Everything Should Be Considered Beautiful

Road Trip Part II: Sites of Portugal

2011-04-29T12:39:00.000+02:00

Sunday morning, we got up and decided to just hit the road because we had places to go and things to see in other parts of Portugal!
Our first two stops were both cities just outside Lisbon; we started our day off going to Sintra. We went to Sintra to see the famous Pena Palace (not knowing at the time it was called that, of course), which is a castle (palace) build during the 19th century and is said to be one of the best representations of Romanticist architecture.

The reason for all of the different colors is because Romanticism was all about having an eclectic mix of styles from many different time periods. The Palace basically looks like something out of a Disney movie come to life! We only paid to see the grounds and exterior of the palace, but I'm sure it would have been worth it to see the inside if we'd had more time.

(Olivia and Me at Pena Palace, Sintra)

We ended up eating lunch at an amazing Indian restaurant in the town before getting back on the road (who would have thought we'd eat Indian food in Portugal!).
Our next stop was in Cascais, Portugal where we were looking for the Mouth of Hell or Boca do Inferno.

(Boca do Inferno, Cascais)

Not only was the Mouth of Hell amazing, but we the cliffs along the coast at Cascais were just remarkable!

It was already getting to be later in the afternoon by that point and we had to drive down to the southern coast, so we spent the rest of the day in the car. We got to Sagres, Portugal, aka the end of the world, after it was already dark and found a sneaky little drive-in spot to camp for the night.

(Our make-shift camping spot)

We knew we had camped on some cliffs, but since it was dark, we didn't realize what kind of a beautiful place we'd stumbled upon. I was the first one to wake up in the morning (after a pretty terrible night sleeping on the ground) and was instantly in awe of the view I had the privilege of waking up to seeing.

(Olivia and Me at the end of the world...more or less)

We all took some time to explore the cliffs and enjoy the morning before we got in the car again, heading to Lagos. It wasn't a very long drive, but it was the one with the most reward at the end. We immediately found the beach and I think my heart stopped. The first beach we went to in Lagos is my new favorite place in the entire world.

The sand was incredible; large grains, but super soft and squishy. I could have stayed on that beach the whole day! It was great as well because we got there in the late morning and it was kinda cloudy, so there was practically no one else on the beach with us. The water was pretty rough, splashing up on the cliffs with every wave, the sound was powerful, but very relaxing.

(Colleen, Olivia and Me in Lagos)

Then we drove to the other side of town and ate a late breakfast, wandered around the town for a bit...I bought a new dress and then we went to another beach that was completely the opposite of the first. Small grain, white(er) sand, zero rocks or cliffs, tranquil waves and miles of open beach.

We goofed around on the beach for a while, practicing handstands and cartwheels, doing yoga and having a push-up contest. It's moments like the one we spent on that beach, that I will always remember and will always look back on with a smile.

(Troy showing off on the beach)

Our fun was over when it started to rain, so we ran back to the car and started on our way back toward Spain (which we didn't want to do!). We reached Cadiz, Spain a few hours later and struggled to find a good spot to camp for the night that was secluded and where we wouldn't get into trouble. In our searching though, we found yet another amazing beach...one straight out of a postcard or romantic movie. It was one of the picturesque beach of the Costa del Sol and Troy was ecstatic about finding it.

We watched the sun start to set over the ocean and basked in our luck of being able to see so many amazing places in one day.

That night we camped at a nature reserve just outside of Cadiz, it was chilly, so we ate sandwiches in the car, drank sangria and talked for hours about life before finally setting up camp.

More to come soon!

Chau!

Road Trip Part I: Lisbon, Portugal

2011-04-26T19:05:00.000+02:00

All the way back in February, my best girl friends and I decided that we were going to go on a road trip for our time off during Holy Week (Semana Santa). Originally we had a big plan to go all through Portugal and Spain, but felt conflicted because we wanted to see some of the special happenings in Granada during Semana Santa. Portugal seemed the most important place for all of us to see, so we just decided that we would spend extra time there instead of driving hours upon hours (which we ended up doing anyway!). A couple weeks before we left, we talked Troy into coming with us...and thus begins the trip of a lifetime.

Our destinations in Portugal were Lisbon, Sagres (also known as the "end of the world") and Lagos; our stops in Spain would be Cadiz and Marbella. We rented a car from Friday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon from the city of Málaga because it was cheaper than from Granada. We decided to stay in a hotel for two nights in Lisbon and then camp by the beach the other three nights we were gone. Here's a general route of our trip:

(The part along the coast is the return trip to Málaga...sorry I didn't know how to make the two lines separate colors to distinguish)

Friday morning we were all packed up and got on the bus to Málaga, picked up our rental car, stopped by a grocery store to pick up traveling food and we were on our way to Portugal around 2pm. Our first day we got lost quite a few times, we had directions on my computer, but getting through cities proved to still be challenging for us. Needless to say, we got lost just trying to get out of Málaga; we ended up on a different highway then we planned, but it ended up being great because we got to see some extra pretty parts of Spain.

(Just outside of Rhonda, Spain)

We drove all that day, getting lost periodically and making up a route as we went. It was pretty frustrating at times, but we all worked together really well. There were places we drove through that were exquisite, especially once we got into Portugal and we got to see the most beautiful sunset! When we finally reached Lisbon, we were all so excited, although tired and hungry and then managed to get lost in the big city for around two hours. We finally reached our hotel at 12:30am Saturday.

None of us really knew much about Lisbon or what there is to see there, but that made our day there kind of fun and special, we just wandered around and followed where the other people were going and ran into some great sites. Before any of that happened, we ate the most amazing breakfast at a bakery downtown...the breads and pastries in the window looked so good, we all ordered two things each and just ended up making a buffet for ourselves.

(Me enjoying breakfast! Photo Credit: Olivia Boots)

Everywhere we went in Portugal, the people were so friendly and helpful, but I think our waiter at this place was probably our favorite of all...we was just a really sweet and funny old man.

After stuffing our faces with delicious carbs, we started exploring and immediately came across a famous arch and plaza in Lisbon dedicated to famous explorers from Portugal.

(Arco da Rua Augusta)

(Olivia, Me and Colleen celebrating our sunny day in Lisbon. Photo Credit: Olivia Boots)

On our way up to a castle that we could see at the top of a hill, we wandered into one of the beautiful cathedrals of Lisbon that was getting ready for Palm Sunday and unlike churches in Spain, we were able to go in for free.

(Inside Church Santa Maria Maior)

The next site was Saint George's Castle, it had a great view of the ocean and the whole city of Lisbon. It wasn't the most interesting place we visited, but it was cool to see, maybe if we knew about the history of it then we would have done more than just walk around aimlessly. :)

(Olivia, Colleen and Troy)

Then we went to the Saint Anthony's Cathedral, an early Baroque styled cathedral with a beautiful white exterior. We spend a few minutes there taking some time to relax and recuperate energy.

Then, we embarked on a ridiculously long walk across town. On the map it didn't seem so long, but we realized about half way into it that we should have taken the Metro instead. But we walked along the water which was nice and got to see parts of the city I'm sure most tourists don't see. We were headed to la gran ola (big wave) as Troy called it, it was the only site he knew of in Lisbon and really wanted to see it.

The "big wave" turned out to be a monument to the discoveries made by Portuguese explorers and it certainly was big! Unfortunately, we got there after it closed, but there is a museum inside that tells about the history of the monument and various explorers.

Right across the street from the monument is the Jeronimos Monastary, which from the outside was gorgeous! There was a beautiful park in front with ponds and fountains and the building itself is very detailed and ornate. Also unfortunately, we got there after hours, but were able to go in the chapel because a mass was being held at the time. That chapel is where Vasco de Gama is buried, the Portuguese explorer who discovered India.

That concluded our touring of Lisbon for one day, we were all wiped out and there was a Real Madrid - FC Barcelona soccer match that night, so we found a restaurant to eat, hang out and watch the game.
It was a great and highly productive day of touristing...this post is quite long from it, but we really did see a lot of things in one day! We all loved Lisbon and like I said, the people were incredibly nice and helpful to us! Most of the time they spoke in broken Portuguese/Spanish to us, but many of the people spoke English very well and clearly.

This will be all for now, it seems our roadtrip will take a few posts to get through it all, so I will try to post again soon!
Thanks for reading!

Chau!

Birthday birthday!

2011-04-21T16:30:00.002+02:00

Even though I am pretty behind on my blogging, I thought I would also share about my 21st birthday that happened about two weeks ago on the 10th of April. The day before my birthday, Saturday, I hung out with my good friends, we ate brunch (Swedish pancakes made by me haha!), laid in the sun and then my friend Olivia made me a beautiful rainbow cake!

There was also a Falla that had been set up in a plaza downtown and that night they burned it...I decided they were just celebrating my birthday.

Fallas are normally burned in Valencia, Spain for the celebration of Saint Joseph, but for some reason they set one up in Granada just before the start of Holy Week and burned it on my birthday. It was really cool to see; there were fireworks going off and people dressed up in traditional clothing...great way to start off my birthday since the celebration didn't end til way past midnight.

On my actual birthday, Sunday, we went to a near-by beach called Nerja. It was a beyond gorgeous day and the perfect way to spend a birthday...doing nothing! We played in the sea, laid in the sun and just enjoyed our time relaxing.

Olivia, Kelsey, Troy and Me on the beach in Nerja getting ready to drink a Mimosa.

Olivia and Me

I didn't have the typical American 21st birthday, didn't get belligerently drunk at any point in time, but I'm perfectly okay with that. I think I probably had the coolest birthday of anyone I know...who can say they spent their 21st birthday on a beach in Spain?! Not many people. :)

Chau!!

Mom's Visit: London

2011-04-21T16:29:00.000+02:00

To continue our story of Mom's visit, I now need to tell about our time in London. I want to start off by saying that London is a HUGE city, I think the biggest one I've ever been to in my entire life. But it was really pretty at the same time and didn't have the same sewer smell that a lot of big Spanish cities have, so that was really nice.
We arrived there Thursday afternoon and after checking into our hotel we went to the also very huge department store of Harrods.

Harrods carries everything that is expensive and luxurious, it has five stories and is just plain massive. I thought that the Macy's in Chicago was big (and it very well is), but Harrods feels a hundred times bigger; I'm not sure that it actually is, but it just has a feeling of greatness.
Every floor has it's own dinning area and not just a mall eating area, actual restaurants and cafes. All of the products are designer and there are a million sales representatives, so no one would ever be left waiting in line to be helped. It's a beautiful store overall, but also a tourist attraction in and of itself, so not the ideal shopping environment for someone with cash to blow. We ate a delicious, but very pricey, lunch there before heading over to see Buckingham Palace.

It pretty much looks like a building of political purpose and the statue of Queen Victoria in the front is very pretty with lots of depictions of Greek and Roman Gods as well. We walked around the Palace and watched the guards for a few minutes; it really is amazing that they don't move...seriously, they just stand there, not even a twitch!

Saint James' park is right next to Buckingham, so we took a nice stroll through it and watched all the funny little birds wander around. It's a beautiful park; there were tons of fresh, brightly colored flowers and a pond where the swans and ducks could swim. I was informed that it is a federal offense in London to harm or kill any swan because they are property of the Queen herself.
Then we walked over to Trafalgar Square where the National Gallery is and watched a few street performers, but we were all tired and went back to our hotel to find a place to eat. We ended up going to a pub just down the street that had amazing food. We all left so stuffed because we couldn't stop eating! I had fish with spinach and mashed potatoes and I got so full that I couldn't finish my Guinness.

The next day we got straight to touring London and first went to Westminster Abbey, unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures in the Abbey, but it was gorgeous building with tombs and monuments of lots of historic figures. Mom was really excited to see the Abbey because of the Royal Wedding that is coming up at the end of the month. Across the street from the Abbey is Parliament and Big Ben, it was really cool to see both up close because they are so beautiful and intricately detailed.

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

After the Abbey, we ate lunch at a cute little pub called Albert's and had more amazing food and beers! The English sure have the right idea of what comfort food is! I definitely couldn't eat it all the time, but dishes with mashed potatoes, roasted meat and cooked veggies covered in sauces and gravies are simply delicious...very different from Spanish food for sure!
Next we went to Westminster Cathedral, the largest cathedral in London and the one that still has frequent masses.

Westminster Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

The interior of the cathedral is amazing! All of the ceilings are mosaics made with tiny pieces of tile to create different scenes from the Bible and pictures of Saints. It was mesmerizing. The cathedral also has an elevator up to the top of the tower where you can get a great view of the entire city. It was really pretty up there, but I just like over-looks of cities anyway.

Our final destination for the day was the Tower of London. Despite what you might think, it's not a tower at all! It's actually the old fortress of London and was also used as a jail. It is right on the Thames river and was the place where Anne Boleyn was jailed and beheaded...if you know anything about English history that might be interesting to you.

Mom and Me with the Tower of London in the background.

The Tower is also where the crown jewels are currently kept, when the Royals are not using them. Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures of them either, but it was cool to see them. They are way too pretty and one of the scepters contains the world's largest cut diamond!
At the Tower you can see the Tower Bridge, which is the bridge commonly mistaken for the London Bridge, but we didn't go across it.

Tower Bridge

We were pretty exhausted after that and went back to the hotel to hang out and rest before dinner. We ended up going to the same pub we went the night before and all had wonderful food and beers once again!
The next morning, I left for Spain early in the morning and had to say goodbye to Mom, Donna and Cori (their flight back to the States left later in the day). Over all it was a wonderful trip and it was so great to spend time with my Mom...it's freaken hard to be away from her for such a long period time! And since she had just had shoulder surgery when I went home after Christmas, I couldn't hug her then, so it was nice to be able to give her lots of big hugs this visit! :)

Typical London picture!

Bye for now!

* P.S. - Sorry for the lateness of this post, I started it and just had time to finally finish it now. I will be posting a lot in the next few days about my birthday, the roadtrip to Portugal and Semana Santa here in Spain. :)

Mom's Visit: Spain

2011-04-03T20:56:00.000+02:00

This past week I have had the wonderful blessing of my very own Mommy coming to visit me here in Granada! As I wrote before, she came with her best friend, Donna, and Donna's daughter, Cori. It was so good to see all of them and have a piece of home here in Spain!
They arrived here in Granada on Monday after a long day of travel and some frustrations, but it was so great to see their faces and luckily I was able to greet them at their hotel! We all went out for a late dinner, well at Spanish dinner time, and my friend Olivia came with us.
Tuesday, I still went to my normal classes because they are in the early morning and the three of them went to see the Alhambra. When we met up in the early afternoon, it sounded like they didn't have the best Alhambra experience for various reasons (which made me wish I had skipped class to go with them!), but they still enjoyed it. We went out for lunch by the river, at a place that looked up at the Alhambra. Then all went to the Cathedral of Granada and the Capilla Real, where Ferdinand and Isabella, "The Catholic Monarchs", are buried. The Cathedral is a great site to see and I think they were all pleased with that visit.

Then, we took a stroll and did some tourist shopping as well as got some tapas, to complete the "real" Granada experience, of course!

The next morning we headed off to Málaga for the day. Our flight on Thursday was out of the Málaga airport and in order to avoid a long bus ride first thing in the morning we decided to stay the night there instead. And what a great idea it was! We stayed at a hotel that was literally right on the beach; it was beyond amazing. We were up in the fourth floor and had an wonderful view of the Mediterranean.

We spent pretty much the whole afternoon and evening on the beach, enjoying the water, picking up tons of seashells and sea-glass and soaking up the warm Spanish sun. It was a perfect relaxing day and I'm so glad that Mom, Donna and Cori got to have at least one day of their vacation to relax and not worry about traveling and seeing sites.

We may have not done much in Málaga, but it was not a day lacking in excitement, we were all so happy to be at the beach and it was Mom's first time seeing the Mediterranean sea!
The next day we left for London in the late morning, but we did so much that I think I will save all of that for the next post. But I will leave you with a few amazing pictures of the sunrise we saw Thursday morning over the sea, it was breathtaking.

Ciao!

P.S.- In personal news, just a week til I'm the big 21.

