RIP ANTHONY JIMENEZ.. forever in our hearts

You were an inspiration to all of us. You had the most amazing, upbeat personality of anyone. You were finally so excited about getting your life on track and being the best you could be. This is the most ironic accident of all them, you were fighting in Iraq and nothing happened, you finally make the Marines boxing team, and you get hit real bad. UNREAL.

I remember all the parties we had at your grandpas house, hundreds of people there from every grade, you never cared, you were always so open to everyone. You were just always happy, always down to do anything( good or bad haha), and just an amazing person to everyone. I am so grateful I got to see you over winter break except not knowing that this was going to be my last time :(

Everyone was praying for you but we all know you went to a better, safer place. As Cav just wrote on you wall, heaven just got a little more fun with you around.
- none can believe that we are writing RIP and writing on your facebook walls. This is a sick joke

Love you & miss you

RIP ant.

I had to come back and write something else because I just remembered one of the funniest moments. Superbowl Sunday.Raquel's house. Ice cream ALL over your face, your head in the ice trash can. Kate just posted the pics, I know your laughing up there :)

** only the good diee youn

Gloomy Sunday.

So another sad post is about to be written. I just found out through Facebook( why it is a great connection to people) that my friend Anthony Jimenez is in a coma. I don’t know the full story as of now but apparently he took a blow to the head when he was boxing in NC. He is in the Marines but I think was on a boxing team or something along those lines. I’ve known him since 7th grade and this is just unreal to me. I was basically told that if he comes out of a coma he will be brain dead. WHAT? This is crazy talk. I can’t imagine anything happening to anyone that I know, especially at a young age. Not okay by me. I used to go to his house on Peapond all the time for parties and just to hang out with everyone. He is a funny, crazy, amazing person that had a great future ahead. All we can do it pray. God, you did it once with my friends sister Jillian, you can do it again for all of us.

Stay Strong Jim , you’re in my thoughts & prayers. Love youuuuuuu.

"Take action every day - some small dose at a time." Jeffrey Gitomer

I AM.STERDAM.

 Fun, lazy, decent weather, food, drinks- all describe this past week/weekend in Amsterdam. Almost forgot… prostitution.

It was a 516 reunion in Amsterdam :) it is actually pretty funny when I think about how I am abroad with people that I knew since I was little or went to middle school with. I guess I just never imagined I’d be going to a foreign country with my friends from back home. I met Eddie, Kristy, Matt, Dirk, & Acri on Wednesday night.  Our hostel Heart of Amsterdam was located in the Red Light District. Well, if you don’t know about the RLD, let me explain. It is all of these shop windows that literally have red lights on the top of the door signaling that there is a prostitute waiting for your $ or pleasure or company, but if I was to place a safe bet, I’d go with the $.

--first thoughts were: is this real?, how can this be real,  nakedness everywhere, my guy friends are loving it, we are living right across the street from these people.

Nonetheless, it was a good experience, a learning one too: I will never resort to this profession, (as it is legal in Amsterdam). Seeeee Mom & Dad: I am learning GREAT & USEFUL things abroad ! ha

Moving onto Thursday. 6 people.1 shower= 2 hours to leave the hostel to start our day. BUTTT it was a really nice day outside, only a light jacket was needed, so it made everything much better. We went to the Anne Frank House which was very interesting and something that I never even thought of going to or heard of before. I was just told be everyone that you needed to see it and indeed you really do need to see it. You can actually see the bookcase that was used to hide the staircase and go into Anne’s room where she would write in her diary. They still had the original decorative wall pictures, postcards, etc.. that Anne put up to make her room less bare. It was just a crazy experience. I wish I knew more about the Anne Frank story, I mean I do, but just not the little details that would clarify a few things for me. Well, that’s what Google is for :)  After we just roamed the city getting lost through all the different side streets etc.. We ended up in a Coffeeshop called Barneys in the northern part of the city. I think we were at this place for hours. It was a great time which meant a lot of money spent because we just kept eating, drinking, etc.. ohhh boy. PANCAKE BAKERY...ohhhh yeahhh ! The most famous pancake bakery of them all in Amsterdam and  it was also highly recommended. It is not the traditional pancakes that you think of like IHOP but more like crepes. It just a flat pancake and you can get ice cream & whip cream on it or you can opt for the chicken, cheese, and bacon. I might have had both of them( we went back on Saturday before our flights) J It was a very YUMMMYYYYYYY place.  

Kristy & I split the Ice Cream Pancake !

Fridayyy: weather, booo it was  a light rain & cloudy. But  again, we just roamed around the city, ate,  went into different shops( and by shops I mean there was sex-stores everywhere) I can’t believe what this city has, SO not NEW YORK or anything like in the States. We all then took a tram to the Van Gogh Museum. The museum itself was really expensive, 14 euro, but still worth it. I wish I would have a audio tour to know what I was looking at etc.. but it didn’t seem necessary at the time.  Kristy & I then went to the Sex Museum by the Central Station. It is the first and oldest sex museum. Que interesante is all that comes to mind when I think about my experience here.

Note worthy: “ Coffeeshops” in Amsterdam are NOT the same as  Coffeeshops elsewhere in the world. In Amsterdam, it means weed is sold there and you can smoke inside or out on their front terrace because it is legal in this city. It is just a crazy thing to imagine because you grow up knowing that weed is illegal in the States.  Every place was really relaxed and chill and there was just no arguments etc… I think the calming effect really has an impact. One thing that is strictly prohibited is hard drugs! SAY NO TO DRUGS WOOOOOOOOOO.

Also noteworthy: I would like to go back. There was many things I did not get to see or do which makes me sad but I wouldn’t take the weekend back at all. In the future I would like to see the Tulip gardens that are world famous, take a bike tour, go to the top of the public library to get an amazing view of the city, see the other museums that were there, etc.. Always a next time , I hope.

P.P.P.P.S. 

SPRING BREAK IS ALMOST HERE. I CANT BELIEVE THIS. I only have a month and a half left here. WHERE did the time go? I have NO IDEA. I need to start completing my bucket list that I have for Madrid. Not okay that nothing has been crossed off.  Like the Real World show puts it or maybe just my own words : “ I need to stop being lazy and start getting real” Did that make sense? Ehh oh well.SERIOUSLY though, I do not want to have any regrets about not doing activies and being adventourous. I decided that the night before is when I am going to plan  what I want to do the next day so there is no ifs &'s or butts.  But this is all for after spring break because I have midterms this week. By the way, this should be interesting. I am not sure how I am supposed to study in my bedroom where I can really talk to myself outloud( my fav way of studying, I know weird) and I am distracted by everything. AHhhhhhhhhh. BUENA SUERTE to meeeeeeee!

Muchos Besos xx !

This deserves its own post.

TEMPLE DE DEBOD!

