Question

Today, I tripped trying to walk up the down escalator.

Can this be blamed on the language barrier?

So...

Well, as you can probably tell, that last post wasn't on time. I'm tech challenged and didn't realize that it didn't go through... Oops. I have only one week left, so I probably won't spend too much time blogging from now on. But I'll try my best to keep it updated.

A warning before I start... this weekend I read Bridget Jones's Diary. I will attempt to refrain from using words like posh, writing v. instead of very, and writing everysentence without using I. After reading it, felt like everthing wrote needed to be v. posh. Can't believe just wrote that. Will erase later.

So now on to this weekend. Most of my weekend was spent on the bus. But the parts that weren't were AMAZING. I went to Sevillla and Granada. AKA the real Spain. It was gorgeous. Sevilla is probably my favorite city. Even though it was beautiful, it was tiring. I was worn out every day from walking and seeing everything. Goodness. Luckily I had an air conditioned hotel room. PTL for air conditioning. I feel like I can't really describe what all we saw. You'll just have to wait for the pictures. No lie, they speak for themselves.

Obviously the really exciting thing that happened this weekend was the World Cup. It was madness. At first, I wasn't sure I would be back in time and was kind of freaking out. Thankfully I got to my house the exact minute the game started and miraculously found Christine even though my phone wouldn't work. Miracles happen! Christine and I ended up doing our ritual of eating Chinese food and sitting on a bench with these two men outside of a TV shop. Okay, writing it down makes it sound super lame, but it was so much fun.

The people in Spain are all going crazy right now. It's INSANE. Last night, there were thousands of people all out on the streets blowing horns, playing music, dancing, pouring beer on themselves, and crying. You'll have to see the pictures of that too. All of the men wanted Christine and I to take pictures of them and everyone was just so happy. It was such an amazing experience to be able to be here when they won their first World Cup. Ah!

So overall, v. good weekend. So much left to do in one week. But am excited to come home in one week. Yee! See you all soon!

XOXO

I´m back from outer space.

Hello again old friends!



Well, I know it´s been awhile since I updated, but time is going by so quickly here! (And there´s no air conditioning at the place with free internet...) So this one will be quick.



So I´m back from England and have to say that I really missed Spain. I did some exciting things like walking to Blackpool and being locked in a old jail cell (check off the bucket list) and watching Spain kick butt at the world cup. Mostly though, I just relaxed. Where we stayed, there was a beach five minutes walk away. It was wonderful just to sit, read, and relax.



Now that I am back in Spain, I realize there were a few things I really missed:



Walking everywhere. I feel like I gained ten pounds from not walking everywhere. I´m out of shape now. Supplies!



Being called gringa. Don´t judge. It´s niced to be noticed, even if it´s for your ridiculously pale skin.



Speaking spanish. Even though it was nice to speak English, it felt nice to be back where I had to speak it.



My house mom. Oh my word. I missed her. And she missed me!! BFFs. For real.



Food. Even though we had some stellar food in England like real Fish and Chips (another check off the list) I miss my nightly pudding. It´s chocolate and delicious.





Well, there´s one more small thing that happened since I got back... Spain is in the finals for the World Cup!! I watched the game in the main plaza, and it was MADNESS. People were screaming and dancing and freaking out. There were also a couple hundred people right outside my window shooting off fireworks until the middle of the night. No lie. If Spain wins, I won´t be able to sleep the rest of the time I´m here. Yay!



That´s about it. I´m going to Andalucia this weekend to Sevilla and Granada. I´m really really excited because everyone has said it´s their favorite place. So I´m sure there will be a lot to catch up on.



¡Nos vemos!

Las Piernas

Oh, hello!

Well, as promised I´m writing one more post before I head on my vacation from my vacation. Here´s what´s happened lately...

Guess who finished their first book in Spanish?!? A girl in my class did... I still have 70 pages to go. But it´s progress! I read it in public the other day and felt a strange combination of expanding knowledge and being a kid. Interesting...

