Pascuas/ Semana Santa

For those who have not found out 'through the grapevine' i took a little trip during my vacation. We had a 2 week (almost) break at the way end of april for easter (i know.... we only get 2 days.... i live in a very religious country) and i decided to take advantage of the time and the continent that i have/live in. I do not regret a single thing, except for a few small mistakes i made in the rode. That is only to be expected when traveling alone and having no way of communication. That being said, the communication problems i have and will have in the future are no longer 'problems'.... they are just normal things that i have figured about to get my way around. My communication problems are comparable to vision problems, you just have to try a little hard and pay a little more attention to the little hints around you and you're just fine. I've learned to read facial and hand expressions so well that it's scary. That is a warning. If you want to try to talk about me behind my back, I WILL KNOW. Anyway, my trip went something like this:
First i went to italy. It sounds like a simple concept, but it turned out to be a little more difficult and annoying than i thought. The plane was fine except it was really small and it was really weird because you go to pick your seats.... that had never happened to me before, but whatever. i decided to sit next to a nice looking lady, but it turns out she was cranky and didn't appreciate the amount i was moving. But it was all worth it when i saw Ambra. That was an awwww moment if i've ever seen one. Very hollywood in the airport hugging and everything. It was really easy to just go back with her.... we get along very well.

On the way home, her family took me to a pizza place to eat, and even though there was a language barrier, it didn't seem to get in the way much. Their house and neighborhood is wonderful. Their house has a certain charm to it. Everything flows together quite nicely. Their kitchen has an interesting ceiling that slopes down really low, so i hit me head quite a number of times getting snacks and things from the kitchen. I actually hit a lot of things in their house..... Ambra had a really annoying light in her room right above my bed to every morning i stood up and hit my head. It was always right in my blind spot so i would also just run into it if i was walking across the room or getting dressed or something. You could always hear when i hit my head on that lamp. Whenever it happened i could hear people in the other room giggling. The other time i ran into the bathroom door. i was a little disoriented from sleepiness and it was early in the morning and everything was dark, so i though the darkness of the door what just the darkness of the bathroom, so i kinda just walked right into it. That one kind of hurt. I'm sure there were more times, but it might be best not to share everything.
Anyway, i went to rome with their family for 2 days. It was amazing.... i love how when i think of rome, i always think of mary kate and ashely but really it's so much more. The Olson twins really ruined the whole historial aspect rome's got going on. I saw columns from ancient Egypt apparently brought over my Caesar. And the coliseum where actual gladiators fought adn famous sites like the fountain and saint peters church which was supposedly the first catholic church WHICH CONTAINS MICHAELANGELO'S PAINTING which i didnt actually get to see, but just the knowledge that i was near it impresses me. Literally around every corner there's something at least 800 years old, and it was just really impressive. Having commented ont the historical aspect, theres actually a lot of new stuff going on as well. Theres a lot of street artists and new little cool hipster neighborhood s going on as well. There was this really cool and funny and awesome artist there who did a bunch or street art. Not like graffiti, but just little clever things. I think he was crazy, but thats ok.

column from egypt





cool street artist

cool street artist

Returning from rome, we went by florence just for the day. (it's really cool to say i 'stopped by florence on the way home') THAT was an artsy city. i guess it was only to be expected since a bunch of really famous artist were born there. I think my favorite part was all the really expensive shops on the bridge. That would be a very expensive bridge collapse.... I don't really know how to sum this all up. Italy is amazing and old and historical and has yummy food. It's way more than pizza, pasta, the mafia and super mario. I promise.

expensive stores on a bridge

Back at the house, we didn't really do so many super exciting things, although i had just as good of a time there as i did exploring rome. That says something about good company. One night, we went to go see a group of gypsys play music. It was amazing. That was probably one of the best live concerts ive seen in a while. His name was Goran Bregović, and i'm pretty sure he sings in his own language, although i am ignorant to what he is actually speaking. Anyway, here's a link:

Good Music

The last night there, i spent trying to figure out my train tickets (not an easy or fun task having to speak to a german train company) and making friends with their cat manon. He was cute.
THEN I WENT TO AUSTRIA. The train ride there was a little more than notable. I feel like i could write an entire book about my train ride there. Well it all started when i got to the train platform. I was saying goodbye to ambra, and there was an older man watching us and giggling to himself. I was at first annoyed because he was kind of a mood killer, but i tolerated it and continued saying my goodbyes. When i finally go on the train, this man offered to help me with my suitcase which i readily accepted since the first time i tried to put it up on the rack, it almost fell and killed someone. So once that was all said and done, i awkwardly looked of a seat seeing as the only one left was next to the older man that had helped me. He seemed a little more than content to have me sit next to him, which was annoying and kind of creepy. Anyway, staying away from all little details, and avoiding freaking you all out, he decided to do his little flirting thing which i obviously ignored, trying ot do everything in my power to seem unattractive and annoying (listen to music really loud while air drumming, sniffing and blowing nose loudly, reading a philosophy book, calling people on the phone, coughing on him, moving around a lot...) which didn't quite work out. turns out you need to be very direct with the italian grandpas. So after a while when i thought he had given up, he asked if i was married and if he could have my number. I dont know exactly what he was thinking considering the fact i was reading a high school philosophy text book, dont look any older than 18 or 19, and obviously a lot younger than him, but i decided to be as clear as i could just saying 'no' like they teach us in kindergarten, but even then he persisted by asking why, and when i didn't answer, he offered a few posible reasons as to why i wouldn't give him my number. The best one was: if i were dating 'that girl i was hugging' (asking if i were a lesbian) as if that was the only reasonable explanation as to why i wouldn't want to date a man 50 years my senior. Anyway, after a firm 'no please leave me alone' he left. Just as a side note, i was sitting next to a young mother and her child, 2 grandmas and a group of bicyclists so no harm could have been done. Please dont worry about me.
Anyway, once he got off, a middle age African woman came one. She was traditionally dressed from nigeria, very pleasant and spoke english. She was very interested in my travels, and shortly after all of my plans had been told and we had made friends, she took her opportunity to slip me a Christianity pamphlet. Somehow i knew deep down that it would end in a religious discussion. Anyway, after she thought she had converted me to the catholic church and pushing me to get reconciled, she had to leave as well, leaving me awkwardly with the grandmas and the young mother and her child. Teh young mom and i ended up bonding a little as she had though that the old guy was my boyfriend or something, but when i told her what had actaully happened, she seemed very relived by telling me that she would have 'kicked his ass' (her words, not mine) if i had said something to her about him bothering me. I liked her. She spoke 4 or 5 languages and traveled around Asia half her life. Crossing the italy-austria border was gorgeous which all the mountains and houses and stuff.

