Parent Trap - España!

Mom and Dad visit! Met them in the airport in Barcelona (in different terminals, almost didn´t find them because we were all following the classic “stay where you are and it´ll be easier to be found” trick…. Luckily, they ended up calling me). I found them (with Cadbury crème eggs in tow, my one request for something from home, and we took a bus to the city centre where mom slipped on a puddle with her suitcase wheeling along. After that minor trauma, we took the train into Sant Cugat, where Dad’s cousin (Octavio) lives. Everyone was excited and nervous to see Dad’s aunt, but when we arrived, she wasn’t there… We walked around Sant Cugat and casually interrupted a wedding at the cathedral, then headed back to Octavio’s place for lunch. It was fabulous and Octavio told some very enlightening and downright interesting stories about dad’s family and Moçambique. We went into the city after that and embarked on our paella-fest (mom and dad actually came so we could do a paella pilgrimage). We walked through the Ramblas to the Port of Barcelona and the Colón statue where we saw a dirty hobo who looked eerily like Steve’s friend JJ, so much so that we took a picture. When we got back to Octavio’s, they were gone to a party.

The next dayñ, we went to church at the Cathedral in Sant Cugat and sat through a mass that was being said in catalán so I didn’t even understand it, but I’m pretty sure we got the gist of what was going on. We went into Barcelona again and walked around Sagrada Familia, had more paella, and went to Gaudí’s Apartment building (Casa Milá), which was really cool. The roof was bizarre, but there were some cool little stations that explained a bit more about Gaudí’s work and about the Sagrada Familia (the Eiffel tower of Barcelona, according to Octavio). It was cool learning more about what Gaudí was all about (nationalist revival in Spain that attempted to reconceptualise gothic architecture).

We flew into Madrid and caught a cab to their hotel, where we got in touch with Jim and Sheila. Once we got to their room, Jim had already gotten out his Tupperware bottles full of martini fixings. The party had arrived. Jim didn’t believe me when I said restaurants don’t open til 8, but guess what? They didn’t… and don’t! But, we caught some decent tapas and got to walk around Plaza Mayor to the oldest restaurant in Spain, or in the world is how they advertise it here. We had some roast suckling pig and called it a night.

The next day I had class and the elders had bus trips. I met up with them at their hotel after class, and they were exhausted and flustered, definitely proud of the steps they logged on their pedometers (matching pedometers… can you say “adorable”?!). We then went for tapas for dinner and got some chocolate con churros for dessert at the famous San Ginés Chocolatería,ñ which we all gobbled up and “enjoyed,” only to reveal to each other later that they weren’t really that good. That was the night I crashed in their hostel bed with them, which I would prefer not to talk about, and yes, the Plans, Trains and Automobiles joke about a hand being between two pillows WAS thrown around.

Next day, I had class, then my two closest friends here and I met up with the rents at the hotel, we had some drinks and then went for Indian with Jim and Sheils! Mom asked my friend from New Zealand if they “have their own government and everything”… ahaha sorry Mom, but it was kind of funny.

We had a big day ahead of us the next day. I met the gang at El Escorial, which is about an hour trainride from where I live. They had rented a car. El Escorial is a fabulous building, former royal residence with so much art. Also, this is where we started ordering the menu turistico, which is 2 or 3 courses, dessert and drinks for a fixed price around 8-10euros. Pretty good. We drove to Ávila from El Escorial. It was awesome, and the weather just got nicer and nicer throughout the trip. We ate their traditional sugary treat, the yema (which is just an egg yolk that has absorbed so much sugar that it is a gooey ball). We toured St. Teresa of Ávila’s birth home, which has been converted to a Church, and we even saw a relic of St. Teresa’s ring finger, which is preserved in the shop nextdoor to the church. We then went to church in the St. Thomas Aquinas church where the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Ferdinand) had a palace.

