Lo Siento...

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't written in awhile, a lot has been happening as I'm trying to squeeze in traveling and other things before I leave Spain. So here's a quick review of what I've been doing the past few weeks...I'll try to keep it short!

NUEVA LLANES:
So even though I had hurt my foot before and just didn't have enough time/resources to train for a half marathon, I decided I still wanted to race somewhere in Spain. A couple of my friends and I decided to register for a 5k in this small town near the ocean called Nueva Llanes. It was kind of sketch because we weren't really sure where the race was, but we decided to just show up and find out! After some minor troubles getting there involving two buses and a train, we made it. And found a small little town that didn't really have much besides a few horses and ponies...No signs...No registration table...No balloons or happy pump up race music blasting...
So we asked some women we saw walking if they knew where the race was and their response was "There is no race this year. There's usually one every year, but this year it's under work!" Hmmmm. We asked them if there was anything else one could do in this little town while dressed in race clothes, but they didn't have anything for us. We ended up walking to the beach to see the Playa de Las Cuevas del Mar. In order to make our 5k training worth it, we made a rule that we had to sprint every time we saw a horse. I think we made up for missing the race!
The beach ended up being one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen!!! And the caves were so cool! It was a pretty secluded beach because I don't think anyone really knows about it (no one in my host family really knew what I was talking about), but I hope it stays that way. We splashed around in the water for a bit, climbed some rocks, saw some crabs and found a starfish. Then we hiked up the cliffs where the cows roam (cow pies everywhere!) and had the most amazing view! The rocks and cliffs were crazy and the water was so blue and the grass so green!!! We also saw some fishermen fishing off the sides of the cliffs. We hiked, laid in the grass, listened to music, and talked while enjoying the lovely scenery. After stumbling upon another smaller beach and playing in the water again, we headed back. Unfortunately when we came back, the tide had risen a ton and our previous path was under about 5 ft of water...
So we had to climb up this steep mountain, and then the really fun part, down the steep mountain. We had to go through some brushes and ended up coming out of this forest that was right in front of this little bar near the beach. People gave us some funny looks, but I guess it's not everyday a bunch of American girls come stumbling out of the woods.
It ended up being a really fun day though! Finished with some mint chocolate chip ice cream on the beach, can't get better than that. When I got home my madre was like, "You've burned yourself!!!" So maybe I'll be a bit tanner when I get home...
But as cheesy as it sounds, I really have learned that sometimes the best trips are the ones where everything goes wrong, and you do things you weren't really planning on, and make the best of it!

Paris: The city of love, lights, and crepes avec nutella!

Hola a todos!
Sorry that this post is so late, but it was kind of difficult to get back into the swing of things after Semana Santa...

I was in Paris the whole week and it was wonderful! On Friday Josiah came to Oviedo and then we both rode the bus for 17 hours to Paris. It actually went by pretty fast and we slept a lot! After finding the apartment that Josiah's mom had rented for the week, we rested a little and then were off to pick Bridget up from the airport! We settled in and had our first crepes with Nutella, the beginning of a dangerous daily addiction...

The weather during our time in France wasn't the best, it was a little chilly and rainy, but we took advantage of all the days that there was sun and didn't let the weather slow us down! We started the first day with a walking tour and learned a lot of French history, from Roman times to the French Revolution to Napoleon. Pretty dramatic and interesting. We also climbed to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower to enjoy the view of the city!

The next day we went to the Montmarte district and hiked up some steps to get to the Sacre Cour, a beautiful cathedral at the top of a hill looking out over Paris. There was a lot of really cool mosaic art and there was a prayer service going on or something, so we were able to hear some music which I think really helps create a reverent atmosphere in a church. Then we explored more of the Montmarte district, were asked a million times if we wanted our portraits done, and saw artists selling their own original pieces that were all very interesting. We wandered down the little streets until we came to the Moulin Rouge, which was sadly a little disappointing. Without Nicole Kidman and Ewan MacGregor singing and dancing, it really isn't the same...
We also went to the Lourve and got to see many beautiful and interesting sculptures and famous pieces of art. Yes, we did crowd in with everyone to see the Mona Lisa. But it was cool just to enjoy the Lourve itself, it is huge and a work of art too!

On Tuesday, we took our first little day trip to Versailles where we had to deal with long lines and some very volatile weather. Luckily, we met many interesting people and had good conversations to pass the time until we were able to see for ourselves a few of the hundreds of rooms of the huge palace! They had little signs that listed the purposes of the rooms, one of which was where they would have silver platters of fresh fruit for their guests...My house will definitely have one of those when I'm the queen of France! There were also huge bedrooms with railings in front of the beds where they had the rising and going to bed ceremonies for the king...You would think that would be a little embarrassing to have to be seen that early with bedhead and bad breath. One of the coolest rooms was the Hall of Mirrors, which obviously had a lot of mirrors, but also many beautiful chandeliers hanging down and windows that opened right out to the gardens. The gardens were huge, but we were caught in a couple wind/rain storms, which drove us into a cozy cafe in the middle of the gardens that had some tasty desserts! You can always count on the French for that it seems. After running back towards the palace through rain (Bridget had to rescue another poor tourist under her umbrella), the wind started blowing like crazy and we were being pelted with hail. All these people tried to gather in this little nook by the palace, but the people were yelling at us to move and the chandeliers inside were swinging. A little cold and miserable, but kind of funny when I look back on it. :)

