ITALY

Italy seems so long ago that I can't remember it. I am lying in bed with a bad case of a resaca at 3:15 PM on a Friday and attempting to organize packing in my head. I leave Cádiz in about 12 hours. I don't even know what to do with myself! But that is a story for another time.

We left Thursday night to Barcelona and spent the night there, leaving to Rome really early in the morning. We got off of the plane and saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW! After a bus ride into town, we checked into our hostel and went exploring. We saw Roman Ruins, some big ol' buildings, the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. We spent a lot of time in the Colosseum messing around. We also visited the Vatican and Kristen and I attended mass. It was surreal being in places so old, powerful, and famous for those reasons. I loved Rome. We ate a lot of yummy food: pizza and pasta.

At dinner the first night, we sat next to a pair of Australians and ended up talking to them and eating dinner with them for 3 hours. They were hilarious and argued about whether or not camels ruined the vegetation while making wild gestures with their steak knives. Straight out of the outback! We had a few drinks and then I went to bed kinda early. I was super tired from Brussels and catching up on schoolwork (a 10 page, single-spaced essay on Spanish Literature from the Romantic Era that I am happy to report I got a 3.9 on!) that I hadn't slept much during the week.



Kristen and I were in a room with 4 British guys who came back drunk at 4 AM and tried to wake me up (I don't wake up easily at all), but failed and only woke up Kristen. They proceeded to harass her and being a good sport, she played along, yelling at them to go to sleep. Poor girl couldn't sleep! We left that afternoon for Florence.

The train ride was about 4-5 hours and pretty long, but I was really happy when we got there. Our hostel was the most legit hostel of my life. It was super social, but the rooms were quiet and the beds were comfortable. Unfortunately I froze to death, but I can't heat my own body so it's my own fault. We walked around the town, did a lot of shopping, saw some sweet sculptures and architecture, and ate the best food of my life. Florence is my favorite. The huge cathedral is called the Duomo, which we thought meant dome because of the big dome on it, but really it means cathedral. Regardless, our duomo/dome joke still lives and we taught it to our British roommate in the Hostel. We took him to dinner with us, got tipsy off of wine, and then Abel told Kristen and I to parcour so we did... The 15 minute walk home. My only upset moment happened when we couldn't see The David. The hours they had posted were wrong and it just didn't work out. I was sad.



We took a long train ride through Siberia (actually just cold Italy) to spend the night in Venice. Initially we were going to spend more time there, but it was raining and cold and miserable so we just enjoyed a night in a cozy bed and breakfast. I slept like a baby. Venice is stinky and everything is hard to find. Definitely not one of my favorite places, but still beautiful and very cool.

Hmm

At this point in my night (11:41 PM) I would rather stick pins in my eyes than study, but study I must.

Lit Española, prepare to die.

All Stress...

But nothing to worry about?!

I do not live in the real world. Circusland is getting a little much for me to handle because of how ridiculous it is. I slaved away all of yesterday and this morning trying to memorize every minute detail for my Linguistics exam. I was in the Cafeteria reviewing with friends on the verge of sleepless, fearful, stress tears when my professor waltzed in and used "teacher magic" to calm me. Unfortunately, when she left again, I fell right back into my frantic cramming mode.

Turns out, I wasn't screaming the F word the entire time I was taking my exam. I actually feel like I did fairly decently. I am really happy about that. She told me not to worry, but I did and for no reason.

Also, my history class was only 30 minutes instead of an hour and a half and my Lengua class was canceled. Needless to say, I curled up in bed all afternoon with a mug of tea and plenty of Dexter to stream online.

Brit managed to get me out of bed and I got my Secret Santa gift on lockdown. Who my Secret Santa is is a mystery. I lost the paper. I will keep searching. I always find everything.

Still need to write about Italy, but not feeling too motivated at the moment.

Currently...

I am sitting in the Library attempting to study for Linguistics... I have no idea how I am going to memorize all of this! For some reason I blanked on having my exam tomorrow so I haven't really done anything. I am so sick of school. I just want to go home!

Packing is going to be awful. All of my shoes take up my duffel bag. I have to throw out my Coach sneakers (they are trashed) and my not so trashed running shoes. I am really sad about that, but they take up too much room! I also have to throw out some clothes so I will be experiencing quite a bit of anxiety. My frayed sports bras & running shorts, my worn teeshirts... It's funny how your favorite items are usually the most worn. It makes sense really-- when you like something a lot you are going to wear it all the time and it will get worn out and be perfectly matched for just you. Anyways, I need to be focused and clean out all my things.

I also need to study for Linguistics, correct my essay and add another paragraph for my Lengua class, write an essay for my golden era of Spanish literature class, prepare for my History final, and prep for my other Lit class final. I think I also have another exam in the lit class I have an essay in about 3 days later. And I have to do another exam next Friday for Linguistics.

