Serendipity [in Spain!]

Home, sweet home = Cordoba :):):)

malooch — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:41:00 -0400

Cordoba's prettiest view at night!

oh yello!

post Hammam

calle de los flores! <3

terrace of ze best hostal!

Home, sweet home = Cordoba :):):)

Cute Toledo!!

malooch — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:35:00 -0400

oh the view!

Semana Santa parade

Semana Santa parade

haunting, right?!

stylin as usual

blending in!

Cute Toledo!!

Madrid!!!

malooch — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:29:00 -0400

favorite part of Madrid!Parque de Retiro

iglesia

YUMYUM froyo!

churros y chocolate!

nastyy

paella!

Semana Santa!

Madrid!!!

Barcelona!!

malooch — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:12:00 -0400

Plaza!

Trinh y yo

beautiful view!! and SOL!

breathtaking art!

another example of Gaudi architecture

Barcelona!!

Rhonda! y Ice cream in Malaga!

malooch — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:17:00 -0400

the view!

Wowzer--unbelievable sight!

the famoso puente!

book definition of CONTENT

Rhonda!

Ice cream in Malaga!

Sevilla trip! with Theresa, Tyler, Leah, Diya, Aspen, Vishnu

malooch — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:08:00 -0400

the gang

Plaza de Espana! **Star Wars

Dinner for seven?! Yes please!

Sevilla trip!

with Theresa, Tyler, Leah, Diya, Aspen, Vishnu

Back to the Blog 4-20-12

malooch — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:54:00 -0400

Well hello there!!! Gosh it’s been SOOOO long, so this entry is either going to be uber-duber long or really short because I’m too lazy to go over everything (which is actually quite a shame, because I love everything about being here, and I’d hate that I would forget anything—this blog, I really want to use for my memory’s sake. I definitely think there are cons to being so surrounded by technology 24/7 but at the same time, if it’s there, why not use it for GOOD?! lol aka like a keepsake—God knows I’m already forgetting stuff!!).

Anyways, I’ve been putting off this writing, because of midterms, Semana Santa, Union scholarship essay, homework reading, and of course I was dreading having to sit down and write so much. Plus, if you’ve noticed, I feel incredibly bad at writing and speaking in English. My vocab recall skill is like zero, and my sentence structure is all off, because I haven’t really had to think in English for a while now. This ticks me off a bit because I’m actually quite a grammar fiend. WHATEVER I’ll get over it :)

SO to begin! I’ll start with our vacation during Semana Santa (I’ll share more later!). On the 30^th, I believe, Trinh y yo fuimos a Malaga via autobus relatively early in the morning, because our flight to Barcelona was out of Malaga airport. The first thing we did upon arriving in Malaga was eat churros & chocolate! If you ever get the chance to come to Spain, eat churros & chocolate!! YUM YUM! We had really wanted to go to Rhonda, a small pueblo with an amazing bridge, but to get there from Cordoba would be too costly—it actually is less expensive to get there via bus from Malaga. Soooo, we did! And we had our backpacks on as we hiked up and down and in and out of the small town. I’ll definitely be posting pictures of the beautiful views from above and below the famous bridge/ Puente :) We caught the (I think) 5 o’clock bus back to Malaga, and arrived just in time for dinner with Tiffany and Antonio, her Spanish friend who came to join us in Malaga last minute! From there, geez I can’t remember everything jajja but OF COURSE I distinctly remember eating ice cream about 3 times……. Tengo verguenza!! Jajaj Oh, and also we sat outside for dinner and were charged extra for our spot outside and for the bread they gave us. NEVER eat the bread! They charge you! Anywhoo, Trinh y yo had booked a nice hostel, but Tiffany had waited a bit longer to book, so she had to stay in another hostel a bit away. Wow I stayed in a gajillian hostals that break!