The drive from there to Segovia was gorgeous, almost like Tuscany as the Milways pointed out. However, we did get a little lost, as we were navigating using signs and maps of landmarks from guidebooks. Once we got into Segovia, we went to the place where Rick Steve’s recommended to go and had some delicious “lomo,” and it was funny how excited we all were when we ordered a salad and it was a real salad. Usually salad here is served with a fried egg on top and tuna… gross. The next day, we went to see the acueduct, the Alcazar and the Cathedral before driving back to Mad Money to drop mom and dad off at the airport so they could bounce back to Barcelona. After some hectic navigation, we ended up taking the metro to the airport and rushed a farewell to the Mils. Luckily, the next day, I got to say a proper goodbye/hug when I ran into them at Atocha (the Grand Central Station of Madrid… again, you’d think it was a small city, it was the kind of thing again where I never walk through that part of the train station usually, but went on a whim because my friend needed to use the bathroom and… bam. The Mils).

'Twas a LOVELY visit!

Blog-lag... ITALY

So, this is a QUICK run-through of my 10-day Italy trip from 2 weeks ago... Next on the blog queue is a record of when mom and dad (and Sheils and Jim) visited Spain! I've been having so much fun lately, that it's been hard to take a minute to sit down and document it... Also, I do in fact attend school here...

ROME- Before I even landed, I realized how much better-looking/dressed Italians are compared to Spaniards based on the other passengers. The guys are sometimes too well-dressed though. Anyways, the flight attendant was the first of many on this trip who assumed I speak Italian. I don't, and although it's VERY similar to Spanish, it's different enough for me to be confused as heck. I picked it up pretty well by Venice.
-Arrived into Rome via bus shuttle from Ciampino airport, got in touch with Leigh easily. It was late at night at Rome Termini, there were no cabs to be found and I was afraid to ask the creeps and drunks questions... also, I don't know there language so I found my way to the hotel
-Complimentary breakfast at the hotel in Rome was amazing- eggs, bacon-ish stuff- MINI-NUTELLAS and laughing cow cheese with good rolls… better food than Spain already. I made hot chocolate espressos on the coffee machine. It was like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory pretty much
- Got Rome Sightseeing Bus tour through the Piazza with the Bernini fountain (Piazza Bernioli), etc. bus dropped us off at Trevi where we posed with a creepy Roman soldier (then he held out his hand and asked for 10euros, I think we gave him 2… as if I’d pay to be forced to wear a sweaty helmet). I was surprised by Trevi fountain. I had seen it in so many movies (Lizzie McGuire!) and pictures and I imagined it to be in a more open plaza, but it was on the side of a building with two alleys on either side (weird). We had our first taste of pizza that day (in Rome, they fold it in half, it is was… too delicious) ALSO, gelato
-Played with tour volume on bus, but it wasn’t working!! Realized 20mins later that Mrs. Sanna and I were adjusting each other’s volume/language
- Saw Ides of March, Circo Massimo, and the Vatican on PALM SUNDAY… it was like a Catholic beehive, saw the Roman forum, Pantheon, Coliseum
-At the Coliseum, ran into Matt Cairns… we had known that each other was in Rome, but we didn’t think we would be able to all meet up… so, it’s a small world in the life of a tourist
-Circus Maximus was really cool. It used to be an animal market back in the day (WAY back in the day that is)… also, it’s where the she-wolf allegedly suckled Romulus and Remus
- Went to a Restaurant that first night that served the best pasta on the trip potentially (penne alla arrabiata)… I have the address of the place still!
-Next day we took a cab-ride of death to the Vatican, where we had a tour
-Vatican fun facts: Adam’s body in Sistine took 4 days to paint… Michelangelo didn’t even like to paint, priests as late as the Renaissance could marry/ there were popes who had multiple wives and kids, the word ‘nepotism’ comes from the Italian word for ‘nephew’ because popes chose their nephews for prime positions in the papal hierarchy, saw “the torso” and Rodin’s “thinker. The map room was cool, the maps were pretty much correct other than their orientation which placed Rome as the North! There were lots of pagan figures i.e. Mars (sun god) in the papal gardens… have only been open to the public since 1940’s. In order to get there, you walk through a room where Leonardo DaVinci lived! The Vatican City has a passport… and a birthrate of zero. They won't stamp your passport upon entrance :(