I fully intend on going out on Thursday with my friends for one last hurrah! Hopefully I am so tired and hungover on Friday that I can fall asleep in time to wake up fully rested for a 4 AM taxi ride to the airport for my 26 hour traveling adventure. It takes all of that time and I leave Jerez at 7 AM to arrive in Seattle at 8:30 PM the same day.

So silly. :)

I am so excited to come home. I miss it.

A Little Photo Session

I was on a public computer when I last blogged so I couldn't upload any photos. Here are some of my favorites from my past few trips...

Paris:


The Moulin Rouge


Nicole & I under the Eiffel Tower at night

Weekend trip with the group to Cáceres, Salamanca & Mérida:


Underneath a building in Cáceres


Out in the Streets of Salamanca! Nelson sandwich!


Some Roman ruins

Brussels, Belgium:


The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear!


A gorgeous light show complete with Opera music

PS It is technically Thursday here... Only nine more days! I just have a bunch of essays and exams to conquer first! And my packing... Hmm...

I am behind

I have not updated my blog in ages. I have yet to talk about my trips to Paris, 3 stops in the East of Spain, Brussels, and I am currently in Italy typing this entry on a broken keyboard... The reason I have been so lame about blogging is simple. Spain school got hard all of a sudden. Before I knew it, I had lots of essays and tests due. My 10 page single-spaced essay written in another language about a set of short stories from the Romantic era was none too easy to tackle. I also had an essay about theater from the Spanish golden ages, an exam on that class covering work from September, and another essay on a documentary from 2004 about Pais Vasco. My time in Cadiz consisted of me hiding from the rain (yuck) in my warm room, drying my clothes over my space heater, or in the library working hard or hardly working. I will be following this post with some photos from the places I went to, but here goes a long post about my travels.

Paris was absolutely beautiful. I am remembering this from the beginning of freaking November and it is now December... Oops. I left Cadiz early early Friday morning. My friend Lindsay and I went to the airport together and flew in together. Both of our girls were arriving later that night so L and I got some delicious Chinese noodle soup by her hostel and went to the Moulin Rouge and looked around in the scary sex shops. They were funny more than anything and I tried to contain myself because I know some people shop there for real. I met up with Nicole later that night and we went to our apartment. It was really big and comfy. We were not really hungry so we went and got some crepes on our way over and retired for the night.

The next morning, we woke up and saw the Notre Dame, some fountain right across the river that is pretty and famous whose name I forgot... And went on a free walking tour to see what Paris had to offer.

Over the weekend, we made it to the Lourve for free (it was the first Sunday of the month), did a little bit of shopping, had Starbucks, ate escargo, lamb braised in wine, and attended the end mass at the Notre Dame. It was a blast and a beautiful city. My favorite part was going up the Eiffel Tower at night with the lights on the city. We came down and saw the lights sparkle. It was really beautiful. I am sure I am missing more things like how when we tried to go out on Saturday, a drink cost 10 euro and they would NOT let you go dance unless you bought something.

The week when I came home, I spent lots of time doing school work. We only had class Monday through Wednesday because on Thursday we went to Caceres and the Salamanca. We went to a museum in Caceres and looked at the lovely architecture and country side, but there was not a lot to do during the siesta. We spent over 8 hours on the bus that day, but had a blast in Salamanca that night getting delicious tapas for 1 euro each. I got shrimp and mussels! We went out and I got a Guinness on tap. I miss Ireland. The next day, we saw the University & Cathedral, but I was very upset that I couldnt have a little chat with Jesus because ever Spaniard was screaming "ma o meno". In a house of GOD none the less... We had a blast in the cold! Que refresco. The nicest hotel we stayed at was in Merida. I got to spread my arms out! It was great. Slept the best in months. Danielle and I did a little facemask session in our room and then we wandered around hanging out with our groupmates because it was our last time together. The next morning, we toured Roman ruins and I discovered that I am really good at taking jumping pictures. We headed back to Cadiz and got in in time for dinner and more homework.

On Friday evening, Kristen and I left for Brussels in hopes of a successful time at the Christmas market. It was successful! I found so many presents and spent way more money on chocolate than I thought was humanly possible. For dinner one night, Kristen and I met this girl named Andrea from Carolina and we went and ate at an African bar. We were the ONLY tourists because it was a random local dive we found. Nine euro for all you can eat food with flavor? Yes please! There was a legit carousel too. It was freezing, but fun! We went to a bar called Delirium that has over 2000 varieties of beer. Ay, que pena... I havent gotten sick from drinking at all in Europe and that was no bueno. I only had 3 beers over a few hours! What the heck.

When I got back, it was slave labor with my homework. No rest for the wicked I suppose.