Wednesday we woke up early to catch a train to Normandy where we rented a car and Josiah drove us around the countryside. We were able to see Omaha Beach, the major site that the Americans landed on D-Day, and we went to the American Cemetery. It was a really interesting experience to see it and imagine how things must have been. It's a place that seems peaceful and beautiful, which is kind of ironic when you think about the horrible things that happened that day and the fear the soldiers must have felt. The museum was very well done and informative and it was made very obvious how much the French people appreciated what the Americans and Allied Forces did that day.

Thursday my friend Abbi joined us and we spent Bridget's last day seeing more of Paris. We went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed up for another look at the beautiful city! The Arc is right in the center of a huge round-about, which is called The Star (in French) because there are 12 roads that converge. Supposedly there is an accident every half hour, and when people drive there, they are not insured. We watched for awhile, but didn't see anything thankfully. After some tart tatin for lunch (a delicious kind of apple pie dessert), we walked through the gardens by the Lourve back to the apartment.

Friday Abbi and I grabbed some fresh pastries and walked to the Eiffel Tour. There was a huge line, about a 3 hour wait to get in, so we just admired it without climbing. Josiah, Abbi, and I went to a little cafe for some legit French Onion soup and it was so good! It was so nice and warm with tasty, melty cheese and crisp bread on top. Mmmm. Then Josiah and I went to the other side of town to find our hostel. We were kind of spoiled after staying in the apartment, so climbing the six stories up a narrow staircase to get to our room of three bunkbeds stacked on top of each other was...different. But it was actually fun and there was a nice kitchen that we were able to cook in! We also had three different roommates who were all really nice guys with their own unique stories. Half the fun of traveling is getting to meet these interesting people.

Saturday Josiah and I went underground below even the Metro to see the catacomb. There were thousands of skulls and bones all arranged in rows and different patterns. It was kind of creepy, but also really interesting to observe the different skull shapes people have and to think about who's job it was to arrange the bones...For lunch we had omelets, mine had cheese and mushrooms. They do not lie about the cheese (I think it's called Emmental or something), it's sooo good!! We also split a Creme Brulee for dessert. I don't think I need to repeat that the French know their desserts, but I will!

Easter Sunday we woke up and tried to sing some Easter hymns, but we could only remember one. At least "Christ the Lord is Ris'n Today" was sung all through Paris that day. We went to the Musee d'Orsay, and I loved it!!! We got to see Van Gogh, Degas, and Monet and I bought the audio guide, so it was nice to be able to hear more about the artists' lives and their own quotes. I really enjoyed Van Gogh's work because even though he was kind of crazy, he had a way with color and expressing the reality of what people actually feel and think when they see things. I want everyone reading this to go to a museum at some point where they can see Van Gogh, because even when we were looking at prints in the gift shop, they could just not capture what his paintings actually looked like. Love it! And he stated that his self portrait was an effort to capture what the photographer could not...I really do believe that self portraits are one of the most intimate ways that artists communicate because they are expressing who they are, the way they see and feel about themselves, using their own style. It really made me realize that having artistic ability is really a powerful thing. I will continue to sketch stick figures, and no, that does not reflect on how I see myself. I also really like Monet's way of sucking you into his paintings and making you feel surrounded by the nature he saw. And I liked how Vegas was able to capture the movement of dancers and how he used pastels because it was easier and cheaper, but I think it really added to his style. He's the one who did/inspired (?) that statue of the Little Dancer if you are familiar with it.
Anyway, sorry, this isn't an art blog. But then we dyed Easter eggs and hopped on the Metro to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night. I ended up running into a friend from high school and her family on the Metro. Random! But it was beautiful to see the Tower sparkle from up close and to enjoy the night lights of the city.
The last day we spent walking around the city, observing the gypsies trying to trick tourists (we were so Parisian by that point, we knew all the tricks), went to this huge park, watched children play with sailboats in a pond, and watched some tennis.

I'm very thankful I got to spend so much time in Paris and really see the city! It was lovely, delicious, a wonderful learning experience, and made me realize how much Spanish I know. Let's just say I won't be taking up French anytime soon, because whenever I tried, I ended up saying "Si! Yes! Oui!" Got it right eventually!
C'est la vie!!!
<3

Jillian's Visit and the Less Pleasant Visit to El Dentista

Jillian just left yesterday after spending about a week with us here in Oviedo. We had a lot of fun making scotcheroos (she was super sweet and brought the ingredients from the States!), celebrating her 21st birthday, and hanging out with her familia! For her birthday, her madre made us lots of amazingly delicious food (tortilla, empanada with tuna, mussels) and her tia provided homemade Sangria for everyone. After the party at the house, we went out dancing with the Spanish ladies! It was all even more fun because Josiah was visiting too!
He was staying with Rosa, the host madre of one of his friends when he was here, and she is a lovely lady! She is so nice and funny and made us a lot of food! Seriously Mom, you would be amazed with how much she got Josiah to put away. Almost as impressive as your attempts to put some weight on him! Josiah also got a lovely European hair cut, complete with gel and faux hawk. It was funny, but he looks good! Of course.