Visitors

2011-03-26T10:00:00.001+01:00

Today is a very special day! In about 12 hours, my Mom will be boarding an airplane headed for Europe! She's traveling with her best friend, Donna and Donna's daughter, Cory. They will first stop in London for a day and then come here to Granada for the first half of the week and after that I am going with them back to London for a few days. I have never been in England, but I am excited to see the city that enchants so many people and I'm excited to be able to show Mom a little bit of Spain. It's so great to be able to share a piece of the life I've been living (aside from pictures and stories) with someone important in my life. They are sure to be tired and it's only a short visit, but the good thing is that Spanish life isn't stressful and nothing moves very fast...except for the cars...so hopefully their time in Spain will be a little more relaxed.
I'll be sure to update on both their visit here and our time in London. And a crazy little fact is that I will be home in exactly two months today...oh my goodness the past two and half months have flown by! I'm sure the next two won't go by any slower; already I think I have every weekend planned with something to do until I go home, wow.

Hasta luego!

Flash Forward

2011-03-09T16:07:00.000+01:00

Lately, my eyes have been focused on the future a bit...I know it's bad, I need to constantly be living in the moment, but I'm looking forward to so many things this summer! Certainly there are things I'm dreading as well like finding a job and figuring out where to live, but then there are the great things like getting to actually spend time with my boyfriend and going to the Avett Brother's concert in July!
In thinking about the future, I also think about leaving Spain and going back to life in the States and that's obviously a bittersweet move. Last semester I wrote about all the things I missed about the States and home (here) and even though I haven't left Spain yet and don't know exactly what I'll miss, there are a few things that have been on my mind.

1.) I think the number one thing I will miss about being in Spain is living a bilingual lifestyle. It's really cool to go to class or be at my apartment and speak and hear Spanish, to go out on the streets and hear Spanish and at the same time have friends who speak English and who I can relate to well. I enjoy the constant challenge that every day presents with language and culture.

(Today is the first day of the rest of your life)

2.) A big part of being abroad in general that I will miss will be the abundance of history that surrounds me here everyday. I can take a stroll around the city and see buildings that were once occupied by kings and queens or historical religious figures and it is just fascinating to me that I can still be a part of that in a very small way.

Cathedral of Granada

3.) This may seem like a silly thing to miss, but I really love how easy it is to buy locally made and grown products here. "Big box" stores aren't common at all and it's really nice to go to a fruitería (or any other locally owned store) and know that the produce there is majorly grown in Spain, if not in the region of Andalucía.

Me with a fresh barra from a panadería in Bilbao. (Oct 2010)

4.) I will also miss the laid-back lifestyle here in Spain. Everyone takes their time and enjoys the simple things in life more often here than anyone in the States. It's kind of nice to go to a café and know that you actually can't get your coffee "to-go" because it's the custom to sit, enjoy your drink and relax; no one is in a rush to get to places and there's not much waiting in line behind ten people getting non-fat mocha cappuccino sundaes! Sometimes things are a little too simple and a little more efficiency would be nice, but it's some of those everyday things that really affect the quality of life here and make people less stressed.

The best café con leche! Vitoria.

When the time finally goes come for me to leave Spain and return to real life, I will be sure to update on what things I actually miss. For now, I need to focus my eyes on the present, so I don't miss a second of my experience!

Ciao ciao!

Córdoba

2011-03-04T16:14:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, my friend Olivia and I went to Córdoba for the day (sorry for writing this a little after the fact) and had a wonderful time! It takes longer to get to Córdoba from Granada than I expected, on the bus it was just about three hours, but the road also doesn't go straight there. On the highway it's just over 120 miles to Córdoba, but as a crow flies it's about half of that.

The landscape there is not much different than here, obviously because it's not very far away, but I noticed that there were more palm trees than here in Granada...could just be a design feature.
We started our morning very early, 6:30am, in order to catch the 7:30am bus and when we arrived at 10:30am we were delighted to find that it was a beautiful, clear day without a cloud in sight. The only place that I knew to visit in Córdoba was the infamous Mezquita, so we headed there first. On the outside, the Mezquita doesn't apprear to be much, but once you are inside, it blows you away!
The mosque was built in the 700's and as follows with Islamic tradition, was not ornamented extravagantly, nor with pictures on the walls; the only decoration was red stripes in the archways. When you first walk in the Mezquita, it appears very much as the Muslims made it; rows upon rows of archways with dark wood ceilings and a feeling of vast, emptiness (despite the hundreds of people also touring the building).

As you walk through the temple, little things begin to change and you can start to see more and more light coming from windows in the ceiling and white ornamentation. Then all of a sudden you come upon one of the more ornate Cathedrals I have ever seen! A ceiling of white and gold with figures and faces popping out and an alter two stories high filled with images of Saints and Christ.

The Cathedral was built starting in the 1200's during the Reconquest of Spain by the Visigoths and since then many shrines have been added by different Kings and religious leaders.

Directly across from this, is the alter containing the Bishop's throne, which is decorated in beautiful, dark carved wood and golden organs. The wood carvings surround the entire Bishop's alter, depicting many scenes from the Bible in great detail, so much detail, I think I could have spent two hours just looking at those carvings alone.

The Mezquita is very interesting because at times it is purely Catholic and others strictly Muslim and then there are areas where the two world mix and you realize how different their design and architecture really is.

The Muslims kept everything very simple and organized, to me it feels like there is more of an emphasis on the pilgrimage and prayer, the reason for going to the temple. While the Catholics made everything over the top and, in my opinion, too detailed because with the amount of detail present in the Cathedral, there's no way it could all be appreciated; it's completely overwhelming! But overall, the Mezquita is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen!

The next sight we visited was the Alcazár de los Reyes Christianos (Gardens of the Christian Kings), which is the place where Christopher Columbus first petitioned for money from the Kings to discover the Americas.

The Gardens at the Alcazár were extensive and gorgeous; plenty of room for royalty to stroll around in privacy. Right now all of the ponds are in the process of being rebuilt and reconstructed to have, in the future, what appeared to be an elaborate fountain and light show.

Finally, we went to the Synagogue of Córdoba, which turned out to be just a single room, but is of significance because during the Reconquest almost all of the Jewish Synagogues and monuments were destroyed except for three; one in Córdoba and two in Toledo.

In our wandering around that day, we discovered that Córdoba is presumably going to be the European Capital of Culture in 2016, which means that in that year they will hold cultural festivals and events to support tourism and an international status.

Overall Córdoba was an enchanting city, both Olivia and I really enjoyed the day we spent there! It was s beautiful sunny day with good culture and good company! :)

Ciao!

100%

2011-02-21T22:22:00.000+01:00

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about motivation in my life, especially in the areas of health and fitness. The other day I was having a conversation with some friends who want to start a running group. Each one of them kept reminding all of us that they don't run very fast and just want to go for mileage and not speed. I got me thinking that so often in our lives, especially concerning fitness, we give the bare minimum of what we feel we have to give and nothing more, but how does any improvement come from that? While I was working out the other day a quote came to mind: "If you're not giving 100%, you're not doing it right." Why is it so comfortable to just do the minimum and not completely challenge one's self? And living a healthy lifestyle really is uncomfortable; it's uncomfortable to not be able to eat or drink what you want, when you want or how much you want. It's uncomfortable to push through the pain that workouts can cause and it's most definitely uncomfortable to be judged by others because you live a different lifestyle than they do...a not always socially accepted lifestyle. But how will you ever see results or progress, in any area of your life, if you don't give 100%?

In the past couple months, I have been following the workouts from a blog called BodyRock.TV and I have been loving every minute of it! They use a Hiit (High intensity interval training) approach to fitness and the majority of the workouts are 30 minutes or less! I've not only been getting progressively stronger and more flexible, but my mental stamina to get through tough workouts has increased tremendously! The people on the site do a really good job of motivating and encouraging everyone with the workouts and showing beginners the correct modifications to gradually build strength.

Anyway, I'm trying to implement the 100% mentality into every aspect of my life, school, relationships, time for myself and pursuing what I want/need. But personally, starting with my health has been the best place and everyone who knows me, knows that I've been a workout addict for quite some time, but I've never felt this good about working out before. I feel really great physically and mentally, I have a new sense of self confidence and most days, I surprise myself at how proud I am of myself! That's a whole different topic in itself, but it's a great feeling to realize that you make yourself proud of who you are and what you are doing.
So to continue that feeling and the personal progress I have made, I'm choosing to always give 100%.

Adios

Just Keeps Getting Better

2011-02-20T08:58:00.000+01:00

I can't express enough to everyone how happy I am about my change in cities! Deciding to come back to Spain and transfer to Granada was the best decision of my life! I really appreciate everyone's encouragement throughout the whole process of me being abroad...especially when I wanted to go home. I'm so glad now that I didn't go back to Colorado this semester, but I am even more glad that I am not back in the Basque Country again.
The atmosphere down here is so friendly and lively; my classes are going great and my professors are awesome! I have met some really great girlfriends too, who are really laid back and have just as much of a heart for adventure and culture as I do.
Yesterday I went on a hike with my friend, Olivia, and some of her friends and had the best day! We took the city bus out of town to this tiny suburb of Granada called Monachil; it's an adorable town at the foot of the mountains. We didn't really know where we were going, but we found this trail and followed it in a big loop. The last few days have been rainy and when we were about half way through the trail, it became incredibly muddy! The ground was clay, wet soggy clay, and it clumped on the bottom of our shoes and made it almost impossible to walk! It was pretty funny actually and we all were sliding around, almost falling in the mud. On that muddy path, we came across a wild (we're not sure how wild it actually was) boar...after seeing how it was going to react to us, we decided to just go off the path and walk around the olive orchard it was in and he didn't bother us.
It was a really great day, it was such a pretty place...reminded me of Colorado with the mountains so close and the company was so much fun! It was a great day to get out of town and do some adventuring with friends! Next weekend, Olivia and I are thinking of going to Cordoba and spending the night there, looking forward to that!

Ciao!

Monachil

Beautiful girls (Audrey, Hannah, Lexi, Olivia)

Our muddy shoes!

This is a picture from a hill above Granada...the apple trees are blooming :)

Maybe I should become a pirate.

2011-02-12T12:08:00.000+01:00

I just got done reading my good friend's blog post about world travel (you can read it here) and it made me think about my own desires for world travel. I mean, it has always been my dream to see every country in the world, but that's quite an extravagant dream to have. It's just interesting to me when people talk about world travel and all these places they want to go and see, they only ever think of the biggest, head-lining cities...and in my experience it has been the smaller places that have touched me the most. One of my favorite places in all of Spain so far has been the small town of Labastida in the Rioja. The 360 degree views of the wine fields and small communities was absolutely breathtaking!
Maybe that's just a personal thing for me though, I'm not much of a city person...something I realize more and more everyday here in Granada. When I think about the places I've been and all of my favorite parts involve a more natural setting. In Barcelona it was the lookout point from Park Güell, where there is a view for miles and miles and here in Granada it is the hills above my apartment that are lush and green and view the city as well as the Sierra Nevada's.
When I think about all the places I want to visit here in Spain and in Europe in general, it starts to feel pretty overwhelming and makes me a little sad that I really don't have as much time as it seems. Of course, if I didn't have to attend classes, I could travel all over the place, but that's not the case. It starts to become a saddening thought that I have such an amazing opportunity before me and access to places that most people never get to see and as always there are complications in taking full advantage of it. Who knows when I will be able to get back to Europe and have enough funds to travel throughout the countries.
The future constantly stares at me and makes me scared that my worldly dreams are not obtainable.

Hasta Luego.

New Beginnings.

2011-02-08T19:12:00.000+01:00

I am in my fourth week here in Granada and I just started school yesterday. I have five classes this term and they all seem like they will be really interesting and challenging in different ways. Mondays and Wednesdays: Translation from English to Spanish, Civilization and Culture of Spain and Civ. and Culture of Hispanoamerica. Tuesdays and Thursdays: Spanish Literature of the Renaissance and Baroque eras and Spanish Writing and Oral Enhancement. So far, I really like all of my professors, they are all quirky in their own ways and seem to like teaching Americans...because the majority of my peers are Americans at this school. I can't really say much else about school since I've only had two days of actual class, but it does feel really good to have a schedule again and a constant flow of Spanish in my life.

In the past few weeks, I have visited the Cathedral of Granada...twice actually...and the Alhambra. I went to the Cathedral a second time because I forgot my camera the first time and felt that it was worth it to pay the 3 Euro again to get some good pictures. :) The Cathedral is so beautiful! It is so different from the one in Sevilla because it's all white and feels very heavenly because of the brightness inside. The organs and alters are all quite magnificent and unbelievably detailed! The Cathedral here is actually where the Great Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, are buried! I haven't gone to see that part yet, it is different entrance and another fee, but I will get there soon. It's so neat to see all these things that were made in the 1600's and done with such precision; it's astounding!
Although when the Cathedral is compared to the Alhambra, it barely holds a candle in beauty and fascination! I went to the Alhambra last Thursday with my friend, Colleen, who also goes to the Centro de Lenguas Modernas.
A little history behind the Alhambra: it was built in the 1200's as part of the Nasrid Dynasty...a Moorish Dynasty who's rulers descended from one of Muhammad's disciples. It was used by the Moors as a palace as well as a fortress for over 200 years until 1492 when it was surrendered to the Catholic Kings in the Inquisition, as the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. For the next hundred-some years the Alhambra was used by the Catholics as a palace and underwent some alterations to better suit the Catholic agenda. To put it plainly, it's the most magnificent man-made structure I have ever seen! The part of the Alhambra that is a palace and was used for living quarters has walls and walls of detailed "carvings"...I put that in quotes because Colleen (who's an art major) thought that the walls where made by molds of some type to create the amount of perfection they have...and intricate tile patterns. Some of the rooms we walked in through were literally breathtaking. Both of us could not stop looking and inspecting everything; like it was all going to disappear or I would never remember it. We spend about three hours touring the Alhambra and the Generalife gardens and it was just a fantastic day! History can be so impressive and the amount of detail the buildings contain is just unreal; I couldn't help but think what it would be like to live there and have all that made especially for your pleasure! Emperors sure knew what luxury was, even back then!

Well, I feel like those are the most interesting things that have happened in the past weeks, but I will do my best to keep you all updated better in the future. Hopefully Colleen and I are going to go to a Flamenco show this weekend!
Here are some pictures.

Ciao!

Outside of the Cathedral

The main alter

Nasrid Palace, the Alhambra

Detailed archways

Me in the Generalife Gardens

Granada Update

2011-01-25T17:02:00.003+01:00

Well, I'm already going on two weeks back in Spain and even though things aren't really exciting, it feels good to be here. I have been staying at Troy's apartment since last Monday and I am actually going to be living here this semester. Troy is moving across town to live with a friend and I am going to move into his room next weekend. I looked and checked out some apartments, but the ones that I saw I didn't like as much as I like this one, so it works out easily that I don't have to stress about looking and I get what I want! I met with the landlady last week, she's British and really sweet. I think she will also be a really great contact to have, she's a professor at the University of Granada and when I told her I was interested in translation, she said that she knows some people who could really help me and get me into good programs once I was starting that part of my education. So hopefully I will get a chance to know her better and she will remember me in the future!
Other than that, life has been pretty causal. I don't start school until February 7th still, so Troy and I have been doing our best to try and pass time effectively. I found a new coffee shop to regular, where the people are really nice and I have found some good running routes. Where I live is really close to the Alhambra and the hills around it, so I have gotten some great views of the city when I run up in that area.

Granada is a city with a lot of old culture and history. In the 8th century the city was taken over by the Moors and the Alhambra remained the last Moorish stronghold in the Reconquest until the late 15th century. So there is a lot of Islamic influence as well as Catholic/Castilian culture that tried to "cover up" or take over for the opposing religion. The oldest area of the city is called the Alabyzín, it has retained it's Arabic fashion and is known for it's "overwhelming" amount of gypsies and Arabic peoples. By Arabic fashion, I mean, long, skinny streets that wind and turn in an almost maze-like neighborhood and tall white building...to an outsider, it definitely looks a little ghetto, but some of the best shops and food are in the Alabyzín! The hills of Sacromonte are also well known for the gypsies and cave dwelling people who live there. Geographically, Granada is at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which contains Spain's highest mountain at 11,400(ish)ft and is an hour's drive away from the Mediterranean Sea.