Now, I am in ITALY! We left on Thursday and flew into Barcelona, spent the night in a nice hotel, and flew out early morning for Roma. Rome is gorgeous. I spent a lot of time in the Colosseum. Kristen, Abel & I took senior photos. We went all over and met 2 wicked funny Aussies. We played around more and then left via the train for Florence where I currently am!

More later...

BG & Mini-Me

Over Halloweekend, my mom came to visit me! It was perfect. After class on Friday, I ran from my classroom to the train station and took a 2 hour ride to Sevilla. When I walked off the train, my mom was waiting on the platform and ran and gave me a big hug. Obviously there were some very public mother-daughter reunited teary eyes (and absolute crocodile tears from my mother).

We took a taxi back to the hotel so that I could drop off my things and walked around Sevilla for a short while until we met back up with my mom's friend, Carin. We went out to dinner and saw a Flamenco show with a very cute guy we nicknamed dimples. He had dimples, obviously, and some manly thighs! With all the crazy hopping and toe-heel tapping, you have got to develop some insane leg muscles.



The next day, we took a walking tour and went through the castle on our own. I think La Alhambra was much nicer, but apparently a few weeks before, the queen of Spain decided to come visit Sevilla and they locked down the palace and she stayed there. It's interesting how they still use it. It rained that day and we found a Starbucks where my mom got me a SOY CHAI LATTE! In Spain, there is no such thing as Chai and soy milk can only be found in the grocery store. It was like I was back in Seattle.



The next morning, we hitched a ride on the train back to Cadiz and I took my mom and Carin around. They got to meet my host mom, Puri, and see the little apartment where we live. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and all the shops were closed. They got to have drinking chocolate, but sadly there were no churros in sight.

We spent the night in a hotel and on Monday (yay no school!) woke up bright and early to go to Tangier in Morocco! We hired a private guide ahead of time and after a long bus ride to Tarifa followed by a ferry ride on huge rollers across the Straight of Gibraltar (I got sea sick), landed in Africa. My mom and I made it to yet another continent! South America next year, Mom?

We met up with our tour guide, got an authentic Moroccan breakfast (dark bread with honey/jam and goat cheese) and went around the city. We visited the spice markets, browsed textiles, walked through the STINKY fish market, bought some dried fruit (the walnut-stuffed dates were excellent), and rode camels- my FAVORITE part.



We went to a big open area right by the ocean. There were a few grown-up camels and one little baby. I was kind of scared of him because he kept showing me his teeth and I was scared he was going to bite me. What can I say? That's what dog body language dictates. Anyways, my camel was really tall and very sweet. The men guided the camels around and kept yelling ridiculous things like, "Yee-haw!" while our tour guide took pictures of us. We ate some delicious thing called bastillas which are basically personal pies with a filo-dough crust stuffed with almonds, spices, chicken, and lightly sprinkled on top with some cinnamon and powdered sugar. It was the best mix of savory and sweet and probably one of the best things I have ever eaten in my entire life.



We took the ferry back, luckily it was much calmer so I wouldn't see my lunch, and took a bus to some weird town where we waited for another bus to Cadiz and then finally got back. I got very sad and upset that my mom was leaving me and while she went and got me a hot chicken dinner, I cried over my tea a little bit so she wouldn't see. You never realize how important it is to smell or touch the people you love until you're gone for a long time. Hearing their voice just isn't enough.

We got back to the hotel and the next morning, she dropped me off after a great Mommy hug and I entered a little funk for the rest of the week, but perked up because I was going to Paris!

Córdoba, La Alhambra, and Granada

As you can tell by me not blogging for years (not really, just a few weeks), I have been fairly busy. I am currently working on a 10 page, single-spaced paper analyzing a bunch of literature works from the Romantic Era. Oh yeah... It's IN SPANISH.

When I got back from Ireland, I got really sick and then kept traveling so whenever I came back, I had to do lots of school and was pretty much too drained to blog. Regardless, the 2nd to last weekend of October, my group and I went on a trip to Granada. We visited the Mesquita in Córdoba, which was first a church that was burnt down. Then, a mosque was built in 4 stages to expand and then once the Catholics took over, a cross-shaped church was placed directly in the middle with typical baroque, over-the-top decor. We wandered around the city and checked out the teeny-tiny Jewish quarter, remnants of harsh anti-semitism in the 1400s at the hands of the Catholics kings.



Later on, we went to Granada and spent the rest of the weekend there. We visited around the town and also went to La Alhambra, a summer castle for the kings with expansive gardens and moorish influenced architecture. It was absolutely gorgeous and I learned how obsessed I am with carvings into plaster on the walls. The designs are breathtaking.



Another nice thing about Granada is how you eat dinner: for every beer or drink you purchase, you get a free tapa! I found Chinese noodles, a bagel sandwich with beef and cheese, and spring rolls! Yum! It was a fun weekend with everyone in our group. The bus ride was 5 hours each way, but it was worth it.