Next stop was Barcelona via Ryanair the following day (31^st)! We ran into a few complications, as Tiffany left her boarding pass at home. We wandered all over the airport in search of a printer, only to discover that she wasn’t allowed to print it out within 4 hours of boarding the plane anyways SOOO she had to pay around 80 euro!!! Well, in any case, we made it to Barcelona safely! Tiffany and I booked the same hostel called Center Rambles Youth Hostel which was very close to the very popular street Las Ramblas. VERY popular. Gah to walk through all those people 24/7 (the clima was very pleasant upon our arrival and Semana Santa is a very popular traveling time = lots and lots of people!) made me slightly on edge by the end of our trip, actually. I realize how appreciative I am for studying in the mellow Cordoba!! On the Rambla, there were tons of kiosks and ice cream and markets and restaurants and ice cream…. Needless to say, we treated ourselves to a lot of ice cream in Barcelona :) but the first thing we did once we settled into each of our hostels (Tiffany and I ended up rooming with 5 or 6 other loud Brazilians) we met up for dinner and ate BUFFET STYLE—so hungry-mungry we were! But the food was ehhh to be honest. Later we met up with Steven (Trinh’s friend and excellent “tour guide”) in Plaza Catalunya (I’ll post pics of the plaza). Steven is currently studying abroad in Barcelona, so he knows his way around the city pretty well. On this day, we just passed the time wandering through the city, eating kinder bars (AHH mazing german candy bar with a white, blonde, blue-eyed boy on the wrapper……..), seeing Sagrada Familia for the first time, walking under the Arc de Triomf, enjoying Giovanni’s ice cream, and chowing down on some meaty bocadillos. JAJAJ and some of us (**Trinh and Steven) enjoyed some KFC hot wings smack in front of Sagrada Familia= discortes!!! Jajaj just keeeding!

On Sunday, we ate provided bfast in the hostel, did a little scarf and earring shopping around the city and tried some typical Barcelonan dessert donut things, thanks to Steven! Honestly, the donuts tasted like licorice, so weird! Later, we ate at Doner Kabab (Donner, party of fou—, I mean three!) which was so amazingly flavorful. SO! The BEST PART OF BARCELONA comes next! We went to Gaudi’s PARK GUELL!!! Can I just say, FAVORITE SITE IN ALL OF SPAIN. Hands down. I was trying to figure out why the heck I loved it so much and I came to the conclusion that it’s cause it’s like, a theme park, or amusement park because it’s so crazy-cool and crafty and colorful and beautiful and fun! Except… it’s REAL! Like, he had originally built it for people to actually live in, you know? Crazy. But I love love love lots of colors, so it was just so cool to see the different colored tiles and the neat architecture. Pictures DEFINITELY to come :) we literally stayed there for about 6 hours! Naturally, after all that admiring and walking in such a grand city, we were starving marvin gaye! Entonces, we took the metro with empty bellies and wouldn’t cha know?! As if meant to be, the restaurant we had wanted to find happened to be RIGHT THERE. We ate and I accidently spent 4+ euros on orange juice…really!? I intentionally bought the cheapest option on the menu and then BAM! Barcelona is a money sucker, let me tell you! More importantly, Tiffany, after years and years, she was able to try calcots (sp?) which are onion leak things! Actually pretty good. Later that night, we had ice cream again :)

Daaaay 3! If you wanted to hear stories about the crazy night life in Barcelona, sorry. This day was the closest we came to fiesta-ing :) It started with a yum yum bfast of fruit smoothies at the supaaa cool San Josef market, a bocadillo lunch from the market (I think this was that day?!) which we ate in the Plaza by Las Ramblas, and a long long trip up to Castell de Montijuic—a HORRID first “castle” for Tiffany. Trust me, I’ve seen so much better. BUT the slides made it worth it! We happened across a small park with 2 giant slides and yes we had to wait our turn while the youngins were around, but it was quite worth it :) actually to be honest it scared me to death! Later we met up with Steven otra vez and the four of us headed over to Passeig de Gracia and saw Casa Mila, Casa Batilo, y Casa Amattler (I think this is how they’re spelled?). Beautiful from the outside, as we were demasiado cheap to pay entrance fees lol. Later, we got some yucky churros and chocolate (prefrozen—ew! Jaja so picky we are now). And…somehow…I forget what exactly we did from then on until, well, we reunited for more food… WHEN IN ROME, RIGHT?! Don’t judge! ;) I think that was just our chill day when we told stories at the plaza. But ya, for dinner we “pregamed” with pizza, ate our first Mexican food meal since being in Spain, shared mocha, and then went for McDonald’s for ice cream, and loitered until 3 am! Yello! We had quite pleasant chats, if I do say so myself :)

