Typical Jillian situation.
Jill just woke up 15 minutes ago and hears a buzz from the kitchen. Shes heard that buzz before and has always been a little confused about it. Over time, she learned that that buzz means that someone is outside, downstairs, and thats the "doorbell" for them to get in.
Jill had problems with her credit card, for some reason there was some security code someone accessed and, anywho, her credit card company told her they were sending her a new card and that it should arrive in 3-5 days. So, Jillian tells her host mom and Jillian doesnt quiiiite understand what concha is saying about the mail man but she smiles and nods anyways. All she knows is that she is going to get a new credit card in the mail soon.
Well, concha has work early in the morning at the hospital, and pablo has school now, so when Jillian wakes up and hears that buzz, what is she supposed to do? ignore it, of course. it could be someone she doesnt know, and she would like to avoid an awkard situation in her current just-woken state of mind. but that buzz just wont leave her off like that. so she lets it buzz 3 times before she starts to panic. WHAT DOES JILL DO? well, she picks up the phone, attached to the buzzer, and says Hola?. Well, someone replies back, in spanish of course, that "Jillian Olson has a package from the United States". Now what does she do? He says to let him in so that he can drop it off. but Jill has never opened that door before so she has no idea. KATIE???!! poor thing, she was half awake but Jill might have startled her a little bit. she tells me that the button is on the phone. DUH. (it looked like the little button that the phone pushes to recognize to hang up.) So now Jill is waiting for the mailman to drop off her package.
He comes to the door DING DONG.... Trufa, stop barking! She goes to open the door, and realizes that she doesnt have her key. the door here keeps giving her trouble- the key is used to lock the door from both sides so she says "un minuto!", Katie lends her the keys, and finally Jillian meets the mailman, who is probably now thinking "Crazy americans". He was really nice, and Jill had to sign the pin pad for her express packaged visa debit card. at least she knew how to say "sorry, i didnt know how to open the door".
To think that all happened within the first 20 minutes of her day.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Dear Violet...
HI NEW BABY COUSIN!
Welcome to the world! I am so sorry I couldn't be there.... and im sorry that its going to be a few months until i meet you. Its that im studying abroad in Spain this semester, and i get back on June 8th, which seems to be so far away. You are such a cutie-pa-tootie! You were probably not aware of the pictures taken of you while you were sleeping, but you had quite a few visitors! Leslie, who you met, sent me pics. Your cheeks are so chubby, and youre so cute!! You didnt beat me though, i was 10 pounds 10 ounces. I hope your letting Mom and Dad sleep a little... im sure you are well behaved. You see, your lucky to have such awesome parents, your going to have the BEST time. When i get back i promise to hang out with you a lot. You live close to me, and we can play dress up if you want.
WELLL you wont believe where I was when you were born! see, I dont know what you have seen of the world yet, probably the hospital and your cute house, (i heard its snowing there. its not always that cold, dont worry). The world probably seems so big. Well, the more i travel around the more i see how small the world is. I was in PARIS!
one day you will watch Madeline and see what its like. I went with my friend Jeannie, my translator, navigator, and historian. We left on a thursday night straight from class with our backpacks all ready for the flight at 9PM and we got into the city by midnight. Jeannie is very afraid of flying, but the flight was smooth and relatively fast so she handeled it like a pro. We got a bus nearer to our hostel and found our way on a road called Gobleins (these are going to be my attempts at french words. see, they speak french in France. figures that in different parts of the world people speak different languages. it does create a problem sometimes with communication. you and i speak english, and french is a little different so im not that good at it). Well we checked into our hostel, a shared room with a bathroom. we were exhausted and fell right to sleep, ready for a full friday.
