a VACATION! im currently inbetween classes, i have a 2 hour history class left, and then tomorrow i have a literature test and then its finally spring break!!!! right after my class that ends at 6 im hopping on over to barajas airport to go to london... i cant WAIT its going to be a really good trip and i better delete all the pics off my camera cause im gonna be there the 2nd through the 7th. HOWEVER we have other things to discuss.
i caved. i know, im ashamed. i got starbucks yesterday. its just that i was so frusterated after trying to find some jeans (ahhh i need jeans) i went into every store on fuencarral and i just couldnt find anything i really liked. so then i was thristy so i got an overpriced mango passion tea slushie thing which was really good. starbucks is funny here. its basically 75% american customers. haha and they asked me for my name for the cup and i said "jill" but they looked at me funny so i just said "julia". things that can not be pronounced in the spanish language= my name.
this past weekend was home base. (i know your thinking, how was germany?- patience). it was kindof nice to be settled for a bit but for some reason we were getting some cloudy colder weather. friday andy and i walked around the palacio real and got to see some pretty cool old stuff including the armory and medicines they used back in the day. then we ate lunch pretty late at 100 montaditos and we ordered WAY to much food, but it was fun anyways. i dont recommend sammies with anchovies and blu(e?) cheese. good job with that one, andy. Sunday night AYA went to see a bullfight! well, that is, most of us. theyre pretty contreversial because of animal rights stuff, but im glad i went, im not gonna be running back to see another one anytime soon. basically theres a bunch of matadors dressed up in that costume thats so typical spanish and the bull comes out and he runs around and they take their capes(?) and frustrate him, then you have the main matador with his red cape and they ..... how do i say this in a nice way.... slowly bleed the bull to death? well, once he hits the floor they stab him to "put him out of his misery" per say. the first bull is sortof shocking but theres actually 6 bulls so you get a hang of the pattern of things by the 6th one. i know mom, it sounds horiffic, oye.
the weekend before THAT was germany!!! it was amazing. first off, the plane we had was a baby one so we had to take a bus over to the plane and then walk up the steps to board. so cool! it was a considerably smooth flight, when i think of small planes i think of instability but it was not the case. jeannie and i DINED on that flight, we flew lufthansa, a fabulous airline that passes by with drinks 3 times during the 2.5 hrs. i think god was trying to tell jeannie something when the dinner was raviolis.... she had been craving italian food forever. we landed and our friend lisa picked us up from the airport. we drove the ottobon(i dont know how to spell this word but there you go) home 40 minutes... i can not thank lisa and her family enough for treating us to such a wonderful weekend. first off, lisa and i met in the US when she was there for a year as an au pair aka nanny. she has 3 sisters, all of whom speak english pretty well, which was necessary because i didnt know a word of german. her parents didnt really speak engish, they would understand a word here or there, but we definately had our own way of communication. ive never had to read facial expressions or hand motions so much in my life! it was so funny. i learned how to say 1-10, delicious, cheers, and "i dont speak any german", oh, and please, thank you, and good morning. im on my way! (2 days ago i signed up for classes next semester and german 101 is on that list hahaha). we got to visit her hometown and meet a lot of her friends, she took us to brewery close to her house and got to meet her grandma who lives pretty close to her in the countryside. at her grandmas we met a bunch of her cousins too and then we got to walk around the property and then over to some woods. it was beautiful and so relaxing! one day we went to munster, a town historically known as the place that the peace to tee 30 years war was signed long long ago. another day, we crossed the border into holland aka the netherlands. that language, dutch, equally as difficult as german! but we went to a market there and it was really cool. we have pics where we crossed the border. as a finalle on our last day, lisa surprised us with a horse drawn carriage ride!!! how cooooool
every morning they had breakfast set out for us, rolls, jams, cold cuts, cheeses, lunch is at 12 on the dot and thats their big meal where we had delicious food (shnitzl! haha cant spell that either) and soups and bread... the bread is SOOO GOOD and then tea or coffee at 4 and dinner at 6 if we were home at the time. i was full for the rest of the week by the way that i ate that weekend... lisas mom would always tell jeannie and i to try everythingggg and most of the times i did!
it was amazing. our flight came in at 9 in the morning on monday and i had just enough time to get bac on the metro to home and take a shower and get to class at 1!!! ok class is upstairs and it starts in 2 minuts so im hopping out. ill post germay and bullfighting pics later. xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo miss you
i caved. i know, im ashamed. i got starbucks yesterday. its just that i was so frusterated after trying to find some jeans (ahhh i need jeans) i went into every store on fuencarral and i just couldnt find anything i really liked. so then i was thristy so i got an overpriced mango passion tea slushie thing which was really good. starbucks is funny here. its basically 75% american customers. haha and they asked me for my name for the cup and i said "jill" but they looked at me funny so i just said "julia". things that can not be pronounced in the spanish language= my name.
