My head is filled with things to say....

36 out of 100...

2011-07-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have 36 more movies to go until I finish all of the top 100 AFI movies of all time. Considering I started off having already seen about 50, I still have a ways to go. Some I could cross off my life, for example I could cross off Dr. Strangelove, but in reality I did miss the first 20 minutes of the movie. Sure, 20 minutes isn't that much but I can't say I've seen the ENTIRE movie. Same goes for Jaws, Rocky, and The Godfather Part II. I'm missing about 20 minutes of each movie. Some I'm not even sure I want to see. The Searchers--not so much. Not into the Western genre. The General--silent film. Not into the whole black and white thing with no sound. After seeing visually tasty movies such as AVATAR, seeing a audio and visually lacking movie isn't so appealing. But, I told myself I would get through it. So I will. Here are the movies I have left:

"City Lights"
"The Searchers"
"The General"
"High Noon"
"The Godfather Part II"
"The Bridge on the River Kwaii"
"Treasure of the Sierra Madre"
" Dr. Strangelove"
"King Kong"
"Shane"
"Intolerance"
"The Deer Hunter"
"M*A*S*H*"
"Jaws"
"Rocky"
"The Gold Rush"
"Nashville"
"Duck Soup"
"Sullivan's Travels"
"The African Queen"
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
"Unforgiven"
"Saving Private Ryan"
"In the Heat of the Night"
"All the President's Men"
"Modern Times"
"The Wild Bunch"
"Spartacus"
"Sunrise"
"Easy Rider"
"Night at the Opera"
"Swing Time"
"The French Connection"
"The Last Picture Show"
"Do the Right Thing"
"Yankee Doodle Dandy"

I have no idea what's going on....

2011-06-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

How can life be so hectic and boring at the same time?
As Kevin likes to say "I am a real person now". I have a job, with benefits, gettin' paid, living on my own. I have a routine I abide to just so that I don't fall asleep at work or forget to pay my bills. It all seems so boring compared to the hectic life of college.

And yet, organizing my life so that it seems mundane is hectic enough. Recently I've been trying to slowly but surely move into a new apartment. That plus trying to have a social life is taking a beating on my physically. Not enough sleep, too many things to do, too many things to pay off, too much time at work.

I have no idea what's going on anymore. My life is being turned upside down. Being a real person is hard work.

I have a confession to make

2011-05-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

I confess: I am a nerd.
And I'm proud of it.

I'm an engineer who gets excited when reading anything related to science, particularly energy. And I love proving people wrong when they think they are going to die due to the "nuclear disaster" in Japan. I love Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Though if I have to be honest, I do love the LOTR trilogies just for the fact that I like watching the behind the scenes stuff. I like comic books, but I love mangas. I love Rurouni Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Fullmetal Alchemist. I like robots, especially Battlebots. I know too much trivia about the Beatles and I don't care. I like watching Modern Marvels and Mythbusters. Yay science! I like the fact that I went to CMU. No we didn't party as hard as most of you in school, but we embraced our inner nerd and had fun with it.

I am a nerd. And I'm proud of it.

frustration

2011-03-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

Apartment hunting is so frustrating.
So FRUSTRATING.
THESE PRETZELS ARE MAKING ME THIRSTY.

Grown ups...

2011-03-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

The past few days I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed. My start date has been finalized, my moving is starting to take place, my last few days in Miami are coming full blast. I've done all my taxes, looked up new car insurance, looked at new apartments, had my car put in my name, and have started paying all of my 1039248 credit card bills. It all seems surreal, and yet all very natural to me.

It's scary being a grown up. Too many things to do that I'm not sure I'll do well or correctly. Too much responsibility.

But you know what? I know I can handle it.

I'll be okay on my own. I may even like it.

Lady Gagaaaaa!

2011-03-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

Last July my friend Dan and I purchased tickets to see Lady Gaga in concert here in Pittsburgh. For the last months its been more of an afterthought. The tickets hiding in my drawer, unseen and forgotten. But the date Feb 26th was engraved in my mind. After many trials and tribulations, I was able to see Lady Gaga in person, and only a few feet away from me.

This journey began a few days ago. After visiting Adam I was headed back to Pittsburgh. I had a connecting flight in DC, however that flight was so delayed that I didn't see a point in staying in the airport. I changed my flight for the next morning leaving from Reagan into Pit. This was a close call, because if I missed that flight I would have to wait later, and perhaps not arrive on time for the concert. However, I did make it (though barely). All was well and I had a few hours before heading to the stadium to wait in line.So naturally, I took a nap.

After picking up Daniel, we headed downtown to the Consel Energy Center. We found the line outside an joined the mass of people. We stood outside from around 4:00 til 7:00. During this time, we witnessed an array of people. Lots of normally dressed people, but mostly scantily clad girls. Lots of fishnets, mini skirts, and hooker heels, ala Gaga. What I don't understand is how they could dress like that when it was about 40 F outside with the sun out and about 30 F once it got dark. Weren't they freezing? I guess to each her/his own. We also saw many people dressed like Lady Gaga. Lots of Telephone like costumes, some men in drag (with heels and all), and one girl had her own Grammy Awards 2010 dress (not sure how to describe it, look it up). Lots of pictures taken, lots of laughs, but cold feet. During this time we befriended the people behind us--a brother sister team who were seeing this for he 3rd and 2nd time, and a college age couple who were there their 2nd time. They were nice people. They were so nice that they even helped the people behind them hide themselves while they peed in cups. That's right, the fans are so devoted they won't even leave the line to use the bathroom. They will pee in cups. Gross? Yes. Hilarious? Absolutely.

After 3 hours of standing outside we finally made it inside the arena. We rushed to get a stop as close to the stage as possible. We were about 4 rows of people away from the stage. It was pretty sweet. However, the opening act didn't start until 8, so another hour of waiting. The opening act was a band called the Scissor Sisters. The weren't bad. They are apparently very big in the gay community in Europe. And since I do not fall in either category, I wasn't too impressed with them. They played for about 30 minutes, and then the wait for Lady Gaga herself began. We were getting so desperate that with every minute that passed, I was getting so irritated and frustrated. During the waiting time, they played Michael Jackson's greatest hits. Every time I heard
another MJ song, I thought I was going to kill somebody! I had been standing for so long I was in physical pain and all I wanted was to see Lady Gaga! The worst part was, I couldn't just leave to sit somewhere. If I did I would lose my spot and I'd regret it later. So I sucked it up.

Finally at 9:45 we heard the music for 'Dance in the Dark' and baby, was the wait worth it. Lady Gaga is such an entertainer. It was amazing! So many crazy costumes and sets, awesome songs that she actually sings and not lip-sing. She did every hit song plus two new ones and some others. I just can't describe how amazing it all was. What also helped make it amazing is how close we were to her. I could see all the blood, sweat, and tears (literally) on her body. And to make things more awesome, dance Mark from season 4 of 'So You Think You Can Dance' was one of her dancers, so that fulfilled one of my secret fantasies to see him dance live.

I just loved my journey to the Monster Ball with her. My favorites two songs, 'Paparazzi' and 'Bad Romance' were two songs she sang towards the end, so the show ended on a fabulous note. :)

Must allow dogs...

2011-02-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

Looking for apartments is much to stressful for me. Especially when most of the time I'm doing it away from the place I need to be. I want too many things in a place, and it's becoming difficult finding it.

I just really want a place that will be my own for once. For the past three years I've had to share some part of an apartment/home with other people. I'm ready to have my own place with my own stuff.

And most likely a doggie. I don't want to be too lonely.

I'm laughing on the inside...

2011-02-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

Funny how things start to unfold. After spending months last semester looking for jobs and doing interviews, only two people offered me jobs. Then there are those who said they would get back to me then never replied to me. All of the sudden they have decided to approach me now, after almost 4 months of ignoring me. And its funny, cause I once thought I really wanted to work for them. However, after having them reject me and ignore me for so long it makes me re-evaluate my opinion of them. Maybe one day you guys will be worthy of my skills, but right now I have a job and I don't need your pity.

One truly funny thing is the whole weather situation. I've been avoiding this horrible winter by staying in Miami for so long. One might say I'm a snow bird, but I don't care. Wearing shorts and sandals in the middle of winter is very satisfying to me. I just laugh at everyone else up north. The only thing is that soon I will be up there. In the snow. Cold.....:/

I can't give you anything but love, Baby

2011-01-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks has been a bit surreal. Since I have graduated, I didn't have to go back to school. I was supposed to start working. Or at least I thought I would start working. Turns out, lab work and paper work take longer to process. Thus, I have been at home. Not doing much, which has given me lots of time to think about things.

During my time at home, I have come to realize that I would not like being a housewife. The last few weeks I have become my mother's "assistant". Since she works and is stressed when she comes home, I volunteered to help her out with house chores. As such, I vacuum the house multiple times a week, I take the dogs out for walks, I swept the house and the patio, I make sure my old dog gets her insulin shot (yes she is diabetic), I get groceries, I send out mail to my brother, I get gas in cars that don't have any, I take my grandmother to her appointments, etc. Though I am happy to do it because it eases my mother's work load, it can be a bit boring. My mind is not challenged, and often I feel useless after all is done. If this is what my life would be if I became a stay at home wife, I would not want to do it. Perhaps it would be different if I had children to take care of, but at the moment there are none and its boring! This is why I need to be a career woman.

Also, being in Miami isn't as fun when all of my friends are gone away at school. I have a few left in Miami, and as a result I meet a few new people through them, but it just doesn't have the same feel as being home during breaks with all of my friends. At the moment I am in Pittsburgh getting some things sorted out. And in the last two days here, I have seen more people and socialized more here than I have in the past few weeks in Miami.

The only upside to this waiting game is that I get to watch lots of movies and instant Netflix. I have become in love with Psych, mainly because of its ridiculousness. And the constant 80's references. Sadly, Netflix only had the first 4 seasons and the latest one. I'll have to find it elsewhere.

I have seen two movies that are part of my AFI 100 top movies list: The Maltese Falcon and Bringing Up Baby. The Maltese Falcon is a good movie, but not good to watch when you are extremely tired or have trouble paying attention to things. Its a classic noir movie from back in the day, before Bogart got his "romantic hunk" status in Casablanca. A mystery about an expensive falcon statue, its disappearance, its actual worth, and where it is. The reason I say you have to be attentive to watch this because like all noir genre films, there is extreme amounts of talking. That's how the story is carried, its how it flows, its all the action you'll get. Many discussions, lots of speeches and monologues. The script and story are phenomenal, but the real kicker is the talking.

On the other side of the spectrum is Bringing Up Baby. This was one of my most ridiculous movies I've seen in a while. And I was laughing through the whole thing. I must admit, I enjoyed seeing a young Cary Grant be an awkward nerd. Katherine Hepburn as usual was stunning. And the story, well, it was interesting--a real screw ball comedy. It deals with a dinosaur bone stolen by a dog, an escaped "tame" leopard how likes the song "I can't give you anything but love, baby", and a very strange romance between the two stars. Needless to say the dialogue and scenarios of the whole this is just so utterly ridiculous you can't help but laugh.

New Year, New Beginning

2011-01-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

In the last month I have performed in my last DS show ever, I finished my Design class project and won Most Innovative Design (laptop cooler team for the win!), officially graduated from undergrad with honors, attended Mickey Mouse's Very Merry Christmas party with my family, gotten extremely sick, celebrated Christmas with everyone in my family for the first time in 3 years, got to see Adam for the first time in 4 months, went to Islands of Adventures for New Years Eve and got to enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (and had butterbeer), and decided on my future job: Associate Engineer at Bettis Laboratory.

I feel nostalgic yet the same--as if nothing has changed, yet everything has changed, and all the while feeling like I'm in limbo--I know I have graduated, but I feel like any day now I will go back to school though I know it is not true. In fact I will soon start work. However, being at home doing practically nothing is making this all seem unreal.

It's like waiting for my life to start, yet not wanting it to.

Dance Dance Dance, Work Work Work

2010-12-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day of classes as an undergraduate. And yet, I actually didn't go to my only class because I was busy working.

It doesn't feel like the end when I still have final projects that are due. It hasn't hit me yet that I won't be walking down the halls of these buildings anymore, or that I won't have to spend hours inside the mechE clusters never seeing the sunlight, or that I won't ever have to sit through a lecture, or do anymore homework. It just hasn't hit me yet, and I'm afraid I may have a freak out when I do.

Either way, I still have tons of work to do on my final design project and on my Spanish project (which we haven't technically started). I've been working on the poster for our final design project all day, even during my DS show, and right now. At 11:20 PM on a Friday night. I'm just a party animal, aren't I?

Speaking of DS, I think this is my favorite dance I've done so far. Its not the most difficult technically (its actually the easiest by far), its not the fastest or the craziest yet, but it has a lot of character. Me, as a black widow spider, giving a guy (er, girl?) the kiss of death is awesome. I also like it because for once I'm not put in the back for being tall. I actually get some time up front, and I get to do some sweet stuff (all I can say is boobs, running down legs, booty pop, and jumping). This dance has been a lot of fun and I for sure have gotten along with these girls more than any other dance. Its really nice. Tonight was the first night, and I think it went really well. At the very end of the show when they do curtain call and all the thank you's, they recognized the only two seniors graduating in December, so I actually got to to up and take my own bow. It was so much fun, and it made me feel special! The only down side was that none of my friends could make it to the performance tonight, so no one was there to cat call me. But hopefully tomorrow they will be there and I'll get a big cheer!

The next few days are full of work. Taking pictures and putting together a comic, my last DS performance ever, finishing the design poster, writing up the design report, finishing building the design, and presenting at the expo. Only 7 more days until I go home for Christmas, and who knows what I'll do then. All my options right now point to returning to Pittsburgh. We'll see how it goes.

Tis the season to be jolly: Bah humbug!

The Holiday Season...

2010-11-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from a lovely, if not family filled Thanksgiving. It was nice to be home and spend some time with the family (especially the doggies...I miss them a lot). Lots of food, lots of family, and nearly not enough time for everything else I wanted to do/ should have done (i.e. shopping, or doing homework). The holiday season is in full swing, and I'm excited. Last year we went to Japan for Christmas to visit my brother. Though the trip was famazing and an experience I would never trade for anything, I missed the holiday spirit. There was none to be found anywhere in Japan. And when my family is really big into Christmas, I just felt a little shafted. This year, we're going all out. we're putting up all of our Christmas decorations and having lots of food and inviting over lots of people. I'm excited!

........

Since I've been back I've had this weird feeling. Its almost physical. It's as if I feel afraid, yet embarrassed. My chest feels heavy and I feel like sleeping. It is the weirdest thing ever, but its not the first time I feel this way. I don't know if it's stress, or the weariness of having been "home" for a few days only to return "home". Its like homesickness, but not. I'm not sure what it is or why I feel it. I wonder if it has anything to do with my impending end to my undergraduate career (5 more days and I'm done with class, 11 more days and I'm done with school), the uncertainty of my actually career, and the thought of not being able to be in Miami during it all.

I really do miss home (Miami), and yet I sometimes forget that it is home because I feel so at home here (Pittsburgh). I have this feeling of cultural identity splitting me into two distinct people--Miami me and Pittsburgh me--a more Hispanic version of myself and a more American version myself. I used to be a mix, but now I feel split. Now I sound like a crazy person. I'll just stop.

......

In other news. I did watch the new Karate Kid movie with Jackie Chan and Will Smith's kid. It wasn't bad at all. It was very entertaining. But something about it just didn't give me the emotional kick that the other one did. The original is such a classic with great lines such as wax on wax off and sweep the leg. Also, the crane kick seems much more believable than the strange (yet awesome and unrealistic) cobra thing. Plus, the romance between Jaden Smith and a 12 year old Chinese girl was kind of weird.

Operation Finish Line

2010-11-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

The finish line is in sight. I can feel the end drawing near. How does this make me feel? Excited, nervous, scared, nostalgic.

My last semester as a college student is drawing to a close. In less than a month I will be home, done with finals and projects and homework. I won't be back in the spring. I won't have to sign up for anymore classes. No more all-nighters, no more essays and lab reports. The prospect of this is exciting--I won't have to do any more work on weekends or stay up late doing a stupid report! And yet, the idea of not coming back and not doing homework is frightening. I have been groomed for this. For the past 16 years I have been programmed to do well in school--its my best skill. Getting A's is my greatest skill. I've mastered how to do it. And now, it is going to be useless. What will I do when I enter the real world? When will that happen?

The idea of getting a full time job and working isn't too bad, but the problem is finding the job first. As of right now I have one job offer from my summer internship. I've applied to 25 different positions, have had 4 interviews, and have heard back from none of them. This is making me nervous. My job offer date is drawing near, and I need to make a decision: to I accept and automatically reject any future offerings or do I reject and hope for something better to come along (but if nothing else comes along, I would have screwed the pooch big time).

I see the finish line, I can feel it. But I suddenly want to slow down and take in the view before me. I need more time to figure out my next move.

Halloween!

2010-11-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I celebrated Halloween like a good college student. I haven't socialized/gone out that much in a long time. Good times were had, awesome costumes were made.

