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!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
To Salamanca!
This weekend all of us are going to Salamanca and Burgos! Yayyy! So excited.
Salamanca has a huge University so im really excited for the nightlife! :)
And so glad that im cured of this sickness that i had. Ill post a blog Sunday when i return!
I have never slept so much in my entire life. Oh, and Natalie Harrington skyped with me today and got to meet Mar in person-gotta love Mar. Shes the best. I had tortilla tonight for dinner and Sarah had Sardines.
Poor Sarah... I told her not to act like she liked them!
Hasta mas tarde chicos!
Salamanca has a huge University so im really excited for the nightlife! :)
And so glad that im cured of this sickness that i had. Ill post a blog Sunday when i return!
I have never slept so much in my entire life. Oh, and Natalie Harrington skyped with me today and got to meet Mar in person-gotta love Mar. Shes the best. I had tortilla tonight for dinner and Sarah had Sardines.
Poor Sarah... I told her not to act like she liked them!
Hasta mas tarde chicos!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thank you Dr. Alvarez...
So i thought I was dying a few days ago bc of my allergic reaction. Started having other symptoms too, so i went to the doc. Going to the doctor in Spain is such a pain in the ass. Gloria took me yesterday...we walked for 15 minutes on a steep hill to get there, just what i needed when i was feeling like shit. We got to the doctor around 1pm...its so different here because the doctor literally has one office where he has his desk and a hospital bed...its a pretty funny combination. He examined me as normal and told me that he thought I had mononucleousis. I freaked bc I don't want mono while im in Spain.
I went back home and ate soup and a tortilla for lunch and then Sarah and I walked over to el centro and they took blood from my arm and ran a bunch of tests. And wtf is up with Spain bc they dont take credit cards anywhere, I had to pay for my medical bills in cash! SO strange.
After drawing my blood, Gloria, Sarah and I walked uphill to get back to the other doctors office which is about 40 minutes walking distance. We did take "the lift" which is an elevator that takes you up a really steep cliff in Santander so that was nice...Once I got to the other doc's office I had to wait for an hour for the test results... (at 6pm btw)
The medical consensus is....
Amenia Microcifica o Hiprpcronica de defecit de hierro (fernopenica)
Thats what doc Alvarez told me at least...apparently the hives I got were because of this too...todo tiene relacion...he told me.
Apparently, its a throat infection. Im on four different medicines:
1. Ibuprofeno (mar gave this to me like candy when i told her I was sick)
2. An antibiotic "Klacid Unidia"
3. Solucion oral "Actithiol"
4. Resorborina (I have to gargle this and it tastes like hell)
Fun times, Mar's took off of work to take care of me (gotta love that bc my parents would never do that at home).
Been sleeping a lot but im def feeling a lot better and am planning on going to Salamanca this weekend! :)
I went back home and ate soup and a tortilla for lunch and then Sarah and I walked over to el centro and they took blood from my arm and ran a bunch of tests. And wtf is up with Spain bc they dont take credit cards anywhere, I had to pay for my medical bills in cash! SO strange.
After drawing my blood, Gloria, Sarah and I walked uphill to get back to the other doctors office which is about 40 minutes walking distance. We did take "the lift" which is an elevator that takes you up a really steep cliff in Santander so that was nice...Once I got to the other doc's office I had to wait for an hour for the test results... (at 6pm btw)
The medical consensus is....
Amenia Microcifica o Hiprpcronica de defecit de hierro (fernopenica)
Thats what doc Alvarez told me at least...apparently the hives I got were because of this too...todo tiene relacion...he told me.
Apparently, its a throat infection. Im on four different medicines:
1. Ibuprofeno (mar gave this to me like candy when i told her I was sick)
2. An antibiotic "Klacid Unidia"
3. Solucion oral "Actithiol"
4. Resorborina (I have to gargle this and it tastes like hell)
Fun times, Mar's took off of work to take care of me (gotta love that bc my parents would never do that at home).