I should just leave it there because nothing can describe how beautiful this place looks when the sun is setting on these old ancient Egyptian ruins. I can't believe this is right here in Madrid near Plaza de Espana. I feel like this is a hidden wonder of Madrid! I had people calling me after I posted pictures on facebook asking where I went to find this place & what city it was in, woooooeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Anyway, I don't know much about the history behind the ruins but I do know that they are the original and were given to Spain. I probably should look up more info, ehhh well see.

This was just a wonderful place to be at right before the sun is about to set and while the sun is setting. I can tell all of us just LOVED being here. You were able to watch the sky go from bright blue to these pinks & purples, and reds. Just wonderful. The way the ruins are illuminated is amazing. AHH I can't wait to go back, maybe have a little picnic dinner before hand and just relax! Sounds good to me.

TAKE A LOOK :

København... maybe going in the winter is not such a good idea.

Back again, only a few mintues later!

I went to Copenhagen, Denmark this weekend to visit Lindsay Garet! It was a lot fun, yet cold. But hey, I should be used to the cold since it has been rainy & freezing here the past few weeks. Copenhagen is not the type of city that you go to to visit a lot of sites etc.. It is not like Madrid or other major cities where there is a ton of sites to see and things to do. It is still a beautiful city and one that I would recommend if you were in the Scandinavian area but not for in the Winter times. The Tivoli Gardens, amusement park etc.. is not open until April and that is supposed to be the biggest attraction there. Oh well, it was still a great time.  I really liked how all the buildings looked. They were much more colorful than Madrid & built upwards( I don't know how to explain this). Even if the buildings were connected , they looked separated by the different colors.

I am going to be lazy( as usual) & try not to write a lot because estoy consada.

I finally missed my first class of the year, woo ha. I got to Denmark in the mid afternoon which was nice because we had the whole day. Lindsay & I went to Stroget Street, which is the famous shopping street with stores galore. I was trying to look for black boots because mine have a hole in them but I had no such luck, boo. Anyway, this was a great street with tons of stores that I miss from home( Urban Oufitters). Lindsay told me I must try the Hot Dogs here because they are amazing. So I did , they were.  Nom nom nom.  Later that night we went to a club called Kulobar & wall street. Everything was soo much fun !

---> I had my first real Danish :) Even though she told me that Danish's weren't really invented there, hmm

I saw the Round Tower, The Amberilog(spl) Palace, Castles, The Little Mermaid Statue, the Canal, lakes etc... Too bad the gardens weren't pretty enough at this time oh well. KeWl FaCt: Hans Christensen, based his fairy tale The Little Mermaid off the statue that is in Copenhagen. Also, which I didn't get to see because it was at least an hr away, Shakespears Hamlet was written about a Castle in Copenhagen.

We did the Carlsberg Brewery Tour on Saturday which was a lot fun. It was a self-guided tour but then we got 2 beers of our choice at the end! We got to see the largest unopened beer bottle collection in the world. I think there is 19,000 and going strong. Bottles from every country etc.. We then took took a day trip, well more like 3 hours trip to Sweden. Malmo, Sweden is only 30 minutes away by train so it is very accesible.We basically just at lunch there but boy was it one of THE BEST lunches ever. We ate at a place called Chili YUMMMYYY...I want to go back.  Night time was bar Barcelona. It was a nice chill relaxing place to go to since I had to be up at 7:30 am for my flight back home!


CAME BACK TO AMAZINGGGGGGGGG WEATHER WOO!! It was high 50's & Sunny. It couldn't have been better. I walked around with Kayla, got Donor Kabob( yum) & found out that the metro Cuatro Caminos is about a 5 minute walk from us. What you discover when you stop being lazy & start being adventurous.

Hasta Leugo( as in 5 minutes until my next post)

When a hero comes along...

Hola chicos!

Its been a while, not sure why I always start all my entries this way when you all should know by now that this is a weekly entry or so because I am LAZYYYYYYYYYY.

Anyway back to wayyy back back back

For my Spanish Civilization and Culture class we got to tour the Congress, Senate( we got a goodie bag to take home), and the Romantic Museum. I really like how we are able to go on all of these field trips especially to the Congress and Senate because those are really hard to get into without being part of a school organization like we are. All of these places were very enjoyable. In the Congress we got to see where the King sits and see the bullet holes from when there was a coop back in the 80's? 90's? I can't remember the time period. In the Senate we saw the two different senate rooms that were used & learned how they change the seat coverings ( either blue or red) depending on which political party is in power. They literally tear down the velvet and re-do it! Also, if a senator disagrees from the majority of the party, he has to pay the party a fine. I find this weird but maybe it is just me.

In my art history class, we went to the Royal Tapestry Factory( same building from back in the day) and to the Prado Museum again but to see Goya this time! The Tapestry factory was very interesting because we saw the tapestries that were modeled after Goya's tapestry cartoons( just paintings) and then went to the Prado to see Goya's actual work. I really love this class because the teacher shows us the most important painting and then gives us an elaborate but still captivating description of all the paintings.

...Now for When a hero comes along--
We had a group walking tour again. Kind of the same as the last one except the only difference was this was in Spanish and we got to see the 'suicide' bridge. They had to put plexy(spl?) glass all around the bridge so no one would jump off of it anymore. ANYWAY!. I was talking to my friend Britney H but also facing my other friend Britney J who was in a different conversation, when all of a sudden I saw a sketchy guy walk by. Britney J had her bag open( as usual, but now she is much more careful after this event). I stopped mid conversation and yelled " HEY HEY HEY" & stuck my hand in her bag on top of the guy whose hand was already in her bag. He was trying to steal her Ipod. He walked away nonchalantly & yelled back to the group of us " LOCA LOCA LOCA" . He was trying to play it off as if I was the crazy one. NOT COOL, but I didn't care because he didn't get away with stealing anything. My heart was racing because all of the adrenaline but it was well worth it. No one in my class even knew what was going on it happened so fast. But, I did save the day & taught Brit a lesson soooooooooo YAY.

Back to a bunch of other random things that have happened...

Decided to try to walk home from school for the first time about a week and a half ago. It was GREAT! The weather was finally so beautiful, you didn't even need a jacket, and I had never tried to walk home before. I had heard that it takes almost the same time to walk as it does to ride the metro, so why not try it. It was the most wonderful walk ever! I walked home with a girl named Yev who lives only a few metro stops north of me so it worked out perfectly. I got to see buildings I had never seen before because I was under gound the whole time. We saw the Neptune Fountain, Plaza Ciebeles, the Stock Market, Plaza Colon, a bunch of cute outdoor restaurants, and more! Along the way we found a flower shop and couldn't resist. They all smelled great and we knew flowers would be the icing on the cake for this day! I bought two flowers, one for me and one for my senora( I think she appreciated it).

Next event: Went to a second-hand English book store with my roomie Emily & some others. It was really cool cause I have never been to one, except nothing special, obv. I bought a book my Sophie Kinsella(just cause I love reading her books) but I probably won't get to reading it any time abroad, oh well. Emily & I also toured the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where Real Madrid Plays. It was kind of expensive but well worth it. We got to sit where the players sit, see the stadium when it was empty & see the sign " Real Madrid" ,see the trophies etc.. Good times especially since I live 5 minutes from the stadium.