Took the train to FLORENCE, walked through the Mercato Centrale (filled with leather bags, jackets, shoes, scarves)… wandered to the Duomo (the beloved church there), but we didn’t know it was the Duomo… we were very impressed by it though. Went to a restaurant for dinner, where the guy showed us to take toasted bread, cut a garlic clove in half and rub it on the toast, salt it, add olive oil and pepper and it is… delicious. The next day, we went on a bus tour of Tuscany. It stopped at Siena where that horse race (il palio) is every year. It was a really cool place, well taken care of. The bank there is the oldest in Italy, and the city is divided into “contrada” or neighbourhoods, each with its own symbol i.e. a shell. We saw St. Catherine of Siena’s burial place… and a creepy construction worker took a picture of me (weird). "Siena" comes from phrase meaning “son of”… the She-wolf is the symbol of Siena, city rival is Florence (ask me about the Ponte Vecchio Butcher/ gold flood story). The church there is pretty amazing, we called it the "Zebra church" because the inside was thick stripes of white and black marble
-Then we stopped at San Gimignano, another medieval hilltop town. Tuscany was amazing. We ended the day off at Pisa, which is a crap town minus the massive fenced off green area that has a church and gorgeous row off buildings that lead up to the Leaning Tower (again, not what I expected)
-They had PASTA VENDING MACHINES in Florence… ridiculous.
- Ran into Leigh Sanna’s Canisius friends on the street in Florence and ended up having dinner with them before we visited my friend Jen who is studying in Florence!
-The next day we went out with Jen and met up with my friend Tommy from high school. It was karaoke night at the bar we went to; so, we sang some Backstreet Boys (it was his choice)

VENICE- took the train in from Florence then a water bus, got lost a million times getting to our hotel because things they consider streets there are what I consider alleys. I was navigating and Mrs. Sanna and Leigh’s aunt had HUGE rolley luggage, so it was pretty bad… Venice had the best ambience. St. Marc’s square at night has an unforgettable aura. With the church lit up and orchestras playing Vivaldi on the café terraces lining the wide open piazza… unbelievable. We met up with our friend Kelly from high school, who joined us for Venice and then was going to Oviedo, Spain to hang out with Leigh. The Ponte Rialto is the huge main bridge, and we got a gondola at Piazza Manin. The gondolier offered us a free nighttime gondola ride, but we didn’t go because Mrs. Sanna didn’t want us to. We saw a house where Mozart lived and Casanova’s house (across from a church, how’s that for irony)…. And we spent Easter morning having coffee in St. Marc’s square. Unforgettable views in Venice and Murano glass items everywhere. It was my favourite excursion, though the Roman food was pretty good.

We had AMAZING weather the whole time, and I was in Rome during that fatal earthquake that was fairly closeby, we were about 30km from the fault. I slept through the earthquake, but everyone else kind of half woke-up. Leigh's Aunt Wendy thought they were being robbed. Italy was fantastic. I am still tired, fat and broke from it. Loved every second though/ can't complain. When I got back to Madrid, my friend Brigid from high school was meant to be in Madrid, but I didn't have phone credit and she didn't have internet at her hostel; so, I was afraid I wouldn't see her. Wouldn't you know, I walked down a path I NEVER take to a destination I always walk to in the city center, and I see her little face in the window of a RANDOM restaurant! We got to hang out the next night, and it was great having a familiar face in Madrid!

