Lengthy Update!

I'm long overdue for a real update, huh? I don't know why I've been so bad about it here in Spain... I had so much less time on the super-slow internet in Uganda and now that I have all the time I could ever want with a high-speed wireless connection, my posts are few and far between! I have no excuse, but I'm sure you understand.

Let's start back at Portugal, shall we? Okay. So after I returned from Portugal (which honestly I think is still my favorite place I've been to yet in Europe), we jumped right back into school and a week later... bum bum bum... the dreaded midterm exams. I was lucky enough to have three exams in one day (sarcasm)- Spanish, International Marketing, Sociology. My Phonetics exam was the day right after. Go figure.

Let me tell you a little about my classes.

Spanish is just a language course. It's really not much different in content or workload than my Spanish class back at school in Milwaukee last spring. It's challenging in that it is improving what I already know of the Spanish language. I think I'm at a point where I know all the grammar and the rules, and now I just have to practica practica practica... I love my profesora for this class a lot though. Her name is Ana and she's super sweet. You can tell she really loves teaching, and she loves learning from us too, which I think is the sign of a good teacher! Yesterday in class we taught her the word "tomboy," which she thought was really weird cause it's used to describe a girl. The other day we discovered that the English phrase "get off your high horse" is also a phrase in Spanish- "apearse del burro." It ALMOST translates literally... "to alight the donkey" is only a little different, haha.

International Marketing is my only class that is taught in English. I thought it was going to be kind of boring, and perhaps challenging, since I've never taken a business or a marketing course, but I really enjoy it. A lot. I think my best grade is in this class right now... I aced the midterm! Score! The professor is funny and sarcastic, and he does a good job of actually teaching us so we learn it, not so we just regurgitate all the information. What a gross word... regurgitate.

Sociology is not super fun. The professor is nice, but uses big vocab words that a lot of us don't know (keep in mind they're all in Spanish!) and he often interrupts us to correct our grammar when we are discussing topics. I mean, I like being corrected, but not in the middle of every single sentence! Frustrating. One nice thing about this class is that we don't have exams... just papers. That's nice for me, cause I'm definitely a better writer than I am test-taker. Papers take a long time when writing in Spanish though, so I always have to give myself double the time that I think I'll need! For our final we're going to have to write an 8-10 page paper... yikes. We'll see how that one goes.

Spanish Phonetics is my favorite class I think! I like learning about the sounds of the Spanish language and how to write them phonetically. It's like a puzzle. It kind of makes me want to study linguistics or something... gah, there is so much I want to study!

Well, I passed all my midterms, and life continued on as normal. I traveled to Barcelona (March 10-13) with two great friends, Kristen and Allison, and we had so much fun! I really loved Barcelona a lot. Our first day there was nice and sunny- we walked to this huge market with TONS of fresh fruits and vegetables and all-natural juices (I tried raspberry-pineapple... talk about a fiesta in my mouth) and lots of gross-looking fresh meats too. I love markets! It reminded me of Africa except less smelly and way more expensive.


After that we walked to La Sagrada Familia, this huge cathedral that has been being built (don't know if that's proper grammar... don't care) for over 100 years now! And counting! Ok, so honestly, I'm not really the type of person to be in awe of crazy ornate architectural styles, nor do I really care to see famous buildings. I just think it's all kind of boring (I know, I wonder why I'm in Europe sometimes too). But let me tell you... La Sagrada Familia blew me away! Jaw gaping, eyes wide, camera snapping... I was your typical tourist at this place. It looks like a freaking sand castle!


So cool. Anyways, enough about the outside... then we went INSIDE and it was just as cool. Every tiny little thing has meaning, from the design of the pillars to the colors of the stained glass to the spiral staircases to... you name it.


The pictures just don't capture how striking this place is. You'll just have to take my word for it, or visit it yourself or something.

Moving on. Also in Barcelona we went to this little Tex-Mex restaurant and met the NICEST family of Bolivians that owns it. And we got one-Euro-tacos, yum. And they told us that we speak Spanish really well! I was like "Well that's the first time I've heard that since I've been in Spain!" And they told me that's because Sevillanos don't speak proper Spanish. Ha. It's true, Sevillanos DO have a really strange way of speaking (oh oh oh, but I'm learning all about it in my Phonetics class)!