I don't know if everyone knows, but I broke my back tooth (the one that had a root canal) on a stupid candy heart sometime before we went to Barcelona. It was a little scary, but I got a hold of my mom, and she just happened to be going to the dentist the day we talked. he said I would just need something temporary until I got back.
My madre set me up with an appointment with her dentist and last Tuesday after stopping for a cafe, we were off! It was a little nerve wracking being there. I could understand him, and I'm pretty sure he could understand me. But when I told him I needed something temporary, he said "Oh, you won't need anything after this! It will be permanent! You don't have any allergies to anesthetics do you?" As he's injecting something into my gums...He chipped away at my tooth, I ended up spitting out some gray chunks (hope I didn't need that cavity or root canal stuff), and he put some paste or something to form my tooth. I guess it's always kind of hard to know exactly what's going on at the dentist in your mouth, but after showing him my old, gross retainer to show what my tooth used to look like, I trusted him.
It's all good now though and I am having no problems! Now I have a little more experience with Spanish in the medical setting...

This week is our last week before Semana Santa, and I can't wait to go to Paris!!! Josiah is coming to Oviedo first, so we're going to ride the bus to Paris together (17 hours...) and then we'll pick up his mom from the airport! And then we will explore and disfrutar the City of Lights!!!!

The Historic Barcelona Blizzard of 2010

¡Hola a todos!
Just got back from Barcelona last night around 10:30. It was a wonderful weekend, but a little cold and soggy.

Saturday morning we got on a bus to Santander and then hopped on a flight to Reus (right outside Barcelona) and ended up getting to our hostel late that night. Right away we noticed the difference in language there because they don´t really speak Spanish, but Catalan. Which we decided is a mix of French and Spanish. It wasn´t hard to read signs or figure things out, but we weren´t really sure what language to address people in. I figured Spanish most of the time and that worked, although a lot of people spoke English to us since it is such a big tourist place. But that night we walked along the Ramblas a bit and explored some of the city at night.

Sunday we woke up and went to a café called Obama (random coincidence) to have some café and a chocolate filled croissant (sooo delicious!!!). We walked through the city and saw some parks, shopped, and then went to the Picasso museum for free since it was the first Sunday of the month! It was really cool because it displayed art from many of Picasso´s different stages (and he had many) and explained where he was in his life during each one. It was interesting to view what was probably his true and unique style in some of the later pieces too. He did a lot of parodies of Velasquez´s ¨Las Meninas¨ and that was really interesting to see and compare too! If you have time, you should look it up.
But then we went back to our hostel to eat our lunches and rest a bit before heading out to see the Sagrada Familia at night. It started raining a little, but it was still amazing to see the chuch lit up and glowing green. We noticed that a church service was starting in 10 minutes, so we headed down into the crypt to attend una misa. Luckily it was in Spanish and it was really cool to be a part of their service. But during the Communion, it was really scary for a moment, because the old priest seemed to be having a stroke and almost passed out twice! People ran up to help him and someone called the EMT´s, but we just kept standing in the pews and I said some prayers for him. Then he was back up and smiling, made a little joke, and continued with Communion. Kind of strange, and I think the EMT´s stayed around to check on him, so I´m glad he was ok.
Then we decided to walk around to look for some Asian food, because we had been seeing a ton of restaurants and were craving it. For some reason though, we could not find anywhere and my socks were soaked and feet were numb, but we ended up finally finding this little Japanese restaurant that was delicious!!! We ordered a few courses that were all tasty and got ice cream for dessert. We also met this American girl who was studying International Business in Barcelona and she was really nice.

Monday was the day we were planning on doing most of our walking around outside, but when we left, it was raining. We went to a little side-street café to warm up and have breakfast (café and an even more amazing chocolate filled croissant!). It started snowing a little though, and the old people in the café kept saying how crazy it was. We decided to quickly walk over to the Sagrada Familia and it was awesome!!! I could probably talk forever about it, but this blog will probably be long enough. But, what you must know is that: Gaudí is an amazing genious who made Barcelona beautiful with his art and design which was inspired by the nature God created around him and he used it to give glory to God in the Sagrada Familia. And he invented all these geometrical techniques that people are now trying to figure out with our current technology. Ok, I tried to sum in up in once sentence. But really, there´s a lot of cool stuff, and my friends and I are coming back in 2025 to see it finished!
As we were leaving the Sagrada Familia, it was blizzarding and there was a ton of snow coming down hard and fast. Our feet were already wet and numb, so we decided to just run back to our hostel. We stopped in a souvenir shop for a little break, and the owner asked if he could take our picture because we were covered in snow and the day was ¨historic.¨ We hadn´t eaten lunch yet, so we decided to use the big kitchen in our hostel and spend the afternoon cooking for ourselves. We ran across the street to buy some ingredients and ended up eating a true Spanish meal of paella with shrimp, a loaf of fresh bread, and a glass of sangria at 5:30pm. Super cheap, delicious, and fun! We didn´t want to go out in the snow again, so we just snuggled up with blankets and our last pairs of clean socks and played cards for awhile and talked with the other travellers in our hostel. That evening, we put bags on our feet over our socks, and ventured out to find some delicious ice cream for dinner. It had stopped snowing and we had a lot of fun just walking and talking.

