Semana Santa 2011

I am officially on Spring Break!!! I guess I will just take a little plane ride and spend Holy Week in Rome - yes you read that right... This little blonde girl is going to ROME for HOLY WEEK!! How sweet is that?

Let's see last night I went to the school play - two of the six cast members are friends so we got a big group together and decided to go get drinks before and then head to the play.  I wasn't going to go, but I have been doing some things I normally wouldn't do, but I have had so much fun doing them after I have chose to do them! Well the play wasn't the best thing I have ever seen, but it was student written.  However, having two friends in the play made it really fun to watch.  After the play we all decided we wanted to go out, but we were going to run home and drop our stuff off and eat and met up at sol around 11:30.  We went to bourbon cafe again - it was once again so much fun! We just danced the night away! I got home around 3am.  Also I went to bourbon with people I normally wouldn't just hang out with, but it was a blast! I am so glad I went.  I mean it probably isn't the best decision for me to be going out on Wednesday nights, but I am only in Spain once (when I am 20 after the packers win the Superbowl) Haha.

Nothing else is that exciting in my life at the present night.  I guess I have been just loving living in Spain lately.  I have been thinking about only having less than a month left in Spain and it is one of the most crazy feelings.  I cannot wait to go home but I don't want to leave Spain either.

Oh let me tell you about what I had for dinner tonight.  It is Thursday therefore Maya and I thought we were having pasta!  When we went downstairs - we got Gloria flowers for her birthday on Saturday - we gave Gloria flowers and then looked at what we were having for dinner.  Our plates consisted of carrots, celery, lettuce, and cauliflower with dip.  I was oh that is going to be a good first place.  Little did I realize this was my dinner along with some salad and a little tofu! Surprisingly it was very filling.  For dessert we had fruit salad! It was a great unexpected meal!!! Gloria also offered to make me pasta for lunch tomorrow before I leave for Rome and to also make me sandwiches to take with me on the plane tomorrow.

I really should be packing and getting everything ready for leaving for Rome tomorrow, but I am not really feeling it.  I have started packing and I will finish tomorrow morning.  Something else weird to think about is I only have five more days of classes and then finals.  Wow! Maybe I should start studying for finals sometime soon.

Well I think that is all for tonight and for about a week.  I will be home on Holy Saturday and be belonging on Easter if all goes well.  I hope everyone has a great Holy Week - remember the true meaning of this special week.  We are all preparing for the day we all are saved - Easter.  Let us all take the time to remember everything Jesus went though just for us.  Let us remember to give a little back.  Let us remember those close to us.  Let us take a little time out of our bus lives to thank Jesus for everything we have.  Let us celebrate eternal life!

See you all after Rome.

Paz y Amor. God Bless.

Smile.

Just a few quick things tonight.


1. Mom and Dad sent me two cards in the mail - I received them yesterday.  One contained 30 euros!! Score! The other contained some left over euro coins they had - Dad said it was for sangria - thanks buddy.

Excited to get mail :)

2. I just have to make a reference list for my ethics paper! Thanks to all those who edited it for me :)

3. Good luck to all those who have the Orgo test tomorrow - especially Kelsey and Scott!! Love you both - dominated that test.  Tell yourself you will be writing the answer key for your teacher! ;)

4. I got to skype with Katie Keyser and Steph Hagan today! Thank you to both of you!! I can not wait to see you again! I love both of you.

5. I also got to chat with the mom for a little bit.  Found out some sad news - Grandma is back in the hospital.  She has internal bleeding, but they don't know where.  If everyone could please pray for her that would be great.  I finished my book last night and the final chapters talked about the power of pray - I firmly believe that pray has the power to change lives so please for my Grandma send some prayers her way.

6. I had fresh lemonade to drink for dinner and mango for dessert.  Great meal.

7. I am starting a new book - The Happiness Project.  It is about a women who takes a year to find happiness - not really sure what it all entails.  I will be sure to keep you guys updated as I continue to read it.