Otherwiseeeeeeeeeeee. We did the unthinkable. We found a Taco Bell in Madrid. All of us have been craving Taco Bell haha. CRUNCH WRAP SUPREME WOOO. We all decided last Tuesday that we would take the trek to this oh so great of place, TBELL. I told everyone it closed at 10 because it was inside a mall so we all raced to get there. We thought this might be a Zone B type of situation( refer to Zone B post if you don't understand) but it wasn't thank god. We had to transfer 3 times and walk a VERY long distance but finally reached this HUGE & I MEAN HUGE mall. We ran in single file because it was 9:50 and we were all really nervous. It looked as if we were going to rob the mall or do something destructive. 12 Americans all running is quiet the scene. WE MADE IT wooo! We all finally sat down & enjoyed our meals. MmMm Bean Burrito! I think everyone hated me( well not really but it is funny now) because it was 10:45 and still people were coming in to eat in TBell and then 11 rolled around and still more people. I learned that it closes at 12 on weekdays and 1 on weekends. Oops.





More you know your in Madrid when...
- You smile & no1 smiles back
- you've had the harshest winter in 30 years( boo rain & coldness)
- the little babies are in what looks like mini sleeping bags
- dog poooop is everywhere



BESOS xox

You know you're in Madrid when...

This is a little list, ongoing of course, that I have come up with that are different/confusing/interesting from the United States!

You know you're in Madrid when...

1) Pigeons fly extremely low. You better watch out otherwise they WILL be right on top of your head!

2) Everyone stands on line about 30 minutes before you can even start boarding the plane or people get up numerous stops before their actual stop on the Metro

3) Nothing is open on Sundays, no shopping, no restaurants, no grocery stores, NADA.

4) There is an abnormal amount of salt on all of your food, salad, vegetables, meat, pasta, etc... I had to tell Rosa I did not like salt that way she would stop putting it on my food. Every time I ate the salad with salt grains everywhere I wanted to choke & I felt my arteries clog ha.

5) There is NO late night food open. I don't understand! The amount of money these stores would make catering to all the late night partiers & people just out late would be crazyy! Only places I know of that are open late are Pa Pizza on Gran Via, Chocolate con churros by Sol, & the Chinos(Chinese people) who buy sandwiches from places and sell them cold on the streets to people who are desperate... it might have been to me one time :)

6) PDA is EVERYWHERE. The metros, parks, walking, everywhere. Except it is more obnoxious than I have ever seen before. I am not sure if it is because people's houses here are smaller so there is not room to hang out in the houses & so couples must go elsewhere to enjoy themselves or what but its a bit much sometimes.

7) Spanish people give you candy/ food when it is their birthday :)

8) Vale( the Spanish word for true, yes, okay, I understand, that makes sense,etc.. It has a ton of meanings) is used multiple times in a sentence and ends almost every sentence!

9) You think you understand how the street numbers work but actually you don't. They are very different from the United States. One side of the street is odd numbers and goes down in numbers while the other side of the street is even numbers but goes up in numbers. Example. You can be looking at 47 and be on the even side of the street, but since the street #'s go in the opposite direction, you will not find 48 right across the street from you like you think you would, you might have to walk  few blocks to get to you. ( im bad at explaining this boo)

10) Chupa Chups are everywhere. They are at every candy store, convience store, shops along the way on the street, movie theaters etc.. They are really good lollipops that we have in the States but are just not as popular as in Spain because they were actually invented here.

11) You think you understand that the right side will be the down escalator but then you go to the next escaloter and the down one is on the left side. I am so confused as to how you are EVER supposed to figure out which side goes up or down because I don't think their is a pattern. Its random I swear!

random other sides notes I've been meaning to write about:

- Rosa makes me eat as soon as I walk into the house from school. It is actually quite annoying becuse sometimes I need to go to the bathroom or I just want to rela x for 5 minutes and she will get offended if I don't eat right away. Also, I sometimes don't want to eat by myself so I will ask to wait 10 minutes for the girls next door to come by but she says no no no. Oh well, just cultural differences!

- I feel safe here for the most part which is a good feeling to have! Walking home alone at night is very lit up and I don't ever really feel too scared. This is a big deal for me, you all know I am BABY & a SCARDY CAT!

-Lacasitos are Spain's version of M&M's

- Rosa again, this one is sort of funny I guess. But she told me I will no longer get strawberries because I didn't eat all of mine the other day at lunch. They were expensive apparently & I only ate half of each one because I was stuffed. The son-in-law ate the rest of mine so Rosa wasn't offended anymore but she still told me that everyone else will get them except me. I told her " pero me gusta las frescas" but she wasn't having it haha.  THEN, Emily just asked me if I got strawberries at lunch yesterday, I ate separately because I was running late, & I said no. So I guess she was not kidding around lol.

BESOS!!! 

Zone B

My days are a blurrrrrrrrr. Or atleast when I am trying to write a week later. Thank god I have Brit sitting next to me right now, she's reminding me of everything! I was VERY excited to stay in Madrid for the weekend, even though that didn't really happen. Traveling is tiring.

Monday, the usual school & nap & then back to school. Call me lazy for not wanting to stay at school, oh well. Monday night was Shannon's 21st birthday. Unfortunally, he lives by Moncloa, so that meant he wanted to go to Cave Bar, which I've already been too twice. Ughh, went anyway because he is my friend & it was his 21st. Shortly after 12:45 I could tell he would be needing to go home soon, so a bunch of us went to Fontana de Oro( always a good option on a Monday Night). It was actually pretty fun because we met some Spanish guys, who I can practice with, except I'm still horible! Late night we ate at the Chocolatería de San Ginés Restaurant. The famous chocolate con churros place in Sol because of its late hours, open till 6 or 7am on most nights wooo!

Tuesday decided to be touristy after class and went to the children's science museum with Emily, Caroline, & Yev. Quite interesting experience because little did we know that we had to change lines & actually leave the city of Madrid. I don't remember the part of the city we were in but I do know that we entered ZONE B. Madrid is Zone A so we had to pay 1 euro to cross over because our Abonos( monthy metro pass) didn't work. Now, first site walking out of the metro was basically a junk yard, ghetto area, trash everywhere. Immediately I thought that we were in an unsafe area but it deffiently got nicer as  we walked toward the museum. Would I want to go to Zone B again? ehhh not so muchh. Now, if anything is ever ghetto, sketchy, im unsure of the area, etc... I refer to it as ' Zone B'. Quite a good word if I say so myself.ex- " This is sooo Zone B"

Finally went to Serrano 41 on Wednesday. Another popular discoteca in Madrid. It was a good time except a much older crowd, people in suites etc.. Music was still really good :) 

Thursday was my first intercambios night that I could go to. It stinks that it's always held on Thursdays because everyone is usually on their way to a different country/city. This time it was at a bar on Calle Cava Baja in La Latina. Anyway, it was at first hard because you don't know who is American & who is Spanish. I met a few people here and there and then finally sat down at a table. I talked to one girl who is American & goes to the University of Maryland but we spoke spanish to eachother. I then met these two girls, Tanya & Thalia, who are from Mexico but studying in Madrid. It was awesome because they knew perfect english but also knew perfect spanish. Best of both worlds. We all ended up going to a bar MoMa after intercambios & then to Joy. Didn't want to go there but supposdly a good DJ was playing there so we went. Got to hang out with those Mexico girls & it was muy divertida!

