THE BIG... and less significant things compared to THE BIG.

Evelyn: Tiramisu, Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut

Sam: Cookies, Tiramisu, Mixed Berry

Courtney: Chocolate, Hazelnut, Caramel

Sarah: Strawberry, Dark Chocolate, Tiramisu

Inside the Tetería

The Gypsy Market

The AMAZING cup of Cafe con Leche

Friday was a monumental day... Sam McMillan, Sarah Moe, Evelyn Thompson, and I [Courtney Richardson] conquered THE BIG. Now you may be telling yourself, "Man Courtney that's a really vague statement... What is THE BIG?" Great question... let me just educate you. It is the biggest size of gelato you can purchase at our gelato place... it's THR33(<-- creative I know) flavors... THR33 HUGE helpings of THR33 flavors. It's massive... and if you choose your flavors correctly... it's delicious. It was the almost the biggest accomplishment of my life.. it was right behind me unintentionally downing a Monster Burrito from Freeb!rds... I wanted to stop, but my pride wouldn't let me.... I dommed that thing. Prior to all of our domination of THE BIG.... all of us decided to do a little shopping in the Gypsie district and I successfully checked some people off the "Souvenir List".... People checked off are as follows:

1. Brooke Beacham
2. Alayna Hollie
3. Wes Bailey
4. ... Heather Jones, Erica Saegert, and Elizabeth Saegert would be checked off if they would freaking follow the directions of my FB message.. ahem... (yes.. I still go a little Diva left in me)
5. Brittany Richardson (half way)
6. Unofficially FN... I know what I'm getting him.. and I know where to find it... just haven't done it yet.

Later that night us girls wanted to get together to plan our Barcelona trip so we met at the "BK Lounge" (Burger King) and decided to go to a Tetería (tea house)... we just sat around, played with candle wax (Evelyn made Sarah a very realistic looking duck), and talked about a plethora of things... such as:

• Our names... how/why we are named that.. who named us.. and whether or not we look like our names
• Wisdom teeth pulling
• Other illnesses (Sarah and her frequent pneumonia )
• Names we like
• Visiting each other
• All of them coming to my Ring Dunk ( I tried to explain the significance of the Aggie Ring and they just couldn't get it.. it's ok...It's why we have the saying; "From the outside looking in you don't understand it, and from the inside looking out, you can't explain it."

Y'all will meet these people.. I'll be sure of it.

Today, (Saturday), besides being my best friend Brooke Beacham's Birthday... is the day that my posse and I took the city bus for the very first time. Our destination? Spanish... I guess you could call them "Flea Markets"... (Dad, I know you just got really excited and proud of me).. it was pretty cool and there were a few good things but, it was really crowded and rainy. The vendors are incredibly obnoxious... they yell things at you like "Un Euro! Un Euro! Un Euro!" and "Chica! quieres probarlo?...venga guapa!" For me, that's a total turn off to giving them my business... I don't like being pressured... and I like things to be my idea. I did make an exceptional good buy though.. but I can't tell you what it is... we'll just say I got it for 1 Euro when everywhere else they were selling them for 4 Euros... (Dad just said, "That's my Willis") After us four got tired of the cold, rain, and people, we walked across the street to a massive cafe and warmed up with the best cup of Cafe con Leche of my life... It's basically 2 shots of espresso and the rest is hot milk.. one full sugar packet and you are set for enjoyment. It was perfect. After we had recouped, we hopped back on the bus and went home for lunch... it was still a bit early for my lunch so I tried to catch up in my Spain Journal, but I got distracted by the newest Breakaway Podcast, and the journal just kinda got forgotten about... I figured it was for a good cause. After my Breakaway sesh... I went to meet Sarah, to meet Evelyn to reserve hostels for our Barcelona trip... it's this weekend.. and we are all totally pumped! We got our hostel for really cheap (and it's really nice and not as sketchy as it sounds). We will be in Barcelona for 3 days (more or less) and we are only staying in a hostel for a night... we're gunna rough it... and it's going to be legit.. and cold. But also super duper a lot of fun... and that's the most important part.

After we left the second cafe of the day (where we booked hostel tickets) I got to.... TALK TO MY "BIG" SISTER BRITTANY!!!!!!!! WHOOP! It had been a long, Long, LONG time since I've gotten to talk to her... she's been busy dominating P.A. school and preparing to make the big bucks to support me when I don't have a job after graduating college. I talked to her for a while about life and just recent happenings and it was GOOD!.. sorry Mom and Dad if the Piccell bill is a little hefty... haha kidding.. it shouldn't be that bad.

Speaking of Mom and Dad... and we'll throw in little Limp too... Let me just lament about them for a bit. I'm convinced they have forgotten that I exist. Not kidding. They don't reply to the emails they ask me to send, Kellie won't reply to me on Facebook... they have forgotten me.. they don't realize they have a daughter in Spain... they don't notice I'm gone. I mean.. I shouldn't be all that surprised/upset by it.. I am the MIDDLE CHILD.. the middle always gets forgotten about. The oldest is usually the best and the youngest is usually the spoiled,"gets away with everything" one.. the middle is just... just. I mean... nothing is ever new and exciting for the middle kid... for example:

• It's a big deal when the oldest and youngest get their driver's license.. the first is the scary one and the last is the one that makes you feel old... when the middle kid gets their license the parents only think, "Oh great.. more insurance and another car to buy... joy."
• Or what about high school/college graduation? The oldest graduates from high school, is the first to leave the nest for college, and is the first to set foot in the world... a parent's pride and joy... The youngest graduates from high school, the last to leave the nest for college and the parents are officially empty nesters... the middle kid is just one more college tuition.. a 2 down 1 to go type deal... and in my parent's case.. the middle kid is the one who's only plan in life is to live off of her P.A. sister and be her Spanish nanny...parents pray for kids like that.
• I could go on...actually not really... I ran out of reasons, but I know there are more.

Can I get an AMEN?!... seeing to how I don't know of hardly any people who read my blog that are middle children I'll answer my own request and say... AMEN! Man that felt good to let out.

Tomorrow is Halloween... I think I'll go as an American.

Dos besos,

Courtney

The Aftermath of Paris.

Today is Friday and I consider myself fully recovered from an eventful time in Paris although Tuesday night Sarah and I had multiple (2) encounters with this man (estimated age 65) who kindly asked us if we needed a boyfriend.. while it was a nice offer, Sarah and I decided to lie and say no..he then proceeded to just stand there.. due to his age, we decided to say no once again and he walked off only to look over his shoulder multiple times and look back at us. 7min later, he's back again making sure we are positive and trying to get us to guess his age... we said we didn't have a clue and he stood there again.. and then walked away looking back consistently.. Sarah and I had a good laugh and were a little bit of a lot freaked out, but not to worry.. we were not alone in the plaza.. there were lots of other people walking around (Mom, Dad)

Wednesday was hard to go to class. I always wake up feeling like a rebel, telling myself, "I'm freaking skipping class today!" (fist pump).. but then my brain starts to work and my fist pump hand smacks me in the face. So before the butt crack of dawn, Colleen and I walk to class only to freeze in the mornings, glisten in the afternoon, and begin to freeze in the evenings.... Granada is like a woman with menopause...or a 2008 Katy Perry song (Hot n Cold) you have to prepare for all weather.. it's a lot like Texas, but with a less likely chance of rain.. and zero humidity. When I arrived to Fermin's class (Grammar) he informed us that we would be making up our midterms (they start next week... bleh)... I'm thankful to have pretty much the exact test we will be getting, but now I'm like; making up our tests:

1. Isn't our job.. you lazy Spaniard
2. Makes taking a test pointless...

whatever.. only one other class is making us make up a portion of our test... the one test I'm a little stressed about is dang POE (Speaking and Writing) I have dump truck full load of vocab to learn for that class.. but it's all good.. I'm kind of looking forward to it, and it also helps that Sarah is in that class with me as well... hopefully we can put our sarcasm away for a few hours to memorize some vocab.

