So friday we left Santander for Barcelona and we got in and took a bus into the city. Then we took the metro to Las Ramblas to find our lovely hostel El Centro Ramblas youth hostel. Not going to lie, it was a little scary. Once we spoke with the recepcionist we all had a minor freak out because they told us we reserved Sat and Sunday night, not Fri and Sat as intended-Eileen was on the verge of freaking the fuck out(she booked the hostel) so that was not goodie...but we got everthing figured out. We were pretty hungry (by this time its like midnight) so we went to some pita and schwarma place down the street. Delish.
After that was when the fun started, we got back to the hostel around 3 and decided to sleep, but we were split up room-wise bc of the mix up. Me, Eileen, Rich, and Elizabeth were in one room and Sarah, Emily, and Andrew were in another (along with a whole bunch of random scary ppl).
Needless to say, Elizabeth was woken up to some freaky dude pointing a flashlight at her...she proceeded to jump out of the top bunk and into Eileen's bed quite frightened. FREAK. Im pretty sure i was woken up once every hour this night, once to some texan boys who happened to be butt ass naked and once by some really drunk girls and then i woke up to find a naked dude sleeping in the bunk bed accross from us... lovely. I'm not a hostel fan.
Anyhow, next day we all went to Museu d' Historia de la Ciutat de Barcelona, that was pretty cool...then after that we went to go see the Picasso collection-which was SO amazing. There are so many of his early works there, it was really cool. We then had lunch at a little place that our guide book reccommended-i had gazpacho and a salad with manchego on top :). We then walked around for a while, did some shopping, saw some street performers, some went to the Gaudi museum and others just went back and chilled.
We got gelatto and then went back to our hostel to shower...me and Andrew decided to go bargain-souvenir hunting. We saved approximately 2 euros, but we played hard to get...hahaha.
At 11pm we all went to dinner at a chinese place which was pretty good then directly after we went to a club/discoteca right off Las Ramblas...i dont remember the name. We had a few drinks there and then went to another club where me, Rich, and Sarah stayed for a while. Around 2AM we took a taxi to L'Eixample (the gay district of Barcelona) and went to a gay club (La Arena)...it was really cool and fun. We got back around 5AM and woke up at 9AM the next morning :).
Sunday we basicalyl just had breakfast, went to go see the port and a few other little things nearby, had lunch and then headed to the airport :( ....it was a really fun trip, i loved Barcelona (im sure im leaving out a lot of details but it was def the best).
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
La naranjita y La Bella durmiente
Haven't written a blog post in a while, but Mar made up nicknames for us, I am now known as la naranjita (bc i am always lounging around in a huge orange hoodie that engulfs my entire body) and Sarah's nickname is La bella durmiente (sleeping beauty-because she siesta's like a boss)
Final exam time-no fun...but it shouldnt be too bad.
Sarah, Eileen, Elizabeth, Andrew, Emily, Rich, and I are all going to Barcelona this weekend, which is very exciting. We leave today so I gotta go get packing but I will be sure to update more when I return!
Besos!--Jessie
Final exam time-no fun...but it shouldnt be too bad.
Sarah, Eileen, Elizabeth, Andrew, Emily, Rich, and I are all going to Barcelona this weekend, which is very exciting. We leave today so I gotta go get packing but I will be sure to update more when I return!
Besos!--Jessie
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Rice would be nice... (credit Andrew Kovacs)
Today Sarah and I ate an entire plate of garbanzos with tomato sauce for lunch. As said by Andrew Kovacs, "Some rice would be nice...I've never eaten so many beans in my entire life-i like them though so thats always good news! Today at lunch, we talked with Mar about boys and she informed us how hombres only think with the bottom half of their body (hahahaha).
Yesterday (Saturday)todo el mundo went to Picos de Europa which is a mountain range two hours away frrom Santander, it's still in Cantabria though (our region). We took a bus there and it was unfortunately raining! We took the lift up, and two kids from Tennessee came with us on the day trip. When we got there, the plan was originally to hike down the mountain, however...due to the intense rain, we just wandered around on top of the mountains and played with the snow which was pretty fun (this was Sarah's first time seeing snow btw)!! We had cafe con leche in the cafeteria on the top of the mountain and then went down on the same lift. It was still really cool, but it would have been a lot more fun if we could hiked down :(. On our way back we stopped at a little town in the mountains and saw a church of Santa Maria de Lebena. Once we got back we rested for a while, ate our dinner of Empanadas and went out.
