BONUS.

My Friends.

Be Jealous.

17ish days and counting...

Wowee Kazowee! It's been a coon's age since I last blogged!

I feel that not a ton has happened, but still a fair amount... Hope y'all all had an amazing Thanksgiving and that y'all cherished the time y'all were able to spend with your families because I was totally NOT with my family this Thanksgiving. The first one in 2 decades. Dang.. and I was on a roll.

But....

I still had a fantastic Thanksgiving... my study abroad group surprised us with a TRADITIONAL Thanksgiving dinner! I even made our table go around in a circle and tell what they were thankful for. We had turkey, "dressing", sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin and apple pie! To be honest, the stuff didn't taste that great, but it was the thought that counted and I was just happy it wasn't anything derived from a pig... I forgot to mention this dinner took place in a Mexican Cantina. After the dinner, a group of us decided to go to a pub to kill time and watch a little bit of one of the Thanksgiving football games... I'm not really into the NFL, so I found this activity a bit boring. While at the pub, Evelyn got the moves put on her, but she wasn't having any of that mess, so we decided to head to our next destination. Camborio.

What is Camborio?

Camborio is a club up in the "caves" of Granada... no it's an actual cave... they are just houses/buildings built into the sides of the mountain. This was our [Me, Sarah, Evelyn] first venture to a "discotec" and we were just giddy little things... we were also a little nervous... club scene isn't really our scene... it was more or less for the cultural experience. We got there and turns out it was pretty fun.. my only complaint is the fact that I had to continuously watch my back to make sure that no pesky little Spaniard thought he had a right to come up behind me and "sample my goods" so to speak. Had that incident happened, the young man would have found himself "humbled" before God asking for forgiveness is an extremely high pitched voice. That's alls Is gots to say about that. The club was bouncin' I was getting my groove on and my friends and I decided we had had enough fun, cigarette smoke, and watching girls and guys hook up and went leave. On our way out, we walked past a "friendly" young Spaniard guy and he decided that the best way to get my attention was to make his hand like a spider, put it on my head, and wiggle his fingers in and out... (it was pretty much what you do to little kids when they are about to your thigh) I continued to ignore the nice gentleman and thought to myself, "Well that is just the perfect way to get me interested in you... treat me like a little kid... pedophile" Guys are idiots sometimes... as are girls. We proceeded over to the place where we had to check our coats and bags and while Evelyn and I were waiting for the other girls to get their stuff, homeboy decides he's going to try one more time... but this time with a friend. He comes up to me and says to me (in Spanish) "Why are you so shy?" Due to the noise, I didn't understand him and so what did he do? He started talking to us in English. (so frustrating) We told him we weren't shy. He and his friend proceeded to tell us that we were... I wanted to yell at him, "[Boy] you don't know my life!" (Baby Mama reference) Seeing that they weren't going to win us over, they gave us pouty looks and his friend gave me the whole "grab your chin between your thumb and pointer finger... keep your head up sport" thing. I'm sorry, but you gotta have quality game to get a quality woman. End of story.

The Fightin' Texas Aggies beat the HELL out of t.u.!

The next day we departed for Sevilla (Capital of Andalucia)... it rained our whole trip and thankfully it rained all of Saturday when we went to the Catedral de Sevilla and when we were supposed to go on a bike tour of Sevilla. It was such a bummer. Since it was raining and no one could stand to be out in the rain, a few of us girls decided to order in pizza (thanks Telepizza) and rent a movie off of iTunes (When Harry Met Sally) one of my favorites. It was the most chill day and to be honest, it was really nice. Later that evening we put on the finishing touches of our "Sierra Nevada Survival 101" video (made while we were at the SN) as well as filmed the ending sequence. The video is hopefully going to be released soon once we assign some sweet music to the beginning and end. I think all of you will throughly enjoy it, and I hope you don't judge me/us for our stupidity. I'll post the link in a blog when it is up. Ha. ohhh goodness.

Sunday was an entirely new day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We took a tour of the Real Alcazar (a palace I belive) and then we were on our own until we had to meet back for the bus. We went to Plaza Espana, some river where we found guys doing sweet bike tricks, and dang good shwarma. Colleen and I also tried the roasted chestnuts. They were interesting to say the least, but still good nevertheless.

Monday was a really good day. My 830am grammar prof. didn't show up for 1hr. 15 min... we were told he was going to be 30min late but... not so much the case. The rest of the class signed a piece of notebook paper and left it on his desk to show attendance (I signed too) and then left.. I decided to stick around 10min more and see if maybe he would show up... he didn't so I left too.. I had better things to do. Come to find out, 10min after I left, he walks in the door and the remaining 4 people have a 30 min. long class. Just my luck. I'm not worried about it though... our final is going to pretty much given to us. Next stop was POE. Now, here lately... I have really started to enjoy this class... I find that I have a lot of fun and laugh a lot. I don't really know what it is... I think with my "making fun" of Sonia from last week, I have finally broken the ice. WIN! She jokes with me a lot now... and of course I do it right back (as best I can)... she provokes me. I've also noticed Sonia giving me more participation marks... I make it a point to participate on every little thing... even if no participation is needed.. I'll still make reassuring noises, head shakes/nods...I'm in it to win it.

In other news, I have come to the realization that I have talked to Daniel Sanders (one way or the other) pretty much everyday since he has found the wonderfulness that is Skype. Yesterday... we wrote papers together.It's like he misses me or something... weird. :) Every time I talk to this strapping, young man, I find myself learning a new life philosophy or very unique metaphor... Case and point:

"103 is: a geographical location, set of individuals, a verb, example: fixing to go 103. meaning you are going to do stupid, fun, crazy, awesome, reckless things with the people or a person that lives at 103 and you don't necessarily have to be at 103 to be doing 103 things."