Next class, like always, was POE... today was especially unbearable.. why? Smacky McSmackerson was going to town on her Bubble Tape gum (how old are you? 5?) LOL . Looking back now it's really funny because I totally saw it coming.. she whipped that roll out of her purse and then everything turned into a slow motion film... She pulled out about 3-4in. of that stuff.. opened her large trap and let her teeth and salivary glands do the rest. I didn't even have to say anything to Sarah.. she knew.. she knew exactly. Pet Peeve. I don't care to know what you are masticating in your mouth.. keep it to yourself.. unless you have a congested nose.. then it's understandable.. passing out due to oxygen deprivation is much more dangerous than me potentially punching your lights out. :D

The rest of this day was uneventful.

Thursday was different... started off rough, finished wonderfully.. God is good like that. Class today was rather uneventful.. although.. in my Civ. class, we watched this video about women during Franco's reign (Quick history):

During the reign of Franco, there were very strict rules such as:

• No PDA.. at all
• All schools had to be Catholic schools
• Women pretty much had no rights
• Divorce was not allowed
• Men were not punished for abusing their wives
• Women did not get paid the same wages
• Very, very, VERY Conservative.

Men were only expected to work during the week, and women constantly had to work in the house and with the kids while the husband sat on his rear end drinking beer, smoking a cigarette, and playing dominoes. Ridiculous. Be a real man.

With that said, in the movie, a group of old women were interviewed and they told the interviewer that they wished they were still young because:

1. They wouldn't have had to kiss their lovers/bfs in private... but one was very sure to tell the audience that they never kissed with tongue because "it was gross"... ahahahah!
2. One informed the man that she would have slept around more, but now that she is old her bones ache and it is no longer a possibility
3. And another said she would have made her husband help out with the household chores (amen)

Later tonight API took us to an international film festival and it was COOL!!! It was a bunch of short films from all over the world and they were so... just COOL! There were films from (I think) Russia/Czech Repub., Brazil/Portugal, France (this one was my favorite... it was called Vinyl.. Kristian Nichols you would have appreciated it), Turkey, and the UK... the UK one was the funniest. It was called Jenny and the Worm...there was an unexpected funny joke right at the beginning of the movie, which I would like to include,but not sure it's all that appropriate... we'll just say it had to with a girl named Jenny and if her last name was Tulse. The worm's name was Wiggly Woo. I'm considering using that as a term of endearment for Sarah and Evelyn.. we'll see. After the movie, Sarah, Ev, and I intended on going to this bar called Hannigan's to watch some drunk people sing karaoke... that fell through... just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. So we got Shwarmi instead... it's like a pita on crack.. cheap and good. After that, we went and sat in a plaza on a bench and had just a great talk and people watched for a bit. I then proceeded to stay up until 4am ( I wasn't tired), make my self a nice mug of Hot Chocolate, and catch up on my journaling.. so peaceful.

Dos besos,

Courtney

Paris. Start to End. [This is long.. pace yourself]

So... I went to Paris.. It was cold.. I saw no strikes..I saw no riots...

disappointment.

Regardless of all these downfalls, I still had a stellar time. Like fo reals. I'll admit.. I wasn't all that excited about Paris... I don't really know why... I think it's because of how cliché the place is. I mean, it's on clothing, bags, post cards, it's everywhere in the U.S. let's not kid ourselves. Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Mona Lisa... blah blah blah.. big whoop right? WRONG! Paris was beautiful. It wasn't "dirty" like everyone says it is... the crepes are amazing.. especially the Nutella ones (more about those later).. for the most part everyone speaks english (or at least can understand you adequately) my only complaint was... it was expensive.. muy caro. Prices are jacked due to all the tourists... in the words of MC..."how dreadful!".. hahaha! Anyways.. lets get to the funny quotes, embarrassing stories, food, and flat out fun.

***Perhaps one of the most important events of my trip was the shaving of my legs... it took forever and a day and killed a razor... but I did it... you better believe I did it. :)***

Day 1: The Departure, Arrival, and First experience with food

Today Colleen and I finally got to sleep in.. our group wasn't meeting until 1245pm and so it gave us plenty of time to "Paris" ourselves up and shove more crap into our bags.. it was lovely. With our iPods and cameras fully charged and our weekend bag in hand, we set out for our bus. I was totally pumped to be traveling, and Colleen could not get over the fact that despite everything going on in Paris, we were still going.. (I think she was just mad I proved her wrong) doesn't matter we were traveling. For our trip, MC kindly made Colleen and I our favorite bocadillos: Butter with salchichas and bread.. MC is so generous with the butter.. I'm starting to think she's trying to butter me up (lame joke.. don't care).. Since I knew I probably wasn't going to be allowed to take my bocadillo through security.. and because I was hungry, I decided to down that beast on the bus. Thankfully MC didn't slather butter on both sides so I decided the butter half had to go... so gross. Once we arrived to the Granada airport, our directors began handing out our boarding passes and we proceeded to go through security. I didn't choose the right shoes to travel in.. they had laces.. and they were laced and tied.. while waiting in a crammed line... that's dangerous... especially when you have terrible balance... not to worry though, I only almost face planted into the back of the guy in front of me once and people only gave me crap about it once. I'm really beginning to make progress... either that or it's becoming the norm for them.. dang. So I make it through security without being frisked although, I'm pretty sure I could have brought a bazooka through and they wouldn't have noticed.. scary. Anyways, after security we waited for a bit and headed outside to our plane. Walking out on that massive runway made me feel like I was in the oh, so great movie TOP GUN... I tried to reference the movie to someone and they looked at me like I was an alien (where's Dad when you need him?.. Texas.. that's where).. I then returned the favor when I found out they had never seen the movie.. Take that you rock dweller (as in they live under a rock).