Friday started off with a little party at Laura's. It was nice to see Laura. I never get to see her as often as I want to. For the past three years she has always been a few steps away from me, but now she is much further away. There were lots of nice people there. A pretty relaxing party. Afterward I changed costumes and headed to Tema and Kyle's house for a party. The crowd was much different--lots of loud, intoxicated college students. It was still a good time. Plus, Kyle made us Butterbeer which was delicious! I need to get that recipe....

Saturday was a much more epic night. Started off with a few drinks at Tema's, then off to dance and have some drinks with my other superheroes. I was Rogue from X-Men while Kevin was Cyclopse, Amanda was Phoenix, and some other archies who were various heroes such as Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Deadpool, etc. The good thing about that party was that I knew a lot of people there, and yet I managed to meet some new people, such as exchange student Yannick. He was actually at Laura's house the night before. He's a really sweet guy. Hopefully we'll hang out again.

The other party I went to I didn't know many people there. Or rather, the very few I knew all left me for a while. This gave me a chance to meet new people. It was refreshing to talk to someone new; I feel like I haven't done it in a long time--not since sophomore or freshmen year! I don't remember all the names of the people I met, but that's okay. Hopefully one day I'll see them and they will remember me.

Its always a successful night when I go to bed at 5 AM and wake up before noon without a hangover.

"Sweep the leg"

2010-10-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

I have rediscovered the Karate Kid. The original from 1984, not the new one with Will Smith's kid. The original with Mr. Miyagi, Daniel-san, wax on wax off! I have fallen in love with this movie. I'm pretty sure I loved this movie once before in my life, but now that I'm older I appreciate it so much more. Give me Daniel LaRusso, bonsais, the Cobra Kai, and the all awesome crane kick any day over Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan (no hate, promise).

The smell of napalm in the morning...

2010-10-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

So last night Amanda and I went to see Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's production of The Three Musketeers.

It was so much fun. It was cute, funny, beautiful ballet. It had great costumes and gorgeous sets, as well as awesome dancers. Since this is based on the book, there were lots of male dancers. It was really nice to see the male dancers show off for a change. Don't get me wrong, I love the female dancers with all their graceful moves, but you normally see the men partner them. So it was a nice change of pace to see the male dancers jump and turn and not partner. The lead in the production (who played young D'artagnan) was most excellent. I've seen this guy dance a number of times, and it always amazes me how high he can jump. He's just that awesome. I loved seeing him as Romeo and his wife as Juliette a few seasons ago. Seeing these things always make me want to dance. Maybe when I go home for break I'll hit up some ballet classes with my mom.

Besides that, I've begun my quest to finally finish AFI's Top 100 movies list. I've seen well over half of the movies, though some I've only seen parts of. For example, I'd seen most of Taxi Driver except for a good 30 minutes in the middle. So I decided to see that one again, just for good measure. That movie is just as good as I remember it being (even better with the plus 30 minutes I missed). A young Robert DeNiro and a really young Jodi Foster make a good movie.

The next movie that was on my list was Apocalypse Now. I'm not big into war movies just because I can't handle all the violence. This one had me hating mankind for the mere fact that I can't believe we can kill each other like that. Besides this overwhelming feeling of disgust, I did love the movie. It had so many layers, so many great scenes (Ride of the Valkyries, anyone?). Marlon Brando was amazing; and every time I looked at Martin Sheen all I could see was Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. Those are some strong genes cause they all look alike. Though I liked the movie, I decided to not watch the Redux version. There is only so much violence I can take. The original version was long enough for me.

With all this procrastination done, it now dawns on me that I probably could have gotten some work done. I do have lab reports due, a prototype due, and some reading to do. But I feel like I deserved this little break. Besides, what's the weekend for if not relaxing a bit?

3 Ninjas + 3 Musketeers = 1 Happy Me

2010-10-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

So for once I don't have a ton of work to do. I already did half of my Spanish homework, my group and I did a significant amount of work on our prototype, and there isn't much else to do. Since I haven't had this much free time in a while I've decided to indulge by watching one of my favorite childhood movies: 3 Ninjas. Yes, that's right, I love Rocky, Colt, and Tum-tum. The best part about this is that its on Netflix Instant Play, so I don't even have to watch a sub-par version on youtube. This is going to be a nice relaxing day for me.

Later on I'm going to go see the Three Musketeers ballet with a friend. I've never seen it before, but it looks pretty good; plus the orchestra is playing so we all know that its gotta be good. Though I don't have my usual "cultural outings" partner with me, I will enjoy this to the max!

DC in the Fall

2010-10-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

I just came back from spending a few nice, relaxing, fun days in DC visiting my big brother, Andrew. Since the last time I saw him was during Christmas when I went to Japan, I was kind of excited to see him. Plus, it was nice to get out of Pittsburgh for a while.

I arrived Thursday night and left early this morning. Friday was spent perusing through some of the Smithsonian's--the American Indian Museum, the Museum of American History, and the Air and Space Museum. The American Indian Museum is the newest one, and it was definitely the smallest. It had some interesting exhibits about different tribes from the Americas (North and South)--things about their mythology and history, about modern, urban communities, as well as art and music by famous American Indians. Though small, it was very interesting.

Next up we had lunch in the sculpture garden. It was such a beautiful day--sunny, blue skies, and not too cold (warmer than Pittsburgh anyway). It was good times.

The American History Museum was packed with people, and it has a large collection of eclectic things, such as the 1st ladies' dresses, pop culture items, African-American art from the civil rights movement, Stradivarius violins, trains, an exhibit on America during war time, boats and pirates. I went a little picture crazy in there due to all the random stuff.

Last, but not least, was the Air and Space Museum. We were kind of dying from all of the walking and standing and reading we had been doing, so we spent a bit less time in that museum. This was slightly upsetting because I love reading about all the different planes and space ships and such (yes, I am an engineer, so I wanted to get my nerd on!). However, we did see some pretty cool stuff, like the history of telescopes, how they discovered the universe was expanding, planes from WWI and WWII, planes on aircraft carriers, space missiles and shuttles, and lunar landing stuff. Twas awesome.

We then made our way back to Andrew's neighborhood and ate a Pho Place. What is pho? I wasn't sure myself at the time. But it is apparently Vietnamese noodle soup. It was delicious, though I have no idea what kind of meat I had in there (hopefully nothing too weird).

Saturday was a much more chill day. We had brunch at some pretty hipster place. There were some interesting choices for brunch such as shrimp n' grits, or what Andrew had chicken and waffles!!!! FRIED CHICKEN ON A BELGIUM WAFFLE. With berries and syrup. Wtf. is. that. shit. I don't even know! It was crazy.

We then headed to the Library of Congress. The largest library in the world, holding a copy of all books published in English, it is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings as well. The interior is amazing, especially the rotunda where people sit to do research. I wish I had a library like it; I would be using it all the time!

Afterward, we did some some walking around, relaxing and chilling. We met up with some of Andrew's friends from back in the day when he was a young undergrad, and had some awesome food and some good drinks. It was a good time. It made me sad to come back to Pittsburgh with a mountain of homework awaiting me. I can't wait until I have a job that pays me, and no homework to do on Sunday afternoons.

Rant

2010-10-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

In the Spanish class I am currently taking, we are supposed to peer evaluate the essay of our partner. My partner apparently skipped a few levels in Spanish and missed some fundamental grammar rules. It is driving me crazy. As a native speaker, I feel like she is butchering the language a bit. It frustrates me when you just put something into a translator, and then copy and paste it. I can tell when you are using English sayings, because 1) it sounds stupid and 2) the syntax is awkward. Por Dios, aprende usar la palabar matada! Matada no significa death! MIERDA!

Job Hunting...

2010-10-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

I know what some might be thinking: why keep looking for a job when you already have a decent job offer with a good company that isn't half bad to work at?

Well, I'm not convinced I want to live in the burgh for the rest of my life, or work at a place where cell phones and ipods or prohibited, as well as internet use.

For the past month or so I have been job hunting whenever I have a free moment. It is a bit of a hassle. The whole idea of trying to launch a career out of nothing is a bit unnerving. I spend hours online looking at job descriptions, writing cover letters, and updating my excel spread sheet that the effort seems useless. I have applied to so many jobs that I have forgotten where I have applied to and where I still need to apply to. And the worst thing is, I only have one interview so far. Its with a company that does great things, lots of things, all over the world. However, because I applied to a leadership development program for new graduates I fear that the competition is going to be so big that I won't get to the next round of interviews.

When I was a senior in high school I was worried I would be a major failure and not get accepted into any decent university. Four years later, I will not feel like a major failure if no one else offers me a job.

Travelling

2010-02-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sure no one will read this because I didn't tell anyone to read it, but anyway here it goes.

Lately I've been having this weird feeling, like I just want to get up, leave, and just go somewhere. Anyway. Some place I've been to before and just walk amongst the culture and people. After going to Japan and Spain, I've caught some sort of bug. The best way I can describe it is by describing my brother. He just goes places, experiences things, then moves on to another one. I want to do that. I want to live amongst people, eat their food, take amazing pictures and create amazing memories. I feel like, however, that what with I'm doing with my life I'll be reduced to sitting at a desk all day, never exploring the world.

I won't let that happen. I'll work my butt off and make money so that I can travel and see the world. Maybe I'll get a job abroad, or do Engineers without Borders where I can help people, do what I do best, and still get to experience something remarkable.

Yeah. That's it.

You mean I have go in NAKED?!

2009-12-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

So its been a while since I wrote a blog. Lots has happened. Lets see if I can remember.

We last left off with Christmas Eve. So moving on to Christmas day. Christmas Day started off with a trip to the Imperial Palace (the one in Kyoto, not Tokyo). We were scheduled for an English tour at 10AM. The problem was, we weren't sure how to get there by subway. We asked this big group of cops or something how to get there. They decided to lead us out of the subway, and walk us halfway to another subway. When we get there, we follow their instructions that would get us to the Imperial Palace. Once we're on the train, we realize that they made us walk to one stop further away than where we needed to be. In the end, we stopped at our original stop. They made us go further back, and thus lose lots of time, and miss our tour! It was crazy adventure in the subways. But no worries, we just signed up for the 2PM tour, so all was good.

The Imperial Palace in Kyoto (not to be confused with the one in Tokyo which we already saw) was pretty interesting. It was the palace of the emperors for hundreds of years (before the shogunate, until the Meiji Restoration when they relocated to Tokyo, where they reside today). It was a beautiful place, with lots of gates and halls. Highlights of the palace: really cool joints at the corners of the roofs, the "Imperial" gate, which could only be used by the emperor. Even the empress couldn't use it unless the emperor was with her. The gardens, which were beautiful. One of the gardens was meant to look like the northern mountains, thus lots of trees and rocks and ponds and waterfalls. It was beautiful!

The rest of the day was spent just walking around (and shopping!). We also had our special Christmas dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. Sadly, it was the best meal I had in a while. Its not that I don't like Japanese food, but there's nothing like a good Brazilian steak. And pork. And sausages. It also reminds me a lot of Cuban food, so it felt a bit like home. It was a nice night. One thing I noticed that night which was interesting, was that that night (Christmas) they were already taking down all of the Christmas decorations and putting up the New Years ones. They really don't wait for anything, do they?

The next day was a full day of travel. We were headed to my brother's house in southern Japan (a town called Osaki, the prefecture of Kagoshima). In order to get there, we had to take an hour car ride to Osaka airport, then an hour flight to Kagoshima airport, then a 2 hours bus ride to a town near Osaki, then a 30 minute car ride to my brother's house. A total of about 6+ hours of travel. That's right, my brother lives in the middle of nowhere. Actually he lives in a small town with very nice people. When we got to the bus stop, two of my brother's coworkers were there to help us get to my brother's house: one car for the luggage, and another for us. They drove us all to my brother's house. They were really nice. Once we got to my brother's house, literally a minute after, all of the neighborhood kids came running to greet him. There are two brother: Naru(age 7) and Haru(age 5), three sisters: Nene (7) and twins Kurumi and Nanami (5), and brother sister Hibiki (7) and Yura(2). They are adorable!! They wanted to play with Andrew, but saw us and were very curious. We also met their parents who were also very nice. Basically, all the townspeople are really nice :)

Andrew's house is a typical Japanese home. It has an entrance way where you take off your shoes, it has a "living room" where there is a small couch, a small table and a TV. The room is separated by removable sliding doors which leads to a "bedroom". Really its just a room with tatami mats which can be turned into a bedroom at night and be used as an extension to the living room during the day. There is also a kitchen, which looks like every other kitchen, a washroom which has the washing machine and dryer, the sink and the shower. The shower is interesting. There is a tub then an area with a little stool and a shower head. So basically, you sit on the stool and clean yourself with the shower head, then you get into the tub and soak. I like this concept, because I love just sitting in a tub of hot water. The toilet is located next to the washroom. One interesting feature of the toilet. There is a little sink and faucet above the toilet tank. When you flush the toilet, water comes out of the faucet and flows into a hole in the sink, which is used to fill the toilet tank. So, you can use that water to wash your hands. Its awesome! The only other room in the house is my brother's bedroom which my brother and I share (he sleeps on the bed, I sleep on the floor on a futon which is pretty comfy). We were a bit concerned how we'd all fit into the small house, but we found a solution: my parents in the extra "bedroom" on futons and my uncle in the living room on a futon; the rooms are separated by the sliding doors. The system works pretty well, except for one thing: heating. The house has no insulation. Zero insulation, thus the house gets FREEZING. The heater in my brothers' room doesn't work, my uncle has a heater which works half the time, and my parents got the electric rug (or as my brother likes to sing: "hot carpet" just like "hot pocket"). We had to go out and buy an extra heater in order to heat all of us up! Our first day in Osaki,we headed out of town and towards the near by ACTIVE volcano called Sakurajima. The volcano was erupting that day, so it fogged up our view of Kagoshima City across the bay. We stopped to take picture and see the giant radishes that grow in the volcanic area. These radishes are HUGE. LIKE REALLY BIG. Afterward we drove to a ferry that took up across the bay and to Kagoshima City,the biggest city in the area (Andrew tells us that even though its a city, its nowhere near as big as Kyoto or Tokyo). Kagoshima City didn't have too much sightseeing, but it was nice either way. We walked around a bit and did some window shopping. My brother and I also did Purikura, which is a sort of photo booth. It was ridiculous. I can't even describe it. I think I'll just post the pictures up somewhere and just let you see what I mean.

After exploring Kagoshima City, we got back on the ferry and headed back to Sakurajima. Andrew took us to these outdoor hot springs at the base of the volcano. The hot springs were being heated by the volcano vents, and the water were slightly sulfuric. We first had to take showers before getting into the springs. We got these robes you wear to the baths. The baths are outside,the time, the hot water was relaxing and healing. It was FANTASTIC! I want to go back, but on a clear day when the volcano isn't erupting so that I can see the bay view.

The next day was a very busy day. My brother wanted to make lechon (the typical Cuban way of cooking a pig for Christmas) and invite all his friends to come over and eat. So, my brother had ordered a pig a while ago for the occasion. They killed it while we were in Tokyo, and placed in my brothers fridge (no room for anything else!). He also got a grate made and an oil drum cut in half to make the place for pig cooking. The proper way of cooking a lechon is a slow cook or rotating and coating the pig with a special sauce called mojo.So my uncle, father, and brother got up early in the morning to start cooking the pig which took a looooong time (from about 10AM to 7PM, which doesn't include when we had to defrost the pig in our bathtub, haha). My mother and I cleaned the house up and made some arroz con leche (or rice pudding). My mother also made black beans and rice. It was a long day of preparation. And neeedless to say, we didn't expect the amount of people that showed up to our gathering. There were about 40 people who showed up, and about 35 of them showed up at the SAME TIME. The neighbors, the coworkers, the Japanese friends and American friends all showed up at the same time, and none of us knew what to do!

In the end, the gathering turned out to be a success. Everyone loved the lechon, and all the rice and beans were practically gone, as was the arroz con leche. There were lots of talking and drinking, lots of socializing and mingling. There was quite a number of kids (mostly the neighbors) who were running around or watching the the DVD my brother put on. One of the neighbors, Haru,took a particular liking to me. He started following me around the whole house, never far from my butt. He would run up to me and yell, then laugh hysterically, then run away. They he started running up and poking his head between my legs. Later, while sitting down, he could climb my back and try to tickle my neck and cheeks. It was all cute, until he jammed his head straight up between my legs. Lets just say I'm glad I'm not a guy. One thing that calmed him down was when my mom and I taught the kids to make gingerbread men. I had never seen children pay attention and behave so well. It was crazy/nice/I hope my children are that well behaved. I basically spent the whole party playing the kids. I didn't really talk to any of the adults. Little Japanese kids are way cuter than old Japanese men.

At least the clean up wasn't too bad.

The next day we headed to Kirishima to experience my brother's Christmas present to us: Ryokan, which is like a resort where you go to the hot springs and baths and then get an all you can eat thing. Onsen is what you call the hot springs. During the day we hiked around the area, since the resort is in a national park. We wanted to see a volcanic lake,so we decided to take an "easy" 30 minute hike. Needless to say,people had misinformed us and it was quite a painful hike, especially with the wrong shoes and snow covered paths. It was painful, and we complained all the way, but it was worth it. It was pretty cool and pretty up at the top. The hike down wasn't as bad, but sure was just as painful!The rest of the day we drove around the area and took lots of pictures of the mountains and old volcanoes.