Been sleeping a lot but im def feeling a lot better and am planning on going to Salamanca this weekend! :)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Today i cut my hair short. Paulo cut it, I described the entire thing in spanish and then he brought me a magazine and told me to pick what i wanted. hahaha. Oh and we had sardines for dinner. PUKE. Thanks Mar, off to bed on an empty stomach. My crazy new hair cut can be seen to the right. :)
Hasta manana chicos.
Roma!
This weekend, the wolfpack went to Roma! We left on Friday morning and got to Italy, checked into our two rooms at Hotel Cristina, 5 girls in a room, 5 guys in the other. We then ate our first Italian meal-I had pizza with funghi...we basically alternated pizza and pasta every meal. After that, we trekked over to the Vatican where we went on a walking tour for a few hours, it was awesome. Definitely something that I've always wanted to do! We ate at a restaurant around 9pm near the vatican and again (pasta, ensalada) oh and gelatto for dessert! Quite delicious. Our waitress was so friendly, and luckily spoke english. Its really easy to get around Italy without knowing Italian. If you speak slowly in Spanish, everyone understands you, and a lot of people know English too. A whole bunch of us went to bars later, and we def got some noise complaints at the hostel.
By the way-I have an allergy to who knows what? I broke out in hives all over my hands and feet. AWESOME. When in Rome....
The next day we woke up and split up into smaller groups, I hung out with Eileen and Elizabeth all day. We first went to the farmacia to get me drugged up. Then we went over to the Colleseum where we got a tour of the inside, sooo cool. After our tour of the colleseum, it was already time for lunch so we ate at a little restaurant onlooking the colleseum. I had pizza with eggplant and zucchini, delishhh. I think the waiter liked Eileen bc he asked to take a picture with her and then gave us his email address and told her to email the pic to him-creep....then he continued to serve us bruschetta (which we didnt order) and an after-lunch liquor that we all poured out. After lunch, we went to see more Ruins. We saw...the roman forum, etc etc. I cant remember all of the names, but it was pretty cool. We did some shopping (i bought earrings) and went to see the Pantheon. Unfortunately, the exterior was under renovation but the interior was awesome. After the pantheon, we walked over to trevi fountain. This was by far my favorite place in Rome, it was so pretty and we ate gelatto and tossed coins in!
A man by the fountain told us to make 3 wishes:
1. To come back to Rome
2. To find your true love
3. To get married
He told Eileen this...he was a little too friendly in my opinion though because when we said goodbye he gave her a nice smack on the ass. After that, we asked some random guy to take our pictures and an entire Indian family starting snapping pics of us saying how beautiful and they wanted to send the fotos to hollywood. hahahah when in rome...
After this, we went over to the spanish steps and bought roses which is apparently the "thing to do". We met up with the rest of the wolfpack for dinner at some ristorante and then went straight to pub crawl where we drank free drinks from 9-10 and then proceeded to go to different pubs where we got a free shot at each pub. I dont remember how many we went to, but it was pretty fun!
The next morning, we woke up and went back to the airport.
Fun times. The end. Back in good ol' Santander.
By the way-I have an allergy to who knows what? I broke out in hives all over my hands and feet. AWESOME. When in Rome....
The next day we woke up and split up into smaller groups, I hung out with Eileen and Elizabeth all day. We first went to the farmacia to get me drugged up. Then we went over to the Colleseum where we got a tour of the inside, sooo cool. After our tour of the colleseum, it was already time for lunch so we ate at a little restaurant onlooking the colleseum. I had pizza with eggplant and zucchini, delishhh. I think the waiter liked Eileen bc he asked to take a picture with her and then gave us his email address and told her to email the pic to him-creep....then he continued to serve us bruschetta (which we didnt order) and an after-lunch liquor that we all poured out. After lunch, we went to see more Ruins. We saw...the roman forum, etc etc. I cant remember all of the names, but it was pretty cool. We did some shopping (i bought earrings) and went to see the Pantheon. Unfortunately, the exterior was under renovation but the interior was awesome. After the pantheon, we walked over to trevi fountain. This was by far my favorite place in Rome, it was so pretty and we ate gelatto and tossed coins in!
