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Yup, so yesterday was good...I met with my Intercambio gal, and we had a nice chat...but then my brain decided that Spanish was just too much work, and I got super tired and we called it a day...but we're going to try to meet once a week, so that will be good...

Um, it's Friday...I'm excited about that...a couple of us gals are heading to some culture fair thing that's going on in some part of the main "Centro" area, so that will hopefully be interesting...perhaps a good souvenir-buying time...

Um, other than that, I pretty much just don't want to do classes or homework anymore...thank goodness that we've only got two days of class next week! (Monday's a holiday, Thursday/Friday the school is going to Toledo)

...can't think of any random/funny stories that I was going to tell...so...hope you all have a great weekend!

Yay, what a day...

So yesterday afternoon was pretty sweet...the morning, not so much, but the afternoon, yes... (oh, and I think my theater test went ok)

So after my siesta (gotta love those) I went to meet up with my prayer group; we had decided on meeting at a café called Pans & Co., which is right below the school...they have this deal where you get a coffee and either a croissant or two cookies for 1,75€, which is a pretty good deal compared with everything else in Spain...so I got the coffee (an Americano, so that it wasn't so horribly strong...and being an Americana myself, I figured it was pretty fitting) and the croissant (last one!) which was utterly delicious and flaky and had honey...yummmm...prayer group time was really good too, even if it was more of a "be there for each other and hear what's going on in everyone's lives" time...

Then I bought some sweet jewelry from the nice African man who had set up shop on the sidewalk by our table...The jewelry is for you, Mom, so I won't say exactly what I purchased... :) Then Danielle, one of the girls in the group, and I went looking around the main shopping area; then she went to Encuentro while I headed to the school to purchase plane tickets before they got any more expensive...then uploaded pics to facebook...check them out: they're in the album labeled "España." Then I had a lovely chat with the secretary about linguistic differences and accents and such, and then I was talking with another girl from the program who was wondering if we could do a Bible study during the remainder of the semester...Then I got back, and there was "pizza" for supper...What a day!!

And today, I'm supposed to meet with my intercambio--who's like my selected Spanish friend (I think I picked up that phrase from someone else's blog...probably from Karla's...thanks for the phrase...I liked it)...We're meeting at McDonalds which is basically right below the school as well...

Now, I should do some homework or something...

Wednesday...half way through the week...

I have a test today...I don't want to...but I really don't have a choice in the matter, do I? :( It will all be over soon though...

I am excited for the weekend though...we're planning a "Sevilla weekend", sort of...We'll check out different like Roman ruin type things one day, and probably just having a shopping day the other...plus, it's a three-day weekend, so we'll have extra time to explore, but we're not quite sure what all the holiday entails, so there is the chance that absolutely nothing will be open and/or nothing will be going on...hmm...

Yup, it's going to be a really short post today, because I really don't have much to say!

Take care!


So, I thought of a random story, so I decided to add it:
Yesterday, well, it was just plain a bad hair day, but I was in a bad mood, so it seemed fitting...I had gone all through the school day very much aware of my bad hair day; I was playing with it and hiding behind it and such, because I figured it really didn't matter--it couldn't get much worse...I walked home thinking about how bad my hair looked, but I was like, oh well, it doesn't matter, it's not like I'm doing anything today...So I get back to the apartment and I say hi to Salud, and she's like "oh, nena-- ¡qué bonito es tu pelo! ¿usaste espuma?" ("oh hun, your hair is so cute today! Did you use mousse? *we've had discussions about hair products before*) I explained that no, I am still just using gel, and she's like "oh, pues, está muy bonito hoy, pero el otro día no" ("well, your hair is definitely cute today, much better than that other day" *thanks for reminding me of that*)...so, what I consider as an awful hair day, Salud considers very cute...hmm...

The Foods of Spain

I don't have anything particularly significant to say today, so I think I will take this time to comment on Spanish cuisine...

1. Olive oil: a very essential element in the Spanish diet; it's in nearly all the dishes, except for perhaps the bread...but they take care of that by dipping the bread in the oil that goozes out of their salads or fried eggs or fried potatoes or fried chicken or fried fish...or that they pour over their tomatoes. Back in the day, I used to think olive oil was like cool and special...I have now consumed more olive oil in a few short weeks than I probably had in the 21 years leading up to this point...it's quite a different perspective...
2. Seafood: also a big part of the diet here; much easier to get quality seafood when you're by the Atlantic AND the Mediterranean than when you're stuck in the middle of cornfields. I am enjoying this treat, even though it is usually saturated with olive oil and sometimes fried. However, tentacles are a little bit awkward to eat...I've been able to manage it...my roommate has a much harder time...Squid is pretty delicious and has a good texture, so I just flip the tentacle-y pieces over and pretend they aren't there; my roommate has to do a lot to keep herself from getting sick every time she spots tentacles floating in her soup; eating them is considerably beyond what she can stomach...oh well...what can you do? Also, I have eaten more things that come in the shells that they once lived in during these weeks than I have ever before; it's an awkward experience, especially when you're supposed to slurp them out of their shells...it's just kind of weird...and shrimp, contrary to what I've ever seen in the grocery store or in a restaurant, have heads with eyes and lots of little legs...I knew that they sometimes had tails, but removing those was about the most work I'd ever had to do to eat shrimp before...it's quite different here...BUT it's all high-quality stuff, so I'll manage through the awkward messiness.
3. Bread: essential. In fact, that is what our breakfast consists of...Every single day...I thought I would enjoy that...it turns out that I really miss my cereal and my oatmeal and my nice little yogurt cups...and whole grain bread...I think if that could be changed, if we could get whole-grain bread, perhaps the monotony could be a bit more bearable, but it's not really my place to say anything...Besides breakfast, bread is also served with lunch and dinner, but I try to avoid eating too much of it, since simple starches are kind of bad for you in large quantities...my señora has been worried about me since I don't eat bread, so she has gotten trickier and found crunchy little bread-like things that I simply can't resist...not fair...
4. The Spain equivalent of macaroni and cheese: fried egg and french fries...evidently this is like the little-kid favorite, comfort-food type thing here....A plate full of fried potatoes (olive oil dripping out from underneath them) topped with a fried egg (also dripping olive oil)...my señora's preference is a runny yoke so that she can sop it up with bread (and getting some olive oil in there too), but that just doesn't seem safe to me...which reminds me...
5. Eggs: eggs here do not come in the refrigerated section of supermercados. Oh no. They sit on a shelf, next to the boxes of milk. And, they are HUGE. Like, extra large eggs in the US? Oh no--like turkey eggs or something...they are absolutely massive...and not refrigerated...so between those two things, I'm just rather confused about the eggs here...and why they don't cook the yokes if the gargantuan eggs have never even been refrigerated!?!?
   