So the title of this post actually has a meaning! (Don´t get too used to it. I´m not very creative.) Here´s the story: The other day I was walking home in the afternoon and I walked past a couple of kids who were probably 14 or 15. Out of nowhere they started yelling at me. Of course, I thought that they were trying steal my money or something so I started walking faster and was holding my alarm.But then I actually heard what they were saying: ¨¡mira las piernas! ¡las piernas! ¡qué larga!¨ This roughly translates to: ¨look at the legs! the legs! so long!¨ Since I was taller than all of them, I didn´t know whether to take it as a complement or feel like Godzilla. I´ll take the complement.

Another funny thing that happened to me last week involved my ¨favorite¨ thing: dogs!! Before PETA calls, I´ll explain myself a little. I don´t hate dogs. I love my dog. Because he is small. And cannot eat me. Big dogs are kind of terrifying. But I digress... I was shopping for my brother´s present at some souvenier shops when I stopped inside one with a rather large dog. As soon as he saw me he started going crazy. While the owner was holding the dog back, she said, ¨It´s okay, he hates gringas¨ (aka white people, aka me). Since my strength is minimal, I decided to let Kujo guard his turf and went far away from that store.

I´m not going to lie. Since I finished my last final, school has been dragging. All I can think about is going to England and probably meeting Robert Pattinson. Miracles happen.

This weekend, Christine and I went shopping at the rostro, which is basically a huge outdoor market where you can buy all sorts of things. I was expecting them to be handmade things that were super fly. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It was kind of like a huge garage sale of stuff you could probably buy cheaper in the US. Oh well. That night, though, I stumbled upon some gitanos (gypsies) selling stellar handmade jewelry. I bought more than I should. But I´m in Spain. I just can´t help myself.

AH! I can´t believe I almost forgot what was probably the most fun this weekend. On Friday Spain played against Chile in the Mundial. Since there were TV´s set up all around the Plaza Mayor, Christine and I thought it would be fun to have a sort of picnic during the game. (By the way, you should google a picture of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. It´s beautiful.) Anyway, we bought some Chinese food and watched the game with a couple hundred other people. It was so crazy but amazing! Everyone was cheering and screaming. I was really glad that Spain won, but the people here were almost immediately all drunk. They honked the horns on their cars for about three hours after the game.

I was finally able to watch a few movies at my house this weekend. I watched Big Fish (which still makes me cry every time) and Pride and Prejudice. My house mom and I fought over who was better looking, Darcy or Bingley. She likes Bingley even though he´s such a gringo. Psh.

Well, that´s all for today. Please keep me and Christine in your prayers as we fly out tomorrow. I´ll try my best to update from England if time allows. If I can´t, I´ll be back on July 5 (¡mi cumpleaños!). ¡Adios!

Exams

¡Hola!

Well, this week is exams week. WOO! The best part is that I´m almost done. One more test to go. (I´ve been repeating this today in my attempts to actually study). I don´t have a ton of time to write today, but I know my mom is anxiously awaiting another post. So, this one´s for you mom!

First, I have some very exciting news. I´M GOING TO ENGLAND! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I WANT TO WRITE THIS ENTIRE ENTRY IN ALL CAPS!! But I´ll spare you. So here´s the story: My friend Christine has an aunt that lives in Blackpool (which is really close to Liverpool. LIVERPOOL!). She didn´t really want to travel alone, so I graciously volunteered to be her bodyguard. We leave this coming Tuesday and will stay until Sunday. I´ll hopefully be able to update when I get there.

Since I don´t have much time, I thought I could give you guys a run down of what my everyday life in Spain looks like...

7:45 I try to wake up, and stumble to the VERY cold bathroom to get ready.

8:15 I eat breakfast. They´re not too fond of breakfast here, so it´s always just toast and a muffin. The muffins here are SO GOOD. Ñam ñam.

8:40 I finish reading my Bible and walk the 15 minutes to school with Angela. Almost everything is still closed here at that time. Only a few restaurants are open.