The sound of music is actually what it looks like there. Almost everyone got off before my stop so i had the place to myself for a while until an older man came on. He didn't talk to me for a while until the very end when he started blabbing in german. Apparently hes an english teacher, so he had a nice conversation. He was going home from a hiking trip in the mountains, has 4 kids and lives in the german speaking part of italy. He asked me, 'if i were to go to minnesota, what would i find?' i honestly had no idea how to answer that question to i just said 'lakes and trees'. Apparently he liked that i told me quite happily 'i really like flowers. What kind of flowers are there in minnesota?' I don't know how to answer that either so i just said The lady slipper because thats the state flower, but i don't really know if that's so common or not. Anyway, all in all, after 7 hours, i got to Innsbruck just fine.
Innsbruck is amazingly beautiful. It's like a little old city thats being hugged by mountains. And the mountains are TALL. they're not like the little lame ones you see in Spain, they are for real. And the air is so fresh and it smells wonderful and there quite an agreeable chilliness about it. It was fun to have a week of mental relaxation (in the language sense) and sort of reconect with my minnesota roots. I hadn't seen the Thene family in quite a while, but it wasn't that hard to kind of fall back into it with them. We had some fun dinner discussions about my awkward past and did a little reflecting on my spanish year. Their house is amazing as well. They have a gasp worthy sauna in which i go rid of my hacking cough, a fun swing and a few interesting details here and there (if you guys are reading this, i like your door handles, your glass doors and the automatic lights) One day i went biking with the mom (lilli) adn let me tell you, i was the hardest bike ride ive ever had to do. I dont understand the concept of mountain biking, and i don't think i ever want to. Just to touch on the language theme.... German is nothing like english. Do not believe anyone if they tell you is similar because its not. I understood nothing.

The train ride back was calmer. I got everywhere on time which no problems, delays or creepy men. My common sense was tested when i had to get myself from the train station to the airport, but what i bus that said 'airport' came around the corner, i decided to just try that one out. The only problem i had was at the airport. i don't know if this lady was just having a bad day or just decided to mess with the tall american, but she definitely got my on my nerves. i though i was fine with a backpack and a small carry on bag, but apparently that was unacceptable and i had to try to go fit everything in one bag. so i had to leave the extremely long line, go back out side and unpack my things. fitting everything in my backpack was unquestionable so i decided to try to be tricky and but my laptop, books, sweatshirt and things like my ipod and phone in a small purse type thing that i had, but after waiting in line AGAIN she didn't like that idea either. So i was sent out again to try again, so i had no choice but to over dress. Before everything fit i was wearing 2 pairs of pants, 2 or 3 sweaters (one sweater type thing and 2 zip ups) and 2 scarves with a 'decorative scarf' on my backpack all on a 90 degree day. It was not pleasant, and i had to do all of this in the open public. My self esteem went down, crankiness when up and my body temperature skyrocketed. After finally getting her ok, i had to undo everything to pass through security. There was a 20+ person line behind me waiting because of the immense amount of things i had to take out of my backpack and off my body. That just about tipped me over the edge so it's a good thing that the thing didn't beep because i think i probably would have lost it. The first thing i did was unpack everything, put it back in my original 2 bags, and go wash my face in the bathroom. That was not a pleasant day. But i got home in one piece. :)
Happy easter to all!

Really eventful month part 2

Hello again

This would bring me to my trip to italy. Well sicily. What a wonderful life i'm living right now, let me tell you. If you ever get the chance to visit sicily, PLEASE do becasue it is wonderful. I had a somewhat intense experiance seeing as i was with an exchange program and i lived with yet another unkown family. Again, i suffered quite the sleep deprivation, but who needs sleep? i guess i don't anymore. Anyway, i was with the same girl i was with before (adriana). She is an only child, lives with her mom, normal (not really) hippy teenager. Stays out late, doesn't brush her hair (it would be impossible), wears kinda weird alternative clothes, listens to screamo and rock heavy metal type music, smokes, has skateboarding stickers in her room, doesn't care what people think etc. etc. Her mom is quite the opposite, dresses nicely, has everything organized, nice, heldback, a police officer, blonde, well groomed, very heathy, has pictures of god in her room etc. etc. You would think that maybe these two individuals would not get along so well, but GUESS WHAT, they're like best friends. They get ready together in the morning and like... joke around in the bathroom and share clothes (sometimes... they dont really have the same style) and talk about personal things. It was quite impressive. Anyway, i lived in this little town on a mountain called Scordia where everyone knows everyone so OF COURSE i got looked at funny considering i was the only tall blonde white girl around (no surprises there). I dont even know where to start honestly. The first day i understood absolutely nothing of italian, not even when they said 'welcome' (at which i had to turn to adriana to translate..... lamest moment of the trip) but by the end of the trip i sorta got the hang of it. sorta. The language didnt seem to be such a barrier for me since i like to think my personality just SHINES through, but i honestly think people just knew me as the weird tall white girl, so a lot of kids came to me just to joke around (which im fine with). After a while the italians warmed up to me and we all ended up making friends. My italian host sister and i actually got along famously. We were always like the two weird ones, considering she doesnt really fit in with the regular teenage crowd, and i just kinda followed her around. We'd always come up to everyone singing a song, and weirdly enough we always managed to dress distinctly compared to everyone else in the crowd (she does it on purpose.... i do it because i have a hard time following fashion trends) I dont know what exactly happened, but there was a real great friendship developing there. Stupid time limit had to go on and ruin it all. Anyway, heres the run down.

First of all we were living in small town EXTREME edition, so everyone knew everyone. This does not help the starring factor at all, and i ended up getting looked at a lot (not just me,but all the spanish), not saying it isnt anything i wasnt expecting, just something that bugs me a little. Anyway, the fist 8 days or so went perfectly as planned. We did touristy things, went shopping, went out to eat, had pizza, took a nap, went to a dance party, jane got sick, went to hang out, etc etc. i was welcomed with an entire pizza just for myself. it was fantastic. To be more specific, we went to Etna- the tallest and yet still active volcano in europe- which was actually pretty fun. i had no idea was a volcano was actually like. turns out it's a lot different than the idea we have in minnesota. At least to what i understood, it has a bunch of places of explosion (no idea what they're called) , and even though it has an active status, it is not continuously exploding all the time, everyday. There is snow on the top, but its interesting to know that its not cold. The rocks are actually warmish and let off a steamy wonder. When i sat down on the top, its actually warm on the skin, and you can see the heat waves coming off of the surface. i stole a piece of etna just to remember. Driving up there i saw a few houses buried under the rock. That is also noteworthy. I'd never seen that before.