We woke up early, got breakfast downstairs (baguette, croissant, cereal, coffee), and we headed off! we walked a LOT of paris. Jeannie had sit down earlier that week and drew out an agenda of "things to do" and ordered them and estimated times and such, so we were able to see Notre Dame, a very famous cathedral, the Louvre (Mona Lisa, Venus etc- it was fantastic), some famous Egyptian obelisk, the Arc de Triumph made up by Napolean, the entire famous street "avenue de champs elysees", across the oldest bridge, nappleans grave, and of course my favorite time of the day, FOOD. Violet, im sure you love food too. well, we had paninis and i got a crepe with nutella, which was heaven on earth, but expensive. here are some pictures:
this is Notre Dame Cathedral- so pretty!
this is me in front of the Arc de Triumph. it looks small in this picture but it really is a whole lot bigger
this is a really funny sculpture that is in the louvre. i could have posted my pic of the mona lisa but everyone knows what that looks like already. this guy on the other hand...
it took us a little while to realize that the entrance to the louvre was IN the pyramid!
a really old, really pretty bridge we got to go over
we walked back to our hostel and i went to take a shower and it was clogged :( it was gross, but it was really funny. i guess you get what you pay for, haha. the guy at the desk downstairs gave us a plunger to try to fix it, and i laughed, attempted to fix it, then gave it up 2 minutes later. Jeannie and i went downstairs and they gave us a key to another room that we were able to use for showering. it happens to be that it was the most beautiful room with a balcony and awesomeeee shower. So, jeannie and i no longer stunk and we were happy, except our feet hurt and we were sore from a long day of walking. your going to learn how to walk later, your still very little so your lucky that people just get to hold you all day. My sister, Laura, sat on my moms lap until she was 10 years old... she was a little crazy. She still is a little crazy haha.
We woke up the next day, got the same breakfast, and got our train tickets to versailles. (thats probably misspelled). its a very pretty palace that marie antoinette lived in once upon a time. not many people liked her because she wasted a lot of money that the French government needed, but she left behind a really cool estate. we were there 11-6 touring the main palace, her private quarters, the gardens etc. It was awesome! we also got these fun audio tour guides that were fun to use. After a long day there, we took the train almost all the way back but stopped at the EIFFEL TOWER!!! we got off the metro and the sun was starting to go down. we didnt hop in line quite yet because we were hungry again and we found a cafe nearby to have dinner. after that, we got in line for tickets because we really wanted to go to the top- jeannie says its in the book "100 things to see/do before you die", so i figured it was worth it and i knew i would regret it if i didnt know. i got jeannie to finally go to the top with me (scared of heights) and it was amazing!!! did you know that the eiffel tower glitters/blinks/sparkles for a minute or so on the hour??? it was so pretty! well, after that adventure, we went back to home base again and slept and woke up AGAIN for our last day in paris.
the PLUNGER
probably the most famous room in versaillais- hall of mirrors
hanging out in marie anoinettes backyard
i took this piture while it was blinking!!
my camera died at this point, which was kind of sad, i had fogotten my charger, so i made sure that jeannie took a lot of pictures on her camera. we saw some really famous building whose name escapes me (sac decour? french- ahhhh) and i found a pin to add to my collection! then we went and took pictures outside the moulin rouge, which did not remind me of the movie at all. who knew that it meant "red windmill?" crazy french. i dont know how jeannie convinced me to go to some crazy catacombs after that. its a 1.7 kilometer walk under the city of paris that houses a ton of perfectly stacked bones and skulls. it was spooky, but i didnt get nightmares luckily. it was definately an experience. after that, we went to the luxumbourg gardens where we parked it for a few, sitting in some chairs near a big circular pool with a big fountain in the middle. there were a lot of kids who rented little boats to put in the pool- they take sticks that come with the rented boats and push them off into the water, it looked like so much fun! after resting for a little bit we walked back to the hostel to pick up our things and made our way back to the airport. we made sure to get another crepe before leaving, and i think that they put almost a half a cup of nutella in ours, it was overwhelming but wonderful.
the flight back was a little delayed but i got back home in my bed at around 1 ready for class the next day.
funny to think im taking "weekend trips" to places like paris. i have tickets also to lisbon portugal, dusseldorf germany, and london england too!! its such a thrill. 3 months till i get to meet you! tell your mom and dad i say hi!!! keep sending me pics too. love you so much!!!