8. The weather has been wonderful lately.  About 75 and sunny everyday.  Today I let the top half of my body stay out of the sun and tried to even out the tanness of my body by just putting my legs in the sun.

9. At this time in three days I will be chilling in ROME!! No big deal right?! So excited

10. I come home in less than a month now - get excited!

11. True friends are hard to come by so once you find them hold on tight.

12. To conclude for the night I would like you leave your with some pictures of my face - sometimes I get bored.  I have a tendency to post pictures on people's walls on Facebook - so I thought I would give all my readers the privilege to see my face!!

Peace out cub scout!!

Paz y Amor. God Bless.

A day in a walled city.

Well as promised I am going to deliver a wonderful blog about the trip to Avila – well maybe it won’t be wonderful but I will give you a play by play. So Sunday I slept in a little bit – until 9 o’clock! Yayy! And then had breakfast (toast and a banana) and then worked on some homework and showered.  Then it was off to the bus station to Avila.  Gloria made us sandwiches to take with us – our plan was to have a picnic in a park once we arrived to Avila.  When we left Madrid around noon for the bus station it was sunny and wonderful aka I wore shorts and a tank top and sweater.  Well when we arrived to Avila it was completely cloudy and cold.  We made our way to the tourism office and got a map and ate lunch in the office – it was cold outside.  But I wasn’t going to complain it was what it was.  The first thing we did was make our way to cathedral and go inside.  It was not warm inside at all but it was still beautiful.  Some of the cathedral was under construction for Semana Santa – Easter week so we were not able to see the main altar completely – but it didn’t matter.  I think what makes me feel like there is a difference in the cathedrals I visit is the feeling I get when I go inside them – I cannot even try to begin to explain it.  When we left the cathedral it was sunny!! The weather had improved greatly which made the trip a lot more enjoyable.  After the cathedral we went to climb the wall of Avila – the view was amazing.  After that part of the wall we walked around and came across some bands playing tradition Easter music – it was really cool to hear.  Next we found the other entrance of the wall and walked around on the wall for about another hour or so.  By the time we were done walking on the wall, we didn’t have much time until we had to be back at the bus station so we just walked around a little more and went into the basilica for a couple of minutes – they were about to have mass.  The trip was a lot better than I thought it would be.  I personally thought it was going to be awkward and boring, but it was the complete opposite.  I had a lot of fun! I am glad I decided to go for sure! Here are some pictures from the trip.

Maya and I in front of the Cathedral.

The wall.

It was beautiful.

Gloria and Me! :)

Just a pretty picture!

Music!

House of Saint Teresa!

Basilica.

Well as some of you know my phone was not connecting to wifi at home for some reason the last couple of days.  When I got home from school today my friend Thomas tried to help me fix my phone from the States.  He was researching all these different ways to have me connect to the wifi at my house and none of them were working.  But then he told me to make sure my phone was up to date - and guess what!? All I had to was to update my phone and it connected to the internet right away.  Thanks Thomas!!  

Nothing else is too exciting in my life right now.  I completely finished my history paper and I just sent my ethics paper to a couple people to have them look it over for me.  I also have an art history exam tomorrow - I believe I am prepared for it! I will look over my notes one more time and the powerpoint slides and hope it will all be good.  I just really wanted to read my book!

Don't lie.

Paz y Amor. God Bless.