When Sarah and I got ready to go out last it was drizzling outside and Mar was so worried about us going out with our feet exposed. Todo el mundo en Espana has an obsession with carrying jackets and wearing closed toed shoes at the slightest sign of inclement weather. When we walked out of our apartment we ran into the infamous "vecinos" (neighbors) that were astonished at our shoe choice and told us to be careful not to catch a cold with "tacones" like that.
Last night was really fun, we all started off at Molly's drinking our Desperados as usual where I made a friend named Alvaro. We then made our way to La Chupeteria and had a few shots and then went to our fav discoteca- El Divino where we stayed most of the night (a lot of Michigan kids where there too)and I made lots of spanish friends which is always lots of fun :). After El Divino, Rich, Sarah and I went to Disco Dragon, a drag club on Tetuan street. So freaking funny. Good times...we got back around 5am.
Yesterday (Saturday)todo el mundo went to Picos de Europa which is a mountain range two hours away frrom Santander, it's still in Cantabria though (our region). We took a bus there and it was unfortunately raining! We took the lift up, and two kids from Tennessee came with us on the day trip. When we got there, the plan was originally to hike down the mountain, however...due to the intense rain, we just wandered around on top of the mountains and played with the snow which was pretty fun (this was Sarah's first time seeing snow btw)!! We had cafe con leche in the cafeteria on the top of the mountain and then went down on the same lift. It was still really cool, but it would have been a lot more fun if we could hiked down :(. On our way back we stopped at a little town in the mountains and saw a church of Santa Maria de Lebena. Once we got back we rested for a while, ate our dinner of Empanadas and went out.
When Sarah and I got ready to go out last it was drizzling outside and Mar was so worried about us going out with our feet exposed. Todo el mundo en Espana has an obsession with carrying jackets and wearing closed toed shoes at the slightest sign of inclement weather. When we walked out of our apartment we ran into the infamous "vecinos" (neighbors) that were astonished at our shoe choice and told us to be careful not to catch a cold with "tacones" like that.
Last night was really fun, we all started off at Molly's drinking our Desperados as usual where I made a friend named Alvaro. We then made our way to La Chupeteria and had a few shots and then went to our fav discoteca- El Divino where we stayed most of the night (a lot of Michigan kids where there too)and I made lots of spanish friends which is always lots of fun :). After El Divino, Rich, Sarah and I went to Disco Dragon, a drag club on Tetuan street. So freaking funny. Good times...we got back around 5am.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Oh hey Thursday night.
So last night me, Sarah, Rich, Jordan, Emily, Megan, Eric, Evan, Andreas and Jen all went out to celebrate...thursday night? haha We started off by the beach, which ended up being disastrous because of the downpour tsunamii-like rain that engulfed the pensinsula of Santander, but eventually, we made our way to La Chupeteria where Rich and Evan bought numerous rounds of shots (thanks Rich and Evan).
We had various shots of Naranjita, some weird Ice Cream tasting one, Tequila Shot, a grenadine shirley temple shot,two Kahlua tasting shots and a few others. My favorite was definitely the Naranjita because it tasted like a orange starbust!
After La Chupeteria we went over to El Divino (a discoteca)in Plaza Canadio where we met up with our friends from Michagan State and Tennessee. I hung out with a lot of people from the other programs and met a group of people from Barcelona which was cool. It was a lot of fun and it was pretty packed for a thursday night...When we left El Divino around 4AM, I ran into my friend Carlos (who lives in Santander) that I met a couple weeks back. We got home around 4:15 and had to wake up at 8AM which completely sucked. School was kind of torturous, but we siesta'd right after we ate lunch.
We are off to Picos de Europa manana which is a mountain range two hours away. Should have some really awesome views as long as the weather upholds!
We had various shots of Naranjita, some weird Ice Cream tasting one, Tequila Shot, a grenadine shirley temple shot,two Kahlua tasting shots and a few others. My favorite was definitely the Naranjita because it tasted like a orange starbust!
