Hola

Greetings from Seville, the hotest place on earth. Today, it was about 100 degrees. I currently have a nice heat rash spreading up both of my ankles. It´s very exciting. Tomorrow it will be 97 degrees. WOHOO! Cooler than it was today at least. I can´t wait to come home to cooler weather. Never thought I would say that...

I´m actually very excited to come home. I can´t wait to eat the stuff I want to eat. I miss Symphony Sushi Snow Mountain Maki, PF Chang´s dumplings, Regina´s, huge breakfast sandwhiches... the list goes on and on. What should I make my first meal be when I get back Friday night? Darren said he´s taking me out!

I also miss driving, Dunkins, getting 8 hours of sleep at night, watching tv, and my friends and family.

Sorry this blog isn´t so exciting, besides the heat rash. I´m very tired. Tomorrow we have another busy morning. We have a lecture in the morning, then we´re volunteering with the University of Seville. After lunch and nappy tomorrow, we have a free afternoon. I´ve been looking for a bathing suit for myself. I hope I find one!

Until next time folks!

Sevilla

Greetings from Sevilla!

Let's just say, it's 11:11 PM right now and I think it's still 70ish degrees outside and maybe 80 in this non air conditioned apartment. Despite the heat, everything has been A ok, mostly! The only bad thing I have to report so far were the happenings of this morning slash early afternoon. My group and I were at Projecto Hombre, which is a drug and alcohol rehab place getting a tour and a talk on what they do there. In the middle of the lecture, I felt like I was going to pass out, so I had to leave the room to get some air. Luckily, I have an alternative medicine professor on the trip with me, Professor Menique (Dorette Hope AKA Pinky), and three nursing students, Amanda, Lauren, and Katie. My friends Amanda, Marcela, and Pinky got me soda, bread, water, a granola, and had me calm down. After about 30 minutes of feeling like I was going to pass out slash throw up, I was sent back to mi casa with Lindsay, Amanda, and Katie to rest. I felt much better after I rested, had lunch, and took a siesta. It also doesn't help that I'm getting my period tomorrow. Right now, all is well with me. My friends went out tonight, but I stayed in to rehydrate and relax because tomorrow we're going to a beach in Cadiz. I'm getting to know my other house mates while staying in tonight, so it's a win win... I get rest and new friends.

My 4 other house mates are all from the US. There's Alex, Naomi, Lexi, and Meredith. Naomi is here on an internship, and the other 3 are all taking classes here. I'm still sharing a room with my friend Lindsay from NU. My house mom has three children, all in their late teens. My house mom is very nice. She's also very young looking, maybe in her late 30s, early 40s. She's smaller than me and very beautiful. Her cooking has been great so far! No complaints what-so-ever.

Sevilla is beautiful! Yesterday and today we've walked around a lot touring the city. There are palaces and a huge cathedral we're touring the inside of later this week. Tomorrow we're headed to the beach! The weather there for tomorrow is 88 and sunny! Just look at the weather for the rest of the week in Seville, Spain on weather.com... enough said.

I do have computer access in my casa because of my great new house mates, so hopefully I can blog tomorrow after Cadiz. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Email me what you've been up to! I'm home this Friday and spending the weekend in Boston with my love Darren, Aly, and friends. Can't wait! GO BRUINS!!!

Audios Salamanca!

I´m leaving Salamanca tomorrow and traveling to Sevilla. I´ve done so much in the past 3 weeks. It feels like I´ve been in Spain for months. Some of my favorite things have been... (not in any sort of order)

1. The Carrefour brand nutella that I put on my 3 pieces of toast every morning for breakfast. I liked it so much I bought a bug jar of it for home.

2. Learning Spanish with my professors Nacho y Jorge. They were very understanding and patient. I learned more from them in 15 days then I could have in 2 years in high school.

3. My senora!!! I love her to death. She´s very chill. She loves to talk to Lindsay and me. She cooks us big lunches and dinners and just wants us to be full and happy. I have to admit, I haven´t enjoyed all of her food, but I have tried most of it. Most of you know I´m a veryyy picky eater.

4. Siesta!!! I love naps. ¨5 min nap¨ turned into 1 hour nap everyday. I don´t know how I´m going to adjust without it working at MPDC. Can we have Rest Period actually be nap time please?

5. Gelato in the Plaza Mayor. I´m going to miss my ¨varrina vanilla por favor.¨

6. My senora!!! She irons my thongs. What more can I say...

7. Taking dance and cooking classes at Mester. I loved actively learning about the Spanish culture.

8. Buying different kinds of clothes here. Can´t wait for people to ask me, OMG where did you get that!? And I´ll respond, Spain.

