April 12-21- Spring Break 2014

Spring break has been awesome! On Saturday we went to get our bus tickets for our trip on Monday. Then we stopped by a store and poked around in there. Later that night we went to Burger King and watched a movie. It was good relaxing start. Sunday we went El Fontan the market in Oviedo to do a little more shopping, then went out for coffee and in the afternoon we watched the Palm Sunday procession. My mama packed me 8 bocadillos ( Sandwiches) and two slice of pizza for my trip.

First stop: SAN SEBASTIÁN 

DAY 1: I woke up late (#totallyme) and luckily I packed the night before so u zipped everything up, grabbed my good and we ran out the door. Rebecca power walked to the station...I...well, walked as fast as I could. But we caught the bus so that's good! It was a 7 hour bus ride that part was no so fun. And when we got to San Sebastián we spent 15 minutes looking at a map until we figured out where to go. WE DIDINT GET LOST! We checked in and went exploring a little.  San Sebastián is beautiful. 

DAY 2: We walked all day. We walked all the way to the other end of the beach and took some great pictures! Then we came back to the hostel and rested. Then we went back out again to find a vintage clothing store and explored the other side of town. And we ended the evening by watching the sunset over the water. GORGEOUS! 

DAY 3: We were lazy butts today and got up late. But we redeemed ourselves by going on a little hike. I'm pretty sure there is Christ in top of a mountain in every Spanish city, so we hiked to the one here in San Sebastián. After our hike we grabbed pinchos/tapas at a well known bar. They we so good! Then we went and lied out on the beach. Unfortunately the sand was a little wet. We came back to our hostel I fell asleep to a good book which turned into a long nap. I woke up in time for us to have dinner and cocktails. We went out to a restaurant over looking the water and had killer burgers as we watched the sunset. And we came back and ended the night with a movie. A relaxing end to a good day. 

Next stop: BILBAO

DAY 4: Well we woke up and checked out at 11 but our bus didn't arrive until 4:40 and after exploring the city for the past three days we had seen everything we wanted to see. So now what do go at least the next five hours. Well we walked around, laid by the beach and hung in the park. Pretty uneventful. Then we tok our luggage to the bus stop and headed to Bilbao. Upon arriving in Bilbao we quickly realized our hostel was quite a ways from the bus station. We walked a good half an hour if not 40 min. But the hostel is very nice. We went out on a hunt for a dinner if you can call it that. I had a sandwich chips and a ice tea. We were so tired, we settled in for a movie after a long day if wandering. 

DAY 5: We had another chill day. Once we realized is a 40 min walk away from anything interesting out interest/motivation in leaving went down drastically. But we went to the Guggenheim an art museum that is only in a few cities around the world, so the was a cool "you're only in Spain once" (yoiso) experience. And then I had gelato for the first time! As a nice cream lover I thought I should at least try it's cousin to see how the other half lives. And it was amazing!!! Soooo gooood. I had coffee, tarimisu, and straccietella (most similar to chocolate chip). All three very yummy. Then we came back to the dorm and laid around... We were wiped out. Then we headed out again to put some kind if dinner together with as little money as possible. Which is chips, granola bars, and ice tea. That college life (lol). And finished the night with Rent. 

DAY 6: So I woke up feeling a little sick partly because my diet this past week has consisted if lunch meat sandwiches and chips. So we went to the grocery store to buy some decent food - salad! After eating our lunches we relaxed a little. And we went out again in search of McDonald's. Which happened to be in a mall. After our cheap yet satisfying dinner and window shopping, we did some night exploring and saw new parts of Bilbao. Had a great time. 

DAY 7: Today was day of mishaps. We decided after breakfast we would go to the Easter procession here in Bilbao. However when we arrived at the Cathedral at noon, none of the streets were blocked off, people weren't lining up, there was no sign that this was actually going to happen and it was beginning to rain. So after waiting for 45 minutes we figured why not wander to a mall we saw last night. Well we came to the mall we were in yesterday, but couldn't find the mall we saw last night on our walk home. It took us a while to realize the mall we saw was the mall we had already been to. That was a laugh. So after our adventures today we came back ate lunch, hung out, I took a nap. We ate dinner and watched Sound of Music. Was it Easter with my family? Nah. But this break was good. We head back tomorrow. Now I just need to pull myself out of break mode and into work mode.
DAY 8: We headed back. Today we got up ate breakfast and packed. Then we mapped out how to get back to the bus station. We surprisingly got there an hour before our bus was supposed to arrive (we thought it would take much longer to walk there). Once we boarded the bus I was trying to get into my book, but the chatty American tourist were behind me. This woman was a chatty Kathy. She commented on every little thing; "Oh its so green", "That's a cool bench". And then of course she leaned forward, "So where are you from?" The conversation was maybe 10 minutes, but it felt longer. I let Rebecca do all the talking. When it was finally quiet I enjoyed the rest our bus ride home. When I got back, I unpacked and relaxed, because tomorrow the work begins again.