Tuesday we were up early because we were determined to see Güell Park and Gaudí´s houses before we had to leave at 1:00. Although there was ice, snow, and giant fallen trees in the park, we made it and it was beautiful! There was a guide giving a tour and he was saying how he´s given many tours, but he would never forget this one. Despite the bad forecast we had seen the night before, it was a clear sunny day and with our metro transportation skills, we saw Gaudí´s amazing mosaics and crazy, futuristic houses.

It ended up being one of the most fun trips and we learned that sometimes the situations that seem the worst are really the best and make for the greatest memories!!!

I´ll try to put some pictures up later. Jillian is coming today and I can´t wait to see her! Then Josiah will be here Friday in time for Jill´s big birthday party on Saturday. I think we´re going to have a cook out or something in the casa of her host aunt. Time is just flying by!!!!

A Weekend In Madrid With a Quick Visit to Nebraska

Yes, after Josiah picked me up at the bus station in Madrid Friday night, we saw across from our hotel a café called NEBRASKA. Of course we had to go there for dinner! Josiah ordered “The Nebraska” sandwich, but I can’t remember exactly what was on it, but something involving many types of meat. Of course. I ordered a sandwich with salmon, tomato, white asparagus, pickle, and a hard boiled egg. The Spanish have some pretty weird combinations, but it was pretty tasty! Josiah asked if we could get a discount since I was from Nebraska, but no such luck.
Saturday morning we woke up early and took the 45 minute bus south to Toledo. It was such a cute little town! We saw some Roman ruins of a track/stadium that had been used for chariot racing and is now a park, so that was cool. Of course we had a little race, and I won!  But we also saw El Greco’s house (under construction) and his painting of The Burial of Count Orgaz which was really interesting. It was also fun to walk around and just explore the winding streets and look at the beautiful view of the river and the mountains. They are big into sword making, Don Quijote, and marzipan everywhere there! Although I will not be bringing back any sabers or daggers, I did get a cool Don Quijote mug (even cooler since we just read it in Literatura) and we sampled some marzipan. It was so good!!! Yummy. It was cool to see how they formed it in crazy shapes, like dragons or the huge cathedral of Toledo. It was neat to see the cathedral too! It was huge and reminded me of Notre Dame. While in Toledo, I also managed to step in dog poop, which is lucky according to Spaniards. So not too bad, and of course Josiah had to document it all, so the photographic evidence will never let me forget it! It was a lovely city though, and by the time we were taking the bus ride home, I was falling asleep.
Sunday we spent in Madrid, which I think is the best day to be in Madrid! After stopping at a café for some café con leche y tosatada con tomate (literally just toast with mashed up tomato on it, which was surprisingly good), we went to the Reina Sofia Museum for free! There we saw some of Picasso’s famous works, including the Guernica. It’s big! They also had photographs of the different stages of the work, and it was interesting to see how the different parts came together and how sometimes he completely changed things. After that we found our way to this huge Rastro (flea market) that extended along this super long street. There were so many people, we could barely move at one point! But then we went to the big Plaza Mayor and sat in the sun for awhile watching all the people and weird street performers out on a Sunday afternoon. That evening, we were lucky enough to get into the Prado Museum for free too! Another busy day en España! And it ended on a delicious note of Italian food and ice cream from Spain’s first McDonald’s.
On Monday we had a picnic in Parque Retiro and then we were off our separate ways at the bus station. This weekend I’ll be back at the bus station again to head to Santander, where we’re going to catch a flight to Barcelona! I can’t wait!

Sleepovers and Crazy Costumes in Oviedo!

So this last weekend, a few girls and I indulged in the wonderful American tradition of the slumber party. My friend Ashley’s host madre was out of town this weekend and she said she could have some friends over. So we brought our cookies, chips, peanuts, Happy Hippos (my new favorite candy ever!!), 70 euro cent wine and sangria and had a good time watching random music videos, talking, and eating. It was so nice just getting to hang out in a house with friends! That’s something we all miss a lot about being in the States. We slept in until about 12:30 and then got up to make tortilla Española. So delicious!!! It’s basically a potato and onion omelet, but it is one of the tastiest Spanish foods! We set up the table with a tablecloth, napkins, glasses, and of course a hunk of bread. Living the Spanish lifestyle the best we can!