After the hike we headed to our hotel, where we were treated to a feast of food. There was so much food, that I didn't even get a chance to try some of the food! I had to lie down for about 30 minutes without moving to let all food settle. After the food twins turned into a food baby, we changed into yukata,which are traditional summer kimono, and got ready for the hot springs! Except, we didn't go to the hot springs. We went to the traditional Japanese bath. What does that mean? Well, we were separated by sex, then we had to be NAKED and go into this huge, really hot steamy room where there were little shower stations and big ass hot pool. Once in the room, you go to the shower station, take a shower, then relax in the big hot pool. How did I feel about this? Um, that's crazy! But what happened? After seeing about 4 naked Japanese women, I thought, why not? They don't seem to care, we have the same body parts,so I got naked and did the Japanese thing.Took a shower then relaxed in the hot pool. It wasn't so bad afterall. No one really cares or looks at you; afterall,they are naked too. Plus the room was so steamy that it was hard to see anything. It was one of the best baths I had in a long time. I love scolding hot water (especially when I don't have to pay the water bill, haha). After that, I lounged around in my yukata and intently watched a Japanese drama that I did not understand. I really want to know what I was watching, and I will find out somehow! Then I passed out.

In the morning we had an all you could eat breakfast. It was an interesting breakfast, the strangest of foods was rice and miso soup (which aren't strange in itself, but for breakfast I think so. Apparently its the norm in Japan). We then headed to our next hike, so see some waterfall. It was really pretty, but it was raining so the hike was kind of annoying. We then went to Kirishima Shrine,up in the mountains. It was beautiful and colorful, and they were preparing for the new year, so lots of booths were being put up. Then our journey back to Osaki began.

Later that night (or more like,6 hours ago), we went to one of my brother's friends house for dinner. They came to our gathering, so they invited us to their house in return. So we had dinner with the guy, his wife, and his son (who plays badminton with Andrew, or used to until he got married and now has little time to hang with Andrew *sad face*).It was the best meal I had in this entire trip!It was a home made meal, but I don't remember the name of the stuff but it was good! We then sat around a kotasu and talked (or attempted to, huge language barrier happening). A kotasu is a table that has a heater underneath and a blanket sandwiched between the table and the heater, so it was nice and toasty. It was nice old time. We ate ice cream, talked about traveling, baseball (Ichiro and Matsui(?)), music, and watched Andrew sing karaoke at the son's wedding last June. These people were truelly kind and sweet, and it was nice that to have met them and eat their delicious food.

All in all, I feel like I've had an incredible experience that I never would have had if it were not for my brother being located in such a far off place. Its been awesome :)

Random thoughts: I love hot baths. I like Asian dramas, even if I don't understand what's going on. Did I mention that I like little Japanese kids? No insulation sucks. Being naked in front of others isn't so bad, when the others are naked also at least. I like Haribo cola gummies. Signs translated into English are awesome (like "fire ararm" or "visit the zoos koara bears"). Japanese cars are adorable. And everyone backs into their parking spots with those small cars. My brother's car is super tiny, and yet we somehow manage to fit in it. I of course got the bitch seat. woohoo. I cannot wait to sleep on an actual bed. Futons are comfy, but there's nothing like a nice thick mattress. I've lost count of the days. I have no idea what the date is or what day of the week is. Like I thought today was the 27th and Thursday, when its actually the 30th and Wednesday. I feel disconnected from my friends at home. I miss them. I hope they miss me too. :)

Brosis vaca?

2009-12-24T04:23:00.000-08:00

So I've made it to Kyoto alive. We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto yesterday. It was reallly really fast, thus awesome.

Kyoto is much smaller than Tokyo by far, and its much colder (weather reminded me a bit of Pittsburgh, but nearly not as awful). One thing that I noticed about Kyoto is that there is a lot of the "old" left here. For example, you'll be walking down the main stretch and see a department store or Mac store, then next to it is a really really old shinto shrine that seems to have been there for about 100 year. I like the mix of old and new. On our first day, we wondered around in the afternoon and night, and stumbled upon this really awesome, colorful shinto temple. We also stumbled upon lots of geishas. I think they are really pretty. We also found hostess bars, which I learned are bars in which men go in and drink while women who work there drink with them and flirt with them. Weird? Yes.

The next day (today) is the 24th of December, nochebuena for us Cuban. We decided to visit some more temples and castles. First, we went to Nijo Castle, which is the castle in which the Shogun resided in for 200 years while in Kyoto until the Imperial Restoration in 1868. It was really awesome because practically all of it is intact (I guess the allies didn't bomb it during WWII). My favorite part of it is the "nightingale floors", which basically are the floors of the main castle building. The floors squeek when someone walks on it, and it sounds like nightingales, which is meant to prevent people trying to sneak into the building. So basically, if you are a ninja and you walk into this house, the floor will squeek and alarm the guards that you are there sneaking in. Awesome? Yes.

After that we headed to Kiyomizu Temple, which is a temple really high up on the side of a mountain. It had the best views of Kyoto from there. It was beautiful! There was also a "Love Stone". Basically, if you could walk from one rock to another with your eyes closed, your love life would be sucessful. I didn't make it, so I took that as a sign that I need break up with my boyfriend, since we won't be sucessful (sorry dimples!).

As part of our "christmas dinner" we had pizza. And cake. And it was delicious. yum! We also exchanged gifts. This is the strangest Christmas I've ever had. A cool Christmas, but it doesn't feel like Christmas. Christmas for the Japanese people is basically a day which people go out with their significant other and have dinner and exchange gifts. There isn't much of a Christmas spirit here. Oh well, at least I'm having fun!

Ramdon notes: My brother and I are nerds. We like to "bend" things, and make up acronyms. Boys in Kyoto are cuter than in Tokyo. Its weird when people bow to me. I don't know what to do! There is a soda here called "Calpis". When said really fast, it sounds like "cow piss", which is really funny. I love taking really long hot baths, it helps my back spasms.

Egg McMuffin: Breakfast of Champions

2009-12-22T01:02:00.000-08:00

Note: the title of my blog comes from Andrew. This morning my father walked in with breakfast, and he decided to get my brother some McDonalds, to which my brother received graciously by saying "Egg McMuffins! Breakfast of Champions!" haha

Today was a bit crazy. Things didn't work out at smoothly as my family would have liked. We had a tour of the Impirial Palace at 10, so we planned on taking the subway at around 8:45, but people kept forgetting gloves, metro tickets were lost, and we were just lost! We couldn't find the line we needed to get to the Palace, and when we did we had to get out of the subway and get back in another way. All in all, it was a massive fail and we barely made it to our tour. However, we did make it! But they ran out of audio tours, so we had to walk around and listen to some guy tell us all about the place in Japanese. My brother, who was tired, wasn't paying attention and didn't really translate for us. So we just had to guess what was going on. The next day is the Imperor's birthday so there were lots of people cleaning the place up. For example, every year they attach a glass balcony to the Impirial Palace. So today, they had about 5 guys cleaning the glass on the balcony. They even had three other people telling them where they had to clean some more. It was funny, cause my uncle asked me "So, what happens if a bird poops on the glass? Have they thought of that?". Either way, it was pretty cool to see the Keep and Guardhouses and such. Some of the buildings date back to Shogunate times (1600s), while others were rebuilt after "the fire" in 1945 (or as my mother says "probably when we bombed the shit out of them"...so politically correct!). We also walked around the gardens and grounds of the palace grounds. Since its winter, there weren't any flowers or blooms, but there were pretty views of the city. Afterwards, we headed to Ueno and walked through lots of streets with vendors. Saw some cool food, like large octopus tenticles! We had lunch at some place that was popular for its octopus balls (which were suprisingly good). We then headed into Ueno Park. The park is reall really big! It has temples, lakes, and a zoo. We didn't have enough time to see all of it, but either way it was really nice.

After Ueno Park, we headed to one of the government buildings that had observation decks in them. I must say, the view is pretty awesome when you are on the 45th floor of a building. We could even see Mt Fuji in the distance. Since then, not much has happened. We ate some food, walked around, took pictures, got our tickets for the bullet train to Kyoto (can't wait!!!), and did some window shopping (which also included walking into a huge department store where very strange yet hilarious head pieces could be found).

Tomorrow morning its off to Kyoto (the very very old capital of Japan). So excited!!!!

I'm tiiiiired....my knee hurts.....my elbow hurts....

2009-12-21T05:42:00.000-08:00

Another day in Tokyo, another day of fun.

This morning I was awoken by my lovely brother who had to go to Ginza to take his GRE exam. Its great to wake up at 7AM while on vacation. Not. Anyway, today wasn't as filled as yesterday, but still pretty busy. First we had to visit an American Express office which was in "Tokyo". Actually, the office was in a prefecture outside of Tokyo, so it was interesting to see a part of Tokyo where no one spoke English, and where there were no tourists. Afterwards, we headed to Ginza to find my brother. It was quite an adventure for we told my brother to meet us at the Ginza station. What we didn't realize was that there were about 4 different exits, each one at least 5 blocks away from each other. So, we split up to see who could find him first. In the end, none of us did. Andrew found us on our own just as we were trying to devise a plan to find him (no one had a phone, nor did we have his phone number on us). We then had lunch at some awesome place, in the basement of a building, in some random alley. Had me some tempura, fish balls, miso soup, and noodles. Yum Yum.

We then headed Asakuza Kannon, better known as the Sensoji Temple. Unlike the shrine we saw the day before, this one was much older, more colorful, more crowded, and just awesome. Its also a buddist temple as opposed to a shinto shrine (as my brother informed me). On the way to the temple, there were streets lined with vendors. So many random things were being sold: from trinkets to clothes, food to doggie kimonos, swords to wall scrolls. It was crazy! Everywhere you looked, there was a store. The temple itself wasn't insanely huge, and it looked a bit out of place being surrounded by all the modern buildings, but it was cool either way. The entrance to the temple had this huge red gate that had two giant statues of "guards" which looked more like mythical monsters. On the way into the temple there was a thing that looked like a well filled with incense and a fountain in which you had to wash your hands in before you could go in and pray. One sad things about the temple was that your couldn't see the actual outside structure since it was covered by walls. They are restoring the temple and making it earthquake proof, but the inside was intake. There were beautiful ceilings and statues inside. It was beautiful! Its difficult to describe exactly what it was, so I'll just let my pictures do the talking ;)

Afterwards, my mother and I did some shopping (had to get some gifts for people back in the land of the round eyes, as my mother likes to say). We then hopped back on the subway and headed back to Ginza. My brother convinced Tio Tony and my father to go so Inglourious Bastards with him (even though he had already seen the movie), so that left my mother and I about three free hours to do whatever we wanted. And what did we do? Shop, what else? If you leave to women with blackbelts in shopping in one of the most upscale and famous shopping districts in the world, hell yes we went shopping; well, at least window shopping. We walked through four giant departments stores, and were terrified. Everything looked so expensive that I felt like I had to pay someone something just for looking at things. Plus, there were eager Japanese women standing at every corner of the store, just waiting for the opportunity to assist us in anyway. Either way, it was fun.

After some serious shopping, it was back to exploring Tokyo. We were all starving, and thus headed back to Shinjuku (the area around our hotel) to find a place to eat. Andrew dragged us down an alley lined with places to eat. We finally found one that wasn't packed, but the guy told us that he would kick us out if we didn't order beer, so we left (none of us were in the mood to go drinking....). After about two hours of looking for a place to eat, we finally found a soba place and pigged out! It was one of the best meals ever, probably because I was starving and hadn't eaten in about 9 hours.

Random thoughts: My brother and I like to quote things a bit too much. My back is going crazying and have spasms every few hours. Boo. I love shopping. My family is crazy and doesn't know how to relax properly. I <3 Asian babies, especially when they are little Japanese girls with pigtails that like to wave at you on the subway. I think that Japanese people like to wear those white masks on their face because they think it looks cool, not because they are trying to prevent getting sick, are sick, or think we smell. Japanese men are girly, and Japanese women are pretty. No one likes to wear sneakers, which makes me sad. Everything is really clean, thus I don't mind sitting on the inside of one booths here (unlike at home, where I freak out).

Land of the rising sun....

2009-12-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

After about 24 hours of traveling, I have finally made it to Japan!

My trip began with a 5:45 car ride to the airport, a three hour flight to Dallas, then a 13.5 hour flight to Tokyo. Must say, that was the longest 13.5 hours of my life. Since I had stayed up the night before, falling asleep on the plane was easy. However, finding a comfortable position was difficult. The worst was when while sleeping, my glasses fell on the floor. And since I wasn't wearing my glasses, I couldn't see where they had fallen. So, I was blind. So when I woke up to eat my meal, I couldn't see a thing. I couldn't even see my food! The Japanese man sitting next to me was very confused. Oh well. Overall, the trip over wasn't too bad. The only downer was that my mom's luggage was sent to LA instead of Tokyo. But, since it was my mom and not me, I didn't think too much of it (I'm a horrible daughter, right?). Either way, my mom's luggage arrived a day later so it was fine.

We arrived at hour hotel around 8 PM Saturday (which is around 6AM Saturday, eastern time). My brother had just arrived from Kagoshima. Our hotel is nice, but small. My favorite part of the hotel room is the bathroom window. Why the window? Because the window faces the beds. That's right, there is a window between the sleeping area and the bathroom. So, people who are sleeping or on the bed can watch you pee. I was a bit worried about this at first, but then I discovered the curtain, so I wasn't worried anymore. The toilet in the bathroom also has 4 buttons. A STOP button, a SHOWER button, a BIDET button, and the flush. When you sit on it, a little light turns on informing you that it is "preparing" for you (reminds me of the Simpsons episode, when the toilet says: "Welcome. I am honored to receive your waste"). There is also a square area on the mirror that does not fog up, which I think is pretty cool.

In order to combat our jetlag, we decided to have dinner and walk around for a while. Our hotel is in an area called Shinjuku. There a giant terrace where they have lots of lights and penguins! (Well, not real penguins, just penguin statues. The penguin is the subway/train mascot!) We were a bit lost walking around for a while, but luckily my brother Andrew was around to translate everything. For example, for dinner we had ramen with rice and dumplings. However, we didn't know this until my brother told us what we were ordering. Either way, I'm really glad Andrew is around. I feel really out of place and helpless here since I don't understand everything, but I feel less helpless with Andrew around.

The next day (Sunday) was a busy day. We started off with getting breakfast at the local convinience store ("conbini" store as the japanese call it). I had a beancurd thing. Delicious. We then made our way to Akihabara, aka nerd city. Akihabara is full of electronics, anime nerds, and maid cafes. Saw lots of creepers lurking in hentai shops, girls in maid outfits handing out flyers, tons of cellphones and computers, and giant groups of teenage boys trading pictures of models. Strange? I think so. That's why I took lots of pictures :)

Afterwards we made our way to Harajuku. Its an interesting area, because there is one narrow street full of strange shops. Lots of teenagers of all walks of life were there buying things galore. Saw lots of girls dressed as "Gothic Lolitas", ninjas of sorts, cats (?) and other strange things. Some dragged suitcases around with them. The shops surrounding this street had lots of interesting stores. Some were regular clothing stores, others costumes shops, some goth shops and some other things I'm not even sure what they were. Intersting enough, this famous street full of unique teenagers is the street that inspire Gwen Stefani's line called "Harajuku Girl". After this, we stumbled upon the Meiji Shrine. It was beautiful shrine surrounded by lots of green trees and gardens. While there, we saw three different weddings going on, and all of them were of the traditional sort (men and women in the traditional garbs, kimonos and all).

Later, we headed to Shibuya, where we crossed the busiest intersection in the world! It was a bit crazy, but pretty cool. We went to a Starbuck literally in front of this intersection and took pictures from the second floor. Its crazy to see the amount of people crossing that street at one time! Afterwards we headed to Ebisu to eat dinner at the top of this 37 floor building, where you can see all of Tokyo from. It was a crazy sight, yet beautiful.

Random thoughts:
The food here is awesome. Love the food. Everything there has a cute factor to it. Its like they need to make everything seem adorable. The girls here are cute! The way they dress is cool. The guys, not so much. I love Asian babies. They are adorable. Shirts in English are hilarious. They never made any sense. My hotel room only has power if you put the room key into this little slot. If you take it out, all power goes out. The outlets won't even work.

This is going to be a strange yet awesome Christmas/New Years.

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

2009-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

Its almost 5AM and I've been up for a while now. In just a few hours I'm getting a plane with my family to visit my brother in Japan for two weeks! That's right, Christmas and New Years in Nippon. It sounds pretty amazing, right? But the weird thing is, it hasn't hit me yet that I'm actually going to Japan. Hopefully, when I pass out on the plane, I'll finally realize that I am actually going to be in Japan for Christmas. So that means no tree, no presents, no noche buena and midnight mass this year. Its lots of sushi, karaoke, and Japanese people.