After La Chupeteria we went over to El Divino (a discoteca)in Plaza Canadio where we met up with our friends from Michagan State and Tennessee. I hung out with a lot of people from the other programs and met a group of people from Barcelona which was cool. It was a lot of fun and it was pretty packed for a thursday night...When we left El Divino around 4AM, I ran into my friend Carlos (who lives in Santander) that I met a couple weeks back. We got home around 4:15 and had to wake up at 8AM which completely sucked. School was kind of torturous, but we siesta'd right after we ate lunch.
We are off to Picos de Europa manana which is a mountain range two hours away. Should have some really awesome views as long as the weather upholds!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
La Rana de la Suerte
If you can read spanish...this is my composition-Mar was so proud of me she called her friend from Salamanca to show it off! :)
La rana de la suerte...
Este fin de semana pasado, mis compañeros y yo viajamos a la región de Castilla y León dónde visitamos Burgos y Salamanca. La historia se lleva a cabo en la ciudad de Salamanca, dónde está la Universidad más antigua de España. Eileen, Elizabeth, Chandler y yo estábamos caminando cerca de la Universidad y nos encontramos una tienda pequeñita. Chandler quería un alfiler para su colección y Eileen quería comprar un libro de cocina para su madre. Yo compré una camisa para mi hermano que llevaba el título de la Universidad de Salamanca. Dentro de la tienda, había ranas y otros muchos recuerdos para comprar. Cuando salimos, vimos en la ventana de la tienda una rana. La rana brincó en la calle y comenzó a hablar. ¿Fue un milagro? ¡Las ranas nunca hablan! ¡Pero esto era una rana de la suerte! La rana nos dijo: “Seguidme, voy a la Universidad de Salamanca, y si obedecéis, os concederé dos deseos”. Mis amigas y yo la miramos y la seguimos.
Caminamos diez minutos hasta que la rana nos mandó parar. Las cuatro amigas entramos en un aula de la Universidad. En el aula, había millones de libros y una silla. La rana nos informó de su historia. El estudiante, antes de hacer su examen de doctorado, se quedaba él solo en la clase tratando de resolver todos los problemas. Una vez hecho su examen, si aprobaba, se celebraba con una gran fiesta.
Aquí, en esta clase histórica fue dónde nosotros pedimos nuestro primer deseo. Como estábamos en la Universidad, nuestro deseo tenía que referirse a ella. Con todas mis fuerzas, yo pronuncié mi primer deseo: “Ojala que obtenga un buen trabajo cuando termine la Universidad”. Cada uno de mis compañeros expresó su deseo y la rana solo respondió “vale”.
La siguiente parada fue la Casa de las Conchas, la rana nos habló de su estilo gótico y nos contó su historia. El tesoro de una judía se oculta debajo de una de las trescientas conchas del edificio. En la actualidad, el edificio es una biblioteca pero la rana nos ofreció un deseo con el tema del dinero. Deseé que mi familia y yo jamás pasáramos hambre y siempre tuviéramos suficiente dinero para vivir muy bien.
Salamanca, la ciudad de la suerte, de las ranas que hablan, de los Universitarios. Es obvio que mi experiencia en Salamanca fue un poco diferente de la de mis compañeros. Mis amigos y yo siempre le estaremos agradecidos a la rana. Nos enseñó una lección importante en la vida: “el tiempo es lo más valioso que tenemos y nunca debemos perderlo”.
Estoy estudiando en el magnífico país de España y solo tengo catorce días para disfrutar de mi experiencia aquí. No necesito la suerte, porque la rana me enseñó que los deseos pueden hacerse realidad.
La rana de la suerte...
Este fin de semana pasado, mis compañeros y yo viajamos a la región de Castilla y León dónde visitamos Burgos y Salamanca. La historia se lleva a cabo en la ciudad de Salamanca, dónde está la Universidad más antigua de España. Eileen, Elizabeth, Chandler y yo estábamos caminando cerca de la Universidad y nos encontramos una tienda pequeñita. Chandler quería un alfiler para su colección y Eileen quería comprar un libro de cocina para su madre. Yo compré una camisa para mi hermano que llevaba el título de la Universidad de Salamanca. Dentro de la tienda, había ranas y otros muchos recuerdos para comprar. Cuando salimos, vimos en la ventana de la tienda una rana. La rana brincó en la calle y comenzó a hablar. ¿Fue un milagro? ¡Las ranas nunca hablan! ¡Pero esto era una rana de la suerte! La rana nos dijo: “Seguidme, voy a la Universidad de Salamanca, y si obedecéis, os concederé dos deseos”. Mis amigas y yo la miramos y la seguimos.