London, Dublin & the Irish Countryside

Last Wednesday night, we flew to London on a circus flight. When I say circus, I mean circus. It was the first time I flew Ryanair and it made me wish it was my last. Unfortunately, their great prices always draw me back in for more adventures! The flight was horrible. There is no assigned seating so everyone lines up at least 30 minutes before boarding to try and get a good seat or to be able to sit with their friends and family. We got onto the flight and I realized that the seats don't recline. Interesting... I guess that saved them a few thousand dollars per airplane. (Sorry Boeing!) There were so many Spanish people just screaming on the plane at each other the entire time. By some miracle I managed to fall asleep with my sweatshirt over my face backwards. When I woke up and opened my eyes, a fat old Spanish man's crotch was in my face! He was leaning over me to talk to the people sitting behind me. It was a horrible experience. As soon as we landed, they sounded a horn over the intercom and all the Spaniards clapped...



After that, we paid almost 200 bucks for a taxi and rolled into our hostel at 2 am. Then, we woke up at 8 AM and we did all of London in a day. It was insane. We were all so tired and wore our backpacks the entire day so obviously we had some grumpiness happen, but we were okay. We saw the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, and Camden. I think my favorite place was Platform 9 and 3/4's. :)



We were planning on staying out that night with our friend Charlie. We met him in Portugal (he lives in London), but everything closed at 12:30. So weird. We had to take a taxi back to the airport, got there at 2 and slept on the ground like hobos until our flight at 6. We got into Dublin at around 8 and attempted to check into our hostel at 9:30 and sleep, but oh my. You can't check in until 2:30. We walked around and shopped and ate an Irish breakfast. Yum! It was eggs, bacon, a tomato, sausage, and white pudding. Finally, we went to sleep and napped! We woke up around 8 and attempted to find dinner, but 5 Guinnesses later we wandered out of Temple Bar into the street with 30 British guys singing "Wonder Wall" by Oasis with a busker while other people video taped us! We even got on Youtube. Epic night. We made friends with this guy named Dan. I also made another friend named Brian who asked my my ethnic background and was surprised that, being half Chinese, my English was really good.

Day two in Dublin, we had toast at the hostel for breakfast and went shopping. We looked at a bunch of cathedrals too and went to the Guinness factory. I had a delightful Bailey's Irish Cream cheesecake at lunch and a baked potato. That night we went out with the British guys, but prefunked with personal bottles of wine. I was a bit too drunk that by 10:30 I had to go home because I started crying to Kelsey in the street about how I missed Jake. Such a saint, she took me home and I had some fun drunk Facebooking. I slept nicely though!

Day three in Dublin, Kristen and Tarah were still drunk in the morning (we woke up at 8 and they came home at 6) and we couldn't find a rental car so we ended up drunk shopping and taking a bus to the airport, waiting 2 hours, then a bus to Cork that passed right by our hostel. Shit. Haha so we basically wasted our lives. We got to Cork and took a taxi to the four star Blarney Golf Resort where we ordered pizza and watched a weird movie that we were half-expecting would turn into a porn at any given moment. I Took a bath because I was disgustingly dirty. I also slept the best I had in months in that bed though!

We left early in the AM after gorging ourselves on yummy yummy breakfast and made our way to the rental car. We hit up the Blarney Castle and I kissed the stone so now I have the gift of eloquence. :) Then we went to the Cliffs of Moher. I abhor heights and I managed to not throw up to take those pictures. It was gorgeous! I am so in love with Ireland! We made our way to Shannon and stopped at a local pub. Drunk ass Irish country worker guys talked to us as we were leaving and needed to catch our flight. The cutest little girl was there too. She had the most infectious laugh I have ever heard. It made me miss playing with Frankie and Isaiah.



Anyways, went to the airport, slept at London-Stanstead again, and then flew back to Sevilla, took a train and got home at 4:30 pm. It was one of the best trips I have ever had. Ireland is lush, green, and felt like home. If I wasn't such an American girl, I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Birthday Weekend

I had a really great birthday! We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It's not too terribly authentic, but it's the best one that they have in Cadiz and it is always nice to get a bit of that flavor, especially considering how bland the food is here. I was excited to eat some jalapenos! I even got a chocolate cake and my friends sang to me in Spanish and English. After that, we went out to Nahu and La Punta. La Punta was pretty dead because there had been a huge party the night before. I got home early at around 2 AM because Annie and Caitlyn succeeded in getting me a little bit wastie-faced. (Don't worry! It's legal!)