Yesterday, Troy and I went to the famous Arabic Baths. It is an old bath house, used before the Reconquest and was recently restored before opening to the public. It's a little expensive, but we got a deal online. It is pretty popular, so groups of about 25 people go in to the baths for about an hour and a half and in that time, you get a 10 minute massage. It was an amazing and super relaxing experience! There are all different types of baths, heated by natural springs; cold, temperate, hot, as well as a steam room and a room with a large, hot stone to lay on. It was all really nice and the place is so pretty, everything is stone (granite or marble) and the walls are tiled in beautiful designs. The lights are dim and the whole place smells like delicious cinnamon tea.

Well that will be all for now. I am planning on touring the Alhambra as well as the Cathedral this week, so I will write and post pictures of both.

Ciao!

A look over Granada

The new Spain.

2011-01-16T12:38:00.005+01:00

Welp, after a long break from writing I am back in the city of Granada! Going back home and taking a break from the Spanish lifestyle was really nice. I wish I could have had just a few more days at home because I was so busy there wasn't a whole lot of time to just relax. It was really great to see all my friends and family and enjoy things being easy and simple in America! Also, on a personal note, I started dating the best guy in the world (I know every girl says that, but I think I'm the only one who can actually say it honestly)! So that poses another exciting challenge in my study abroad experience. :)

After a long plane ride that I thankfully slept most of the way through, I arrived in Frankfurt Friday morning and then in Malaga, Spain that night. I stayed in a hostel in Malaga for the night and yesterday made it to my hostel here in Granada. Hopefully, I will only be staying at this hostel one more night and then stay with my friend Troy for a few days while I look for a room to rent. Everything has gone really well for me in my travels so far! My flights were both fine and I have reached both of my hostels with little difficulty. Going to Europe has been so much easier this time around...knowing the ropes a bit really makes a difference! I have already spoken quite a bit of Spanish and while I was in the bus station yesterday, some really nice ladies started a conversation with me! It was straight Colorado style! That never would have happened in the North; people are just not open and friendly to strangers there.
The weather has been really nice, sunny and warm and the oranges are in perfect season! Even though it feels a little strange to be back, it also feels really good and I have so many more good things to say about Granada. I have a few weeks before I start school to find a place to live and get settled in there. Hopefully Elley will be visiting after she finishes her finals in Vitoria, so that will be fun and we will do some of the things we didn't get to when we were here in December.
I've heard that the spring time is the best to be in southern Spain, so I think I have a lot to look forward to and I think it will be another exciting adventure!

Hasta luego!

Me and my boyfriend, Westin.

Merry Christmas from Germany!

2010-12-24T22:12:00.009+01:00

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Frohe Weihnachten!

I am here in Wuppertal, Germany spending Christmas with Blake and Clara and Clara's family. Wuppertal is close to Köln (Cologne), in the mid-western part of Germany, here is a map to give you all an idea:

I arrived last night a little later than expected because of snow in Germany; our flight left later to begin with and then we had to circle the airport once, waiting for the runway to be cleared of snow. It worked out perfectly though because Blake and Clara got to the airport late to pick me up because of the roads. I am so thankful for the well trained pilot who landed our plane in the snow as well as Clara's sister, Mira, for taking so much time to drive in the horrible weather! The normal hour and fifteen minute car ride took over two hours for us and as Clara pointed out to me, I rode on the Autobahn. She said that most foreigners always want to know about that highway since it's so famous, but it really wasn't anything different...and there was a speed limit!
In Germany, the 24th is the main day to celebrate Christmas, so this morning we all just hung out and talked, very relaxed. About mid-day Clara's older sister and brother-in-law, Lina and Emie (and their son Aaron), arrived to spend a few days here. Normally, the family would have gone to church somewhere in the afternoon/evening, but because of the snow and weather, they decided to stay at home. So we started dinner earlier than usual, had the first two courses: cream of celery soup and then a mango, lentil and celery salad with a small portion of duck for the second. It was so delicious! Everything we ate today was wonderful in general, but the celery soup was to die for! Then we all opened presents, which took a few hours and it was really nice because everyone took their time and we all enjoyed the gifts that each person received. I even got a special gift from the States, from my Mom! It was so nice to have a little something from home on Christmas; I almost cried, it felt so special that my Mom had made sure I had something! But I also got a gift from Blake and Clara and Clara's parents gave me some chocolates and candies to take home with me, that was really sweet of them! After presents, we went back to the table and ate the main course: fish (not sure what kind) or steak with mashed potatoes/red beans and a boiled cabbage salad that had spinach and chestnuts in it...the main dish was so rich and wonderful! Both the fish and meat where so flavorful and tender, and the cabbage salad was amazing! I would love the recipes for the entire meal! Then it was desert and we had some cake that I thought was ice cream, but it wasn't, I'm not sure how to describe it and a baked apple. I think it was baked, it had been cored and then the inside filled with pine nuts, it was so yummy!
Then the family all chilled out and talked about how full we were! Clara's parents, Viktor and Eva, went to bed after a little while and Clara, Blake, Lina, Johnny (Clara's older brother) and I stayed up talking about the Enneagram book that I got from Blake and Clara. We actually just got done a little while ago; it is 3:30am now!

I would have to say that even though I was not at home and with all the people I love, it was a very enjoyable day and a wonderful place to spend Christmas! Clara's family has been overly generous and they all have been very good at either speaking English as much as possible when I'm around, so I'm not so lost, or one of them will translate a little bit for me if they do speak in German. I don't really mind that they speak in German around me, I have gotten used to being in a place where I can't always comprehend situations, but it is nice to be able to have conversations with them and they all speak English so well! So already, I have really enjoyed and appreciated my time here in Germany because I have been shown hospitality like none other and Clara's family is fun and they have really intelligent, engaging conversations.

I miss everyone back home and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day!! I can't wait to be home in less than a week and seeing all my family and friends; I've missed you all more than you'll know!!

Lots of Love!

Last Excursion

2010-12-14T17:24:00.004+01:00

So I was just on Facebook reading some friends' statuses and I just thought, "I'm living such a cool life". What a good realization to come to, I mean I've known it all along, but it's nice to remind myself that I'm doing so much with my life right now. Even days when I feel like I suck at Spanish and I can't form a proper sentence to save my life, I still manage to get my way around and communicate with friends. Like today, I was feeling really discouraged after my Spanish class because I was explaining something aloud and my professor told me the way I had phrased was confusing, but then he never told me how to correct it and that frustrated me cause I am obviously always trying to improve. Then after class, Elley and I went to lunch with an Italian friend who speaks Spanish very well...of course, he's Italian!...and I carried on a good conversation the whole time about several different topics. That just makes me feel really good because that situation would have been really hard for me four months ago and honestly, would have scared me! One day at a time, improvement is happening.

Well, I wanted to write about our excursion that we had on Saturday, even thought it's not all that interesting and it wasn't an awesome day for me cause I came down with a cold the day before. We went to the Navarra region of the basque country, which is the largest basque region and according to one of my friends, it's the region that actually wants to be apart of Spain.
The first place we went was the Monastery of Leyre, which was about an hour or more away from Vitoria and it's in the mountains. It is actually situated in a really beautiful place! Great view of the mountains and forest as well as a view of a large lake below; Elley and I felt kinda at home there. We took a tour and learned about the history of the site and found out that nuns still live there and services are still held at the church connected to the monastery... and those are buildings that were built in the 11th century!
After that we had a short ride to Olite, a small town with a sweet castle! We went there specifically for the castle, which was built for Carlos III in the 1700's. It was such a cool place to go explore and it literally looked fake sometimes; whoever restored the castle did an amazing job because it looked like it was straight out of Disneyland! We had a lot of fun running up and down the towers and finding hidden places, it would have been the best place for hide and seek!
Our final destination for the day was Pamplona, which may be familiar to you, or not, but it is where the running of the bulls happens every summer. We weren't there for very long, but we walked along the path that the bulls run every year and ended up at the Plaza de Toros, where there happened to be a Christmas market. It was kind cool to see that part of the city because it is so famous, but it's hard to imagine what it would be like when it is full of people and the running is happening.
Then we headed back to Vitoria, everyone else went out that night and had a lot of fun but since I wasn't feeling well, I decided it wasn't the best thing for me.

Well, I have my final exams at the end of this week and the beginning of the next, so wish me luck! I might not write again until I start my Christmas in Germany!

Agur!

Part of the Castillo de Olite.

Instructions for life.

2010-12-12T19:25:00.004+01:00

The other day, my good friend, Westin, sent me some Instructions for Life that one of his professors had written out and it got me thinking about the instructions that guide my life. Every person has different standards and ways of thinking, so I thought I'd share some of the things I've come up with for my own life.

1. Listen to your instincts, it's God talking to you for a split second.
2. Travel!
3. Be good to all you meet; Karma exists.
4. Take responsibility for your actions.
5. Smile!
6. Laugh often.
7. Exercise and eat your vegetables...take care of your body... it carries your most precious possession, your soul.
8. When in doubt, pray. When confident, pray.
9. You are not the center of the Universe.
10. Every accomplishment is a victory.
11. Do what (and who!) you love.
12. Constantly learn new things; knowledge is power.
13. Be a good listener, cause everyone likes a chance to talk.
14. En boca cerrada, no entran moscas. (Silence is golden.)
15. Have something to believe in; if you don't think there is anything, you're forgetting yourself.
16. We all have to go through bad times to appreciate the good ones.
17. You are never done creating yourself.
18. Missing someone or something is good, be grateful you have things great enough to miss.
19. Mind your own business.
20. People need understanding. Understanding that mistakes are made, not trusting they won't be.
21. Live life as the pursuit of happiness.

Who knows if I actually follow all those all of the time, but they are things I aspire to achieve!
What would your instructions be?

Paz y amore.

Change of Plans!

2010-12-11T21:13:00.004+01:00

As I said in my last post, I have some big and wonderful news!

I will be staying in Spain next semester! After going to Granada and experiencing the southern part of Spain, I realized that that is the type of Spanish experience I want. The southern part of Spain is the culture and atmosphere that I had always imagined and I think the northern part has been a disappointment for me in that respect.
Honestly, this decision was really easy for me to make, I knew that I didn't want to be in Vitoria anymore, but lately I have been feeling sad that my study abroad is coming to an end. This is a way to solve both problems, or as Elley would say, "get the best of both worlds!". I'm really excited to continue learning Spanish and increasing my confidence in the language, as well as learning about "real" Spanish culture.
I will be enrolling in the Modern Language Center of Granada and hopefully taking Hispanic Studies courses that will transfer back to the Fort. Troy studies there now, doing intensive language courses and he really likes the school; it is also the same school that my other friends who studied in Granada attended.
There isn't a whole lot of difficulty for me to transfer schools, except that I stopped applying for my residency card when I decided to go home, so technically after 90 days, I will be "illegal". Really, the school doesn't care about a visa, I just can't travel outside of the country after the 3 months or get in trouble with the law, of course. I'm trying to work with the Fort's international exchange program and see what all I can do at this point about that, but I'm not too worried about it.

Now I hope you all breath a sigh of relief that the Spanish adventures aren't over yet!
I will still be spending Christmas in Germany with Blake and Clara and then going back to Colorado for just under 2 weeks before going down to Granada. It has all worked out perfectly so far actually because when I bought my ticket home, I had to get a round trip flight because it was about half the price of a one-way. How silly, right? But turns out it has been a good sign all along! :)

That's all for now, but more about local travel soon!

Agur!

Granada y Sevilla

2010-12-10T17:56:00.010+01:00

Hola a todos!
Yesterday, Elley and I got back from a week of wonderful vacation! We had a super long weekend this week because Spanish people are lazy and like to take holiday whenever possible! :P But aside from that, Monday was the anniversary of something to do with the Constitution and Wednesday was the celebration of the Immaculate Conception. No separation of Church and State here!
Anyway, Elley and I took the bus down to Granada really really early Thursday morning and arrived in the city in the early afternoon; the bus ride is about 11 hrs total with an hour stop in Madrid. Before leaving, we got in contact with a fellow FLC student who is studying down there, Troy, and he met us at the bus station. Neither of us really knew Troy, but he turned out to be an amazing host and has now become a good friend!
That first day, Thursday, we walked around the gardens and the public area of the Alhambra. The Alhambra was the last Moorish stronghold of Spain in the 14th century during the Reconquest. From what Troy told us, it was surrendered by the Moors because they knew they would be defeated by the Spanish. So, many of the building are still in good condition and didn't require much restoration because there wasn't a huge battle there. It is such a pretty place to visit! I love historic places like that because the detail in the passageways and buildings is just fascinating! Unfortunately, we never got to tour the whole thing because the next time we went there, the ticket booth had closed for the day.
We really had a pretty chill time in Granada, we went out almost every night and stayed out pretty much until the sun came up...as the Spanish are famous for! So we usually slept pretty late and then would just tour around different parts of the city. It is a pretty big place, but totally different from Vitoria in the way it is laid out. Granada is on the edge of the Sierra Nevadas, so the landscape is more like the Foothills, instead of completely flat like here.
Probably one of my favorite parts of the city is the area called Albaicin, it's the old part of town where a lot of gypsies hang out. Troy took us to a gypsy tapas bar there that had the best food ever! It's so cheap too, you buy a beer or glass of wine for 2 euro and then you get to fill a plate full of tapas...so worth it!

We also planned to spend two nights and a full day in Sevilla on this trip, but that only turned into one night and about a half a day. We didn't have the best Sevilla experience. Our Irish friends here in Vitoria know a guy who is studying in Sevilla and he offered to let us crash on his couches for the time that we were in town. So that seemed like a great idea, a free place to stay! This guy was spending his long weekend in Madrid and he told us he wouldn't be back until late Monday night, so we go into town in the evening and showed up at their apartment around 9pm. His two roommates from Mexico were there and they were kind of confused as to why we were there cause Karl had told them we were coming Thursday...great. But they said it was fine that we were there and they just had to go get a few things ready, so they cleaned up the living room a bit and then just went about their business...literally didn't talk to us for the rest of the night. Strange. Later, right when Elley and I were going to bed, the Irish guy, Karl, gets home, he introduces himself to us and then says he will put his things in his room and be back. Well, we stayed up for about another hour...and no one ever came back to the living room to say anything to us. It was so strange! So aside from not feeling very welcome at all, the "couches" we slept on were the worst things imaginable, so neither of us slept well at all. Needless to say, we got up in the morning and immediately decided that we would not stay another night there! On top of that, it was pouring rain like I have never seen before, so we were just not in the best of spirits.
I already had in mind that I wanted to see the Cathedral of Seville because it's the biggest in the world, as well as the Plaza de España because I've heard it's wonderful. We decided to make things easy on our selves and took the metro to stop closest to the cathedral...note to anyone who does to Seville, the metro there is not like other cities! We had a hard time figuring it out...But found the cathedral really easily and it was magnificent! Never have I seen a building that compares to that cathedral! We had to wait in line for about 30 mins to get in, but it was more than worth it because we spend almost 3 hours looking around the inside! The details of the alters and ceiling were just breath-taking and a fun fact is that Christopher Columbus' tomb is inside that cathedral! By the time we were done with the cathedral, the rain had calmed, so we decided to walk to the Plaza de España cause it was only about a half mile away. The Plaza is actually in a new part of the city, build in the late 1920's for a World Fair, to showcase Moorish style in Spain. It was a really cool place, but too bad for the cloudy day and Elley started to feel ill, so we made it a quick trip there. We were both tired and ready to head back to Granada, so we hailed a taxi to take us to the bus station. We are still very proud of our city-slicker skills! :)

Our next two days in Granada were kinda like the first, just relaxing, going out at night and doing a little walking through the city. We tried to go to the Arab baths, but they were all booked for about 4 days out, which was too bad cause that would have been so relaxing! And we couldn't go see the Cathedral of Granada because of the Catholic celebration they had a special service or something and it was closed to tourists.
Then we were back on the bus to Vitoria and the cold weather. But big news is coming up in my next post, so stay tuned!!

Ciao!!

P.S.- Sorry it took me so long to post this!! I started it the other day and didn't have time til now to finish!

The Alhambra at night.