your (favorite) cousin,
jill
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Algunos fotos... (illustrations for the previous post)
a view from inside the alhambra during my trip to granada
the aqueducts that i love so much!
me with aqueducts in the background
the palace/castle
our new friend who lives inside the castle
the ballroom? im not sure. but it was pretty
one of my new favorites
segovia cathedral
salamanca, the shell house
the grand plaza mayor in salamanca in the night time
DONER KEBABS
Sorry for the long delay. Time has really been slipping right through my fingers- figures that yesterday was my one month anniversary of arriving in Spain! And so far so good. There is so much to fill you in on- I’ll fill you in on my current life then tell you about the my past 2 weekend adventures. I heard from my Mom that my blog is becoming quite the commodity at home--- who knows, maybe I will end up on Oprah or something haha!
Well I have been doing a lot of planning. We are taking advantage of our long Fri-Sat-Sun weekends and I have trips and tickets all ready! I'm going to Paris this weekend! We found a hostel, life is good. Thank goodness for my tax refund that I got recently because that covered my flight to LONDON during my spring break! That trip will be from April 2-April 7, then we come back to Spain and book it to Seville, south of Spain for “Semana Santa”(Holy Week). We chose Seville because it is famous for its processions etc. Other sites of interest: Germany (to visit Lisa, a friend who lives there that I met while she was in the United States for a year), Italy, and Greece. Of course, my list is infinite but unfortunately classes just get in the way J.
Do not fret! I am staying at home base, Madrid, the city I keep learning and exploring. With all the traveling my mom asks “when do you do your homework” and the answer is basically, in transit (1 hour to get to my school via public transportation), and night times during the week. Its all good. Talking about family, I had a dream about the new BABYYY!!! Rosie, you’ve been pregnant too long, lets get that baby out! And mind you, my dream did not determine the sex of the child, so that is still a surprise for me J. All I know is that it was absolutely precious- obviously.
Today I got out of classes at 5, got back to my metro stop at 6, and decided to just walk. So, I walked around and didn’t realize how close Zara, United Colors of Beddington, and other stuff is to my house (I mean, its close, like 15 min walk)! I have been spending a lot of time in the city city, so now that my neighborhood and I are good friends I'm going to have to hang out here more. It was a perfect day to walk around- pants, ballet flats, light jacket. I even just let my hair air dry now and let it do its own thing (my bangs are too long to be considered bangs and too short to be pulled back into my pony tail, so I pin them back). 18 degrees Celsius, or something like that? I don’t know what that converts to… I open up the doors to the balcony in my room and its just fantastic.
Well, the pictures I put up the last post were from Granada- the trip was one I will never forget. For the good, the bad, and the uuuugly haha. Really, it’s a beautiful city and a must-see if you go to Spain, but our AYA group (11 of us) went through a bigger group of 75 students associated with ERASMUS and the trip was “led” by Erasmus Students. I used the word “led”, but really what I mean to say is that they basically organized the bus ride but not much else. The hostel situation was a disaster, the planning was a disaster, but other things went REALLY well. For example we got to see a cool flamenco show done in the gypsy fashion- it was basically in a cave! The next day (insert excited voice) we saw the Alhambra! Unbelieveable- destination wedding anyone? Or at least the wedding pictures- its worth it. Basically the trip was blind leading the dumb. Or stupid leaving the blind- you get the gist- but it’s a beautiful place. Thank goodness Concha made me a sack of food before I left- shes so cute she told me the other day that if I'm going on these weekend trips to remind her and she’ll put together food for me. Sammies, cheese curls, yummy chocolate things, fruit. THANKS CONCHA (we all remember this is my host mom’s name)!
Uugh I just love food. Currently I'm in a huge kebab kick… the kebabs here are in the doner kebab style- basically a gyro. Shops are all over the place for this delish food! And I was about to get my fill…..