Insert Funny Title Here

This weekend did not go as it was planned.  I will start from Thursday night.  Thursday night was really chill and I ended up going to bed before Gloria got home – I heard her come home but I just got into bed so I just decided to lay in bed and see her in the morning.  I should have gotten out of bed to talk to her.  As you know Friday we were suppose to take a trip to Avila, therefore I got up at 7:30 in the morning to shower and get ready by 8:30 to go downstairs for breakfast and the to leave.  I walked downstairs in my cute little sun dress and Gloria and Maya are wearing sweatpants and t-shirts.  I thought to myself “Hmmm.. that is weird, we are suppose to be leaving in 30 minutes and they aren’t dressed.”  Gloria came to say good morning to me and told me that we were not going to Avila today.  You got to be kidding me was my first thought.  I had the hardest time getting out of bed and now we’re not going!  She explained that Glo still had a sore throat and a fever so she had to stay in Madrid and go to her house to take care of her.  I told Gloria it wasn’t a big deal at all and I understood, but I was kind of mad and disappointed.  During breakfast she asked if we could go on Saturday instead and I told her I couldn’t because I already had plans and then she asked about Sunday and I told her I had to talk to some people and then I would let her know – we were suppose to go out for a friend’s birthday on Saturday night. 

I really didn’t understand why Glo’s boyfriend or another friend couldn’t take care of her.  But I guess it is motherly instinct to have to take care of your children.  Also the culture is different here than in the USA.  For example, it is very rare for a child to go away to college in another city.  The only time it happens is when the university doesn’t offer the major that they want, but normally you attend the university closest to you and just choose your major off of the ones they offer – totally different from the States.  Also normally people do not move out of the house until they are getting married – leaving home at 22 right out of college is unheard of.  I guess I would say the normal age to leave your parents house in Spain is about 27 years old.  Some of my friends have host siblings that are about 33 years old and are still living at home – completely unheard of in the US.  Like I said at first I was mad that a 28ish grown woman could not take care of herself, but I have to realize that the culture is completely different.

Since we were not going to Avila I worked on some homework and then made some plans with friends.  We all met up at school around 1:30 to go to Plaza de España to eat Chinese food.  Well it was a Friday so I wasn’t able to eat meat since it is Lent so Elizabeth and I went to find some ice cream – we both had some sort of lunch before meeting up with people.  We just hung out in Plaza for a while and then Elizabeth and I wanted to go and find an American book store – we wanted something to read for Saturday.  We asked people if they knew where one was and Mike did so we all took a little walk to find the book store.  We found the store and it was a cute little bar and then the bookstore is downstairs with a bunch of used books – all in English.  I had no idea what kind of book I was looking for so I just started to look around.  I finally came across a book that seemed to be the most interesting to me.  90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper.  It is a true story of a man what was killed in a car accident and went to heaven and then miraculously came back to life.  It is a story of his journey – it is amazing!  I would recommend it to anyone!  After the book store I headed back home for dinner. 

After dinner Elizabeth came over and then Kara and Lisa came over.  It was great to just hang out with people without having to go someone or get dressed up or anything – we could just hang out.  It is interesting that most people are not allowed to have people over at their houses’.  I personally don’t think that is fair – I mean we are use to dorm or apartment living where people are in and out of our rooms all day long and it doesn’t matter what hour or anything like that.  And then we come here and there isn’t a central location that we can just all hang out and relax – watch a movie or just talk.  I have missed that a lot since being in Madrid.  However, sometimes it is nice – not having easy access to hang out with people makes to feel not obligated to hang out with people all the time.  We had the greatest time watching the greatest movie ever made: Remember the Titans.