Troy and me at the Palacio de Carlos V in the Alhambra.

Me at the Plaza de España.

One of the many amazing alters in the Cathedral.

La Catedral de Sevilla.

Falta un mes

2010-11-29T21:32:00.004+01:00

Saturday, Elley and I went to the art museum here in Vitoria and it was...interesting. The theme for the art right now is fears and some of the art was very strange. Honestly, neither of us really enjoyed it, there were a few pieces of art that we liked and thought were interesting, but mostly it was kind of a disturbing experience. It is free for students though, we just got to donate however much we wanted to the museum instead of paying an entrance fee, so that was nice. Hopefully the exhibit will change sometime next semester and Elley can take the other American girl who is coming here to something more pleasurable.

Sunday night there was a girls night for the Erasmus girls; we went bowling. It was pretty fun and quite a few girls came! It was a good opportunity to practice names, because we have such a hard time with names here...and nice to have a less chaotic setting than a party to get to know some other girls. All of the other foreigners are really nice; they really like hearing how America is different than Europe and what our experience here is like.

Other than that, I just finished a book that Elley gave me, she bought it in London. It's called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon and it was a really cool read! It's written from the first person perspective of an autistic boy in his early teens and he tells a story of a certain time in his life. It's not a true story, which is part of what makes it fascinating because the author did a phenomenal job of replicating, what I suppose, an autistic child's mind would be like. It was very intriguing and although it's not the most gripping novel I've ever read, the rarity of it kept me pretty interested. I would recommend it for sure!

Well, Elley and I are on our way to Granada and Sevilla on Thursday for a week, so I'm sure I will have a lot to write after that!
Oh and today marks my last month in Europe! It's all coming to a close now and after we get back from Granada I will need to start studying for my exams and get serious about finding a place to live for next semester! :)

Agur!

Another Saturday

2010-11-27T14:15:00.003+01:00

I had something in mind to write about the other day and now I don't know what that was... but I feel like writing today. So I thought I'd just write about some random things about Vitoria and Spain that you all haven't heard about yet.

Something that I don't have to worry about anymore, but that Elley and Nathan are having to deal with right now is getting a temporary residency permit to stay here in Spain for the full year. It's not a super important document, if you are planning on staying in Spain, but apparently if you plan on traveling outside of the country, you might not get let back in if you don't have one. The problem is that no one here knows anything about a residency permit because it is a new requirement for students staying in the country for an extended period of time. It has been really frustrating at times especially when we have no one at the University here to help us, cause the foreign relations ladies had never heard of a temporary residency permit before. ha! Elley and I have waited in queue after queue, in foreign office after foreign office trying to find someone who will give us information on what types of documentation we need to present. After quite a few confusing conversations about Spanish foreign policy, we have finally found what Elley needs to have to get her permit, and it's pretty much all the same things as we needed for the visa. Awesome.

An almost daily occurrence for Elley and me, here in Vitoria, is coffee. We don't really have much of a way to make coffee here in the residence (and people in Spain don't use coffee pots like we know in America), but we have our special coffee shop just across the street that we frequent. The guy knows that we always get "un par de cafes con leche". It's a cute little place that I think has quite a few regulars. It's nice to have a place like that, where our faces are known. I don't know if I've mentioned coffee in my blog before, but it's on the top if the list of thing I will miss from Europe! Coffee here is SO wonderful. I don't know what makes it different or what country it comes from but the flavor is much richer. As everything here, coffee is about socializing and I don't even think that to-go cups exist here. Drinks are always served in mugs so you can relax and enjoy it at the cafe. That is really nice actually, for one it's a lot less wasteful, but it also makes coffee time special instead of getting a cup-a-joe on the go. I will definitely miss coffee time with Elley, we do have some pretty good chats at the coffee shop.

Today we are planning on going to the local art museum in Vitoria, the Artium. I think it's a modern art museum; I hope it will be good!

More soon!

(Foto cred: Elley McBrayer)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T23:53:00.004+01:00

For me, it is already Thanksgiving...yes, it may have just turned midnight, but that still means it's Thursday and I just got a vision of my family eating Thanksgiving dinner without me tomorrow...today. Mom cooking up a storm, my brothers fighting, the dog being kicked outside for begging too much. The thought made me really sad, but it's only my favorite meal of the whole year that I'm missing out on...being eaten by my favorite people. :)
What a strange thing to be away from home for the holidays and here it won't feel any different than just another Thursday. It's hard to believe that it's already turkey day really, there are still leaves on the trees here and no snow in sight...and even though I don't like it, no american football either. But as always, I have so much to be thankful for today and everyday, which is what we need to celebrate. So here are some things I am remembering to be thankful for today:

1) A good home to return to, with loving family and friends, people who have supported me though everything and whom I could never thank enough.

2) The food that I will put on my table today; it may not be a Thanksgiving feast, but my eating habits are more privileged than the majority of the people in the world.

3) A solid roof over my head. I may not like living in the residence hall, but at least I'm not out in almost freezing temperatures tonight. I have blankets, a heater and hot running water and I will be so thankful for warmth tonight.

4) My experience here in Spain. It may seem like I don't realize how blessed and lucky I am to be here since I'm leaving early, but that is far from true. This adventure has taught me more about life and myself than I could have ever imagined. I will always be thankful for this opportunity and even though it hasn't worked out as the best place for me to be, I'm thankful that I had guidance in making that decision and support when I was at my worst.

I hope everyone, no matter what country they live in, will take some time, especially today, to remember what life has gifted them.
Writing this was not much of a cure for homesickness, but at least I have a place to miss, and I'm so grateful for that!

Love Always.

San Sebastian

2010-11-23T11:10:00.004+01:00

In the strangeness of everything going on here, I have neglected to write about some things that are happening. Right now I want to write about our two trips to San Sebastian, a wonderful city!
San Sebastian is just over an hour bus ride away from Vitoria, to the northeast...here's map with the largest Basque cities, so you all have a better idea of where I'm going and where I've been.

The only places I haven't written about are Pamplona and Logroño, but I will be going to Pamplona on December 11th with our excursion class.
So now that you all have an idea of where I am and where San Seb. is, I can begin. Elley, Adrian (an Irish friend) and I decided to go to San Sebastian one Thursday a few weeks ago because we heard it was a great place and we wanted to go explore for the day. It was such a great day! San Seb. is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, it's right on the ocean and has some great historical buildings. There is a large statue of Jesus positioned on a hill at the end of town and when we got to the city we decided that we wanted to find out a way to the statue. Turns out there is actually a "hiking" trail that goes up to Him and He is standing on an old castle, turned museum. We didn't go into the museum, but the majority of the castle (or at least what we could see) is open to the public. We explored around there and ate lunch up by the statue where we had a view of the whole city, it was so pretty. We took a different way down and came across an old cemetery for English soldiers who had helped the Spanish fight in some war...we couldn't figure out which. The landscape on this hill is a literal jungle, moss and vines and tons of tress and bushes, it feels like a completely different world than the city. Then we all wanted to go to the beach, so we made our way down to the main beach, Playa de la Concha, which is actually a large bay. We played in the water for a while and just chilled on the beach; it was a cloudy day but it was still humidly warm, so we didn't freeze too much. :) Well, after that we were gonna go to the bus station and go home, but instead we got lost for two hours and gave ourselves a pretty good tour of the new part of the city. But we did finally make it home, it was just a lot later than we expected.

About a week an a half later, we went back to San Sebastian with our excursion class. Before we went to San Seb, we went to a small Basque town, Ekainberri, to learn about a prehistoric cave in the area. We didn't actually get to go to the real cave, but the museum we went to has guided tours of a replica of the cave, which was still pretty cool...nothing like our spelunking in Durango though. This little town was adorable and completely in the mountains, with a nice river running along side it, Elley and I felt right at home there. Then we were on our way to San Sebastian and we really just had free time in the city and since it was a sunny day, we all headed to the smaller beach to get some sun and catch some waves. Our Irish friends really wanted to try surfing, but Elley and I thought the waves looked too intimidating, so we just laid in the sun for a while. It was so wonderful to have sunshine! We all needed a good dose of Vitamin-D. When the sun started to go down we all went to a bar for some tea and then we were on our way back home.

So that's a bit of what's going one and I will be sure to write more soon about other things that have been happening. Here's some pictures from the first time we were in San Sebastian.

Agur!

Elley and me at the bay

The Jesus Statue

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Catedral del Buen Pastor)

All in good time.

2010-11-14T15:34:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the dry spell in writing, I really haven't been up to it much and there haven't been a whole lot of interesting things going on.
The topic for today is already pretty well known I think and won't be a surprise to the majority of the people who read my blog and talk with me. As I mentioned in a recent post things have been hard for me here and honestly, the month of October 2010 was maybe one of the hardest I've ever faced. I never understood what depressed people feel and how their life works, but now I can empathize very well. Being a foreigner is a very strange experience and I can't really tell about it in a way that everyone could understand. One can't understand it well unless they've experienced it themselves. At first it started out with homesickness, but that turned into an overall dislike and even loathing of everything here. No motivation, no desire, just a feeling of dislike and unhappiness. After much thinking and weighing my options, I decided that I didn't want to be here for another semester. I have considered changing schools within Spain and going down to Sevilla or Granada for the second semester, but I have decided that what I really want and what I think is best for me right now is to go back to FLC for the winter.
I'm looking forward to it and I can picture myself there. That's one thing that has bothered me is that I haven't been able to picture myself being here until June, it just seems unfathomable. I know it's good to walk into the dark sometimes and create your own light, but I don't think this is the time nor place for me to do that. Going home won't be easy, there are technicalities I have to get around and lots of mixed feelings still, but it will work out as it's suppose to. I've been praying a lot and finding guidance in God; it's been good. I've been asking for lots of signs and I don't think I made this decision alone.
Now things are so much better and I know it's because I have made up my mind and no longer struggle with where I will be. It has made it harder to decide to go home since my mood has improved so much, but I know that it's because I'm in a better state of mind from my choice.
So in a few months I'm sure I will be writing about what I miss about Spain! But for now it's good to know that I can fully enjoy my time here without much burden.

Ciao for now!

New Saturday Tradition.

2010-11-08T01:01:00.003+01:00

Yesterday (Saturday) was a very good American-type day! Elley and I slept in and woke up to make the most glorious breakfast known to the country of Spain...french toast, scrambled eggs and country potatoes. Mmmmmmm, it was wonderful and we gorged ourselves like good American girls would. :)
After a little bit of resting, we decided to conquer one of the hills just outside of town that has a cross on top. Come to find out, there is a greenway path that goes right to it and will hopefully become a great place to go run. The hike was a little harder than we expected and then we both felt lame for having adapted to the low altitude; we can no longer boast about our powerful Colorado lungs. It was a good trip, we both spent some time at the top just reflecting and looking over the city. It was a shame that it was a cloudy/foggy day because the view from up there is phenomenal and so expansive, but we enjoyed it none the less.
There's not a whole lot that's new going on here, but Elley and I are making plans to go to Granada at the beginning of next month. We get three days off school for some catholic holiday and we want to go south for a bit. Should be fun, I really want to see Granada and the historical sites there. I guess I will have that to tell about when it comes, for now....

Hasta luego!

It's November.

2010-11-02T22:45:00.006+01:00

Long time no write. Sorry, I honestly forgot about blogging at all the past week or however longs it's been. The past few weeks have been pretty interesting; I've been homesick and feeling strange about being here, it's been quite a roller coaster of emotions.
But as we all know, this past weekend was Halloween and even though the Spanish don't really celebrate it, some of us exchange students decided to dress up anyway for fun. All of the Spaniards knew it was Halloween, but it's just not a celebrated holiday, they celebrate the day after, All Saints Day (which we got the day off school for!). Elley went to London for the weekend so we celebrated twice, Thursday with her and then actual Halloween night. It was fun and quite crazy!

Also, Saturday I went just over the border into the French part of the Basque country with my excursion class to the cities of Bayonne and Saint Jean de Luz. It was not a fun-filled trip like some of the others, we didn't have a whole lot planned for us, but we got to spend sometime at the ocean and now I can say I've been to France! It didn't feel much different from being in Spain, although everyone was speaking French. It's actually a pretty cool area because people growing up there learn French, Basque and usually, at least, conversational Spanish because it is so close to the border. It was overall a good day, a pretty place even though it rained most of the time.

In other news, Elley and I have discovered our new favorite thing about Spain: roasted chestnuts. There are little kiosks around town, shaped like trains (adorable!) where they roast them and you go buy a little package full of warm, ready to eat nuts. Amazing! I will have to take a picture of a kiosk soon.
Well that's all for now I think.

Hasta Luego!

The beach at Saint Jean de Luz, France

Elley and I on our early Halloween.

I miss you and you and you...

2010-10-22T18:08:00.006+02:00

For the past two weeks I have been on and off homesick. I don't like that I've been feeling that way because I know I am so lucky to be here and experience the great things that I am, but I just can't help it sometimes. So I decided to make a list of some of the things I'm missing...maybe it will help or maybe it won't, but here goes:

Number one is of course my friends and family. I could never name all of the people at home that I miss, for fear that I'd have a brain fart and forget someone...but I'm sure you all know who you are!

Number two is my doggie! I miss Sparky (and Bandit) so much! Really I miss contact with animals in general, I keep thinking that it will be a year before I will touch a furry creature and that scares me to death! How will I ever stay happy?!?

Number three is, sadly, the gym. haha! I would, wouldn't I! But really, not having a constant place to workout and recharge myself is really killing my mood some days.

Number four are hamburgers. A big juicy burger with lettuce, onion, tomato, ketchup and mustard on a fatty bun...mmmmmm.

Number five is hugs. That kind of goes with number one, but I felt a need to add it as a cultural reference because in Europe, people don't hug much, they do the whole kisses on the cheek thing. NOT sufficient for satisfying my hugging needs.

Number six is the mountains. There are mountains here, but nothing like at home, especially in Durango. I miss living IN the mountains...and big ones at that!

Number seven is one-stop-shopping and that does not mean Walmart, Walmart is still the devil. I just miss places like City Market and Safeway where I can buy pretty much everything I need on a regular basis. Shopping for things here takes so much time because you have to go to five different stores to get all that you need.

Number eight is baking, really most forms of cooking. My tiny kitchen is not very nice for cooking and we don't have an oven, so I can't even make brownies!!

OH! and number nine is most definitely spicy food! Even just food with some seasoning! Salt is seriously the only thing that they use here and it has become quite an annoyance.

Number ten is the Fort and Durango. I never thought I'd miss that little college town so much, but really it has the majority of the things I'm missing all in one place! I miss the friendliness of Coloradans and the atmosphere of Durango.

Well I think ten is probably enough, at some point I will write about all the things I love about Spain to counteract this. But for now, it was good to think of my longing for the States. Being here is a good thing in many obvious ways, but I like the fact that I am appreciating the place that I come from more and more. I know I will miss Spain like crazy when it is finally time to leave, but I think going home will feel better than I could imagine.

Adios a todos!

European History

2010-10-20T12:37:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I was reading for my Latin American Lit. class about Fernández de Oviedo, a conquistador and writer (I guess that's the best way to put it, there's a better word to describe him in Spanish :p) and actually I was reading one of his diary entries about a few of the American Isles. He was describing Cuba and Hispaniola. In part of the writing he compared Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic) to Barcelona because of the way that the houses and buildings were built with old rock. He wrote that Barcelona was much prettier and held more of his attention, but the city atmosphere of Santo Domingo had a similar charm.
It kind of took me back a little bit, like wait. I was just in Barcelona...this guy is writing in the early 1500s about the same city? Whoa.
Isn't it strange to think that the cities here that I am visiting and living in were around before America was even thought of?! Even just thinking about the words "Europe" and "Barcelona", those words existed and were established hundreds, if not at least a thousand, years before the word "America".
It's a weird concept and I don't even know if I have grasped it fully yet. There is a level of history here that, as an American, is very outside of my realm. Whenever I've been in history classes in the past or heard dates of events, I mostly have pushed them aside and not taken the time to realize how long ago that actually was....because there wasn't any real world application. Here, I'm surrounded by it! I keep saying how my classes are difficult because I don't know much European history, so the context of all my knowledge is skewed, but it makes a lot of sense as to why Europeans know so much history...they have it! ha!
I'm still a little flabbergasted, so I'm not sure if my thoughts make sense...