Caminamos diez minutos hasta que la rana nos mandó parar. Las cuatro amigas entramos en un aula de la Universidad. En el aula, había millones de libros y una silla. La rana nos informó de su historia. El estudiante, antes de hacer su examen de doctorado, se quedaba él solo en la clase tratando de resolver todos los problemas. Una vez hecho su examen, si aprobaba, se celebraba con una gran fiesta.
Aquí, en esta clase histórica fue dónde nosotros pedimos nuestro primer deseo. Como estábamos en la Universidad, nuestro deseo tenía que referirse a ella. Con todas mis fuerzas, yo pronuncié mi primer deseo: “Ojala que obtenga un buen trabajo cuando termine la Universidad”. Cada uno de mis compañeros expresó su deseo y la rana solo respondió “vale”.
La siguiente parada fue la Casa de las Conchas, la rana nos habló de su estilo gótico y nos contó su historia. El tesoro de una judía se oculta debajo de una de las trescientas conchas del edificio. En la actualidad, el edificio es una biblioteca pero la rana nos ofreció un deseo con el tema del dinero. Deseé que mi familia y yo jamás pasáramos hambre y siempre tuviéramos suficiente dinero para vivir muy bien.
Salamanca, la ciudad de la suerte, de las ranas que hablan, de los Universitarios. Es obvio que mi experiencia en Salamanca fue un poco diferente de la de mis compañeros. Mis amigos y yo siempre le estaremos agradecidos a la rana. Nos enseñó una lección importante en la vida: “el tiempo es lo más valioso que tenemos y nunca debemos perderlo”.
Estoy estudiando en el magnífico país de España y solo tengo catorce días para disfrutar de mi experiencia aquí. No necesito la suerte, porque la rana me enseñó que los deseos pueden hacerse realidad.
Tal vez si, Tal vez no...
According to the classic musical My Fair Lady, "The Rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." I would have to respectfully disagree. It has been raining for the past two days, which is quite dissapointing-no playa for the wolfpack :( Yesterday, Sarah and I went shopping...I bought a skirt and a top at Zara, a shirt and a dress (a white dress as a matter of fact) at Bershka, and a really freaking cool giraffe shirt at Springfield. Speaking of jirafas, Spain has loads of giraffe merchandise which really tempts me into purchasing...i have fears that my luggage will def be an oversized item.
Mar started coming down with a cold recently and not only did she completely blame me for getting her sick (which i feel kind of bad about), but also threatened to throw me out the window..NEWSFLASHHHH: MAR IS A COUGAR. Mar is 56, she started telling us about her x-boyfriend who lives in Paris the other day, he is 33 years old. Yes thats right, 23 years younger than she is. According to Mar, he chased after her....it was this whole romantic story about how they fell in love, he lived with her for 8 years! Then she proceeded to tell her about her daughter (whose name is also Mar-she lives in Barcelona) and how she has been in a relationship with a guy thats 55 years old. Mar's daughter is 28 years old. In my opinion, they should just switch boyfriends.
Sarah and I went to Punta Cana yesterday and met Jordan, Rich, Eric and Andrew there. Jordan, Andrew and I did our homework for Business Spanish and then proceeded to forget it at home, hence we did it between class. Obviously, we should just stop being such good students. Vale, hasta pronto chicos!
Mar started coming down with a cold recently and not only did she completely blame me for getting her sick (which i feel kind of bad about), but also threatened to throw me out the window..NEWSFLASHHHH: MAR IS A COUGAR. Mar is 56, she started telling us about her x-boyfriend who lives in Paris the other day, he is 33 years old. Yes thats right, 23 years younger than she is. According to Mar, he chased after her....it was this whole romantic story about how they fell in love, he lived with her for 8 years! Then she proceeded to tell her about her daughter (whose name is also Mar-she lives in Barcelona) and how she has been in a relationship with a guy thats 55 years old. Mar's daughter is 28 years old. In my opinion, they should just switch boyfriends.