[(Letting down the curtains, lights fade back on.) Intermission. Please take a 5 minute break and grab a snack. Or popcorn or something- phew this is a long epic story]
...during my weekend adventure! After a week of classes, We toured the Iberian Peninsula a little more to Spanish cities Segovia and Salamanca. Segovia is closer to Spain, so we went on Friday. We left early in the day and got there around 11 after a bunch of confusion about our train/bus situation. Jeannie Ryan and I made the epic journey! We saw ROMAN AQUEDUCTS probably one of my favorite sights so far that I have seen, and we went to a castle, Alcazar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcazar is the link if you want to read up. Basically we got to hang out with a bunch of knights in shining amour. Well, they weren’t REAL guys, but the amour was impressive!
We also went to a castle, Alcazar, where we got to go up 150 twirly stairs alllll the way up to the top of the tower! The view was very impressive and we took many a pictures there. We walked around, and a lot of stores were closing down a little early because this weekend was Carnival, Spain’s version of Marti Gras. We were SO HUNGRY, like usual, and Jeannie and I were adamant about finding a Doner Kabab in the city. Luckily we got directions from someone on the street and found one and it was probably one of the best Kebabs I’ve had here. DELISH!!! Then, we found a bakery and got dessert, because here I feel no remorse in eating chocolate mousse cake when I spent all day walking up 150 stairs and what not. we had a smooth arrival back to Madrid at 6, and got to meet up with some friends from Catholic who were visiting Madrid during their study abroad in London (makes sense?). It was super fun but I made sure to rest up that night to get prepared for Salamanca!
We got a real train to Salamanca, you know when they have the seats facing each other with a table in the middle? Tres cute. It didn’t take long and we got to Salamanca, walked around, saw the awesome plaza mayor, ate Kebabs again, met up with Katie from our program, and then spent the night celebrating Jeannie’s 21st birthday at one of the bars in town! The next morning we got our train ride back and I was back in Madrid at 11. and then another week of school….. and now I'm getting ready for my trip to PARIS!!!
Oh, and another funny thing. Well not funny, more informative- whatever. Well, we all decided to give up English for lent (minus communicating with people that don’t know Spanish). So that way we wont be tempted to use it, which does get frustrating sometimes when theres confusing stories involved, but it all works out ok in the end.
Really now, I think I have said enough. PHEW! Next time I’ve gotta write earlier so I don’t have to much to recount…
besos
Well I have been doing a lot of planning. We are taking advantage of our long Fri-Sat-Sun weekends and I have trips and tickets all ready! I'm going to Paris this weekend! We found a hostel, life is good. Thank goodness for my tax refund that I got recently because that covered my flight to LONDON during my spring break! That trip will be from April 2-April 7, then we come back to Spain and book it to Seville, south of Spain for “Semana Santa”(Holy Week). We chose Seville because it is famous for its processions etc. Other sites of interest: Germany (to visit Lisa, a friend who lives there that I met while she was in the United States for a year), Italy, and Greece. Of course, my list is infinite but unfortunately classes just get in the way J.
Do not fret! I am staying at home base, Madrid, the city I keep learning and exploring. With all the traveling my mom asks “when do you do your homework” and the answer is basically, in transit (1 hour to get to my school via public transportation), and night times during the week. Its all good. Talking about family, I had a dream about the new BABYYY!!! Rosie, you’ve been pregnant too long, lets get that baby out! And mind you, my dream did not determine the sex of the child, so that is still a surprise for me J. All I know is that it was absolutely precious- obviously.
Today I got out of classes at 5, got back to my metro stop at 6, and decided to just walk. So, I walked around and didn’t realize how close Zara, United Colors of Beddington, and other stuff is to my house (I mean, its close, like 15 min walk)! I have been spending a lot of time in the city city, so now that my neighborhood and I are good friends I'm going to have to hang out here more. It was a perfect day to walk around- pants, ballet flats, light jacket. I even just let my hair air dry now and let it do its own thing (my bangs are too long to be considered bangs and too short to be pulled back into my pony tail, so I pin them back). 18 degrees Celsius, or something like that? I don’t know what that converts to… I open up the doors to the balcony in my room and its just fantastic.