Sorry this post took so long. I've had some school work and some visitors :) of which I will talk about in my next post! Contrary to popular believe, I do attend school HOWEVER we have the long weekend off for Dia 2 de Mayo (yes, in Madrid we celebrate 2 de Mayo, not 5 de Mayo)... ANYways, my friends and I are headed to MALAGA for the long weekend to lie on the beach at on the Costa del Sol (the south coast, on the Mediterranean/ overlooking the strait of Gibraltar). It's my first foray into Andalusia, and I cannot wait! I really deserve a vacation, it's a hard life... just kidding/ don't kill me everybody. I'm thinking of you guys! I'll try to be better about the blogging!
PS- SOME of my Italy pics are up on kodakgallery... My computer freaks out at uploading, so I will try to upload the other ones later :)
PPS- keep the Ellie pics/vids coming, I can't get enough. Wish I could have been at the B'tism

Spock Bangs

So, I needed a haircut, and there was this place in the mall where we go grocery shopping. My friend and I decided to go in and check it out as it was not too expensive. The lady was rude right off the bat, telling me she really thinks she should dye my hair because she can see my roots and mocking me behind my back when I said I didn't want her to dye it. Yeah, there was a mirror in front of me. Not only was she a bad hairdresser, she was just plain stupid.

Anyways, so I'm explaining to her that I want just a simple haircut, minimum cut, a trim. So, she asks "2 fingers" length is a good length to cut off the bottom, and I say, "yes, that's great"... So, she literally goes around my head with her two fingers measuring and snipping. So, let me first just establish that she essentially put a bowl on my head and cut around as the actual haircut itself. She didn't thin it out or anything, ask about layers... She literally just cut around. ANYWAYS, it gets to the part where she's trying to figure out how I part my hair. So, I showed her where my part is and which side I wear my hair to. I was explaining to her how my forehead is small and she was like, "yes, it is really small," and I was like, "yes, thanks... anyways, I wear my hair to the right"... So, she looks at my hair and measures it up, and she goes "cortito?" CHOP. Cortito means "Really short"... And she chopped the SHORTEST little bangs I've ever seen. And I go, "no, no, no, NOOOO.. stop, no shorter"... so, she doesn't cut shorter. She brings a THIN layer of hair infront of the short wisps and cuts longer Wisps. So, literally I have two layers of these thin, wispy, uneven bangs. You could see through the first layer to the shorter layer. So, it was literally like she was trying to play up the 3-dimensional quality of my hair. It wasn't even laying flat, and was sticking out in front of me, blowing in the wind. I don't even know what she was going for at that point. Anyways, I was mortified and actually just laughing at that point. It's like she wanted my hair to stick out and touch whomever I was talking to. Who would want such an interactive hairdo?!? So, she cut diagonal bangs to the right, as if to say "look, you can wear it to the right now." and I was LIVID. She dried my hair and I ran away, I told her it wasn't what I had wanted, so she gave me a few euros discount and I stormed off. She could do no more damage.

Anyways, I would NEVER have asked for bangs in a million years. The last time I had bangs, they looked like this:

Furthermore, at least those bangs were all one, semi-appropriate length, albeit the part in this photo starts at the back of my head and sweeps all of the hair on my head into the bangs. REGARDLESS, I now had a horrendous version of the Spanish bangs I make fun of on the train and in class on a daily basis. Perhaps it was kharma, perhaps it was some sick April Fool's joke. Either way, I was the butt of it.

So, I went back home, and my friend evened the bangs out, leaving them so short. My hair looks like a sick imitation of Spock, but perhaps more aptly, it truly looks like a Cleopatra wig. My hair looks like a Cleopatra wig, and I have never wanted bangs.

The only consolation is that hair grows. Oh, and also the fact that there were 3 girls in my first class of the day today that had that haircut WILLINGLY (I assume, unless the crazy, I'm assuming unlicensed hairdresser I went to also got a hold of them)

Anyways, so, I can wear my hair about 2 ways. One way makes me look like Audrey Hepburn's ethnic, institutionalized cousin...