One other noteworthy comment would be that of the immense amount of 18th birthday parties we went to. Let me tell you right now that these 18th birthday parties are nothing normal. I dont know if the people just have a lot of money or if they save it up especially for this occasion, but they really go all out. If you've ever seen my super sweet 16 on MTV, it's like that but slightly toned down, usually without a car, free of drama and everything's in italian. The first one i went to really blew my mind. The birthday girl had a nice prom type dress, high heels, a waiter, a birthday cake, presents, wine, and a whole lot of group photos at the end. It was like a wedding reception.... Her family even made a speech. One thing that blew my mind was they way they dance. they do this line dance type thing to EVERY SINGLE SONG, and each song has a specific dance. i learned a few, but to be completely honest it just ended up getting a little annoying and repetitive.

Everything was going fine UNTIL THE SECOND TO LAST DAY. We arrive to school completely normal only to find everyone is crying. All the spanish kids were confused until our correspondences let us in on what had happened, WHICH WAS that a classmate of theirs had died the night before in a motorcycle accident. We didn't know exactly how to react to such news, but when they brought the spanish kids down to explain what had happened, most of us sorta just broke down. I don't know how it actually happened, but everyone sorta just opened up to everyone, telling stories of they're own lives or if something similar had happened to them. I'm not going to give any sort of details, but just seeing how many people that something like this can affect kind of blew my mind. And on top of it all, having seen my classmates open up about their own stories, it never really goes away completely either.

The last 2 days were actually kind of disastrous to be honest. There was a lot of crying and hugging and stuff like that, and honestly, the worst of it was not at the airport. It was the day before when everyone was writing little memories for everyone else when i personally got sad. all the italians wrote little notes for me saying that i was the goofy one or the one who they could always laugh with or just the american (seeing as i was the only one) but also one of my classmates, mariajose, wrote me a little letter herself saying that we had gotten to be really good friends in those 10 days and that i bring out the best in her and all these really nice things that just broke me down. Those types of things really make me thing that i did the right thing in coming here. I guess i always knew it was a good thing, but just to have those little reminders like that does the trick.

At the airport....i dont know why, but i wasn't all that sad. Maybe i was already drained of emotion, or maybe it was the fact that the teacher supervisors were being really stupid. We were all saying goodbye outside the baggage check line, giving hugs and saying our last words. Everyone was crying and obviously you know.... in the moment when the teachers start literally pulling people off of whomever they were hugging. We had like... an hour and a half before boarding more than enough time and yet they would lets us share a nice moment. That wasn't fair. Everyone was mad. And that ends my italian exchange.

Now on to easter break.

Jane

really eventful month PART 1

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
ok, im really slipping on the blog front...... sorry everybody... it may be for the fact that i never have any free time, and i when i DO have free time i usually (stupidly) spend it either doodling or talking to people or roaming around instead of blogging.... so that is my lame excuse to not updating you on my ever so exciting life. I'm happy know know i have very little free time because that means i'm actually doing things unlike back in septemeber when i wrote a blog like... every single day. at least this way you all get the best stories and not stupid little things. I think we ended when the italians left spain, so ill jsut start there which mean LAS FALLAS.
LAS FALLAS
LAS FALLAS!!!!
One of the coolest craziest things that has ever happened to me. I'm not actually sure what it's all about for real, but i can tell you my personal experiance. For teenager and young people it means a week off work and school to relax and hang out with those you love. For parents, it's worrisome having to wait up for your kids to come home, not to mention the immense amount of people roaming around. For the eldery, i'm sure it's just an annoyance. It all starts out with this wonderful thing called a mascletà which is AMAZING for loss of better words. What it is is a bunch of really loud booms and fireworks and colors and people. They start out with a few smallbooms and then they build up to loud squealy noises and fireworks and colorful smoke. The ground shakes and it feels liek the end of the word, and its even cooler when the smoke blows towards you so you cant see anything and it's just a bunch of loud noises. My host host told me i had to open my mouth not to hurd my ears... just to give you a good picture of how loud it actually is. Here is a video.

Mascletà 2010

After everything is over, they end with this goofy song: Valencia en Fallas which i sorta which i would have learned just to seem like a real valencian girl. It's really too bad. The next major event after the mascletà would be the wonderful nit del foc. WHICH IS a huge fireworks show. it's always on march 18 and starts at 1 AM. (which in spanish time is more like... 145 or 2 AM) and lasts a good 30 minutes. It's liek the 4th of July but in march and with a lot more people and alot more noise and a lot more fireworks. The do the fireworks in the 'river' (whichisnt a river... it USED TO BE a river, now its a park.) so you have a bunch of people surrounding you, AND over you (if youre inside the river, liek i was) little did i know that was like.. the most dangerous thing you could do becasue the idiotic people from above throw fireworks down inside the river, AND the idiots inside the river throw these fireworks called borrachos that follow air currents, so if you run, it follows you. i almost got hit like 17 times while ducking out of there at lightning speed. Pictures:

After the big show is like.... a night long party. The streets are crowed, the clubs are open allnight, theres people everywhere, it's impossible to find a cab and the subway runs all night long. I got home before my little sister..... thats hows late the spanish stay out. (dont worry mom i stayed safe and i did not get robbed.
The day after (well the next night) is La Cremà which is when they burn the huge statues they put up (and spend all year making) TO THE GROUND. (the statues are called Fallas.... hence thename of the holiday (fallas usually represent something... like some represented the crises or a political figure or soemthing like that)) anyway, it goes something like this:

I was really close to the statue when it was being burned, and let me telly ou its burns FAST (they douse it with gasoline) it was EXTREMELY hot. i think i got burnt a little ever. AFter like... 5 miutes of ewatching it burn, the people put it out with firehoses which ultimately got ME weta s well. I looked like i had just taken a shower..... thats how wet i got. and i even got a little crabby. but not really. And that ends fallas. I'm not saying its a very environmentally friendly event with all the smoke and fireworks and gas infected burnings, but you know... it's fun.
Other than that, its really just an excuse to not do anything. Theres these people called falleras or falleros (if youre a dude) which i dont have any pictures of unfortunately but you can probably looked them up on google. They dress up in old timey clothes and march in parades and represent their own personal falla. Other than that they have like a week long block party in the city where you can buy snacks and clothes and jewlery and stuff like that. It's really just a touristy type thing. (for people like me) They have concerts and special parties for the young people (again for people like me) and the streets are all decorated. Spain likes their street decorations... i can telly ou that much.
After fallas i had testing, adn yet running on horrible build up of crap sleep, i managed to pass them. I only had a week or so of class before going to italy, which leads me to really long month part 2. To be continued.