Well, the pictures I put up the last post were from Granada- the trip was one I will never forget. For the good, the bad, and the uuuugly haha. Really, it’s a beautiful city and a must-see if you go to Spain, but our AYA group (11 of us) went through a bigger group of 75 students associated with ERASMUS and the trip was “led” by Erasmus Students. I used the word “led”, but really what I mean to say is that they basically organized the bus ride but not much else. The hostel situation was a disaster, the planning was a disaster, but other things went REALLY well. For example we got to see a cool flamenco show done in the gypsy fashion- it was basically in a cave! The next day (insert excited voice) we saw the Alhambra! Unbelieveable- destination wedding anyone? Or at least the wedding pictures- its worth it. Basically the trip was blind leading the dumb. Or stupid leaving the blind- you get the gist- but it’s a beautiful place. Thank goodness Concha made me a sack of food before I left- shes so cute she told me the other day that if I'm going on these weekend trips to remind her and she’ll put together food for me. Sammies, cheese curls, yummy chocolate things, fruit. THANKS CONCHA (we all remember this is my host mom’s name)!
Uugh I just love food. Currently I'm in a huge kebab kick… the kebabs here are in the doner kebab style- basically a gyro. Shops are all over the place for this delish food! And I was about to get my fill…..
[(Letting down the curtains, lights fade back on.) Intermission. Please take a 5 minute break and grab a snack. Or popcorn or something- phew this is a long epic story]
...during my weekend adventure! After a week of classes, We toured the Iberian Peninsula a little more to Spanish cities Segovia and Salamanca. Segovia is closer to Spain, so we went on Friday. We left early in the day and got there around 11 after a bunch of confusion about our train/bus situation. Jeannie Ryan and I made the epic journey! We saw ROMAN AQUEDUCTS probably one of my favorite sights so far that I have seen, and we went to a castle, Alcazar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcazar is the link if you want to read up. Basically we got to hang out with a bunch of knights in shining amour. Well, they weren’t REAL guys, but the amour was impressive!
We also went to a castle, Alcazar, where we got to go up 150 twirly stairs alllll the way up to the top of the tower! The view was very impressive and we took many a pictures there. We walked around, and a lot of stores were closing down a little early because this weekend was Carnival, Spain’s version of Marti Gras. We were SO HUNGRY, like usual, and Jeannie and I were adamant about finding a Doner Kabab in the city. Luckily we got directions from someone on the street and found one and it was probably one of the best Kebabs I’ve had here. DELISH!!! Then, we found a bakery and got dessert, because here I feel no remorse in eating chocolate mousse cake when I spent all day walking up 150 stairs and what not. we had a smooth arrival back to Madrid at 6, and got to meet up with some friends from Catholic who were visiting Madrid during their study abroad in London (makes sense?). It was super fun but I made sure to rest up that night to get prepared for Salamanca!
We got a real train to Salamanca, you know when they have the seats facing each other with a table in the middle? Tres cute. It didn’t take long and we got to Salamanca, walked around, saw the awesome plaza mayor, ate Kebabs again, met up with Katie from our program, and then spent the night celebrating Jeannie’s 21st birthday at one of the bars in town! The next morning we got our train ride back and I was back in Madrid at 11. and then another week of school….. and now I'm getting ready for my trip to PARIS!!!
Oh, and another funny thing. Well not funny, more informative- whatever. Well, we all decided to give up English for lent (minus communicating with people that don’t know Spanish). So that way we wont be tempted to use it, which does get frustrating sometimes when theres confusing stories involved, but it all works out ok in the end.
Really now, I think I have said enough. PHEW! Next time I’ve gotta write earlier so I don’t have to much to recount…
besos
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Belated Valentines Day!