The other way makes me look like I'm wearing a costume wig of Cleopatra. Also, it reminds me far too much of the way Penelope Cruz wore her hair to the BAFTA awards which I gawked at in a "what was she thinking? i'm never getting bangs" sort of way...... adding to this, I am not Penelope Cruz, so seriously people must be wondering what I'm thinking.

Okay, maybe it's not HORRIBLE, but it is traumatizing, and I do really regret it. However, I understand there are more serious issues in the world, and I will still enjoy my trip to Italy this upcoming week. All of my friends are heading off in their respective directions for Holy Week. Some are going to Sevilla, some to London, some to Galicia and Portugal, some to Barcelona, and I might even be meeting up with some high school friends (other than Leigh) in Italy!! So, it looks like it's shaping up to be a good holiday... despite my current resemblance to a certain Star Trek character.

Lisbon, why did our ancestors ever leave?

So the trip over to Lisbon was more or less like the movie Rat Race. One of my friends was unable to use her credit card to book a flight online; so, she ended up having to take a bus. And my other friend had accidentally booked the wrong flight to Lisbon… she booked a flight that was leaving Madrid at the same time as the flight we had discussed BUT the day before. So we were all arriving at different times, and the two others were arriving the night before me. Our mobiles didn’t work in Lisbon (or were too expensive to function), and the hostel we had planned on meeting at was overbooked. So, there was a huge miscommunication at the start of the trip and lots of panicked e-mails to people who didn’t have access to computers, etc. I had to spend the night in the Madrid airport to avoid spending money on a taxi, but I ended up running into 2 girls from class who were in a similar situation; so, it ended up being pretty pleasant. Once we all finally found each other in Lisbon, we were definitely excited.

Day 1 we got to our hostel and dropped our stuff off. The hostel owner perked up at the sight of my last name and kept calling me Maria and telling me all the directions to places (like I can speak Portuguese…and well, I was the only one of the three of us who had any sort of experience with the language… which doesn’t bode well, but I was actually pretty functional). We ended up finding our way around fine. We walked around the entire city, to a castle, just stopping and peeking into little shops or stumbling upon terraces and gaping at the view of the ocean. The weather was 23 degrees Celsius and sunnier than anything. It wasn’t muggy heat though, it was really nice (twisting the knife, I’m sorry). We had been walking around all day and decided to have a picnic in a botanical garden; so, we stopped into a little fruit shop and got cheese, rolls (Portugal has the BEST bread), salami, wine and a bunch of bananas, plums, and strawberries. We just sat around in the sun and enjoyed that. Then we went back to the hostel and took a nap before we went out that night. We went to a couple bars and I tried a caiparinha a.k.a. the mojito’s crazy cousin. If you waited for the ice to melt and stirred it a lot, it was okay, but… at points it tasted like cough syrup. Very strange. Anyways, we ended up at this club where there were two djs in a row of pretty weird electro/hip-hop stuff, but fortunately we ended up sticking around because this underground hip-hop “legend” from the UK showed up and did an impromptu show. We had never heard of him, but we decided to make the most of it and ran up to the front and were dancing crazy and throwing our hands in the air like we just [don’t] care. It was so fun, until we realized there were cameras there recording the gig, and at one point one of my friends went up on stage with a bunch of other people (I got shy). Anyways, we’re thinking there will be videos of this up on youtube at some point, and I haven’t decided if this is a good thing or not…

Day 2 we went to the beach in Cascais, a half-an-hour train ride east on the coast. It was gorgeous and we just lay around for the afternoon and then headed back to town to catch a traditional fado show, two guys playing guitar and a bunch of solo vocalists singing traditional Portuguese musics, odes to Lisboa and the like. We ate a traditional Portuguese meal, I had bacalhau à lagareiro, a salty cod fillet that was grilled and served with small roasted potatoes and grilled onion and pepper and it sat in a bunch of olive oil. So good… so rich.