A man by the fountain told us to make 3 wishes:
1. To come back to Rome
2. To find your true love
3. To get married
He told Eileen this...he was a little too friendly in my opinion though because when we said goodbye he gave her a nice smack on the ass. After that, we asked some random guy to take our pictures and an entire Indian family starting snapping pics of us saying how beautiful and they wanted to send the fotos to hollywood. hahahah when in rome...
After this, we went over to the spanish steps and bought roses which is apparently the "thing to do". We met up with the rest of the wolfpack for dinner at some ristorante and then went straight to pub crawl where we drank free drinks from 9-10 and then proceeded to go to different pubs where we got a free shot at each pub. I dont remember how many we went to, but it was pretty fun!
The next morning, we woke up and went back to the airport.
Fun times. The end. Back in good ol' Santander.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Hola!
So tomorrow the lobos are going to Roma in the morning!
Its Me, Sarah, Emily, Eileen, Elizabeth, Chandler, Jen, Evan, Andreas, Rich, Jordan and Eric!
SOOO EXCITED! Its been kind of groggy out lately so Sarah and I have been "siesta-ing" like crazy.
Also, Mar has fed us beans for the past three days! (Which never has a great outcome)!
At least we aren't eating any fried ham with mayo anymore!
Top 5 meals Mar makes:
1. Garbanzos with tomato sauce, fried egg, and chorizo, and then an apple
2. soup de ave (chicken and turkey), Tortilla (eggs with sauteed onion and potato), with fruit
3. Pasta con perritos y chorizo (this is an all time fav) especially when she sprinkles the cheese on top, she makes a litttle "whooosh whooosh" sound
4. Salad , pollo con salsa de tomate, y chocolate para el postre :)
5. I like the croquettes (but sarah doesn't) they are like fried little mashed up meat and mashed potatoes, sounds gross, but it kind of reminds me of a mozzarella stick.
Bottom 5:
1. Sardine Sandwich-fuck my life. I couldnt eat it. Sardines (which the people of Santander pride themselves on) in between two pieces of white bread. GROSS.
2. Fried Ham and mayo.....self-explanitory.
3. Chorizo sandwich (just freaking chorizo in between white bread). I force it down from time to time...
4. Noodle soup, pea puree....hahah
5. this isnt a meal, but yogurt....its like so bland and plain and sarah and I force it down. we're just used to good ol' yoplait...
Hasta mas tarde!
So tomorrow the lobos are going to Roma in the morning!
Its Me, Sarah, Emily, Eileen, Elizabeth, Chandler, Jen, Evan, Andreas, Rich, Jordan and Eric!
SOOO EXCITED! Its been kind of groggy out lately so Sarah and I have been "siesta-ing" like crazy.
Also, Mar has fed us beans for the past three days! (Which never has a great outcome)!
At least we aren't eating any fried ham with mayo anymore!
Top 5 meals Mar makes:
1. Garbanzos with tomato sauce, fried egg, and chorizo, and then an apple
2. soup de ave (chicken and turkey), Tortilla (eggs with sauteed onion and potato), with fruit
3. Pasta con perritos y chorizo (this is an all time fav) especially when she sprinkles the cheese on top, she makes a litttle "whooosh whooosh" sound
4. Salad , pollo con salsa de tomate, y chocolate para el postre :)
5. I like the croquettes (but sarah doesn't) they are like fried little mashed up meat and mashed potatoes, sounds gross, but it kind of reminds me of a mozzarella stick.
Bottom 5:
1. Sardine Sandwich-fuck my life. I couldnt eat it. Sardines (which the people of Santander pride themselves on) in between two pieces of white bread. GROSS.