Once on the plane I was totally bummed to not be sitting next to anyone I knew and also to be sitting in the middle... thankfully (I need a synonym) the flight attendant realized how intelligent and responsible I looked and asked me to sit on an EMERGENCY ROW... BY MYSELF! (MAJOR WIN!) I'll tell you what.. I had space galore and I was pumped, but I remembered my responsibility... I studied those 5-step directions til I could do them in my sleep (if need be.. but not likely). When the turbulence hit, I studied them extra hard.. I even went through the motions (like when you are about to shoot a free throw).. that plane ride made me nervous.. but only because prior to us getting on the plane our director told us more in-depth about all the shenanigans in Paris. I/we obviously survived. On my 2 hour flight I did the following:

• Listened to Breakaway/Grace Bible podcast
• Jammed to music
• Wrote in journal
• Practiced emergency procedure

Once we landed, we were all gifted the lovely surprise of freezing cold wind and rain.. Luckily I brought my umbrella; unluckily it didn't open properly and people were behind me so I just weathered the weather. One word... BURR! Then we boarded our next bus and it drove us to our hotel where Sarah and I attempted to find our room. Because the elevators were tiny and slow, Sarah and I opted to take the stairs. Let me just tell you something.. those boogers were treacherous. Skinny and spiraled. We almost "biffed it" (Wisconsin for "busted") several times going up to the 5th floor... we made it nevertheless. Once to the 5th floor, we found our room situated at the bottom of 4 stairs all the way down the hall.. (I guess you could argue that we were on floor 41/2), but whatever.. the room number was 506. After Sarah and I made sure the room was up to our standards, we went to round-up Sam and Evelyn to conquer the unconquerable.. eating. Let me just tell you something.. I don't speak a LICK of French.. the language just doesn't appeal to me.. honestly.. I don't think it's a pretty language (gasp).. I think it sounds like some one classily hauking a lugi... (German is the lugi language). Anyway.. as usual.. it take us forever to find a place to eat and what do we choose.. probably one of the sketchiest restaurants possible.. but you know what? They were nice.. spoke the bare minimum of english... and sold cheap food. I had a panini. It was pretty tasty. After that we got bored.. we were too tired to try to find the Eiffel Tower.. and nothing was open (the French are lame compared to the Spanish.. they close early) so we went back to our rooms and crashed and rested up for the next day's festivities.

Day 2: Bus Tour, Killer Pick-Up lines, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Crotch Grabbing

Day 2 was the real deal... no long-distance traveling, no luggage, no nothin'. Today's adventure was all around Paris. First stop; the cathedral where Napoleon was buried. This is where the amazing pick up lines took place. I get off the bus, marvel at the cathedrals beauty and all of a sudden I hear, "Hello Lady Gaga Sexy Chocolate" I immediately do 2 things:

1. Check myself for any form of bubble wrap, leotard, or fake hair
2. Look at my hands to make sure I can still keep the race "Caucasian" on my passport (that could really cause issues on the way back to the states.)

I turn around and there is this man black as night shaking a huge ring full of Eiffel Tower key chains at me and another flashing me his postcards by holding on to one and letting the rest fall down ( a lot like in the movies when you see someone pull our their wallet and lots of pictures fall out) trying to get me to buy something from them... I won't lie.. it was pretty scary... they reminded me of seagulls.. which if you are a member of my immediate family... you know I can't stand. Needless to say I said "No gracias"(still in France mind you... it's habit) and scurried off. After all that stress I needed to blow off some steam with some jumping pics... Sarah and I jumped about a million times and the person using my camera just couldn't catch one of us in the air... it's alright though.. others were amused by us and they got pics of us as well. Once back on the bus, we went to other historical places, saw historical things.. nothing too exciting.. I took a million pictures of the Eiffel Tower, couple hundred thousand of Notre Dame. etc. The cool thing about Notre Dame was that we went in on a Sunday and they were having a Catholic mass while we were all walking though it... I kind of felt disrespectful, but it was super cool to experience. Notre Dame was the last stop on our tour so, as usual... our directors threw us to the streets of Paris (luckily we grabbed a map) and attempted to make our way home.

On our way home, we just so happened to stop at a yummy little crepe stand that sold... NUTELLA CREPES!! I just about peed my pants I was so pumped... I was also pumped because it made me think of my FN and how he makes them as well. :D It was the best crepe of my life. No lies. After the heavenly crepe experience, we went to find some gardens that were suggested and on our way there, Sarah got her crotch grabbed by not one but TWO 10yr. old boys... none of us saw it coming.. nor did we see it happen, but she swears it did. It then started to rain..did I have my umbrella with me? No. Was I cold? No duh. But that's ok.. they had a nifty little gazebo we stood under and took ridiculous pictures of ourselves. Fun times. After the rain had stopped/slowed we FINALLY made it back to our hotel and we. were. exhausted. our feet hurt so we ran HOT, soapy water and sat around the tub for some feet soakage... this was my first experience with foot soakage, but it was real nice. I recommend it.

Once we finished our foot soakage, we made like Tetris pieces and all (somehow) crammed comfortably onto our two twin sized beds and took a nice long nap. That night we set out for the Eiffel Tower... we had seen it on our bus tour, but we wanted the up close and personal view... and we wanted to see it sparkle (it sparkled every hour on the hour for 5 min.) On our way to the tower we decided to treat ourselves to a good meal and stopped in at this restaurant where I once again had trouble with the door. One door wouldn't work, so I tried the other and successfully knocked over a plant.. I then tried to pick it up, but the waiter quickly herded me inside and said he would get it.. my friends made fun of me. Again, we had the joy of ordering... luckily the waiter spoke more english than the panini guys and we actually had a menu to point at... ordering was easy that night. The best part of the meal was the chocolate mousse that came for dessert.. my happy hormones were going crazy. As usual it took forever to get the check and by that time we were all running down the street trying to make it to Eiffel before the hour, unfortunately, we didn't make it.. nor were we as close to the structure as we thought.. I don't know if you know this or not, but it's the tallest tower in the world.. you can see it from pretty far away.

Seeing to how we didn't make it, we decided to wander around the grounds... it wasn't long before we got stopped by an "Pakistani Indian" (that's what he called himself) he was trying to get our friend Sam to date him as well as sell us alcohol.. but then when he told him we didn't drink he said he liked good girls that don't drink.. he was a confused man..... we finally escaped the Pakidan (Pakistani Indian) and the next thing we saw was a RAT... it could have doubled as a small dog. There are way too many gross things that hang out at such a pretty structure.. By this time we still had tons of time to kill... what did we do? Took jumping pics under the Eiffel Tower... were we embarrassed? No.. not really... the French have enough to be embarrassed about so they can't really look at people and think, "That's embarrassing." About 20min before the hour, (remember it sparkles every hour on the hour) Collen decides she has to go to the bathroom... typical... unable to muster up the courage to ask herself.. and also unable to refrain from complaining that she had to go to the bathroom, I decide to walk over to a staff member (who I KNOW speaks English because they get thousands of visitors a year) and easily ask her where the nearest bathroom is... she points me in the direction and I drag Colleen to the said location... when we get there we can't figure out how to work the bathroom.. it's weird.. it's like a high tech porta-potty.. you push a button and the door is supposed to slide open... it must have been closed already because none of us could figure out how to open the dang thing. I then went on to try to convince Colleen to just go in the park (it was empty)... rough it a little. She refused (shocker) and we hurried back to the tower to ensure good spots. While we were waiting, Sam and I were sitting on a barricade when this Indian man (a different one) comes up to Sam and I and asks us if we have any rolling paper... it was obvious he didn't want rolling paper... he just wanted to talk to Sam... Thankfully, the tower started to sparkle and we hopped up and got our cameras ready to snap some sweet pics. Then we walked home and played a mean (very real game of Frogger)... adrenaline rush to the max (Mom, Dad... don't think anything of this.. it's easier)...we were tired, satisfied, and happy.