Then we went home to get ready for the parade of costumes for Carnaval. Luckily it was a beautiful, sunny day so there were tons of people out for the parade! Some people got super into it and made some really detailed costumes. It was also fun to hear the music. There is a large Celtic influence in Asturias so there were a lot of bagpipers and drummers. And many of the costumes reflected the culture as we saw “fabada” (people dressed up as beans, pork, and kids as little chorizos), Sidra bottles, bagpipes, and random Spanish food products. There were entire outfits out of balloons, crazy dresses made out of plastic bags, a giant Trojan horse and gladiators, a long road, and flamenco dancers. There was also a group that was dressed up like runners from Pamplona with a couple bulls! Josiah and I would have fit right in!

Saturday night there were so many people in Oviedo and of course everyone was in costume! It was fun to see, but it kind of lacks the excitement of Halloween because there’s no begging for candy involved. Well, on Friday night, I went to a kids’ Carnaval party that the host madre of my friend hosted. She had the kids line up in their costumes for a little parade and then gave them each a bag of candy and a present. They were given some nice presents too! Skate boards, dolls, Barbie’s with dresses, and other toys. Then they had churros con chocolate for everyone. So good!
All in all, I can’t complain about getting to dress up and celebrate “Halloween” twice in one year. Now I have some pretty good ideas for October….

This coming weekend Josiah and I are off to explore Madrid and maybe Segovia or Toledo! Trying to cover as much of Spain as we can! I’ll keep you posted.
Paz afuera! Besos!

The Beginning of Josiah's 24th Year and Carnaval!

So this last weekend Josiah came to visit me! We had a lovely weekend hanging out in Oviedo and being together for his birthday and Valentine’s Day. He showed up at my school Friday afternoon just in time for Translation looking super cool with his new 50 L backpack! My professors were nice and let him sit in with us for class, so he could brush up on his translating skills.

We walked around Oviedo a bit, got some churros con chocolate from Guty (some of the tastiest churros I’ve tried so far), and went to visit the host madre of a friend of his when he was in Oviedo. She was a cute, old lady who fed us pastries and juice and immediately added me on Facebook and told me to come over whenever. She was so happy to see Josiah (Jose as he’s known in Espana), it was sweet!

Saturday night we dressed up to go to Aviles for the Carnaval celebration there. I was a bull (with light up blue horns) and Josiah was a runner from Pamplona. We looked pretty cute, but as we were running late to the bus station, people gave us some weird looks. It was so cold though!!! I could barely feel my feet by the end of the night. In Aviles, they have a parade with some random floats and then a bunch of things spraying foam on people! Luckily, we avoided the foam, but we almost go squirted with squirt guns a couple times. The streets were filled with foam though! It reminded me of snow, especially being so cold. People were sliding around in it and having foam-ball fights! Being the gentleman he is, Josiah carried me through the foam a couple times, but my shoes still ended up wet. We went to a couple cafes to warm up and had some delicious fries with Bravas sauce (I think it’s kind of like spicy ketchup or something, yummy!), and some with melted goat cheese, and hot chocolate. Then we went back outside because they had a big stage with a band playing some fun music, so we danced in the streets with all the people! All in all, a good night!

On Sunday, Josiah and I hiked up to the Santa Maria del Narranco, which is this summer palace that was built a long time ago. It was a beautiful view of the mountains, the green hills, and the city! I really love the mountains here a lot. It was interesting to imagine what the area must have looked like before there were 200,000 inhabitants. Probably not too different though, because Oviedo really isn’t that big. There are just so many tall buildings and every building has housing. It’s kind of crazy.

But then we went to the movie Historias de San Valentine (Valentine’s Day Stories or something)! It was good in Spanish, so I recommend that you all see it in the States! It would probably be even better if it was actually Queen Latifah’s voice, but I understood most of it, so that was good. Then Josiah took me to a delicious Japanese restaurant! It was kind of funny at one point, because I was speaking Spanish to one of the waitresses, but I think she thought I was speaking English, and she said she couldn’t speak English. It was just a situation of miscommunication because neither of us could speak the best Spanish, but she couldn’t speak English and I can’t speak Japanese! It’s pretty interesting how language can be such a barrier sometimes! Luckily, I’m learning a second language, so that knocks one more barrier down! But we ended up with some delicious stir fried vegetables, salmon filled with banana (really tasty!), rice, and wine. So apparently we communicated something right!

It was a wonderful weekend, and now I’m looking forward to the Carnaval celebrations here in Oviedo this weekend! Should be fun!
Hasta luego everyone! I miss you lots! <3

¡¡Granada y Sevilla!!

Buenos dias!
This post is almost a week late, but better late than never right? It´s funny how even though I feel like I have a lot of free time, it´s easy to fill it up pretty quickly.

Anyway, last week at this time, we were running up to the Alhambra because we didn´t want to miss our alloted visiting time! It´s kind of complicated because we bought a ticket for 10 am, but we had to be within the Alhambra, in front of the main palace at 10 am. We made it on time and even though it was a little chilly in the morning, it was cool to see the huge fortress in the early light. The Alhambra is pretty huge! I guess at one point there were thousands of people living there! Even though it´s big, it seems like it must have been pretty cramped because we saw this little neighborhood and the ¨houses¨were basically two rooms the size of my mom´s bathroom and then a third room the size of our front closet. Even if you´ve never really taken a close look at the closets in my house, you can imagine.
But of course there was beautiful art everywhere on the walls, the ceilings, and the gardens outside. There was so much detail in all the script and geometric shapes and patterns.