2. Fried Ham and mayo.....self-explanitory.
3. Chorizo sandwich (just freaking chorizo in between white bread). I force it down from time to time...
4. Noodle soup, pea puree....hahah
5. this isnt a meal, but yogurt....its like so bland and plain and sarah and I force it down. we're just used to good ol' yoplait...
Hasta mas tarde!
Menos tus palabras...
So today in spanish class I wrote a poem i thought I would share!
Sorry if u cant understand espanol!
Menos tus palabras,
todo es perfecto
Menos tus palabras,
todo es ideal
tus labios, tu pelo,
el tacto de tus dedos.
Menos tus palabras,
todo es felicidad pura,
Menos tus palabras,
todo es apasionado,
todo es nuevo,
todo funciona.
Menos tus palabras,
todo reciproco
Menos tus palabras
todo es perfecto.
Sorry if u cant understand espanol!
Menos tus palabras,
todo es perfecto
Menos tus palabras,
todo es ideal
tus labios, tu pelo,
el tacto de tus dedos.
Menos tus palabras,
todo es felicidad pura,
Menos tus palabras,
todo es apasionado,
todo es nuevo,
todo funciona.
Menos tus palabras,
todo reciproco
Menos tus palabras
todo es perfecto.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
So its been a while since those first few days, and Mar definitely took some getting used to, but we love her now. Whenever we go out, she helps us pick out our outfits, she's always very interested in our lives and school. Shes awesomeeee!
Since the last posts, i've...
1. Gone out to some pretty cool discotecas
2. Tried my first absinthe shot
3. Went to Santillana del Mar and Comillas
4. Saw the caves of the Monedas
5. Travelled to San Sebastian with Evan and Sarah :)
6. Took my first SPN3300 exam
7. Conversed with lots of espanoles
8. Tried my first cigarette (which i am never doing again)
and much more....but thats just a little overview of the past week!
:) Soooo excited because this week, all of my friends and I are going to Rome, I really wanted to go to Barcelona this weekend, but the tix were too expensive-so we are going another weekend.
So, Rome. We leave friday and get back sunday, its 11 of us, and we have private rooms at a hostel. Its gonna be fun times! Can't wait-we are touring the Vatican Friday night so thats pretty freaking cool.
Thats all for now, hasta mas tarde!
Since the last posts, i've...
1. Gone out to some pretty cool discotecas
2. Tried my first absinthe shot
3. Went to Santillana del Mar and Comillas
4. Saw the caves of the Monedas
5. Travelled to San Sebastian with Evan and Sarah :)
6. Took my first SPN3300 exam
7. Conversed with lots of espanoles
8. Tried my first cigarette (which i am never doing again)
and much more....but thats just a little overview of the past week!
:) Soooo excited because this week, all of my friends and I are going to Rome, I really wanted to go to Barcelona this weekend, but the tix were too expensive-so we are going another weekend.
So, Rome. We leave friday and get back sunday, its 11 of us, and we have private rooms at a hostel. Its gonna be fun times! Can't wait-we are touring the Vatican Friday night so thats pretty freaking cool.
Thats all for now, hasta mas tarde!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The first few days of Santander:
Living with Mar
El domingo:
In advance, sorry for the first long entry, but we want all the details to be in here because it’s the first day! Vale, Sarah and I were very nervous at first to meet our madre in Santander. As we waited on the bus for our names to be called, we saw our madre out the window of the bus. She stood there in brown dress pants, a turtle neck argile shirt, a blazer, and a scarf. It’s eighty degrees outside. I’m dying in a sweater and Sarah’s sweating it up in jeans. She says, “Ay chicas, me llamo Maria Mar pero todas las personas me llaman Mar.” She’s a little under five feet tall with red hair and the bluest eyes. She has distinguished wrinkles, she’s 52 years old. Mar is a Spanish teacher at the University for exchange students. She is also a psychologist. She lives alone, has one daughter, and is divorced. We live on la calle de Tetúan, on the third floor where there are three rooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Sarah and I share a room with two twin size beds, a closet, and a chair. The location is great, we live in the center of the city next to the ocean (Santander is in the north of Spain).