Friday, Royal Palace style. Took the tour it was really cool. I wanna go back & get the English Tour guide eventually.  Megan& I decided we wanted to go to Salamanca. A small college town about 3 hrs outside of Madrid. Who knew you needed to buy tickets in advance for the Renfe train station. Just so confusing & Megan & I were NOT prepared for any of this! Oh well, we made it & took a 8;00 train to Salmanca.  Got there by 10:30 & figured out how to get into the city town. All a new experience for us. I never actually booked a hostel & did the WHOLE trip on my own! I was tour guide & event planner, me, Julie? not a usually occurence! But we made it. Anyway, Friday night was a  BLAST! We met up with Trent, Nick, Caroline, Kayla & all their ISA friends because their program was in Salamanca the same weekend. We went to a chupitaria & then Camelot. FUN FUN FUN FUN yay, im glad it was worth spending the night over here! Saturday we went sightseeing. Saw the New & Old cathedrals, University of Salamanca, the Roman bridge, House of Shells. Can't remember anything else. The weather started out really rainy but cleared & it ended up being hot & sunny except the wind was fuera de control( out of control). Still better than rain!

Sunday, TOURISTY DAY yay! Went to the rastro in La Latina that is every Sunday. It was fun but just very crowded. I didn't end up getting anything but would like to eventually go back to look again. It was hard to walk around with a group of 6 of us, too complicated keeping track of everyone! We then all went to Paseo de Castellano. It is a giant, main street right by my house which is very convienent! We all walked down towards a bunch of famous buildings in the business district. We saw the Torre Europa, Torre Picasso( tallest building in Madrid built by the same man who built the WTC), and Puerta de Europa( the two buildings that lean at a 15 degree angle). It was a BEAUTIFUL day out so I was just happy to have the sun shining on my face since it has been raining for the past 2 weeks here,blahhh blahh blahh. Everyone else took the Metro back to their houses but Emily & I decided to walk back to our casa, only a 25 minute walk and well worth it! Stopped in our favorite bakery/bread place because that is THE ONLY THING OPEN ON SUNDAYS! BOOOOOOOOOOO. NOTHING is open in Madrid on Sundays. I don't get it!

Besos! ( Kisses)

Alter-ego afro loving

Hola chicos!

At school waiting for my next class & I thought to myself, I should probably start writing. Hereeeeeeeeee we go.

2 weekends ago(oh em gee that was forever ago) I went to Cadiz. It is a city so far in the South of Spain on the coast. I had actually been there with my Aunt however I didn't remeber much until I looked at the pictures I took from 4 yrs ago. Anyway, the night before the trip I decided to go out to a discoteca Joy. It is really popular here and I hadn't been yet so it was a must on my list. No worries that I had to be up at 7:30 am the next morning. Joy ended up being a greatttttttt success! Now onto the weekend of straight up traveling on a bus.

Everyone went to Carnaval on a organized program called EuropeanVibe, probably the biggest program in Madrid. It was a 10 HOUR BUS RIDE, kill me- there & back. Talk about longgggggggg longgg uncomfortable seats, but atleast I slept for most of it. On the way back we got to watch 4 movies all from the same ' era' I shall put it: Role Models, The Hangover etc...

We finally arrived in Cadiz and were able to stop a supermarket to get drinks and food since there was not many restuarants near the hotel we were staying at. It was actually kind of cute that we all made little sandwhiches when we got back to the hotel! We all got ready & went to bar/club that was only EuropeanVibe people. Good times!  Saturday we had the afternoon to ourselves before leaving at 4:30 to go to Cadiz for Carnaval. We all slept in late and then went down to the beach. The weekend actually turned out to be beautiful, warm & sunny, and just nice enough to stick our little toes in the water :)

COSTUME TIME!. Carnaval is basically Halloween and Mardi Gras combinded. Everyone dresses up in the most creative, outrageous costumes in hopes to out-do someone else. We obviously all dressed up but nothing like the Spainards did. They went ALL out. My costume, my alter-ego, an AFRO. & yes it was bright blue too. It was GREAT & kept my ears warm! Could be used for Gator games, if i'm brave enough to bear the heat and embarassment. All of us pretty much had different kinds of wigs on with crazy colors. Walking around after a few minutes we saw everyone was just sitting and drinking on the coblestone so we copied. We all sat in a hippie-like circle drinking and playing games. So much fun! After we just walked around, went into cervacerias, played around. My body was really achy for some reason, maybe I was a little sick or whoknows, so I went back to the bus with people.

Back to the bus on Sunday for the crazyy ride home, oye vey. Carnaval overall was a lot of fun but this 10 hr bus ride was not fun at all & sort of a waste of time. I am glad I got to experience the atmosphere but I don't think I would do it again or atleast I would fly!


New post, coming NOW.

Partying & Tourism, a difficult balance !

It's been a while, writing takes a while & I feel that sleeping or wondering is always much more fun!

Back to a week & a half ago, YIKES.

Wednesday are my long long long days. However this Wednesday was actually quite interesting and a lot of fun! In my art history class we took a tour around Madrid, mostly puerta del sol, plaza mayor, a nunnery etc.. It was so interesting even though it was freezing because I have always walked around these areas but did not know much of the history behind it. I have my guide book but it is deffiently not as detailed as my professor and it was nice to just hear about these places. We had AMAZING cookies as in I WILL be going back to this nunnery. They were almond cookies almost marzipan like that the nuns make and sell to the public. You can't see the nuns and they can't see you so have to pay in a turning saucer( can't think of a good word for it) type thing and then they give you the cookies. YUM YUM YUM! I learned so much from the tour I was very happy!

Wednesday night was a very very fun night! We had a Tapas Dinner with all of the CEA group at a place in Sol( actually the same tapas place I ate at the first day I arrived(the paella with all the animal heads still attached, QUE ASCO(how gross). After an amazing meal with lots of Sangria we all  made out way to a place called chapandaz AKA ' the cave bar' as everyone knows it by. It's off the Metro Moncloa ,so pretty easy to get to.This was my first time here but everyone says its a must bar to go to madrid. The place looks like a cave( by the name obviously) with the stalactites & stalagmites hanging. Its a cool scene. They are famous for a milk drink with vodka in it I believe called Leche de Pantera. I thought it tasted just like a cinnamon dolche latte at starbucks YUMMYYY. Some people say they don't really like it but maybe it's the milk part or just how the bartender makes it that time, who knows.