-Daniel Sanders on the 103

Gotta love that kid.

Brooke Beacham also introduced me to this catchy little tune called Stupid for Your Love by Brendan James... it's really good, but it's probably not up to your standards, Kristian Nichols... you shouldn't waste your time.

Colleen leaves for Italy this Friday! Know what that means!? This girl gets her own room! WHOOP!

As you can see... you haven't missed too terribly much, but you are missed an awful lot. Be there before you know it.

Dos besos,

Courtney

Just some things...

This is my FN... this is why he can eat an apple in 3-4 bites.

I love my FN.

Ok so.. I don't plan for this to be a lengthy blog but... it very well may come to that.. it depends on how much my brain decides to remember... or until my "cleverness" runs out.

Here goes nothing.

Due to the fact that nothing exciting has really been happening here in the great city of Granada, I decided I would give you a list of things you should never do if you are ever so lucky to get to travel to Spain.

1. Do NOT make fun of the way your POE teacher says your name. You will not have the Spanish vocabulary to tell her that you are joking and giving her a hard time.. Your grade could possibly plummet.
2. Do NOT wear your "Swagga Shoes" on a rainy day while walking down the hills of Spain... you will slip (multiple times) and more than likely will not go down as gracefully as I did.
3. Do NOT make really smart comments in your art class... your class won't like you very much. Haters.
4. Do NOT expect to get free WiFi anywhere... or be allowed to plug in your computer after you do pay for the WiFi... you will be very disappointed.
5. Do NOT expect wishy washy weather like in Texas... if it looks like it's going to rain.. it's gunna rain.
6. Do NOT expect attractive men. It will be another disappointment.
7. Do NOT step on wet leaves on slippery surfaces.... you will have the same effect as the Swagga Shoes on hills.
8. Do NOT underestimate the Chino stores... The Chinese know where it's at... they have everything. .. fo cheap!
9. Do NOT think these are all the things you need to know before you go to Spain.. it's not.

Transition to stories.....woriuwpojaslkdfjsaofuowhrljd Ready.

So about making fun of my POE teacher, Sonia...

It wasn't my smartest move.. it kind of happened before I could keep it from happening. I'll be honest though... I executed it perfectly... like so perfectly she looked around the room as if it were an echo. "Cooney" I think more than anything I took her by surprise. She then proceeded to ask me how to say it I repeated with a slow, articulated breakdown of the syllables, "KORT-NEE".. she repeated "COH-NEE" BLEH! bad bad bad. I told her Cooney was better.. I then realized I had no idea how to explain to her that I was just giving her a hard time. CRAP!... Luckily she had just shown us our grades and so I'll know if she gives me a lower grade for my little "act of stupidity". Good one Court.

Sonia also informed me that I need to participate more in class. She then showed me that I only had 3 marks of participation (since Oct.-ish)... That's straight up BOOTY! I've totally participated more than 3 times.. she just never puts a mark down for me.... I know it's true because I watch her... If Sonia wants more participation, she's got another thing coming.. I ain't gunna shut up now. She messed with the wrong girl/Aggie/Texan. BTHO POE! Woo! I'm all fired up. I'm actually looking forward to class tomorrow. :)

I had a first in my History of Art class today... a girl in my group gawked over my handwriting. Take that Brooke Beacham! (Mom just said really?) Yes mom, really! But don't feel bad.. I was just as surprised.. if you know me then you know I don't have beautiful handwriting... all it is is legible (or as Limp would say "eligible".. she kills me) and you can also tell that a girl wrote it. I was flattered. I hope to have that girl in my group on several different occasions. :)

I pulled an Andrew today... but I'll admit it wasn't entirely my fault.. my teacher provoked me... she asked, "Where [instead of what] is Corpus Christi?" My response? "Texas". Yep I said it.. did the class roll their eyes? I don't know, I was too busy shoving my foot into my mouth to notice. After being laughed at, I came to figure out that she was asking for the meaning of Corpus Christi... which means Christ's Body. Good to know huh? Like I said.. wasn't entirely my fault. Speaking of Andrew, he recently got engaged.. proposed in Spain... I felt really bad and thought he was lying for the longest time... Oops. Go Andrew!

Colleen did the unthinkable today. I was scoping a friend's ring day pics and she asked me what was up with the little gold rings? Excited to share one of the greatest Aggie traditions with her I had the following conversation with her:

Me: Ring Day was only one of the most important/exciting days of an Aggie's life (other than acceptance) There were very special requirements and it is considered an honor to be able get one.

Colleen: Are they expensive?

M:Yes, especially if you are a guy, or if you want a diamond in the middle.

C: I don't see the point of paying a bunch of money for something that you aren't going to wear after graduation.

**I have slight heart attack*** (yes, I'm fine.. now.)

M: Aggies wear their rings for life... it's such a tight network of people that if another Aggie sees you with your ring they will more than likely strike up a conversation with you.

C: I still don't get it... I think it's dumb

M: It's a good thing you don't go to A&M

After that little catastrophe, I was sure write that on my little notepad app on the side of my comp to remember to include in my blog... I typed "Collen bashing Aggie Ring".

A few hours later.....

C: (out of no where) I wasn't bashing your Aggie Ring earlier.

M: Whatever you totally were!... you probably shouldn't go reading though all my sticky notes. It's totally going in my blog.

C: Well, I was reading the one about genetic mutations making a hot baby and thought ther was more so I clicked to the next one...

[see prev. blog about reference above]

[I did not see this act as justified, but whatevs...]

M: Regardless, you still probably shouldn't do it.... Want a Rebuena? (a Rebuena is a wonderful, wonderful cookie)

Just a few more things to get off my chest...