I woke up at 8 the next morning. Our bus left at 10 so we had to get there early to get tickets too. It was a 2.5 hour bus ride and I slept for most of it. We got to Gibraltar and walked for hours! We walked all the way through very, very, very British town. It was really crazy walking down the street in the town too because not only was there English everywhere and the main currency was pounds, but we got to a cemetery and there were monkeys just living in a tree there. Wild monkeys in a British colony in Spain? No big deal. Also, Lord Nelson was a very famous dude there so I took some pictures of my family name!



Then, we took a tram up to the monkeys and they were everywhere. We walked around the nature reserve and I swear I saw at least six monkey babies with their mommas. One monkey grabbed my friend Kelsey's backpack and she ran away screaming, another started walking straight at me looking PISSED and I ran out of the way and hid behind my friend Caitlyn. Another monkey grabbed my friend Brittney's purse! I am proud to say that none of us got bitten and no monkeys ran away with our belongings or threw our cameras over the cliff.



It was really gorgeous at the top. On one half of the cliff over the beaches was the most beautiful mist and clouds. I could see Africa! The other side with the Marina and the waterfront hotel resorts was clear. It was gorgeous and I felt like I was looking down on the world from heaven.



We went back down and ate at Lord Nelson's. I had some British fish and chips, Kristen had some mussels, and my friend Noah had curry chicken! Yummy! It got me really excited for London on Wednesday. I found a giant Cadbury bar! My favorite chocolate :) I didn't buy it though because it was a bit too expensive, although delicious.



Today I am resting up because I am just exhausted from this weekend and I need to make sure I have gotten enough beauty sleep before Ireland. Here is my itinerary: Wednesday night we fly to London, spend all of Thursday there, leave London for Ireland on Friday morning really early, and then spend a day or two in Dublin then hit up the country side and come back to Spain on Tuesday.

HOW ABOUT THOSE HUSKIES BEATING USC?! GO DAWGS! WOOF WOOF!

Back to School and the Rising Cock

It has been so long since I last wrote! I have been exceptionally busy: I started my classes at la Universidad de Cadiz on Sept. 15th and went to Lagos, Portugal this past weekend.

My first week of class has been going well. I have fallen absolutely in love with Historia de España. The class itself is so interesting that, unlike every other class I have had in that boiling hot room, I was completely conscious and my attention focused. It covers more recent history so I get to learn about the conquistadors as well as the European Union.

I am also taking Linguistics with an awesome professor. She is extremely knowledgeable and makes the class really fun. (On a side note, all this Spanish immersion has me thinking in Spanish and makes my English spelling rather crappy hence attempting to spell knowledgeable for ten minutes.) I am a person who is all about learning how things work and learning how words work will help my Spanish and my English immensely.

My Lengua class on Friday was less than satisfactory. My professor is an insane communist who went on a detailed description of a conspiracy theory where the CIA invented Facebook to spy on us after she failed to explain her definition of an editorial. I don't really like her and I am going to refrain from voicing my political opinions for the sake of my grade.

My two literature classes surprising consist of very little writing. I have projects and tests and a paper here and there, but the majority of my grade will not be graded on papers. That has its obvious ups and downs, but all my school talk is boring! I start my classes and get graded starting Wednesday.

This weekend was one of the best weekends I have ever had! We took a four hour bus ride to Lagos, Portugal and followed some random English guy to our hostel, "The Rising Cock." I shared a room with 11 other people that was called the Princess Room! So perfect for me. The walls had castles and flowers painted on them along with Cinderella holding a beer bong and a bottle of vodka. We arrived pretty late, around 9, and hung out for a bit before we went out.

The next day, I woke up early, had at least 7 crepes with nutella (yum!), and went exploring with the girls and Dan. We went around town and saw the beaches with gorgeous bluffs. We got back to the hostel and got ready for the booze cruise. We walked about 10 minutes to the Marina from the hostel and loaded onto a boat for a few hours with almost all of our friends and unlimited beer and (under-par) sangria. We jumped off the side of the boat into the clearest, bluest water and swam around. At first, I was scared to jump off the high rail because it was about 10 feet and then some with me standing. Heights scare me, but the adrenaline rush definitely outweighs the fear. We also got a grotto tour. It was absolutely breathtaking and our boat driver was a little insane. Think Jackie Chan's driving skills from "The Tuxedo" on a boat with giant rocks sticking out of the water. We also ate bocadillos on the most Southwestern part of Europe.





That night, we got back and Kristen and I went out and found Thai food. We ate so much and after we were finished, one of the workers was digging into his own plate of noodles and we were tempted to buy that too. The Thai food wasn't that great, but it definitely hit the spot. I can't wait until I get home and can have Racha! We came back around 7 and passed out until 10. I managed to rally and get ready in a couple of minutes. Kristen and I went to the bar and drank Shirley Temples! Some British guy bought us drinks- I had a cosmo. I forgot how much I missed Cranberry juice! We came home around 4 and then I woke up at 9 and ate a million more crepes.