So much for not having much homework, I have 110 pages to read tonight! In Spanish. Better get to work...

Saludos.

Barcelona Part II: The Sites

2010-10-13T20:55:00.010+02:00

Saturday Elley and I slept in pretty late, turns out we had a lot of missed sleep to catch up on. We decided that we wanted to go to the Gothic Quarter of the city and see all the historic buildings. Literally everyone and their grandma was out and touring the city on Saturday, so getting everywhere was a pain. We first saw the Plaça de Catalunya and then made our way into the Barri Gotico. We wandered around for a while before deciding to go into the Catedral of Barcelona and met a very nice man before we went in who told us some great stuff about Barcelona! The Cathedral was so amazing. There is something about ancient churches and cathedrals that is very moving for me and it actually took a lot of self control for me to not cry. When we went into the cathedral's garden, there was a shrine of Jesus on the cross and some old ladies were going in there and praying in front of it. Now that was really special, you could just see the devotion of these women in the way they stroked the feet of the Jesus statue while praying; it was really powerful for me. We headed back to the hostel and the Portuguese guys told us they were planning on going to a club that night called Razmatazz. My friend, Hawke, had told me to go there when I went to Barça, so we were excited and glad to have friends to go with. The club is huge, like five stories tall and tons of different rooms with different music in all of them...but I wasn't really diggin the music that night. It was all techno and not very good for dancing, so Elley and I felt like we wasted our money and left earlier than everyone else.

Sunday we first went to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, designed by Gaudi and is still in the process of being built. We didn't go inside cause it was expensive and looked really busy...we just couldn't justify it when we didn't know if it was going to be good or not. It was really pretty, really different from anything I've ever seen before, definitely a work of Gaudi. Then we went to Park Güell, another work of Gaudi and it was great! It's a huge park on top of a hill, so there is a great view of the city from every side and then there is a winding path that takes you to different art forms. The most famous is the mosaic sidewalk and it was really pretty, kinda crowded, but definitely worth seeing. I think Park Güell was my favorite site in Barcelona, the view of the entire city and the mixture of art and nature was fabulous. Sunday night was the next highlight of our trip, we found a Mexican food restaurant! And the food was spicy! It was wonderful because Spanish food is not spicy in any way, shape or form and actually kind of bland most of the time. The food was exceptional and so were the margaritas! Then we went and had a night time walk along the beach, a very good end to the weekend.
Sunday night we went to bed kind of early so we could be on time for everything Monday morning and our trip home was very easy; everything went smoothly.

Hope that wasn't too rushed, it really felt like we did more than we actually did. Lots of walking and trying to relax. It was a good weekend, but in all honesty I was a little disappointed in Barcelona. The city itself was dirty and crowded most of the time, but the beach was surprisingly clean. Plus, the city smelled SO horribly, the sewer system must not be very good or it's super old cause everywhere we went, it reeked of sewage. Our troubles getting to the city didn't really put a good mood to the whole weekend either, but we are happy we went and we definitely learned a lot about traveling and our capabilities of handling problems!

Until next time!

Elley and me at Park Güell

La Sagrada Familia

Inside the Barcelona Cathedral

Elley outside the Barcelona Cathedral

La Plaça de Catalunya

Barcelona Part I: The Arrival

2010-10-12T12:43:00.007+02:00

OK, so maybe I won't be writing about our trip to Bilbao, I will be going this weekend again for our excursion class and Elley and I were there about three extra times this weekend...it has lost its excitement for me.
INSTEAD, I will tell a tale of our trip to Barcelona, Spain. I feel like I need to first clarify that Elley and I bought plane tickets through RyanAir about two weeks ago and planned on going to Barça from the afternoon of Thursday the 7th to the afternoon of Monday the 11th. We would take a bus from Vitoria to Santander, where we would fly to Barça and do the same thing on the way back. This plan did not work out so well...
I will back up to last Wednesday, the day before departure. Being the smart traveler that I am, I made sure to look up the name, address, phone number of the hostel we would be staying at and checked our flight as well as the time for the bus in the morning. Everything was perfect and the timing was just right.
Thursday morning, we got up early so we would have a few extra minutes at the bus station, but when we got there, the ticket window was closed and there was a sign saying that it would open again at 9:15am, the exact time our bus was leaving. We weren't sure what to do and when we asked at another desk the lady just pointed us to that same window for tickets to Santander. So we waited for the window to open and found out that our bus had left at 9:15am like it was suppose to and the next bus was at 2:15pm, the time of our flight. We did our best not to go into panic mode instantly and asked the man at the help desk, he said we could go to Bilbao first and then to Santander and it would get us there in time. Apparently we didn't understand him completely, he told us to get a ticket to Bilbao from the window and we thought he said we could get our ticket to Santander at an automatic ticket dispenser, so we did both and ran to the bus headed to Bilbao. Feeling relieved, we looked at the ticket to Santander from Bilbao and saw that the time the bus would leave was 2:15pm. We shrugged it off and hoped that we could just change our flight without much difficulty.
We got to Bilbao and wasted some time while we waited for the bus. Got to the bus station early for the bus and about 10 mins before the bus was suppose to leave we looked around and couldn't find it, so we asked at the information desk and she informed us that the reason we couldn't find our bus was because our ticket was from Vitoria to Santander, NOT Bilbao. Great. We quickly got another ticket to Santander and luckly it was leaving just a few minutes after. We felt so stupid for not paying more attention and we could have been to the airport already if we had known. So we got to Santander and went to the airport where they told us to change our tickets was gonna be about £300 each and the next flight was the next day. Obviously not worth it. But a nice lady told us that we could just take a bus down to Barcelona instead and it would be a lot cheaper. So, we went back to the bus station and go tickets for the overnight bus to Barcelona...cause it was already about 5:00pm at this point.
Now we really felt relieved, but also very stupid, since we had extra time we ate dinner and bought ourselves a box of wine and went and drank it in a park. ha! It was too long of a day to not have a drink!
I hardly slept on the bus because it was hot and packed full of people and about half way through the ride, my feet were swollen from sitting so long. Also, our bus stopped in Bilbao AND Vitoria on the way to Barcelona... But, nine hours later and 15 hours late, we finally arrived in Barcelona at 6:30am Friday morning. We got off the bus and walked for over an hour to get to our hostel before we decided to just get on the metro. We walked for almost another half an hour after that and got to our hostel at 8:00am, only to find out that we could not check in until 1:00pm. Awesome. The guy did let us keep our bags there in the office and thank goodness cause we were so tired and didn't want to drag them around for another five hours. Elley decided that she really needed to sleep before we did anything else, so she found a bench on the walkway and slept for about a half hour. ha! I was tired, but not tried enough to sleep on a park bench! We were both so tired and frustrated that we couldn't get in the hostel and just sleep for a few hours, but we got some breakfast and along the way stumbled upon Casa Batlló, a very famous building designed by Gaudi. For me personally, seeing that improved my mood. Then we just went shopping in the shopping district to waste time.
We checked into the hostel, rested for a while and decided to go find the beach. Luckly, Elley knows how to work metro systems cause it made traveling around the city so much easier! We stayed at the beach for a while, but we got kinda cold cause it was a cloudy day...and nothing dries by the ocean, so we stayed wet forever! When we got back to the hostel, we met the other people in our room, a group of Portuguese kids who were taking some time out of school to travel around Europe. They were so great! We ended up going out with them that night, we were all suppose to go to some outdoor festival in a garden, but left too late. We ended up just hanging out around a plaza and had our own dance party in the streets. It was so much fun! Probably the highlight of the trip for us.

Well this post is already too long, so I will write about the rest of the trip tomorrow to save your eyes and interest.
But as a ending note, Elley and I have decided to make a list of the travel lessons we have learned because this trip started out as such a disaster!
The second half was much more successful ;)

Chao!

Elley and our Portuguese friends

Me at the Mediterranean

La Rioja

2010-10-04T12:46:00.005+02:00

I have so much to tell about, but I think I will have to break it up into two posts.
On Saturday, we had our first excursion with my class and went to a few different places to learn about the area of Spain we are in, called Alava, and wine culture. We visited two different prehistoric monuments called Dolmens. They are rock structures built sometime around 4,000 BC that were supposedly used as shelters. They are kinda one of those unsolved mysteries, cause the rocks are so big and the mountains are pretty far away, so no one knows exactly how the structures were built and how the rocks got there. We also went to a small museum called La Hoya, which means "hole in the ground" in Spanish, and learned about the history of the ancient people who lived in the area.
Then we went to a city called Laguardia where we toured a winery, La Bodega de la Fabulista (The Winery of the Story Teller) and got to taste a couple different wines. It was really interesting to learn about the different fermentation processes and how the wine is made. At this particular winery they still squish the grapes by stepping on them...what a cool job! Our professor also taught us a bit about the trading and investing processes of the wine world. Laguardia was a beautiful town with small skinny streets that are only walk-able; the town is mostly restricted for cars. We got lucky that it was a sunny, beautiful day and we could see wine fields and mountains all around.
At the end of the day we went to Labastida, a historic city with a beautiful cathedral and cobblestone streets. Elley and I wandered around for a bit and found some cute pathways and lots of little benches to look out at the wine fields. It was the most beautiful place I think I've ever been! I completely feel in love with the Spanish wine fields and my pictures just do not do it justice. It was an amazing place and really the word majestic describes it perfectly. Everything was so old and had more history than I could ever imagine. We went to the top of one of the hills and the panorama of mountains and fields was breath-taking. I had to pinch myself several times to make sure it wasn't a dream! It was just like I was looking at a beautiful postcard, but it was right in front of me and so much more amazing than I ever imagined. It was a place that doesn't exist in the US because it was the mixture of the history, culture and natural beauty that made it special.
Here are some pictures of our great day and I will write later about our trip to Bilbao yesterday.

Chao!!

Elley enjoying the view in Labastida

Elley and me

Laguardia

Grapes!

El Dolmen

La Huelga General

2010-10-01T17:07:00.005+02:00

I don't know how many of you heard about the strikes/protests that happened in Europe this week, but in Vitoria, on Wednesday, there was a "huelga general" or a general protest. It sounds kind of funny to have a general strike/protest, like what?, you're gonna go with something to complain about and just hope someone else feels the same way about it? ha. Well, that was what I thought when I first heard about it, but really Europeans had a reason to shout out to their governments. The debt crisis in Spain and in Europe has caused many people to lose their jobs or have forced pay-cuts, just like in America, and now the governments are trying to cut public spending in order to reduce debt, so obviously people aren't happy. That's the skinny of the matter and about at much as I understand, but if you want to find out more about it read this article.
The reason I bring up the protests is because on Wednesday nearly all of my classes were canceled and not really prior to class, the professors just didn't show up to class and most of the students knew not to show up that day. Apparently in the past protesting as disrupted classes and many professors have learned that it's not worth the effort to have class. I also found interesting, the difference between Europeans and Americans when it comes to these matters. I mean, I know the governments work differently, but the US is going through the same economic crisis and yet it's still seen as taboo to protest about what the government is doing. In Europe, it's almost expected that people should protest, to show the government that they are not being represented well; there were signs for the protest all over the town and school last week. Elley questioned if it was really going to do anything if people here protested and who knows if it will make a difference, but it definitely made the news all over Europe.
In other happenings of the week, yesterday Elley and I toured la Catedral de la Virgen Blanca or the Cathedral of Saint Maria. We weren't allowed to take any pictures cause the cathedral is undergoing restoration and is closed to the public, unless you take a tour. The cathedral is gorgeous, even with all the construction going on inside, it's just amazing how people in the 1200's could have such precision and create detailed sculptures with their resources. Dremel tools didn't exist! The restoration is very interesting though, the columns and arches are all being reinforced because when they were built the builders didn't understand how to create structures to resist gravity and natural forces. Also, there is an archeological investigation going on in the underground portion of the cathedral where they discovered a huge storage space...storage of bodies apparently. I think it's kind of like a crypt, but the archeologists haven't identified all of the bodies yet, so they think some of them could be people who died building the cathedral. I would really like see the cathedral after the restoration is finished, but it won't be for a couple years...good reason to come back, I guess!

A few more interesting things I've noted are: there are no clocks around here, literally not a clock in any store, restaurant or classroom. Needless to say, I bought a watch yesterday and for only £2!
There aren't screens on the windows. Maybe that's just a Colorado thing, but there isn't a need here anyway, there aren't many bugs!
Maybe one of the more interesting things I've noticed, came about from a conversation today. In one of my classes there is a Russian girl and she was asking Elley and I where were are from and when we said Colorado, she said she knew where that was because she had to take an American History class in Russia. I just thought it was interesting that people from other countries learn about America and are even required to take a class about our history. I know the US has been very innovative and a "superpower" for quite some time, but now China is coming into more power and I know that it would not fly for a Chinese history class to be required in American schools. So why is it that other countries learn about us? But we don't learn about them?...

Tomorrow my excursion class is going to a local winery where we will learn about wine culture and then Sunday, Elley and I are going to meet her roommate, Irantzu, in Bilbao and spend the day seeing parts of the city and going to the ocean. I'm very excited for both and I'm sure I'll write again soon.

Agur!

Short

2010-09-26T22:29:00.002+02:00

Not much to report from over the weekend, it's been a few lazy days. Thursday night was a crazy night out and we had a lot of fun! Yesterday and today involved errands and just a lot of walking around the city to people watch and see new places. There's always stuff going on Sundays, so Elley and I went to the Plaza this afternoon and there was some kind of Renaissance festival happening with activities and lots of booths to buy things. It was interesting and even though much of the stuff was overpriced, there was lots of pretty jewelry and such that is very different than what you'd find in the States. Then we were suppose to take a tour of the old cathedral, but we got caught in a pack of people and couldn't make it to the cathedral in time for the tour. Oh well, we are gonna try again on Thursday.
Elley and I booked plane tickets to go to Barcelona on the 7th! We will go for a long weekend, the 7th-11th and I am SO excited! We have a long weekend then because of a holiday and I found some cheap tickets on Ryanair. It's already less than two weeks away!!
I don't have much else to report now. I love and miss everyone back home!!
Chao!

Escuela is in!

2010-09-22T20:32:00.003+02:00

Wednesday, wednesday, wednesday! Today was a good day. I had class starting at 9am and didn't stop until about 4pm, five classes back to back...not even time to eat lunch! It was alright though, I mean, I was starving by the time it was all over, but a very productive day. I actually learned some things in my classes today, thank goodness! My professors all seem really nice and I think the classes will be manageable as far as having instruction in Spanish goes. One of the classes I had today I don't think I will go back to, History of Translation, it was really confusing and not very interesting and I don't need it for anything.
So some highlights of my day were that I got put in to the intermediate level of my Spanish course, which I think is good for the conversation aspect, but I definitely already know all of the grammar that we will be learning. Oh well. The cool thing though is that two other Americans from FLC are in that class as well! I know one of them, him and I had a class together last year and then there is a girl who is really nice and I think we will get along well. Both of them had a really hard time with their schedules and finding classes that they thought would be easy enough for them, so I helped them try and figure out the system and recommended the easy classes I am taking. Elley (the girl) said that she went to talk to the international relations people here and they recommended only two classes for her which is hardly enough credits, but she told me about one of the classes, it's a course for foreign students to get a chance to travel around the Basque country...to do touristy things and learn about the history of the area. So we went to the information session today and it seems really great! We go on five "field trips" on different Saturdays, for the whole day and then we just write a paper about out experiences and what we learned. It's so great cause not only will I get to travel to places (and not have to go alone), but our professor will be explaining everything and telling us how they do things here in the Basque country. So stay tuned for updates on my Basque travels! Our first trip is next weekend, the 2nd of October, to a winery that's close to Vitoria.
After classes, I meet with my "madrina", the girl the University set me up with to help me out and show me around. She is really sweet, we went to a cafe and talked for a few hours, we switched speaking between Spanish and English. She said she needed to practice her English cause she hadn't spoken it all summer and I said I needed to practice Spanish, pretty much for the same reason! We compared Spain and the U.S. and she told me about her experience studying abroad in Sweden. I think we will get along well, we seem to have a lot in common and she's really nice.
So this week is turning out nicely so far and tomorrow is Thursday, so you know what that means! Partee!! haha! :)

Tortillas!