Another part I liked about Granada was the Albaicin, the old Moorish neighborhood that our hostel was in. There were a lot of little streets and back alleys to maneuver, which made getting there a little difficult, but there was a cool little hang out on the roof that looked over the city. It was inevitable, we all had Aladdin songs stuck in our heads the entire trip! In Granada, when you order a drink, they always bring you a tapa (some little appetizer thing) so we took advantage of that in the evening and met up with some other friends from Oviedo. They brought tortilla espanola (a kind of potato-egg dish, yum!), sandwiches, potato chips, bread, and a stew-like thing. Between the three tapas bars, I think we only spent about 6 Euro! Not bad.
Then that night Josiah and I walked up to the Mirador (¨look out point¨) to see the Alhambra at night. It was really neat to see it all lit up next to the whole city.
Before leaving for Sevilla the next day we took a walking tour of Granada and it was really interesting. Our tour guide told us a lot about the history, the people, and the caves. The have a lot of caves in Granada and people actually live in them! Our tour guide was writing something about caves, so he lived in one for awhile. While he had kind of a rough time and ended up with fleas, he said that many of them are really nice and have water and are solar powered.

Once we got to Sevilla, we found our hostel and then went looking for this place called La Carboneria that has free flamenco shows. It was amazing! I loved it. There was a guitar player, a singer/clapper, and a dancer. It was passionate, emotional, and exciting and impossible to not be drawn in. I've heard that the singer usually sings about something personal, and it was cool to see how they all interacted together to convey that.

The next day we went to this old palace where Columbus got permission to travel and planned his trip to "India." We also went to the Cathedral, which is the third largest cathedral in the world. It actually used to be a mosque, but they put a cross on top, added some Christian art, and voila! Cathedral! We climbed to the top of the tower and got to see a cool view of the city too. That afternoon we took a walking tour, and since Josiah answered a question right about the city's symbol, he got a free hot chocolate from our tour guide. It was interesting to talk to the tour guides about their time traveling and in Sevilla, the gypsy situation in Spain, and the best places to go in Sevilla. We ended up going to a tapas bar and I tried this traditional Sevillan gazpacho-like thing that I think was blended bread, tomato, olive oil, and something else...Not sure but it was tasty!

The next day we walked around, went to some art fairs, fed the Spanish ducks, and then headed home! The bus ride back was nice because we got to spread out and sleep more. Then we got back to Oviedo at 7:30 in the morning and were in class at 9:00! I had to take a long siesta that afternoon.

Anyway, it was a great first trip and I can't wait to take a couple more! Sorry, again about this being so late. My internet access has been really unreliable. Internet access was so much easier in the US, that's one thing I will not take for granted ever again!

Love you all!

Bringing Some America to Spain

Hello everyone!

Before I head off for this weekend, I thought I'd give a little update of what I was up to last weekend!

On Friday night we went to Gijon, which is this small university town right next to the beach, for the international party. We ended up make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they were a hit! I also got to try spicy mashed potatoes from Peru, some dumpling-like dish from Germany that was amazing, cinnamon applesauce, meatballs from the Middle East, homemade Italian pizza, and pasta. Needless to say, I was full at the end of the night. We also walked down to the beach and I ran next to the water, getting my shoes a little wet, but no big deal! It was beautiful, but I'd really like to go back sometime during the day to see it.

We listened to a lot of American music on the internet which was fun. We also got on Google Earth so my friend could show me where he lived in Spain. When I showed him my neighborhood and he saw all the houses crowded next to each other, he was like "Oh my gosh! Where is that?!" I was also talking to my host sister the other day about how much bigger our houses are and how much space we had. She couldn't really believe that everyone lives like that.

On Sunday, my friend and I decided we wanted to look for some trails to walk. My madre showed me this huge park on the map that led to some trails, so we took the dogs and went for a 3 and a half hour walk! It was a lot of fun and a nice chance to explore different parts of the city. Everything is so green here, and it rains kind of a lot, so it reminds me of Washington. The mountains are beautiful here too!

In a few minutes I'll be walking to the bus station to catch a bus with three other friends to Granada. It's going to be about a 12 hour bus ride. Woo hoo! Good thing we did that road trip to Colorado so I could prepare myself. My madre has supplied me with a tupperware filled with some kind of pasta and chicken (I think...), a huge baguette with a couple fish fillets, some manadarin oranges, an apple, and a coke. I should be good to go for awhile! Oh guess what? I tried one of my favorite dishes here so far the other day! It was calamares con tinta (octopus with its ink as the sauce) con arroz blanco (with white rice). It was soooo good! My madre also gave me some other type of mollusk/clam thing, not exactly sure what it was, but it was good too.

I'll post more pictures later!! Hasta luego!

PS- grandma and grandpa, thank you so much for the postcard! I was so excited to see it on my desk! Glad to know you had a good time in Arizona! Good luck going back to the Iowa cold...