UPDATE

I know!!!! I haven't made a post in over a month, that's because I went on long fun trip and then as soon as I came back, school was back to killing me and I was trying to survive a test without the proper gear...BUT after the test I saw a Scandal episode and went into "Olivia Pope Mode" in which I knocked some things out. I even finished one of my two papers a month before it was due! I tried to do the second before spring break but my batteries died while I was in "OPM". But that's ok I still feel pretty accomplished. Also in that month of non-blogging my charger to my computer fried and I was sharing a charger and working off my iPod until my other one arrived so that made life complicated...especially the homework part. 

So the rest of the trip... In my last post I said that I got RA on my floor!! Which is super exciting. Then after that we had days packed in Cordoba, which had an orange sky one of the nights we were there; Consuegra where we took pictures of windmills set to the backdrop of a wonderful landscape. Aranjuez I don't remember well. But Madrid was so much fun we went out to a restaurant and got some very coveted Starbucks. La granja I don't remember either; Segovia had the acueducts of Segovia, and the Alzcar of Segovia which is one if the castle Walt Disney based the Cinderella castle on in Disney World. It was a super fun trip. 

In other news in march I also found out I will be an RA for the Etrada Scholars Program. I'm so excited for this summer. I did Entrada and it's gonna be a blast leading this time. It was my first skype interview and it was very nerve racking and to add to the nervousness, two of my interviewers Spoke Spanish!! So I introduced my Spanish which was cool and scary at the same time. 

So even though school was kind of rough but SPRING BREAK IS HERE!

Que Será Será 

Feb 22-28 - Emotional Rollercoaster

The week be described as nothing other than an emotional roller coaster. It's been good and bad. Nerve racking and exciting. And one of the best weeks I've had in Spain. On Friday night I had a great night with my host family we went out for a fabulous dinner! On Friday I went out with my host family and had a great dinner. On Saturday and Sunday I tried my very best to study as hard as I could for my Spanish History final. But my mind was just moving so slow. And I had the hardest time focusing. But in Monday, I took the first part if the test. I did so much better. And then on Tuesday I took the rest. I think I did well on my essay. But I spent so much time studying for my essay and the literature portion I kind of neglected the history and images. All I can do now is hold my breathe and hope I did well enough. But it feels good to know that one class is finished.

That night I came home and tried to do my taxes - stressful.

The next morning we woke up at 6 to head out for our week long excursion if Spain with our final destination as Madrid!  So much fun. So far we have been to El Eacorial, el Valle de los caidos, Toledo, y Granada. In Granada I had an interesting run in. This old lady cornered a group of us, but of course I was the one who got caught. She kept trying to give me an herb and even though I tried to tell her nicely she would let me leave. She put it in my hand and then gave me a blessing. When I said thanks and I tried to give it back but she would take it with money. Finally I said I don't want you herbs! And she snatched it from me! Ugh, being a traveler. But besides that, each time we go somewhere I wonder if Spain could more beautiful. It's so nice to have a break from classes travel and this beautiful country. The weather has been lovely and the sites are gorgeous! I have pictures but i so many I'll have to put it on FaceBook. 

Then on Friday after spending all day in the beautiful city of Granada I came back to my hostel and read the email I had been waiting for all day. Before I opened it Katie said "Everybody be cool. It's just a normal day." (Pitch Perfect quote). It said I would be RA on 2nd vR! I'm so excited and I can't wait for next year. I was high-fived and hugged. It was a great feeling and I'm so extremely excited and scared and ready and panicked all at the same time. I can't wait to enjoy the rest of this trip and my time here in Spain.  But I've also never been so excited to get back to my floor and be with them.

Qué Será, Será.

Feb 15-21 - When it rains, it POURS!

Why?!! That's it. That's all I can say. This week started off ok. This past weekend I was proactive got things done. I was feeling good about what was to come. You know, no more work than the usual, nothing that I can't handle or manage and then Wednesday came and the sky started falling. Yes that's a little dramatic, but that's also how I feel. Wednesday I received my second test back. I got the exact same percentage as the first test. The exact same thing. Even though I studied several hours for this over a two week time span reviewing with my tutor 3-4 times a week. And I just knew I had to have done better...but I didn't. So after a little bit of crying, and venting to my mom and complaining to my friends I felt a little bit better. A little. But this past Thursday was rough. I was mopey and sad and angry and had no motivation and did not care at all. I made an appoint to talk to my Prof about my disappointing grade. And then I went home and hung out by myself. And then today I woke up at 8 and thought you have a nine o'clock class. Get up! And then I had that meeting with my prof and we talked about some ways to do better which made me feel better, but also the fact that I had to have the meeting, just made me feel really defeated. DERROTADO! I looked it up in Spanish so I could, better explain myself. I worked really hard and didn't get the grade I expected. I did not reap what I sowed. So I came back and explained this to all my friends in between tears and laughs. 