Day 3 we walked around and then took a train 20 minutes east along the coast to the cultural center at Belem (Bethlehem). We went to this famous pasteis de nata pastry “factory” and grabbed some of those delights as well as some coffee. Then, we had collected enough energy to go to a contemporary art museum there and then lay around in a park in front of the Monastery of the Jeronimos. Then we grabbed some fresh fruit from a fruit store and headed off to the airport and caught our plane home. When we got home, it was almost midnight and we caught the last train home… which we had to run to catch and would have been a crying shame to have missed, as we would have had to wait an hour and a half for a bus, and we had class the next morning.

It’s allergy season in Spain and Portugal; so, I got some medicine from the Farmacia here, but… it’s still a pain in the butt. I can’t really complain though, other than the fact that the allergies were aggravated at the beach, which is very weird to me. I think that was the first beach I’ve been on in 6 years or something ridiculous like that; so, it felt pretty good, and the sun wasn’t too intense, but I’m pretty golden brown I suppose. I’ll be getting my disposable camera pictures back tomorrow. So, I’ll post those when they come! Okay, I should go get some Smithwicks (if they sell it) and celebrate St. Paddy’s day!

P.S. Lisbon might be better than Barcelona....

Toledo Santo

So... after a bit of deliberation, I have decided that Toledo beats out Segovia for the best Madrid daytrip I have been on. They are very similar vibes, straight out of medieval times... and they are both very accessible (2 hours North to Segovia, a little over an hour south to Toledo), affordable (12 euro train roundtrip to Segovia, 8 euro bus roundtrip to Toledo), and they are both teeming with history.

Toledo is a bit bigger than Segovia, and there was a path you could go down that Don Quixote traveled down in the book. There is a Jewish influence in Toledo that there isn't in Segovia. This influence is fairly restricted to one small neighbourhood with some old synogogues. Also, there is a really nice cathedral here, that is less aesthetically appealing from the outside than the one in Segovia, but, you can go through the backdoor and get a peek for free (or pay 7euro to enter the front door); whereas, you have to pay to get into the cathedral in Segovia. Toledo also has more artisan work (mainly gold, leather and swords... as I mentioned, this is where the Lord of the Rings swords were crafted). It is interesting because I got a cheap necklace with a cross, and the patterns on it are almost gaelic-looking. Any boys would go crazy for the weaponry and armour in the windows, pretty cool-looking stuff, and I kept saying "my brothers would love that"... somehow, my friends were under the impression that they are 12 years-old or so... and I said they pretty much are! Hah just kidding...

Toledo has a nice art gallery and the house of El Greco. Also, there is a really cool fairy tale bridge on the south side of the city that goes over a gorgeous river. The views really were great. The only downside is that Alcazar, the castle in Toledo, is under construction so we couldn't go there. And, as many know, I was quite taken with the Segovian alcazar. We didn't have a meal in Toledo; so, I'm not so sure what they have that would rival the Segovian pig hoof, but I did see some promising signs for paella. Toledo is full of little restaurants you just want to take pictures of and quaint alleyways. While I was there, one of my friends had a toledana, which is a traditional pastry, crusty and scone-shaped, with hard frosting flaked on the top and filled with pumpkin marmalade, if that makes sense. I tried some, and it was pretty good, very sweet. I tried marzipan (mazapan) that was shaped like little fish. They sell it everywhere, and it's a pretty big deal there. It was really delicious, too sweet perhaps, like bread with doughy, sugar clumps keeping it together. It was my first experience with marzipan, and I'd say it was overall a good one.

What really set my trip to Toledo apart from my trip to Segovia was the weather. It was about 72 and sunny on Saturday, and we walked everywhere. It seemed like EVERY hill was uphill, I don't think that's possible, but maybe in Toledo. The little shops around Toledo are so interesting, especially if you had a lot of money and were going to be renovating a house or something, there were antique lantern shops and decorative glassware, pretty cool stuff! Also, we sat around in a park for an hour or so that was really gorgeous in the sun.

