un poquito español

Yo siento que está tiempo escribir una entrada en español. Es que estoy estudiando, no? Espero que mi español estaría mejor, pero hablar en una lengua otra de tú primero, es muy difícil, especialmente cuando tienes amigos americanos que hablan inglés. Cada semana que encuentro con amigos españoles y nosotros practicar la otra idioma. Me encanta hablando con ellos, porque tiene opiónes muy interesantes y me dicen cosas sobre sus vidas que están muy differentes de mia. Mis clases están bien. Literatura es mi favorita y ¿quien adivinaría esto? Manaña será examenes, entonces, esta noche dedicará a estudiando. Hasta luego, me voy.

I wish I hadn´t known

So in culture class today we started the gastonomy section. We started talking about morcilla. Do you know what morcilla is? Yeah, I didn´t either. About twice a week at my host family´s house, we get this sausage in our soup. Sausage I can handle. Sure I don´t like the taste but I can smile and get it down my throat. Only morcilla isn´t sausage. I have been eating congealed blood. Yes, blood, curdled, thick, nasty blood wrapped in an intestine or who knows what. That is it. I can eat it no more. It was better when I didn´t know what it was. I feel queasy just thinking about it.

Here´s what wikipedia had to say about morcilla: "Blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled." I´ve been eating this for the 2 months! Everyone said my face turned pale in class when I found out what is was.

I think I need to lie down.

Barcelona

Barcelona was fun. It is a HUGE city. I can´t even begin to tell of all the things we did. We visited Gaudi stuff like the Sagrada Famalia, Parque Guell, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. We went on a boat ride around the port, shopped along Las Ramblas, took one of those cheesy sight seeing buses around the city (that was actually fun), ate in coffee shops, stayed in a hostal, saw two parades with statue that look like the king from the Burger King commercials(a scary sight when they are spinning and about to fall on you), witnessed a Cataluñya independence demonstration, and laughed at a bunch of crazy people dressed up as statues on the street. My favorite on was one that would stick out his cane and hit people on the butt as they passed by, but then went back to standing stone-statue-still so they would turn around and be like, "who did that?" I carried my umbrella along with me everywhere since it was calling for rain, but then felt like an idiot because the skies were as blue as could be. I bought one of the cool España jackets with my mad bargaining skills and hung out in the airport for 7 hours without sleep. We just plain had a fun time.

Sevilla

Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla: the capital of Andalucia. We had soooo much fun. We got there and even though it was raining, the touring was still pretty. We saw the cathedral, climbed to the top of the Giralda, saw the Jewish Quarter, the Jardin Maria Louisa, Plaza de Americas, Rio Guadalquivir and so much more. AND we took a thousand photos in the Plaza de España where George Lucas filmed Planet Naboo in a little movie known as Star Wars. We searched down a StarBucks and ate at a KFC in the spirit of America. I did notice that a lot more English speaking there and more good places to shop. Nevertheless, I am a friend of Málaga first. We stayed at a hotel which was sooo nice, with free little shampoos that is a stupid thing, but it made me happy. Sevilla, fun.

Torremolinos

We went Torremolinos a few weekends ago and had lots of fun. It is known for its beaches and little shops that zig zag down to the playa. Beautiful little city.

Funny story: Melissa and I laid down on the beach in the afternoon during siesta time when nothing was open and fell asleep. Later when we woke up we realized we were laying on a nude beach. Apparently, Europeans are much more open (even in their dirty tv commericals too). So anyway,girls were walking around and tanning half naked. Lets just say, awkward moment.

My faith is restored in Blogger.com

Yay, and the crowd rejoiced! I was all sad and depressed that my blog was gone forever since I´m such a moron. I pushed the word "suprimir" to republish my blog, only to find out that suprimir is the Spanish word for delete.
But...the wonderful blogger staff helped me out. I am back to loving blogger, thanks guys.

Me encanta españa

The weather in Málaga is officially awesome now, the little cold spell we were having is over. The sun is my friend; we like to take long walks on the beach and spend long hours together, oh yes, the Mediterranean sun.

I love Spain. I love the people, I love the lifestyle, and basically, I just love everything.
Everday so many things happen. Everyday I learn so much.
While I like my classes, I think the real learning comes from interacting with other people.
Studying abroad is one of the best decisions that I´ve ever made.

While I am here, I don´t want to be (or don´t think I am) the same person as at home. Here I am much more open minded as you must be when experiencing a new culture. Here I am much more independent. Here I am much more assertive, I guess, than at home. Here I just want to take a few months break from the person I am in the states. It is good to know that the world in open to me. It is good to be aware of currents that happen on a global scale instead of the little bubble that inevitably follows us whereever we go.

Córdoba

How cute. The animation to the left has nothing to do with anything except that it cracked me up. ha ha ha.

This weekend we went to Córdoba. We visited the Mezquita (3rd largest in the world), which is very cool. All the streets outside are so tiny and cute, and there are all the touristy shops along the streets too. At every turn a gypsy would come and say "guapa," some money por favor, in the most pathetic voice you´ve ever heard. Get a job at Burger King, for goodness sakes. They were even carrying around these nice leather purses. Where did they get those?


I´m pretty sick. Last night I had an excruciating ear ache, today I am feeling better though, so things are looking up.

Still laughing at the penguin thing. He he he.

Alcazaba

This week we visited the famous Alcazaba castle that rests on a hill overlooking the city of Málaga. Awww, so nice. And good history too.
Tea. I have discovered tea. It is so good for a sore throat such that I have. My favorite is warm tea con leche (milk). Flavor? Manzanilla con Anis (Whatever Manzanilla is with Licorice) mmmmmm, heaven.

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.