9. Cafe con leches a Mester.

10. My senora´s fruit basket filled with fresh bananas, apples, kiwis, and yucky oranges (Lindsay likes those and my senora knows).


I don´t think I´ll have computer access next week in Sevilla because I´m not studying at a school. I´m doing day trips to here and there and volunteering. Until I get on a computer... caio

Examen y project de stupido...

Hola!

I have soo much work due in the next few days...
Today (Wed.) I have a group presentation on how immigrants affect the Spanish healthcare system. I´ve been working on it for a about 2 weeks now. It´s so stupid because we were supposed to finish most of our work on the leadership healthcare course before we left for Spain. That was the whole point of having 7 days of classes in Boston before Spain! Sorry, I´m ranting a bit. I´m just fustrated because we are also responsible for the work we have do to in our grammatical, conversational, and medical spanishes classes here. We got homework sometimes, but now the big assignments for those classes are studying for our exams Friday. In grammatical Spanish, we have a written exam that has 2 parts. In conversational-medical Spanish, we are going to have a 5 minute role play conversation. My friend Sarah and I are going to be partners. One of us is going to be the doctor and the other will be the patient. Haven´t started preparing for any of my Spanish exams because of the damn project due today that we have to present for 20 minutes each group. Can´t wait to sit in a classroom for 3 hours this evening listening to everyone´s projects.

I will not be going out tonight...

Luckily, in Seville we don´t have any classes or homework!! Can´t wait until Saturday! The weather is going to be in the low to mid 90s the whole time in Seville. YAY!

Naked-ness

I´ve noticed that it is alright in some places in Spain to be completely nude... 1-outside a dressing room infront of a mirror & 2-on the beaches in Barcelona.

1-
My friend Lauren and I were in H&M yesterday doing a bit of shopping. Lauren was trying on a few dresses, while I waited for her outside of the dressing room. Another girl, I assumed was Spanish, decided not to wait for a dressing room, but instead got ass naked infront of the mirror in front of a line of people waiting for the dressing rooms. Some of the people waiting were an abuela (g-ma) and a young girl, probably 8 years old. Everyone was a bit appauled, but apparently, the naked girl didn´t care too much. Saw her tetas and everything...

2-
This past Sunday, Lindsay, Lauren R, and I went to the beach in Barcelona. While we were laying out catching some rays, it was still relatively early in the morning, so not too many people were on the beach. Those people who were on the beach were fully clothed. For lunch we met up with Lindsay´s 2 friends from home, then after lunch the 5 of us walked down the beach back to the hotel. On the way back, we past several people butt naked. I mean nothing on their bodies, not even bottoms. This was not a topless, but naked beach. Most of the people enjoying the hot sun were old men... It was quite a sight. We all tried not to look, but it´s hard not too when you´ve never seen anything like that.

Spain won´t be seeing my goods any time... I´m interested to see what the beaches near Seville will be like.

Luz, sangra, y free dinner

Hola chicas y chicos! I´m back from Barcelona safe and sound! Had a great weekend with Lauren, Lindsay, y Katie. Here are a few highlights...

Lauren R´s favorite part of the trip was how the street lights (luz) were timed so that when driving down the roads, all the lights were either all green or red. It was perfect for all the taxi riding we did from our hotel on the beach to the city center and out to dinner and clubs.

Saturday night was a little weird. After our delicious dinner (I had veggie pizza and ravioli with Lauren haha), the four of us tried to find a different part of the city to go out to for the night. We walked around forever, going into bars and clubs but not finding anything to our liking. We literally spent most of the night walking around. I had one drink the whole night and was super tired. Finally, we just went back to the Olympic port 5 mins from our hotel to go out. We had gone there Friday night and had fun. The olympic port was also a bit of a bust. While walking along the strip of bars, Lindsay and I saw this puddle of red liquid... it was a pretty big puddle. I joked around and said OMG look at all the blood (sangra)!! Then, all of a sudden, a guy being escourtned by police, was holding up a tshirt or something to his head. He had blood all over him and was bleeding from his temple area. I tried to walk past him without touching him, but the street was so crowded I got a smudge of his blood on my forearm! Luckily, Katie had purell and tissues, so I was all set, but definitely freaked out.