I shouldn't judge Segovia on account of its weather... though snow is obviously such nonsense! I would say the Roman aqueduct and alcazar there are very cool, and the trainride a bit more picturesque than the mostly urban busride to Toledo... even though I said Toledo wins out, it is definitely a close call.

Sorry this post is kind of rambling and not well-written. I'm exhausted, and I have to brush up on my elementary-level portuguese so I can navigate my friends and myself around Lisbon this weekend!! Again, the pics for this post are on my disposable cam. So, be patient. Okay, I'm going to go now. Until later!

TGIViernes!

So, I'm just having a relaxed Friday night at home, updating the blog... add a pint of ice cream and a dozen cats and I would sound pretty pathetic. BUT on the contrary, I am up to some pretty cool stuff! Some of my friends were going out tonight, but my friend Julia and I are going to Toledo tomorrow around 9am... It was the former capital of Spain (and where they made the swords for Lord of the Rings... look how cool I am now ha). Anyways, we're just going for the day and coming back to hit the town tomorrow night! I'll take some pictures with my disposable cam! You'll all have to be a tad bit patient (how conditioned we are to the instant gratification of the digital camera)! The bus to Toledo is only 4euros. So, it's a pretty good deal, and I've heard it's really cool. The painter El Greco had a house (now museum) there!

Hmm, what else happened today? I went grocery shopping. Oh, I got up early for a morning class that ended up being cancelled. It was worth going though because a girl in the class told me I look a lot like Aishwarya Rai... I walked away without administering an eye exam because when all else fails, there's always delusion! I'll take what I can get!

Oh, I also booked a trip to Lisboa today (don't call it Lisbon or the locals will think you are saying "lesbian"). I'm going with two of my friends, the aforementioned Julia (the Aussie, far left with black hoodie in first pic below and then the one really close to the camera in the 2nd) and one of the Germans, Sibs or Sibkins (one pictured in the white hoodie...I call her these names because I quite frankly cannot pronounce/don't really know her name). I'm so excited because it's supposed to be 20 grados (20 degrees C... I think that converts to about 70 degrees F) and sunny!! It's been cold for the past two days in Madrid, but I won't say the temperature because I understand it's all relative! So.........I'm SO excited to go to a city/country where finding a novelty item with the name "Marie Figueiredo" printed on it isn't absurd! Call me crazy... I just want a nice license plate or pen with my name on it for once!

I'm excited, and hopefully I will be able to go to Cristiano Ronaldo's CR7 boutique that his sister runs. And if she tries to set me up on a date with her brother, then so be it... Sorry, what was I saying? I think I just drifted off into a daydream!

Okay, I'm going to take a shower and do some homework and get my act together! I'll post a few pictures from last weekend so you guys don't think my friends are "Gossi"s... I hope all the Rochesterians have fun celebrating CAT's bday.

so, 2 of the pics below were taken by Jess'(denim jacket) camera, and 2 by dad's old Palm Pilot. Guess which are which...

Update!

Hey everybody, sorry this post is so delayed!! I've been pretty bad about this and even keeping in touch with people because my residence internet sometimes goes down for 2 days at a time... pretty frustrating! Anyways, I'm sure many of you are aware that the digital camera I received for Christmas is gone forever... possibly into the hands of gypsy children at the open-air market near the Sol/the city center. Also, for the gypsy-fearing, here's a funny little sidenote- there is a Christmas carol here that talks about how Joseph told the gypsies in Bethlehem to watch their hands because he didn't want them to steal the baby Jesus. Pretty funny, and definitely reflective of the Spanish culture's xenophobia (in my opinion)... that's a generalization. Anyways, I was almost pick-pocketed again today, I'm pretty sure... but I was prepared this time.