I AM STILL LIVING

WELL HI!

warning. this is going to have a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes. i can tell you that right now because i wont have the time or desire to read over this again.

HAPPY HALF WAY CELEBRATION!

well to tell you the truth its more of a crap bin than a celebration. I don't like how i'm ALREADY half way done. please note how ive said already, because quite frankly i cant believe it, but we'll get to all that later. (i plan on talking about my feelings..... you should continue reading just for that. just kidding)

Well, you may ask what ive been doing the past month. The answer is not much, which has actually been quite tiring. I've fallen into some weird routine, which can be a good or bad thing. Most of january i did more or less the same thing everyday, and since then, i've figured out that i don't really lake that, so i've been trying to change things up a bit lately. I don't remember what the last event i talked about was, but all just wing it here.

I've been gettin' on pretty well. i made a few new friends, and everyday i find out wonderful new things about myself. For example(s): i think i'm less awkward when i have to speak a different language (how can that be???) because i rarely have awkward silences, and i rarely get nervous. OF COURSE there are exceptions, like the fact that sometimes i say really dumb things, or do dumb things, and of course i do get embarrassed sometimes, but you know... yah live. yah learn. yah just gotta pretend like somethings just never happened (except its difficult for me becasue when i get embarrassed, i become a tomato, so everyone notices. Those dang spaniards and their tan unblushable skin.)

SPEAKING OF REALLY DUMB THINGS! These past few weeks have been extremely interesting. Reason #1 being that i've reached some kind of mental health equilibrium which has may or may not have something to do with some self realizations and self growth which i have realized in myself and in those surrounding me. This particular theme i will get into later, as it concerns my personal feelings. Reason #2 is that i ran into 2 things recently. Literally. I'm usually not that clumsy, but i guess i proved myself wrong. The first time i did it was when i was leaving school, and i was walking along side a friend talking and not paying attention to anything, and all the sudden there was a large red pillar. Right in front of me. My friend restrained from laughing some how, and all he said was something that loosely translates to 'take that!' which is when i burst out laughing, blushed a lot and ran away like a little kid. The second time was a little more discreet. I just ran into a little construction pole thing, but there was only one old man sitting near by who i SWEAR giggled a little. I'm glad i made his day i guess.

ANYWAY. What have i been up to lately? Well that is actually a really good question. There hasn't been much going on thats super exciting. Lets see...........i learned how to do a rubik's cube. I do homework....

But the coolest thing i've done since my last entry (which was like a month and a half ago.. oops) was probably that i went to Barcelona. That was pretty cool. In all honesty i was walking around the whole time just hoping someone famous would show up or like Tyra Banks would come up because i know she went there one time for americas next top model. I don't know. I DID really like it, but it wasn't as spectacular as we think it is. Well yes it is, but i don't know. What i'm trying to say is that it's amazing, but you'd need a lot of time to soak it all in. And La Sagrada Familia is freaking amazing (the huge church thats been in construction for ever) I had no idea it was so flippin tall. it's huge......

Other than that, i've been doing other things. i don't know if you all have seen them, but i put a lot of video of myself singing on facebook. That was fun, and now all my friends here want me to record one for them, so i've been busy with my musical studies. and ALSO, i started an art class. Probably the most wonderful decision i've ever made because its SO FUN. Just imagine this. This class, its me and like... 10 other kids, all under 5 feet and all under the age of 12. At first when they all figured out i was american, they asked me probably every single question physically possible to ask about my life. i honestly think these young ladies and gentlemen know more about me than most others here, but whatever. It's really fun because they're so interested, and don't seem to be affected my the 'ugly american' image. which is nice for a change. PLUS the teacher is quickly rising to the top of the list of my favorite spanish people. Te other day, he put a rag on his head and walked around for like 20 minutes pretending to be his own grandma. That part wasn't even the funny part. The funny part was that when the lottery ticket guy came in (a lottery guy comes in everyday.... he's kinda old and i dont think im very right in the mind) alvaro (my teachers name is alvaro) went up to him and started talking to him in his little grandmas voice saying the alvaro wasn't there, and that he'd have to come back later and bla bla. After like 5 whole minutes of that, he finally took off the rag, and was like'YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS ME RIGHT???" it was hilarious. Other than that, hes a good teacher, and i'm actually learning stuff.

this is probably the story of the month (2 months?). I got in trouble in school. usually i would be embarrassed to admit this, but lets all face it, we all get in trouble at SOME point in school. and if you say you haven't you're a liar. Anyway, what happened was that i am an idiot. I experienced a cultural difference in extreme. A few weeks ago me and a few friends 'snuck' out of the building (even though the security dude lets us) after testing one day to drink coffee during a free study hour. Considering said circumstances i didn't really think it would matter, even though i admittedly knew that we are not allowed to leave the building. Well that and the fact that everyone always leaves and nothing ever happens. Its a universal thing. Well, my english teacher saw us while we were out, and we had a little panic attack at the moment, but after that, no one said anything so we THOUGHT it was all fine. Little did we know that we had been reported to our counselor. Anyway, one week after we had been caught, we got called into a meeting with our counselor and the principal to discuss the punishment. I thought they were just gonna yell at us for a while and maybe put a little tardy mark or something but no. the principal decided it was fair to suspend us for 2 days. Considering the fact that if i get suspended, i get sent home to minnesota, i immediately started sobbing and trying to explain what MY consequences are and that it's not just being suspended for 2 days, that it's going home forever (a very embarrassing moment of my life) but finally she changed her mind. Now we have to play hall monitor for 2 weeks and possibly miss a field trip (to be determined).

THE ITALIANS CAME!!!!!!! (for those that don't know... im doing an exchange thing in sicily for 10 days, and right now, the italians are in spain. I'm going to sicily in april) My italian is super cool and fun and likes to talk and is teaching me italian and bought me earrings and stuff. The only thing is that i. am. so. tired. I can't even believe it. i spent all day today walking around valencia doing the tourist thing (which still interests me) until 7PM (10AM-7PM) and my feet hurt like crap. The only really cool thing i got out if it was that i got to see a mascleta today, which is this thing they do here during Las Fallas. It's basically just a whole bunch of noise for about 5 minutes with sone fireworks, but the ground shakes and theres a lot of smoke and it felt like the end of the world. and i loved it. I'll post a video at the end.

Other than that, i don't have any really GOOD stories. so now i'll just go right into talking about my feelings.

Concerning this theme, there are two options. I could become really corny and express my feelings in a poetic and loving way, or i could just tell you like it is. considering im not really into the whole poetic touchy feely thing (and never will be, ever) i'm just to to express them plain and simple like i always do.