AH yes, the highly anticipated life of Jillian Marie, oye the stories i have to tell of late.
really though, it is late. 1 oclock in the morning... so i will leave you with pictures now with a thorough update later on (hopefully by tomorrow.)
Pics of the Alhambra (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra), a palace that i am pretty certian is haunted.
Enjoy the pics and read up on Alhambra! and familia,,,, a million hugs and kisses for a belated Valentines day. thank you so much for the package.... i destroyed those live savers and am trying to space out those chocolates..... YUMMM!!! i love the shorts too---- they are perfecto! and the hearts are hanging behind my desk..... it was so nice!
xxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxooxo
really though, it is late. 1 oclock in the morning... so i will leave you with pictures now with a thorough update later on (hopefully by tomorrow.)
Pics of the Alhambra (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra), a palace that i am pretty certian is haunted.
Enjoy the pics and read up on Alhambra! and familia,,,, a million hugs and kisses for a belated Valentines day. thank you so much for the package.... i destroyed those live savers and am trying to space out those chocolates..... YUMMM!!! i love the shorts too---- they are perfecto! and the hearts are hanging behind my desk..... it was so nice!
xxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxooxo
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ray ban Wayfarers
Its been a while now that i have been obsessed with wayfarer sunglasses- i just dont have the heart to spend that much money on sunglasses when i could be getting a ticket to london or berlin or milan.....
This past week FLEW by. i cant believe its so long since ive posted. let me see if i can recount a lot of what has happened. I guess ill pick out a few highlights. Sit back and relax.
The best way to learn transportation around this city is to just throw yourself right in and see what happens. well, i learned the bus system with Jeannie and Ryan last week on our day trip (aka 5 hour) to Avila homeplace of Saint Teresa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_Avila). the bus wasnt as confusing as i thought. you go up to the ticket booth and ask for the train you want and then you have the option of buying an open ended ticket or the trip back. so, it took us 2 hours or so to get there, and didnt quite realize how far up in the mountains avila really was.... we saw snow on the way and it was definately colder. ryan wasnt quite prepared with his thin jacket, but we made due. we got a private tour of this creepy church/cathedral, and saw a mini museum about st teresa plus other stuff like a chair that pope john paul sat in once upon a time. i was honestly creeped out and was pretty certain it was haunted, but jeannie loved it. we found our way to the murallas- gorgeous walls that surround the old part of the city
This past week FLEW by. i cant believe its so long since ive posted. let me see if i can recount a lot of what has happened. I guess ill pick out a few highlights. Sit back and relax.
The best way to learn transportation around this city is to just throw yourself right in and see what happens. well, i learned the bus system with Jeannie and Ryan last week on our day trip (aka 5 hour) to Avila homeplace of Saint Teresa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_Avila). the bus wasnt as confusing as i thought. you go up to the ticket booth and ask for the train you want and then you have the option of buying an open ended ticket or the trip back. so, it took us 2 hours or so to get there, and didnt quite realize how far up in the mountains avila really was.... we saw snow on the way and it was definately colder. ryan wasnt quite prepared with his thin jacket, but we made due. we got a private tour of this creepy church/cathedral, and saw a mini museum about st teresa plus other stuff like a chair that pope john paul sat in once upon a time. i was honestly creeped out and was pretty certain it was haunted, but jeannie loved it. we found our way to the murallas- gorgeous walls that surround the old part of the city
unfortunately we got there 15 min too late to actually walk the walls, but its ok cause we got to see a lot of the view in hilly parts inside the walls. this is a square located in the middle of the town:
last week we (aka the 13 of us on the AYA program) also got 2nd row seats to a flamenco production. it was so cool, and i was particularly impressed with the bagpipes and the crazy ruffily colorful dresses.