Before we got home, Mar was showing us the route to the University, which is very easy to remember. Sarah and I told her that we understood how to take a right a left and then it was on the right, but she walked us up and down the streets of Santander to be sure we crossed at the right crosswalks and even told us the story about the statue called “Las Sardineras” (a statue in the middle of the city that depicts a woman with a basket of sardines on her head). After walking up and down the sidewalk for over 20 minutes, she took us back to her apartment where we carried up our suitcases the three floors. Unfortunately, she lives on the third floor and one thing that Spanish people respect most is their “vecinos” or neighbors. We couldn’t make any noise while walking up the stairs, we tiptoed. Anyhow, once we got all of the luggage up to the apartment she showed us around and told us the “normas de la casa” which include:
1. Don’t touch the walls, they were painted two days ago
2. Don’t make noise because there are neighbors that can hear you-whisper
3. Don’t put your feet on the furniture
4. Don’t walk barefoot
5. The room must be organized AT ALL TIMES
6. The bedroom door must be open unless we are sleeping
7. Never lock the bathroom door
8. When using the bathroom, don’t break the shower door by pushing too hard
9. When done showering, hang your towels on the hook
10. When done showering, take a paper towel and pick up the hair from the drain
11. Wipe down the sink and the bath when finished using
12. Don’t flush any hair down the toilet
13. Keep your suitcase at the end of the bed and only keep undergarments in it
14. Toiletries must be kept in the suitcase
15. No eating in the bedroom
16. The blinds can never be completely shut because they might get stuck
17. Do not slam the closet door
18. Use two towels to shower and be sure to leave them in there and change into other clothes
19. Wash your face and get ready, then come to breakfast
20. Do not overflow the tiny 1ft tall laundry bin
21. Make sure to separate your undergarments from your regular laundry and hang it up on the back of the door
22. Don’t walk across the grass because the neighbors get upset
23. Make sure to tell her if we are going to miss lunch or dinner
24. Turn off the surge protector when we leave for the morning
After telling us the normas, which were continually sprung upon us every few minutes, she told to go take a walk to the University and time ourselves to make sure how much time we should allot in the morning. The walk takes about 25-30 minutes and me and Sarah got whistled at and gawked at by so many loud Spanish guys. Oh, by the way…there are no dryers so she will be hanging our clothes (including the underwear and bras). We then unpacked our suitcases where Mar kept on constantly checking on us to make sure that we put everything away most efficiently. We have about 5 hangers each. When asking where we should put our shoes, she cleared out the bottom of the closet and put newspaper down so the heels wouldn’t scratch the bottom. She then kindly reminded us not to bang the closet door. By this time, we are starving because we had not eaten anything since breakfast (we had been on the bus from Toledo to Santander for 6 hours).
Finally, dinner was ready around 8:30 where we proceeded to have a meal of sopa de pasta y pollo and for the main course we had a tostada (which is eggs with potato and onion). For dessert, we drank “DANONE” yogurt drink. It was a very small meal, but tasty. She didn’t eat with us, she only talked to us while we ate, which is what she does every meal.
Hasta luego!
-Jessie
El lunes:
We went to bed a little hungry that night, and we showered before 10-as told. We got in bed at 10:30, because we were very cansadas from the long trip and slept until 7:45AM when we were gently awoken by Mar whispering (as not to wake los vecinos) “Buenos dias chicas”! We got ready by 8 and were called in for breakfast of café con leche o zumo de naranja (orange juice). We ate little galletas como cookies in los Estados. Soon enough, we were out the door by 8:15 after Mar checked us up and down to make sure we dressed appropriately. (That’s definitely a first for me, I usually walk out of the house in whatever the hell I want).
We then walked to class and by the time we got there we were sweating because we didn’t want to be late. The University Internacional de Mendendez Palayo is where our classes our held. The university is very tiny, not like that of UF at all. In our first class, Spanish Grammar and Composition, we have 14 kids. Our Profesora is Ximena Moors who actually teaches at UF, but she is originally from Chile. We read a newspaper article and wrote a few paragraphs about our first days in Santander.
