Intercambios, Aseos, y Botellon...

Since here in Spain Thursday is the new Friday, my friends and I just partied it up. First stop was intercambios (it's a language exchange between English speakers and Spanish speakers). This is how it worked:



We went to a tapas restaurant, they spread all of us American students out and then in came the Spaniards. All shapes and sizes. You then have 20 minutes to speak all in Spanish, and then switch to English. My first table was comprised of the following:



Fermin: 28 year old computer programmer who was a little bit cross-eyed, but really nice and patient



Rafael: (age and occupation unknown.. due to the fact he arrived late) who spoke perfect English with a perfect America/British accent... he was really helpful when I couldn't find the spanish words for Fermin. I could also tell that Rafael was really smart/cultured.. he told me that he perfected his English by listening to British music. Cool dude.



The Spaniards went on to tell me that Americans were harder for them to understand than the British due to the fact that us Americans mash words together like nobody's business.. example: going to---->gunna. I then returned the favor and told them that Andalucians/Granadinos were hard for me to understand because they leave the "s" sound out of all of their words example: Gracias---->Gracia or my personal favorites Hasta luego---> Ha luego and mas o menos-->ma o meno. It's tricky sometimes. As I was talking to them (in English) I began to notice a look of confusion when I used the term "y'all" so I decided to explain it because it was hurting my brain to say "you guys" not to mention I sounded ridiculous.. It was a total fail and I'm pretty sure I only confused them more. Once the 20 minutes were up, we exchanged email addresses and I got up and switched to a new table. This table consisted of:



Sandra: 20yrs old; super quiet

Jose Santiago: 35; quite the chatter box; flamboyant homosexual

Christina: 23; looks a lot like Kate Voegele (Google if need be)



This group of peeps were not my favorite... only because the two girls laughed at me when I messed up a word or conjugation (which was frequently).. and because they laughed at me I got really nervous and self-conscious and it made my speaking even worse than it already was. It's fine.. I don't think I'll be emailing them to meet up with.. sucks for them.. I rock at English.



After Intercambios, Sarah, Evelyn, and I decided that since it was "Friday" we were going to do something crazy... Stay out late-ish. Before our crazy time began Evelyn and I had to pee and considering there are literally ZERO public bathrooms, I decided to make a pit stop at my house (it was really close) and hopefully sneak (a friend I cannot name in order to protect their identity)up so she could use it too. Well, my plan was a fail. My mom was still awake and so my no-name friend had to wait until we could walk all the way to her house. **Spaniards RARELY have company over to their houses.. when they want to hang out, they go to a bar/restaurant... how weird is that** Anyway, the timer was ticking down until my friend was going to lose it and we immediately picked up the pace... we arrived at her apartment building and she proceeded to run up the stairs while my other friend and I sat outside on the steps and watched a couple make out in the middle of the street. Our friend comes outside to meet us and my friend jokingly asks, "Hey (no-name) are those new pants you are wearing?" *silence*.... "Yeah they are actually... I didn't quite make it." *Bursts of laughter* 21 year old girl pees her pants... that's funny folks. hahah Good times... Inside joke word= aseos (toilets)

Moving on to Friday...

Friday was just a little day full of wonderfulness. Slept til 12, lounged around in my PJs, looked over some stuff, read a little... super chill day... chill until my friend Sarah FB chatted me (like always) and asked if I was ready to knock something off the list. Me being the "Yes Woman" I am of course said.. YES! She said her roomate and some of the other "Early Start" kids were going to Botellon that evening and asked if we wanted to go. *Botellon is a designated space where it is legal to consume alcohol publically* Since we were all curious to see what all the hype was about, and because we had to check it off our list, we accepted the invitation. On our way there we asked, "so what exactly is Botellon like?" A really pretty, but really dumb girl replied, "It's like a giant skatepark, but with no skating equipment... so basically it's like a giant parking lot." Sarah, Evelyn and I had some fun with that description throughout the whole night... I love people with my same sense of humor. Anyway, once we got to Botellon, I knew we had made a mistake in going... the only way I can describe it is this: Think of a huge parking lot with hundreds, if not a thousand people, all standing in little groups drinking, smoking, and who knows what else... and then think about being really crowded. Bleh. I also feel that it is important to give a "visual" of the smell of the place... it was a mixture of:

• Alcohol (duh)
• Cigarettes
• Marijana
• Vomit
• Urine
• Body Odor

Six of the best smells I've ever smelled. So, we get in the crowd and we go find our API group and we are standing there talking with them about random stuff and they are all shocked/offended that none of us are drinking or smoking.. blah blah blah.. As we are standing there "participating" in Botellon, I turn to my friend Evelyn and say or rather yell because it is really loud, "This would be a good place for a terrorist to bomb." (because you have a bunch of idots in one place... it would be less terror and more like a civil service I guess) Then, unexpectedly, a girl saw me say something to Evelyn and say, "What?" I think, "Oh crap... I could really use a Twix to shove in my mouth right now" and without hesitation I say, "I said this is a great place for tourists to bond!" At that moment I shot a little "thank you" up to God and Evelyn looked at me all confused like. It was a major WIN! I feel I should also mention the "Piss Fence"... you don't have to have an imagination to know what purpose that serves. All around it's just a gross place.. you never know what you are stepping in nor to you know who or what is touching you.

After Sarah, Evelyn and I had had our fill of this Botellon mess, we proceeded to try to find our way back to some civilization... after probably an hour or more of walking... we finally succeeded and man were we pumped! Our night ended at about 3:30am and we patted ourselves on the back for staying out so late.

Dos Besos,

Courtney

P.S. I am now an expert marijuana smeller... up until Spain I had never known what it smelled like.. now I know...thank you for "culturing" me.