And on Tuesday, we went back to both the super cheap fun market and Doner Kabab, then to Valor Chocolate to compensate for that yucky churro day and bought ice cream and churros. Wow sin verguenza we were! That day was super chill, the four of us just shopped around the city and talked in Parque Ciudadela. It was so beautiful, the park! We had to take it easy today though, because we had to wake up really early the following day to catch our buses. Tiffany and Trinh would be on their way to San Sebastian and I’d be on my way to Madrid.

While we’re on the subject: I woke up at 4:50 am, left the hostel about an hour later, and began the trudge through the rain, thunder, and lightning. Everything was absolutely soaking, but I finally found my way to the bus station! I was so ready to get outta there BUT when I approached the front desk, I was absolutely astonished as to what I was told! Apparently, within the last 4 hours, the last of the tickets on the bus had been sold. I’m still skeptical as to whether or not he was being truthful (I had JUST checked online, and they had space). So I had to get back on the metro and met up with Trinh and Tiffany at the other station where I’d have to pay, brace yourself, 90+ euro to get to Madrid. NINETY!!! And I thought 20ish was a lot! That was such a disheartening thing to have to deal with but it’s in the past now, so I just gotta go with the flow ya know? :)

On the bright side, I got to Madrid a lot earlier than I would have; therefore, giving me more time with Meeeechelllllliiieee! It was much needed to see that face of hers, and I think for both of us, because we have both been missing our families a lot. Not to mention it would be Easter in under a few days, and being away from the family for that date would be especially hard. Anywho, despite the rain, I found the Way Hostel (excellente!!) we were staying at, headed over to the metro to wait for Michelle, and whaddayaknow! We bumped into each other! Again, just like in Italy, it is a surreal experience to be in another country with yo best frann :) So we settled in, and again went out in the rain with our maps of Madrid! We ate at 100 Montadillos or Montadillos or something. After we filled our belles, we set out to explore MARDID!! I had already been to Madrid in January, so I knew a bit about the city. It was bastante miserable because my feet had been sopping with water since 6 in the morning and I was just like ehhhh I wanna relax but it was well worth it in the end. It was actually comical, my feet. They were like green, itchy, and wrinkled—I thought I had athletes foot from not using shower shoes/ chonclas!!! All’s well. Ok, I’m avoiding this Madrid exploration thing cause I really can’t remember exactly what we did… poop. I’ll just list what we saw from what I can remember: Palacio Real, got lost in Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Parque de Buen Retiro (my personal favorite!!), basically we saw a lot but we didn’t go into anything because, again, we’re cheap and the lines were too long. That was over the span of day 5 and 6. For dinner one night, we had paella, bread, and sangria for 10 euros total (yes-that’s only 5 each)! Pretty good deal if you ask me! Usually one dish of paella is no less than 8 or 9! I may not remember specifics but I can say that the important part was getting to see each other finally! Oh, and we saw a Semana Santa Parade in Puerta de Sol, (I think that’s where it was).

Ok, so day 6 continued, we were on our way to Toledo!! Toledo is really known for its swords and gold and its castle-like stuff so yay! Loved it! It was very picture-esque –and it didn’t even rain that hard! We got off the bus, which was a super leisurely bus ride with our little home-made bocadillos (Michelle really liked the bocadillo de tortilla—best!! So yum!) from supermarket shopping—we gotta get used to living off bread and the basics for this summer ;) When we got off the bus, it was sunny and perfect so we didn’t have to stress really about rushing to find our hostel—which ended up being B.E.A. UUUU TIFUL!! And fun! Except the showers were see-through…. No biggie! Merr jaja whatever! Literally it felt like we were staying in a hotel! Amazing! And we happened to room with really nice peeps and two bastante cute guys (we totes should have gone to lunch with them, dangit lol)! Anywho, we got to our room, complete with a superdupercutieee balcony, and then I attempted to shower in the infamous shower without a towel haha and we proceeded to head out and explore the city a bit! We basically wandered around the city and bought some souvenirs for our fambibly-oo members :) Later, we heard from our hostel guy that there would be a Semana Santa parade later that night and sooo, we went! The tiny streets were absolutely overflowing with onlookers, but we managed to squeeze ourselves into a little inlet of a window behind a couple—but not before we bought some traditional wafer crackers! Let me explain:

Semana Santa is like, well, I like to describe it as quite haunting actually. It’s a week-long event in Spain that celebrates Jesus, basically. Hundreds of years ago, during the Inquisition, you were pretty much obligated to go or you’d be pegged as a non-catholic and thus worthy of, well, death I guess. Lots of people participate in the various parades, and some even take it upon themselves to carry these huge platforms with statues on them of Jesus and Mary, etc as a form of, I guess solidarity/ suffering/ appreciating Jesus for what he did for us. The band is pretty cool but the music sounds really haunting and the statues aren’t exactly happy. And the entirety of the crowd is hushed, and they seem to take the parade very seriously, so no shenanigans while you’re watching. Oh and another thing, the parade participants are often wearing KKK-like garbs—possibly the part of the parade that seems most odd to foreigners. Actually, the KKK came after this tradition, but it’s still hard to break that association between the pointy white hats and KKK.

We woke up really early in Toledo to catch a bus back to Madrid to catch the bus back to Cordoba buuuut we made it! And bus rides are always 10X better with your best friend!! So! Once in Cordoba, we got her settled into her AMAZING hostel gahhh it’s beautiful with a patio and live music and a terrace with a view of la Mezquita! And gah just beautiful! We walked around La Juderia mostly, because it’s without a doubt theeee coolest part of Cordoba :) !! There are so many long, white, “estrecha” streets to get lost on (ok I’ve actually tried that but it seems I can’t quite get lost for some reason)! So we bought tortilla at Bar Santos, which is known for its amazing tortilla, and we ate it inside the Mezquita patio. Later that day, at around 4 GAHH best part!! Antonia invited us to eat lunch with her (ok wait, this might have been the following day, but I’ll just talk about the 2 days in Cordoba as a collective trip haha). Antonia made paella (I think that’s cute because I’m pretty sure she did that because it’s a typical Spanish dish and she wanted Michelle to try it but ajaja a shame that Michelle doesn’t love sea food!), and I think we also had croquetas mmmmm one of my faves. Also of course bread and… salad? I can’t remember. Unimportant anyway. But ya, we all talked in Spanish/ broken Spanish-Italian for Michelle but it was nice to share a sort-of Easter meal all together. Also, it was hailing and Antonia was like “Ven ven!” to us and gah she’s just really cute. Que mas, que mas…?? Oh yes, later one of those nights we went exploring a bit more and my friend Carlos met up with us, which ended up being really great, because he showed us a place to eat really yumm traditional Spanish food (is it just me, or am I talking about food a weee bit too much?!) including salmorejo, flamenquin, and a bready/eggy/potato-ie dish. Also tinto verano of course—our favorite! We also had a lovely tour through La Juderia—to places I never knew existed! Very exciting! Oh ya and we went over to the beautiful bridge—which is super beautiful at night. Later on, the 3 of us met up with Juan and Victor and Juan’s brother. We headed over to El Emir to play some pool, and soon it was like 2 am or something ridiculous. Michelle had to get up early, like 4, so that was rough. BUTTT I almost forgot to mention that the night before, instead of treating ourselves to a fancy Easter dinner, we went to the Hammam Arabic baths! They’re like these based-on-historical bath houses that ACTUALLY (fun fact!) helped prevent the black plague from severely impacting Spain (bc at a time when different religions were blending together, like Muslims and Catholics, they all bathed together, shared conversation, and cleaned themselves regularly! Thus, no way for disease to spread plus an era of progressive thinking! Boo-yah Spain for the win! P.s. I’m a nerd for plague facts). To start, we went to the changing room, rented bathing suits, and began soaking up the tranquil ambiance. The bath room was complete with 2 tiny FREEZING pools, a larger, shallow pool of warm water, two hot hot baths, and a sauna room. The purpose of the baths is to get your blood circulating but heck, we dropped that below zero pool like it’s hot. Uh-uhh we weren’t having any of that! So we just let ourselves relax between pool rotations. Very worth it! I hated to see Michelle go, but I knew we would be seeing each other very soonly for summer!