Thursday was BARCELONA TIME :) I was sooo excited to finally visit this city since I knew Matt, Dirk, & Acri were going tobe there and because I heard this city is so much fun! A stressful morning though because I hadn't packed the night before & still had to make it to class. Not a good idea leaving packing till an hour before your flight & having to ask your teacher to let you leave within 15 minutes because you miss judged your flight. In any case, he didn't care & I didn't miss a class so it worked out well!  Thursday night I was with my friend Jen and we went to Matts apt right by La Sagrada Familia. I thought that was so cool to be living right by such a touristy spot but they obviously aren't phased because they live there. We then went to Acri's apt where he cooked an AMAZING & i mean AMAZING gourmet meal. Rice with chicken, bowties, fried zuchini, salad, and wine. It was so nice to see all my friends but definitely made me homesick a little bit! Acri had people at his house to pregame and we all went to this place Osham. I had a good time & ended up seeing a few UF kids there which was funny.

 The night life in Barcelona is similar to Madrid but a little bit different in the hours that they party. Madrid: Go out around 10:30( pregame & such) come home around 4 or so depending on the day of the week and where we are going. Usually wed-thurs you go home between 5 and 7. The metro opens at 6 so it just makes it easier to stay up and partayyyy. Barcelona: pregame/party 12 until 2 and then stay out till 5 or so. So very different in the sense that you have more time at night time to get ready & do school work, nap  etc.. All and all I think Madrilenos(Madrians) stay out later :) Although I do have to be fair to Barcelona and say that they do have wayyy more legit discotecas than Madrid does(Madrid has more of a bar with dancing scene.)

Friday: a little difficult to awake early after a fun night out. Jen & I went to Parc Guell. It was BEAUTIFUL & just so much fun! The architecture from Antoni Gaudi was amazing and modern contemporary even though it was done a while ago. It was sunny and really pretty but still cold in Barcelona, wehhhh. Jen & I saw the cave like place where project runway was filmed & obviously took our own pictures there :) We people watched in the main part of Guell( mainly creeping on the little kids who were running after all the bubbles that were being made by performers.) We then met Megan & Brit( who were with their friends from San Diego State) to go for a bike ride along the beach and into the town. It was only 6 euros for 2 hours. It was FREEZING by the water but so worth going to because it was just so nice to be by a beach.We rode into town, which was a tad difficult at times because of all the people, but so much fun. We went down all these sides streets and made it to the bottom of Las Ramblas where the famous Barcelona letters are.Hours later we were all really tired and ready to go eat and then get ready for the night. We went to a place called Catwalk that night. I had a ton of fun because I knew every single song the the DJ played which made it just so much fun to sing along too. I think everyone had a great time!

Saturday: Again, hard to get up early but we were out by 1:30, I think. Jen & I went to see La Sagrada Familia. It was very interesting architecture. I really like Antoni Gaudi's work. It was a cathedral but has a lot of construction going on in it now. We went inside and saw how Gaudi used nature as a way of constructed this building and got to learn about his life( HE DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY, obviously manyyy years ago) and why he constructed the buildings the way he did! I think most people go into La Sagrada Familia to take an elevator ride to the top of it, but there was an  hour and 30 min wait and we did not have the time for this. wahh wahh wahhh. After we met Brit and Meg again and went to  Casa Mila and Casa Botil(I forgot name & toooo lazy to look). We debated on going into Casa Mila but THANK GOD WE DID. I was saying I wanted to see the Pededra because I kept seeing it on all these postcards and wah-la( I obviously cant write french, that was my own spelling of that word) it was at the top of Casa Mila. It was so pretty to see the sandstone  beige pieces of art against the bright blue sky! MUY BONITO. Afterwards we went to Las Ramblas, ate at a random restaurant, and went to the merkat where there is sooooo much food. I thought it was a flea market rastro type thing but I was wrong. The food ranged from all kinds of fruits, candies,meats, and fish. Interesante but the smell was ewwwwwwwwwwwwwie.  Went back to Meg & Brit's friends apt and then back to getting ready again :) Tonight we went to Elephant. I went with Jen & Matt and all of them. I had a good time, it was more a  lounge,club then just a discoteca club. I ran into Shannon there which was funny because there is like 400 clubs in Barcelona but that was nice :) Madrid people stick together!

Sunday:   Jen and I are officially DEAD. Getting up today was roughh but we managed earlier than every other day because we knew we wanted to see the MountJuic before we left for our flight. Jen & I both thought it was just a place where the Jews hid during the Holocaust( well I actually just took her word for it) but apparently its a lot of art museums, cultures, and a bunch of other sites to see that we had NO time to do. ComposeWe basically got there, walked around, took some pics to prove we were there, and then had to leave. Oh well, we should have seen the Picasso Museum or something that would have been a little easier and not required as much time to be at.  Lesson learned after this: You need to look up the times for the Renfe Train to take you back to the airport. None of us thought of this but luckily we did not have to wait a long time and the waiting did not make us late for our flight, but it could have been a close call! EEEEEEEEE.
---> Side Note: I would have like to have gone to the more famous or well known clubs in Barcelona and the bars that a lot of people talk about but it was no big deal, just means that one day I will have to go back. Que Lastima( What a Shame... NOT ) :) 


HOME SWEEET HOME. I love coming back to Madrid, it definitely feels more like home which is good because you know me, I'm homesick very easily.



In short: The week was good. Nothing too too special, although I can't remember things anymore, blahh.. We went to this guy Alex's apt and then to a bar called Lateral. It was awesome because he know so many international people.I met people from France, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Germany. And guess what, they ALL knew english and spoke it pretty well! I know this English is the Universal language but it is still amazing to me that we could all communicate and we were all from different places. I am fascinated by this. I guess the U.S.is not boarded by as many countries as Europe and other continents are so that is probably why we don't know and are not as exposed to other cultures are much! Orrrrrr we are just ignorant, stubborn, and Americans as usual. Either way, I really enjoyed the scene.
     I got to see Danny Lupu on Wednesday which I was very happy about. He went to the cave bar I described earlier. It was SO nice to see him and meet some of his friends! It was weird that we were in another country yet it still felt like it was at home! I was bum the next day and didn't meet him out to walk around but he was with soo many of his friends that I think he was okay! 

Thursday I finally went to the discoteca Joy. It is one of the famous ones here and I had still never went but now that's crossed off my list! I had a good time, got home a little too late but still managed to get up on time for CADIZ CARNAVAL at 6:30am. There was a giant group of us, 20 or so, people who signed up on EuropeanVibe( a company that takes you there).

&& thats where the next post comes in. Mis manos are tired from typing.

HASTA LUEGOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Swiss Alps :) !!

& here comes the LONG LONG entry, BE AWARE!