National Geographic, for some reason, is way better in Spanish... I hope to have Spanish Nat. Geo. in my house someday.

Also... I may be spending my birthday (once again) abroad in........ PERU!

Dos besos,

Courtney

Epic.

This past weekend has been one of the best yet...one of epic proportions [In Granada at least]

But before I do that, I feel that I should fill y'all in on some random epic things that have happened this week:

• It is epic that... now at 8 o'clock in the morning I actually feel/act like a Spaniard... Why?... The steam escaping from my mouth makes me appear as though I am smoking a cigarette. Now all I need to do is roll up a piece of paper and then I'm set. (WIN) [and without the cancer risk]
• It is epic that...I figured out Sonia (POE teacher)'s deal... she has a screw loose... she usually tightens it when she says something wrong, says something without thinking, or my personal favorite... When she forgets who I am. [To tighten your screw like Sonia... simply put your pointer finger up to your temple and turn clockwise... ta da.. you are like Sonia]
• It is epic that... I have figured out how to call the U.S. for free... thanks Gmail. :)
• It is epic that... I booked an airplane ticket to Wisconsin for a week after I get back. WHOOP!
• It is epic that...Today, I helped Sarah Moe with her grammar... (it's usually the other way around)
• It is epic that... the crosswalk I cross everyday gives me 86seconds to make it across the equivalence of 2 American lanes... I find myself wanted to act as a squirrel.. just because I can.
• It is epic that... Daniel Sanders said the following to me when I was informing him that if all else fails, he is going to be my Baby Daddy:
  "Genetic mutations of epic praportions that would create the hottest little baby on this side of the Mississippi"

• It is epic that...I register for Spring semester Tuesday... 230am Spain time
• It is epic that... Spring semester is going to kill me... and it is very likely it will be my last.
• It is SUPER epic that... Two Aggies came to visit Granada [they are studying in Barcelona] and we were able to watch the A&M vs. Nebraska game (American Football) in an Irish Pub on a massive TV until 4am.. and then sneak into the boy's hostel only to crowd around a tiny table and freeze while watching the rest of the game on one of the guy's computers.

Epic.

Now that you are over-whelmed by epic proportions (that makes sense right?)... Imma tell you 'bout my freaking amazing weekend.

Friday: The Arrival of the Aggies

Sarah and I went "shopping" today.. actually.. Sarah only went shopping... she bought 2 things.. and I bought none. I consider myself more successful than her.. but I'll admit, she got some pretty sweet finds... one of which I picked out for her.. she couldn't help herself.. she knows I have impeccable taste and she just had to get those grey-ish brown pants. While we were shopping, the Ags called me... (AKA John and Steven.. or Juan and Estevan... whichever you prefer) we then decided to play a really fun game.. it was "Find Courtney and Sarah at the Burger King even though you have been in Granada for less than 6hrs and don't know your way around"... John and Steven didn't appreciate this game.. and I'll admit.. I felt bad making them play this game as well, but I don't know the streets of Granada... I only know the landmarks.. which is how you have to be here in Spain because the street signs are so hidden, or don't exist. John and Steven finally won the game and found the Burger King... their reward? a nice welcoming hug from me... although... they were expecting a "dos besos" ordeal... I thought the hug was executed a little off, but I just chalked it up to them being awkward huggers. My bad. That night we all went out for tapas and then went a little late night adventure up to find St. Nicholas' Mirador to get a super sweet view of the Alhambra at night.. it took us awhile to find our way up the narrow/steep roads of the Albaicin, but we made it.. had to use Plan B a few times, it's fine.

Saturday: The Game

A lot of time was killed today... much of which was killed by playing "Your Team" at the BK lounge sitting watching all of the high school kids gather and hang all over each other like they haven't seen each other in years. All of these kids were pretty much dressed the exact same..

All the boys appeared to be wearing:

• Completely shaved head except for the top with hair straight up (remember my theory)
• Tight colored skinnies
• Brightly colored jackets
• Brightly colored tenni-runners
• Earrings.

All of the girls appeared to be wearing:

• Saggy skinnies (underwear were shown as guys boxers show)
• Brightly colored jackets.. much like the boys.
• Brightly colored tenni-runners.. much like the boys.
• Terrible haircuts... much like the boys
• Backpacks... they have been out of school for probably 7 hours at this point.. no need for a backpack.. you know they ain't gunna go study.
• Make up of epic proportions.

After we had been murders and killed time [Lil' Wayne's Bedrock reference] we made our way to POE... by that time the Ags were there and luckily it wasn't too terribly crowded inside and we were able to enjoy the wonderful Thai & Coconut chicken and Pork and Pineapple pinchos. Yummy. After that is when the real epicness began [approx. 2am]. We made our way to Hannigan's; an Irish pub that is now the love of my life. Why? Because these guys were gracious enough to put the game up on their epic TV. A Spaniard put American Football on the TV in a Spanish bar.. in Spain. My mind is still blown. Nevertheless, we were able to watch the game up until halftime because the bar had to close at 4am.. refusing to be 2%ers... we hurried to John and Steven's hostel and continued the viewing there. It was amazing. The game finally ended around 515am (or so) and Sarah and I high-5ed ourselves for being "true Spaniards" and staying out until pretty much 6am. Literally one of the best nights of my life. It was also pretty great because we got to show Sarah and Evelyn what they can expect when they come visit Texas... and go to an Aggie football game. :D It was also pretty great because for the whole night it was 3 Texans against 2 Wisconsinites.... we'll just say the Texan(s) weren't the ones being made fun of this night. Ahem.

Epic night.