9:00 I start my 5 hour school day. It´s really not that bad because my classes are fun. The only bad part is that I am constantly hungry. I´ve also learned that my stomach growls louder than everyone elses. I think I should be embarrassed, but at that point I´m too hungry to care.

2:30 I get back home and eat whatever I asked for that morning. My favorite is patatas y huevos fritos con jamon (potatoes, a fried egg, and ham). I think I´ve had it twice a week since I´ve been here. During lunch we always watch Corazon, which is entertainment news.

3:30 I take a siesta. One of my favorite parts of the day. I miss Kindergarten.

5:00 I wander outside and find something entertaining to do with my friends. Most of the time it involves ice cream.

9:00 I come back for dinner and watch Desperate Housewives. We´ve been eating a lot of frozen pizza lately. I don´t mind. The best part, though, is the chocolate pudding. Since I´m the only girl left in the house I get one every night. ¡Fiesta!

10:00 I shower (not daily, but more than once a week) and do my homework. Then I usually read some more Harry, pray, and sleep.

2:00 I usually am woken up by someone chanting something about Spain or futbol or about a pretty lady.


Unfortunately, I´m out of time. I´m sure I´ll post at least once more before I leave for England. Until then, peace.

Already?

Hello!

Well, it seems like it´s been a really really long time since I last updated, even though it´s only been two days. Since then I´ve been able to do a few fun things to just relax and enjoy my time here.

So I started reading Harry in spanish. SUPER FLY. I know it´s a kid´s book, but I feel so smart when I read it. And I´m learning really useful vocabulary like owl and wand. Look out!

Sunday Christine and I tried to find this evangelical church that´s supposedly in Salamanca. After walking thirty minutes and looking for thirty more, we found it. Apparently, not all churches have services on Sunday morning. This one started at 7:30 at night! Well, since it was 11:00 in the morning, we decided to pass and went to a Catholic mass instead. It was my first Catholic service to go to, and it was totally different that what I´m used to. First off, it was almost all old people. (My culture teacher told me that since Franco died, people don´t even pretend to be true Catholics anymore.) Also, there was a group of hippies playing right outside the church door. So while they were taking communion, everyone could hear them playing the jazz flute. The service was pretty short, and I didn´t understand much of it because the priest was old. There was, however, one thing that he said that kind of shocked me. He said that we all serve the same God, no matter what denomination, so we should all just get along. Deep.

Since I´ve come to Spain, almost every person who knows English speaks it to me. They don´t even try Spanish most of the time. I wondered why for a while, but now I realize: I´m the physical opposite of everyone here. I´m tall, pale, and I wear Chacos. To them, I´m practically an albino dwarf with a flashing neon sign on its head. Oh well. Life goes on.

Today in class we learned how to say All You Need is Love in spanish. BOOM.

So probably the best part of my weekend was going to see a movie. The movie theater here is actually in the train station, but it is SO much better than either in Hot Springs. I know you´re shocked. Anyway, since there are basically NO spainsh movies made (and if they are, they´re terrible), I decided to see The Prince of Persia. It was... so cool. I understood most of the dialogue and seeing Jake Gyllenhaal was like being in the US for a few hours. If only my sister had been there to scream at the screen, all would have been well.

That´s about it! Please keep me in your prayers as I have finals this week. I´m getting close to halfway through my trip and it´s bittersweet for sure.

TTYL! LYLAS!

Laundry...

So today Im finally doing laundry. I survived over two weeks, and I honestly feel like thats an accomplishment. So I have a little bit of time to talk more about these last couple of days! Woo! *also, sorry if I repeat anything that Ive already talked about. I forget sometimes. Yes, I too, am flawed.

One thing Ive been meaning to talk about is the art festival in Salamanca. The last two weeks there were concerts, street performances, and all sorts of things. What none of realized though is that there was kind of undercover art. One of the coolest things that I didnt realize was art was something I passed by every day. I go to school in the really old part of town, so everything is pretty antique. The only thing that wasnt was basically a huge section of one of the plazas that said there was construction going on for a brand new hotel. Honestly, I never thought anything of it, but some people in the town were really upset that they would mess up the antiquity of the city. As it turns out, it was all for the art festival. Theyre not actually building a hotel but just wanted people to appreciate the beauty of the old city. I think its a stellar idea.