To end this blog on a good note...haha
Friday night, we went out to dinner around the Olympic Port area. We got delicious seafood paella and sangria. We were enjoying our dinner, while the people sitting near us kept staring at us Americanos. There was more cat calling than normal, and older men tried to buy us drinks, but we politely declined. At the end of meal, the 4 of us were paying for the bill, when the owner of the restaurant comes up to our table. He spoke English. He wrote cancel on the bill and had the waitor bring us over a shot. We accepted, not wanting to be rude. And then politely declinded his offer to go out to his fiesta in his limo with him for his bday.

Overall, Barcelona was quite an experience. Much more to say, but for now it´s time for lunch and seista.
Ciao

Barcelona!

Buenos Dias! I'm off to Barcelona this weekend because my program has a free weekend. I'm going with 3 other girl friends, Lindsay, Katie, and Lauren R. We're staying here...GBB Hotel Front Maritim Barcelona. It's essentially right on the beach, so I'm excited! Katie speaks Spanish pretty much fluently, so I'll be just fine. I won't be blogging over the weekend, unless the hotel has computer access, so this will be my last post for a few days. I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I'm already half way done my trip... so crazy! I'll be seeing you all soon! Love and miss you!

Shoulda coulda woulda

This is a blog all about things to do before traveling abroad either to Spain or any place like it. It will be helpful to me in the future and to anyone else traveling! Enjoy!

1. Tell your bank that you´re going abroad, so that your debit card doesn´t get declined like mine did in France senior year.

2. Bring a few hundred euro with you prior to going to the airport. The airport exchange rates are outrageous!

3. If you plan to stay abroad for about 4 weeks, packing 33 lbs of stuff in a checked bag is PLENTY! There is no need to pack over 60 lbs of clothes. You will get charged about $50 for going over 50 lbs depending on the airline.

4. Bring a raincoat and small umbrella. Hot tropicalish places have some storms in the hot afternoon.

5. Bring a small bag for day trips.

6. If you plan on straightening or blow dryer your hair... don´t. You will break both of your appliances like Lindsay and me did. You will end up purchasing a striaghtener for about 50 euro that only fits in Europe outlets.

7. Learn some of the language before you leave. It sucks trying to commicate with your host family when you know nothing. You don´t know if you´re agreeing to weird things...

8. Make a blog! If you have a pen and paper journal, you won´t write in it. I promise you.

9. Get drunk or drugged before you hop on a 7 hour plane ride if you can´t sleep on planes like me. One  Benadryl won´t do the trick, I´ve tried.

10. Don´t bring a purse out with you at night. Why do you think man made bras...? Answer: to put your money in.


Well there are numbers 1 to 10. There will definitely be more once I´ve finished more than about a week abroad. I hope this helps someone!!

Lunes!

Buenos dias! It's Lunes... a whole semana has gone by! Only dos semanas y cinco dias left! Wow!

This post is mainly for my lovely ladies at home who have made jewelry with me or like to make jewelry...

My friends and I found a bead shop close by the Plaza Mayor!! I made a bracelet Friday with my friends Lindsay y Amanda. The bead selection is small, but they have a lot of hand painted beads made in Spain, so I used some in the bracelet I made. I got to practice my Spanish with the bead lady, and she got to practice her English with us. She knows just a little bit more English than I know Spanish. She told us to come back this week Wednesday or Thursday to make more things and to practice. I'm going to! If I come back with a bracelet present for you all, don't be surprised!!

Off to Medical Spanish now... I hope to post again this afternoon. Miss you xo

My head is spinning...

Buenos noches!

I literally have like 10 minutes to write this out, so I´ll do so quickly. We´re headed to museum at 5 PM. We are sooo busy here! We are taking regular Spanish and medical Spanish in the morning and then have cultural activities in the evening after siesta, inlcuding dance lessons, movies, lectures, tours, and cooking classes. On top of the studying I have to do for Spanish (because I knew none before I came here), my NU professors are also assigning us a butt load of work for our leadership in healthcare class that we took before we got to Spain. The whole point of having 7 days of class before we went to Spain was to get all of that work done so we could focus on our Spanish here. It´s fustrating because I´d like to devote my time to studying Spanish and learning the culture, however I can´t do that when I´m supposed to be reading a leadership novel, reading 2 case studies on who knows what that are several pages long, and also preparing a 15 to 20 minute power point presentation on a healthcare issue in Spain and comparing it to USA. My group of 4 chose to look at how immigrants can get healthcare and treatment in Spain and in the USA... if they´re covered by public insurance, get quality care, etc.