Saturday the plan was to go to T.G.I Fridays for lunch around 11:30 and then Elizabeth and I were going to go to the park where I run to lay out, since it was supposed be to about 80 degrees.  Well Elizabeth and I met up at 11 to take the metro to Plaza de España – where T.G.I. Fridays is.  Well we got there and we were waiting for three other people to come and we realized it didn’t open until one.  So when everyone got there we needed to make a new game.  Kara, Lisa, and Liz decided to walk to the Temple and check that out while Elizabeth and I decided to lay out.  We found a nice grassy spot and laid out – literally in our swimsuits.  It wasn’t as awkward as we thought – we only got honked at like 4 times. After about an hour and half we went back to have lunch at T.G.I. Fridays – I haven’t been to one in the US and I think it is weird that my first one was in Madrid.  Anyways the food was amazing!! Nice and American for sure.  I had a raspberry rose mojito – best drink I have ever had!! Then we had potato skins for our appetizers and then I had a southwest burger – I cannot explain to your how good red meat was!!! Oh and then Elizabeth and I split some Oreo ice cream thing for dessert – I was soo full! But it was all worth it and the price was expensive but so worth it.  After lunch Elizabeth and I went back to our grassy spot in the Plaza and laid out some more.  Nothing that exciting happened we just laid there with our food babies and talked and read.  However, these four Italian men came up to us and asked if we were Italian and then French and then Spanish and Elizabeth and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing we were like we are for sure American.  None of them spoke English very well but we thought they wanted us to take a picture of them, but then one of the guys laid down in between Elizabeth and I and another guy took our picture.  Kind of weird I think.  And then they kept asking us if we had Facebook or a phone number and we just kept saying no and they finally got the hit and went on their way.  We got home around 6:30 and I showered and then ate dinner and then relaxed for a while and then finally got ready to go for a friend’s birthday.  Neither Elizabeth nor I really wanted to go out but we went anyways – however, we did not stay long at all.  We got to sol kind of early and watched a really funny mime perform and then met up with everyone – most people were pretty drunk and there were just too many of us – like 17.  We went to montiditos to get sangria and beer for cheap and it was just a mess so Elizabeth and I left and went to Plaza Mayor and had a beer and then went home.  I am just done with stupid drunk people basically.

Well today I went to Avila.  We got home about an hour and a half later than we thought so I have to get some homework done.  Therefore I will post pictures and blog about Avila hopefully tomorrow!! Sorry guys!   Hope everyone’s MCB test went well and I hope you all do well on orgo! Love you all.

Paz y Amor. God Bless.

A Night Out in Madrid

Wednesday -during the day - was nothing too special - I feel like that has become a trend lately.  I did however finish my history paper.  Now I have to write my ethics paper that is due next Thursday and study for my art history exam on Tuesday.  I was doing pretty well on the paper and now I hit a writers block.  I have 1,138 words written - it has to be 2,500 words - hopefully with the sources my professor gave me I will be able to somehow write the last 1,000 or so words of the paper this weekend and then just correct during the week. Oh on Wednesday I had my EAS (Environment and Development of Latin America) presentation.  I did the presentation with Zack and our topic was the causes of water pollution in Venezuela.  We both think it went really well and we got positive feedback from our professor so hopefully the grade will reflect this!

Glo - my host sister - who is about 28 is pregnant! Does this make me an aunt? Haha.  Anyways she has been feeling pretty sick lately so Gloria has been gone a lot this week to take care of her or accompany her to the doctor.  And yesterday Glo spent most of the day here so Maya and I haven't had the chance to talk to Gloria much this week.  Also, Susana - a old host student - who now lives in Madrid is also sick so Gloria has been taking care of her too.  Gloria is such a nice person - always trying to make other people happy!

So Wednesday night I went out.  I haven't really gone out on school nights because I have school the next day.  But I realized I don't have that much more time to go in Madrid and Europe in general so why not live it up!! Haha.  Most of my friends came and some new friends came and we all went to this place called Bourbon Cafe. It has open bar from 11:30 to 2:30 every Wednesday and it is few for girls to get in and only 5 euros for guys.  The open bar only consists of boxed sangria or really crappy beer - but it was a great time!  We were like the first people in the place, but it didn't matter.  Me and my friends basically danced the entire time and just had a blast! I wasn't going to go out, but I am so glad I did!  There were some creepy Spanish men trying to hit on me, but I just danced with my friends for the majority of the night.  We even went up on a little stage that they have there - I can't really describe how much fun it was just to hang out and dance :)  I actually took a night bus home - it wasn't that bad at all.  The only bad part of the night was not getting home until about 4am and then waking up at 8:30 and having class at 11.  However, I really didn't drink so I was just tired and didn't have to worry about other things.