I gotta go finish up some last minute packing. Then its off to a three hour flight to Dallas, an hour lay-over, then a 13 hour flight to Tokyo. Crazy much? Yes. I believe so.

Ja ne!

Ladies Night...

2009-07-16T04:34:00.000-07:00

So after classes on Wednesday Tema and I attempted to go see the castle (Castille de Santa Barbara). The only thing was, it was really really really hot, and we had to walk up a giant hill. Or more like a mini mountain. Our prof had told us of an elevator that can take you up to the castle, so we attempted to find it. We did find it, but it was closed due to construction. And so we began our ascent. However, it was way hot and it was painful and neither of us were wearing the proper shoes for such an adventure (since we planned on going to the playa afterwards, we wore our flip flops; not such a good idea). And so we decided to take a taxi the rest of the way up. Once there, we were greeted with the most magnificent view of Alicante. You could see practically all of it: all the buildings, the ports, the beaches, the surrounding mountains. The Castle itself wasn't much to see. It is undergoing major restoration so what was left to see was the outside of the walls and buildings which was pretty plain. The only worthwhile thing was the view from uptop.

After taking a short break from the heat in the shade, we began walking down the mini mountain. It was quite...interesting. There was no sidewalk half the time so we were in danger of getting run over. Either way, we finally made it to the beach. I didn't even bother tanning. I put my stuff down and ran into the water. I must have stayed in the water for over an hour. It was such a nice day with little waves and the sun was beating down on me, that the water felt wonderful; I couldn't leave it. After that we headed home and I helped Tema go the the post office and send a box home. She put lots of clothing in it since it wouldn't fit in her suite case.

Afterwards we had dinner (gazpacho con pizza y bocadillos y pizza y helado....) and got ready for our last night out. We can't go out Thursday night since we have to study for our exam on Friday and pack our stuff for our departure, so we decided to have fun Wednesday night. First we helped Lauren shop for some stuff for her boyfriend's family (not me Lauren, another Lauren...so confusing). Afterwards Tema and I watched our chicas eat helado (we watched and didn't have any because our dinner was so big..). Then we headed to this place called Havana where it was ladies and had free margaritas for the ladies. They were really good. Then we danced at Carpe Diem, then we danced at Mulligans, then we went back to Havana and danced some more! We really wanted to dance, as you can tell. But after 3 or 4 hours of it we were pooped. Remember, three of the four girls have morning classes! And so, we all parted ways and went home to pass out.

Thursday (today) was my last day of real class. Martin (the only guy in the class) didn't come, so it was just the girls. It was funny because we talked a lot about love and relationships. As one excerise we had to write love letters. I "wrote" one to my novio...its pretty funny. I think I'll send it to him later.

Tomorrow we have our exam in the morning and then we're done! That's right, my time here in Alicante is reaching its end, as well as my time in Spain. My classes are done, and I'm almost done with the course. Its a strange feelings, because I feel like I just got the Madrid the other day. But, I will make my last days here awesome! Friday night we are having a reunion of all the friends from Madrid as a goodbye kind of thing. I am excited to see all the people that I have met since being in Spain, including the people from CMU. They have all been wonderful!

Well, I'm off to go to el Corte Ingles with Tema (she needs a towel) and then home to study and pack and sleep.

Hasta mañana chicos!

Todo en tus manos...

2009-07-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

El lunes despues de clase Tema y yo quedamos con unas amigas de la escuela en la playa. Nos acostamos en la arena y nos bañamos en el mar (pero, esta vez estuvimos en la area "turistica" al lado del hotel grande que se llama Media. El agua estaba sucia con mucha basura....). Estuvimos afuera por un par de horas. Despues volvimos a casa para cenar. Luego quedamos con las chicas otra vez para `pasear por la cuidad y disfrutar la noche. Terminamos sentadas en un lugarcito que se parecia como una plaza. Muchos viejitos se sentaban ahi en sus sillas. Nosotras nos sentamos a conversar y charlar (y de huir de la cucaracha que nos estaba siguiendo!).

Tuesday morning we headed to class where we could all talk about our thing. Tema spoke about Zoolander, Martin about some movie he saw when he was in high school, Anna about roughing it out in the mountains and camping, and me about the Beatles. Luckily I only had to explain why I like them, what I thought about them, etc. We also started talking about universities and the differences between the European ones and the American ones. I'm seriously considering switching to Europe because college is almost ten times cheaper than in the States. I could be saving a heck of a lot of money!

After classes Tema and I met up with our housemate Karen and her friend Natalie and hit the stores. We actually didn´t do a whole lot of shopping. We did more browsing and window shopping and walking around. It was fun and relaxing. But I was really excited when I found a bakery that sold 1.5 liter water bottles for only 70 cents! Usually a tiny .5 liter bottle costs me 1 €, so this I think was a steal (I know I'm a nerd....)

We then spent the night in since we had gone out the night before pretty late and had morning classes as well. We needed to regain our energy for Wednesday´s adventure: finally go see el Castillo de Santa Barbara and hit the beach again!

And that's what I'm going to do now....I'll let you know how it goes!

No Strings Attached....DUN DUN

2009-07-14T03:39:00.001-07:00

Once back in Alicante, we headed home took showers and had ourselves a home-cooked dinner. Afterwards, we decided to go explore Alicante on a Saturday night. We really didn’t know what to do (and we still don’t!) so we just walked around for a bit. We finally settled on a place that had an open table outside and ordered a drink. While sitting there though, a homeless man was throwing things at us. It was kind of weird and gross. A pair of French guys sitting near us invited us to sit with them because of the homeless man throwing things. As one of them said, “we saved your life”. The two Frenchmen were on holiday in Alicante for week and decided to go out. One was named Julian and the other Fabian. Neither of them spoke Spanish, and only one spoke English. And so it was quite interesting trying to have a conversation with them. After having a drink with them and going to other places such as other bars and some discotecas. It was an interesting night to say the least. It was one of those times I wish I knew how to say “sorry I have a boyfriend” in French. As 5 AM rolls around, we decide that it’s a good time to head home.

Sunday afternoon we decide to go to a beach we had heard about from our host parents and other students called San Juan. It’s on the other side of Alicante where the beach is much longer and wider, making it seem like there are much less people than in the beaches near our school. Tema and I invited our other housemate Karen (the quiet high school girl) to go with us. Our host mom was so excited that all three of us were going that she made each of us lunches and gave us a 2 liter bottle of cold water to share (along with cute little cups). I think she was just happy that Karen was going out. And so, we trekked down to the tram station and caught the tram to Casa Blanco where San Juan beach is situated. It was a very sunny and windy day. A good combination because it never seems as hot as I really is. Also, the wind made the water a bit wavy, so it was fun. Also, since there were three of us we could take turns watching the stuff: as one person stayed behind tanning/reading/sleeping the other two could go to the water. I spent lots of time swimming, tanning, and taking a nap on the sand (funny story: I had my iPod on shuffle while lying on the sand, and the last song I heard before I fell asleep got stuck in my head. It was a really random one too: No Strings Attached….yeah. its been stuck in my head for two days). After 4 or 5 hours at the beach we decided it was time to go home and pass out (after a delicious dinner of course: berenjena rellena).

Monday our classes switched to the morning. It was a nice change since walking to class was not as stressful (not as hot at 8:30 in the morning than it is at 1:30 in the afternoon). We also had a new teacher named Teresa. She was really nice and pretty laid back. She has a habit of making these really funny noises when she talks about something that she doesn’t like. The noise makes me want to burst out in laughter, but that’s rude so I just hold it in. Either way, class was as usual. As homework for Tuesday we had to think about something (a movie, a book, a band, anything!) that we really like or know really well and talk about it to the class. Guess what I picked….that’s right. THE BEATLES. Mwahahahahaha. I am excited to talk about them, though it will be challenging since I usually explain everything in English and not in Spanish. Fun times.

Afterwards I attempted to upload all my pictures until now, but I had too many and so I only succeeded in posting up until I left Madrid. I have yet to put up pictures from Alicante or Granada. But don’t worry. I will try to soon!

Until then!

Proxima Estacion: Forbes and Morewood

2009-07-13T04:34:00.000-07:00

Tema and I had decided to go to Granada over the weekend rather than staying in Alicante. It was a spur of the moment decision that had to be finalized in a matter of a few hours. We found buses to and from Granada, booked a hostal, and bought our entrances to Alhambra (the whole reason for going to Granada). The only issue was that our bus to Granada left at the time we’re usually in class. We talked to our professor about it and she did not see a problem with us missing one class considering we hadn’t missed one yet. And so our journey began. At 2:50 PM we boarded a bus and at 8:00 PM we got off of it. On the ride I saw some pretty interesting things such a giant wind mills. It was scary and amazing at the same time. I also saw homes and towns built into mountains. Like actual homes inside the mountains; the doors and windows were carved on the outside and inside were the buildings. The rest of the time I was sleeping. When we arrived in Granada, Bus Station was very far from our hostel, so we got on a local bus to get there. The buses in Granada don’t tell you what the next stop is so we had to guess. (RANDOM: during this time on the bus I thought about how in Madrid they always say what the next stop is on the Metro, then I thought about the buses in Pittsburgh. For some reason I couldn’t remember what they sounded like so for some reason I combined the metro in Madrid with the buses in Pittsburgh….so it sounded something like proxima estacion: forbes and morewood…..hence the title of my blog.) We arrived at our hostel and the manager greeted us. He was very happy that we could speak and understand Spanish. He ranted on and on about every little thing in the hostel. He pointed out important things; told us about keys, showed us where the microwave was, etc. he was talking to fast and with such excitement that I started laughing. It was just so comical. He noticed that I was laughing and asked me why. I told him and he responded that his wife tells him that all the time. We then headed out to find some food to eat. I had read about a street that was famous for its tapas bars, and so we decided to check it out. We found several places, but it was difficult to choose! We settled for one that had an open table outside, and ordered our food: churrasco y tortilla española. Yum yum.
Afterwards we walked down a path called El Paseo de los Tristes or something to that affect. Once you reached the end you could see la Alhambra in all of its glory. It was really pretty because it had all these lights on it, making it seem like something magical. After being good tourists and taking tons of pictures, we headed out to see what there was to do. We found a club literally down the street from our hostel (coincide, right?). It’s a theater by day and a club by night. We went in (since it was free) and checked it out. The place didn’t get very crowded or lively until about 1.5 hours later. During this time three strange things happened, all having to do with guys (of course). First, this one guy asked me to dance and I said no. Then he asked me to kiss him and I said no. then he asked me to kiss his friend and I said no. then he asked why and my response was “Por que necesito besarte cuando tengo un novio tan guapo esperando me?” yeah, they got a kick out of that one (and did I mention I told him I was Cuban and his response was “really? Che Guevara is my hero!”…..and then he wonders why I won’t dance with him). Second, some guy grabs my arm and tells me that his friend has been wanting to talk to me all night. So he drags me off to go sit by his friend, whom introduces himself (and his name? none other than Javier…my luck and Javiers). He told me his age, 19 (BS), and asked me dance. I also avoided him. Third, some guy comes up to me and asks me if I’m from Miami, then walks away. Weird. Either way it was entertaining.

The next morning Tema and I walked up a very steep and long hill to reach La Alhambra. Being sleep deprived it was painful but worth it. We got there a little after 8:30AM, and the people at the entrance told us that we should hurry up or we’d miss our entrance to see the Palace which had the entrance time slot of 8:30. Apparently, you have a 30 minutes time slot in which you can arrive to see the palaces. And also, it’s about a 20 minute walk from the entrance to the palace. As you can imagine, Tema and I power walked all the way there. Once there we waited a bit and then got in to see the palace. And what a beautiful thing it was! The ceilings and all the columns were amazing. Everything had intricate details and awesome shapes. I took plenty of pictures (though my camera battery was dying). However, the one thing I wanted to see, El Patio de los Leones or whatever it’s called, was under restoration so I didn’t get to see it. I had to look at a picture of it  either way, it was worth it.

We then went to the Alcazar (FIND OUT REAL NAME) which is the fort of La Alhambra. We went up various torres that had magnificent views of Granada (more pictures!). It was sweeeeet. We then headed out to see el Generalife. I’m not sure what its purpose was, but it was beautiful. Big gardens with lots of fountains and flowers that smelled delicious. It’s the perfect picture spot, except for the fact that everyone wants a picture so it’s literally a battle to see who can get the picture taken. One of my favorite things was the staircase that had water flowing down its railings. It was called la escalera de agua I think. It was pretty neat. The cool thing about all these fountains is that the water comes straight from the sierra nearby. Interesting, isn’t it?

Afterwards we had a few hours to kill until we had to head back to the bus station. So we headed out and got some lunch. Paella to be exact. Yum yum. We had el menu del dia which is basically a three course meal for the price of one course; pretty awesome deal especially when you haven’t eaten anything all day. Once lunch was done we got on the bus and passed out until we got back to Alicante.

Party? En tu casa?

2009-07-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we went to the beach earlier than the day before. And we bought sunscreen. The most interesting thing about sunscreen here is that they only have SPF 3, 5,6,15 and 50. Whatever happened to SPF25, 35, or 45? Either way, after our 45 minute walk to the beach we settled ourselves in the sand and got down to business: tanning and reading. I started reading my new book for a bit then headed to the water to cool off. Tema and I took turns reading and swimming; while one was in the water the other was on the sand reading and watching each other’s stuff. There were much less people out that day and it was not as hot (it was hot, but it was bearable, or sort of bearable). We also saw these teenagers who had buried what looked like a giant yoga balls halfway in the sand. The other half that was sticking out of the ground they would use like a trampoline. They would run up to it, jump on it, and do flips and all this other neat moves. I’m sure they were just doing it to show off to all the girls around, but it was entertaining.

Afterwards we headed to class and actually had class. Our classmate Martin likes to bust out in random song every couple of minutes. Usually it was reggaetton song or bachata. It was really funny when he busted out in “Pasame la botella”. He was so loud that the people in the next classroom could hear him. To make him quiet down, our professor promised him that one day we would have a music day where we would listen to all sorts of Spanish music and do activities with it. Martin got very excited.

Aftwards we headed home, used some internet, and awaited another delicious dinner. This time it was tortilla español. However, it wasn’t the typical tortilla with patatas y cebolla. This one had chorizo con pimientos. The other one had tuna in it. They were delicious! We then waited around for the boys we had met at the beach to text/call us back. We had told them that we were free to do something that night. Since they had never contacted us back, and being out in the sun for 3ish hours had drained us, we passed out around midnight. At 1 am, while in a deep sleep, my phone went off. I grabbed the phone in the darkness and tried to orient myself. I didn’t recognize the number (or at least I didn’t think I did; I wasn’t wearing my glass and I’m quite blind—imagine in the darkness and disoriented!). I answer, and someone starts talking to me in Spanish. “Hola! Somos los chicos de la playa! Donde andan? Quieren salir ahora?” I told them I was at home, and they said they would come to our home and have a party. They sounded drunk. At this point I told Tema to turn the light on so I could find my glasses. I told her it was the boys and they wanted to party right then and there. It wasn’t that late to go out, but we had been sleeping, and the guys were no where near Alicante. I asked them where they were and one answered “En un pueblo, pero que te importa! Vamos a tu casa ahora para ser fiesta!” i was too tired to want to deal with them so i handed the pone to tema. They were her friends anyway (well not really, but she was the one who wanted to hang out with them, so I figured she could talk to them). From what I could understand from the one side I heard, they wanted to party now, at our home. They were probably drunk. She finally convinced them to meet us the next day at an early time, but it took about 30 minutes to do so. Afterwards we went back to sleep.

Thursday morning I woke up and wondered if I had dreamed that. When I realized that I hadn’t, I started laughing. How absurd! It almost felt like a booty call. Almost. But still.

Thursday we decided to try some restaurants near the school. We found one with el menu del dia. El menu del dia includes 3 courses and a drink for something around 9 euros. It’s a pretty good deal considering the amount of food they give you. We had so much to eat, and we were going to be late for class that we took our dessert to go. Our chocolate cake sat under our chairs the entire class, and all I could do was think about how I wanted to eat it. Either way, class was fun today. We talked Spanish culture with regards to norms of society, greetings, and gestures. We then played a game called “Medium” where one person pretended to be a famous dead person, one person the Medium, and the rest the mortals. The mortals would use the Medium to figure out who the dead person was. It was a lot of fun. I, of course, chose to be a Beatle. I was tempted to be George Harrison, but I feared no one would guess him, so I chose the more famous one John Lennon. Tema was Bob Marley, Martin was JFK, our professor was Marilyn Monroe, and Anna was Joan of Ark. It was quite entertaining.

Thursday night we decided to go out and find something to do (aka find a place to dance!). Lauren and her roommates tagged alone. One of Lauren’s roommates, a Russian girl named Margarita, doesn’t speak English and very very little Spanish. She had a flyer to a place called Isla Marina, and we tried to go there. But we realized it was not in walking distance so we stopped and just sat on the sand for a bit. It was calming, beautiful, and romantic As Lauren put it, “Where are the boyfriends when you need them?” My thoughts exactly.