Well, as most of you know, I LOVE to read. My dream is to live in a library. Well, I never really thought that I would be reading that much here, but since I dont party at night, thats what I do. When I got to Salamanca I was almost done with the books I brought so I bought another. Books in english are kind of pricey here and there are no second hand bookstores. SO I had a fabulous idea. I bought two books today. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in english, and Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofal. BOOM. I know, I know, these ideas just come to me. Its a gift, really. I figured this would be a good way to read for fun AND to read to learn spanish better. Plus, the spanish Harry was like 7 euros. What what!

Im growing more and more appreciative for everything that I have back home. Family, friends, food. Everything, really. But Ive realized that I needed to come to Spain and be away from basically everything familiar to really be introspective. Having truly alone time with no TV, music, friends, or chores has made me really face myself for the first time in awhile. I have to say though that I am grateful for the path God has put me on. So many people my age here have no sense of or desire for a purpose. I cannot imagine living my life any other way.

And now for something a little less serious. I have been thinking about a special someone a lot these days. Yes. Its true. His name is David Bisbal. I cant help but laugh while I write this because I have NO IDEA why I like him. Usually, I really dont like that much popular music. But I have been into several CD stores looking for his CD. Secretly, of course.

This is something else that Ive been meaning to write for a while. Spaniards cannot pronounce my name. Its really awful. But also amusing. They say it like LAOWREEN. Ive also been called gringo a lot here. They must think I dont know Im white. I do forget sometimes...

Well, friends, thats all for today. Hasta luego!

ESPAÑA ESPAÑA ESPAÑA!

Long time, no see!

A lot has happened since I last posted so I might have to make this one two parts. Don´t pretend like you´re not excited.

First, I just have to say that my house mom and I are pratically best friends now. Seriously, we´re like half of the Golden Girls. (She´s Sophia and I´m clearly Rose if you´re wondering...) We´ve been arguing playfully over a game show, and she teases me a lot. I seriously have more fun with her than most of my day. Today her daughter came for lunch and she was teasing me about not eating very much. Then she gave me a HUG and a KISS on the head. I thought I would cry because I was so excited. If it was up to me, everyone in the world would have an old lady for a best friend. They´re the best.

Well, other than that I´ve just been travelling a lot. I saw the aqueduct of Segovia (which is kind of a big deal here even though it´s just an aqueduct) and Caceres. It was beautiful, but the best thing that we saw was the castle that they based the Beauty and the Beast castle off of. As my sister knows, lately I´ve had this obsession with Beauty and the Beast. So I was super excited.

I´m getting very tired of traveling right now. Mainly just the buses. Yuck. So this weekend I´m staying in Salamanca. I have to get ready for my finals next week anyway. I had my first test today, and it was fairly easy. Praise the Lord.

So as everyone probably knows, the World Cup has started. I don´t think Americans realize how seriously European people take the World Cup. It is MADNESS here. People are always dressed up, the pubs are packed, and a drunk man is always yelling ESPAÑA ESPAÑA ESPAÑA! I´m telling you, it´s crazy.

One thing that I´ve been meanin to write about but always forget is the hairstyles here. I have seen more mullets here than in Arkansas. And that´s saying something. The cool thing for the vagabonds is to shave their head and have three (always three) dreadlocks in the back. I know, it doesn´t make sense to me either.

Another funny thing is that half of the celebrities here are American. It´s so weird. They talk about Angelina Jolie, Kesha, and Miley Cyrus all the time. They did a big story on Taylor Swift today. But one of the best things to hear is the Spanish girls sing songs in english. They mispronounce all the words, and it´s super precious.

Good news. My house mom and I have been very upset because Desperate Housewives hasn´t been on for days because of this huge music festival in Madrid. But tonight, it´s back!! Don´t judge me. They left it on a cliffhanger.