Dmitri and I got some food and went shopping. We also hit the beach with Dan and took some pretty good photos. All in all, the weekend was very successful.

You Can Light the Fire That's in Your Head

At the beach today, I had Dani's iPod plugged into my ears and I listened to "Walking" by The Dodos while I watched the waves crash and the water flow all the way up to the ledge where we were sitting. The song itself is a subdued anti-war protest, but more importantly encourages change. I am definitely experiencing a change- new environment, new people, new culture, new schedule, etc. However, I am still stuck with some of the same old... Like a shitty schedule!

Rita, our program coordinator, essentially set up the schedule so that we had to be in school five days a week. She is forcing me to take Literatura Siglo de Oro. It's probably the worst Lit class ever. Gotta love the 1500s... Anyways, here's my new schedule. Full of awkward breaks, just like UW. I hate you, Rita!

MON:
11-12:30 Literatura Siglo de Oro
TUE:
9:30-11 Linguistica
11-12:30 Lit y Cine
WED:
10:30-12 Lit y Cine
12-2 Lengua III
THU:
9-10:30 Geografia
Awkward break!!! Studying, perhaps?
12:30-2 Literatura Siglo de Oro
FRI:
9:30-11 Linguistica
11-12:30 Geografia
12:30-2:30 Lengua III

I also have been finding the best places to eat. La Gorda Que Te Da De Comer has an excellent cake called muerte del chocolate and a spicy chicken satay. 100 Monditos has my delicious chocolate sandwich and this great one with ceasar dressing, smoked salmon, and deep-fried onions for a bit of a crunch with each bite. Last night was everything for a Euro so I had both of those sandwiches and a beer. Delicious! Although after my sandwiches my beer was pretty gross. Definitely going to Tinto de Verano next time :) That is basically sprite and red wine together.

Tonight... Salsa dancing?

Speaking Spanglish

Yesterday a pigeon WALKED on my foot! If you know me well, you know that I absolutely abhor feet and birds. Basically, a disease-infested flying animal touched my foot and I proceeded to scream and flail mid-tapas in Plaza de Catedral around a bunch of tourists, locals, and Semester at Sea kids who have been stealing all the wifi. (Oh, on a side note, it's not called pronounced "why phi" here, it's "wee fee!")

Also exciting, I ate a chocolate sandwich. It was a mini french bread with a hershey bar inside and was one euro of deliciousness. Everyone in my group knows that the majority of my diet consists of candy (Thanks, Jake. I had broken that habit!) so they teased me a fair bit, but then the conversation shifted to the weekend after this one. We are planning on going to Portugal for the weekend! It is going to be so fun. We will rent cars or something and drive over there, stay at a hostel called "The Rising Cock" (roosters are very important to the Portuguese), be tourons (tourist morons), and rage every night. I hope it works out.

I am thinking about what classes to take and it is down to the following:
-Lengua III (Span 303)
-Lit y Cine o Literature Española
-Linguística
-Geografía o Historía (although I heard that geography is way easier and the professor is great)
-Civilización
25 credits out of the way of my major! Thank goodness I'm in Spain...

Today I managed to FINALLY get into "la gorda que te da de comer." We have tried to get into there and after 4 failed attempts (it was closed), we finally got in. We had "muerte del chocolate" or death by chocolate which was a rich moist chocolate cake and I think I fell in love. I will be returning there.

And, as usual, off to the beach!

More Cadiz

We had class all last week and our last class is on Friday. We review basic grammar and learn classroom-appropriate slang. I have fallen asleep with my eyes open a few times! We also have discovered a new beach: Playa de Santa Maria. From where I live, it is over a mile away, but luckily Cadiz is flat and the view gorgeous so I just walk. It works out well considering all the food is very fried. I have had a blast body surfing, hanging out, and swimming. We have all adapted the beach bum lifestyle very well. We usually stay until around 7. We were hungry yesterday so we had some delicious tapas and Fanta de limon yesterday. My paella had some seafood in it and was stellar! I headed home and showered. Being covered in salt and sand isn't the most comfortable feeling in 90 degree weather.



The majority of Spanish people always go out into the street at night, even on weekdays. There are even toddlers up and about outside with their parents at midnight. It's kind of wild, but definitely interesting. As a group, most of us have been going to bars and just hanging out at night. Our host parents always encourage us to go out. It's not normal to stay in! My host mom, Puri, always tells me, "Me encanta la joventud. Eres guapa y joven necesitas salir." Basically she thinks I'm pretty and being young is great so I should get drunk every night and go dancing.