Day 3: The Louvre, Pasta, and Minimal walking.

We went to the Louvre today. Biggest museum in the world. I saw the Mona Lisa... yes it was small.. no I was not disappointed; I knew it was going to be small. The thing that disappointed me was that more than likely the Mona Lisa we saw was a copy due to all the terrorist threats and strikes... it's fine.. I got the jist...and I don't really understand why it's so famous... it's something about how the artist was able to create movement with in a still-life portrait.. Idk.. Jade (our tour guide had a lot to say about it and I was too busy muscling my way to the front of the ropes to try to get a good picture... that was a fail) After the Louvre, we decided to go find food.. we settled on this REALLY GOOD pasta place... it was funny because Sam walked up to the counter and said, "Bonjour... Do you speak English?".. that's one of my favorite things about Sam.. she gets straight to the point. The cashier and the rest of us laughed at her... after stuffing our faces, we went back to the hotel, napped again (we are used to siesta.. and due to the fact the "strike" was going on, there was quite a bit still not opened). Then we treated ourselves to McDonald's McFlurries... we just had to get McDonald's in another country... never again. Muy caro.

Day 4: The Voyage Home

We spent 8 hours traveling this day... nothing exciting

Funny quotes from the trip:

"And on our right we will see 2 Chinese men." -Jade, our tour guide

"And on this side we have the Gay district, the homosexuals.... and that's ok."-Jade

" I realized it, but did you realize that's the Eiffel Tower"-Me... it was the running joke... they never missed an opportunity.

"I wore my sparkle headband for the Eiffel Tower's sparkle."-Evelyn

"I am Pakistani [boom boom (makes gun with hands)] and from India [makes punching noises]"-The Pakidan

"[holding change in her hands after I told her she should get rid of some of her change]I did! I gave a bunch to the nuns!"-Colleen

"I've never kissed anyone with facial hair.. I mean I used to kiss my dad when I was younger, but I don't remember what it felt like."-Sarah (we died laughing when she said this.. she didn't realize how wrong it sounded)

"How big is your charger hole?"-Sarah.. she was on a role

"They would be sexy if they didn't have such man faces."-Colleen about the French guards

It's been 3 days since my last confession/blog...

So... I've neglected my blog lately.... I was reminded of this fact this morning when I saw that Lil Limp informed me of this via FB post. She said, and I quote, "Courtney Lynn. Please update your blog. It has been like 3 days. Most of the time they make my day! Thanks and gig 'em!"... I'm pretty sure she made a typo when she said most... I'm almost positive she meant to say always. It's ok.. we all make mistakes. Well I guess I should fill y'all in on recent happenings..

Tuesday:(MC is sick)

MC hasn't been to work all week...

Today was the day of the "big" presentation. Our group nailed it. It was super long, but super good.. I'm pretty sure our group got a 9 out of 10... that's a definite A. WHOOP! I didn't do too shabby on my part of the presentation... I'm pretty sure I sounded like a Mexican because I was talking so fast due to the fact I was so stinkin' nervous (it was presented in Spanish...weird.. I know). After domination, Sonia (our teacher) assigned us a person in the class to write down a non-physical adjective about... ex. caring, extrovert, conceited, creative, etc. Now, my first thought about this exercise was... I literally don't KNOW anyone in this class.. then my second thought was... how the heck am I going write an accurate adjective about this person... Apparently Sonia thought that since we were all American, we all knew each other.. when really the only thing we have in common is the fact we all can't understand her half of the time. So, I got this kid that I didn't know, and I gave him the most generic adjective ever. Simpatico (nice)... boring I know, but I figured it was the safest bet. The adjective that got paired with me was cariñosa (caring)... how flattering... except for all the person could have known I was the most inconsiderate person ever... lucky guess. Also gracing us with her presence in class was "Girl with thin white tank top and bright orange bra"... I was really close to giving her my fleece and telling her to put it on to spare us. Let's not kid ourselves here people that was no accident. It's not like one of those things where you are wearing a skirt only to find out in the sun that it's a little see-through. No, no.. I'm convinced that if the lights would have been off we still would have been able to see her bra because of how bright it was. Bleh... Tuesday was also the day I got to talk with the Bestie... she's all big time up in Dallas rakin' in the dough and I'm so thankful she sacrificed some of her time to talk with me. :) We talked about all sorts of exciting things.. the main one being our "Ring Dunk"... it's gunna be in the spring... date is TBA.. you are invited. Later that evening Colleen and I argued about whether or not we were still going to go to Paris due to the riots, strikes, car bombings, etc.. I said that anything could happen... she said there's no way we are going...she's very much a "realist"... she even told me she hates how optimistic I am about things. Sorry... my God isn't that small... I'd also like to add that our Paris trip is a GO. Muahaha!

Wednesday:(MC says she's still sick)

I think MC is all better and is playing hookey from work.

This day was full of funny things... some are only funny now and were not at the time.

Funny thing #1:

While we were all sitting down for lunch (we= Colleen, MC, Fernando (brother), Bella (bro's gf), and Me) Fernando went and sat down on the arm of MC's chair and started to give her a shoulder massage...according to MC Fernando gives excellent massages and that Bella is a very lucky girl to get to live with him. Bella quickly chimed in that she rarely gets massages and that it's always Fernando who asks for them. They are so cute. Anyway.. Fernando apparently hits the knot and MC yells, "Oh how dreadful!"hahahahahahahahahah! I just about lost it... it was so unexpected.. this is a woman who refuses to even TRY to speak english.. it totally made my day. Also while at lunch, my "family" and I were watching the news when the Vice President of Spain comes on the TV... MC pointed at the TV with disgust and said, "Ella es muy flaca pero es fea" (She is very skinny, but she is ugly).. I love how blunt this woman is.. then Bella chimed in with "she looks like a monkey"... then I chimed it with "I was thinking she looked like a chicken" .. her air resembled feathers. We all had a good laugh... it was a good lunch. Ok so, maybe I only had one funny story.... it was really funny though.

After lunch I trekked to my Geography class and "Hark!" Javier showed up (he hadn't been there for 3 class periods). Javier then went on to tell us that because HE missed class WE had to make them up... how are we going to make them up? Well let me just tell you.. we are now going to go 30min early pretty much from here on out.. guess what that means... no lunch for Courtney... and 2.5 hour long classes! It's ok though.. Javier is really entertaining. Once I arrived home I forced myself to go running... I totally wanted to lay in my bed, but I didn't I put on my status shorts and Asic "tennie runners" and set out for the streets. I would like to point out that my legs were not shorts appropriate... due to the "short shower" rule my legs are... well.. a bit hairy... I'm not afraid to admit it. So while I was running I got this odd sensation of my hair blowing in the wind only... it wasn't the hair on my head.. it was my legs. It's just that it's gotten to the point to where my leg hairs are so long I know it's going to take forever to shave and I always think, "what's the point?.. I always wear jeans" Yep.. that's how things are these days.. don't judge me. Later that night, after dinner, Colleen and I watched a video that her bf had sent her of a little person preaching that life is too short to take it too seriously and that at least once a day for 5 min you should have a little, mini dance party. Immediately told Colleen that we had to do that in the morning to get us going in the morning for our classes. She agreed.... read "Thursday" to find out what happens next..........