probably one of my favorite days so far has been this past sunday. jeannie and i met up at the "la latina" metro station to experience el rastro, the HUGE flea market that happens every sunday. it opens up really early (for spaniards that is), 8am or so and is open till 2pm so you got to hustle. its so big that noone has really seen the whole thing. theyve got everything minus food- but this includes clothes, sunglasses, jewelry, pashminas, even animals (not really allowed, but we are in spain). well, i have currenty solved my wayfarer situation- i found some really good fakes (quality not so good, but the effect is the same) for 6 euro! good deal! i also found a spot that was selling pashminas for 2 euro! geeze, it was awesome. Jeannie and i had 3 hours to kill between the end of rastro and the 5 oclock free entrance to the prado museum, so we walked arounda and i was caught by a sudden urge to find hot chocolate. but not ANY hot chocolate. I hope you all know samantha brown on the travel channel- the perky blond who goes around and tells us why to visit certain places. well, she visited this hot chocolate store, the oldest in madrid (1881) and i found it and had a cup (they were out of churros so i got a croissant) AND IT WAS SO DIVINE! i think i talked about this melted-chocolate-bar-experience in one of my first posts. good thing its not around the corner or i would come back in june not quite fitting in my pants. well, we spent enough time there and found our way to the prado aka one of the most famous museums in the world featuring goya, velazquez, even some caravaggio and rubens. im a pretty fast museum walker but i did stop for a few minutes at las meninas.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas. it was my fav, and everyone elses fav too according to the crowd around it. i bought a little pin with the Infanta Margaritas face on it, super cool. so that was a very good sunday.
we started classes on monday and so far, so good. i was a little disgruntled when i heard about a car bomb that occurred that day- the ETA is a terrorist group located mostly in northern spain, and they are not too happy right now with an election that is going on. (currently as i am sitting here, i can hear out my balcony and someone is having a car horn fight. someone has been honking at another car for a minute now. crazies...oye, now the other one is honking back. parking spot perhaps? going the wrong way on a one way street? hmmm) Back to the ETA, they protest via violence but always call in 2 hours or so before each act. Hopefully any scares are going to stop after this election- dont worry i am safe and promise not to get involved with any protests.
i am taking 5 classes
a spanish language class level advancado B, which means nothing to most of you but basically i took an oral and written test and was placed at this level, spanish for professional use (i learned my first class that it is a law that when you get married, you get 15 vacation days), history of spain, Cultural studies, and hispanicamerican literature. and i dont have classes fridays (YESS!). its a hefty commute that involves metro and a commuter train, but its fine becasue i like people watching and i almost always find someone that i recognize in transit. and did you know: lined paper is for learning to write- they use graph paper here for notes and basically all spirals use graph paper. hmmm funny. also, i signed up for an intercambio, a native spanish speakers interested in practicing their english with you and your spanish with them.
This coming weekend i am signed up for a trip to granada, at the south of spain, with ERASMUS- an international organization that creates activites for students to meet other students- things like these weekend trips, or even sometimes they have a "meeting point" at a bar or something were they get special deals and can all hang out in the evenings. i have an ERASMUS card that gives me discounts on stuff, a Carlos III Univeristy card, a special monthly transportation card, an international student card.... lovin cards here.
oh, and to top that all off today, on the way home in the metro there was this huge crowd that was surrounding this guy that was levitating . yes, he was probably 8 feet in the air. CREEPY. the things you see in madrid. like the people that dress up and paint themselves and their clothes to look like statues and actually LOOK like statues. (theres one that holding a big broom, and if someone gets close, will sweep in their direction- the cause of many a gasp and yells).
well, thats updating you all- oye!
ps. a million thanks kristy for that book- Veronika Decides to Die. It was fabulous and i even marked pages with my favorite quotes. I have also been listening to the CD you gave me basically every day. "your ex lover is dead"/Stars is a personal favorite.
i do love madrid, but i do miss home...
we started classes on monday and so far, so good. i was a little disgruntled when i heard about a car bomb that occurred that day- the ETA is a terrorist group located mostly in northern spain, and they are not too happy right now with an election that is going on. (currently as i am sitting here, i can hear out my balcony and someone is having a car horn fight. someone has been honking at another car for a minute now. crazies...oye, now the other one is honking back. parking spot perhaps? going the wrong way on a one way street? hmmm) Back to the ETA, they protest via violence but always call in 2 hours or so before each act. Hopefully any scares are going to stop after this election- dont worry i am safe and promise not to get involved with any protests.