-->Switzerland was AMAZING! The scenery was beautiful more than I ever imagined. It made me want to go skiing next winter season. I haven't been around mountain snow since I think 5th grade when I went snowboarding with Kate & my dad. The beautiful mountain snow & just the whole picture/scenery really made me want to try skiing again and just be adventurous!  Basically this Swiss trip was the chronicles of Julie & Jen, we knew other people going from our program but those girls also knew their camp friends & school friends so they were off with them. Nonetheless, it was still amazing & so so so much fun! We pulled it together & made it work as if it was our own trip which was really nice!

We left Thursday evening to fly from Madrid to Geneva airport. I wish we could have spent a day in Geneva since we were in Switzerland but oh well, maybe one day. We had the Bus2alps group pick us up at the airport along with the other 150 people( all basically juniors in college) to take us on our 2 1/2 hr bus ride to Interlaken. Interlaken means between 2 lakes. It is surrounded by Germany, so the most spoken language is German(swiss- german) then French etc..  I think everyone slept on the bus because it was already 2am when we first got to the famous Balmer's Hostel. I went to bed by around 3ish because I was exhausted but a lot of people did party, they're crazyy!
--- Note to Self: BRING SHOWER SHOES, AHHHHH---

Friday I got up really early with Jen so she could go skiing. & I could go skydiving. Well that was a fail because skydiving was canceled because the weather was really bad; it was really cloudy & soon later it was to a be a huge blizzard storm. I was really dissapointed since that was my plan for the majority of the day, but oh well it was not in my control! I decided to stay up & go with Jen so she could go skiing. The whole process of getting ready, eating, waiting to get all the equipment took a few hours. I was exhausted & it was stil only 10am.  I didn't want to ski because it was already a VERY VERY VERY expensive weekend & there BUNNY slopes are America's medium slopes. Not for me as basically this would be my first time in 11 years or something crazy like that. I left Jen & hung out with other girls that are on my CEA trip with me. We ate at the best Thai food place right next to the hostel I have ever had! We then walked randomly into the town looking for the so called ' famous chocolate' that Switzerland is supposed to have. We'll we found some places but everything closes during the day, like Spain, so that was dissapointed but we did find a bar to go to until the shop opened up again. It was called Bruddy's( I think) & we all got hot chocolate with Bailey's. It was veryyyy delicious! More groups of people came in so it was basically a college party in this bar in the small town of Interlaken. I guess what else is their to do when you don't do any of the extreme sports they have.  The chocolate shop was finally open & it was sooo yummy!  I obviously had dark chocolate and coconut. YUM YUM YUM! We made our trek home in the blizzard. My feet were FROZEN, whoever said( or maybe no one ever did ha) that boots had insulation, they were WRONG! My socks were soaked, grrrrr. I went back to the hostel, chilled by the fire & then showered etc.. Jen was still not back from skiing & I didn't want  to be in the room by myself so I went downstairs to the tv & the fireplace and just relaxed. I sat next to a guy Ryan, from California, who was traveling by himself for about a month & a half to a bunch of different places. He just graduated in December & I guess wanted to explore the world,how cool yet I don't think I could be alone for THAT long, especially being a girl! NO WAY JOSE. Anyway we chatted for about 45 minutes which was awesome since I had nothing else to do. Thanks Ryan for keeping me occupied!

Metro Bar, is the famous bar in Interlaken that everyone from the town & the hostel goes to at night time. They have happy hour & then really pricey drinks after that but I guess that's what happens when there is 300 students in this hostel every weekend. Now since I'm on the topic of all these students. One word comes to mind: CLONES! I kid you not in the slightest bit. Now I know I grew up on Long Island, but man, I guess well it's true not a guess that the town I'm from is just not like all these other towns. Out of the 300 students there who were studying abroad in Barcelona, Rome, Florence, & Madrid, I'd say 280 of them were Jewish, WITHOUT A DOUBT. These people were japs, not that it is a bad thing persay but just not my usual kind of people I hang out with. I have never ever ever ever seen more BlackBerrys in my life! As soon as we got there on Thursday night, every outlet was taken by people charging there blackberrys & people freaking out that they wouldn't be able to BBM( black berry messanger/chat) which their friends. To my knowledge, all those people they were BBMing were in Interlaken with them, it was just a rediciulous scene. I DID get to see people that I went to middle school with that I used to be good friends with & haven't seen in years which was nice & also girls who I played on the N.Bellmore N. Merrick basketball league with. YAY for actually knowing people ha. But this hostel experience & weekend made me realize that Madrid was the BEST choice I made. I am SO happy I am not in Barcelona or other places where all these people know everyone. It it just not the experience that I was looking for so Thank You God :)
-------------- words to describe this entire Balmer's Hostel student experience: JEWISH, JEW SUMMER CAMP(every1 knew every1 through camp), BBM, JAPS, ----------------

No more venting! Saturday morning woke up at 7;20 am to get ready & PRAYING that skydiving wasn't canceled again. The whole point of this trip was to go skydiving, what a waste it would have been if it didn't go through. It looked really gloomy out & I was really getting worried that it would be canceled but IT WASNT! YAY I was SOO happy. It was all girls who went on the 8am trip. I think about 15 of us went out to skydive at this time. None of us were nervous it was faboulus! We pulled up & immediately got instructions on what to do when we first jump out etc.. I was the third group to go which was perfect because I got to see & hear others reactions but still not be at the end waiting impatiently. P.S. It was FREEZING again, I thought I was going to lose my toes, I had to keep wiggling them around to make sure they were still there, very uncomfortable! I was all geared up & it was finally my turn. Jen& I went up together with 2 other girls. We went up 11,000 feet & the scenery was beautiful! All the snow peaking out with some green underneath, just wonderful! I thought I would be nervous but I wasn't at all. I think I was more worried about my toes & getting hypothermia. We were all squised in a little airplane but obviously worth it. I was the 3rd person to jump. I watched the other two girls infront of me just drop out like flies. Now its my turn, I scoot up on the bench , dangle my feet over  & the next thing I know I out of a plane. My right eye immediaetly started tearing, I couldn't breath for about 10 seconds becuase of all the air rushing past you & the high altitude that I was at, & my ears were completely shot( it sounded like I was under water). All this was VERY WORTH IT! I saw all the mountains & then after a few seconds the guy pulled out the parachute & we were just cruising down. This is where I quickly wipped out my camera & started recording me skydiving :) YAY for a free video( obv not best quality but beats spending $150 on something I will only watch once or twice ). I was soo happy skydiving it was crazy experience that I would reccomend to anyone. HOWEVER, if you want more of a thrill, which is what I thought skydiving would be, I would reccomend Cliff diving/canyon diving. This is like bungee jumping & sinnce there is no one attached to your back, tandem, it is your job to run & jump off the cliff. SCARY! I would DEFF like to try that at some point. Skydiving was awesome it just was a different experience then what I expected.