Hopefully I´ll be able to upload some pictures soon. I have to do laundry in the next day or so, so I should have time. Until then, ¡adios!

I am already running out of titles

¿Qué tal?

I didn´t plan on writing again so soon, so there is not too much to report. But I will anyway.

First, the keyboard that im using right now isnt exactly cooperating. Thats why there are no apostrophes (that is the first time ive ever spelled that word. But I looked it up. Im right. Yay!)

Also, as you can see by everything I just wrote, Im a little bored. Its been raining for two days in Salamanca so pretty much everything is shut down. Boo. And since my house mom wont let me watch her daughters dvds... i really dont have much to do. But thats okay with me. I have a large book and plenty of time to relax.

Well, the funniest thing that has happened since I last posted actually happened in the middle of the afternoon. Please keep in mind that this was probably around 6 and there were children around. So heres what happened: This week has been the international arts festival for Salamanca, so there are tons of exibits and things to see around town all the time. So my friend Christine and I were walking around the Plaza Mayor (which is the main area of the town) and there were these glass boxes everywhere. Some of them had people in them doing strange things (such as eating marshmellows... really? that´s entertainment?) and disturbing things (like a woman faking a suicide that was graphic). But the best one was for last. There was a completely naked man in one of glass boxes with only a cereal box to conceal himself. The crazy thing is that there were tons of people standing around taking pictures! I was ready to pluck my eyes out, but everyone else found it entertaining. Which brings me to my next point...

Spaniards are just plain weird. The TV, the concerts, the people. Just weird. Maybe Im not cultured enough. But I doubt it.

Not that much has happened really... I met a few people from school that I like, and my classes are still pretty easy. Apparently in most of Spains schools, they have finals but then still have to go to class... So not next week, but the next, I have finals all week but still have to attend every class. It´s strange, but thats alright I suppose.

Also, I have a new Spanish crush: David Bisbal.

ALSO ALSO, I found out something really exciting and useful for me. In Spain, NOM NOM NOM is translated to ÑAM ÑAM ÑAM. hahahaha! Education is really important, people. Imagine if I had not studied abroad... I would never know of ñam ñam ñam...

Thanks for all the comments everyone! I love hearing from all of you. I cant wait to see you all when I get back to the states! Love love love!

woo!

Hello again friends!

Well it hasn´t been that long since I last posted, but I feel like everything has changed for the better. I´m getting used to Salamanca and can actually find my way to the main square! Miracles do happen, people. Anyway, here´s a few more things that have happened so far...

First, I have to say that the keyboards here drive me crazy. They have extra letters and extra punctuations and it can be very confusing and frustrating. But I digress...

So Friday was a really nice day. I went to school, almost fell asleep, and was extremely hungry all afternoon. This is kind of my everyday in America, so no big. That afternoon though, was great. I was able to enjoy some of the scenery of Salamanca and hang out with some new friends by a ¨river¨. It was basically a creek. But still much need relaxation.

That night I went to bed early (yes, on a Friday night. My host mom was disapointed). I didn´t sleep long though because there was some sort of parade literally outside of my window. They were playing Poker Face at like 2 in the morning. I was not terribly pleased. It did however remind me of all the American music played here. I hear songs from the US at LEAST 4 or 5 times a day. It´s crazy! The thing is though, while there is some that´s current, a lot is from the 90´s or the early 2000´s. It´s like listening to WOW ´98 on repeat. But I don´t mind. I just want more Enrique. Or Ricky. My host mom and I share a love for Ricky Martin... I wish I was kidding.

Yesterday I went to Toledo, Spain. It was amazingly beautful. Once I figure out how to upload pictures I will because this place will take your breath away. I saw a few churches, a synagogue, and the world´s smallest museum (at least I think so). The museum had two paintings by El Greco. If you don´t know who that is, he´s pretty much the bee´s knees over in Spain. This is what the museum consisted of: the two paintings (which were stellar), enough room for about 30 people, and a man with a suit shushing everyone if they talked. It was cool, but strange.