Afterwards we headed back to el Barrio where all the bars are. We finally made it to this placed called Carpe Diem; it seemed to attract people our age so we went in and danced for a bit. Afterwards we headed to another pub called Mulligans. At first the guy at the door wasn’t sure if he should let me and Tema in; we apparently looked younger than 18.  Not much was going on so we left.

However, we were excited because the next day we weren’t going to class. That’s right, we went to Granada instead :)

La Playa

2009-07-09T02:52:00.001-07:00

Tuesday morning comes around and Tema and I head off to the beach. It was scorching hot and we had no umbrella or any real sunscreen or beach towels! We got some cheap mats and sat on the sand for a bit. We weren’t planning on going in the water, but it was too damn hot. So, we took turns watching our stuff while the other went in the water. The water was divine. Usually I would say it was too cold and complain the whole way, but like I said before, the heat was so intense I just wanted to get in the water and cool off. And cool off I did. The weird thing was that no matter how far I went, the water never seemed to go past my hip, so I had to sit in the water. Once I got out and dried off, I decided that the sun was too intense. I packed my stuff and took Tema’s bag and headed for a bench in the shade. With no umbrella or sunscreen I felt like I was going to get cancer really fast. Tema wanted to stay a bit longer in the sun so I told her I’d watch her stuff if she wanted to go in the water. On my way to the bench I nearly burned the bottom of my feet. My flip flops and the sand were about the same temperature, so I decided either way it was going to hurt. And hurt it did. I thought my feet were going to burn off! And so, my very painful journey to the bench began. I finally made it and my feet somehow managed to get me there. While sitting on the bench I ate my lunch and watched Tema talk to these two guys who were sitting near us. They had been staring at us before, or at least I only noticed they did because I was eating one of my sandwiches and making my many wonderful messages, and one was staring at me. I was pretty sure he thought I was weird. In the end, Tema came to up and told me she wanted to see if they wanted to hang out later. And so we treaded back to the sand and told them so. They got our phone number and we headed to school (afternoon classes, remember?). We figured that they forget about us and never contact, but in the middle of class my phone started ringing. It was them calling us. They sent us a text message later (which was written entirely in Spanish slang, so it took me a while to figure out what they were saying) saying that they wanted to hang out but since we already had plans we had to make a rain check.

Speaking of class, class on Tuesday was a big one. Our teachers were sick so they combined our class with the one that’s a level below us. So basically, it was three hours of a review of something we did three weeks ago. It was annoying to say the least, considering we have an exam in two weeks on things we still need to learn. So having a review class on something we learned before and were tested on already was not fun. The class was boring to say the least. But the professor was pretty funny and entertaining.

Rebajas!

2009-07-09T02:51:00.002-07:00

The first days in Alicante were interesting. Monday started off with getting up and heading to school at 9 AM, to then be told that our classes aren’t until 2 PM. The building where classes are is much smaller than the one in Madrid. The office, three computers, and two classrooms are on the primera planta of a building, while the other 5 classrooms are the segunda planta. There aren’t many teachers or students (thus why only three computers. In Madrid there were eight, and usually we had to fight over them). There aren’t as many activities either. No museums or cultural trips. If there are any, they are every other week. Alicante is much more relaxing with much less to do. Good thing the beach is nearby!

After being informed of our afternoon classes Tema and I decided to go explore (aka find the beach). So we walked for a bit and hit the port which is right next to the beach. Oh the beach! It was filled with people sunbathing and swimming. We continued to walk and see where it ended, but instead we decided to sit on a shady bench (it is really hot here. Like really hot.). After people watching we headed out in search of some air conditioning. We found it in the form of El Corte Ingles (of course). We went to the home one that has all the music and books and home stuff. I was in search of a new book since I had finished my two other ones. I searched for a long time. You think its hard picking a book when it’s in English, try in Spanish! My new book is by an author from Alicante called “El Último Catón”. It’s supposed to be some sort of mystery adventure book. I’m excited to read it.

Having gotten some air conditioning and acquired my book we had lunch on this little plaza near our school. It was relaxing especially since it was in the shade. We then headed off to our first day of class. We have a small class just like in Madrid with four people. There is Martin from Germany and Anna from Moscow. They are both really nice and quite funny. Martin told the teacher that the reason why he wants to learn Spanish is because he likes the music. “Me encanta reggaetton!” I just started laughing because I never thought I’d hear a German say he liked reggaetton. Our professor is an Argentine woman named Laura. She has the typical Argentine accent (very different from the Spanish one). Classes here are about the same as in Madrid, but I feel like they are less laid back. There is much more notetaking rather than conversation.

After class we met up with our friend Lauren who had come from Madrid to Alicante a week earlier than us. She has morning classes so we don’t get to see her during the day. We decided to go shopping. The sale season is high in Spain and lots of big stores are nearby. Zara, Blanco, Mango, H&M, and El Corte Ingles all had huge sales. I thought I’d be safe from all of it since I had left my credit and debit card at home. However, the cutest dress for only 8 euros was begging me to buy it at H&M, so I broke down and bought it with the cash I had left. All I can say is that I’ve been really good so far while in Spain and have not spent all that much money on shopping (or perhaps I tell myself that so that I feel better).

With shopping done we headed home for another delicious meal and to get ready to meet Lauren and her roommate Maria later at night. We really weren’t sure what we were doing that night, but by coincidence we ran into some people from our school. They sort of invited us to go with them to all these bars and things. Once place that apparently had really good and cheap mojitos had an entrance that was literally a window! It was pretty sweet (at least the entrance was. I didn’t have money to spend on drinks since I had bought that dress.). later the group got split up and eventually Lauren, Maria, Tema and I were left alone. We somehow got abandoned/ditched by our schoolmate. They all went off to do something else without a word. It wasn’t very nice of them but hey we tried to make friends. This just made me miss my Madrileños even more.

Its sort of like Cuban...

2009-07-09T02:51:00.001-07:00

Our last Saturday in Madrid was a relaxing one. Tema and I decided to finally update our blogs (which took quite a long time) as well as share music with each other. It was a lovely bonding experience. We also decided to start packing so we wouldn’t have to worry about it the next day when we left for Alicante. Well, what an adventure that was. Our room looked like it had exploded with clothing, books, and all other knick-knacks. I managed to get everything to fit into my suitcase with having to expand it. Tema, on the other hand who had much more clothing than me and who had gone shopping more than me had to sit on her suitcase in order for it to close. Let’s just say our bags were very heavy.

At night Cristian wanted to try out this Cuban restaurant called “Cuando Sali de Cuba”. From its flyer, it looked promising. However, Cristian had left the flyer at home and didn’t exactly know where it was. So we wondered around Sol for about 20 minutes looking for it. Since all of us were so hungry we gave up and went to an all you could eat buffet (we decided to be American; after all it was the 4th of July). I was disappointed that we didn’t find a Cuban restaurant, and thus Cristian “tried” to make it better by saying things like “Well, it’s a buffet which means there’s a lot of food. Cubans eat a lot of food so it’s kind of like Cuban food” or “hey look they have Natta. Cubans eat Natta. They have that in Cuba” to which I finally replied with “Yeah and look, we have utensils, which they don’t have in Cuba so it’s a step up!” He just looked at me and started laughing hysterically. Yup.

After our lovely buffet dinner of four (Cristian, Tema, Guillermo and I) we hit up Gran Via where the Orgullo parade was happening. There were many half naked men (sometimes they just looked naked!) with wings or thongs or booty shorts or body glitter, and a few lesbians who were not as exciting as the gay men. There were so many people it was unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it. After taking several pictures of various “floats” and of people, we headed back to Sol to meet up with the peeps one last time in Madrid. We didn’t do anything crazy this time, we only went out for some Sangria y tinto de verano (I promise that’s all we did!). We hit up the same bar we went to the night before and sat around talking and having a good time. It was relaxing and a good way to end the night with some friends. We did, however end up with almost all Americans and thus decided to sing some patriotic songs in honor of USA’s birthday (though it was past midnight in Spain, it was technically still the 4th in America, or at least that was our excuse). Tema, Cristian, and I then got on the metro and headed home since Tema and I had to catch a train the next day. Tema and I made it home safely though we almost missed the connecting train. Cristian was not so lucky. I got various humorous text messages about how he didn’t catch the last train home, how he didn’t have enough money to make it home in a cab, and how he got lost but made it alive. It was funny, and scary, but more funny.

Sunday morning came and we finished some last minute packing, took a picture with our momma Oslidia (whom I miss already) and took a taxi to Chamartin train station to catch our train to Alicante. It was a four hour train ride for which most of I either read or passed out (I finished an awesome book called The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. You should all read it!). When we arrived, we step out of the train and are hit with a huge heat wave. It is hot as cojones here! There is way more humidity than in Madrid and they are going through a heat wave here. Either way, it was hot. Really hot. We took a taxi to our new home and met our host parents Dolores y Armando. They are a sweet couple in their 60s. They have a pretty big/sweet apartment. It had three empty rooms plus their own room. Two of the three rooms are being used up by Tema and I in one and a high school girl from Arizona named Karen. She’s really quite but hopefully she’ll open up more. I bonded with my host parents by watching the Wimbledon match of Federer vs Roddick. After about an hour of yelling at the computer screen (we were watching it online) I had enough and left with Tema to the near by Video Store/internet place. Though more expensive than the one we had in Madrid, this did have skype and I got a chance to skype with my boy Adam.
Anyway after that we headed home for dinner. Which was delicious!
Sunday night was a relaxing night for us. We decided to stay in and gain some more energy for the upcoming weeks.

Let’s see how our week in Alicante will play out.
Hasta luego chicos!

Poseidon, Mirame!

2009-07-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday in class was an interesting one. For homework we had to talk about a festival or holiday of sorts in the US. Since Steph had taken the 4th of July, I decided to choose a festival that shuts down 8th ST in Miami every year: Calle Ocho. My professor, Elisa, had me standing at the board talking about this festival and about just anything Cuban for a really long time. I don’t know how long, but I was at the board writing things down and answering questions for twice as long as the other girls. I felt like I was giving them a lesson on popular music in Cuban Americans with artists such as Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Willy Chirino, as well as the younger artistas such as Pittbull and Orishas. I also had the pleasure of explaining what a guayabera is as well guayaba. It was fun, funny, and interesting to see how interested my professor was in my culture. The second class started up as usual after our break and went on as usual, but my professor said something interesting to me: that she and our professor depend on me a lot to help them explain things (like word definitions) to the other girls, so when I can’t figure out how to explain something or I forget what it is my 2nd prof says that my 1st prof used me too much and has tired me out so I forget everything I’ve ever known about Spanish. It was a strange comment, but at the same time it made me feel pretty special. Why? Well, because that means that don’t think I’m an idiot who doesn’t know anything, but rather they know that I actually know a lot, and they think that I have bigger vocabulary than I do. So, yeah, I felt pretty good about myself. After lunch in the park, we decided to rent one of the row boats in the lake en El Retiro. Us girls were having way too much fun trying to figure out how to row and doing two different takes of “I’m on a Boat” (that’s right, we have videos of us singing “I’m on a boat” while on a boat….we’re awesome). Those boats were so much fun, but it was way too hot so afterwards we got ice cream popsicle thing. Because we were outside in the sun for so long, I got a pretty funny looking tan on my feet from my gladiator sandals. Thursday night went on like any other: we met up in front of Tio Pepe sign/building and decided to go some bar and have drinks and talk.

Friday was our last day at Sampere in Madrid. So our classes consisted of a lot of games like Tabú and vocabulary games. Those were fun. We also took pictures with our teachers. The only teacher I never got to take a picture was is one of the first week professors Angel (as steph calls him, the love of my life since I have a crush on him). We also got all of our arrangements for Alicante done and out of the way. All that was left was for us to celebrate our last Friday together in Madrid. So, we decided to make it a fun night. It started off with glasses of tinto de verano (Steph’s favorite new drink) with all our friends (the Sampere peeps: Me, Tema, Cristian, Michelle, Steph, Maike, Robert, Weston, Tomas, and Guillermo; our Madrid friends: Alejandro, Javi, y Diego aka Gonzo). Afterwards we headed to Sol y Sombra for some drinks and dancing. Then it was off to another place for some more relaxing activities—drinks and talking. Tema and I then took the first metro home and got some well deserved sleep. Yup, once again we got home at 7. But this time we had no excursion to go to so we could actually sleep! It was nice.

Now I'm here updating my blog, then packing my stuff up for my trip to Alicante. Tonight Cristian, Tema, Guillermo and I are going to a Cuban restaurant and then having our last drinks together in Madrid. Tomorrow Tema and I get on a train to Alicante noon and arrive there around 4 PM in the afternoon. Soon we will have two weeks of beach (and of course of class....)

Hopefully at my next home I will have some internets so I can update my blog and upload pictures more often.

Basta!

Mi padre fue la primera rueda!!!

2009-07-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

El domingo por la noche fui a ver Transformers (en español!) con mi nuevo amigo Javi. Shia in spanish sounded more manly than usual. And the robots en español were hilarious. I must say, movies in Spanish are a completely different experience. It was a fun movie, and I had a great time. Also, movie theaters in Spain are really small compared to the ones in the states. In the States, the movie theaters are stadium seating like, but here they are just…flat. All the seats are at the same level, which makes the movie watching experience sometimes a bit painful (you gotta tilt your head, a lot. Especially when there are robots fighting!).

Monday comes around and so do classes. Our schedule hasn’t changed in three weeks, even after passing our exam. We still have the same teachers at the same time, just with new books and new material. There are a lot less students this week, the fewest I’ve seen since I’ve been here. There are only a few new ones like Robert from Zurich and Weston from Arizona and some other guy who’s from Holland but when he speaks in English he sounds a bit Irish (I can’t remember his name right now, but someone told me his name was Reiner, and that he had studied in Seattle for a semester….so I just looked at them and said “Reiner? Like Mount Reiner?” then I got smacked in the head. :/ ). So, when time came for the copa (like every Monday night) the bar was pretty empty, minus the very few new people and lots of old people who have been there for three weeks or more. But it was nice to see some new faces. In order to get to know some of the new boys and to enjoy our last week in Madrid, we went out to a bar called Trocha, and had ourselves some drinks. It was a pretty relaxing Monday evening.

Tuesday comes around and we all decide to have lunch in the park. So we’ve established a nice spot on the grass in the Retiro and we’ve had lunch there ever since (after skyping with my mommy of course). Professor Tardio, my Hispanic Studies Advisor and professor head of this program at CMU, arrived on Sunday to Madrid and came by Sampere to say hello to us all. She also invited us to some tapas and sangria later that evening. The CMU crew (consisting of Steph, Michelle, Tema, Cristian, Guillermo, and myself) plus Tardio went to this place called Las Cuevas. It’s a basement like place that looks like a tavern/cavern with quotes written all over the walls (Laura, you’d like it. I took pictures of it). There are also renditions of famous paintings that can be found in El Prado. There was also this old guy playing the piano (he was awesome, until he started playing Moonlight Sonata. Not cool. Not cool.) The place was pretty sweet, but we all thought it was a tapas place. It turned out to only be a bar. So no food. So we had to jarras de sangria sin comida. So we were all very hungry. After Tardio left us, we decided to get some food. We headed off into Sol and found a reasonable place. Our new friends Javi y Alejandro met up with us and we all shared some tapas. It was delicious. My favorite tapas are patatas bravas and chorizo en cidra con pan. Yum. After satisfying my hungry we headed home.

Wednesday came and went with only some exciting things. After a full day of classes and a lovely lunch in the park, we headed home for our daily siesta (its just too hot to do anything during the day. Every time we try we just get overheated, head home, and wait until it gets cooler). We decided to meet up with our Sampere friends at El Tigre for one last time. Wednesday though was particularly crowded because we happened to go to El Tigre during Orguello Week 09 (the Gay Pride week, and this place is smack in the middle of the gay area) so there were rainbow flags everywhere, bars on all the sidewalks, stages in all of the plazas, and tons of people walking around. So, plus our giant sangrias y mojitos (and free tapas) we got to see some action on stage. Even though I had no idea who was performing, it was still pretty sweet. It was nice to see how everyone just gathers together and celebrates something with so much gusto. Anyway, afterwards we headed to this place called “School Disco” which is a club only on Wednesday nights that’s for international students and other Madrileños. Girls get in for free and get free sangria. Woooooh. So we stayed there for a while dancing and having a good time. Cristian and I couldn’t resist showing off our dance skills which apparently gave off the wrong idea to the many foreigners in our group (let’s just say I was asked several times whether or not I was hooking up with him. I love Cristian, but the answer a definite NO).