Later Saturday night we all went Night sledding. It was an hr long ride where  you were each on your own individual slede & went down a barely lit path. The only way to know what was ahead of you was to follow the red blinking lights that everyone had to wear on their backs. It was a great time. We ended the sledding trip with a cheese fondu dinner & a famous food of Switzerland called Rösti. It is basically just hashbrowns and a lot of time it comes with breakfast foods on top etc.. Went back to MetrobBar( thats what everyone does here for the weekend nights) & had so much fun dancing etc...

Sunday, walked around the town again, ate lunch & started our journey back to Madrid. Supringsly I really missed Madrid & just being in Spain. I couldn't wait to get back to see my friends here! I MISSED THEM MUCHO esp Megan, Brit! Flight got delayed, grrr but we finally made it home & I immedialtey unpacked & made my way to the Irish Pub O'Reily's to watch the SuperBowl. It started at Midnight here so it was a VERY long day for me. I stayed until the 4th quarter but then had to make my way home because I had class at 9am meaning I need to get up at 7;30 am. OBV. I didn't wake up at 7:30 and woke up at 8:30 and RAN to the metro to make Spanish. what a tiring morning, my teacher even let us out early because she said we all needed coffee from staying up so late for the SuperBowl. YIKES.  Onto sad news, when I got home I found out that my good friend at school, Kristen, her sister got in a TERRIBLE car accident on Friday from hydroplanning in the rain. Jillan, who I've hung out with before etcc.. is now in the ICU and I haven't heard much news yet. The passenger, Jill's friend was, killed which is an awful thing. I am keeping the Gillis's in my thoughts & prayers & wishing them all to stay strong.

Anyway... GREAT WEEKEND! & Looking forward to this upcoming weekend in BARCELONA!! WOO I get to see Dirk, Matt & maybe Acri. This should be VERYYYY FUN !

HASTA LUEGO !!!!

Planning weekend trips is STRESSFUL!

THIS IS MY 3RD TIME TRYING TO WRITE IN THIS BLOG, grrr for the internet en mi casa. 

Finally sat down in our schools computer lab with everyone and decided to try and plan trips. UNSUCCESSFUL! I am a terrible planner & so is Megan, boo. Megan is my little, well taller than me,  blonde, easily frazzled friend who is hilarious & I'm glad I met her! She calls me a munchkin, well suited nickname I suppose. She claims that she was a planner in HS, what happened there? It's hard to find weekends & coordinating everything with everyone. These final decisions are really tough and wayy more stressful than they should be. There is a bunch of sites to check for cheaper airline tickets and then you have to find hostels(which I haven't even tried yet). Oh well, we just have to make descions and move on OR just have someone else do it for me & hope for the best.

 Otherwise, I feel myself getting a little sick, from just being tired, walking around in the cold, and being around other sick people( my 2 neighbors & my Senor Jorge). Besides that, we all went to Kapital NightClub on Thursday night. It is a 7 story club, it was awesome! There was performers on stage & just an overall great atmosphere. Obviously I saw on one of the floors was a Karaoke Bar & decided I NEEDED to join in. I was on stage with every Spanish person, not that I knew any of the songs they were singing( singing in Spanish is harder than it looks).  My roomie Trent requested Sorry Miss Jackson & that was a mistake. We all forgot that it has a hard rap part in it & none of us could even sing it. So basically we all just stood up their looking like dumb Americans, a standard thing now a days in Madrid.

Friday:
 A TOURIST day needed to happen! We have been here for over a week & still hadn't seen some of the most staple sites, it was a must for a day. Megan, Britney, Jen, & I all decided to start at Sol & then walk to Plaza Mayor.Plaza Mayor was a huge and beautiful square. It had great architecture and an overall good feel. My friend Megan was the tour guide for the day. It was actually really cute of us because we were reading what we were seeing the square as it was right in front of us! We then ventured towards Calle Gran Via to Plaza de Espana which is at the end of this street. It was not as big as Mayor but still really beautiful and calming. There was more benches and a a nice fountain. We decided it would be cute to take staged pics of us sitting on the plaza benches, they came out cute but deffiently funny/weird that we did that! MUSHROOMS, was our next stop. We walked back to sol to a mushroom place that Britney's Uncle showed her when he was here last week. The mushrooms were deliciosa! We were exhausted & went home for the evening until its time to partayyy! Just kidding, my feeeet were killing me so I didn't even want to go out but I did. I went to Sol with Kayla & Caroline( the 2 girls next door). Here we met our spanish friend David. He bought us food & drinks, es muy bueno! David took us through Huertas & to a real Spanish bar. It was my first one but hopefully not my last!

 

 Saturday:
 We all woke up very late in a panic but somehow managed to make it to Atocha Renfe to catch the AVE( High Veloctiy Train) to Toledo. It was only a 30 minute train ride, THANK GOD we got coffee otherwise I don't think anyone would have made it. It was about 15 of us, all from CEA who decided to go to Toledo for the day. It was very nice except deffiently a large group to walk around with etc.. so we split up & the 2 groups all did their own thing. We went to the Alcazar(palace) but it was closed, the cathedral, jewish synnogauge, and walked along the water. I think the water was the best part! It was so calming & made for GREAT yet corny group pictures! You can do Toledo in just a few hours which was a nice easy day trip. We all went home, had our siestas & got ready for the night. I went with ISA people to a girls apt & then to Fontana again. It was a good time minus that I was tired, as usual I'm complaining. I met a DG from ASU which was cool & a bunch of other new people! Always a good time,

Sunday:
Slept in late, YES! I was supposed to get up & go to the rastro( the HUGE flea market on sundays) but I never made it, oh well. Had lunch with the roomies & then went to the mall. Here was an adventure. I was exhuasted & getting sick, not a good idea to be treking everywhere. The phone house. God, this place is sometimes a pain in the butt. Megan's phone wouldn't charge so she had to bring it in to get it fixed/get a replacement. The guy said her phone would be ready on Tuesday. I stepped in & told him, in the broken spanish that I know, that this is a " grande cuidad es no posible, ella necesita el telefono hoy"( This is a big city, its not possible, she needs a telephone today.) We'll he understood me but had NO sympathy. He said she could buy a more expensive phone or that she had to wait. Being that we don't know many words in spanish especialyl in the situation of a phone store, we were helpless :( Megan & I tried to say that we wanted compensation o " gratis minutos" ( free minutes). That was a joke. I was a little mad, but I know things are run very differently, especially the customer service sector, in Spain. I told the guy in my pissy state " La tienda es malo y no me recomiendo( This store is bad, I will not reccomend it). That is the only words I could remember how to say to state my frustration, but he still didn't care...obviously, it's Madrid.  Oh well, good lesson learned!  Felt awful at night but had a good nights rest & felt much better today!

En el futuro:
---I get new roomies this Weds & Thurs.
---It's Trent & Megans 21st birthday, both of which I am missing  but will be here on Sunday for their actual birth-day
-- I go to interlaken, switzerland to skydive & night sled for aonce in a life time experience :)!!!!

