Carnaval

Carnaval this weekend in Málaga was a lot of fun. People dress up in Halloween costumes and sing on the streets. We went out on Friday and Saturday night, even in the rain.
On Sunday I was walking along the beach and a guy came up to me, and started talking. He told me about how he went to Cádiz this weekend and how he met other girls from the US there. I stupidly asked him what he dress up as, so he proceeded to say "super-hombre." He pulled up his shirt to show me the big S on his shirt and then before I knew it he said, "look," pulled down his pants revealing his pretty red speedo and tights. I was like ok, thats nice and kept on walking, but he wanted me to come sit down and talk with him. Ha, ha, yeah right. Eventually he went away when he realized I was more interested in the seashells crunching under our feet than him.
Holly and I also have a stalker that keeps on calling us, wanting to hang out, but I tell him that I don´t want to leave the house. No fear, I´m safe, but I never cease to meet interesting people. And. my intercambio called me back, so I guess I didn´t offend him too much, and we are going to hang out again tonight.

Let me leave you with a quote from Melissa while eating chicken, "Mmmmmmm, it tastes like Grandma!"

Time, time

I have no time. I want to continue blogging here of course. I want travel like mad. I want become fluent in Spanish. I want to hang out with friends every day. I want to do so many things but only all at the same time. I swear, the Spainards never sleep. The siesta is lie, because it is only for an hour, but then they stay up all night. How can they function in real jobs? It befoggles me.

I met with an intercambio on Wednesday, and he is very nice and guapo ha ha. We started talking about politics which I could forsee as a bad subject. Yeah, yeah, everyone hates Bush, everyone hates America, I know that already. Please don´t ask for my opinion, because I don´t want to give it. And then I ended the night by offending him. We shared a taxi home but my stop was first and he said ¨no te preocupes¨ which I took to mean, I´ll pay for it, but then as I was walking to my apartment, I thought...hmmmm, maybe that´s not what he meant. I´m going to throw money at him the next time we meet, just to make sure it was. Sometimes I feel like the biggest moron. I don´t know the customs, and I probably say and do stupid things all the time without even realizing it. Somehow I told Francis (my intercambio) the equvilent of you are lazy, but at least he found it funny.
I never have trouble making a fool of myself in the US, so just imagine the damage I can do in another country. The only difference is that here, I can´t laugh about it, because I don´t know that I´m doing something moronic.

Cadiz

Looking for flights online is a very stressful task. I want to rip my hair out about right now. eDreams looks like it is going to be the best bet to fly within Spain.

The other day we ate food that once again broke the disgusting barrier. Yes, this time it was the cartilage of a sting-ray. The bones went crunch crunch in my teeth. Shudder. I don´t even like seafood to start out with. What nutritional value is there in the freaking cartilage of a sting-ray???? None, all that remains is the horrible horrible texture in my mouth.

This weekend we went to Cadiz for Carnaval. We had fun. The bus ride was 5 hours long. I must say. It was a pretty crazy weekend. We stayed in a hostel that may have met the gross barrier, but that's ok, we didn't spend much time in there. We met people from all over Spain. Got to go fast. bye.

Tasty

A couple days ago for lunch I had the worst experience with food ever. They served us an entire plate of peas and big long things. I took a bite and almost died. It was octopus. I was determined to pretend like I liked it, and eat the whole thing, but after two more bites the gag reflex just about choked me to death. When I think about trying to eat it, it makes me want to cry. I had to tell them that I couldn´t eat it, and they seemed so sad, almost angry, that I didn´t like their food. Kourtney didn´t like it either though, so at least I wasn´t alone. Oh, the thought, the taste. The peas even were soaked in the fishy, octupusy taste.

Oh yeah, Kortney is my roommate, but not really. I was lucky enough to get an individual room, all the more better though, due to all the crap I brought. I´ve already bought 3 pairs of shoes and 2 are boots. I´m afraid the STUFF is going to pile up so much so that I won´t know how to get it all back to the states.

I shall leave with this thought. MMMM, mázapan and churros con chocolate are heaven. Orangy cakes with creme inside and fried lumps of dough dipped in melted chocolate.

A Spanish Suit

My brother-in-law sent me an email requesting this suit for him from Spain. I have searched far and wide, but they just don´t sell them to Americans. Of course, spanish men wear them to work everyday, and this is not a lie.

The guy in the picture however. That is who I am going to bring home to meet my parents. What do you think?

Valentines Day

I live with the two sweetest Spanairds, Maria and Paco. They cook me sooooo much food that it isn´t even funny. One night we had a mountain of artichoke hearts. That I could have done without. I´m actually quite good at a smiling and monotonously bringing the fork to the mouth followed by a swig of water, which is then followed by the fork to the plate and back to the mouth again. Every now and then I throw in a mmmmm, bien, when I of course I mean, mmmm, bien, I am almost done.

Today in the most ultimate worst day for single people in the world (Dia de San Valentín) I am not so depressed. I AM in Spain, and there are hot Spanish guys everywhere just waiting for me to meet them. wink. Plus a guy from our program bought all of the girls a flower. Awww, how sweet.

Ronda

Ronda was pretty. Went there this weekend. On a mountain. Me like sentence fragments.

Ronda is another of those cliff towns, that look like they could take a tumble anyday. The Arab Baths we visited were sooo cool. The Arabs were freaking geniuses. I would so want to go to a hot room, cold room, massage room, pool room, etc. if I lived back then. Heck, I want my own bath house now. I´d invite all my friends and we could have a bath house party!

I've noticed a trend that a lot of southern Spanish cities build their homes on the edge of a cliff. Come on guys. Who really thought that was a good idea?? This is my room mate Kourtney and me. I dressed for a winter storm, but then it was deadly hot on the bus ride there and I though I would die of heat.

Toledo

We spent two days in Toledo touring all the "stuff" there. It was really fairytale-like with the all ancient history around us. We saw the famous Greco in a cathedral that I don´t remember the name of. We toured a monastary, a synagogue (I think), a cathedral, and a castle, all quite beautiful. The city basically rests on a edge of a cliff and it is so awesome to see. I bought a dagger in a local shop although I really wanted a sword but feared it may not fare well in my suitcase at the airport. We went shopping in the local tiendas and I tried callos. Let me tell you, never order callos de madrileños. As I found out later it was a steaming bowl of the lining of a cow`s stomach. We took pictures of the hair...or whatever it was... floating in my food. Hmmmm. yeah.

Malaga

Ok, finally to malaga. I love it. I still can´t believe that I really live here. My apartment is (in walking distances) 45 minutes from the beach, 5 minutes from the university, and 25 from the center of city.

My host family are the sweetest people in the world. They make me feel so at home.

The beach here is great and the temperature is very comfortable.


The spanish schedule was built with me in mind. Lunch at 2 and supper at 9, and the best part? the siesta in the middle of the day! I love it, it is just unreal.

My spanish is coming along. I´m not fluent yet by any means but at least I can understand general concepts that people are talking about.

El Escorial

I have sooo much to say, and I don´t get on a computer very often, so you´ll have to settle with less. El Escorial we did a lot of touring of the cathedral and mosque and of all old stuff there. Very pretty, but man snow is cold, I don´t like snow. I´m glad that it´s not snowing in Málaga.

Madrid

¡Hola de Màlaga! I am finally here. No fear, I am alive.

Let´s break this down into more than one day, starting with some things from Madrid.
Museo del Prado with Goya, Greco, and Velasquez paintings
Museo de Reina Sofia with Guernico by Picasso

Palacio Real with lots of pretty golden things, very nice. Although all the tours were in Spanish, I understood a good bit. ...more later