Tonight I am staying low key and I tried to work on my ethics paper but I have to wait for my professor to email me back about my sources, since I can't find them on the library website.  But I will review for my art history test and get some sleep.  Tomorrow Maya, Gloria, and I are going to Avila for the day.  We will be leaving our house at 9 and then taking a bus to the Avila - it is about a 45 minutes bus ride.  I stopped at this city on my way to Salamanca in the being of the semester, but it will be nice to have a chance to walk around and see the town.  Tomorrow night I think three of my friends are coming over to have a girls night/watch movies.  I am excited! :)

I wanted to add some personal thoughts in this blog, but I realized I don't really have anything that exciting to say - sorry guys.  My blogs have been on the boring side lately.  I will try to write an interesting one at some point this weekend! Oh!! One thing I was thinking about was when I go back to the States I will not be blogging - I think it will be weird.  Right now people stalk my life because I am studying abroad, but when I go back to the States people are not going to know what I am doing all the time basically.  Maybe I will start another blog where I can post thoughts and stuff - I probably won't do a play-by-play blog like this one, but it has been really healthy for me to have this blog I believe and part of me really wants to keep a blog going.

Yesterday I had some interesting Skype session.  The first one was with Scott and Kelsey.  I Skype chatted Scott not knowing he was in MCB with Kelsey.  Anyways Scott proceeds to video call me on Skype and I am on mute since they are in class, but I could hear everything that their teacher was saying.  It was funny to Skype them during their class.  A while after I was done Skyping I get a Facebook message from my friend Michael asking me why I didn't stay for class.  I was what are you talking about?  I am in Spain and you in St. Louis.  And he proceeded to tell me that he sits about 3 rows behind Kelsey and Scott and he saw me skyping them!! I thought it was so epic and funny!! Good story.  I also got to Skype with Steven yesterday!  I love my big brother even though he kept dropping me (he was skyping me on mom's phone and kept dropping the phone!)!! Gotta love him though. I cannot wait to go home and hang out with Steven! I miss him so much!! Love you brother :)

Well I think that is all for tonight.  I am going to get my stuff ready for tomorrow and just relax and read over some of my art history notes and call it a night - a lazy night for sure! Oh I do have other stories if anyone is interested - I just don't want to post them for the whole world to see!!

Paz y Amor.  God Bless.

Title-less

To start off this blog I would like to present two quotes that I found yesterday when I was looking for some inspiration.  They are both by Douglas Pagels - I am not sure what he did or anything like that (probably should have done some research) but he seems like a really smart man to me.  Anyways, here are the quotes: 


"Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow."


“Nothing wastes more energy than worrying. The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it becomes. Don’t take life too seriously. Live a life full of serenity, not of regrets.”


I was having a little bit of a rough day yesterday and these two simple quotes helped me realize that I don't need to be stressed out in life.  I have been worried about a lot lately: school, internships, trips, housing, classes, ect.  All of that has been on mind and I was letting it to me way too much.  It is also hard being here at some points because in my house I don't feel like I have anyone to talk to - it is hard to communicate those complex ideas with Gloria especially when I am emotional about it and Maya is always in her room when she is home.  And it is not like living at SLU in the States where I could just walk up a couple floors to talk to someone at 11 o'clock.  Not to mention the time change with the people back home makes it even more difficult.  Also yesterday my group had to sign up for housing and it was really really stressful!! But we got everything worked out.  Seriously God has my back always.  Also yesterday my Grandma fainted when my mom was over there at my Grandma's apartment.  Again God has our backs - good thing that my mom was there when it happened.  If everyone could pray for my Grandma that would be great - everything is fine with her right now, but everyone could use some prayers sent their way.  I had a little break down yesterday since is healthy at some points - everyone needs to cry once in a while.  Also I am sick and tired of getting hit on every time I walk somewhere - it is just getting old now.