2010-09-20T09:43:00.009+02:00

Today is the first day of classes here in Vitoria, it's been too long since I've been in school, it feels so strange! But my 9am class for today was cancelled, already. We walked into class and the profa announced that we would just start the class on Wednesday and go over stuff then. Cool! So now I don't have class again until 1:30pm. I think I have my schedule figured out, but the system here is kinda complicated and finding classes to take that don't have time conflicts is really difficult. Seriously, all of the classes are at the same time, how is that suppose to work? And a lot of the classes for the Spanish major are ones that I can't/don't want to take cause they are about learning the different regional languages like Catalan and Galacian. Not that it wouldn't be interesting, just not applicable for me.
So I thought I would write about some other interesting Spanish things, only a few though.
When you go to a restaurant here and order a water or a soda, it's bottled. As in, you can't buy tap water at a restaurant or even ask for it, cause they don't serve anything but bottled. And if you order a coke, they take a 350ml (approx) glass bottle and pour it into a glass for you. There's not a tap for sodas either! I'm not sure about beer, I haven't had one yet and I haven't been observant enough to notice if there is draft beer or not. Most of the beer here is light though, they drink Heineken like Bud Light back home.
Also, the people that do have dogs around here rarely ever have them on leashes. There must not be any leash laws, but as far as I've seen all of the dogs are very well trained and will sit outside of a store patiently for their owner. Most of the dogs are pretty small too, again cause of apartment living.

Oh! Saturday night I ate dinner at Cam and Alba's apartment and we made Spanish tortillas or tortilla de patata. What an awesome meal! If you are envisioning a tortilla made out of flour or corn, think again, this is not South America...wheat and maize are not native here. Spanish tortillas are made out of potatoes (patatas) and are pretty similar to a potato omelette, here's a picture to demonstrate:

They are SOO yummy! I can't wait to make them at home and show everyone how delicious they are!

Here are a few ore pics of Vitoria.
Oh and forget about having a good hair day here, humidity is terrible...

Chao!

Don't smile, just look at the graffiti.

2010-09-18T15:58:00.009+02:00

Well not a whole lot exciting or eventful has happened in the past day or two. Thursday night we went out to the bars and then a club and that was SO much fun! I could do that every weekend night! Yesterday Cam, Alba and I went shopping in the afternoon and I got a new pair of jeans (they are so long, it's amazing!) and some leggings and sweaters. I think I will be living in scarves and sweaters this year cause I am freezing all the time, already! I still need a heavier jacket and some new shoes that will be better in the rain, oh and an umbrella. I slept 11 hours last night, whoa! I guess I needed to catch up on some sleep and my room is so great cause the shutter on the window completely blocks out light, so my room stays really dark all night. Love it.

So I though I'd point out some of the different/strange things I've noticed here. The main thing is that people are so cold to each other, I mean strangers. There is no smiling on the street, you don't say Hi to a passerby and there is no small talk in stores. Everyone just keeps to themselves. It's hard for me not to smile at people when I'm walking around, but it's just not something that anyone does!
As I knew before coming here, the daily schedule is a lot different. Breakfast is small, if anything more than a cup of tea or coffee and lunch is considered the "most important meal of the day". Lunch happens between 2-4pm and is a large meal, in fact, I feel like I've done so much eating already cause lunch is such a big deal. Dinner is late, around 10pm and is not a big as lunch and more for socializing. Alba said that if you go out to restaurants they won't serve you dinner before 9pm usually.
Lots of people smoke here, probably the same as in the US, but it seems more obvious because they are allowed to in restaurants and bars. We are so spoiled in Colorado! Thurday when I got back to my room from going to the club, I reeked of smoke...hair, clothes, even my skin! Gross.
This may be something that is special to Vitoria, but there is graffiti everywhere! It doesn't matter if you're in the nice part of town or the ghetto part, it's all over the place and some of it is really pretty. It makes me wonder if they do it all with spray paint, cause the colors are so vibrant and rich.
Most of the music around here is in English and the same stuff that is popular in the States. It's all dance and techno music like Lady Gaga and David Guetta. There are some Spanish artists, but American music is heard more frequently.
Everyone lives in apartments here, I actually don't think I've seen one house so far. It makes for a more compact city, but there are also not very many people with dogs...at least not like in the US.
There's no Walmart (thank goodness!) and I haven't seen a McDonald's yet, although there is Burger King.
In general, there aren't fat people here. haha! That sounds funny, but it's true, people are thinner than in the States, even compared to Colorado! I think it's because it's easier to walk places here and food is more proportioned.
Since I'm in the Basque country, everything is labeled in both Castellano (Spanish) and Euskara (Basque) and there are many things that people use the Basque word for instead of Spanish.
For example: Pintxos (pinchos) = tapas
Txupito (chupito) = a shot (of alcohol)
Agur (ahur) = goodbye
Oh! And in the supermarkets, you have to buy bags...they are only like .20£ I think, so it's a good idea to save your bags and you see a lot of people going into the market with a suitcase looking thing for groceries.

That's all for now I think. I'm sure once school starts I will have more to share. Here's a pic of the outside of my residence and some random graffiti. I promise I will have more pictures soon!

Agur!

The lost day.

2010-09-16T18:21:00.011+02:00

Well day number two is on its way, an exciting day cause I went shopping for some stuff for my room, so I finally have an actual blanket for my bed and towels for showering...Thank goodness for Cam and Alba cause otherwise I would have had a cooold night and and un-showered morning. Let me tell ya, that would not have been good with how my day yesterday went.
So like I said in my last post, everything with flights and buses went fine, but once I got to Vitoria, I encountered some issues. I got off the bus and went in the station to find out which bus would take me to the University and apparently there isn't one, only ones that stop on that side of town. So the guy said that it was an easy walk, gave me a map and drew out my path. Well I haven't established my sense of direction here yet (who knows if I ever will, all the streets go in crisscross and loop-de-loops) so I headed in the direction he said and immediately got lost. I tried to identify some streets with the ones on my map, but the majority of streets don't have a sign. I asked a man to point me in the right direction and he was pretty vague, so I wandered around for about an hour before a lady saw me looking at my map and offered to help. She gave me excellent directions and I got to campus about a half hour later cause I was so out of the way. ha! Once I was on campus, I wandered around for about another hour trying to figure out where the residence was before some girls asked me if I knew of a bus to Bilbao. Of course I didn't and I asked them if they would help me, turns out one of the girls lives in the residence and they chaperoned me there. They were freshman and really nice, I was so grateful they helped me because once we got to the residence I knew there would have been no way I would have found it on my own.
The strange and wonderful thing about it was, even though I was lost beyond belief, it was alright with me. Normally I think I would have been very frustrated, but for some reason I still had a smile on my face the whole time. I was exhausted and sweating like a fat man going up stairs, but none of that seemed to matter. Who knew such a struggle could also be so great. NOT that it was easy, my shoulders hurt so badly today from carrying my backpack and a 50lb. suitcase for two hours!
Well, then I was in my room and I immediately got an ethernet cord from the front desk cause I was so sure Mom was freaking out and I needed to let her know I was fine. After that, I did an inventory of my room and realized that I didn't have any sheets, towels or even toilet paper. That was when the exhaustion and homesickness hit me and I just about fell over and started crying, feeling overwhelmed. Cause after being in the same sweaty, dirty clothes (they were really gross) and not having had a nice bathroom to use for almost two days or a good night's sleep...I was pretty pathetic.
So I tried to get myself together, changed clothes and washed my face cause I was meeting Cam and Alba in about 30 mins. I felt a lot better once I saw them and we went around town a bit and then out to eat. Then back to their apartment and they let me borrow a blanket, towel and some TP. It was wonderful!
When I was back in my room, jet-lag was catching me cause I was not tired at all. Finally went to bed around 1am and then only slept for an hour cause I was freezing, put my sweatshirt on and slept SO hard until my alarm went off in the morning. I think I could have slept til noon today.
So my first day or so in Vitoria was a bit of a mess, but I think memorable. ha! And when I woke up to a cloudy, rainy morning all I could think was that I should have traded every dress I brought so I could have my sweatpants! ...but just to wear around my room, that kind of clothing would get me even more glares than I already get!
I haven't taken many pictures cause today is cloudy, I should have yesterday when it was sunny and beautiful...but here's some of my room (pretty bare, I know) and I will have more next time, I hope!
Thursday nights start the weekend here (not literally, it's just the night to go out), so hopefully it will be a fun night! Alba said it might not be that busy cause school hasn't started, so many students haven't moved back yet.

More soon! Chao!

Spain at last!

2010-09-15T23:55:00.000+02:00

Well this trip has been quite an interesting one so far. Pretty much everything has gone right, which is wonderful! I didn’t miss any flights or get held up anywhere strange and now I am finally on my last leg of the trip…the bus ride to Vitoria. I’m still four hours away from my future home, but that seems like nothing after traveling for about 20 hours straight.

I guess I should start with my flight from Denver to Boston, it was fine and took just over three hours, I believe. The only problem with it was the guy sitting behind me. Apparently he recently had knee replacement surgery on both of his knees, so before I even sit down, he peeks over the seat and asks me if I could not recline my chair during the flight because of his knees. Which is fine, of course, but he was an overweight guy to begin with and I don’t know if it was because of that or his knees, but for the duration of the flight, he was grabbing the back of my chair and using it to hold himself up…not the most comfortable for me, but I didn’t want to say anything since he recently had surgery. At the end of the flight, the lady across the aisle from me told me I should complain to the airline and try to get reimbursed for the flight. I honestly think she was more annoyed by the guy than I was.

Then I was in Boston Logan Airport and to get to the international terminal from the domestic, you have to walk through all these small damp corridors that look like a mix between an old swimming pool house and a high school built in the 70’s, kinda creepy. When I finally found the line for security, it was wrapped all the way around the inside of the building. It was a good thing I had a couple hours before my flight, cause I waited in security for at least an hour with a guy in front of me who kept looking back at me like I smelled bad…and maybe I did. So, needless to say, Boston was busy, if you ever take a flight out of there, allot yourself a good chunk of time.

My flight from Boston to Dublin was rather empty. There were a lot of empty chairs, including the one next to me, which was nice cause it gave me a little more leg-room. The flight was about five and a half hours, shorter than I expected and I didn’t sleep a wink. I tried for about an hour and then went back to watching movies. When we landed in Dublin – this is where the fun begins – I had just about an hour to make my connecting flight to Madrid. Unfortunately, I was in the back part of the plane, so just getting into the terminal took a while and then unexpectedly, I had to go through customs. I thought I was only going to have to do that in Madrid, so I started to get a little panicky. Luckly, the girl behind me, who was college-aged I guess, was on the same flight as me, so we found the shortest line and then rushed through security, again…I mean, we just got off an airplane, what could we have picked up in the minute walking down the hall?...and then raced through the airport to our gate. And when I say raced, I mean, we ran. We dodged in and out of people and got dirty looks from businessmen, but we made our flight about two minutes before they closed the doors. Thank goodness! Cause I know there were other people who were coming from Boston who were suppose to be on our flight and they missed it. So, after my heart stopped racing, I settled in for a nap and pretty much slept for the whole two and a half hours.

In Madrid, everything went smoothly, the baggage claim was a zoo and the bathrooms where horrible, but the information lady was really nice and told me the bus to take to get to the bus station where I could connect to Vitoria. It all worked well, but everyone spoke to me in English, even if I tried to speak Spanish to them…I guess I’m an obvious American. Which seems strange to me because while I was waiting in the bus station, for two hours, I kept trying to figure out where people were from without hearing them speak at first and I was wrong pretty much every time. Oh well.

Now that I’m on the bus, I never got to see much of Madrid expect what was on the highway, Spain looks kind of like a mixture between Colorado, New Mexico and maybe Kansas as far as landscape goes. Their mountains look about like the foothills, it seems pretty dry here, and there seems to be a lot of farm land, but there are lots of trees and I noticed from the little I could see out of the airplane window, that a lot of the trees are planted in organized patterns.

It’s all very interesting and beautiful. Spanish is overwhelming already and I haven’t even had to speak very much of it, but hopefully it will be better once I am more rested. I’m excited to get to Vitoria and will write again soon.

P.S. – My first meal in Spain was provided by the bus…a packaged sandwich. haha

My face.

2010-09-10T03:13:00.017+02:00

I'm five (almost four!) days away from departure to Spain and this week consists of a lot of "lasts", some good and some sad. A good, I would say, is today was my last day of work for a while. Not that working is all that bad and neither of my jobs are very hard, but I miss school a bit and learning new things. So I am excited to be moving out of the working world for a while and back into the academic again. A sad last, that goes along with stopping work, is leaving my boss, friend, mentor, adopted grandma, Ann. This summer concluded the 4th year I've worked for her, and what a blessing it has been! Not only do I get to go feed and take care of a horse first thing in the morning (which is a good thing, I consider myself very lucky!) but I also get to spend part of my day with her. I can never emphasize how insightful and wonderful she is, she has helped me grow into the person I am and has shown me that no matter what happens, life continues. You can read what I wrote about her on my blog two years ago here: Farm life.
I'm thinking about Ann especially today because I spent all morning with her, well not with her per say, but in the same space! She is a member of the Thompson Valley Art League and they invited me to go be a model for portrait painting. Quite the experience. I got to sit in a chair and stare at the same spot for four hours while six pairs of eyes studied my face...ok, maybe only fun for the conceited, but the awkwardness of the situation started to wear away after the first hour. The cool part was getting to see the different styles of paintings and how each person put me onto canvas. It was really quite flattering at times because everyone kept telling how I was a great model to have and any angle was great for my face, it's always nice to hear those kinds of things. :)
Well I thought I would share the UNFINISHED paintings (I think the artists would appreciate the emphasis) because I think they are all very good and interesting. Maybe at some point I will get to see the finished products of my portraits.

Artists in order: Ann Delzell, Peggy Keagle, Jennifer Cline, Jeff Brooks

T minus 13 days

2010-09-01T14:29:00.005+02:00

I feel like I have a lot of grit n' grub to dish out, so please excuse me if this post is long and/or sporadic (that's a nice way of saying boring and confusing). There is a lot to update about, but really I just feel a need to write, it's been too long since I've expressed myself this way.

Yesterday marked the date of 2 weeks before my departure to Spain, and with it came the restless, preoccupied nights without sleep. I sure hope that doesn't continue until I leave. I hate laying awake at night thinking about papers I need to copy, emails I need to send and clothes I need to pack...it's just a waste of energy. The good news about Spain is that I got my visa in the mail yesterday, finally! What a relief after all of the hassle and sending papers back and forth to Denver. It's now done and I will officially be living in Spain for 10 months!
Now that it's down to the last couple weeks before I leave, my nerves are starting to rattle and even though I'm excited to leave and start something new, I'm also scared. Nervous. Anxious. It's all a mesh of emotions that's wrapped around my head so tightly I can barely see straight.

Last week I went to Durango to help Vanessa move in and see friends. It was a wonderful trip, way too wonderful... I waited all summer for that week in Durango and my last chance to see Jerard and I was not disappointed in any way because it was great. It was lazy and the weather was perfect and it reminded me why I love Durango. It's a place that reminds of everything beautiful in my life, the sunsets, blue skies, the river and those are just the beauties that nature provides... the people are better than the best. We all floated the river and partied together, it was just a wholesome dose of summer. I got to see Melissa for an afternoon, the first time we've been together since last June, a MUCH needed reunion. Leaving Durango was and has been difficult...easier than it was in May because my head is more level and set on going to Spain, but saying goodbye to Jerard and Vanessa was hard. Now that I'm back at home, the last week feels like it was all a dream. Life feels like a daze, like it's not real and not right... this morning the first thing I noticed was that that sun is already starting to wake up later that I do. I was only away from home for a week, but I guess I've never noticed before because normally I would be back at school already... It's weird cause everyone is starting classes, doing the college student thing and I'm back at home, still working and not a part of the FLC life.