Sarah and I went to Punta Cana yesterday and met Jordan, Rich, Eric and Andrew there. Jordan, Andrew and I did our homework for Business Spanish and then proceeded to forget it at home, hence we did it between class. Obviously, we should just stop being such good students. Vale, hasta pronto chicos!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Salamanca, Burgos and more!
The weekend, finally. We all left Friday morning and then spent part of the day in Burgos where we saw La Catedral de Burgos and had a taza de cafe. After Burgos, we headed to Salamanca which has the countries oldest functioning University (La Universidad de Salamanca). Salamanca was def a really cool city. We went on a tour of the city and Gloria took us to a really awesome Pasteleria that had the most amazing napolitanos (it had choc and white choc inside) delishhh. After that, Eileen, Sarah and I walked around, shopped for a little and then went to eat at a restaurant. We ordered meat because we feel deprived of it in Mar's house! All of the wolfpack started drinking at the hotel and then we went out to a few different bars/discotecas....Gatsbys, Chupiteria, Campeonato, and a few others... The next day we woke up and went on a tour of La Catedral de Salamanca, La casa de las conchas, and a few other places. We had lunch near Plaza Mayor and then went on a tour of the University which was really really awesome. We went shopping the rest of the day, I hung out with Andreas, Elizabeth, Eileen, and Chandler and then we had dinner at a really cool pizza place around 9:30. After that, we proceeded to bar hop (no one goes out in Salamanca until like 1Am) so we drank in the hotel until 12:30 and then left, which led to the downfall of Elizabeth... Fun times. We all ran into Katherine and Ximena (our Spanish professors) on the streets of Salamanca around 2AM but me and Jen had wondered off and ran into them again...it was pretty hilarious. The next day me, Sarah, Andreas, and Andrew walked around for a little while and we saw a Anti-Israel/Pro-Palestine protest that was going on, i kind of felt uncomfortable... some other people in the group went to mass, and then we left for Santander!
Unfortunately, my hands are still not back to normal from the hives situation and Mar keeps telling me I am going to have to wear gloves to school. Shes also insiting that I shower with gloves. And Sarah is completely instigating the conversation... Mar asked me how my nose is doing bc its still a little stuffed and I responded with a sniffle and she cracked up and said, "Ay que es esto?-- la idioma universal!" More Mar...last night Mar told Sarah that she should go and ligar (flirt) with chicos and hacer mas que besar...basically told her to go have sex with chicos espanoles...we were cracking up. Then she proceeded to tell us that chicos only think about el sexo and that we should go to Zara and buy something "muy sexy" para snatch los hombres! We also showed Mar pictures of our family that we had and i'm a little worried because she kept on commenting how handsome my dad was....watch out daddy!
Back to school...Every day when we walk to school the guy from the Panaderia (Bakery) pops his head out the window and says the only three words he knows in english...he alternates between "Beautiful, Pretty, and Girls" every day. It's quite comical really. All of the chicos here always whistle at us-and its not considered rude here, its very strange, but we always just take it as a compliment. haha. We had our second SPN3300 test today...I can't believe theres only two more weeks of school left :(.
Hasta luego chicos!
Unfortunately, my hands are still not back to normal from the hives situation and Mar keeps telling me I am going to have to wear gloves to school. Shes also insiting that I shower with gloves. And Sarah is completely instigating the conversation... Mar asked me how my nose is doing bc its still a little stuffed and I responded with a sniffle and she cracked up and said, "Ay que es esto?-- la idioma universal!" More Mar...last night Mar told Sarah that she should go and ligar (flirt) with chicos and hacer mas que besar...basically told her to go have sex with chicos espanoles...we were cracking up. Then she proceeded to tell us that chicos only think about el sexo and that we should go to Zara and buy something "muy sexy" para snatch los hombres! We also showed Mar pictures of our family that we had and i'm a little worried because she kept on commenting how handsome my dad was....watch out daddy!
Back to school...Every day when we walk to school the guy from the Panaderia (Bakery) pops his head out the window and says the only three words he knows in english...he alternates between "Beautiful, Pretty, and Girls" every day. It's quite comical really. All of the chicos here always whistle at us-and its not considered rude here, its very strange, but we always just take it as a compliment. haha. We had our second SPN3300 test today...I can't believe theres only two more weeks of school left :(.
Hasta luego chicos!
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