Now, a few quick blurbs about life outside of Semana Santa. Later that weekend, I played soccer with some of the Spaniards and Leah and Aspen, Trinh for a bit, Dickie, and Daniel, and later Tiffany…and Spaniards. DON’T. So embarrassing, that’s all I’ll say. No actually a bit more: no one wants to hear me talking aloud to myself during a game of soccer. Pep talks not okay when you have to address yourself due to your uber lack of skills. People literally backed away from me when I got the ball, because it would inevitably end up in the “hands” of the other team, anyway. At least my teammates tried. Hahah bottom line: don’t play SOCCER with SPANIARDS. Done!

Also, later mi madre Espanola connected a bit more, I got to walk Domi with her, and then go into the local market with her where we bought some fruit from people that know her and it was just so nice. I had always wondered what it would be like to go shopping with her! Very cute. Later that week, I took Domi for a walk BY MYSELF! I felt so Spanish! :) :) :) and I took him down his favorite street and into the park on Antonio Maura.

At some point, we had 2 French boys stay with us who were about 12 and 15—sooooooo immature. They were respectful and everything, and maybe I just don’t understand boys that well and how they deal with their nerves, but geez they were SO shy! For example, I asked them like a jillion questions, just to get an answer out of them, but they like literally just sat there at the dinner table and mumbled. Wow yep.

Last week, my intercambio Raquel invited me to the movies and we saw Grupo 7 (my first Spanish movie in the cine!), but it was terrible! And that weekend, she invited me to go to Gongora, pretty much my first discoteca! However, I was a Bit mislead. Ok so I heard: ok Katie, we’ll meet at the bus at 11pm, visit with my friends, and then all go out to the discoteca. So I’m like COOL! CHILL NIGHT! NO BIGGIE……………NO. More like, ok Katie, we’re meeting at 12, not leaving her house until 2:30am, and returning to the house at 7am. YA! That was my night/ morning jahajja. Quite the Spanish experience. Just call me Ms. Cordoba :)

I got a 9 on my Grammar test :)

Oh hey, Trinh and I are friends with the owner of our favorite ice cream shop in La Juderia—-she’s so so nice! Love her! And we get our ice cream for like 20 cents discount and then we eat it in her tiny shop where she works with her husband and we just chat! :)

Just got back from hanging with Trinh, Wiki, Danielle, Carlos, Juan, y Victor. No one wanted to drink, so we wondered why the heck we were going to pay 7 euro to get into a vino tent thing and ya. Fun though in the end. Ok, I’m so done writing! I gotta get those pics up though, but tengo sueno good night!! :)

Oh! Also, I went to Sevilla one weekend! HA! wow it’s been too long! yes, too much to write about, this little blurb shall have to suffice :)

What I’m listening to: Escucha!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x_RH2LZ2dg&feature=autoplay&list=PL5988ED7491CFAA2A&playnext=2

Also, I invite you to read Michelle’s blog, bc I definitely missed some details in there (4/10/12 in particular!) http://michelleandeurope.blogspot.com.es/

Froyo with Raquel! I’m such a bad influence!!! :)

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:13:47 -0400

Froyo with Raquel! I’m such a bad influence!!! :)

On a walk through la Juderia

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:12:11 -0400

On a walk through la Juderia

French Friends & Domingo :)

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:10:29 -0400

French Friends & Domingo :)

Zuheros!!!

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:01:00 -0400

Zuheros!!!

Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:55:00 -0400

Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos

Karaoke night :)

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:53:41 -0400

Karaoke night :)

“I need to start hablamos en espanol” ~Leah 3-15-12

malooch — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:47:55 -0400

Oh my goodness it feels like forever since I’ve written in my blog! So I’ll try to start from last week :) Well, I went out almost every day, which was fun. We went out to Fontanas (? I cant remember the name), a couple intercambio exchanges (or we tried to, at least), and a Cuban bar (with Theresa, Carlos, Trinh, Leah, Vanessa, etc.) They were all super low key, but I think the most memorable of the nights includes going to a Karaoke bar for Juan’s birthday (I think the majority of the eap students went), an intercambio and mutual friend among other EAP students. We were originally going to watch the Truman Show with Victor, Chema, y Wiki but we decided it would be best to hold off until another day (because they’re all friends with Juan). WAIT! This might have been TWO weekends ago! Wow! I can’t remember. No. This was Friday I think.. Okay :)

Earlier on Friday, we went on an excursion to Alcazar de Los Reyes Catolicos…muy bonita! The gardens were beautiful and I can only imagine what they look like in the Spring!! There were also awesome fountains/ pools of water and statues of peeps like Cristobal Colón, Fernando, and Isabel, and (what I call) “Easter Lilies” and historical things! Shoot I really wish I could remember everything, but this week has just zoomed by!! That day we also went to—Gosh I seriously don’t even know where we went! I was exhausted and the guy who lectured was sooo boring! It was super cool by the end though, because we got to hear a guy play beautiful music!! I’ll try to upload a clip from my phone…his voice was amazing (I gotta look more into this kind of music—it’s different and just so beautiful)!

Back to Saturday, I went volunteering at Reina Sofia with Tiffany. It was my second time, and we spend it hanging out with the kids in the children’s play area. Kids who are visiting family members in the hospital can come, but I think it’s mainly for kids who are actually patients—it’s sad to see SUPER little kids walking around the room with those big poles with water bags things. But I think it’s a great program—it’s super laid-back and basically we just get to play with the kids for those 2 hours!

After volunteering, Trinh, Victor, and Tiffany and I met up to go to La Filmoteca (a SUPER cheap cine, under 1 euro that shows old movies), but it was SUCH a beautiful evening that we decided to walk through La Juderia—it’s definitely my favorite place in Cordoba!!! We explored a little, Trinh got helado (Yes! I resisted! Only because I knew I was going to get froyo with Raquel later that night), chit-chatted in Spanglish, and ya! My favorite part: so, I might have explained this before, but let me reiterate. Living in a new country is a big deal! At least I think so :) Typically I share all my experiences with everyone, like my family and friends, but when I’m here, I’m kind of secluded from family and my friends back home—-even from the friends I’ve made here! Because we live in our own home stays (which I’m totally still happy about, by the way!!), there are parts of our lives that we don’t get to share with one another. BUT! That day, we ran into Victor’s family and Juan’s family and it was just so nice to see that part of his life! Plus, as you probably know (as a daughter of my mother!) that I love coincidences—and what were the chances of running into both of their families? OK SO WE WERE OUTSIDE THEIR BUILDING BUT STILL! :) You know?? I just like feeling that connectedness.

Later that night, I went out to Smooy, the local froyo joint (jeje) with my intercambio Raquel. She’s sooo nice, I just wish she wasn’t so busy all the time/ lived so far away! She always invites me to her parties/ events with her friends but it rarely works out :/ Anyway, it was her FIRST FROZEN YOGURT ever! Can you imagine?? Jajaj Natually, she loved it and I’m sure we will both be back! She wants to try all the different toppings jajaj YAY—Froyo for the win!!

On Sunday, Trinh, Vanessa, y yo went on an excursion to a pueblo near Cordoba called Zuheros. It was magnificent and so different! All the houses were white, everyone hung their clothes outside their windows, and…it was kinda surreal actually, now that I think about it. It’s like, from a movie—and I wonder if inhabitants know how different their home is compared to others—OK! maybe WE’RE the different ones—I don’t know! All I can be sure of was that it was surreal for me :) OH! And we “hiked” up to a spot where we could see ALL of this tiny pueblo and it was incredible. JAJAJ I just remembered, again, that we were trying to walk down this steep knoll at some point, and I was wearing boots so I was kinda freaking out a bit. Finally I was like “GAH! I’ll just RUN down!” Five seconds later, I reach the bottom, trip over myself, and collapse to the ground! And I still have the bruises to prove it jajajj I can’t stop laughing when I think of how silly I must have looked!