On top of my studying and all that other work, I´m catching up with friends and family online in between classes or when I have 10 minutes of time...example, this blog. I´m also shopping after evening activities and rushing home and to school to get meals or going to class. Mi casa is 15 minutes from school. I walk there and back at least 6 times a day. I´m also going to the Plaza Mayor almost every night for a gelato, sangria, or wine. We also go out to the bar a few nights a week.

So, as you can see, my head is spinning from being pulled in all sorts of directions. I´m finding siesta to be very necessary. You should try it.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Dancing!

Hola!

I´ve been in Spain for about a week now, and what I´ve noticed is that people dance here very differently than us Americans do. Everytime we go out, we go out in a huge pack of 21 people. We´re pretty noticable on the street and in the bars. We also like to dance with each other because we´re the life of the party and all. There is no, as us Americans say, bumping and grinding. Girls dance with their friends as the guys just sit back, stare, and cat call. It´s a lot of fun just fooling around with your girl friends.

Tonight, we had our first Savillana dance lesson at school. It was hysterical. We partnered up with a friend and learned the first few seconds of the dance. The dance room is super tiny, so having 22 people dancing is tight. We constantly are hitting each other. I wacked my friend, who happens to be named Lauren, in the face dancing with her. We have two more dance lessons in Salamanca before we leave for Sevilla, so we´ll all be professionals by the end, at least I hope...

Miss you all, have a great weekend if I don´t write tomorow! xoxo

Siesta

Buenos dias!

I love siesta! It needs to be brought back to the US. It's so neccesary.

Every morning I wake up for class around 730 AM, get ready for class, then have my two Spanish classes until 1 PM. Lunch and siesta are from 2 to 4 or 5, depending on our afternoon activities. Then, we have afternoon cultural classes until 8 then dinner around 9 or 10, lasting for an hour. My friends and I go out to the Plaza Mayor to have a sangria, gelato, or cappichino after dinner. We may stay out at the Plaza or go to a bar or club until 3 AM, which is very typical and even early here. Many Spanish people stay out until 6 AM on the weekends.

Siesta is also neccesary because it's hot in Salamanca, between 1 and 5 PM it gets over 30 degrees C here, which is probably above 83 degrees F. When we get to Sevilla in a few weeks, it's going to be the beginning of summer there. We were told today by our Spanish professor that it's been 46 degrees C during the summer time there, which is over 115 degrees F.

For all of my close friends, you know I love my 5 minute nap... imagine a 1 to 2 hour nap every day! Woohoo

Miss you! xoxo

I will also be trilingual!

Greetings on my 21.5 birthday!

Lindsay and I got 5 new roommates yesterday afternoon... 5 French boys! They also speak little Spanish, so we all feel like we´re in the same boat. Lindsay and I have been practicing our French conversation knowledge with them. The boys are all around 15 years old and mostly just giggle whenever we say something to them. They´re only staying for 3 more days.

Also, when Lindsay and I first arrived at our host family´s house, our senora found a French-Spanish dictionary in the drawer. Lindsay have been using it to communicate with our family and to do our homework. It´s hysterical. Luckily, Lindsay found a bookstore yesterday and bought an English-Spanish dictionary to help us with our homework and conversations. I hope to continue talking with the French boys and using the French dictionary at some points because I´m learning my French all over again from high school. I´m realizing that French and Spanish are very similar.

Don´t be surprised if I come home speaking Span-gli-ch... also known as Spanish, English, and French!
Love and miss you all! xoxo

Love, the birthday girl hehe

Coming home 10 pounds heavier... at least

Greetings from Salamanca!

Lindsay and I met our host family last night. They're a married couple and are in their 70s. Super friendly but don't speak ANY English. Lindsay and I both took French all through school, so it's really hard to communicate. We are constandly nodding and saying "si" whenever they talk to us, not knowing what we're agreeing to do or say. I can't wait to start taking Spanish class tomorrow morning. 

The craziest thing about our host family situation, besides the huge language barrier, is the food! So, for breakfast in Spain, the Spanish usually have a piece of toast and coffee. This morning on the table for Lindsay and I were cereal, cold milk, hot milk for hot chocolate, juice, 2 pieces of toast each with jam, nutella, or butter for the toast, and a platter of about 10 to 15 small croissants. Our senora also was offering more toast, hot milk, and anything else we wanted. Most of our other friends had 3 crackers and coffee from their host families. Also, dinner last night was a feast. We had soup, salad, a basket of bread, fried chicken, french fries, a bowl of fruit, which consisted of bananas, apples, kiwis, and oranges (Lindsay and I had a kiwi each), and then cake for dessert! So, if I come back from Spain about 10 pounds heavier, don't be surprised.

Love and miss you all!