Well everything started to turn around last night and it has been going up hill since then.  I got a decent amount of sleep last night and woke up early to work on some homework.  I mean nothing that exciting has happened today or anything like that, but then again nothing bad happened today.  I woke up to an email saying that our housing was fixed and I had nothing to worry about.  And I was productive this morning before I went to class.  After class I worked on my ethics paper - which will be the death of me - for about an hour.  And then I hung out with some friends and worked a little homework.  After ethics class I went for a run - it felt good to go for a run.  Oh something interesting today - I actually sat in the shade for once - I didn't sit in the sun all day!! Mostly because of this awful tan I have going on.  As most of you know I have two fears in life - farmers tan and cankles.  Well I have some sort of a farmers tan going on and I am getting a little scared that it is going to stay - I need to stay out of the sun for a little bit.


I want to say thank you to all those people that put up with me the last couple of says when I have been emotional and complaining a lot.  Sorry guys, but thanks for being there for me!! You have all helped me so much!! Well I should probably actually try to legit write my ethics paper and not be stalling by blogging and doing other things.  Hope all is well with everyone.  Oh and thanks Kels for Skype session today!  You are the best buddy!! Oh and get ready to enter me into the county fair, buddy ;)


Paz y Amor.  God Bless.

A Relaxing Weekend

My life has not been that interesting the past couple of days so sorry to bore you with this blog - if I do.  Let's see... Thursday I did not go out or do anything really, just worked on some homework and watched a movie.  It was a very relaxing evening.  I tried to go to bed early, but for some reason it never really seems to happen.  It is all good though.  Anyways on Friday I worked on some homework and then I went to school to the library and worked on a library.  After doing some homework there was a little get together for the retreat I went on a couple weeks ago.  There were not that many of us there because there was an Oceanography trip to the eastern coast of Spain and there was a lot of people on the retreat that went on the trip.  After the retreat get together I went to sol with two friends, Kara and Zack. We went to get postcards and to enjoy the beautiful weather.  We got postcards and then went into the oldest market in Spain and got ice cream - well actually it was frozen yogurt.  I had mango and kiwi on mine - it was wonderful :)  After hanging out at sol I came home and Skyped my friend and roommate from last year Steph.  It was good to talk to hear about her life at Madison and to just catch up.  After skyping Steph I went to dinner with Elizabeth and her family (her mom, aunt and little sister).  It was great to have another nice meal and to meet Elizabeth's whole family.  We went to the same restruant that we went to with her dad, sister, and brother when they all came.  I didn't get home until about 11 on Friday night.  I worked on my history paper some more and then went to bed.  Saturday was the most relaxing day I have had since coming to Spain.  I didn't have to wake up at a certain time or be anywhere at a certain time - well I suppose to be but the weather wasn't doing what it was suppose to - be sunny.  Therefore I wasn't going to go and meet Elizabeth at a park and lay out.  I decided to take a Toria day as I like to call it.  I just worked on some homework and chilled and Skyped some people.  The only thing I did throughout the day was Elizabeth came over at night and watched a movie and just talked.  It was great to actually have a chill night.  Today Elizabeth and I went to the Rastro so I could get a couple of gifts for people - again I didn't really do anything exciting today.  I worked on some homework and just relaxed.  Oh but we did have a family party today at our house.  We had lunch with everyone, but it wasn't anything too exciting that is for sure.  As you can tell from this blog I have not done anything exciting basically all weekend long - it was wonderful! I needed a chill weekend.  I didn't get as much homework as I would have liked to get done, but I got enough done that I won't be stressed that much this week!!  Oh something exciting that did happen this weekend was my big brother, Steven, bough his first car.  Now, I don't know anything about car so don't be asking me for any details about it... Sorry!! And something else I did this weekend was update my map that my parents got me so I can track all the places I have been - I learned where Switzerland is! For some reason I thought it was close to Sweden and Ireland or something of that nature - once again my geography skills have failed me.  Oh well it happens. :)  Everyone has flaws.

That is all for tonight.

Paz y Amor. God Bless.