Love you!

Half Marathon Training!!!!

Yes, I've decided to run another half marathon. And keeping with my past theme of traveling to run, I will be heading to Segovia, Spain for the race on March 21st! Segovia is about an hour north of Madrid, so I'm hoping to spend some time there during that weekend too. I just started my first day of training and it went pretty well. There are a ton of hills here, so that keeps things interesting! I know, I never thought I'd be excited about hills either.

In other news, I also bought a bus ticket to Granada with my friends! Four of us girls will be heading down Wednesday night and will get there some time early morning. We don't have class on Thursday, so we're just skipping one day to squeeze in a weekend of distant travel. I'm very excited to see the Alhambra! I've heard it's absolutely amazing. I guess soon I will be able to tell you myself! After Granada, we're going to head to Sevilla for a couple days. Then we'll take a bus home Sunday night and roll into town in time for class on Monday morning! Let's just say I'll be taking some major siestas next week! But hey, when you're in Europe, who has time to sleep?

Tonight we're having another meeting followed by salsa lessons I think. Then tomorrow I'm going to an international party and we're supposed to bring a dish from our country. My friend Kayla and I were trying to think of some "American" dishes (that we have access to the ingredients of) to make. We kind of wanted to make puppy chow or scotcheroos, but I'm kind of hoarding my beloved peanut butter...Just kidding! We might try that if we can find plain Rice Krispies, I think they only have chocolate ones here. Weird, I know. But we decided Macaroni and Cheese would be a pretty tasty American dish. Hopefully the Italians won't be outraged by our imitation of pasta...

It's funny being on the "international" side of things. At UNI I always like to have a foreign conversation partner and try their food, go to their events, and learn about their cultures. This experience is definitely opening my eyes to how it feels being an outsider studying in a country really different from your own. And even though I speak Spanish, it's still not at the best level for fluent communication.

I met my conversation partner today! Her name is Alba. She's really nice and lives in a nearby town of Gijon. She's studying English and hopes to teach Spanish abroad someday. It was kind of scary to speak Spanish so quickly and for so long, but she was really helpful and said I spoke well. It's nice because we talk in English half the time and I get to help her too.

I'll keep you all posted on what I'm up to! Thanks for your comments! It's good to know I'm not writing to a completely unknown internet audience. Miss you all!

Un beso!!

Clases y Amigos Nuevos!

Hola a todos!

I just finished eating my lunch, and it was a little different, but good! I had rice, 3 little hot dogs, an egg, and yogurt. I'm kind of tired though because we were out pretty late last night. It was the first of our weekly Thursday meetings and we met at this bar to talk about our classes, familias, and impressions of Spain, things that we did and didn't expect. For me, some unexpected things were how they eat a lot of fried food and how they watch a lot of tv. I like to join my family when they watch the news, but some of the shows seem kind of ridiculous and Jerry Springer-like.

I've had a lot of fun exploring the city though! The other day, my friend Abbi and went for a little run through the city and saw a lot of new places. The buildings here are really cool as you can see in the pictures! Above is La Catedral, me drinking cafe con leche (coffee with milk) in this cute little bar between classes, and mis amigas Ashley, Abbi and me by "La Gorda" (the Fat Lady). I've also used the ping pong paddle Josiah gave me and played in the park with some friends, winning of course since my paddle is so awesome! Abbi and I also went to this cafe to get churros con chocolate, which is basically fried dough with a cup of thick hot chocolate. Delicious!!!

I really like my classes too! Phonetics is probably my favorite because la profesora is really nice and funny and encourages us to speak a lot since we're learning about pronunciation. I also find the language part of it really interesting of course! Yesterday in class, we all had to take turns reading this long sentence, because apparently Spanish writers don't believe in commas, and we had to figure out when it was ok to pause and take a breath. Then we started going through the alphabet and she went down the rows asking people to say a word that starts with each letter. I was a little nervous at first, especially because I was the last one she asked and everyone had already said the easy ones! It became a fun game though and I'm learning a lot of new words.

It's nice getting to meet people from other countries and schools too. I have friends from Russia, New Zealand, Virginia, and Missouri and there are other people here too, including some Japanese students! Last night after our meeting, we went to this place that was giving free salsa dancing lessons and we met many more people there too! The instructor was this younger girl who was from Cuba and didn't speak any English, so that made things even more interesting for the people in our group who had never tried to salsa. We met Spanish speakers who also spoke English, and it was fun to talk in both languages throughout the night!

I think I'm getting better!!!

Mi Familia Espanola y La Comida Mas Rica!

It's 3:15 and I just finished eating a delicious lunch prepared by my madre! First I had a salad with tomatoes, olive oil, and vinegar, then some little empanadas with tuna and some tasty red sauce, then this delicious stew-like soup with a thick brown broth, beans, potatoes, and I'm not sure what else. And of course fresh bread! We have it with every meal, and it's delicious and fresh.