I've officially met my limit !

ESTOY MUY CONSONADA!! ( I'm VERY tired). I've gone out 5 days in a row, defienetly went out more days in a row in Gainesville, but in Madrid its different. Traveling takes time, theres more walking around during the day, I just started my first week of classes, and the jet lag. All of this combined has made me stay in tonight( even though I was dressed & ready to go out but changed my mind, I hope for the better ha).

                                        UPDATES:

Friday : Friday night we all went to Pascha, a discoteca. We hung out with people on our CEA program but who did the early-start with a spanish intensive program. It was so much fun. The partying time here is very different. Most people don't go out to the clubs, espeically on weekends until 1:30 and stay out until 6 or so. When we left the discoteca at 6, everyone was still dancing like it was 1am.I slept at Megan & Britney's place because I did not know how to walk home from my metro still, it was only my first night out. I had to take a taxi originally to get to our meeting place in the metro becuase I got lost. Oh well, I can deff say that we became good friends after this nights adventure :)
Saturday: Went to a tapas bar on Calle de Mayor in Sol. It has 2 euro tinto de verano(yummm) & 1 euro tapas. Esta bien. I decided to go out with my roomate Trent & the two girls next door(Kayla & Caroline) who are basically my roommates also. I met a lot of people from their ISA program which was awesome. I knew so many more people after this night. We then went to Fontana de Oro, a few streets over in Sol. This place was SO much fun. There is dancing upstairs & then tables downstairs. We all went downstairs & met equadorians, peruvians, and mexicans. There were hilarious. I met Ivan, a peruvian who was helping me with my spanish. It was like we were intercambios( I teach him english, he teaches me spanish). Everyone was partying until about 6:30 am. It was time to call it a night.
Sunday: I walked with Megan & Briteny to find our school near Buen Retiro Park. It was muy facil. I just get off at the Atocha station & walk about 7min to the school. We walked around the park & sight saw a little bit. This park is gorgeous & HUGE. We will be going back many more times in the future. Sunday we went for some more drinks but we started our first day of schol on Monday so we wanted to be prepared.
Monday: First day of Class! Well, I was late. As usual. EXCEPT, it wasn't because I got lost YAY but only because I didn't judge the time right. I know now I need 45 minutes to get to school. The trip is easy, I walk about 7 minutes to my metro, get on at my stop Alvarado( Line 1) & take it straight to Atocha where I walk another 7 minutes. But in between Alvarado & Atocha are 9 stops, so that takes a long time. Monday was easy. After class we went to el centro commerical( the mall) in Princpe Pio. We got our cell phones figured out FINALLY after having to pull old school moves & not go out with out phones. Es no bueno.  At night we went to El Tigre, a tapas/cervecas bar in the neighboorhood Chueca. It was a very small place but a good time. For 6 Euros you get a GIANT & I mean GIANT beer( maybe 2-3 beers in one) & muchas tapas. It was crazy. I really don't eat out because I already have homemade, VERY GOOD, dinner by Rosa!
Tuesday: 2nd day of school, nothing speical. I started to feel my body get run down but I decided I needed to go out! We all went back to the tapas bar on Calle Mayor. Had a few tinto de veranos & went home on the metro.I had an awful nights sleep because I kept thinking I wouldn't get up for class even though my alarm works fine. Woke up every hour.
Wednesday: I AM NEVER unless its a special occasion, going out on a Tuesday. I have class from 9-4. But that does not include geting up in the morning & the 2 hr commute. My day has been extremely long with 5 hrs of class in one day. Aye Dios Mio( OMG). I forgot I had so many classes until my friends reminded me. I finally got notebooks/folders for my classes. We have a store 2 doors down. Esta perfecto! Had a great dinner & got ready to go out. Until I decided to change & get a good nights rest because tomorrow is KAPITAL night. A 7 story club !!! :)

---> Living in the homestay has provided some good stories for me. I really like it & I like eating dinner/lunch with other people around. Still don't think I'm improving my spanish but trying to speak it has jogged my memory. I can understand my Senora y Senor pretty well & I have the other 3 americans to help me out also.

HASTA LUEGO..
p.s I just booked my interlaken sky diving trip! YAY

The first look at the homestay experience

Had orientation on Friday which was very helpful and we got a phone card/metro ticket and learned where our school is. I got dropped of at my apartment, I was extremely nervous but as soon as I saw my senora Rosa in a Cheetah fur jacket, I knew things would be great! She does not speak ANY english so it has been difficult to speak with her but I have been trying and getting by which is good. The husband, jorge & the son Julio, are very nice! I thought I was living with 3 other girls but when I walked in there was a guy in the hallway. I first assumed that it was my host families son but it obviously wasnt. Trent is from Nebraska and he has his friend Nick coming in a few weeks along with another girl from CEA. I am very excited to meet all these people! Next door I also have two girls who are basically my roommates because they eat lunch and dinner with us. It makes eating SO much better. Rosa, the senora, is a really good cook which is awesome but she thinks I don't like the food whenever I don't finish all of it. If I only take a few bites or don't drink all of my coffee she gets offended. We are also told to always walk around with socks on our feet because they think you will get a cold if you don't. There are some differences in the living style & the customs that they have. The lights always have to be turned off and the windows open, but I guess that is how they save a lot of energy.

Otherwise, everything has been really nice at the homestay with all the americans around and me not feeling like I am lonely. The pull out bed that I have makes it nice because I can put it away and have a much bigger room to walk around in and just be around in.

Hasta Leugo!

The arrival :) & lesson learned # 1

Arrived today in Madrid. Went to a hotel in the Goya neighborhood until we move into our homes tomorrow. It felt just like NYC so it hasn't really hit me that I am living in a different country. I met a ton of people on my program from NY, FL, & California. So far so good. There was nothing set up on our program today so a bunch of girls & the solo guy for the day decided to explore.

This is where the lesson # 1 comes in. Don't ask spainards for directions on which metro lines to take. I think they pretend to know what we are saying in English but in reality have NO idea what we are asking them. We took the metro from Goya to try to go to Plaza Mayor. FAIL. We just wanted to go get lunch & drinks because it was a girls 21st birthday today. We tried to go to sol but only saw puerta del sur( the south). We all should have known this was not the right metro line to be taking but we went along with it anyway. We ended up in the outskirts of spain but was able to ask the ticket people how to get to Sol. --THE EASIEST THING FROM GOYA, only 2 stops-- An hour & half trip could've only taken us 15 minutes. It was deffiently an adventure and now we got our first of many trips lost out of the way.

Went to dinner/ walked around with a different group of people and just explored the few streets by the hotel at night. Learning very quickly that everyone smokes. ughh. Well see what orientation has in store for us tomorrow!

& I'm off

On my way to Madrid. I'm getting nervous but very excited! I have NO idea what to expect. I've been warned about pick pocketing, i'm hoping that none of that will happen! I'm staying with a host family, we'll see how this goes!

HASTA LUEGO!