On Monday, mi Madre Espanol hosted 2 young French girls, about 14 and 15 years old. I’ll probably never know their names jajaja but I WILL remember how freaked out mi madre was when she found out they were vegetarians! Jajajaj I think it was hard for her to wrap her mind around the whole “no-meat” thing :) Anywhoo, they were QUITE the youngsters. I could totally picture myself being the same way with Sam J when we were that age!! (Except they were super stylish, and I’m pretty sure I wore bellbottoms til I was like………now) ANYWHO, one girl was such a drama queen, but SOO sweet, so you really can’t judge jaja. One night, she literally broke down crying/ yelping at the dinner table out of nowhere! Apparently her braces really hurt her, but WOW! Jajja. Also, I think it brought me a little closer to mi madre, because they were so like, free from anything. They weren’t worried about being judged by her or anything, you know. I thought it was odd because mi madre gave up her own room during that time! She slept in a small room next to the kitchen! Odd for me, but it’s apparently very normal here. OH GUESS WHAT NO SCHOOL TOMMORROW! Woot :)

Okay, so all week I’ve been studying/ finding ways to procrastinate because I had a history test today. It was from like 1000 b.c. til like, 1500 a.d. Ayyyy! I think I got at least a B, or somewhere around there, but it was yucky to study for! I forgot how hard it is to study for history—so many details that need to be remembered and not confused lol! All the Giris/ foreigners apparently really like this one, and yesterday I met up with Carlos, a guy I met at an intercambio meeting, saw a bunch of people studying for the same test there, and met up with Leah to review a bit. It’s such a Santa Cruz-ie –ish café, I love it!

This weekend, I think I’m going to Sevilla. I think the plan is that a bunch of people from the program are going to stay in the same hostel for two nights, so it ought to be fun :) Plus mi Madre Espanola has told me that it’s sooo beautiful! I can’t wait to do some exploring.

Ok so I just got back from hanging out with intercambios and fellow EAP-ers.. it was really fun. After I wrote the above ^, I left with Leah to Yoigo to change my phone plan. Happy Movil was eating all my money!!! Ouch, my head’s throbbing and I’m so tired—I’ll write quickly. So afterwards, Trinh y yo met up and UN-AWKWARDLY :) went to the speedchatting intercambio exchange thing—it was really fun! People just love meeting up to chat and exchange words. I LOVE IT!!! Ran into Pilar, a cousin of an intercambio and her friend, uhmmm…. We met lots of people, too. And Sarah, Florin, and Carlos showed up, which was nice! I hated to leave, but at the same time, I hate spending money on meals when I’ve already paid for my meal at home. So I walked home with Sarah and Carlos (yay I love that I’m writing this now, because I remember so much more!) to eat with Antonia, who, by the way, is still my favorite madre espanol—I think I got really really lucky!!!!! After the French girls came, I think it brought us closer! En serio! Anywho, I was planning on getting churros with Trinh BUT SHE BAILED!! Jajajj funniest conversation we had about gaining weight :) So I ended up going to a botellon with Leah, Vanessa, a couple intercambios, and a few other students. After hanging out at La Puerta, we migrated around the city-ish area, bumped into Florin once again, y ended up going to Gran Botellon, or something—where a LOTTT of Erasmus students were hanging. CAN YOU SAY AWKWARD?!? Okay, I like dancing, sure. But not when the lights are on, random flamenco music is playing, and for sure not when all 12 or so of us are dancing in a giant circle where everyone can see you. I like these people a lot, but I also don’t want them to see me awkwardly bop my head around or attempt to twerk my body in this and that direction. Uhgg so awkward. Then I had to walk home alone because I left early but I met some really fun gals who thought it was very very cool I was from CA—who wouldn’t right? Jajaj everyone thinks we surf to class jajja. So it ended up being alright. BUT I DO KNOW ONE THING AFTER TONIGHT! I am going to apply for a scholarship/ grant thing to come back to Spain in the future. I need to think it through though. Because I want to come back after I graduate, of course (gotsta finish my career first), but gahh after 6 months, you have to start paying off your loans. BLAH BLAH BLAH okay sorry NOT going to babble. I’ll do it. I’ll do it if I have to work day and night next year! Plus, I’ll have saved up and ya! If I write about it here, now, I’ll have something to help me look forward to. Because I know I’m horrible at either living too much in the past or too much in the future, and I miss out on the present. My current state: I’m so preoccupied with the fact that soon I’ll have to leave this amazing place, and I’ll not come back. But what the heck! I can’t think about that! If I know I’ll come back, I probably won’t worry so much, you know?