Aqueducts are the shit

2009-06-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of hours after getting home Saturday morning all of us were on our way to Segovia. This city was pretty sweet. Its really old with lots of history. For example, they still have their aqueducts which had been in use up until 80 years ago (that’s right; the Roman aqueducts were being used to bring water to Segovia for that long. Talk about an engineering marvel. I was impressed. The engineer in me couldn’t help resist). Even more impressive is the fact that the aqueduct has no adhesives holding it together. Each piece of the aqueduct was made like a puzzle piece and that’s how it’s held together. Awesome right?! (yes I know my CMU is showing, but I know you are all impressed by it too!) We also saw a Cathedral which was more impressive on the outside than on the inside. The last thing we saw was the old castle called el Alcazar (they say that it inspired Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle). Documents show that it’s been in existence since around the 12th century, but the material used was the same as those of the aqueducts, which leads some to believe that its been around since before the 12th century. Inside of it, we saw the throne room of Isabel I y Fernando (los reyes catolicos) as well as some bed rooms, the chapel, and the artillery school they had inside of it. We also climbed all the way to the top of the tower were you had a whole city view of Segovia. It was one giant hike up the really narrow stairwell. The top of the tower is also where Alfonso X did all of his astronomy studies. Pretty neat, right? After that we were given time to wonder around and have lunch. A group of us decided to get some lunch. Some wanted to try the famous cochinillo of Segovia which is basically a pig that’s cooked a certain way. I was not up for that, so I got some chorizo and eggs. Yum yum. We then headed back to Madrid. We took our siestas on the bus and when we got home.

Later on Saturday night we decided to go out again (but not as late as Friday). This time we went to Chueca, the mainly gay area. Saturday was Orgullo 2009 (Gay day!) so the place was packed with all kinds of people. It was quite interesting. But every place was packed to the brim with people. All bars, clubs, and plazas were filled with people having a good time and singing songs. Since it was so packed we decided to meet up with some other people who were at a club. It was interesting because the club was closed to the public because there was a private party going on, but somehow we all got in. It was a very chill time with some dancing and talking. After that we decided to g home because we had little sleep the night before and wanted to go to El Rastro Sunday morning.

Sunday morning we headed out once again to El Rastro. I must say, I never want to that again. I’ve come to despise el Rastro. I know people who love it because of all the booths with cheap stuff and they like haggling, but I personally cannot stand the crowds of people. The moment you step out off the metro, you become one of the thousands of sardines on the streets. It’s really hot, there are tons of people who push and shove you, and half the time things are way overpriced and I don’t like haggling. It practically impossible to get to some stands because of packed it is. Plus, I’m paranoid that someone will try to mug me/ rob me while I’m walking around. I’m glad I went to El Rastro (twice) because it was an experience, but never again do I want to go there. I just get so overwhelmed and agitated when I’m there. Thankfully, we weren’t there for long. We then met up with some of the girls and had some tapas in the nearby La Latina area. We then walked to Plaza Mayor to check out some gelatos places (there were none open) and eventually ended up in Sol. At the heart of Sol there is this bakery were all sorts of pastry are sold. Since we couldn’t satisfy our gelato fix, we decided to get some pastry. I had a napolitana de chocolate. It was divine. It was like a croissant mixed with a señorita and something else. it was the best euro I have ever spent. (I am going to get so fat from this trip, but I don’t care!).

And that’s how my day as gone so far, ending with a delicious dessert. 

Hasta la proxima tios!

Uno, do(s), tres, cuatro

2009-06-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

Thursday morning was a tiring one in class, and the looming Friday exam was getting to us. Thursday night was the Fiesta of the Month for Sampere, which meant that “Ojos Negros” (a bar) would close for business and only cater for us. Three hours of endless free sangria and cerveza. It was quite fun just sitting around and talking to all the different people who were there (those most I knew already since I have class with them or I know them through someone else). One of my professors that I had from the first week was there (as a refresher, I had two male teachers my first week: Angel and Abel), the one I have a teacher crush on. My friend Michelle jokingly said that by the end of the night I had to hook up with him. That obviously wasn’t going to happen, but it was funny how when he left she said “Hey! He left without you! What a horrible date he is!” Hahaha. After that Tema and I went home early to study for out exam the next morning and get a good night’s rest.

The day of the exam, Friday, had come. Our professors were convinced that we’d pass, but I of course freaking out thought I’d fail. There were two parts: a written and an oral. The written was about 4 pages of exercises asking you to complete sentences or write phrases using the given grammar rule. This time I made sure to remember each rule and not just fill in everything by how it sounds (well, I still did it by how it sounded, but I checked it over by what the rule said). The oral section was my favorite and everyone else’s least. We had to sit in a room with one of our professors and she’d ask us questions and we answer them. So we talked about the movie we had seen in class (“Otro lado de la cama”) and what consejos we’d give each personaje in the movie (using the correct subjuntivo rule of course). We also had to talk about the last wedding we attended using the correct form of the past tense (as if I didn’t know that already). Naturally I aced the oral part but was scared I had flunked the written. Thankfully, I didn’t. I only missed 2 things on the written and got an almost perfect score. Thus, I passed the exam and got to move on to the next level (which hopefully I will actually learn something in).

Friday was our friend Ashley’s last day in Madrid, so we went to see the Plaza de los Toros where all the bullfights take place in Madrid. We couldn’t go inside, but it was pretty impressive from the outside. We also had a little bit of fun with the fact that we were outside a bull-ring. Ashley decided to be a matador and me a bull. We had a fight (fortunately documented by the other girls). I lost (sadly). We then went souvenir shopping near Sol/Opera. Up until then, I had not bought a single thing, for myself or for anyone else. And so, I went on a shopping binge buying my loved ones silly and useless things that have something relating to Madrid on them. [Pausa: Funny Story—up until Friday, I had been using a Movistar bag as my “school bag”, to carry all my books and lunch and such since my purse is too small to hold it all. The bag ripped in half and everything fell out of my bag in the middle of this store we were in. As fate had it, they had these giant purses on sale for about 8 euros each. It’s like God told me it was time to get an actual bag and stop carrying the stupid cellphone bag around. It was fate. Un-Pausa]. After wondering around Madrid for a few hours, Tema and I headed home for some dinner and to get ready for out night out.

Michelle and Alejandro had hit it off, and so we decided to go out as a group (her friends and his) for some tapas, drink, and some fun. And so Michelle, Steph, Tema and I went out with Alejandro and his friends: Louis, Jesus, Sergio, Javi, Diego, and another one who I actually never met. First we went to a Cuban restaurant and had some tapas (which included tostone. They were quite good but nothing like the ones my mommy makes) and some wine. It was a bit awkward at first because for some reason we arranged ourselves with girls on one side and guys on the other. But it got better as time went by. Afterwards we headed to the bar/club called Sol y Sombra (Tema and I had been there once before, on our first adventure out into Madrid). It was PACKED. But it was so much fun. We had some drinks, danced a lot, and just had a good time with some good people. We girls had planned for this to be an early night because we had a trip to Segovia the next morning, but we were having too good of a time to take the metro home. So we decided to take taxis home once the bar closed. So 3 AM comes around, the bar closes and we decide to tell the boys that it’s time for us to go home, but they won’t have any of it. They want to go to another club that’s pretty far away. How do they convince us to go? They offer to pay for the cab rides, and drive us home whenever we want (Louis has a coche). How could we give up an opportunity like that? And so we head off to another club called Keeper where all the music was techno (just for you Adam, just for you). After another two hours of hanging out, the girls and I decided that it’s time to head home. And so we did, in Louis car as promised. It was a sad parting because all the guys were really nice and fun (we didn’t pay for a thing that night! All food and drinks were paid by the guys. They all also dance. Javi is definitely the best one out of all of them) but we had to go home take showers and take our naps before our journey to Segovia.

Cuidado, Cuidado.....

2009-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Que tal tios.
El lunes fuimos a la copa de bienvenidos (como siempre) y conocí el chico nuevo de CMU. Es llama Guillermo Gómez. Es de California y de descendencia mexicana y es un estudiante de ingeniería técnica (o mecánica). Es un chico muy agradable. También conocí unas chicas de Suiza y un chico de Mónaco. Todos salimos por unas tapas y un poco de vino el lunes.

El martes fui de compras (no te preocupes mami, no compre nada. Todo cuesta mucho y no hay nada que no puedo encontrar en Miami) con Tema y mi nueva amiga Kayleigh. El lunes empezó la temporada de rebajas. Todas las tienes tienen descuentos, rebajas, o liquidaciones. Vez en cuando encuentro un postal que dice “Sale” y siempre quiero decir “si dice sale yo entro” (verdad mami? ;) ). Después fuimos a casa y cenamos (por supuesto mientras miráramos pasapalabra). Después Tema y yo quedamos con nuestras muchachas y tomamos un poco de sangría y charlamos de cualquier cosa.

On Wednesday night, we headed out to a Jazz Club called “El Junco”. They had live band doing their thing, people sitting around listening/ talking and just having a good time. All of my muchachas went (as usual) and Kayleigh invited some of her college friends who happen to be working in Madrid. Their names are Javier, Alejandro, Diego, and Sergio. The first three are from Mexico working in Spain and the last one is German working in Spain, and she met them while studying abroad in London. Pretty sweet huh? Also notice how they are all guys. Kayleigh (our resident lesbian) wanted us to meet the guys and hopefully get some of us to “ligar con ellos”. They are all sweet hearts and really funny. Javier is great to talk to, Alejandro is a riot (he wants to learn how to speak with the Miami accent), and Diego always has something awful to say (which is usually hilarious). I didn’t really get a chance to talk to Sergio considering most girls were surrounding him because he was definitely the best looking of the four. So we all stayed at the jazz club for a while and chat with the boys. Afterwards to went to another place where some people from our school were hanging (sadly however we lost Javier and Sergio who had to go home early do to a 7 AM conference call). The Miami boys I had met a few weeks ago were there along with some other guys. Alex, one of the boys, tells one of the guys that I went to Carrollton and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is “KNEE HIGHS! YOU WORE THE KNEE HIGHS?! Those things were HOT!”…..and I knew immediately that they were Columbus boys. The place was not as nice as the first place, so fortunetly we left after being there for maybe 20 minutes. Then we all headed out looking for this club called “Pacha”. Diego thought he knew where it was and made us all walk in a giant circle around the city. It was pretty funny. “no te quejas, te estoy dando el gran tour de la ciudad!” he’d say. After much wondering we found it but it cost way too much to go in, so half of us opted out and decided to go home. But of course, because we’re in Spain it took us 3 times as long to say bye to each other than it normally would with all the besos on each cheek and the “mucho gusto” “igualmente!”. We all also had to figure out WHERE we were and how to get home from there. Diego lived to blocks from club (and then you wonder how he got us lost?) so he walked home, while the rest of us were pretty much in completely opposite directions. It was pretty cute though when Michelle and Alejandro were saying goodbye because Alejandro had it bad for Michelle (little/CMU Michelle, not the usual tall/blonde Michelle….so cute!); he didn’t want to leave her alone. Eventually we all got taxis and went our separate ways.

Sleepless in España

2009-06-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday night we decided to head back home after walking around Chueca after school. There were some really high-end stores in the area (you had to ring a bell to be let in, and let out). We also got some gelatos. Mine was mango and strawberry. The mangos reminded me of all the mangos we were getting for free at home before I left for Spain. I wonder if there will still be some when I get home...Anyway Thursday night was nothing special. It consisted of watching Pasapalabra at home while eating dinner and finishing off “Age of Innocence” before going to bed.

In class on Friday we watching this really silly, stupid, yet funny movie called “Otro lado de la cama” which was a “musical” dealing with relationships between four friends. It was pretty cute and pretty predictable, but the ending was open-ended. In the movie each character sang popular Spanish pop songs from the 80s and 90s; apparently most Spaniards, when they watch that movie, know every single song that they sing. The dancing and singing was horrible, but that just added to its silliness. The two most famous actors in the movie are Paz Vega and Guillermo Toro. Toro reminded me a Spanish version of Will Farrell (except not as annoying, just in looks I guess). Either way, it was cute.

Friday night was rolling around, and the girls had a night on the town. All 9 of us girls headed out to El Tigre for some tapas and drinks. Some of them had a little too much of their 6 euro sangria, but we all had a blast. Afterwards we wandered through the streets trying to find this club called Paradise. However, we discovered that it doesn’t exist. Well, it does exist but only on Thursday nights. Apparently this other club is converted into Paradise on Thursdays, offering free chupitos; chupitos is the word they use for shots, it’s awesome and we’re all going to bring that word to the States and see if it catches on. Anyway never finding it we headed over to Sol, where all the stuff happens on the weekends. Two of the girls went home because we had an excursion the next day and needed to be at school by 9 AM. I wanted to do that to, but Tema wanted to stay out and I couldn’t let her be alone, so I stayed and headed off to find a bar or club. We ended up at this Irish pub called Dubliners, where they met a guy who bought them all free drinks and shots. The guy had a thing for our resident Lesbian, so it was funny when they started making out; apparently, she has some straight tendencies when drunk. I must say I was confused but highly entertained. There wasn’t much going on in the pub, but my new CMU friend Cristian and I decided to get the party started and danced together. I will be frank and say that we were awesome (that’s what happens when you get to DS dancers together). After that we went outside and tried to decide where to go. There was lots of confusion and no consensus of what was going, so somehow we all got separated. Michelle, Lauren and I headed to the salsa club called El Son. It was packed with people and lively. We all had a great time, dancing meringue, salsa, bachata, and regaetton. There were many guys that danced with us, but one guy in particular took a liking to me. His name was Julio from Columbia. He kept asking me to dance, and since he was pretty good at it I said yes. At first he told “no estoy aqui para ligar como todos los otro hombres; estoy aqui para bailar, solamente para bailar” which made me happy because I knew he wouldn’t be hitting on me then. But as time went on he kept complimenting me and wanting to buy me a drink (which I refused). He also asked me 5 times what the heart bracelet I was wearing meant. Just so you know its silver bracelet locket that my lovely boyfriend gave me for our anniversary, which is what I told him, 5 times. The fourth time he said “I know that it’s a gift from your boyfriend but what does it mean….” And I was wondering “Well, it’s a heart locket, what do you think it means?” Anyway, after telling him it was from my boyfriend he kept saying that my boyfriend didn’t appreciate what he had. Once saying that, I realized that he said earlier was all that true, el estaba tratando de ligarse conmigo. Once it was about a bit past 5 AM Lauren and I decided it was time to go find our other girls. When I told me new friend I had to leave he asked me for a kiss, so I kissed him on the cheek. But he said he wanted a real kiss. I told him I couldn’t do that and he knew why. He then informed me that it doesn’t matter but he loves me more than my boyfriend does (you hear that Adam?). Yeah, right. I headed out of there like a bat out of hell.

Some other people that I met were from the DR, Ecuador and PR. They could all dance very well, it was amazing. There was also no groping which was fantastic, especially after my experience at Kapital the Saturday before.

The other girls were at a club called Joy, and we had to wait outside for them for about 40 minutes. And I must say, I have never experienced so many men coming up to me. By the end of the 40 minutes Lauren and I had our game faces on, our “I’m a bitch you better not come over here and bother me” faces. Once the other girls got out of the club, it was time for the metro to start up again. So Tema and I headed home. We got home a bit after 7 AM, so we had about 1.5 hours to get ready for out excursion. We each took showers, ate breakfast and got back on the metro at 8:30 to head over to school. That’s right, no sleep for us!

So by 9 AM we were on a bus on our way to El Escorial. For those who don’t know, El Escorial is a palace/monastery/church/museum/school built by Spain’s king Felipe II. It built very orderly, geometrically, very stoic. Some say it was a model for how Felipe II ran his government: in a very strict, orderly fashion where religion was at its center and all else around it. The monastery still has monks living in it so we couldn’t go into that part, and same goes for the school. The school is a co-ed elementary and middle school, but a bordering school only for boys. We saw the living quarters for the king and one of the princesses. The rooms weren’t any extravagant because apparently the king believed that they should be living like monks in this life, for in the afterlife they would be living like royalty. Thus, their tombs were something extremely spectacular. We saw were all the kings since Carlos I have been buried as well as the queens, princes/princesses, and all other kinds of royalty were buried. It was pretty awesome; some of those tombs as the most beautiful marble sculptures. The most detailed and beautiful one was the one of Carlos’s half brother known as Don Juan, who was very popular with the ladies and was a great leader; he’s famous for same battle that I can’t remember right now (yeah, its that’s famous….). His battle is so well known that it was recounted by Cervantes (yup, this guy was Cervantes’ inspiration for Don Quijote). After that we headed into the museum part where there were some Greco paintings. Apparently the king has originally hired el Greco to paint the ceiling of one part of El Escorial, however after seeing some of his works he decided it wasn’t good enough and hired some unknown and not very famous painters; sucks for him, right? We also saw part of the old monastery and the library where some books that date back to the 5th century are stored. We also saw the gardens which are right at the edge of a mountain. The views are pretty spectacular.

After lunch we got back on the bus and headed to El Valle de los Caidos, which is supposedly a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Spanish Civil War (but I think most think that Franco used that as an excuse to build himself a really, really big mausoleum; after all he is buried there. This memorial is placed right at the center of a mountain range, and you can see Madrid far off in the distance from it too. It has one of the largest crosses I have ever seen. It’s the biggest in Europe and perhaps in the whole world. It’s also a church/basilica. It’s pretty impressive. Apparently not many people visit el Valle though. The Spanish apparently don’t care, especially since Franco built it and is buried there. Either way, it’s pretty sweet looking. Once done there we headed back to Madrid, and got home around 5:30ish.