I ate with my host brother and he's really nice and helpful. My madre lives by herself and works in a hospital. She has three children, a son who is 31, another son about 26, and a daughter in her 20's too. I think the sons work in construction, but because of the "la crisis" that has hit Spain so hard, they have not had much work. It's pretty sad, and I know they are thinking about looking for work in Ireland or England. My madre is really nice and relatively easy to talk to. She told me I speak Spanish very well and fluidly without an American accent. Yay!

Yesterday she made me paella which might be my new favorite food. I was also really hungry, because I didn't eat anything until that lunch at 4:00pm! We were up early to be picked up by our parents and to take our placement test. I'm in Intermedio III which is pretty much right in the middle. I'm excited to learn a lot!

I came back to my house after the test and we ate, talked, watched some weird Spanish TV (The Simpsons, the news, and a travel show), and took the dogs for a walk. Oh yes! She has two dogs, a golden retriever and a boxer! They are big and bark, but they are really sweet and it's nice to have pets around.

Today I only had one class, but I did some shopping and talking with my friends and people who have been here before. It's been fun and relaxed so far, but we're in kind of a weird stage of not completely knowing what's going on...We'll figure it out soon! Everyone has been very helpful and I think our Spanish is already improving!

I think I might take a siesta in a bit (it's wonderful! I slept 2 hours yesterday!) and then some people in our class are going to meet up by La Gorda to walk around and get phones. Hope everything is well at home! The crazy amount of snow has been all over the news here, they don't know what to do! I hope things are warming up a bit at home...Unlikely I'm sure!

PS- the airport called to say my suitcase would be here today, but it's not here yet...I'm getting a little tired of my two shirts! Why we packed 10 pairs of underwear in my carry on and only one shirt, I don't know. Anyway, I'm still hopeful!

Adios!

Flying Fun....

Good news! My suitcase weighed 49.5 lbs!!! So I have .5 lb of space to bring you all back some souvenirs. I'm thinking a grain of sand for each of you...Just kidding!

I never seem to have the best of luck with my travel plans, so I was a little nervous at the airport on Saturday morning. Then my flight to Chicago was canceled and my stomach tightened and I started having flashbacks to tears and begging airport desk assistants to get me on a flight to Japan. However, things worked out just fine, if not better than I hoped!

I ended up going through Denver before Toronto (I waved to the Seamans' and looked for the Diablo Bucking Bronco, but it wasn't night, so no luck). I ended up getting a free sandwich and snack and sitting next to an old man from Chile who spoke no English. The second he realized I spoke Spanish, we started talking. Talk about throwing myself into it right away! He was impressed with my skills though and told me about his family in Chile, Spain, living in Oregon, and his "mala, mala, mala nieta." We also played a little game where he pointed to things in a magazine and I named them in Spanish. It was nice because I was able to help him get through customs and stuff in Toronto, where the only languages they have are French and English.

Everything else went pretty smoothly, except...my luggage is lost. I kind of expected it with all these crazy connections and changes, but I hope it gets in soon and I can pick it up. Right now I'm a little chilly, but it's a lot warmer than the Midwest! Josiah said he never saw snow when he was here, but there is kind of a lot of it and I think the Spaniards are really excited. Lots of kids squealing in the park and throwing snowballs.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a placement test and meet my family! I'm not too worried about the placement test, after talking to old men, tourist information booth people, airport luggage handlers, and random people on the street.

In case anyone wants to send my love packages or just Google Earth where I am, my address is:

Plaza de la Liberación 2, 3º

33013 – Oviedo, Espana

I'm glad to be here in our hotel hanging out with some girls from my class.

Hasta luego! Besos y abrazos!

Hola a todos!

-make up, Spanish dictionary, batteries

-pictures, ping pong paddle

-deodorant, travel size shampoo

-converters, laptop

-Euros

.....

So many random things to remember! I keep being afraid I'll forget something, so I have about three different lists circulating between my purse, pockets, and jackets (and now one on here). So in theory I'll have everything I need when I get on the plane on Saturday, but there's always the extra risk of losing/forgetting a list...

I'm getting really excited to go! Waiting can be the worst part though, because I'm trying to enjoy the time I have with my family, but I just want to get there. And as much as I've heard about this program from Jillian (my roommate) and Josiah, I feel like I'm not sure what to expect. It's hard to imagine being around Spanish all the time, but I'm going to try my best and hope I get better! It makes me kind of nervous to think about how long it's going to be before I'll be eating a meal around the kitchen table with my family, speaking English, laughing, and yelling at the dog, without having to worry about conjugating a verb. But I'm also really looking forward to the classes I'll be taking, the new people I'll be meeting, the new culture I'll learn about, the crazy food I will try, and becoming almost fluent (hopefully)! I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity and I can't wait!!!!

On Saturday at 8:00am I'll be flying to Chicago and then I'll get to hang out with my dad until my flight at 2:00pm to Toronto. I'll arrive there at 4:30pm and then leave for Paris at 8:15pm. I'll finally be in Europe at 9:40 am with my last flight to Asturias at 12:55pm. I'll arrive in Asturias at 2:45pm and then take a bus to Oviedo!

Hope my luggage doesn't get lost. :)

I love and miss you all! Pray for me!