On that note, tonight at dinner, Antonia and I bonded over………wait for it……………………………our lunares. Yes, these are MOLES. Or as I like to call them “beauty marks”. Because “mole” is so taboo in my mind, and such an ugly word!! Jajaj Not only did she point out my mol— BEAUTY MARK! — because I was wearing my dress and it was visible. So there I was. Sitting at the dinner table. If you know me, I’ve always been self-conscious about this little guy jjaja But whatevs! She was so cute about it. She literally pulled her shirt up in the back to show me her mole. At that point, I really had to hold back laughter (seriously, humor me and just picture this scene)—-not because I was laughing at her at all, I just couldn’t believe that IIII was having this conversation! Like, I hate talking about beauty marks! And….so ya! Good-night :)

Oh and recently I’ve been waking up to Domi at my door or in my room—so cute!!!

What I’m listening to: Call Me Maybe (thanks to Claire—love it!)

Click Here for Bday Appropriate Music :)

malooch — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:33:00 -0500

Click Here for Bday Appropriate Music :):

Lots of B-days today! Happy birthday Auntie Lizz!!

Grandma’s Birthday 3-4-12

malooch — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:11:00 -0500

Guess what day it is today?! Happy birthday to the BESTEST Grandma in the entire world!!! I miss you so so much over here. Perhaps if you see my mom at some point today, I can hear your voice and wish you a legitimate “happy birthday”!

Since I was super little, I remember going to your house and LOVING IT! :) I especially remember those baby spoons with the bunny with the balloons and the Snow White spoon/ fork (one or the other…) you gave me to use to eat Mama Soup! And I can definitely vouch for the other cousins (old enough to remember your famous soup!) who remember the same!

I think the 2 words that I can’t help but always associate with you are “unconditional” and “compassionate”. I think they go without explanation, but I always feel this endless love for you and from you, and it will never go awayyy!!!! Compassionate, hahah except, yes, you give that “l’occio” sometimes, but everyone’s grateful for their grandma looking out for them! Seriously, you are THE sweetest person ever, and I can speak for EVERY SINGLE PERSON out there who has ever met you! Especially those cute little babies :) I hope I’m like you when I get older.

I talk about you nonstop here, and people have started to realize that my family is super important to me. Especially you! When I went to Italy, for example, everything reminded me of you! We ate biscotti and I saw Mama Soup brand noodles EVERYWHERE! (I tried to find bruschetta, but no luck).

With love, from Spain, your admirer Katie xoxoox

I think we should have another night like this :)

Please watch it guys! It’s very much worth the 30...

malooch — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:06:24 -0500

Please watch it guys! It’s very much worth the 30 minutes!!

How Deep is Your Love (cover by The Bird and the Bee)

malooch — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:44:28 -0500

How Deep is Your Love (cover by The Bird and the Bee)

"Me gusto como uno ..ok thats all the spanish..now here is the greatest news ever…i am coming..."

malooch — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:20:52 -0500

“Me gusto como uno ..ok thats all the spanish..now here is the greatest news ever…i am coming to spain may 8 th with lesli..foe a week..details later..me tired me miss you..xoxo”

- Mama-san!!

YAY I was so excited to wake up to this message!!!

….although, I honestly don’t know what she’s trying to say in Spanish jajaj :)P

Caracoles/Snails with Leah :)P

malooch — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:12:34 -0500

Caracoles/Snails with Leah :)P