i am taking 5 classes
a spanish language class level advancado B, which means nothing to most of you but basically i took an oral and written test and was placed at this level, spanish for professional use (i learned my first class that it is a law that when you get married, you get 15 vacation days), history of spain, Cultural studies, and hispanicamerican literature. and i dont have classes fridays (YESS!). its a hefty commute that involves metro and a commuter train, but its fine becasue i like people watching and i almost always find someone that i recognize in transit. and did you know: lined paper is for learning to write- they use graph paper here for notes and basically all spirals use graph paper. hmmm funny. also, i signed up for an intercambio, a native spanish speakers interested in practicing their english with you and your spanish with them.
This coming weekend i am signed up for a trip to granada, at the south of spain, with ERASMUS- an international organization that creates activites for students to meet other students- things like these weekend trips, or even sometimes they have a "meeting point" at a bar or something were they get special deals and can all hang out in the evenings. i have an ERASMUS card that gives me discounts on stuff, a Carlos III Univeristy card, a special monthly transportation card, an international student card.... lovin cards here.
oh, and to top that all off today, on the way home in the metro there was this huge crowd that was surrounding this guy that was levitating . yes, he was probably 8 feet in the air. CREEPY. the things you see in madrid. like the people that dress up and paint themselves and their clothes to look like statues and actually LOOK like statues. (theres one that holding a big broom, and if someone gets close, will sweep in their direction- the cause of many a gasp and yells).
well, thats updating you all- oye!
ps. a million thanks kristy for that book- Veronika Decides to Die. It was fabulous and i even marked pages with my favorite quotes. I have also been listening to the CD you gave me basically every day. "your ex lover is dead"/Stars is a personal favorite.
i do love madrid, but i do miss home...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Penelope Cruz
So, i didnt meet her, but i did see her on TV yesterday. one of the funniest things about Spain is its television. Although lacking in number, the channels do play a lot of american shows! my host mom likes to watch House, so my roommate and i watched it with her. no subtitles... its all dubbed! it actually makes it harder to understand because sometimes i rely on both the sound AND movement of lips to catch quick phrases, and obviously lip movement does NOT match up.
Last night were the "Goya" awards... sortof an oscar- like deal. lots of famous people in pretty (or not-so-pretty) dresses and lots of "thank you" speeches. penelope cruz won one, it was pretty cool. they have a lot of people i have never heard about before, but it was fun to watch anyways. my host mom was very excited about watching the awards- she is so great, and is a really good cook, even though she wont admit it. we had artichoke and her version of paella last night (she didnt say it was paella but it was yellow rice with chicken, red peppers, shrimp and mussels) YUMMMMMMM. over dinner we talk about the most random things aka Victoria beckham and how her and her futbol hubbie were in Madrid. (supposedly vikki hates madrid becaue it smells like garlic. and sounds like the spaniards dont like her either. my host mom said that david, who is SO good looking, could have done so much better than her. hahahahah).
this blog is sortof everywhere- sorry if i lost you. continuation of my thoughts...
we went to Toledo the other day (saturday?) and it was GORGEOUS- its just like the movies- itty bitty stone streets that seem to go nowhere, and laundry hanging out of peoples balconys. i was thinking- can you order pizza for delivery?
sunday it snowed furiously- it didnt really stick cause it was a rain mix, but my plans to go to the flea market at rastro were cancelled. my host mom says nothing works when it snows- spaniards dont know what to do. (same with dc- snow+driving=mess)
can you see the snow? this is off my balcony
today we went to our campus for the first time. it was a hike but i think its doable... its worth the commute because i get to live in the city and go to a school that is smaller and international-student friendly. im trying to choose classes now... ill let you know when i figure that out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
