggs. I have never eaten so much HAM in my life!!! I had no idea that the spanish ate so much ham...i thought that was only in Paris for some reason. I honestly feel like I am sweating ham all of the time. It is gross! they also eat eggs with everything! Eggs on chicken, eggs on sandwiches...everything!! After that we had a lunch all together and then walked around. Unfortunately since I can not eat much here and none of the Spanish drink water (and not to mention it was 90 degrees and VERY humid) i about fainted a couple of times which was NOT OKAY. After that experience I decided to go back to the dorms to lay down before walking more around the town. We went to this beautiful Cathedral...i mean BEAUTIFUL. I wish I knew how to upload pictures on this thing but I will put some up on facebook soon! After awhile we all kinda talked and it was all of a sudden dinner time! It is really cool because I already feel super close to the people here even though it has only been like two days. I think it is because we all bonded so fast over this experience...it really is an amazing thing. For dinner we went to this AMAZING restaurant and bar. It was food that I was finally able to eat! White rice and chicken!! it was delicioso! Our waiter was one of the nicest people i have met in Oviedo so far. He was very interactive with us and very informative. All of us could understand what he was saying. It was awesome! I had a pretty long conversation in spanish with him about Botero and the FIFA World Cup. I felt very accomplished. (I even negotiated a phone plan in spanish for my friend here!) The wine at the restaurant was the best I have ever had and we are all going back there on Wednesday to watch the Spain vs Germany game!! I even bought a jersey today! :) Well it is 1240 here so I should be going to bed! I have class in the morning adios!!

Arrival

Hola!! Well it has been a long couple of days but I am finally in the dorms at the university and settled in. The dorms are awesome and Oviedo is beautiful!!! Everyone is super nice! I have already learned so much and have only been in Europe for about a day. Getting to Oviedo was rough. The 10 and a half hour flight to Paris was very long because i didn't sleep a wink and the TV's that were playing on the plane weren't working in my section....just my luck :). The seats were super small and i was sitting next to this french couple who were not very nice. They knew that I was American and were not very excited about it. Once we landed in Paris we had to find a separate airport in Paris that was the terminal to get to Oviedo. Security was very difficult in Paris and I was questioned and searched in depth for unknown reasons!! (they were questioning my shirt a lot because it had a fleur-de-lis on it, I later found out it is the symbol for prostitution in Paris...yikes!!!) It was impossible to find where our flight to Oviedo was leaving from so we just kind of went on the next plane hoping it was to Oviedo, luckily it was. The flight to Oviedo was fine until the landing. It was really scary because we couldn't see anything around us because of all of the fog. When we landed in Oviedo it was raining and gross. I felt like I was in Eugene again ughh. It was raining in Paris too and for some reason I pictured Paris to always be sunny and beautiful so I was kinda bummed when I saw it and it looked just like home. Me and Erica (friend from my sorority who is in the program too) stayed in a hotel last night and attempted to go to a Tapas bar where the Spain v Paraguay World Cup game was playing. To our surprise it was SUPER intimidating and we got to scared to go into one because we didn't know how it all worked. But Spain beat portugal and made it to the semi finals for the first time in like 60 years!!! They play Germany on the 7th and am sooo excited to watch it here! I think it is gonna be a once in a lifetime experience to watch it with the Spanish! I am also in search of a Spain soccer jersey so I can atleast look like I fit in haha. When I got to the dorms I was pleasantly surprised at how nice they were. Once there was a small group here we all went out and walked around town. The town is exactly how I pictured a town in Spain to look like. There are so many beautiful fountains, buildings, and parks. And the shopping is AMAZING!!! I am going to need a whole new suitcase when I come home for all of the stuff I hope to buy. Everyone is so fashion forward here I feel like my nordstrom wardrobe is even underdressed. The weather here is VERY humid. I swear I have never sweat so much in my life and my hair has never looked so frizzy...it is awful. I am feeling pretty good about things after settling in, but this morning I was very homesick. It makes it worse reading emails from friends and family and going on facebook and seeing everyone, but I know it will get better! Tomorrow is my first day of class so well see how that goes! Adios!

Adios los Estados Unidos!

Well today was last my last day in the states, I can not believe it! Yesterday was really stressful because I had so much to do and of course saved it until the last minute...sooo I had a mini freak out in the midst of everything and realized that I am really scared to do this,but it is something that I know I need to do. I am usually a really cautious person and this is totally out of my character which I think is going to be a really good thing!! One of my big concerns is that I would not meet anyone interesting in my group. My friend quickly reassured me that no boring people study abroad and that instantly made me feel better. I woke up today surprisingly not stressed at all and getting really excited. I got my nails done to relax, ate some last real american food, caught up on some american shows that I won't be able to watch for two months (no one tell me who wins the bachelorette!!), and finally bought a student's travel guide to Spain book to see what places I should definitely travel to while I am there. Tonight was when I had to say some hard goodbyes. I thought I could hold myself together...but of course I was wrong. It was really hard to say goodbye to people when I knew that they will not be a call away when I need them, and of course that I would not see them for two months or more (some of them for 6 months!). One big thing I am going to miss is having my cat sleep with me in bed...maybe I can find a gatito in Spain to live in my dorm room with me!! ( I swear I am going to grow up sitting on a porch with a million cats haha) Until next time adios!

Anticipation

It is almost one in the morning and I can not get to bed because I am so nervous slash excited!! (I know it's like two weeks away but still!) Luckily, the Next Food Network Star is on so I have something to watch....I can not stop thinking about all of the stuff that I have to do before I leave ah! I need to figure out all of my travel plans, get a European wardrobe somehow (trip to Nordstrom...i think yes!), prepare to leave my animals for 2 months, getting over my fear of flying, etc etc. I got my information packet today, that was really not informational at all....it didn't tell me what to bring, what to expect, what classes I will be taking, or anything useful. I was a little frustrated but I guess I will just have to wait it out until I get there!