The bottom line is that now that i've already passed half way point, i'm just here to enjoy myself. By enjoy myself, i do not mean go out and party every single night and never do homework and things like that. What i mean is i'm just trying to become more a part of everything, and if that means that i fail a few assignments, or become a little tired, or whatever, its really fine with me, because you just have to try to experience as many things as you possibly can. I know this blog says i published it like.... 2 weeks ago, but the truth of the matter is that its march 10 or something tomorrow. IS ALREADY MARCH, AND I HAVE TO DO SO MANY THINGS STILL. i only have 4 months left to do like a billion cool things that i still want to do. CRAP.

Honestly that sums up my feelings. I feel crunched for time. BUT i do miss minnesota. like a say every time i write stuff. I was talking with one of the italians the other day, and she was asking what i missed about home, and i was saying stupid stuff like we can't stay out so late, the food it different... blah blah, but then she was like, no really.... what's different. So i had to think a little and came up with the fact that home is Minnesota if i like it or not. Here i can't argue with my parents or leave my crap around or eat a bunch a junk food without having to sneak it. I'm always aware of what i'm doing... It's not as comfortable. That isn't to say that i don't like my family here, it's just to say that the natural comforts of your own home are taken fore granted, and that everyone should be aware that home is wonderful.

OK.

ME AND ADRIANA SAY HELLO AND GOODBYE (the italian)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZBVlm1gSyc

and the following weeks......

Happy reyes!

We have had the epiphany. It was fun.... i got to do the whole put your shoes out, and then the kings come in and leave you stuff. I woke up this morning with presents, and it was wonderful. like a late christmas. The kings gave me a book, pajamas (with penguins on them) and a shirt. It was really funny, because my host mom, even with her kids all being over the age of 16, still pretended they were real. She opened her nice new set of knives and exclaimed, "oh, i really wanted to have this! look how pretty they are!" all excited. i couldn't help but laugh even though the rest of the family found it a little less than funny, maybe even a little dorky. I don't know. i like when people do things like that. i just know that when i'm older i'm going to get myself gifts. Why not? If you have an excuse to buy yourself something nice, why wouldn't you take it. It just doesn't make any sense not to. Anyway...... there's this tradition were the whole family eats this cake called kings cake (i think), and there are 2 prizes inside it. One prize is this bean, and if you get that you have to pay for the cake, and the other is a little figurine, which you get it, you get to wear a super cool crown and are named the king (or queen, depending on said person's gender). It just so happens that I WON, and was named queen. No big deal. Twas splendid, except the fact that the cake is disgusting.

When i was talking about my philosophy class in my last blog, it really got me to thinking in the last few day about philosophy. I know i'm supposed to be talking about my spanish adventures in this blog, but this is really starting to bug me. I know that some of the most respected people in the world were famous philosophers such as Plato and those guys, but really, to me, it's all just a bunch or crap. I have been forced to study up on my philosophy because i have a test coming up, and i just can't make myself think and analyze it because it really doesn't make any sense to me. Every chapter, my philosophy book raises a few questions that are supposed to provoke some kind of grand conversation, but usually i read these questions and about 3 sentences come to mind. Three sentences equals about 3 seconds of talking, and yet my teacher can go on and on for about 3 days debating whether or not the sky is blue. Literally. If someone asks me if the sky is blue, i'd probably say something along the lines of "Well, sometimes, when it's a nice day out. Other days it's kind of gloomy. Sometimes it's a mixture of blue and grey." Or if you want to get fancy you could go with the scientific weather paths, you know the ones that say that the weather usually moves from out west, and just kind of moves across the united states. So if the pressure drops or rises, chances are the sky color is bound to change. Or even better you go could with chemistry and the color spectrum. It's all science really, but yes, the sky IS blue... you can't really argue with that. I'm not meaning to sound ignorant, i would just like to state my point of view, and how i shouldn't have to be studying why things the way they are, when really there's nothing to study. Things are the way they are because that's the way they are. That doesn't mean said 'ways' can't change. That's what the people are for, and the government and all that stuff. It's just the way it is. Plato and his follows and role models, in my opinion, are just reading way to into everything. It seems like they just look around and say "what deeper meaning does that window have over there?" "Why do we use this table like this" "Why am i here." "Where am i exactly?." Although some of these are descent questions to ask, we can't always know these things. Sometimes we just have to say, "well... that window probably doesn't have a deeper meaning other than just to look out, or let light into the house." or "The table is used to put stuff on." and more importantly, "I'm here because i was born." and "Well, i personally am sitting on my bed in my room right now in Godella, spain." The most questioned question, probably, is "what happens after death?" JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. you'll know when you die.... you can't die and then come back to life. it just doesn't work like that. Some of these serious questions that people spend their whole lives debating and arguing over just have simple answers, that sometimes change and sometimes don't. The other day we were talking about how we are unable to know things. i was just sitting there like, that's ridiculous! Of course we can know stuff. i know what 2+2 is. i know my parents and friends. It's just like GEAT REAL. You can't tell me that i don't know things. i know how to slap you across the face if you want. This doesn't mean i don't like my philosophy teacher... she's actually really nice. She impresses me everyday y how excited she get over the difference between the truth and reality. Done with that.

I would now like to talk about one thing that recently happened. I have meet a large number of dog's lately. I don't know why really... it just seems like everyone has a dog. This weekend i went to a little pueblo (again) to eat, and the family had a huge dog. By huge i mean HUGE. I was the only one who pet it at first, so naturally it followed me around the rest of the day.... slobbered all over my shirt and barked at me when i left the room. It was funny because the family just didnt take any crap from him. He was bugging me at one point, and the mom just took out a book and slapped him real hard. I dont know why i found it funny, probably because this dog was huge, so they can hit him harder if they want without hurting him. My host family gave them a ping pong table set for christmas, but i have a feeling the paddles aren't going to be used much for playing ping pong. They seem ideal for 'love patting' their huge dog. It gave me the impression of small horse. a pony per se. Heres pictures of all the doggies.

Little tibet attacking my host father.

Cucka, the cat dog.

But thats it. I've met more doggies, i just don't have pictures. i would like to talk about our natural inner system need to have an order for everything. I’m not saying that we all are super OCD or anything, but we as humans don't just walk around aimlessly. I have been paying attention to how things are done here, and there are quite a few things that have a specific order to them. It’s pretty goofy if you think about it.

My morning schedule is the same every single day. Set alarm for 6:50. Get up at 7:15. Go pee/wash face/brush teeth. Get dressed super fast, put on a little make up (at which time my host mom tells me to hurry up). Put on my shoes, throw my crap in my backpack, go eat some cereal and chug a cup of coffee. Walk to my neighbors house, wait for her to be ready for 15 minutes. Run to meet who ever is bringing us to school. Arrive at school.