Now it's Sunday... it's raining. I think I'm borderline sick... I'm expecting pneumonia or the black lung at some point... it's alright though.. the causes of said illnesses were well worth it. I watched a little bit of Tiburon [Jaws] (accent o) with MC today while eating lunch. I told her it was really popular in the U.S... she said something along the lines of "It's popular everywhere"... My bad... again.. Good grief.

Miss and love you all... and of course..

Dos besos,

Courtney

The Undocumented 6 Days.

Well... I know what you are thinking.. this is going to be a long one.. and to be honest, you are probably right. This entry is not for the faint of heart or people weak at the eyes... this could get into epic lengths and you need to be mentally prepared to embark on this challenge. With that being said, I will try to entertain you line by line; period by period, while still being truthful and without exaggeration.

I've got my Mumsford and Sons playing... it's Go Time.

As far back as I can remember is Nov. 12... and that's only because it was my friend Kristian's birthday and I posted an extremely witty post on his FB wall wishing him a happy birthday... it was The Office themed. The rest of this day was pretty uneventful... Colleen and I got so bored in our room that we ripped out at sheet of notebook paper and played 2 games of TIC-TAC-TOE (1 tie, 1 domination [by me]) Then we moved on to HANGMAN. Man I love that game. Our word choices consisted of:

• Stale bread
• Mountain
• Herba Buena (it's minty chicken broth soup we eat here.. Colleen can't stand it... it's not my favorite, but I can down it)

After Colleen and I's extreme fun with tic-tac-toe and hangman, we decided to hit up a tapas bar called POE with some friends. Let me just tell you something about POE... it's freaking amazing! For a number of reasons:

1. The owner is British and speaks English (in case you need to use it)
2. He's freaking cool!
3. The drinks are cheap
4. Most importantly, the Tapas are AMAZING.

"Courtney, what you mean by the tapas are amazing? What kind of food are they?"

Great questions... POE had the following:

• Spicy Thai Chicken
• Super great Pork and Pineapple skewers
• Coconut chicken

*** tapas can literally be anything... the definition of the word "tapa" just means a "light snack".. and the super great thing about Granada is that tapas come FREE with your drink!***

After we finished at POE, some of the people we went with decided that they wanted to go spend the rest of the night at Botellon so Sarah, Evelyn, Colleen and I went and hit up an Arab Teteria (tea house). Arab Teterias are literally the best. They are like the American equivalent of a coffee house.. super chill and not usually too incredibly crowded (unless it's finals week at Mugs) At the teteria we just talked, told funny stories, and played with candle wax... we are super fun. When the clock struck 2am, we decided it was a good idea to head home and go to sleep, so we all walked Evelyn home and that's when it happened... some drunk guy on the street said to me in passing,"Hola Puta!"[Hey B!+ch]..first time for everything I suppose.. at least to my face. Colleen and I slept until 1230pm the next day. Glorious.

Nov. 13

Today was a Plan B kind of day. Today was the day I was to experience my very first "futbol" game. Granada vs. Barcelona B. What makes such an exciting day a Plan B day? Well, for starters getting to the stadium. My friends and I had plans to meet people at Correos to find/catch the bus that would take us to the stadium. When everyone had arrived to the meeting place, we all made our way to the appropriate bus stop. Luckily, right as we were getting to the bus stop a bus was pulling up (WIN!)... we even saw other API people on the same bus... we were feeling pretty confident about this one. We also know that the stop for the stadium is one of the very last stops... so we ride this bus for about 20-25 minutes and finally get off at the last stop. Where were we? In the freaking middle of no where! We looked at the map on the bus stop and realized we were on the complete opposite side of Granada from where the stadium.. all 9 of us were ticked. [We all REALLY wanted to go to the game] So we all stood there pouting and cursing API for not giving us better directions while waiting for the next bus. When the next bus finally arrived, who did we see? 5-6 other API students who made the EXACT SAME mistake we did... so in total there were roughly 15-16 people in the WRONG PLACE! How does that happen?! Everyone couldn't help but laugh when we saw the other kids.

So.... we all got back on the bus and made our way to the other side of town only to get to the stadium 30minutes late and have to wait for our tickets to get given to us. Nevertheless, we made it in... and it was PACKED! I expected there to be some people there, but not this many. No siree. This was no Aggie Football game, but it was still fun and exciting.. Spaniards have incredible spirit.. and they pretty much rock at The Wave. Throughout the game, the Granada fans were making paper airplanes and throwing them into Barcelona's goalie box... their accuracy was amazing. I picked up an airplane that didn't quite make it onto the field and it is safely taped in my journal. :) For those of you wondering.... Granada won.. 4-1.. it was a bit of a beating. To celebrate the win, I bought myself a leather jacket from Stradivarius.. it's smokin'... it also matches the one my BD has... NBD.

Nov. 15

This is unarguably one of the best days of my life. I went and hiked the SIERRA NEVADAS! (Pics on FB) Just to clarify, I hiked the Spanish Sierra Nevadas... not the American ones.. there has been some confusion about the geography of these mountains, so I just wanted to make that clear. Here's a quick run down of my day:

6:30am wake up and put on the following:

• Tights
• Running shorts
• Tenni-runners
• "Grandpa Sweater"
• Scarf (essential)
• Columbia fleece

I also packed extra shoes, heavy jacket, and extra socks... I was prepared for anything... except rain... which thankfully it wasn't raining.