Thursday:

Well Colleen totally bailed on me for the mini dance party.. she was such a little party pooper this morning... although I must admit that she's not the friendliest person to deal with in the morning.. whatevs... that dream was short lived... after I peeled myself out of bed and managed t make myself look somewhat presentable, I wandered to my History of Art class. My teacher is one of those annoying "rule followers"and she informed me that my Paris trip would not be an excused absence (it's not like Paris doesn't have any world-known art or anything... and all my other teachers are like PEACE! Have fun!) Also today in class I got "in trouble" for using a black pen on a packed we were filling out.. she told me that black wasn't easy to see because the questions were also black... I apologized and thought to myself, "That was a first". After I got out at 10:30am I headed straight home and fell into bed... it was a bit difficult to sleep due to cars honking, blinds opening, and my personal favorite, Colleen walking in and talking to me while it's very obvious I'm trying to sleep. Luckily I did get some sleep and it was almost time for lunch. After lunch it was time for class again... as I was about to walk out the door I said "adios" to MC and she said, "I'm sorry Cooney" (She always feels bad for me when I have classes really early and really late) Again with the English! I almost lost it again! It made walking to class totally worth it. Once in class it was the Andrew Show again... Catch up: Andrew is a kid from Texas (t.u...ahem) who pretty much announced to the class, comprised of other students from other states, that Texas had the best history, we loved our state the most, and pretty much every other wrong thing you could have said in that instance. I was so embarrassed. So so embarrassed.. I hate telling people I'm from Texas because of him. LOL Anyway, Andrew does this sort of thing on the daily talk about/brag about Texas... and so it is said in our class that there is the opinion of the U.S. and there is the opinion of Texas... Andrew has single-handedly seceded us from the U.S.... cool. Because of Andrew's inability to shut up, a person within the class brought up a stereotype consisting of 3 words... the are:

• Republican (shocker)
• Beefeater (Dang straight)
• Horses (wow)

I found that to be a bit entertaining. Whatevs... I totally agree with Andrew, but I would never announce things like that to people from other states... it's not like they don't already know it.. don't rub it in for them.. not everyone can be from Texas. On a different note, as I have mentioned before, there is tons of graffiti all over Granada. Some of it is terrible and some of it is really good.. I've been meaning to take pictures of it, but I know that I won't be able to do it justice like Patsy Taggert probably could... there have been many times I have wished for Patsy or some one with a good camera and good skills to take pictures of my trip, because some of my pictures come out down right janky.. and crooked. It is what it is. I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT TRINEY!! Ok so, sometimes when I walk into our apartment building I see a little old lady walking out or just hanging out in the lobby well, today I was coming back from school and I noticed that the apartment building door was about to close so I ran to get it before it well.. closed. Apparently it was Triney who had just walked in the door and when she saw me (I'm pretty sure) she said something about her not seeing me and me "creeping" up behind her.. I laughed and apologized... but she didn't care.. she thought it was funny. So Triney and I get on the elevator and I push 6 (and she forgets to press 5...silly girl) then told me that she didn't know I lived on the 6th floor. I explained to her that was an American studying abroad blah blah blah.. and she told me I would learn spanish really fast.. PSH! So I go into the house.. throw down my stuff.. change into running clothes (yes, day 2... I hurt, it sucked.. not fun) I get into the elevator and it stops at 5... I think to myself, "Surely it's not her" IT TOTALLY IS!! I was so pumped because I was a little bummed for not asking her her name.. she told me it was Triney and I told her mine was Courtney.. she thought I said Colleen.. I attempted to correct her one last time, but it was a fail.. the next time I see her if she has forgotten my name, I'm going to tell her it's Willis it will come out better (WHEEL-EES)... I hope she forgets. I really like Triney (TREE-KNEE)

I think that's all I have... it's all in a nut shell

Dos besos,

Courtney

Science and Sniffles.

Saturday:

This day was the day I woke up with (what I thought) a hangover would be. No... I did not go out partying the night before... Due to some cold-like symptoms I decided to take a Nyquil at about 1130pm and then proceeded to wake up at 830am the next day... I don't quite think the Nyquil had time to wear off by the time I woke up in the morning because I woke up and I felt like I had been hit by a train... twice. I was not feeling 100% to say the very least. The reason I woke up so dang early was because my friends and I decided we wanted to go to Parque de las Ciencias (Science Museum in Granada). It. was. AWESOME!!! To me at least.. but I'm kind of a nerd for museums anyway. So for once, my friends and I made it to where we intended to go on the first time!!! We celebrated with high-5's all around. Once we had all paid for our tickets, we were given a map.... my friends and immediately thought to ourselves, "Great... another map that won't make sense" and then proceeded to hide ourselves while we all tried to figure out exactly where we were. Ja. Our first stop was the Energy/Electricity exhibit. I can describe this exhibit in exactly 1 word: BORING!.. we were literally the only people in the exhibit, and because of this, the woman in charge of the place decided to take it upon herself to give us a personalized tour... We couldn't escape her... she took us from one thing to the next and we were so terribly bored. Once we managed to get away, we wandered upstairs to an interesting space exhibit where we had quite a bit of fun taking pictures and other mischievous things. :) After the E/E exhibit we walked over to the "main" building where they had a taxonomy exhibit (awesome! pics on FB) as well as a body exhibit and another exhibit I didn't understand the theme of...but before we could actually enjoy these exhibits, we had to get through the door first. So me, being the front runner I am, ( I walk fast apparently... I think it was just because excited) went for the door only to find that it wouldn't open.. I pushed, I pulled and nothing. I could see people in there so I thought I wasn't doing it the right way (Europeans do things funny sometimes)... I continued to push and pull and as I was pushing and pulling an older woman was walking towards me and pointing at the door I was fighting against... thinking this was encouragement to continue on my ways, I did only to have my friend Sam walk up to another door and open it with ease. I (of course) felt like an idiot and my friends enthusiastically confirmed this feeling. After we/I conquered the door we headed straight to the Taxidermy room. The taxidermy room was So. Freaking. Cool! there were tons of awesome animals like lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, wart hogs, and more!! it was so trippy though... we could not figure out how they were all staying up (see pics on FB/above). After the Taxidermy room we went to the human body exhibit... a lot of the pictures I took in there were dedicated to Brittany and I think it's safe to say that a lot of them will probably serve as study materials for her as well. We then proceeded to this random room... I couldn't really catch the theme of the room, but then again I was still a little "hungover... hung over?"(<-idk) Inside that room was a wall where people are supposed to write on a piece of paper one thing they are around on a daily basis that will most likely deteriorate our health... naturally... I wrote "Humo de tabaco".. basically cigarette smoke.. that stuff really is everywhere.. I'm probably going to come back with a spot on my lung... nbd though... my sister is an aspiring PA and my roommate is an aspiring doctor... I think I'll be fine. After we had finished there we wandered over to the butterfly house and just had a heck of a time... there were butterflies everywhere... they were Kamikaze-ing like crazy and there was even the cutest little boy who was actually afraid of them... I laughed at him because he was such a sissy. LOL Once we had finished with the butterflies we headed over to the bird show and watched a few hawks and falcons do a few tricks.. it would have been a lot cooler if my head hadn't have felt like it was in an iron vice. The bird show was the last activity we did before we all parted our ways to eat lunch.. I was so relieved when I got home.. I ate me a big helpin' of MC's spaghetti and took me a nice little siesta.. it was pretty much the perfect siesta minus the fact that I had to shove toilet paper up my nose because my nose was clogged and I couldn't sniff the snot back up. After my nap I was pretty much done for for the rest of the day... I just lounged about the house and had myself a little bit of a lot of a lazy day.