Afternoon schedule: Get home, throw my backpack in my room. Eat lunch. Watch the news with my parents while talking about stuff. Go to my room, pretend to do homework. Go out with neighbor/ go to library/ go chat with my host sister/ play the piano. Actually do homework. Eat dinner. Watch movie.

Daily schedules aren't exactly what i'm talking out. We do specific things and a certain order as well. For example, eating. A few people have a certain way of doing things when they eat. I'm sure my eating habits are notable in some way or another (mom/dad don't say anything), but i've been observing things, and i have found that my host dad and brother do things in a specific order. First of all, my host dad has a profound passion for 'el vino' and always has a hefty supply in the house. At dinner, he sits down, compliments the cook (my host mom), pours himself a glass of wine, smells it, sips it, and then makes a satisfactory noise such as 'mmmmm' or 'que BUEno'. Then (depending on the food) when he gets served, he just goes at it. mixes everything and cuts everything up into little pieces using rapid fork and knife motions. Sometimes i like to watch because i think it's funny. My host brother has a very nice and clean way to peeling his oranges. First of all, he never touches his food with his hands ever, so he uses a fork and knife to peel the orange. First he cuts it down the middle, then each half once again, then, very carefully, cuts the orange peel off, stabs the whole orange piece and stuffs it into his mouth. That always makes me giggle because he's ever so careful while peeling it, but then stuffs it into his mouth all messy like, usually ending in a small orange juice puddle.

Other than physically eating, we have the normal lunch party. When a few families gather this is what happens 99.9% of the time. First, sit in the big room with couches to talk and drink something, gather around the table and wait for someone to set it. Someone sets the table, and everyone comes to eat. Then you sit down, eat normally (vegetables first, then meat, then salad), After eating you eat more usually something like cheese and wine, then someone will bring out a dessert with a bottle of champagne (or two). Once thats all over, theres coffee and little sweets like chocolates or fruit or something.

Other than food, i have my little orders as well. For example, so get the the metro station, i go down the block, turn left, then turn right on the main street. Walk until i see the bar with the green sign, turn left. Walk until i see the shoe store, turn right. Turn left at the old wall with a bunch or graffiti, walk straight until the station.

There's plenty more, but i just dont have to time to explain EVERYTHING.

The other day i went to l'horta (i think it's called) to help my neighbor with his garden, so that was pretty fun too. I felt all handy and stuff, and he gave a bunch of plants to bring home. I decided im going to make him a scarecrow about of stuff i find in godella. It's going to be awesome.

This is my dad and my chemistry teacher. feel free to admire the similarities.

Happy january.

Jane

happy 4 month christmas new years blog

Hello kin.

This is my holiday entry. I will attempt to make it festive, full of laughter and joy.

Now that christmas has passed, i can say that i was rather surprised. I thought i was going to get all down and sad ‘n stuff, but quite frankly i had a wonderful time. (that doesn’t mean i didn’t miss the good ol’ minnesota christmas.) But before i tell you about spanish christmas, i need to catch you up on my latest adventures.

FIRST, i went hiking again. I keep doing that, even though every time i go i always end up in serious pain, and something bad always happens. This time, i ended up with 3 blisters on my feet, and a picture of me sleeping on the bus uploaded to spanish facebook. The last time i went, i ended up with blisters as well, along with sunburn, and i fell twice. The conclusion? hiking+me=embarrassment+pain. Anyway, this time i basically only went because they told me there was going to be snow, (which there wasn’t. Liars) BUT i did get to go into a real cave. unfortunately i didn’t get a picture, but i’m telling you right now it was the real deal. We had to climb down this little hole thing, slide down a rope, and then a teacher had to help us down to the ground. There was no light, so we all got little flashlights and all that. At first i was kinda creeped out, but then i started looking around, and actually it was super cool. it had all those weird slimy looking rocks, and those drippy looking rocks hanging from the ceiling. i felt so outdoorsy. And that was that. Heres my winter break so far.

I didn’t really even realize it was christmas until the 23 of december when i FINALLY got off school. i will tell you, the last few days of school were awful... very slow and stupid.... just like at home EXCEPT FOR A FEW THINGS: Since we're in school until later here, i spent my last week or so in school spending more time in the cafeteria because they put up a nice christmas tree in there. It made me feel better about being in school for so long. It's the little things that count right? (plus the lunch guy is really nice, and you can order coffee and such if you want). And also, one day at lunch i sat down, opened my lunch, took out my sandwich, bit into it, and you can imagine my pure surprise and delight when it was a wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwich. i had to hide it from my classmates because they all think it' weird, but it was wonderful none the less.

The last day of school was actually fine, we just had a bunch of activities in which a few friends and i skipped out on that and just kinda walked around for a while. I think my problem is that in valencia there’s no snow, and it’s around 65 degrees every day, so my body/mind can’t deal with the fact that yes, it is christmas. It was quite the shock when i got home that afternoon, and my host sister was happy that we were off school and that it was christmas. It’s really not my fault.... in spain they don’t celebrate christmas as much as we do (actually they think we’re weird for decorating our houses and all that) and so we don’t have a tree or anything in the house. So naturally i snapped into action, and took to decorating my own room a little to spread christmas cheer to myself. (Jenson’s, i already told you this) I put out a bunch of red and green clothing, including a red scarf and a green sweater, hung up a red bow and the christmas cards i’d received on my wall, continuously streamed an irish christmas station on the internet, and set my laptop background to a picture of snow. I thought i did pretty good considering the circumstances.

Anyway, to celebrate the end of this first trimester from h-e-l-l, my classmates organized a dinner that was quite pleasant, and after we hit up a super cool juice joint. Looking back at my first trimester, i’m actually kinda sorta proud. Here are my grades:

Spanish-no grade, BUT i did pass an essay test in which i wrote 3 pages comparing three books (Hamlet, Oedipus the king and The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof) with a wonderful D- that i will never forget ever.

English- passed with a 7/7. Hooray!

Biology- passed with a 5/7. Hooray! I can explain to you what a stem cell is if you want. To remember them, i call them magic cells. Because they are magic.

Philosophy- no grade this trimester. although i did pass a project i had to do for that class. See how i’m focusing on the positives? Except now i'm just going to comment on how i really don't like philosophy. Quite frankly, i don't really care what the true is, or what reality is or what is the reason is. My teacher was trying to explain the difference between reality and truth, and i'm just sitting there like why does it even matter. I forget the real example, but she said something like a car is the reality because no one can say that the car doesn't exist, but our perception of the car is the truth because we all see the car differently or SOMETHING like that. I'm just sitting there thinking, why are we spending 30 minutes debating whether a car is the truth or reality or the reason for living or the objective of life or whatever you want. From my point of view, the car is a car, and we don't have to question why the car is there or for what is serves because i can tell you that right now. The car is here because some dude invented it, and we use it to get around. That's it... there's nothing more to it.