Having not slept in over 24 hours, we decided to take a nap. So, we took two naps: each of about 2 hours, one before and one after dinner. We probably could have slept more, but it was a Saturday night in Madrid so naturally we had to go out. So Saturday at around 2 AM we went to a club called JOY. JOY is an old theater turned club, so it has all the balcony seats and stage still intact, but a dance floor and bars where there would be seating. It was pretty classy. The best part, we didn’t have to pay to get in. Two of the girls, while on their way to meet us, ran into one of those promoters that’s always handing out little cards and such (they are EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME). She told them that if they told the guys at the door that they were on her list, we’d all get in for free. Not sure if it would work, the girls sent me to talk to the guys in front since apparently I’m the most fluent. And so, I sweet talked to guy into letting us in for free (actually, I just told them I was on the list and I got us all in for free. No sweet talking involved). So we go in and immediately hit the dance floor. The music was quite different from that of Kaptial the week before. First off, there was no groping involved what so ever, which was fantastic. Second, since it was only floor it felt much more packed than Kapital. Also there were a lot more older looking people (and I must say, when the old guys stand around you in a circle whispering to each other, you feel like a little deer surrounded by hunters planning their next move). Joy was much more techno/remix based. It was pretty good for a while since most songs were ones we recognized, then it turned into house music and most of us weren’t feeling it anymore. Plus, since I hadn’t actually slept any I was really tired. So we headed out at around 5ish and saw a very well know chocolateria open. So we went and got ourselves some chocolate con churros (and a water bottle of course) all for 4 euros. That’s not bad if I say so myself. We satisfied our churros cravings and waited for the metro to open. This time we made it home before our host mom was up. It was fabulous.

So we got home around 6:30 AM Sunday morning and went to sleep. I woke up at around 12:30 hungry and had myself some breakfast. I then began to wait for Tema to wake up so we could head out on another adventure. She slept until about 2, and around 3 we headed to El Prado. Our school had got to El Prado as a field trip the week before we arrived, so it was up to us to make it there on our own. We got there around 4, and waited outside on the benches until about 4:45 and got in line for the free admission that started at 5. Every Sunday El Prado is open from 5 til 8 for free. Fantastic, no? So we made it in and hit all the big master pieces. First up was Goya and his “pinturas negras” (my favorite) as well as “el 2 de mayo” and “el 3 de mayo”, which are the two famous paintings about the war of independence in Spain. Las pinturas negras were amazing and creepy and SWEET. I think I’ll go back and check them out again. Next up was the second floor where all the Velazquez and El Greco paintings were. We went through their rooms and roamed around some more until about 7:20 to hit up the gift shop. We didn’t finish seeing everything. There’s too much to see, so we decided to go back on another Sunday afternoon to finish our visit. El Prado is huge and amazing. And on Sunday afternoons, its packed. I have never seen a museum so full of people. It was impossible to see some of the paintings without pushing someone out of the way. But it was worth it, because I got to see things like las pinturas negras or las meninas. And I must say, all these famous paintings were waaaaaaaaaaay bigger than I thought. “Las Meninas” is huge, as well as “el 2 de mayo” and “el 3 de mayo;” usually people tell you that paintings are smaller than you think (for example the Mona Lisa) but in case of every single one I saw in El Prado, they were much larger than I had imagined.

So after about 2.5 hours roaming the museum we headed home for some dinner. And then, we did our homework and went to sleep. It had been a very long weekend with extremely little sleep, so a long well deserved sleep was waiting for us Sunday night.

That’s it for now.
Hasta luego chicos y chicas!

Random Stuff

2009-06-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

So I know I’ve talked a lot about what I’ve done in my free time, so I figured I’d tell you a little about my school .

So here’s the run down on Estudio Sampere.

There are tons of students from all over the world, but mainly the US. There are usually large group of kids from one university, like BC. They always stick together, have classes together, go on field trips together and never interact with anyone. Then there are what is called “El Grupo General” which comprises of the CMU girls (Michelle, Stephanie, Tema, and I), the Minnesotan girls (Lauren and Beth), Ashley from Connecticut, the high school Spanish teacher from Texas (Michelle, who’s become a really good friend of mine despite the age difference), Brittany from Atlanta, Ralph (the awesome 79 year old man from St. Petersburg, FL who just came to study because he wants to keep his mind sharp and has always wanted to study Spanish; he’s such a cutie), Eugenio from Amsterdam (he likes to take LOTS of pictures, usually using his tripod), Micha from Germany, Maria from Hamburg, Tanya (a young woman who lost her job, and so decided to go all over Europe for a year and learn various languages), Maria and Nick (two co-workers who came to improve their conversational skills, though they are both native speakers. Nick is awesome, he’s a like a big brother to me, watching out for the creepers who want to hit on me haha), and others who come and go but I’ve never actually talked to or met. Most of us don’t have class together but we all know each other because we either all started at the same time, or we know someone who has class with them or someone who lives with them or we went on a field trip with them.

Classes are strange here in Sampere. You can either have morning or afternoon classes. Each one consisting of two 1.5 hour classes with a 30 minute break in the middle; so you either get done really early (like 12:30) or really late (7pm) . You never know if your classes will work out the same or if you’ll even have the same professors that week. Having classes in the morning allow you to have the afternoon free to do whatever you want. However, you have to get up early, going out late is impossible, and going shopping or doing much in the afternoon doesn’t work out since things close from 2:30 to 5 for the siesta y almuerzo. Having classes in the afternoon make your days seem really long and you get home really late, the up side is you have to morning to do whatever you want (sleep, eat, go shopping since stores aren’t closed, visit places) and because you have the morning free you can go out late and sleep in. So really, it depends on what you like. Right now, I wish I had classes between the two so that I can still do stuff and go out and go shopping but still have classes somewhat early.

Every Monday there is “La Copa de Bienvenido” since every week new students come; everyone who comes gets a free glass of either: wine, sangria, or a soda. Every Wednesday there is a museum trip. They do it so that we don’t get too worked up on our classes and such. Every Thursday night there is some sort of activity, such as a flamenco dance or tapas or play or something that is cultural. Every Saturday there is an excursion to some awesome place.

The way we are taught here is so different from what I’m used to. Since none of the teachers here understand English, you can’t ask how to say something in Spanish, you just have to blab on describing what you are trying to say. We do a lot of improvised activities and things that make you think on the stop. I actually really like it, since I get to actually talk a lot in class and practice my Spanish. In high school I barely participated because I didn’t like the class and because all the girls were way better than me and more willing to participate. Class at CMU is nothing compared to my high school classes (no offense CMU). Since most people aren’t native speakers like they were in Miami, the teacher was a lot easier on them and didn’t correct them as much when they said un disparate so my Spanish didn’t improve all that much. But here, since there are only 4 of us and I’m the best “speaker” and worst “writer” (when they ask me to say a sentence using the preterito del pluscuamperfecto I just freeze up; I mean, its not like I remember these grammatical rules. I don’t even remember the ones I learned for English! I can carry a conversation perfectly, but they ask me to spit out rules I have no clue what to say…) I get a lot of practice. I actually, for once, like Spanish class. I for once feel in my element.

We sometimes have homework, and it’s never much. Usually it just some exercises in the workbook. We also have an exam every other week to see if we’re ready to advance to the next level. Let’s hope I know what they mean when they ask me for the pluscuamperfecto, right?

La Reina Sofia con un poco de Flamenco

2009-06-18T01:44:00.000-07:00

El martes we went to class and mostly did nothing. Tuesdays are pretty dull days here in Madrid. Not much to do except maybe shop (which we do a lot around here). However, another person from Carnegie Mellon arrived over the weekend so Tema and I decided to take him out for a walk or drink. His name is Cristian Young.I had heard of him before but had never really met him. He's a really cool guy (simpatico, si?). We went out and they had carpirinahs (not sure how to spell that actually....). Twas good.

El miercoles despues de clase visitamos el Museo de la Reina Sofia, un museo que esta repleto de arte contemporanea. Ahi hay varias obras de Dali, Miro, y Picasso. El mas famoso ahi es La Guernica por Picasso. Its huuuuuge. I've seen it in books and online before and I thought it was impressive then. But after seeing it in real life, and seeing how big it really is and all the strokes and colors, I must say it was amazing. Extremely moving,to say the least. What was interesting was that in the room next to it there were about 20 other paintings, or rather drawings of different variations of the Guernica. They were actually studies that Picasso did, experimenting with different colors and styles, shapes and figures. It was interesting to see how this piece progressed. For example,some of the earlier studies had lots of color in it, but the Guernica is completely in black,white, and grey hues. Apparently Picasso thought it more fitting and emotionally provoking to have it absent of any real color. Twas awesome.

I then spent another 3 hours walking through the floors. The top floor, the 4th, had some temporary exhibitions that were pretty interesting as well as some of Miro's later work (you know, the stuff with maybe one line and a dot and its supposed to be a bird in flight or something....). My favorite room though was were all the surrealist stuff was. Dali's paintings were amazing. I can't comprehend how he would think to paint some of those things. Some were pretty crazy. Just like all of Bunuel's films, craaaazy. Weird, crazy, but interesting all the same.

After the museum Tema and I hit up the Royal Botanical Jardins.There weren't as many flowers at you would think, they just got out of their cold season, but it was pretty over all. Huge garden with lots of fountains, statues, trees, flowers, kitties, it was peaceful and beautiful. However, it was so hot we decided to head back home.

After eating a delicious dinner and watching the latest Pasapalabra, we got ready and headed out into Sol to watch some Flamenco. The internets and Tema's book recommended this place called Cardamomo. Every other night they have live flameno (with two singers, two guitarists, a drummer, and two dancers). It was pretty pricey, but we got a glass of sangria and a front row table which allowed us to see all the action. I must say, it was so moving. I LOVED it.It was so amazing. Like WOW. We were so close to the stage we could see the sweat on the dancers' faces; the guy was sweating so much that when he turned the sweat went flying! Thank God he was turning away from us.....I sometimes thought they were going to break the floor because they were stomping so hard! I recommend everyone to go see it if they are ever in Spain. Its probably one of my favorite things I've done so far.

Anyway that's all for now. Thursday we really didn't do anything since we've gone out every night.

Hasta luego chicos!

Toledo: if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

2009-06-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Viernes por la noche salí con unas compañeras a comer paella. It was quite delicious, and also quite caro. For dessert, we had some churros con chocolate. ¡Delicioso! Since we had to get up really early the next day, there was no wild outings (sad, no? considering it was a Fridya night in Madrid). But no worries, it was all worth it since we had an excurision to Toledo.

El sabado visitamos Toledo. Hacía tanto calor!!!! 40 grados el día entero. Pero es una lugar precioso. The place is like from the middle ages. Really old buildings with so much history. Cobble stone roads up hills and down hills. The town is literally surounded by a moat and on this hill surrounded by a river, llamado el Tajo. Its about a 1.5 hour bus ride from Madrid. We arrive and immediately start taking pictures. I took a lot of pictures this time folks, I just have to put them up. Though there isn`t much landscape scenery, the buildings take care of the astetics. They were in the middle of celebrating Corpus Cristi in Toledo, which is apparently a big deal there. They had flags and banners and flowers decorating the buildings and streets. They had street performers doing acrobatics and skits (one of the skits involved chicken feet. Yes. Actual chicken feet.). The Cathedral in the center of old town is huuuuuuuuuuuge and very ornate. My favorite thing in the churh was this thing called "La Gloria" which looks like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_r7ha5ZR8R2Y/SeIv_PO34HI/AAAAAAAAAX8/8HnHobdy4Cw/s400/Transparente_de_la_Catedral_de_Toledo-01.jpg

We weren´t allowed to take pictures inside so I had to find a google image of it. Anyway, the church used to be a mesquita but when the Reconquista happened, it was turned into a Catholic Church, so it still has some Islamic parts in the arquitectura. There were also some paintings by el Greco in the church. Which was pretty awesome I'm not going to lie.

Afterwards we went to see the famous "Enterio del Conde Orgaz" (look it up, you'll know what I'm talking about). It's actually a fresco on one of the entrance walls of this church llamada Iglesia de San Tome. It's actually quite big, and way more awesome in person than in a picture. Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures, AGAIN.

After we visited one of the sinagoga, one of the few left in the town. Its called the Sinagoga del Transito . There wasn´t much in the inside, but the walls and ceilings were intact so it was pretty sweet to see it. There used to be a large Jewish community in old Toledo, but when the Reyes Catolicos came into power, they expelled all of them. And before they were expelled, there was much hate for them, so out of the 8 sinagogas ahora quedan dos.

We then had about 1.5 hours of free time. A group of us wanted to go shopping, but instead got lost in the maze of streets that is old Toledo, so we never made it to the awesome artisan shops that had swords, inlaid gold plates and jewelry. However, getting lost in Toledo was fun and exciting. The buildings and roads make you feel like you´re in a different time and place, as if you are in an fairy tale outside of this world. I loved it :)

Then we traveled to an old monastary near by. It was pretty niffty, but not as impressive as all the other things we saw. We did learn that it was built under the request of the Reyes Catolicos, Isabella y Fernando. On the second planta of the monastary the ceilings was decorated in the mudejar style (mix of Christian and Islamic art forms). Inscribed through the ceiling was "tanto manta". We learned that this stood for the saying "tanto manta, manta tanto Isabella como Fernando" which means that the king and queen had the same power, they were equal in stature. Interesting no? Oh and also, in the courtyard there was a net above to keep birds out. Well one bird tried to get out, and it got stuck. And its been stuck for at least a month. Intesting, no?

After that we walked down to our bus and headed back to Madrid. It was a wonderful 45 minute nap. Once back in the city, Tema and I headed home for a wondeful two hour nap. We had dinner and watched this game show here in Spain called "Pasabalabra". It is the greatest gameshow EVER. PERIOD. I'm addicted (like I hope we'll be home in time to watch it...). We then had some hours to bum around since we decided to go to one of the most popular night clubs in Madrd: Kapital. However, since nothings happens before 1:30 or 2 in the morning, we decided to meet up with some friends around 1 am at the metro stop closest to the club. So, we got all pretty and got on the last metro out. That's right, the last metro of the night. If we wanted to get back home we'd have to wait until 6 am when the metro starts up again. And that's what we did.

So Saturday night/ Sunday morning we met up with a group of girls (me, Tema, Michelle, Stephanie, Beth, Ashley, and Lauren) and our token man (Nick). We headed to the happening place called Kapital. Its extremely popular with the young Madrid crowd as well as the internationals. By 2 am, the line to get in was loooooooooong. But the wait was worth it. We paid to get in (whopping 20 € includes entrance and a drink) and decided what to do. This club has 7 floors. Top floor, 7th, being the terrance/theater (aka the hook up floor), 6th planta the "latin groove" with salsa, merengue, reggaeton, and some hip hop. Next floor, 5th is the lounge and main bars, 4th floor is the hip hop floor, 3rd the funk and R&B floor as well as karaoke, and the first 2 floors the techno/house floors. The techno floor has a stage where half naked people dance, and every 20ish minutes they have a downpour of smoke. Its really loud and really scary the first time you winess it. I mainly stayed on the 6th floor as most of us did. From that floor there was glass and you could see all the other floors. It was siiiiiiiiiiick. The music was pretty good, even though they played these three songs at least 4 times in the 4 hours I was there: Just Dance, Single Ladies, and Suavemente.

Anyway, once deciding what floor to go to, we decide on a "check point" time and place. We had a no person left behind rule. Awesome rule, especially in a club with 7 floors. We head up to the 7th floor, all get our free drink and hit up the dance floor. It was pretty awesome, until guys come up to you. Here´s what Í´ve learned about Madrileño men: They are all well dressed, extremely cute, dance well, and creepers. Or rather, extremely foward and don´t take no for an answer. Its always the same. They will grab you, dance with you, then ask "De donde eres? Como te llamas? Eres muy guapa..." And then they try to kiss you. I'm pretty sure they all attened 'como seducir estranjeras'at school or something. Its seriously a battle. What happened to all the nice guys who don't want in your pants [or at least won't tell you to your face right away]? Frustrating and annoying as it was,it was fun in a very strange way. I think getting the battle plan of how to avoid them/ get away from them was the fun part. Anyway,that's how my night turned out.

The floor we were on closed around 6, and since we didn't want to hit up the techno floor we decided to get some food. Cafes are open early in the morning to serve all the party people. We found a cafe across the street and ordered some tortillas espanolas. Afterwards, we got on the metro and headed home. Tema and I got home just as our host mom was done preparing our breakfast. We decided to take a nap then have breakfast and head out again. So after about 3 hours, we got up ate food and headed off to El Rastro.

El Rastro is a flea market that takes up about 5 streets every Sunday from 10-3 pm. They have an endless amount of clothing, knick-knacks and other fun stuff. Its always packed.We met up with one of our friends, Michelle [she seems to join us a lot on our adventures], and meandered through the crowds. There were some pretty awesome stuff. The most popular thing on sale were these pants called "pantalones de pirata". They look more like genie pants, or maybe MC hammer pants. They are actually kind of hideous but very popular here. We've decided that they aren't very flattering to the female body, unless you are fat. It looks like you took a poop in your pants and you're carrying it around with you. Yup, looks EXACTLY like that.