6. Legumes: a huge staple in all Mediterranean countries, Spain included. This is bad for me, since I am allergic to legumes. Thank goodness that Salud is like the most amazing señora ever and able to cook me things that don't contain legumes, sometimes even cooking me a separate meal if she's made a classic legume dish for herself and Karla...She really is like the best señora for sure...

So, class time is approaching...
Until tomorrow...
¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Jesus parades

So, this weekend:
Saturday--

Went to Huelva, which required like an hour-something drive via bus...Checked out the monastery where Columbus hung out while waiting for the dinero to come in...Checked out the replica ships in the little lake thing...Then booked it over to the beach...I, along with my roommate, was not thrilled about this arrangement. I had come along because I wanted to see where Chris Columbus had hung out; I wasn't that thrilled about the beach in the first place--I certainly didn't want it to be the main attraction of our trip...it was...and I got sunburnt...Salud laughed at me because I pretty much got a farmer's "tan"; she asked me why I hadn't rolled up my sleeves...I'm thinking, for heaven's sake, how much worse would it be if my shoulders had gotten burnt too?! But yeah, it's almost done being burnt...and I think I might have been better off NOT going on the trip...as Karla put it, 4 hours at the beach was overkill...BUT, I did have fun chatting with some other girls, we're trying to make some fun plans for next weekend, and I went seashell hunting...

Yesterday--

Went to church, struggled to stay awake during the service and pay attention, something that is 600x harder to do in your second language...then had to go take a nap before lunch...I also discovered the wonderfulness of the Sudoku application on my phone--I really hope it doesn't charge me for that :S

Both days, we witnessed something essentially Spanish; I'm still not quite sure what they were...I think they were parades for saints on the particular saint's "day", but I swear the first one looked like Jesus, so I think it was a Jesus parade. They get a band all decked out and ready to go, they have a giant box thing with the saint (or Jesus) and candles/trees/paintings, have people walk underneath it to carry it, have people all dressed up in religious garb with ornate pole/cane things, and then just have a whole bunch of other people following them around. I think, from what Karla has gathered from one of the professors, that when it's "your" saint's day, you participate in the saint's parade, and they march all around town starting at like 10pm...or later...I don't really get it, but it's fun to see random little parades that like stop all the traffic on major roads for awhile...oh Spain...

Yay Friday

So, it's Friday...yay!!

I have a presentation today...unfortunately it is for my last class so I have to sit through the other classes just thinking about how I have this stupid thing coming up... :( Oh well, at least it will be over after today! Then it won't be able to hang over me, reminding me of its necessity and importance...And, after this, I'll only have one more presentation left in the semester in ANY class, which will be quite nice...Oh, and since it's on typical foods, we bought some olives, with pits, to share with the class during the presentation...that should be a nice bonus for the class... :)

And, to make sure that I didn't stress out too much, I stopped at the candy store today on my way to school and stocked up on black licorice...I got like 6 different kinds...yum, black licorice!

So, tomorrow is Huelva, today is presentation followed by naptime, and Sunday will be church and relax time...and then Monday I will try and update on new things...there's really not much else to say...

Enjoy the weekend!

First post of October!

Wow...hard to believe that it really is October already...

Not a lot is new...it's fairly boring, in fact...I'm just trying to get my presentation for tomorrow finished up, and I will be very glad when that is over.

Yesterday, I had food that would make every state fair in the US jealous that they hadn't thought of the idea first: fried bread. I had no idea that anyone would just up and fry bread, but I guess it happens...Needless to say, it was ridiculously delicious and I had to exercise a lot of self-control to not eat all of it, and I am now thinking of the diet I might have to put myself on because of the huge amounts of oil-laden foods that are served here...but yes, fried bread...who would've thought?? They were like croutons, except with considerably more oil, and much larger...so good...

Well, there's not a lot else going on...this weekend will hopefully be an excursion to Huelva, where Columbus hung out when he was trying to get the money raised to head to the East Indies, aka North America...Hopefully it will be nice and we'll also get to go to the beach there...fun fun...

¡Hasta luego!