Toledo was great, but pretty much everywhere we walked was uphill. As you know, I am not so much a fan of working out. So it was rough. Other than that, the whole trip was really fun. There was a festival going on while we were in the city, so it was super crowded. I have learned to appreciate how spacious America is.

I went on this trip with about 40 other people from the University. And I actually met a woman from Little Rock! It was nice to hear a southern accent again. I was able to talk to her about the Lord and had an amazing time visiting with her.

Well folks, that´s about all the time I have today. I love you and miss you all. Keep me in your prayers and I´ll keep you in mine. Adios!

FINALLY!

Alright, I´m back everyone! (or the two people who probably read this) So much has happened since I´ve been in Spain. It´s such an amazing experience! Other than the random homesickness, I´ve had an incredible time. The computer lab is on the other side of town, so I don´t know how often I´ll be able to post. But I´ll try to at least twice a week. So here´s just a brief look at some of the things that happened so far...

The trip was the LONGEST OF MY LIFE. Somewhat fun, but looooong. I ended up traveling for about a day with only two hours of rocky speech on the plane. ¡AY!

Once we got to Madrid, Angela and I had to take the Metro to get to the train station. We went the wrong way and ended up spending over an hour on what should have taken like ten minutes. But we got to see the beautiful tunnels of Madrid! Twice!

After meeting some pretty swell Americans on the train, I moved in with my host. She´s an older woman who is very nice but also very set in her own ways. There´s also another student from Japan living there. Also, my host is a really great cook. Everyone has been complaining about the food but I´m loving it. Apparently, I don´t eat very much (like spaniards) and drink too much water.

The first day of class was today, and I really enjoyed it. I´m already understanding so much more. And the classes are kind fun. (Kind of = I did not enjoy Spanish art. yuck.) But after five hours of classes I was ready to NAP!

Something that I find interesting is that almost all the families here eat in front of the TV. Yesterday we watched Los Mujeres Desperados. Yes, Desperate Housewives. Dubbed in Spanish. At least it was better than the telenovela I watched about this hobo that kept popping up at people´s houses and causing trouble. Clearly, I did not understand it very well.

Another thing that I think is really funny is that there is American music everywhere. My friends and I went to the bank the other day and "Single Ladies" was playing. I guess they don´t understand the meaning. Oh well.

So I keep going back and forth on whether I will lose or gain weight while I´m here. There is so much walking to do, but the pasteles (sweets) are so tempting. I had Ben & Jerry´s the other day (I know, very spanish) and a donut today. NOM NOM.

One of the best things about Spain: Everything shuts down for about two hours for lunch and NAP TIME!! As you can probably tell by the all caps, I love naps.

One of the worst things about Spain (that my parents tried to warn me about): Nothing is very cold. All of the drinks are just a little bit colder than room temperature.

I know I haven´t uploaded pictures yet. But I haven´t taken any. I´m planning on a day soon to go out with my friends and take a bunch of pictures.

This weekend I´m heading to Toledo. I´m really excited to meet more people in the program and explore a little more of Spain. ¡Hasta luego!

You win! I'm actually doing it. Blogging. I swore I wouldn't do it, but I guess I'm easily persuaded.

Well, I can't promise I will be really entertaining, but I'll try not to be an "emo" blogger as Sarah so wisely warned me against.

I guess I can start by explaining my blog title. About a week before I left school, there was a meeting where my teacher told all of us studying abroad a few things to expect. She told us that water is a lot more expensive in European countries so the people there sometimes take showers once a week or so to conserve. I made the mistake of telling someone in my family and literally (yes, I mean literally) almost everyone that knew about my trip asked me about it. I thought it was hilarious that the only idea that they all clung onto was that I wouldn't be showering ever. So there you go.

By the way, I will be showering more than once a week. Hopefully. At the very least I'll take one before I come home so you all don't have to smell me.

At this point there's not really much to say. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and am so excited. Woo! Thanks to everyone who helped me get my stuff together/generously donated/prayed for me (and my mother). I love you all!