Chemistry-passed with a 5/7. Hooray! Except i don’t get chemistry.

Math-failed. Oops..... I have nothing to say.

Geography- failed. with a 2/7. Never though i could ever get such a bad grade. This is more than failing. This is failing to an exponential power that is googol. I failed to the power of googol. I will admit that i didn’t ‘give it my all’ per se, because i think some of the work i had to do was keeping me from doing necessary things such as sleeping and showering.

Moving on. Christmas eve was wonderful. I woke up at the wonderful hour of 12, ate a wonderful breakfast of chocolate cereal, sang wonderful songs with my host dad/sister (in the wonderful languages or italian, spanish, english, valenciano etc.), ate a wonderful christmas eve lunch of wonderful things that i don’t remember what they’re called (something that looks like shrimp but has eyes and feet), Talked on skype with wonderful cousins and friends and family, ate a wonderful dinner, and opened wonderful presents from wonderful people while talking with my wonderful family over skype. Twas wonderful. I will say i got a little choked up at one point, but nothing too bad, and after everyone else opened their presents and everyone was happy just like it should be. Everyone really liked their presents. Here's my host dad and his new wallet.

Christmas day was something of a different sort. We got up early to drive up the the Pyrenees mountains. I, being half giant half human here in spain, was rather crunched and was unable to sleep, so i had a nice time looking out the window. We stopped halfway to eat lunch in this antique old village house that serves as the cabin of the ex-wife of my host moms brother. (if you don’t follow, it’s fine... took my 3 hours to figure it out) We ate there, where i got a tour of this weird house that has pictures of jesus everywhere and rooms for things like storing potatoes and apples, and then we were off again. Three hours later we were driving up the mountains (i knew this because my ears hurt like crap) where i saw snow! I was so happy even though it was crappy ice snow and unplayable, its all the same to me and my minnesotan soul. I never really thought i would miss snow so much, but its true that snow is a very important component in my life, and also because i missed the only snow day that has ever happened in the minneapolis public school system ever in my life, and probably will ever happen in my life... we’ll see if i get lucky next year.

The mountains were amazing.... all snowy and european, not to mention tall and pretty. My family has an apartment here, it’s pretty small but i really like it. It reminds me of a urbanized version of those little cabin’s we used to rent in the middle of nowhere. We had a minor crisis the first few hours of the trip when the water heater/ air heater wouldn’t work, and the apartment was freaking cold. We all thought we were going to have to spend 5 days wearing blankets all over the place, and having to choose between death cold shower and no shower. It finally started working right before we all went to bed, so it worked out nicely. The stupid thing is i got sick AGAIN, so i was probably coughing the whole night, annoying everyone. This whole sick thing is NOT gaining me any popularity points. The first day we were there, i didn’t so ski because i felt gross, and my ears hurt and it was just stupid, so we went and walked around in various old villages, which i happen to like a lot. I secretly want to buy a little house in an old european village somewhere when i’m older. I think i might just do that. The second day i didn’t go ski either because my host sister was feeling gross so we did basically the same thing. The thing is, is that it was an astounding 60 degrees or something like that, all the way up here 2000 meters above sea level in northern spain. Only stupid people would question the climate change theory now that we have like... 50 feet of snow in minnesota, it snowed in north carolina for the first time since the 1980’s, its 50 degrees in the pyrenees mountains, and half the the airports here in europe are closed due to bad weather and dangerous conditions. Following my environmental speech, December 28th is similar to our april fools day, so every year they play a small trick on my host dad. This year (this is complicated to explain... hang in there) they told him that the boyfriend of their daughter (who owns a restaurant in MN) was going to hold a spanish week when my host parents go visit their daughter in MN, and that they wanted my host dad to sign flamenco for an hour every night. He got all excited about it and everything. Twas funny. The third day no one went skiing. We took a day trip to a small village called Roda de Isabena that was literally a village on a mountain top.

All these little pueblos are basically the same. They are circular, all the houses connected with a plaza in the middle of the town usually with a restaurant, church and bell tower. All the streets are made of stone, all hilly and skinny making it virtually impossible to drive through. This particular village had an amazing view of the mountains because it’s really high up, and also a rather old church. We got a tour of it, and virtually everything inside was built before the 15th century. There were paintings from the 12th century, a baptizing bowl from the 12th century, authentic clothing from some bishop, and the best being some columns holding up the building from the 9th century. I have never touched anything that old in my whole life. I felt to connected to history even though i really despise history. After, we visited a few old sanctuary/monastery (i’m not exactly sure what they are called) but they were both built int he 11th century (one in 1104, and the other a short time before or after) they were both from roman descent and very pretty.

The last night was interesting... well, not exactly for me because i was not conscious when the excitement happened. Apparently i talked in my sleep, which is something i NEVER do. I’m they type that never moves in my slept, i’m like a brick normally. But when i woke up the next morning, my host sister told me i had been talking in my sleep. Naturally i was embarrassed because my host sister, host brother and i all slept in the same room, and therefore everyone had heard. She didn’t make a big deal of it at the time, but later we all sat down at the dinner table and discussed it. It was funny, because my host brother was the one who told me all about it, so that made it just exponentially more embarrassing. He said first i said “no se” and then “mama!!” really loud. And after a really long sentence in spanish that he doesn’t remember what it was. At least we know i dream in spanish... too bad i don’t remember anything. And that ends my pyrenees experience.

New years was more of the same, just at later hours. They do this thing where you have to eat 12 grapes, one for every second before 12 AM. it was funny to watch everyone stuff their faces with grapes. I find joy in watching people to dumb things. Anyways, i'm fine before apparently ill have good luck the whole year because i did all of the right things on new years eve. 1.) i started the year off with no dirty clothes (my host mom says it's bad luck to start the year with dirty clothes). 2.) i ate all my grapes. and 3.) i wore something red. so yeah. BUT one good/interesting thing happened. I met this girl named Elin from switzerland (i think.... sorry if i'm wrong) but it was so weird because we got to talking, and it turns out that she lived in minneapolis for 2 years. i probably like... saw her around one day. In fact she lived in the minnehaha area so thats pretty close. SO WEIRD. it's a small world huh?

Well.