Sunday:

I literally did nothing today... I hung out with MC in the living room.. turns out we are both sick.. we just can't stop bonding. I got to talk with the 'rents and little sis (Limp) on good ole Skype.. Limp had some exciting news to share with me... I had to break the news to her that she was not going to be getting a snake from Spain.. She took it pretty good. The 'rents made the comment that I haven't blogged in a long time, when really it' sonly been a day and a half... crazy people. Going to Paris this weekend (hopefully). Have to give a presentation (in Spanish) onWednesday, which I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a panic attack for, but it's fine... my face can only turn so red.

Dos besos,

Courtney

PlumBers /Koo Koo Klan, Flamenco, and other Spanish Encounters

Thursday:

Well Thursday was like any other day in Spain... Eventful and full of funny things. My earliest recollection of a comedic event occurred in my Spanish Civ. class (Spanish Civilizations and Culture). My teacher, Maria, (TANGENT: Every woman here is named Maria... seriously every single one... I feel bad for them because they never get to experience the excitement of having the same name as someone... "Hi, what's your name? Maria. NO WAY! ME TOO!1!"... nope they don't experience that... it's just not exciting.. it's so expected... it's more like the people not named Maria have all the fun... "Hi, what's your name? Sonia. Whhaaaaattt?! That's so cool! I don't know anyone not named Maria!" ja.) Back on track: My Civ prof. Maria was talking about the spanish school system and said that a year of school at a university (in Granada) costs them a total of 900€ ($1,260). Insane! College is also pretty much available for anyone who wants to go which is why they have a ridiculous number of college grads unemployed. Anyway, she then went on to tell us the salaries of the average person living in Spain and then talked about a PlumBer (she pronounced the B.... it was funny.. but in a cute way).. I snickered a little to myself... no worries.... she didn't see me. We then moved on to a PowerPoint where she showed us pictures and asked us how they related to Spain. We eventually came across a picture that Forrest Gump would decribe this way: "They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around."(That was for you Dad). Upon seeing this picture, all members of the class said in a confused tone..."KKK?" Maria quickly corrected us and told us that the KKK (she said Koo Koo Klan... I snickered again) stole their outfits from a super Catholic group/organization here in Spain... I don't know.. I was still laughing about "plumBer" Jaja!

After I got out of class, I made my way back home and did "homework" (busy work.. bleh) until I was reminded of the Flamenco show we were going to. I quickly told MC about our trip and she whipped me up some leftovers and 2 sunny side up eggs. After I had dominated my leftovers, I went for my eggs. Now, let me just go on another little tangent for a minute so the next thing I say makes a little more sense... as some of you know, I sometimes have a very distinct/odd way of eating things. For example: when I eat any kind of "stuffed" cookie, I pull it apart, eat the side with nothing on it, scrape the filling off with my teeth, and then eat the last cookie, or... when I eat a layered candy bar... (we'll use a Twix) I eat the caramel off the top and then eat the cookie... when I eat sunny-side up eggs, I eat around the white and eat the yolk last. Weird I know.. but it's just how I do...) Well, when MC saw my egg eating tactic she quickly told me to cut up all my egg in una mezcla (a mix)(yolk and all) and then eat it that way... she said "es mejor" (it's better). MC never ceases to help me experience the "better" things in life... I'm so thankful. :) jaja! Well after I had eaten as fast as Daniel Sanders, I bolted out the door and hollered "ha luego!" and hit the streets. Once to the Flamenco show I was super giddy... as you can see from the pics above, it's this real skinny cave lined with chairs and the Flamenco dancers literally dance inches away from you... it's imperative to keep your feet out of the way. To me, the show was awesome. It wasn't as sexy as I thought it would be, but it was amazing to say the very least. Lots of stopping, clapping, and fast feet... super fun. At the end of the show, a few of the dancers pulled some of us "on stage" and got us to dance with them. If you were wondering if I was one of those people, you betcha I was! I felt like Shakira out there and it turns out my hips aren't made of cement, so you better believe my hips weren't lyin'! So much fun. Jaja! After the Flamenco show was over, my friends and I made our way back into the city and took super sweet Alhambra night pics along the way... we even ran into my boyfriend (pic above) Great night.

Friday

TGIF was the first thing I thought when I woke up at 7 this morning. Usually we don't have class on Fridays, but due to National Spain Day, we missed Monday and Tuesday and had to make up class today (and also next Friday for T/R classes). So, biting the bullet, I put on some jeans, my International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo shirt (thanks Dad), a flannel, my Columbia fleece, and some flats and set out for school with Colleen... (she's back btw... she made me leave early because her class was further than mine, so naturally I had to walk with her) I arrived to class 20min early so I whipped out my iPod to dominate in a game of Cube Runner to wait for the rest of my class. Class went really well.. my prof. decided to go over the gender of words and it was mainly memorization for all the "exceptions". We then moved on to animals and for each animal Fermin would show us a picture on the projector. When we stumbled upon caballo/yegua (male horse/female horse) he, for some reason, felt the need to show us a female horse (as if the males and females don't look the same) and up pops (of course) regular looking horses, but also half naked women posing provocatively... Fermin then went on to tell us that promiscuous women are often compared to female horses... I felt I would have been better off not knowing that. Next up was pollo (chicken) and I will admit that I didn't really understand if "polla" really was the "female" word or if pollo was just pollo... all I know is that Fermin typed "polla" up in the Google Image bar and the next thing we know is that we are looking a certain male anatomy part. Fermin ended class on that note. Thanks. Whoever said Spaniards were conservative was a big fat liar.

POE was next and it went well. Like usual I booked it home for lunch (MC nailed it again) just in time to catch the back end of Mi Super Dulce 16 and the "After Labor" show of Teen Mom. After I turned off my trash television, I headed to my geography class only to have my prof. not show up again. It was a nice walk on a beautiful day.. had it been raining... well you know. When I got back to my apartment I saw an old man waiting for the elevator. I gave him a cordial "hola" and he politely held open the door for me. Once in the elevator the man began to tell me that he wished he were at the beach, in which I told him I agreed. He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go to the beach with him. Not phased in the least by this comment, I politely told him that I "unfortunately" had school.. I couldn't get off the elevator any faster. Once I was safe in MC's house I changed into my jammies and let out a nice relaxing sigh.