Then I stopped the pity party and tried to get to work, although I was (am) still finding it particularly hard to be motivated. And thats when someone brought up scholarships and Financial aid. All due March 1st! But I'm on an excursion from the Feb. 26 to Mar. 3. Which brings us back to WHY?!! So, to summarize, in one week, but really more like FOUR DAYS, I have to go out to dinner with my host family, finish my homework, study for a final that is imperative to my grad, apply for Entrada RA, find out if I got RA in the dorms do scholarships, file my taxes, apply for Financial aid and if there's time eat, sleep and breath. "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day!"

Qué Será, Será.

Feb 10-14 - Long Week.

With a HUGE test on Monday, and a test on Tuesday. It was a long week. I spent two weeks before preparing for the test on Monday. And although I could feel that I did better and I knew more information, it doesn't mean that I did as well as I needed. I came out of the test expecting a decent grade, but the more I talked with my peers, the more I'm sure I need to double my studying for the final in a week and a day! It's a lot of work and I'm trying not to burn out. And that is just one class. In another class I'm looking for research for a paper that I have to write. Trying not overwhelm myself is a problem of mine. But I know I can do it. I just need to stay calm...
On Valentines day I stayed in and watched Netflix, not because I was sad or depressed I just needed to do something mindless for a while.

Feb 7 - The Family!

February 7th marked my 1st month in Spain!! Yay!!! I actually didn't realize it until my host mom said something. But also that night I met my host sister. She was really sweet and really nice. Her boyfriend came to dinner too. It had been such a long week, that I accidentally slipped into some of my American customs. For example when I was introduced to her boyfriend I went to shake his hand, instead of kissing him on each cheek. AWKWARD! and then I started cutting my empanada with a fork and a knife. My mama had to tell me that I could it eat it with my hands...which I knew! *FACE PALM*
But on the plus side the food was soooooooo good. We all sat around our formal dinning table. and talked and ate for an hour or so. I had delicious champagne. It was a good night. I really love my host family. Here's a little about them.

Mi mama (Celes): She work at the University of Oviedo, the university I am attending while here. But she is not a professor. I think she works in the registrars office of the university. She is really talkative. Loves to cook. She doesn't think I eat enough. Her favorite shows are the house flipping shows, like on HGTV, but obviously dubbed in Spanish.

Mi papa (Miguel Angel): He is retired. But he works at a t.v. network from time to time, which is a really cool post retirement job. And then when he's not doing that he spends a lot of time with his horses. He's really quiet. He's also learning english. Its so funny when he eats breakfast in the morning he watches BBC and then when I come in he switches it to Spanish. "English for me, Spanish for you."

Hermano (Diego): Diego used to have his own business, but because of the bad economy in Spain he couldn't do it anymore. Then he started to learn english. Now he is going to Manchester, England to look for new work. He's quiet. But also sarcastic if you look for it. He makes a lot of jokes I don't get (He gets it from his mama. She's sassy).

Hermana (Can't remember): She doesn't live with me, because I am obviously staying in her old room. But she is really nice. She works on a cruise ship. And is away for a couple of months and then comes back for a couple months.

Jan 31-Feb 2 - The Classy and the Crazy!!

This weekend in a word was FUN!  But I also got some work done which I am rather proud of. I had no morning classes this past Friday, so Friday morning I met with my tutor to start preparing for the next test. (Work before play). Then we went...you guessed it SHOPPING! I bought a new clutch and a great new black maxi...with a split ;). After a couple hours of shopping we went home to get ready. For what? Well friday night we decided to join the classy elites of Oviedo, Spain at the OPERA! Thats right! I slicked by my hair, put on my new dress, a little bit of make up and took my new clutch to the Opera. Of course we had to go to evening class, but then afterwards we went out for a nice dinner and then went to the opera "Don Giovani."

We were looking good. I tried not to pull an Angelina Jolie with the whole split thing. lol

More photos from our dinner and the opera...

 

 

Tons of Fun! After the opera we went of for dessert!

Saturday we were responsible again and studied for a few hours in the morning then went out for a crazy night of partying for Katie's big 2-0! So much fun! I did her hair and make up then we walked to the cathedral where people were waiting with a cake, to sing her happy birthday! Then we hit the streets!

 

She's adorable! And the cake was yummy!

Sunday I slept in and chilled. A complete day of rest and recovery felt nice!

Qué Será, Será.