I’m sitting with 4 months in spain. It literally just feels like a REALLY long and difficult week. Now, i can’t make any more excuses. Technically i’m supposed to be close to fluent, comfortable and well adjusted by now, but quite frankly i think i need just a LITTLE more time. not even a month, just 3 weeks or something until i’ll feel really good about everything. In three weeks i’ll but basically half way (crazy) through my stay, so if i’m not completely self sufficient by then, i’m doing something wrong. Having said that, it’s not like i’m not well adjusted. I DO have friends that i’m comfortable with, and i understand almost everything, slightly depending on the day, but it’s true that i understand almost everything. Speaking is a different story, and i’m making it my new years resolution to talk more everyday, since my family says i’m shy. Probably everyone reading this knows that i, in fact, am not shy, so i think i need to change their minds. Hence the new years resolution. My other new years resolutions would normally be something along the lines of be nicer to my parents, get better grades, help someone less fortunate than i, etc... but the truth of the matter is that i’m extremely nice to my spanish parents (and nicer to my normal parents with the distance and everything), i don’t care about my grades very much, and now that i have experienced being a true outcast myself, i find myself able to relate more to people less fortunate than i, hence making it a lot easier to help them out. Plus i plan to go help out at the Red Cross with my host sister. So normal new years resolutions have already been resolved. This presents a debacle, because i believe that everyone should have at least a few resolutions, because we can all improve our lives and the lives around us. So what i did was put my thinking cap on and came up with a few more resolutions. The first being that of improving my talkativeness. The second being to make friends with my host brother. The third to keep my room clean because if it’s not clean i feel bad because everything’s always clean. Plus it’s a little weird that my room is dirtier than my 21 year old college student host brother. The fourth is to learn a little valenciano (just because i love it and it’s pretty and it’d be fun to learn a little.) The fifth and final is to learn some trivia. There is a story behind that. The story is my family and i played trivia pursuit in the mountains one night, and they all knew all of these random facts about everything FOR EXAMPLE who was the most famous violin player in italy in the 1900’s, what province was named after a random guy i’d never heard of, who was the captain of a random soccer team in 1987 etc etc. I will say that i did answer 2 questions right (1 1/2) one of them being who was the main writer of the declaration of independence, and the other being where are salmon born, in the ocean or river. I said river all proud and stuff, but my host dad thought it was the ocean and made a good argument so i went with his answer and we got it wrong. It fine though because i have the satisfaction of knowing that i was in fact right. So that ends new years.

I had a few other things to say, but i can't seem to remember them right now. i'll entertain you with some cultural funniness next time.

My host dog and myself bid thee farewell.

Last couple of days...

Hello,

I am writing on the first snow day in the history of my life. Congratulations Minnesota for having such crap-tastic weather. I've been spending this wonderful day trying to think of things to make myself feel better that i'm not getting to experience my first snow day, and this is what i've come up with. Y'all are probably going to get sick. Apparently only good things follow me around (like, for example, the weather). I am still able to walk outside in a t-shirt. My boogers don't freeze. No one's dying in snow related accidents. I don't have to wear boots to school (that's a really good thing because i keep forgetting to get a locker). I can see living things such as plants and people on the street. Things like that.

Well i'm writing today because, as some of you know, i'm deathly ill once again. Here's what happened:

Thursday, i came home from school feeling a little tired and disoriented, so i took MY FIRST SIESTA (look how spanish i am) and then after that i stayed up until 12 or so trying to complete the ungodly amount of homework i had, which included a 6 page written opinion paper about a book for philosophy (yes, i did that) 2 thorough explanations of graphs for geography, and to study for a biology test on friday. You can imagine that i was a little stressed out, so i didnt listen to my body (as cousin karen would say) and ended up getting sick. Friday was awful. I got up for school, and actually went even though i felt like crap, because i had my biology test. But i couldn't even manage doing that, because somewhere between question 3 about cells mutations and question 4 about mitosis, i fell asleep. After about 15 minutes, i woke up and went home. And slept. Today is monday, and i am still feeling a bit down, so i don't know how long this one's going to last. Curse you european viruses.

BUT while i was at home all weekend, sleeping and doing other exciting things like that, i figured out that i understand spanish movies now. I was at my neighbors house yesterday watching movies with her mother. We bonded over a corny christmas film, tea and nail polish. It was weirdly fun. The only thing of substance i've really eaten this weekend is crackers and soup, and ive also managed to loose some of the massive ton of weight i gained here, so really his weekend hasn't been bad at all. It could definitely have been worse.

Let me just talk here for a second, more in detail, about what i said about not having a lot of time left. Yes, everyone, i KNOW i still have 7 months, but just listen. This weekend, im going to alecante to have 'christmas' with my spanish grandparents. The weekend after that is REAL christmas which is where im going to the mountains. The weekend after that is New years which i will be spending with friends and family, The weekend after that is the 3 kings holiday (the epiphany?), Somewhere in january i will be going to both madrid and barcelona. February i have italian people in my house (i think)... This like that. Between march and july, i don't know EXACTLY what im doing, but i'm going to italy (hopefully france too) Las fallas, my sisters coming, finals, camino de santiago, and then a week of summer. See how jam pack i'm talking here? I know it's going to go so fast, and i'm kind of sad.

Having said that, the spaniards are not seeming any more normal to me. I'm am not fully accustomed to their ways or anything like that, that does not mean i don't like their way of life, i just don't understand it real well. They surprise me everyday, for example(s): They always wear shoes in the house... soon i'm going to start sleeping in my shoes. They always dress nicely. They are not fat. They clean a lot. They study all day, everyday. The new broadcast people seem very friendly (more about that later). I haven't met anyone who dries their clothes in a dryer, they all have hang racks. but the thing that most surprised me about them is that no one knows how Helen Keller is. I was fascinated. We have jokes and books and plays and everything, but here, no one knows her. It's so weird!!!

Just a little side comment about the new broadcast people. They start every section saying hello and asking each other how they are and talking about their day and all that, like it's a normal conversation. At first i thought it was cute and friendly, but now i'm just like, really... no one really cares if you've had a fantastic day or not because we're just here to see what happened in the world today. So please, just give me the news report. That might just be me, but it's fine.

Other than that nothing much has happened. I'm starting to pass random things in school that i didn't think i would pass (like that 6 pages philosophy paper i wrote... i passed it) and other random assignments. Its a good feeling. Expect for the fact that i had an English test today, and i think someone forgot to teach me grammar because i had a fairly hard time deciding what teh Present simple, past simple, present blah blah blah is. i hope it's what i put because it would be really embarrassing if it isnt.

On the contrary, I would like to say that one of my rather proud moments of this week would be that i finally learned the words to La Bamba. :]

Sorry i don't have any pictures to put up, but i would like to share this.

I watch this show every single night.

El Intermedio

I don't actually know if i've seen this one before, but i just searched it on youtube, and it's the first one that came up. So yeah.

Soo long!

Jane