Our next class (which is immediately following our 9AM) starts at 11AM. The class is called Espanol para los negocios, or business Spanish. The professora’s name is Cecilia Pozo, she lives in Santander but is originally from Ecuador. In this class, there are only 6 of us. We did lots of exercises and I’m pretty sure I learned almost 10 new verbs.
After class, we walked back to Mar’s where we did a little homework for our business Spanish class and were then served comida (lunch). We had a puree of potatoes, a chicken leg, and a slice of sandillas (watermelon). After eating, we rested for a little where and then decided to walk back to the University (another 30 minutes) where we went to the computer lab to check our e-mails and facebook. Unfortunately, Mar does not have internet access in her apartment…After surfing the internet for about an hour, we met our grupo at 5pm to go on a tour of Santander. We first toured the Universidad which took about 5 minutes (not too much to tour). We then got on a bus where we proceeded to tour the city. The city is beautiful, it is coastal and the water can be seen almost anywhere that you go. Then, we went to El Sardinero (The beach) which had a beautiful lighthouse and a mountainous pier. We took lots of photos, the view was beautiful.
Sarah and I both needed a few things from the pharmacy so we stopped on the way home from the Universidad. SO EXPENSIVE. I bought: Shampoo, Conditioner, facewash, and razors and it costed 38 euros. I wanted to die. We then came back, showered, and it was already time for dinner. For dinner tonight, she made us sopa de ave. Ave is bird. Sarah and I freaked out. I then asked, “Que tipo de ave?” She said, pollo y pavo. We were so relieved to find out that it was chicken and turkey soup. For our main course, we had fried ham with mayo inside and potato chips. This was fucking disgusting. But I ate it because neither of us wanted to be rude. Oy. For dessert, we had a few slices of strawberries and oranges sprinkled with sugar. I liked the dessert!
After dinner, Sarah and I decided to take a walk along the port where all of the big sail boats are. We walked for around 45 minutes up and down the edge of Santander and the sun set. When we came back, Mar gave us directions on how to get to the beach tomorrow. Sarah’s already in bed sleeping. Guess I’ll do the same. Hasta mas tarde.
-Jessie
El martes
This morning we woke up at 7:45, got ready, ate our cookies and café con leche, and walked to class as usual. It was a little cold this morning so we were long sleeves. We had class…the usual….except today we were assigned a decent amount of homework. We then went to the computer lab to print it out because Mar can’t remember the password to the wi-fi in our house. So, until she does-no internet for me and Sarah.
For lunch we had pasta with mini hot dog sausages (perritos calientes). This is the biggest meal we have had yet, which is very surprising because we know she talked to the ISA staff about internet connection and we think that they may have told her to feed us more too….hahaa. We had yogurt for dessert, but it was disgusting and sour, so we refrained.
After lunch we rested a little and then went on a walk to el mar (the ocean). Before we left, we assured Mar we knew where we were going. Before long, I received a call on my cell from Mar telling us that we are walking in the wrong direction. We feel pretty stupid…Mar’s hanging half-way out the window yelling “Porque no me oyes Jessie!” After that, we met up with a few of our friends (Emily, Megan, Rich, Jordan, Eric, Evan, and Andrew) at the beach where we sat and hang out until around 5:30. It was really pretty and it’s an amazing view. The four girls then decided to go do a little shopping in el centro. It was a pretty long walk there and it took us about an hour because we were a little turned around at times. Once we got there, Sarah bought a cell phone so she can call her dear parents, and we did a little clothes shopping as well. We all got ice cream from the heladaria, which was delicious-I got menta (mint choc chip) and Sarah got chocolate. Around 8pm, we headed back to Mar’s, showered, and ate our sandwiches that she left for us. Mar teaches class and was not going to be home until later. Hence, she left us each one sandwich of manchego cheese, and one of sausage and an apple.
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