That night, we went to this fountain in Barcelona that is famous because it lights up and blasts music at night. We expected it to just be one of those tourist things you have to see, but that it wouldn't really be anything overly special. WELL let me tell you, it was like... my favorite thing about Barcelona! Not even joking! Not only did it light up, but it changed colors and was synced with the music! It was like a fireworks show on steroids... And not only did it blast music... it blasted DISNEY TUNES (among other great hits of the 80s and 90s, of course). Needless to say, we sang along, we danced, we laughed, we cried... it was all very touching and so much greater than I ever imagined.

Well, the fountain is yet another thing that just is not as epic in the photo as it was in real life...

Other things we did in Barcelona... touched the Mediterranean Sea, got soaking wet in the rain, visited a chocolate museum which wasn't that cool but the ticket to get in was a chocolate bar, so that made it cool, found the huge mammoth statue in this one park (it was a personal mission of mine to find that statue- don't judge), ate falafel (yay for not eating bland Spanish food!), and slept in a sweet hostel with FREE breakfast. Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Ok I realize this is getting really long so I hope you're not bored. Cause I'm going to keep going, so I guess you have two choices at this point. I suggest you keep reading, but I'm biased, obviously, so it's not really a fair opinion on the subject.

The next week was a good one, despite school. We started reading a novel in my Spanish class, which I really enjoy, even though it takes me forever to get through a chapter. The sun came out and the days started getting significantly warmer... which led up to a great weekend of fun in the sun!

So much thanks to my friend Joey, I became friends with a Spanish guy named Pablo. Joey, Libby, Pablo and I were talking one night about American breakfasts and how great they are, and we learned that Pablo had never had an American breakfast! He had only ever had the LAME Spanish breakfast of TOAST ONLY. Well we weren't about to let that fly. So a couple days after this conversation, the four of us made a hearty American breakfast at Pablo's house! It's not common for Spaniards to have people over to their houses, and honestly I just really miss hanging out at people's houses or inviting them to mine. So being at Pablo's was superguay (that means super cool if you're speaking Spanish like the hip kids do).


Here we are (left to right: Libby, Pablo, Joey, Me) in Pablo's awesome yellow living room, ready to eat. The awkward 10-second timer picture was necessary in order to document this momentous day. We made french toast, but we couldn't find syrup, so we topped it with peanut butter and honey (Pablo also hadn't tried peanut butter... what is wrong with Spain?!) and it was DELICIOUS. I ate four pieces. Once again, don't judge. We also made sausages (obviously I didn't eat those things) and a fruit salad to mix with delicious vanilla yogurt. OH and we had mango-carrot-orange juice! Delicious and nutritious. I ate so much that I was full all day. Typical.

After that grand feast, the four of us went to visit the Alcazar, this famous palace and garden in the middle of downtown Seville. There were real live peacocks walking around, not joking! Cool stuff. Then we went to a park and met some other people (some Americans and one other Spaniard) to play ultimate frisbee, which I loved before, but I'm growing to love even more since being here.

When I got home that night and started speaking to my roommate in English, I realized that I had just been speaking in Spanish ALL DAY! I mean it's not like it was subconscious or anything cool like that, and obviously there were a lot of things I wanted to say throughout the day that I couldn't, but let me tell you, it was a proud moment when I realized that that had just happened.

THEN, last weekend (March 25-26) I went to Granada with Allison, Kristen, Kristen's mom (who was in town!), Molly, Kaitlyn, and Sara. We had a blast! We saw the Alhambra which is like... what all tourists who come to Spain want to see, and it was beautiful. We stayed in a funky hostel and met some really nice people (shout out to Amy from New Zealand). I continuously looked up into the Sierra Nevada and was taken aback by the beauty of the mountains and the hilly city of Granada. We hiked up a little ways to see the caves that are so famous. It was a quick trip, but very fun, especially with the friends I traveled with!

Okay folks, I think that just about covers it! Brownie points if you stuck around this long. In just a couple weeks is Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It's a big deal in Spain, and we get school off. I'm taking this opportunity to go to Romania to work with some family friends in an orphanage and hopefully also a womens shelter... I can't wait! I honestly think it'll be the highlight of my semester. After that, we have another week of school, then ANOTHER week off (Feria de Abril... another big fiesta week in Spain) and then just one more school week before finals. It's going to come so fast!

Well anyways thanks for reading, I love you all! Maybe I'll post again soon... but you know me and my blogging reputation as of late...