Once home, I had every intension of running, but was distracted by a very welcomed Skype call and it eventually got too dark to run. After I had finished my phone call, I wandered out into the living room when the doorbell rang. It was a nun. Apparently MC had bought some calendars from her (to support the poor) and she was here to collect her dues. I tell you what, that little nun (her name was Maria... go figure) (I mean little... smaller than Brittany little) was the biggest chatter box. She was talkin' MC's ear off (which I'm sure she didn't mind b/c the only person at home for her to talk to is me and people would argue that I sign more than I talk)... Somewhere in their conversation the little nun asked who I was and MC told her I was in Spain studying at the university. MC was also sure to tell her that I was from the U.S. and that I was staying with her until the end of the semester. I think MC kind of uses me as a trophy...like... every time people come to the house she's always sure to tell them I'm an American and then links her arm in mine or grabs my wrist. I don't mind this exploitation... the lady feeds me.

Dos besos,

Cooney (They have now dropped the R... sigh...at least my name isn't Maria.)

Bonding, Flattery, and Unlikely Circumstances.

(Top): Skater kid, punk-head Nikes... baller.
(Middle): 1 euro slippers.
(Bottom): Pic taken from la puente (bridge) I walk across on the daily.

Tuesday:

Today was my last day of my 5 day weekend (rough life I know) and it was a little depressing. On the brightside, I will only be in school for a total of 3 days this week and then it's the weekend again! I woke up at about 11:30 and I staggered in to the living room to talk with Maria Carmen (my mom)/watch TV. I think she's officially a Courtney fan (the other times were just speculation) and I think she's a fan because I showed her my brand-spankin' new slippers! I got them for 1 euro and they are a little bit of a lot heavenly. When I showed them to her I was as giddy as a chubby kid in a candy store, and I think she could tell I was proud of my miraculous find. She enthusiastically replied to me, "Oh que guapa Coorney!" (Oh, how pretty Courtney!) I did the Erica Saegert excitement giggle and that was that. Seeing as how I got off on a tangent... let me take you back to the main point... kshfowieualskdfoiejrwelrkfd. ok. The reason I think Maria Carmen and I have bonded is because whenever I am sitting in the living room with her (as long as it's not time for the news) she always puts it on a show she thinks I will like current examples:

• Back to the Future
  
• Paris Hilton's BFF
  
• Gilmore Girls (they speak ridiculously fast... MC noticed this and changed it)


• Dog Whisperer guy.... that's a man I can understand for the most part.

I've now gotten to the point where I put the TV on MTV when I am eating alone and watch Mi Super Dulce 16 or Teen Cribs. Trash, but at least it's familiar. Tuesday for lunch we had some sort of concoction that I'm pretty sure MC made up off the top of her head, but she totally nailed it.. it had meat, TONS of cheese, carrots, and lots of other unidentifiable things. She then proceeded to serve me with a huge helping of potato chips and bread... Bleh.. potato chips.. I'll be perfectly fine if I never see those things again... she tells me they are good for me because they have olive oil on them, but I'm smarter than that. Along with my potato chips and bread was an orange. I was about to begin to scorn my orange (like momma taught me) when MC quickly interrupted the process. She immediately took the orange from me and began to peel around the orange (the peel comes off in a spiral), and then opted to tell me that "es mejor" (this is better). I disagreed, but you better believe I'm peeling it her way next time around so she doesn't think I'm some stubborn American nationalist... it will win her over more. (WIN!) After the lunch of a lifetime, I went to meet Sarah because she was going with me to my intercambios (language exchange) date with Rafael. (It's not as awk. as it sounds... especially with Rafael) For those of you wondering (because MC was), he is not attractive. He is probably in this upper 30s lower 40s and he's not sketchy at all. Tangent: After I told MC that Rafael was not "guapo"(attractive) she went on to tell me that I needed to find a partner who was. I then joking yelled at her, "No necesito un novio! Especialmente en Espana!" ( I don't need a boyfriend! Especially in Spain!) She laughed at me and I went on my way. Back on track: Rafael is the ultimate Spaniard when it comes to time.. he was like 15-20 min late, but it was worth the wait. Rafael told Sarah and I tons of things about Spain, the economy, businesses, history, the language, etc. etc. This guy is smart/very cultured/curious/and a perfectionist. He did a lot of the talking... the majority in english, but Sarah and I talked back to him in Spanish the best we could and we ended up walking along the river for a good 2 hours in the wonderful weather. During our "walk and talk" I asked Rafael a question that I was wondering and I'm sure many of you are as well... the whole stepping in dog crap is good luck... when I asked him this in broken Spanish he laughed at me (I hope, b/c of my question.. not b/c of my sentence structure) and told me that Spaniards have a very dry sense of humor and they try to find the good in everything... I still don't get it, but whatevs... they're Europeans.. they've always been a bit.... off.

Wednesday (today)
It was back to the grind today... woke up before the butt crack of dawn (<---Mom just said "Courtney Lynn" and shook her head..sorry Ma..) and headed to class head held high in my super sweet white A&M hoodie (courtesy of Brooke Beacham), jeans and baller Nikes. I get to my grammar class and begin to go over the homework that was assigned 5 days ago. After we finished going over the homework Fermin informed the class that we were going to have a "pausa" (pause... classes are 2 hrs. long.. the Spaniards have to smoke). During the pausa I made an unlikely friend... a kid from t.u. named John... this was crazy because I had seen this kid running the day before and thought to myself, "he looks familiar".. guess we know why. Anyway, he called me out on my sweatshirt (A&M) and that prompted us to go through all the usual questions:

• Where are you from/where is that?


• Where do you go to school?
  
• What's your major?
  
• Do you know... ?
  
• Etc.

At that moment we had kind of ran out of things to talk about, so I was relieved when Fermin walked back into the room to resume class. After class John apparently had more to say so we walked/dodged cars from class and both agreed that Granada is not an ideal place to run or throw a football around... and how the parks are pretty, but not athletically functional. He seemed like a pretty chill guy, so I started the story off with "I know this is going to make me sound like a creeper but.." and confessed to seeing him the day before running and thinking he looked familar. He didn't seem to mind in the least and we went about walking until we had to part ways. I always find people from Texas (regardless of city or school) a breath of fresh air and comforting. I love Texas.

WARNING: BAD ATTITUDE (this will be the first and last time you hear me complain about this class... I just need to get it off my chest)

So after my 2 hour break, Sarah and I walked to the devil class. POE. It's my writing and speaking class.. it's the spawn of Satan.. I know it is. Why is it so terrible? It's just frustrating and I know everyone in my class feels the same way because no one speaks and we all just stare at our professor with blank looks... I will admit that it's a little bit fun to see her reaction when we do that to her, but all in all the class is just the worst. Our teacher (Sonia), gave us a ton of homework to do including writing about what we can do in class to "wake up". Bleh...