this past weekend was home base. (i know your thinking, how was germany?- patience). it was kindof nice to be settled for a bit but for some reason we were getting some cloudy colder weather. friday andy and i walked around the palacio real and got to see some pretty cool old stuff including the armory and medicines they used back in the day. then we ate lunch pretty late at 100 montaditos and we ordered WAY to much food, but it was fun anyways. i dont recommend sammies with anchovies and blu(e?) cheese. good job with that one, andy. Sunday night AYA went to see a bullfight! well, that is, most of us. theyre pretty contreversial because of animal rights stuff, but im glad i went, im not gonna be running back to see another one anytime soon. basically theres a bunch of matadors dressed up in that costume thats so typical spanish and the bull comes out and he runs around and they take their capes(?) and frustrate him, then you have the main matador with his red cape and they ..... how do i say this in a nice way.... slowly bleed the bull to death? well, once he hits the floor they stab him to "put him out of his misery" per say. the first bull is sortof shocking but theres actually 6 bulls so you get a hang of the pattern of things by the 6th one. i know mom, it sounds horiffic, oye.
the weekend before THAT was germany!!! it was amazing. first off, the plane we had was a baby one so we had to take a bus over to the plane and then walk up the steps to board. so cool! it was a considerably smooth flight, when i think of small planes i think of instability but it was not the case. jeannie and i DINED on that flight, we flew lufthansa, a fabulous airline that passes by with drinks 3 times during the 2.5 hrs. i think god was trying to tell jeannie something when the dinner was raviolis.... she had been craving italian food forever. we landed and our friend lisa picked us up from the airport. we drove the ottobon(i dont know how to spell this word but there you go) home 40 minutes... i can not thank lisa and her family enough for treating us to such a wonderful weekend. first off, lisa and i met in the US when she was there for a year as an au pair aka nanny. she has 3 sisters, all of whom speak english pretty well, which was necessary because i didnt know a word of german. her parents didnt really speak engish, they would understand a word here or there, but we definately had our own way of communication. ive never had to read facial expressions or hand motions so much in my life! it was so funny. i learned how to say 1-10, delicious, cheers, and "i dont speak any german", oh, and please, thank you, and good morning. im on my way! (2 days ago i signed up for classes next semester and german 101 is on that list hahaha). we got to visit her hometown and meet a lot of her friends, she took us to brewery close to her house and got to meet her grandma who lives pretty close to her in the countryside. at her grandmas we met a bunch of her cousins too and then we got to walk around the property and then over to some woods. it was beautiful and so relaxing! one day we went to munster, a town historically known as the place that the peace to tee 30 years war was signed long long ago. another day, we crossed the border into holland aka the netherlands. that language, dutch, equally as difficult as german! but we went to a market there and it was really cool. we have pics where we crossed the border. as a finalle on our last day, lisa surprised us with a horse drawn carriage ride!!! how cooooool
every morning they had breakfast set out for us, rolls, jams, cold cuts, cheeses, lunch is at 12 on the dot and thats their big meal where we had delicious food (shnitzl! haha cant spell that either) and soups and bread... the bread is SOOO GOOD and then tea or coffee at 4 and dinner at 6 if we were home at the time. i was full for the rest of the week by the way that i ate that weekend... lisas mom would always tell jeannie and i to try everythingggg and most of the times i did!
it was amazing. our flight came in at 9 in the morning on monday and i had just enough time to get bac on the metro to home and take a shower and get to class at 1!!! ok class is upstairs and it starts in 2 minuts so im hopping out. ill post germay and bullfighting pics later. xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo miss you
update...
6 hours later...
HERES THE PICS!
typical! even though this was in the market in holland they still have a ton of sausages
YUMMM fresh fried fish and fries with homemade mayo (not my fav) and AMAZING PEANUT SAUCE! this was our meal at the market
we got a private tour of this windmill! it was fun... we got to see how they ground wheat or whatever inside
we were driving along and saw this hot air ballon go from deflated to lift off... it was cool! notice how i got the bike in this pic- bikes are typical german/holland transportation and the reason that lisas fam has one car for the 6 of them. bikes get them everywhere, and in munster where we visited they outnumber people x 2!
we got to feed deer! they were so cute- but the pappa with the antlers was the piggie. they liked the apples a lot
beer department in the grocery store. it was funny taking this pic...
our horse ride!
ok, tomorrow i leave for london. then one day back in madrid and im off to sevilla. YAY!