I was in this store called Blanco with one of my friends just browsing, and I had my wristlet with a couple of euros in it (all my important stuff was hidden away)... ANYways, this guy and his girlfriend were next to me looking at shirts, and the guy was putting shirts in his hand one by one and ever so gently pulled my wallet between two shirts. Little did he know, my wallet is attached to my wrist, and I had the wallet in my hand... so I felt it leave my hand and shot him a look of pure and utter loathing... he had this unapologetic look on his face and knew EXACTLY what he was doing, and I pulled my wallet away and told him exactly what Joseph said to the gypsies ("cuidadido con las manos"... "careful with your hands")... in retrospect, I should have added an expletive. Luckily, he hadn't taken anything, but my adrenaline was definitely pumping after that!

Okay, let's see, other than that what's going on?! Oh, I'm taking 5 classes (3 spanish -- Morphology, the history of the Spanish language from the 15th century on, and Varieties in Peninsular Spanish)... I'm taking two electives because I can (one is in English on Contemporary English Poetry and the other is in Spanish and is about the History and Culture of the U.S. hahaha). It's actually really interesting learning about the U.S. from this vantage point. I have to read the spanish translation of this article on the American frontier that I read in AP U.S. History 4 years ago. I thought that was pretty funny.

It is unbelievable how much I learn from just going to class and listening to the professors speak Spanish. On Tuesday and Thursday, I have a full day of classes, and I sit there all day, mostly understanding (if I'm concentrating)... at the end of the day last Thursday, I seriously felt brain dead, and was speaking Spanish to one of my classmates but was really struggling. It was really discouraging, and I was so confused because I felt like I was really progressing. Anyways, that night, I had a dream that was partly in Spanish (I've had a few). Then, the next day, I woke up and my facility for the language was so good. Honestly, it astounds me what the brain absorbs when you're not even really aware.

So, I was talking to Emily on the phone yesterday, and she was saying she'd love to know what I do on a daily basis because... I just write about day-trips and such. It's so weird writing about mundane daily things if you're living them, but I understand that you guys might find them interesting (or at least Emily will)... mostly because even little things here are quite different.
So, my weekday starts with a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) with some of my friends at the Filosofia y Letras Cafe on campus. The friends I speak of are an Australian girl, a New Zealand girl and 2 German girls... give or take some random Italian and German acquaintances who we see around campus. The Spanish students are pretty cliquey but nice if you get to know them apart from their group. The Spanish guys are nicer to us girls than the Spanish girls are, which I guess is to be expected? Kind of weird though. Anyways, I am thinking the cliquey-ness might have to do with the fact that it's 2nd semester... I'm thinking I'll give that situation a little time. The rest of the day is spent in class, then I come home and make dinner or do homework, and a couple nights a week I'll go into the city center and either go to a cafe or pub or do salsa or just hang around with friends... it's a really cool city. There are random mariachi bands just playing music in the middle of the plazas, and everybody and their brother is milling around! It's a very fun atmosphere and a great way to meet people and speak Spanish and just hang out with friends.

I've been here for a little over a month now... how crazy is that? I looked at the pictures on Ofoto of EAW and Sara's 30th and I spied Elephant Wallace in the background of one picture!! I'm glad I have a proxy... and I'm really glad I sewed a camcorder into that stuffed animal so I can hear what you guys are talking about hahah (I wish I had the foresight). Mostly of course, I just looked at EAW. What a darling!! Those eyes and that little baby body, way too cute!! I feel like I might come home with a suitcase full of baby souvenirs, like Real Madrid onesies and diaper bloomers with Penelope Cruz's face on them (I bet they sell them... she's a national obsession). Anyways, I should probably go do some homework. I have to read a chapter about segmentation in Spanish morphology... should be a blast! I hope everyone is doing well, enjoyed their Mardi Gras and is having a productive Lent.

Speaking of Lent, one more thing... I have my Easter plans booked. I'm going to Italy for 1.5 weeks (Rome, Florence and Venice)... We're taking a train through the country! I'm so excited, let me know if anyone has been to Italy and has any suggestions!!!!

Miss you guys!!