So on top of my stress about leaving the country, I've been sad and emotional about leaving people I care about....the one's I've already said goodbye to and the one's that await farewell. I know it's not forever and goodbyes are not permanent, but the Atlantic seems so large and everyone will be different when I get back...including me. The hard part about saying goodbye to friends is that many of them will graduate while I'm gone and probably move in with their lives, so this could be goodbye for a long time. I know I will keep in touch, but saying goodbye to people I love has never been easy for me.

Like I said earlier, I feel like I'm living in a dream world, I heard the song "Just a Dream" by Nelly on the radio this morning and it struck me in a familiar way. One because nothing seems quite right or quite real and like I will wake up any minute. Two, the song is obviously about missing someone and losing someone you care about and I'm definitely struggling with that.

I don't like having a jumble of emotions and a cloudy mind, it makes me feel like I'm not giving my best to the people in my life because I'm so wrapped up in what is going on in my head. It's like I'm a little kid again, who thinks the world revolves around them and takes more than they give...

What a strange note to end on, but I think that's all for now!

Yay August!!

2010-08-03T00:01:00.007+02:00

Wow, July literally flew by and I couldn't be happier! That sounds really bad, but I'm now down to just 6 weeks until I leave for Spain. I'm so ready for my grand adventure to begin!

July really didn't consist of much in the middle, but right after the 4th we traveled to California for my visa and it was a really nice trip. We got to see the ocean, but didn't spend much time out on the beach cause it was actually pretty cold the weekend we were there...apparently that's normal for Californian summers. I got to spend some time with my best friend, Angela, who is living in L.A. this summer, which was probably the highlight of the trip, for me. And most importantly, I sat in the Consulate for about 3 hours in order to apply for my visa...and yes it was as bad and boring as it sounds. But now that stress is over...

I still haven't received my visa yet, because I still need to send in my FBI background check, which I'm still waiting to get back from the Secretary of State to get certified. Such long processes!! It will be a relief to have my visa and know that I can actually live in Spain for 10 months...legally.

I will find out about my housing in Spain sometime this week, so that is exciting! Right now, all I know is that I will be living in a "dorm-like" flat where I will share a kitchen with an adjoining room. I really hope my "roommate" speaks Spanish and/or is from Spain, I don't want to have to speak English to anyone!

I signed up for a madrinos/padrinos program (godmother/godfather) that the school coordinates for exchange students and pairs them with a local student. I hope the person I'm partnered with will be helpful, have good advice and most of all, fun!

In news not concerning Spain, I got my wisdom teeth taken out 3 days ago. It really was not as bad as I was expecting. I'm not in a whole lot of pain and wasn't for most of the weekend. The worst part is really just the discomfort of the swelling. Mom says I don't look so bad, but my face feels like a balloon and I definitely don't feel like going on any hott dates. I still can't eat many solid foods, just because it hurts to chew and I can't open my mouth very wide, thanks to the swelling. I can't wait to eat a big juicy hamburger!

In three weeks, I'm going down to Durango to have a week of vacation and fun with friends. I'm very excited and glad I get a chance to say good-bye to all my Durango friends before I leave for Spain.

I will update with my housing arrangements soon.

Hasta entonces!

Long time, no update.

2010-06-28T05:57:00.004+02:00

Well, I thought I'd give a quick update on what's been happening. I've been under the weather lately and I found out last week that it's because I have Mononucleosis. Awesome. Really I've felt a lot better in the past few days, but it's still an illness that stinks to have because of the fatigue and required rest. I've been trying to stay as active as possible, but my body get worn down so much faster lately. So I've just been trying to get lots of sleep and drink plenty of water, the doctor said there's not much else I can do.
On a brighter note, we leave for California in a week and a half! I'm so excited to go to the ocean and finally have the last step for Spain done. Plus, my best friend, Angela, is in L.A. for the summer and I will get to spend sometime with her while we're on the west coast. It should be a really great trip and I'm looking forward to a change of pace. It's been a slow moving summer, which has it's ups and downs. I'm ready to be on the next step of my journey and go to España, but only 86 days until I board the plane!
Hasta luego!

Spain is real

2010-05-17T23:59:00.008+02:00

Well, yesterday I officially bought my plane ticket to Spain!! September 14th is when I will embark on my long journey. I leave around 10:50 am Colorado time and don't arrive in Madrid until 9:55 am their time! Really the entire travel time is around 11 hours without the time change, but it's still gonna be a long day.
I'm getting pretty anxious to leave the country, all of my plans are finally becoming real and this long limbo period is hard already... and I've only been home for a week! I still have a lot of things to get figured out before I go, so this time is much needed even if not much wanted. Before I go, I still need to apply and recieve my visa to study in Spain which requires a trip to L.A., California for me. The visa process for Spain is more complicated than other countries and I have to apply in person at the Consulate General, to verify that I'm a worthy citizen or something. So, besides the trip kinda being a money waster...just because I'd like to have as much saved as possible for Spanish adventures!...it will be fun to get out of Colorado, even if it's just for a few days. My friend Hannah and I might road trip to Califas or my mom and I might fly out there; plans are still undecided. I technically have to still make an appointment with the Consulate and then I will be able to make plans for certain.
Other than that, summer is just going and it sure hasn't felt like summer yet with the strange, cold, rainy weather. Everything is getting put into place though, since I moved back home, literally and figuratively. I'm back working at the "farm" for Ann and also at Steve's office, both part time - which doesn't always transfer to full time. I have more free space in my days than I would like right now, but it leaves time for good bike rides and workouts as well as play time with friends.

Chao for now!

A temporary, long-time goodbye

2010-05-09T02:31:00.002+02:00

Right now, the Animas is starting to run high with muddy water. The sun is fading behind the western hills of Durango and everything has a red-golden hue glistening on top of it. The trees are budding and starting to become green again; some have flowers, getting ready to bear ripe fruit. The streets are busy with people on bikes and scooters or on foot, heading downtown to enjoy a beer at one of the bars. Everyone seems happy and friendly, the sun brings smiles to past frozen faces.
This is the scene I will miss so much.
I left Durango today for almost 15 months and it has been difficult already.
This past semester was by far the hardest I have faced so far in school and I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped, but now I'm done...and it feels good. I decided to stay an extra week in Durango so I could relax for a few days and have more time to get things done before returning to the real world. Holy crap, what a good choice! Not having any responsibilities felt amazing! Staying out late, sleeping in, having time to myself, riding my bike, seeing friends. It was great to be able to spend time with people that I won't get to see again for a really long time and in some cases never again...just thinking about that breaks my heart.
I'm really gonna miss being able to ride my bike on the streets and not be constantly worried of getting run over, the river trail, my camera...whoever took it from Pongas, shame on you!... having my own apartment, the friendly community, but most of all, my friends who have become like a second family to me.
So I want to give a farewell to the city and people of Durango...you know who you are. You've made this past year and especially this past semester SO enjoyable. All of the jokes and laughs and crazy things we did together, I owe all those memories to you. You mean the world to me and just know that I will always remember the good times, no matter how long we are apart. You've made Durango the wonderful, enchanting town it is to me. I'm blessed to have every one of you in my life and even if our paths never cross again, it was a good run while it lasted.
I love you all. Saying goodbye was really hard for me, it always is when I'm saying goodbye to people I love and care about, people who mean the world to me.
So thank you all!

Based on a true story.

2010-04-15T06:02:00.005+02:00

Today in my Islam and the West class we watched the movie, The Stoning of Soraya M., it is literally the saddest movie I've ever seen! I was bawling in class for probably the last thirty minutes of the movie, I was just appalled and so distraught by the cruelty of people in the world.
Movie spoiler: Soraya M. gets stoned to death...ok so maybe a bit obvious from the title, but there are parts of the movie when the audience has hope for her salvation. A fast preview of the movie: it takes place in a small, rural village in Iran where a woman, Soraya M., is accused by her husband to be an adulteress for the sole reason that he wants to take a new wife and Soraya won't get a divorce. The law in this village states that a women convicted of adultery is to be stoned to death. So the husband gets another man to give false testimony against Soraya and she is sentenced to death by stoning. Then you watch the stoning happen. You watch her father, her husband, even her own sons, as well as the entire town, throw stones at her face and body until she bleeds to death in the dirt.
I started crying just at the thought of her own family throwing stones at her and then her husband throws the first stone that hits her and blood starts pouring from her forehead. The town mullah (Islamic priest) throws the next one and then her two young sons, not more than 10 and 12 years old, throw stones at their own mother. Needless to say, I was convulsing in my sobbing at this point.
It's kind of embarrassing to be crying my eyes out in a class at school, but I don't think I could have reacted any less forcefully. It was just so terrible to see these people brutally murder a woman who did nothing wrong. The movie in general made me angry from the beginning, just by how the women were treated by the men, as if they were property and the men had 100% control over them. I'm not one to be a feminist, but injustice and corruption really bother me, no matter what the case is! The whole thing happened because of a selfish desire from one man and he got his way because he knew how to black mail people.
I got out of class and I was still in tears. I sat down and I just thanked God over and over again for the privileged life that I have. I am so lucky to be able to get an education, live in a beautiful place, be surrounded by caring people, be protected by my government and to have rights. Today I was happy for the most trivial and cliche things, but it's those things that we take advantage of and don't realize how much they matter in our lives, that we would hate the most to lose. Life is beautiful and if you live in a place where you feel safe and loved, you are lucky. Not everyone has that luxury.

So, make the next movie you watch The Stoning of Soraya M., be prepared to cry and feel a little drained afterward, but it's worth it and I think it's something everyone should know about.

P.S.- It's based on a true story.

Califas-Longmont-Durango

2010-04-07T08:25:00.002+02:00

Even though I should be finishing my reading for class later today, I feel that a blog is past due and plus it's far more interesting. The past week has been eventful and fun, my two best friends came to visit in the same week! Talk about hectic, but more than worth it.
So Angela came to Durango for her first time last Wednesday through Saturday. The weather wasn't the best while she was here, kinda cold and very windy, so we didn't really do many outdoor activities. We had a fun night at Megan's house for a craft night and made pictures for a school presentation, played pool with some bros, relaxed, did some homework and played cards...just to name a short list. I know it was a great time for me to have her here to meet all of my friends and see the place I live in the majority of the year. It's so great that I was able to visit her in Califas and then she was able to come and visit me so soon afterward!
Then Hannah was here from Sunday night until yesterday afternoon, a very short trip, but I know it was worth it for me to have her here! Since she's visited here before (you can find out about the trip at her blog here: http://talesfromatimeout.blogspot.com/2010/03/adventures-of-hannah-world-traveler.html) we went to restaurants she remembered and just had chill girly time, always a necessity.
These weeks have been pretty hectic with school and all, but it's so worth putting homework on the back burner for a few days to enjoy the company of people you love. I mean if they are gonna make the effort and take the time to come and visit me all the way down here in the mountains, I certainly want them to have a good time and feel the trip was meaningful.
So thanks girls for making my week so great! I love you and I miss you both already! Nos veremos en el verano.

Bipolar Colorado

2010-03-26T20:20:00.002+01:00

As disappointed to see that it was snowing like the sky was falling when I got out of the gym today, I was also so amazed by the beauty of a spring snow storm. Humongous, sloppy snow flakes circled around me as I walked to my car and I'm pretty sure I looked like a snowman by the time I got there. Colorado really is splendid in the spring time, one day it's practically summer out and people wear shorts and flip-flops then the next day we have a blizzard and you need a winter coat again. When I heard it was gonna snow I thought I would be swearing and having a hissy fit, but it has turned into a good reason to be productive and get homework done.
I would just like to take a moment to make a note to the citizens of Durango and especially the driver of a large gray van: just because it's snowing doesn't necessitate you riding your brakes because in fact, when it's 40 degrees and snowing, the roads are just wet, not icy. Thank you for your cooperation.

The most prevalent thing in my life lately has been stress. What's new. But I actually had a really great week as far as school goes, I was not a procrastinator for once. Unfortunately, I spent all my time on schoolwork and not on things that I love, like my new hobby of cooking. Living on my own has really improved my culinary skills and my imagination for that matter. I'm subscribed to some cooking blogs and the options for food really are endless, I love it! When I say cooking, I mean real cooking like things for meals, not baking cookies and such...which I do a little of, tonight I am actually making some Ferrero Rocher cupcakes for a friend's birthday...but I find great satisfaction in preparing new and wonderful dishes for dinner. I think that's why I like cooking so much, it's satisfying to know that you have made something beautiful and delicious (when they turn out that way, that is) for others and yourself to enjoy. Plus, it's fun to try out new things and see what goes well together.

Homework calls. More to come later.

Dresses

2010-03-18T01:06:00.004+01:00

1.) Why does a girl wearing a dress immediately elicit stares from every guy she passes?
Maybe a funny question, but really? Today, I didn't have time for makeup or to do anything with my hair, so I looked like a total mess, except that I was wearing a dress and nice shoes and let me tell ya, I got SO many smiles and checked out by SO many guys around campus today. What's the deal? Man, if all it takes is a dress, then I'm gonna forget the rest of it and just live in dresses from now on!
2.) So on the topic of wearing a dress today, an acquaintance of mine told me today that I've been dressing really nicely lately and was wondering if there was a reason for the change... Thanks, I know that I have had some not so fashionable days, but you didn't really need to point that out... But there actually is some validity behind the question. This semester has been really hard for me academically and it's very easy for me to stress about school matters and think ahead of myself and get freaked out that I have too much to do and too little time. So in my moments of stress, I like to dress nicely and give a more "tidy" than normal appearance because if I'm stressed and freaking out and worried about everything going on, I want the last thing that I worry about to be if I'm looking attractive or not. It's super easy for me to be anxious and forget about looking good and then I just feel even worse cause in my haste and lack of sleep I've failed to make myself look like a presentable member of society. I find it really helps my confidence in school (and in general!) and helps me to alleviate some preoccupations if I look good and know that I took the extra 10 mins to make sure that I do. And really that's all it takes, 10 minutes! Changing from sweats to a dress is so easy to do and it's an amazing confidence booster, reason number 4 to wear dresses.

20 five

2010-03-14T18:01:00.004+01:00

I wrote this last year as a facebook thing that a lot of people did, but I found it very lovely and fitting when I read it again today. It's amazing how a year can change so many things and at the same time everything about a person can stay the same.

1) I'm an animal lover, not to an extreme, but they steal my heart more than anything else.
2) Coffee has become an addiction. Not for the caffeine, but for the wonderful taste.
3) I am fascinated by random things such as firetrucks and decorative postage stamps.
4) Winter is my favorite time of year. I love snow.
5) Snail mail makes my day better, getting a handwritten letter from someone always puts a smile on my face.
6) I don't know where I would be without my girlfriends, they make all the difference.
7) I'm excited to have my own family when I'm older, being a mom is my dream job.
8) I want to go into outer-space.
9) I'm coldblooded. Literally, I'm always freezing.
10) I have a love for languages and cultures.
11) I will travel the entire world in my life.
12) I'm a cuddler.
13) The Lord is my Shepard.
14) Writing is the most therapeutic thing for me, any time something is bothering me I write about it.
15) I like being barefoot.
16) The mountains are my home, I belong in a place with mountains.
17) I love adventurous, outdoorsy things. They make me feel rugged.
18) I'm addicted to working out, otherwise I can't sleep.
19) I'm glad to be friends with my family and family to my friends.
20) I have an organized mind, everything has its own folder in a department inside of a topic, but my life is unorganized and messy.
21) I know what I want in my life, but I don't know how I will get there and that's beautiful to me.
22) I love the sound of silence.
23) I'm kinda an anime nerd...but you're not suppose to know that.
24) I want to go on a quest, just because it sounds so badass.
25) North Side Middle Gate, that's where I'll be.

The only correction to be made is #4. Winter is no longer my favorite. haha I still love snow and I do enjoy winter, but I've been missing the sun and warm weather a lot this year.
Well now you know a bit more about me.

there cannot be a Greater beauty

2010-03-14T00:29:00.004+01:00

Sometimes I feel like my life isn't busy enough or interesting enough to actually blog. Or maybe I'm not a good enough story teller. Fact. I guess there's always the possibility that my life is too scandalous to be posting all over the internet. Bingo! Found a winner. Not.
Anyway, I was just thinking about the people in my life and how special they are and how special they make me feel. I like people who make me feel special. Strange, right? But really, I'm surrounded by some amazing people who make me laugh til I snort, who give up time and energy for me and who hug me like they will never let go. I love that. I think I love hugs more than I like firetrucks...or puppies...and I really love puppies. There's just something about a good strong hug that makes my heart swell and I feel like a cartoon with hearts popping up all around my head, no matter who it is. But back to the point, I don't know how I became so lucky to have the people in my life that I do, who trust me with their amazing stories, let me into their lives, encourage me when I'm having a bad day and of course, give wonderful hugs.
They all have such big, beautiful hearts.