On Saturday, we visited this city called Ronda that is 2 hours away. It's a very quaint little town and extremely picturesque. I loved it. We accidentally came on the day of the Flamenco festival, which was exciting. It was decorated and crowded. I found delicious passion fruit gelato! No leche either! We walked around, shopped, and just enjoyed the scenery. We were tired towards the end and found our way to a gazebo where other people were hanging out. We chilled in the shade, looked at la vista bonita, and listened to some classical guitar. It was classy!



That night, we all met up in Plaza de San Antonio at 11 and went to La Punta. It's basically a boardwalk where you can drink publicly legally and there are lots of bars and discotecas. Apparently, grinding is not the go to dance here. The Spanish people have an awkward techno dance where they dance at each other like David Colmenares. We had a lot of fun and I started talking to some locals with some of the people in our group for awhile and we practiced our Spanish! Everyone here is pretty friendly and we were all buzzed. I wandered around and bar-hopped until 5:30. I was definitely tired when I got home, but managed to talk to Jake for awhile. He was a little worried, but I didn't know it was going to be like that. Europeans stay out until the sun comes up! Most places close at 7.



I woke up yesterday at 2:45 in the afternoon and went to the beach. We ran into some other Americans who dropped 25 g's on ONE semester abroad doing semester at sea. The majority were private school kids so I guess they are used to it.

Off to the beach!

Life is bittersweet

I love studying abroad. It's exciting, liberating, and enlightening. I love Cadiz and its beaches. I should be happy and I am, but I recently found out that my dog Rico has cancer. He is going to pass away this month and I won't be able to hug him again. It's truly heartbreaking because he is only eight and I am away. Currently, I am having the time of my life, but also dealing with the grief that is consuming my insides because someone I love is dying.

Rico is a great dog. I still remember getting him in the spring when I was in middle school and holding him the entire car ride while he chewed on my overalls. (Yes, I wore overalls, and yes I thought they were awesome). When we would take him on walks as a puppy, he would just lay down when he was tired and we would carry him the whole way home. Rico was always a bundle of sweetness, an angel under a coat of black and white fur. He loved me and showed it to me in many gestures. He used to sleep on my bed and snuggle so hard into me that he would push me enough to take the majority of my bed. When I left for UW and didn't come back for an entire month, he was so mad that he wouldn't let me pet him and would jump off of the couch when I sat next to him for at least the next four times I visited home. Before I left for Spain, my mom would joke about how mad he was going to be at me when I returned. I guess I will never have to experience Rico moody again.

I find that keeping busy and talking about what is happening once in awhile is really helping me deal with this loss. He is more than a dog because he was so personable. Whenever we had a party, he always insisted on introducing himself to everyone by smiling and wagging his tail. I will miss him, but it's the cycle of being a dog owner. You get a puppy, love it and integrate it into your family and as your dog ages, the relationship grows until he passes.



I don't think that him being gone will really set in until I return home and I have two dogs greeting me instead of three. I will finally be able to pet one dog with each hand, but the space in between where Rico should be will hurt and be as empty as the hole in my heart.

THIS IS SO POST WORTHY

I HAVE INTERNET AT MY HOUSE.

I AM SO EXCITED I COULD PEE MY PANTS!

Oh yeah... I live here...

CADIZ

Here's my brief summary of my traveling and first day in Spain!

Sunday: I left my house for Seatac at 4:45 AM with Jake. He dropped me off and gave me a beautiful necklace which made me cry because I was going to miss him and he's a sweetheart. Made it through security, found Dani, and Jesse visited me! I proceeded to board a flight to Houston for four hours and we took off around 7:10 AM. Then, we had a tiny layover and took off to Newark and got in 20 minutes early. Again, a four hour flight. Had a slight layover then had a 7 hour flight to Madrid. Managed to sleep a little, but got progressively sicker. I took two sudafed and some ibuprofen in Madrid while we waited for 5 hours for our one hour flight to Jerez. Needless to say, I passed out before take off and missed landing completely. Dani woke me up.

Got to Jerez and my baggage didn't get lost! YAY! Took a 45 minute ride to Cadiz, met our host moms and went home. I napped until 10 PM Cadiz time and then woke up for 2 hours and then went to sleep after crying my effing eyes out. I was sick and homesick and I wanted to have my mom take care of me and talk to Jake on the phone.

Today, I woke up and it was okay. I had some toast and tea for breakfast and went to class from 9:15 to 1 PM. No big deal because we had a 30 minute break in between. After class, we went and got cells at Movistar and went to the beach after a lunch of lentil soup and fried fish that was super salty because I discovered my host mom smokes in the house. NASTY! Then I went home, checked my email in the plaza and we had a meeting. I got to talk to Jake and Sam on iChat after! It was so awesome to see Jake in a lumberjack shirt like usual. Miss him :) Dinner is at 9:30 PM here so I am going to head home soon!

More later!