After POE I booked it home to shovel in some grub before my 4pm class. I fixed me up a real nice plate of left-overs and plopped down on the couch to watch Mi Super Dulce 16. On my way to class I saw the human equivalent of a walking stick.. I promise I'm not exaggerating.. she really was.. and not in a gross annorexic way, but in a natural "I'm literally just bones way". Let me just take a minute to describe this girl.. she was probably 12-13 years old and her legs ltook up 75% of her body. Her thigh was as big as my calf (if that) and her arms the size of my ankles.. (people always make fun of my calves/ankles because they are so small.. yeah yeah.. laugh it up... this girl was a literal walking stick.) I got to my 4pm class (25min walk) and a man came in and informed us that Javier (our teacher) was sick today and to do the homework on our own...So I came home, shut the door, and cracked open my homework from POE and got bus-ay! Knowing MC is like clock-work I imerged from my den and got myself ready for dinner... much to my surprise MC was chatting it up with the neighb and gawking over the nieto (grandson) of one of the people. Surprisingly, MC called me over to look at/meet the guapo, and the oh-so kind neighboor lady told me I was guapa and that she thought I was espanola (Spanish)... that always makes for a great night :D. And... yeah that's about it.

Dos besos,
Coorney. <----when in Spain...

Lazy Sunday... Eventful Monday

SUNDAY:
Sunday morning I got off to a great start. Woke up at around 12:30pm from the clangings of church bells (ugh), piddled/read/wrote in my room for a bit, then wandered into the "livingroom" (I will now refer to it as the TV room, since there is no living done in that room) to check out what Maria Carmen was doing (my mom). When I got into the room Maria Carmen was french tipping her nails, chompin' on some nicotine gum (everyday 24/7), and watching TV (of course). Shortly after I had plopped down in my sweatpants, t-shirt, and a hot mess for my face and hair, my mom told me to go get myself some breakfast because lunch was going to be ready a little later than usual. Even though I could have waited until lunch, I got up to make myself some toast because you don't tell Maria Carmen "no thanks". After I had made myself two delicious pieces of toast (one strawberrry, one apricot) Maria Carmen graciously put "Back to the Future" on for me and I sat and watched it until she brought a tray full of food out for me for lunch. Let me just tell you what all was on this tray:

• Plate of left-over "macarooni"
  
• Potato chips (big helping)
  
• Peach
  
• Pudding
  
• THE BEST FISH IN THE WORLD!
  

Let me just go off on a small tangent about this fish... this fish was absolute heaven.. and I'm not even a fish person. I literally inhaled this fish and I really wanted to ask for more. Enchanted by this fish, I then proceeded to ask her how she managed to make such a wonderful creation. She told me this:

• Filet of fish
  
• Olive oil (they use it like the South uses butter)


• White wine


• Garlic


• Salt
  
• Pepper

MICROWAVE for 4 min. 3 on one side 1 on the other... then... WHAM! Deliciousness on a plate. And how easy is that?! I don't know that the fish was all the way cooked, but I'm still alive.

It was the tastiest lunch thus far... perfect portions too. ( you have to realize lunch is the biggest meal of the day for these people)

Anyway.. after lunch I met up with Sarah and we proceeded to meet Evelyn and go to our friends Sam and Rachel's house... this was a really weird concept because most families highly discourage having guests over... it really throws a wrench in things when you just want to hang out and not buy a drink just to stit at a table.. and it's so hard to get used to. Once at Sam and Rachel's, we decided to play a few very appropriate games of Uno. Even though these games were just regular games of Uno... they very well could have been labeled as Uno Attack... we got pretty vicious. Especially Rachel.. she's from Kentucky. When we were all pooped from Uno we decided to get none other than... GELATO! It was tasty of course.. and then Rachel took us to these hidden Gypsy stores.. sounds sketchy.. they were.. but there was SO MUCH good stuff there! You have to be careful or else you will get lost in them. After some "shopping" (we didn't buy anything) we all headed our separate ways for some cena. After stuffing my face with some glorious food.. I hunkered down in my room for some serious Skype-age!.. I talked to the following... order serves no significance:

• FN and Dan
  
• Mom and Dad
  
• Good pal Kristian

Talking to Mom and Dad were definitely the faves. :).. It would be REALLY nice to talk to my sister, BRITTANY, but ever since she got this new boy toy (yes, Wes you are a toy) of hers I haven't heard/seen much of her.. it's fine.. it's Wes Bailey... I should have expected to get put on the back burner. (Shortly after she reads this I KNOW I will be getting an angry FB message from her... :).. all in good fun.)

MONDAY: ( I looked like a total skater punk this day... baller Nike's, skinnies, and A&M Hoodie.. it's fine.. NBD)

Today I woke up really, really early (9:30) and when to meet my friends at Correos (main post office) to do some "shopping"... I was actually looking for specific things.. they are as follows:

• Bright red skinnies.


• Solid shirts


• Wintery shoes... (I packed none... my Nikes only match so many things)

I found none of the above... actually that's not true.. I found a few solid shirts/sweaters, but the line to check out was literally out the door, so I opted to go back at another time. In this one store called Zara (it's a pretty nice store), I found the most beautiful bomber jacket.. it was REAL leather (most things in that store, and pretty much all stores for that matter, look/feel super cheap and are expensive for what they are... it's bothersome) and simply beautiful.. UGH.. I totally lusted after it... Did I get it?.. You bet I DIDN'T! It was 100 euros--->$140. However, if any of you would like to make a donation or wire money to me please call my parents at (817)-866-3620.. on weekdays it's probably best to call after 5:30pm or so. Thanks and Gig 'Em! <--- feels good to say that.

After my unsuccessful shopping trip, I went home for lunch and had lentil soup while watching MTV Cribs... Following lunch was a whole lot of nothing up until it was time for me and Sarah to meet Evelyn and Sam at the mall to see a movie... on the way to the movie the sky decided to cry, and Sarah and I were thankful we went back to Sarah's house to get her paragua (umbrella.. para agua... for water.. clever). Once in the mall, Sarah and I were just walking around waiting for Sam and Evelyn (as usual) and BAM! Cute little, old SPANISH lady come up to me and asks if the "1 Euro Store" is on the top floor or the bottom floor. Surprisingly, I understood her the first time and smoothly and naturally replied "a bajo". She smiled, said thank you, and I thought to myself.. "NAILED IT!" Kinda made my night. When Evelyn and Sam finally made it to the mall, we all proceeded to get our tickets for..... Gru: Mi Villano Favorito... = Despicable Me... it was cute even in Spanish... I must add that the Spaniards do movie theatres funny/different... when you buy tickets, you have a specific seat you have to be in... you don't get to choose your seat... that totes didn't sit well with us... so naturally, we did not follow the rules (even though I insisted) and sat in other people's spots.. thankfull the previews were already playing when the HUGE group came in and opted to just sit in the row in front of their/our seats. I felt like a jerk, but quickly got over it. :)

By the time we had left the theatre it was still raining and I'm convinced I'm going to get sick soon due to being wet and cold for an extended period of time... Mom.. this is a good excuse for you to come to Spain for a week or so... Dad, you could come too if you weren't such a sissy about airplanes.. yes.. I did just air your dirty laundry to my 11 followers.. what can ya do?... (Please don't take my money :D )

That's all I got.

Dos Besos,

Courtney