Long time gone.

2010-03-12T18:15:00.005+01:00

Well it seems fairly obvious that blogging has not been on my list of things to do, but my very good friend Hannah has taken up the past time (http://talesfromatimeout.blogspot.com/) and I feel inspired to start again. At least for a little while.

Lately I've been very preoccupied with the future and that bothers me. I look at so many people around me and they have career goals and already know what they want for their lives 5...10...50 years from now. I hardly know what I want to eat for supper tonight! I really admire those who know what job they want and know how they are gonna make it work, that takes a lot of time and effort. I'm also extremely jealous sometimes when I have friends who are so determined to get where they want, ambition is so...sexy or something.
It just seems as though all of them know what their purpose is already and here I am without any idea who I am or what I will be come. But isn't there beauty in that too? As jealous as I can become or as much as I admire others, I'm so happy with where I am in my life. I don't need to know where I'm going to know that wherever I end up it will be perfect. What's that quote, "It's not the destination, but the journey that matters", something along those lines. Sure I have an idea of a few things I want to do or accomplish with my life like traveling the world, learning languages and having a family, so I don't really feel like I need much else. Maybe my lack of ambition is disappointing to some, but who cares about them anyway?
I don't think I would rather be anyone else than a confused little girl or be anywhere else than utterly and completely lost.

Farm life

2008-08-20T18:03:00.003+02:00

I love my job. I think most people would think I'm strange, but I love working on the farm. I'm constantly moving doing physical labor and making use of the greatest tool ever made. It's rewarding too, when I get paid I always feel I've earned it. Plus, there's great company, Ann is the most amazing person I've ever met. She's become a huge part of my life these past two years. She's even become more than a friend, it's like she's family, an adopted grandma. She has a heart as big as a whale and the way she loves people is such an inspiration. Shes's a giver and a generous one at that!
Some of her stories are incredible, it makes me feel like my life is so simple because her's put her through so much. She's like a knowledge box with never-ending contents. She's given me some of the most valuable advice. Friday is my last day of work, it's going to be hard saying good-bye to our daily conversations about life; politics; and random happenings. I've learned a lot from her and her endless supply of knowledge. When I'm her age, I hope I can be as wise and all-encompassing as her.

For right now, I only know that I don't belong at a desk job.

Chao

Expression left unexpressed

2008-08-03T18:03:00.004+02:00

August is finally upon us and it brings with it some strange emotions. I'm really starting to look forward to school, it's going to fun to get away. As usual, I surprise myself by actually being ready to start classes again, who knows why I look forward to it. It will be great to meet new people and get to do lots of outdoorsy stuff in Durango! Once again, it will be hard to leave everyone and go our separate ways across the country, but I feel like I'm gradually being prepared for the time when it comes. I have faith that distance will not ruin relationships. It does feel strange that I only have two more weekends to spend with all of my friends in town, and then they are gone. Gone. That's sounds bad, like I will never see them again...not true.
I really want to write, but I don't have much to talk about, or rather that I want to talk about. For me: to write is to express. Blogging is hard for me at times cause I want to say things and get them out of my mind, but some topics are better left un-talked about.

When life is normal

2008-07-17T05:43:00.003+02:00

Life feels normal, and at the same time everything but. normal. Since I'm not at the ranch anymore, I decided that that I would give the keys to the Blazer back to my brother and now I'm bike powered. The possibilities of my car getting fixed are slim to almost definitely none, so now I'm looking into donating it. Riding my bike has been great so far, at first I was worried that I would find it hassle-some, but in reality, at times its faster than driving. :) Plus, it's always good to stretch the legs a bit.
College and it's financial matters are going well, somehow I keep getting grants without even trying! It's a glorious thing and my patience and trust have paid off. Lets hope it's a lesson learned! The wonderful thing is that I might even have money left in my savings after I pay for the rest of tuition and expenses. I don't think I could ask for more; being able to start saving for next year early would help tremendously in the long run!
And friends are wonderful. The power of friendship can never be underestimated. I find it amazing that talking to a dear friend for even an hour can raise my spirits and put a smile back on my face. Maybe I just have some great friends, but I know that they are good for my heart and soul. Not to mention my abs with all the laughter that goes on! Bless their hearts!

Chao

Time for Le Tour

2008-07-08T04:49:00.003+02:00

Everything I Know About Boys, I Learned From A Dog Named Murphy.

What they are:
Crazy
Immature
Adventurous
Arrogant
Sweet
Stupid
Imperfect
Competitive

Who they want to be:
A hero
A protector
A leader
A savior
A bad-boy
A child
A heartthrob
A millionaire

How they act:
Like they can’t hear you.
Like they own everything.
Like everything they do is a success.
Like food is always on their mind.
Like girls are a tie with food.

What they like:
Food
Girls
A chase
Toys
A backrub

Ranchers Reserve

2008-07-03T00:11:00.008+02:00

Looks like my stay at the "Summer Home" has been extended. In fact, this place will be my home for the rest of the summer. My boss got some horrible news a week ago; her best friend was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and only has two weeks to two months to live. So my boss will be trying to spend as much time as she can with her this summer and I will do my part by staying with the dogs. Its almost been three weeks out here and everyday seems the same, but different. I wake up to the same hairy faces at the same unreasonable hour and we walk the same routes. The dogs eat the same food at the same time as the day before. But I find solace in the changes of the sunrise and the different flowers I see bloom. Changes in the winds and the patterns of the lakes. Nature brings a constant aire of change and rejuvenation. I want to leave you with some pictures of my summer home landscape and a few of our coyote "friend" (he's hard to see, but he's in the last three).

The dogs' bollocks

2008-06-26T07:31:00.003+02:00

Murphy is a ham. I don’t think that one could be more of a ham even if they were a pig. He is seriously full of himself and enjoys it every minute. The dogs will go swimming in the lake to chase toys and afterward Murphy comes bounding out and off into the tall grass, as if he’s running only because he knows he can go fast. But he’s a sweetheart and, boy does he know how to suck up to a girl. Of course, my heart melts for him and his puppy dog browns. But he’s a bad boy and has selective hearing. Murphy and Abby have their fun together chasing birds and rabbits and squirrels. They do their own thing and run off at every opportune moment. It can be kind of stressful keeping an eye out for them when I don’t know if they are running for fun or to hunt. Darling Katie is always by my side, though, because of her arthritis she can’t keep up with the others, so instead keeps me company. She walks in my shadow and is sometimes in the way, but I help keep the flies off her head all the same. Sometimes we are four and others five. Maggie has her own agenda and sometimes likes to stay in the barn and sleep. Never the less, we follow almost the same route everyday.
Then there are times, like today, when these dogs are going to be the death of me. Murphy and Abby decided that it would be great to go off the property and cross the road to get to the reservoir. I didn’t even know that they could get that far, but apparently this place doesn’t have a fence around the perimeter. And for some reason none of the dogs have collars or tags. Murphy and Abby were off and one of the barn managers told me he saw them on the hill across the road. So, I jumped on my bike and whistle and yell for the scoundrels. After a half hour of searching, I start to freak out. What if one of them got hit by a car?! What if someone took them to the pound?! With tears streaming down my face, I called their names at the top of my lungs. Damn Dogs.
I was scared for their lives. But mine was a subject of thought too. If you lose the dogs you are taking care of isn’t that kind of a FAIL?! Not easily explained, at least not to this lady. Anyway, after another ten minutes they finally came and were severely scolded. They both had bristles and pieces of wilderness stuck to them and all I could do was sigh in relief and anguish. Luckily, I wasn’t late to my dentist appointment and needless to say the dogs stayed in the house the rest of the day.
Conflict Resolved.

Chao

Time to Think

2008-06-22T01:52:00.006+02:00

This week I have had some good time to think, being alone will do that to a person. It's lonely out here and the fact that it's unfamiliar makes it harder. I love the dogs but there is a certain unconditional love that comes with owning your own pet. Picking up after a dog has left a surprise in the house seems easier when the animal is yours. I guess that's how parents feel about their kids, just a million times more.
I've been thinking a lot about college and how much my life is going to change. It's strange cause up until this summer I couldn't wait to get away and leaving "L-town" seemed like it couldn't come sooner. But I have so many memories here. Now that it's finally time to accept that I'll be leaving, it's a lot harder than before. That doesn't make up for how lame it can be but to think that after college I might not live here anymore, it's weird. I've lived in the same town, in the same house, for 18 years.
I know billions of people have gone to college before me and been fine, but the more it's on my mind the larger than life it feels. I know I'll leave and it will be hard at first, but I'll overcome and everything will turn out okay. There's just a part in the back of my head that fears the hardship and keeps me wondering if I will always struggle with separation. From every difficulty an opportunity can arise. Although I don't yet know what opportunities I will come across, I am hopeful that if I listen, my prayers will be answered and a beautiful life will unfold in my path.

Cats and Crops

2008-06-19T17:27:00.006+02:00

I was reading the British news today and I came across an article about a new crop circle in Britain. It is the most complex crop circle in that part of the world and when it was decoded it signified the first ten digits of pi. Whoa. That's crazy. So was it made by aliens or some other intelligent form of life? Kinda strange to think about, anyway, check it out:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2144652/Most-complex-crop-circle-ever-discovered-in-British-fields.html

What I really wanted to write about was the cat that I'm taking care of out here, Bucki. He's cool. He loves attention! A good scratch on the head is what he lives for and when you stop petting him, he'll just walk away....but after a few minutes he's back. But this time its for revenge. He will latch on to your arm and bite you until you start petting him again. It's playful and adorable. He looks innocent and sweet but its soon discovered that he's crazy.
There are three other cats but I'm not responsible for them...they eat the mice in the barns...theoretically. Really they're just lazy and the barn manager feeds them. Here's Bucki:

Dias de los perros

2008-06-17T23:12:00.013+02:00

Hoy en dia, he sido cuidado los perros de mi jefe. My boss is moving to Texas soon, so she left me in charge of her house and dogs for a week and a half so she could get some things straightened out. I've been here a few days and I wish it was over already. I'm too far out of town to leave a lot and she wants me here as much as possible to keep an eye on the dogs. She's kinda a strange lady and her house is creepy. But the dogs are great...at times... and the surroundings are beautiful. The dogs are a pack of rascals, four big sweethearts. I can't help but love 'em and even when their hunting instincts get the best of them I can't scold for too long. Anyway, I'll introduce you...

Murphy is the only male of the group and he seems to be a leader. He's very independent and acts just like a teenage boy. He's a big hunter and thinks he's pretty crafty about chasing down animals. But Murphy is a big baby and would do anything to get a tummy rub.

Katie is the least likely to chase an animal, but she will chase her toys.She's the oldest and has a minor case of arthritis. She loves the water and would swim to get a toy all day...until she passed out. She's a lover and the alpha female. She loves attention and is loyal to the hand that throws the toy.

Abby: High energy. High Metabolism. Rambunctious. A born runner. She's the smallest of the pack but she makes up for it with her speed and endurance. None of the others can ever keep up with Abby cause she just keeps on going. Like the energizer bunny. She loves water too, not as much as Katie, but she would just like to swim around and watch the others play. She loves to lick faces.

Maggie is a sweetheart, she's independent, but she knows who to suck up to. She's a hunter and is very patient about it. She will sit under a tree for an hour waiting for a squirrel to come out of its hole. She's the only one who won't play in the water, might get her feet wet but that's as far a she goes. She seems to be the most responsible one of the dogs and has the most privileges. She's a wanderer but is always back in time for food.

Stress related questions

2008-06-16T07:07:00.003+02:00

Anxiety. I can't help that it eats away at me, from the inside out. I don't like stress, especially in the summer. I should be free sailing and loving every bit of life. But responsibility is a killer. Why does everything have to matter so much?! Can't I just forget for one day?
This move is gonna be harder than I'd imagined. I'm gonna miss my family...my mom especially... my friends and my dog, Sparky. Mom says he's gonna die of a broken heart once I'm gone....it breaks my heart to know that it could be true.
What's the deal with this "money", "ecomonics", and "gas prices". Psh, why does it have to rule our lives? I wish it was as easy as putting those terms is quotations and suddenly make them unimportant.
And boys. Who are they anyway?! Gosh I wish someone could answer that question for me!! Hormones suck. the end.
Why do some people have to treat teenagers so unfairly, as if we have no concept of respondsibility or or importance? I feel competent, not as much as someone twice my age or anything, but I have people to testify that I can hold my own. Maybe some people are just stubborn...or have a stick up their butt...or both.
In any case, I've been doing my best to trust in a Greater plan, but I have seem to have control issues. Giving things up was so much easier even 4 years ago, my how things change.

Mom

2008-06-10T23:37:00.004+02:00

Backround:
Last week I got my cartilage pierced with an industrial bar and my mom hates it. The day I got it done she didn't talk to me. Besides her acting childish about it, she has all of a sudden been acting really unfriendly and distant, not at all normal for my mom.
Today:
I had an interesting and eye-opening conversation with my friend/mentor/boss, Ann. When I explained my mom's change she wasn't surprised at all and told me a story about some struggles that she had with her mom way back in the day. She reassured me that my mom is just having a hard time with the fact that I'm leaving for college and this act of "disobeying" just forced her to accept that.
I've always been the most independent of us kids, I think sometimes that's hard for my mom because I'm also her baby and only girl and she wants me close. It's hard for me to see my mom act this way though, especially knowing I'm the cause. We've always been tight, I'm lucky for that. But as I start a new transition, it changes the relationship we've always had...I hope it makes it even stronger.

Chao

Media

2008-06-08T09:00:00.001+02:00

Recently, I was introduced to the TV show "Freaks and Geeks". It was a show that aired in 1999 and only had one season. Really, the show is the best thing ever, I think it just came too early to truly be appreciated. Anyway, the show is about these high school kids, the freaks and geeks as you could have guessed, and their daily lives. It is so easy to get wrapped up in these fictional kids lives (especially w/o commercials) and want to act like their conscience or step in to help with their problems. It's so easy to judge from the outside, to be able to apprehend the bad stuff. It makes me wonder if I was in a TV show and people watched what I did and said...what would they warn me about or urge me to do? And on what standards would they make judgments? Really I have a lot of people to be considered outsiders, but rarely do I see one of them shaking a button-box at me telling me that Daniel is a bad guy and he's just using his bedroom eyes to manipulate me. The influence of my friends and family is subtle, I guess because I've gotten used to it, but it's the reason for who I am. I don't often think about the minute decisions that I make so quickly that have a large effect on me...strange but true.
Now my head is going a million miles a second remembering many different instances of small decisions. Too easy to get sidetracked.

Chao

Rainy Day

2008-06-05T17:21:00.001+02:00

I've been pondering the best way to make this blog unique and creative but haven't had any brilliant ideas or original thoughts on the subject. I guess I'll settle for being average and just write.

So I'm sitting here in my new rain boots, trying to decide if they are really comfortable or not. I don't really know what rain boots are suppose to feel like on my feet and the rubbery-ness is kinda throwing me off. But the rain is another story, it's so simple and natural.
My favorite kind of weather...
in certain allotted amounts.
Cleansing, liberating, serene. Although, it does prevent me from going on bike rides (safely) and scares my friends out of frisbee or a walk around the lake.
Never the less, its a good time to sit in a coffee shop and people watch or snuggle with a blanket and read an enrapturing book.
Or run around and dance in the rain like a child...which probably sounds the most appealing.
Being a fresh high school graduate, I suddenly feel the need to be a kid again. To remind myself of the wonder years, of Wonderbread and wonderment. Cause growing up is scary. I can't wait to get away but there are just some things that tug on my heartstrings and hold me back ever so slightly.
*sigh* I think that dance and then blanket are calling me. :)

Chao