Then my friends and I made our way to the Bus Station to catch the 9am bus that would take us up to the mountain and bring us back down at 5pm... (this was an all-day thing) The ride up the mountain was pretty scary.. you have this huge charter bus on a really skinny and windy( as in lots of curves) road and all the while it's foggy. I won't lie.. I got a little nauseous. During the ride, up (approx. 45min) I was really depressed by how gloomy and foggy it was and I remember wishing it was a beautiful sunny day. Within 10minute... Wish. Granted. We had finally made it far enough up mountain to be above the clouds and all we could see was this sea of clouds below us.. it literally looked like we were in a different world. Once at our stop, we all hopped off the bus only to be greeted by the biting cold wind. For a split second I regretted not wearing more clothes. After everyone had gotten over the initial shock of the cold, we began our way up the mountain.... sometimes we took trails.. sometimes we made our own... it was a complete blast. Who knew you could have so much fun on a big rock? We climbed up into abandoned observatories, slid down the sides of hills, and most fun of all... made our own spin off of Man vs. Wild.. Sarah (Sarah the Magnificent) and I (Courtney the Courageous) are the hosts/stars of the show and Evelyn was the Cinematographer. So funny... or at least Sarah, Evelyn, and I thought it was... the others just looked at us like we were idiots.. I felt bad for them that they couldn't let themselves had a little juvenile fun. I've recently been told by Evelyn the Cinematographer that the movie is almost ready to be released... just have to cross some Ts and dot some Is. We probably hiked for a total of 5-6hours and my body was PUMPED about the great exercise that is mountain climbing. People talk metaphorically about climbing mountains.. but I LITERALLY climbed a mountain... I don't mean to rub this in anyone's face, but as I stated before, it was one of the best days of my life. I also scratched "go hiking" off my Bucket List... (WIN!) Although now I kind of wish I would have written "climb a mountain"... it sounds cooler. Whatevs. I slept like a baby that night.

Nov. 16

I procrastinated a lot today.. I had a presentation for my POE class (in Spanish) two days from today and I had zero motivation.. I'm really over school.. it's a bad way to be, but it's true. Because I am over school, I am over being nervous about getting up in front of my POE class and speaking in Spanish... it just wasn't worth the energy. Today was the day of my presentation over the Autonomous Community of Galicia... thankfully this presentation was in English... I think it went well.. the class didn't look like they wanted to shove their pens into their eyeballs... so I'll chalk that up to a WIN! That is all.. rather uneventful. Other than the fact that I tried to tell my class that Bill Clinton's daughter was named Hilary. I'm an idiot.

Nov. 17

Today marked the day of 1 month until I set foot on American soil. It was a bittersweet day... bitter in the sense that I'm going to be leaving Spain soon and sweet in the sense that school will be over. Like I wrote in my journal:

"Some days it feels like a lifetime and some days I want to stop blinking so that it lasts longer."

Today in my grammar class Fermin was in an especially rebellious mood... Instead of going into detail... I'm just going to leave it at the fact that I learned how to say F You (multiple times)... I would have been better off not knowing.. but any knowledge is good knowledge right? That's what Adam and Eve thought.. I'm a firm believer in the idea that "Ignorance is Bliss".. in some instances of course. Next on the agenda was POE... presentation time... it was well... rocky.. and it lasted 40 minutes (when it's only supposed to last 20)... it's fine.. people only wanted to gouge their eyes our a little. The rest of class was surprisingly fun.. we had to get into groups and talk about festivals and fairs that take place from where we are fun... I talked about the Texas State Fair.. I told about all the crazy fried foods (they were appalled... I informed them I was from the south and that's just how we roll) , the big ferris wheel [Aka Texas Star], and the Red River Shoot Out... people were fascinated. I got asked if hog wrestling took place there.. I told them.. probably unofficially... you never know what Texans are going to do. Good talk.

Dos Besos,

Courtney

Post Plan B.

I have fully recovered from my Barcelona trip. Actually... I've been recovered, but I just really haven't had a whole heck of a lot to blog about lately.... maybe it's because Barcelona was so jam-packed of action that everything else just seems... eh.

Got Midterms results back... they are....

GOOD ENOUGH. (my parents are going to ask me what exactly this means at our next Skype date...)

We will say that Spanish Civ. y Cult. is my best subject and POE is... not. Don't worry though... I passed; and according to Spanish standards, I passed with flying colors.

Let me fill you in on the past few days:

So, recently Colleen and I have started to play this really fun game called Guess What's Going to be on Your Plate ... let me tell you something... we have gotten GOOD at this game. One particular night I nailed it. I called: leftovers, tomatoes, bowl of potato chips, and pudding/yogurt... prior to my nailing this meal... Colleen and I discussed how we hated eating potato chips as a side dish because it's like eating fried grease. Well, like stated before, potato chips were on the menu that night and for some reason I didn't really mind eating them... I think it was because I was really into the TV show that was on while we were eating. Due to being hypnotized by the TV (which I could actually understand), my body started to function involuntarily. My hand was going potato chip bowl--> mouth [repeat several times]. All of a sudden I feel Colleen frog the side of my leg... I was quickly zapped out of my trance and I chalked the hit up to an accident and continued about my ways with the the potato chips. No longer in a trance, Colleen frogs me again and I know this is no accident. I look at her with the utmost confusment (not a word.. I know.. but today it is) and search her face for some kind of explanation...she gave me nothin' so, once more.. I went about my ways... I kid you not, this happened AGAIN! I was about to give this girl the frogging of a century, and I would have if MC hadn't been there.. although.. she was in a TV trance (like always) so I doubt she would have noticed anything... Colleen's crying may have snapped her out of it, but even then I don't know. Once we retreated back to our room, I asked her what was up with her frogging me in the leg and she said, "I knew you didn't want to eat the chips and you were just doing it to be polite"...I replied with, "Oh. Well, tonight I didn't mind" I then went on to tell her about how her life almost ended... one more hit and she was done for.