After El Rastro we walked around some more and adventured into Gran Via, the shopping district. We were crashing pretty bad considering we had about a total of 5 hours of sleep in the past 2 days and had walked all day Saturday, danced all night, and walked all morning and afternoon. So we went our separate ways.

Monday was a new weeks, with new professors and new class schedule. This week our classe are in the morning from 9-1230. Now we can't got out as late anymore, but we have the afternoon free to do whatever. So, Monday afternoon Tema and I decided to visit el Templo de Debod. But like everything else here, it was closed for the lunch/sieta [from 2-6] so we instead chilled in the park. Tema took a lot of pictures. Like alot. We also checked out the mall attached to the Principe Pio metro station. It was pretty sweet.

Every Monday our school has la copa de bienvenido where you meet everyone and get a free drink. So after dinner we headed off and got our free glass of sangria. Later we ventured to El Tigre, the place we tried the week before but it was closed. This time we went earlier and it was PACKED. Cheap drinks and free tapas with every drink. It was great. The atmosphere was awesome. Its my new favorite place [especially when you can get a GIANT mojito for 6 euors and a plate of tapas]. After El Tigre we met up with the girls again and looked for something to do. Michelle, being the every so friendly girl she is, started talking to the spaniards who were standing near us. Their names are Ruben and Antonio, both spanish professors working on their english thesis. Though in their 30s they were pretty cool. We talked for a while and then headed off to see Antonio's 'moto'. Michelle wanted to ride one, so we all went, took pictures on the 'moto' and then Antonio and Michelle took off for a vuelta a la manzana. It was pretty sweet. Since we have morning classes we had to go home,do our hw, and go to sleep so our night ended with the moto. But it was some damn fun.

Everytime I go out I meet all these interesting people. Its amazing. I wish things like this would happen back at home.

Tapas y Salsa

2009-06-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

Another night out in Madrid. Thursday night we went out and had some tapas with some people from our school. The majority of the kids there were from BC, so they all knew each other. We got to know some of them as well as other students from other countries, like Eugenio from Amsterdam, Maria from Hamburg, and another girl from Germany whose name escapes me. I also met the BC professor who is from Segovia, and married to a Cuban man. We bonded over our common Cuban-ness. After lots of tapas a many cups of sangria we headed out to find some other place. It was 10:30 by then, and things don´t get started in Madrid until about 1 or 2 in the morning so we weren´t having too much luck. One person told us about this place called El Son (Havana Club) where they play lots of Latin music. Our resident Texan Michelle is a salsa instructor at the high school she works at, and so she also wanted to dance salsa. Not sure where we were going, Michelle asked some guys about where it was. After some discussion the young one, named Alvaro, decided that he wanted to see Michelle dance salsa ("¿Una americana bailando salsa? ¡No lo creo!"). The other two men, Julio y Geraldo, tagged along probably out of boredem. They were a bit older than us, and by a bit I mean at LEAST 15 years, so I think they just came along for a good time and because their young friend was having fun with us. Alvaro, who is 26, took an instant liking to Michelle and practically attached himself to her.

Before going to the salsa club and noticing that they party hadn´t started just yet, they took us out for some food and drink. Since we already had some tapas, we didn´t eat much but had some more sangria. Also, they ordered oreja de cerdo (pigs ear......ew) so I wasn´t too excited for the food. After some interesting conversations, which involved drawing maps of the US and of Spain as well as making fun of my accent ("suenas como una cubana!!! oooooooooooooooooye!") and making fun of the America´s accent, we went back to the club and danced some salsa. Us girls didn´t particularly want to stay with these men, so we had to find a way to ditch them. We decided we´d dance a bit and tell them we wanted to go home. So, I danced with this one guy who works at the salsa club and he taught me some sweet dance moves (if only I could remember them). Then it was time to evacuate. We told them we wanted to go home. Sounded like a good idea at the time to get on our know way, but it wasn´t. One had a car and wanted to drive us all home, while the other headed in the same direction as Tema and I so we´d have to get on the metro with him. All we really wanted was for them to leave so we could find some other place to go, without them. After a 10 minute discussion about how to get everyone home, we said our goodbye Spanish style (a kiss on each cheek rather than one like the Cubans do) and were invited to a BBQ they were having this weekend (too bad we´re in Toledo all day ;] ). They weren´t that bad of guys, we just didn´t want to hang out with them the whole night, specially when the age difference is so great. In the end, it was actually quite an experience. At least I got to practice my Spanish. It was interesting to see how friendly and out going they are with just anyone. Apparently all Spanish are that way (except for los Vascos, or so I have been told....haha).

Eso es todo por ahora. Esta noche voy a salir con unas amigos. Queremos comer paella. Mañana voy estar en Toledo el día entero. Super guay.

Vale, hasta luego!

Guay o Mola?

2009-06-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

So, Tuesday night after our classes, Tema and I decided that it was time to explore the city nightlife. We went out around 11 and headed towards the center of town, where all the bars, tapas places, and clubs were open. Tema, new friend named Michelle, and I headed to a bar called El Tigre (famous for cheap drinks and lots of free food); its really popular with the young student crowd. However, when we got there it was closed!!!! And while we were standing there wondering why, a three American guys came up to us and started talking to us. We weren´t too keen on them, especially since they were American and didn't even try to speak Spanish even though they had been here for 6 months! So we went on our way looking for another place to go.

We came upon this street known as ¨La Calle de Letras¨because it has poems written on the ground (Laura, you'd like this). This street, called Huertas, had tons of bars to go too. After scouting some out, we decided on one called "El Bodeguito". We went in, enjoyed the music and a drink (mojito yum). After that we headed out and met some other Americans from WashU. Their names are Tyler (the nice white boy who could dance really well....ADAM YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO DANCE LIKE HIM), Breck(a girl who was so drunk she didn´t even know what her school was), and Drew(the guy Breck decided to go make out with). Along with them was an odd Mexican guy called Guillermo. We went to another club/bar called Sol y Sombra. We danced and had another drink. While there, two pretty old guys started hitting on Tema and I. One guy was Spanish and the other "an artist from Holland" who seemed to like my hands for some reason (he drew a dragon on it with a marker....strange? Oh yeah). Our new American buddies left us and we were alone with the two old men. After much maneuvering Tema and I managed to escape, though they tracked us down and asked us to dance. They told us that they were 21 and 23, but they clearly weren´t. We could tell. Fernando, the Spaniard, had a liking to me and put his arm around me. That was my cue to inform him of the buff boyfriend I had waiting for me(right Adam? ;] ), and we we left the bar (it was closing time anyway). We wondered around the streets for a bit. It was late, and yet the streets of Madrid were full of people (not crowded like Disney crowded, but lets just say you were never the only person on the street).

Apparently we seemed lost, thus a young Madrileno approached us and walked us to our destination (toward home of course). He meandered us through the streets of Madrid, talking endlessly about anything (how he studied abroad in London, how he wanted to practice his English with us, how people don´t seem too different even though they are from different parts of the world, how my Spanish was really good,....anything!) This guy, who´s name is Daniel but likes being called Danni (yes spelled like the girl, though he is not a girl), explained to us the uses of ¨guay" and "mola" which both mean cool. However, "mola" is used by people called "pijones" or something of the sort. He tried telling us that "es como un estilo de ser: hablar, caminar, vestir....como alguin quien se ve 'cool' pero no lo es....es como decir un "guido"...." Danni had some funny descriptions, especially when he was trying to tell us that they use "H&S" shampoo (he meant head and shoulders) because they use so much gel in their hair they get dandruff...Anyway after having interesting conversations with him, he ran into some other guy from Colombia named Andres, who was trying to get us to go to his nightclub where una banda de rock n roll estaba tocando.....He then proceeded to tell me that he eats iguana eggs. Yup, the conversation switched into strange foods that though sound gross you should try because its an experience! Once the conversation of lizards and kidneys passed, Danni found us a cab and we exchanged numbers so we could hang out again. Tema and I made it home and passed out.

The next day was a trip to one of the many museums here in Madrid. This one is called Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. It's three stories of different art, including some Piccaso, Goya, Miro, Velazquez, Dali, and even Degas. We wondered around for about 3 hours, then ate lunch outside and headed to class. Class here is the most interactive Spanish class I have ever had in my life. Since its only 4 of us its almost like its one-on-one. Our first prof, who's name is Angel, is from el Pais Vasco. He's all about the creativity and imagination. He likes doing activities were we have to think of things on the spot (which can be scary sometimes, and hilarious other times). He's such a cutie :).....our other prof is Abel from Cadiz. He's got this laid back attitude. He's just such an interesting person and persona; its hard to explain him. You just have to experience him. The one cool thing though is that for the last 30 minutes of class on Tuesday he just told us of all the cool places to go hang out. It was awesome.

While everything was going smoothly, I noticed that my phone was gone! I searched through my piso, mis pantalones, en la escuela. It was no where in sight. I even had my friends call it to see if it would ring. The number was disconnected. So, this meant that someone had TAKEN MY PHONE!!!!! I was pissed. Really pissed. Now I was disconnected from my family, my friends here, and I lost all the numbers of my new Spanish friends who don't go to school with me. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOODER! And so, my perfect trip hit a hiccup. I went and bought a new phone, which didn't end up pretty cheap. So things got back on track.

After a very interesting and long night out, we decided to take it easy last night. We met up with some friends from school and headed out to find some sangria. What a night to go out. It seemed like everyone (and I mean EVERYONE: old people, young people, really really really young people) was out last night. This is why: today there is not work; its a day off because their independence day, 2 de Mayo, fell on a Saturday, so no one could get the day off. So, they moved it to today, so that people could get a day off. And thus, everyone went out to party and have a good time since they would sleep in today. Anyway, we found this bar/club where they had free drinks from 11 to 12. Free sangria? You bet! So we went in, had some sangria and left. We then found this other place called 41, where the promoter got us to go in by giving us these electric blue drinks. It wasn't bad. Then we decided to dance for a bit before the metro shut down at 1:30. So we danced and headed out to the metro. We were late and feared that it wasn't running anymore, but it seems that because of the holiday today, it was running later last night. While waiting for the metro, we found a very interesting dispenser: a condom machine. Yet, if you ever need one while on the metro, it'll only cost you 50 cent euro!.......bwahaha.....

So, because today nothing is open, there is nothing to do :(
Thus, I came to school to use the wifi and update my blog, upload some photos, and eat some food.

Espero que gusteis mi blog!

Martes en Madrid

2009-06-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Mi segundo dia de clases aqui en Madrid. Ayer [lunes] fue mi primer dia. I had to be at the school by 9 AM in order to take a placement exam. Surprise surprise, they told me I had excellent speaking abilities, but my writing was horendous (teehee). So, I was placed in advanced/intermediate grammar and conversation. My classes are everyday por la tarde. Desde las 15:30-17:00 y las 17:30-19:00 (for those of you who don't know how to use military time that's 3:30-5:00 and 5:30-7:00...). Tengo las mananas libres para hacer cualquier cosa. However, yesterday was the gloomiest day ever. No sun, actually kind of cold, and rainy. So, after my placement exam I had about 5 hours free. I met some new people who were from America and one guy from Portugal. We walked around the Retiro (again) went into a cafe and had some cafe con leche y un chocolate. We also had lunch and it wasn't so bad. Then the classes started. My teachers are....interesting to say the least. They are pretty nice and somewhat amusing and very SPANISH. They like to refer to me as Cubanita for some reason.

Anyway, classes went by and ended, and then we went off to something the school held at a bar called "La Copa de Bienvenido". We went to a near by bar where everyone could have one free glass of either cerveza, vino, o sangria. I, por supuesto, went for the sangria. It was wooooooooonderful. We were having some trouble mingling with the other students since the majority all come from the same university (BC) and are all already friends. However, our Portugese pal decided to ask the Australian guy who was standing near us how to say "platypus" in Spanish....that didn't go very well. We eventually met some other people, two who go to UF and went to Columbus (seriously why do I always find someone from Miami?!) Anyway, we mingled and it was fun.

Tema and I then decided to go find some food. We found a nice little tapas place and ate foodz. Yum. Since we're still jetlagged, we headed home around 10 or 11 and passed out (again). But we slept well and headed out on another adventure before classes started. We found this tiny tiny church where Goya was buried. You would never think it was anything of importance; its just this tiny building on the outskirts of the city. But it was awesome. The whole interior was painted by Goya, and his tomb was right in the middle. Sadly we couldn't take any pictures so I can't show you guys the awesome-ness of this Goya church. We wandered about trying to find our way to this giant cathedral. I forget the name just now....So we're walking through this park and up a hill and we finally find it! (or so we think) So we pay our entrance fee and enter, only then do I realize that we've just entered the crypt of the cathedral. Yeah, a bunch of tombs. Sounds creepy right? Well, it wasn't. It was beautiful! Some of those rich people have way awesome tombs. I wish I could have one as nice as those people. Done with the deceased we finally make it to the actual cathedral. It was huge and beautiful. It wasn't much like the traditional churches, it had some pretty modern-esque ceilings and stain glass windows. You'll have to look at my pictures to see what I mean. We spent quite of bit of time there. Afterward we had lunch by the Palacio Real, where Tema proceeded to feed a little bird that ended up in a flock of birds by the end of the meal.

Now I'm sitting in between classes updating my blog. We were discussing festivals and customs of Spain and each of our places, only to realize that my family does a lot of things that the Spanish do (proof that way back in my family tree I am Spanish :P)

No tengo mas que escribir por ahora. Te veo manana, vale?

Bienvenidos de España!

2009-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hola todos desde España (donde los keyboards en los internet cafes tienen un "ñ" tecla).
So before I delve into my Spanish tales, I have a humorous tale about my flight to Spain....

So my day started off fine. Checking in was fine, there was practically no line in security, and my one checked bag was not charged. The flight was on time, and I had a bag full of food goodies that my mommy gave me. Little did I know the journey ahead of me. After reading "The Age of Innoscence" for an hour, I realized that we hadn´t left the ground. We hadn´t even left the gate. Ten minutes later, we are told that we are 10th in line for take off. Well, so I was a little bit over an hour delayed, I´ve been through worse, right? Maybe. That wasn´t until 4 hours later (mind you this was supposed to be a three hour flight to JFK), when we were told that there was a plane with landing gear problems at JFK, thus we were put into a "holding pattern" aka circling the sky until we were given the okay. However, we ran out of gas circling, and were forced to land in Norfolk, Virginia. Of course, I didn´t know we were in Viginia since the flight attend couldn´t speak English. I wasn´t sure what she was saying. Anyway, we were in Virginia for an hour, and in that hour everyone had to go to the bathroom, including me. Thus, the toilets decided to rebel against us and refuse the flush. Lovely, I know. The plane smelled of wonderful waste for the remainder of the trip. Thus, after landing 4 hours later than planned, I made it just in time for my flight to Madrid. This one was quite different from my JFK flight. Though it wasn´t smooth flying the whole way (it felt like one of those simulator rides, you know like the Star Tours ride at Hollywood Studios....), we did manage to land and entire hour early. And that ends my flight tale....

So I arrive in Madrid, I get to my host mom´s apartment in one piece. I was excited to be in Madrid and living with a real Spaniard, only to soon realize my host mommy is actually Cuban. Yup, born in Cuba and raised Havana. She´s lived in Spain for a number of years, but when someone tells you that they are going to make your ¨lunch¨ instead of your "almuerzo", you realize that yes, they are indeed Cuban (which made me giving her a CD of Cuban music as a thank you for letting me stay with her a bit strange, considering she´s already Cuban, and it was nothing new to her). But either way, it was nice being able to use Cuban slang and not be looked at strangely.

The rest of the day (yes I did not sleep since I left for Spain....24 hours and counting!) I walked around Madrid with Tema. We went to la Plaza Mayor, el Parque del Buen Retiro, and just got lost. My favorite place thus far is definetly el Retiro. The place is huuuuge with lots of things to do: silly/creepy statues to take awesome pictures with, lots of green grass to lay on and nap, a lake with row boats, lots of people to watch, lots of trees to sit under, a really cool glass garden looking thing, and other things we didn´t get to see. It was great! I took waaaaaaaaaaay too many pictures, and walked more than someone who is sleep deprived should (and being sleep deprived means that lauren doesn´t know how to spell anything). I must say, I really like it here. I feel like I could fit right in (with the exception of their shoes. Does anyone ever notice that Europeans wear completely different shoes?)

And so, I end this entry. I am waaaaaaaaay too tired to write anything of substance, while at the same time be too tired to rant on endlessly. Thus, I will continue my tales of Spain another day (and hopefully with pictures).

First Blog. Ever.

2009-06-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hello people!
Well, I decided to have a blog for my trip to Spain. (I'm sure the people at CMU will be thrilled with this). I haven't exactly left for Spain, but I have begun the process. I'm practically packed and ready for my early morning flight tomorrow. (I feel like I may have over packed. Though every time I feel that way, I end up being the one girl with the least amount of clothing. This may be hard to believe, but if you went to Carrollton you'd understand). Tis going to be exciting. New country, new people, new food, not-so-new language, who could ask for more?

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy my last meal at home, and most likely hang out with my friends in Miami.

See you in Spain!