Essay Time

Yesterday I drove to UW to pay my tuition. The concurrent enrollment office was closed, so I am going to try next week so that all my forms are in. The reality of my departure is setting in, but I don't really feel much more than anxiety. Truth be told, I am terrified despite how excited I am and how much I am sure I will love where I am going. I will miss my family, my boy, my dogs, and all of my friends. I will probably even miss Seattle, despite how much I say that I hate it and I want to move after I graduate.

I received my housing assignment. I am really close to school in old Cadiz which is what I wanted. I am close to the night life and more importantly, school. I can easily bus to the beach, which I will probably do (or walk four an hour! Get in my exercise!) whenever it's hot out. I want to visit Paris in the winter to see it with all of its Christmas swagger. I want to go to Portugal and maybe even Italy, but I am limited by time and finances.

My trip to China in July was intense. I am glad to be back. Beijing was gorgeous, crowded, and definitely not as hot as Guangzhou. Guangzhou was over 100 and completely humid. My grandmother is an insane woman. I am very thankful for that trip because it brought me closer to my cousin, Ashley, and I got to spend time with my grandparents. I'm not sure when I will see them next.

Life is insanely busy, but I feel like there's a constant lull because my busyness is mostly me being at work doing absolutely nothing.

China in 8 days! I'm so excited! Then SPAIN ON AUGUST 29th!

I am such a traveler. Just makes it hard to volunteer/get a REAL job considering all mine consists of is busy office work. I peeled stickers off of charts for 10.5 hours. Lovely.

I am starting to rethink my career options. Haaaah.

I just bought my tickets to Cadiz! Yay! Studying abroad is totally happening and I am so excited.

Currently writing a paper on why I "support universal healthcare," which is an absolutely lie, but I am a liberal arts major so sacrifices must be made (especially in group papers).

I also scheduled my interview to volunteer at Evergreen! I really hope it happens.

I had my first softball game of summer league on Monday. A double header. I am still sore.

Okay there are the bullet points of my life/highlights of my week.

Dear Biology Gods

I hereby swear to you my complete and utmost faithfulness. I will study you vigorously Monday through Wednesday in order to tackle my exam Thursday. I hope. Please be kind and let other smarter people become really dumb like me for a day.

I love you,
Kelly

This is going to be the best week ever! I am not going to sleep and I am going to have so much fun!

GREEK WEEK! That means partying (if my homework is done, which it is...) and then Crescent Bar with Jake, Sam, Chris, and everyone! I am going to get tan, drink some strawberry daquiris, swim in a pool, and play a shit ton of sports. Pardon my profanity. I'm just so pumped!

SO EXCITED! Time to get gorgeous and go out with my "lovely little love," Jamie!

So I'm in a really weird mood. I am feeling a mixture of laziness, motivation (???), sadness, and joy. First, I am feeling lazy because of my frantic studying on Sunday to prepare for my midterm yesterday (which BLEW) and being sick. I forgot entirely to do my postlab on Webassign so I had to take the automatic extension and get 40% off. Then I was too lazy to do all of my prelab so I only got 44% on that. (It doesn't actually matter because I ended up with 85% total in the class and you only need 60% to pass on the credit/no-credit lab course).

Regardless, my day seemed dismal because despite an iffy 3.5 on my Spanish paper, I didn't do as well on my exam as I wanted to. Yikes. Then I sat in bio lecture in a bad mood despite a cute little plant gift from my adorable old man professor-- I gave the plant to Jake to add to our roof-top jungle we're trying to grow. Dr. Ford is really funny. He frequently goes on tangents. Like today, we were learning about cell walls and how they have pectin, which is what you put in jams. He went on to tell a cute story about how he made lime marmalade and grated granny smith apples into it to thicken it up. Adorable!

Moving on... In physics lab I found out that my awful first physics midterm grade (79/100) was actually FABULOUS because my class is composed of even bigger dumbasses than me! The average was a 49. Hence my motivation to study, despite my more impertinent desire to be lazy because of my sickness.

Also, I went on the elliptical and did a mile and did some abs with Squeak so I'm not a complete sedentary slob.

Weekend

This weekend blew. Friday night I had the best time staying up all night vomiting from food poisoning and then wasting a precious Saturday wasting away because my digestive tract hates me instead of studying for my biology exam that I have tomorrow! Ahh! So now I am a day behind and can barely stomach oatmeal. I am feeling rather queasy and running on just ginger ale is not cool. Stress stress stress.

First Post

Hello world. I am not used to this, but since Dani made a blog, I thought I would too.

I'm so excited for Spain! I cannot wait to hop on a plane and experience something new, even though I love Seattle and will miss everyone.

Our first meeting is tomorrow and I am kinda nervous, but it will be cool to see who else is going with me. Some people from WWU even go so meeting people from there will be great.

Yeah, bear with me. I'm not good at blogging yet. Haha.