The next day I had to go meet my art teacher and a few of my classmates at a church really close to my house. Why? Well, because I am a "45hour student", I have to attend more classes than a 4o hour student (over-acheiver... I know... I gotta compete with Brittany some how. ).. there are 6 other 45 hour students in my art class, so instead of sitting in a cold classroom, we decided to go to a Catholic church and have our teacher teach from an actual structure, and not just pictures (you learn so much better that way). This church was super decorated... and by super I mean that's the best word I can think of to describe the decoration. It was ridiculous and a little bit sad.. money could be allocated in SO many more ways than decoration. In the words of MC, "What a pity". Within the church their were statues of the crucifixion, tons of the Virgin Mary, and also saints. They also had boxes full of electric candles beneath certain saints that you could put money into and it would light up a candle or two for you and (I think) could be considered a prayer? I'm not really sure.. I know pretty much nothing about Catholicism. Anywho... all that to share this bit of information.. there is a saint called St. Anthony who is considered the "Cupid" of the Catholic religion.. you pray to him when you are looking for a bf/gf/husb/wife... guess how many candles were lit. ONE. No lie... and I'm pretty sure it's because the average age in that church was 75... it makes sense.

What else... what else..

POE. That's what else. My POE teacher CANNOT remember my name!!! I've been in her class for 2 months and there are a maximum of maybe 12 people in the whole class!! This is a bit of an outrage. I even sit in the exact same seat every. single. class. Every Mon/Wed. this is what happens:

Sonia (I know her name) pulls out her attendance sheet and says, "Reh-bek-kah (bam, knows her), Sah-dah (Sarah [Moe]... bam knows her), Cooney? (she scans the room almost as if saying, "not her, not him, not him, not her....") and when she finally gets to me she says, "Ah, Cooney".

And everyday I think to myself, "yep.. been sitting here everyday since class has started.. maybe she'll get it the next class." That same class my theory of her having a screw loose was proven correctly. I've began to notice what when she makes a silly mistake she always sticks her pointer finger up to her temple and gives her hand a quick rotation; making a screwing motion. I was no longer offended she never remembers my name... she can't help it.

Later that same day, I had my Geografia de Espana class. My professor is just about the cutest thing ever, but in a goofy way (he's got sticky outy ears.. and his mannerisms are really funny... he's the one I was talking about when he does his "air quotes" he sticks his 4 fingers [two on each hand] up next to his head and air quotes outward (try it) and he looks like I dunno... a bird maybe?) Does't matter, it's funny. During our class (5 people) he starts humming "You are my Sunshine"... I laughed at him and he got embarrassed and told us that that song was his 5 year-old son's first song to learn in English. Cute, I know.

Yesterday while sitting in my Spanish Civ. class, I began to realize how the teachers here teach you the facts. I know you are thinking, "Well, I hope so.. " , but allow me to explain. What I mean by this is that when a professor is telling the class about a political party or a controversial topic they tell you how it is.. it's not filled with subliminal bias or tweaked to sound politically correct. It's nice.. it's one of the only things I like better than school in the U.S.

Speaking of Spanish Civ, my good friend Andrew (THE Texas kid) did the unthinkable the other day... He compared Texas (and it's inhabitants) to the ETA. If you are unfamiliar with the ETA, let me learn you something. The ETA is a Spanish TERRORIST GROUP that has been responsible for over 1000 deaths all because they want nothing to do with Spain. The ETA is located in The Basque Country (or Pais Vasco) and it's inhabitants have their own language, sports, etc. and they want to "secede" from Spain and become their own country and not have to abide by Spain's national rules. Now, not ALL of the people who live in the Basque Country are part of this group, but the civilians of this region are afraid of the ETA, and it's common for people to be threatened to donate money to the group or vote a certain way. Honestly, I see where Andrew was trying to go with this, but... he failed to execute the comparison gracefully... I buried my head in my hands and laughed out of disbelief. He can't help it.. he spent 3 years at t.u.

I'm pretty sure that's all I've got.

Except this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY66ZJ0TFUI my art professor showed it to us.. I found it to be hilarious.. hopefully you feel the same too... the Spanish one is extremely accurate. :)

Dos besos,

Courtney

Plan B: The Road Most Traveled

Top (L-R) Boqeria Marke, Lunch

Bottom: My barracks for the night.

Top(L-R) The beach, Sagrada Familia

Bottom(L-R) Casa Batllo, first night living arrangements

So... I went to Barcelona this past weekend..

It was amazing... I'm taking all of you there.. (at your expense of course) except you have to "rough it" like we did [one pair of jeans, 2shirts, necessary number of undergarments, toothbrush, shamp&condit DONE..I literally fit into a Walmart sack]... and because Plan A never works (hence the title of this blog.. the B also stands for Barcelona... dual meaning.. clever; I know) I have Barcelona down pat. Before I begin this monster of a blog, I would like to list all of the places my friends and I traveled to in only 2 days:

• Casa Batlló
• Casa Mila
• Sagrada Familia
• 1992 Olympic stadium
• The Beach-Equity Point (our hostel)
• The Barcelona harbor (biggest boat/yacht expo in the world was there)
• Magic Fountain (funny story.. read below)
• Plaza Cataluña
• Casa de Les Punxes
• Mirador de Colom (the lion pics on FB... good times)
• Parc Grüell
• La Rambla/Boqeria Market

Maybe it doesn't seem like that many, but I will have you know that these places had to be traveled to... they were in no form or fashion in one general area... no sir-ee.

Day 1:

Thursday evening was an eventful one... it consisted of guessing which bus to take to the bus station and also catching it... easy right?... For the most part.. Right. The tricky part about the bus is that you have to know where you need to get off. Did we know? Nope. So... being the resourceful people we are... we come to the conclusion that this lady on the bus with a red suitcase is also going to the bus station (why else would she have a suitcase?) and decide to get off when she gets off. Well, she gets off and we look around and we don't feel it is the appropriate place to get off, so we don't. Mistake. Should have followed the red suitcase. Always follow the red suitcase.. what did we do... resorted to PLAN B (this will be the theme for this post if you haven't already caught on.) We decided to get off at the next stop except we were getting off in Spain's version of the ghetto or chabola... it was all good though we were less than a quarter of a mile from the bus station.. no harm done. Once we arrived to the bus station we plopped down in some seats in the waiting area and I started to journal...I wrote about how it reminded me of an old school romance movie with a man/woman running off the bus, through the steam, and mackin' on his/her man when they unite (ok so maybe those were trains; same thing) what the others did isn't important. Only me. :) kidding. When the clock hit 9pm it was time to board the bus. The bus ride was full of fun(ny) and exciting things. For example: Sarah's inappropriate "That's what she said" joke. It went a little something like this: (Rated PG-17)

Me: I think my jeans are about to rip.

Sarah: Right there where it's all faded?

Me: Yeah.. it's a coming

Sarah: THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!

UGH! I HATE That's what she said jokes. Like hate. After we had recovered from such an inappropriate joke, Sarah whipped out her SPAIN travel book and started making the itinerary... which we would then find to be utterly stupid... Why? .. we always use Plan B. Always. After and hour and a half on a charter bus that smelled of stale cigarettes, we arrived in Málaga. We were all very pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a Backstreet Boys classic... "As Long as You Love Me"... it was a good 2 minutes. Once we had re-lived awkward Jr. High days, we went outside and unfortunately hopped in a taxi to take us to our hotel. Taxis are freaking expensive.. that's all I'm gunna say.. hate them almost as much as I hate "That's what she said jokes". When we got to our hotel (Holiday Inn) our masterminds went to work... here was our situation:

We booked a 2 person room... we had 4 people... any more than 2 people in the room was extra money... we didn't want to have to pay that extra money. So....... the blondes (Sarah and Sam) went to check-in to our room while Evelyn and I (the brunette "Spaniards") waited on a bench outside. We figured the blonde girls would call more attention to themselves than 2 brunettes would.. Spaniards love blondes.. especially the men. The plan worked beautifully and we made it into our room with zero complications. Mom, Dad.. I don't know if you are proud or ashamed of me for this, but... it happened... please still love me.

While sitting on the bench waiting for the green light to try to go up to our room, Evelyn and I watched a super skinny (literal bean pole), probably drug taking, spandex wearing British man rant and yell swear words at possibly:

• the hotel
• the hotel staff
• someone in the hotel
• someone the thought was in the hotel

The man eventually approached Evelyn and I and asked in his very British accent, "Do you have a fuego?"[go ahead.. say it in your best British accent and see how funny it sounds] (fuego means fire... he wanted us to light [something] for him) it took everything we had not to bust out laughing at him. So once he left... we busted out laughing.. tears filled the eyes, lungs were deprived of oxygen, ab muscles were worked... it was one of the many things we referenced during the trip.

Once in the room we pushed the two twin-sized beds together and had ourselves a decent amount of sleep, well.. as much as you can have with 4 people in 2 beds and people *cough* Sarah and Evelyn snoring.

Day 2:

Day 2 had an early start... too early. After we had gathered all our things, put the beds back to conceal the evidence, we hopped in our taxi (yet again.. ugh) and made the 3min 10euro ride to the airport. Luckily, we found 10euro in the taxi, so the last person to ride in it payed for our trip (WIN!) Once in the airport we proceeded to lovely security... I got frisked... home girl was coppin' all sorts of feels.. can't say I blame her... MC's meal selections and bread have done wonders to this bod. After getting felt up by a Spaniard (unfortunately a woman.. lol kiding..she really was a woman) we went and stood in line at the RyanAir boarding desk... the way RyanAir works is that it's first come first serve so you have to get there pronto or else you are sitting next to a crazy... or someone you just don't want to sit by. Even though we were towards the front in line, we still had to sit next to a crazy, or at least Sarah did... the whole flight home boy was trying to sleep all over Sarah.. bleh. The airplane also had some in-flight entertainment. A movie? music? No and no... an emergency evacuation comic... according to RyanAir, you need to remove the following items before exiting DURING AN EMERGENCY:

1. Glasses
2. Jewelry
3. Shoes
4. and my personal favorite... Dentures.

Seeing how it was 8 in the morning and we had been up since 5... this was WAY entertaining.

1 HOUR AND 10 MINUTES LATER.......

WE ARE IN BARCELONA! I think we all had this great sense of accomplishment because we all knew how terribly wrong this whole trip could have gone. When we had made it to the exit, we faced our next obstacle... how to get from the airport to our hostel. We ask the information desk for a map and decided to sit at a table to figure out where exactly we were and what would be the best option for transportation. Well seeing how the map did not include the airport, it did us zero good. So... what time is it? Time for Plan B! Plan B consisted of me going up to the information desk asking "Puedo hablar en ingles?" (Can I speak in English?.. I knew it was dangerous for me to get directions in Spanish),showing her the address of our hostel, and telling her I needed to know the best way to get there. She did... except she gave me the wrong bus number to catch so, as usual.. we were wandering around downtown Barcelona looking for a bus that probably didn't even exist. After several questions of "Donde esta Plaza del Mar?" we finally make it to our ocean front hostel. At our hostel we checked in with Paulo.. an Italian who apparently left Italy to get away from the Pope (he was coming the same weekend we were there... we saw him a few times... mainly on signs and posters.) and he gave us the low down on the place. They only provide a pillow case and bottom sheet, so if you need/want a top sheet or blanket, you have to buy/rent them...seeing how we were "roughin' it" we chose none of the above. I slept with my jacket and folded the bottom half of the sheet around my legs. When it came time to take a shower, I dried off with a used shirt. It was so liberating. After we had settled into our hostel we set out for the streets. First stop, Casa Batlló... a very peculiar building designed by the oh so famous Antoni Gaudi. This successful architect has pretty much tagged every nook and cranny of Barcelona with whimsical buildings. You know a Gaudi when you see one. (pics above) Next stop was Casa Mila, and the host of the Pope himself, Sagrada Familia (pic above). The Sagrada Familia is a massive cathedral that, for some reason, is being worked on/renovated/finished and so all of my pictures of it contain cranes that really enhance the architecture. It was borderline frustrating. After all that walking and intense sightseeing we were ready to hit the sack to revamp for the next day. That night there was minimal sleep. Why? well there's a laundry list of things such as:

• Sarah and Evelyn snoring
• Girls asking the other girl if she knows the father of her soon to be born child
• The climbing couple bunking with us
• The random guy who also bunked with us.. we don't think he was supposed to be there... but we were happy to have him.

The next day was pretty much near perfection. After a breakfast of some of the most wonderful Coco Krispies ever, we all went down to the beach and literally just sat there for 2 hours... the weather was perfect and Sarah, Evelyn, and I had an absolute blast playing "Your Team" What is "Your Team" you ask? Allow me to explain:

Your Team is fun people watching game where you look for some of the strangest/goofiest/interesting people you can find and assign them to each other's teams by saying [insert player's name here], your team. The person being assigned a teammate can choose to deflect the person assigned to them if and only if the other player has not yet said shield. If the other player calls shield the person must keep the person assigned to them. We each had certain types that were constantly assigned to us they are as follows:

• Evelyn= people with long hair... so they can braid their hair together
• Sarah= the nekkeds.. nuff said
• Me= shorty shorts...mmmm

After we had gotten our fill of the beach, we headed to meet up with some other girls from our same program who also ventured to Barcelona at Plaza Cataluna . Upon arrival, we find our friend Caitlin surrounded by 3 Indian men asking to take a picture with her because they think she looks like Shakira.. she doesn't really look like Shakira... she just has big hair like Shakira.. it's awesome. I got bored waiting for the Indian men to leave her alone and so I began taking "stalker pics" of some genius little boys. They were feeding the pigeons rice.. (which I'm pretty sure is bad for birds but whatever), in a very creative way.. they had formed a circle with the rice and so they had a circle of pigeons around them...which was really more like The Circle of Death... I think that's what made it the most amusing for me. ha. Once the Indians were done with Shakira, we made way for La Rambla. On La Rambla there was a literal plethora of things... tons of street performers, vendors of flowers, pets, jewelry etc. and my personal favorites... ARTISTS! gosh I wish I were talented like that... I was so envious of their skills. Once we made it to the end of La Rambla we went to Mirador de Colom. Mirador de Colom was a monument with massive lion statues that you just couldn't help but climb on them.. they reminded me of climbing on the lions at the San Antonio Zoo when I was little...only thing was, was that they weren't so easy to get up on.. there was literally no way to get on and off them gracefully (scope FB pics for a visual) I've never laughed so hard in my life... it's really entertaining watching a girl in a knee length denim skirt get on lady-like.. ha.. gosh.. so funny. Moving along.... next stop was the harbor/yacht expo... amazing.. I love boats.. especially sailboat and watching them come into the harbor on such a beautiful day was absolutely wonderful... I could have done it all day... but then we got hungry so we went to find some food. The next stop was the Boqeria Market.. this is the largest market in Europe and it had literally every kind of nut, fruit, vegetable, cut of meat, seafood, etc. you could ever dream of. I literally loved every minute of it.. I'm pretty sure I said "this is so COOL" a million times. This was also the place where our lunches came from. My lunch consisted of a huge fruit bowl full of melon, grapes, mango, kiwi, figs, and a fruit I'm not sure what is called (pics on FB) and to drink, fresh kiwi juice. Pure bliss. Next stop was Parc Grüell... yet another piece of art by Gaudi himself. We had to book it there because the sun was setting fast and we wanted to get there in time to get decent pictures. We barely made it. Why? Because of the MASSIVE hill we had to walk up (we had our "luggage" with us at this point because we were leaving for the airport that night.. luggage=backpacks)... luckily at some points of this hill there were escalators.. my butt is still feeling that hill... it hurts so good. We made it up the endless hill and it was well worth the hike. The view was amazing and so was the sunset... it was one of those things that make you sigh... those are always the best.

Once the sun had set and it was pretty much dark outside we decided to meet Caitlin and Tiffany at the Magic Fountain, but not before we ate. We found this cheap Chinese bar and chowed down on some paella and spinach tortellini and then killed time by making a Cootie Catcher out of our paper place mat and amusing ourselves for a bit. Using our handy dandy map... we successfully found the Magic Fountain only.. it TOO is under construction. We were all ticked... we spent money on a metro and wasted energy (which at this point was in short supply) to go to this place far away from where we needed to catch our airport bus... yep you guessed it.. Plan B Accepting our defeat, we walked back to the metro and went to meet the other two girls for the airport bus. We successfully get to the airport at approximately 12am and decide to be homeless people up until our flight at 630am. We found refuge behind the airlines' information desks. Some of us set up beds made of clothes, some of us journaled, some of us read Spanish Cosmopolitan (more entertaining in Spanish I'll admit)and some of us could not pull ourselves together to shut up and stop laughing (ahem Sarah Moe). :) To help aid in the staying up process, Sarah, Evelyn, and I made our way to the coffee vending machine to load up on caffeine. While walking to the vending machine we see this army of men all dressed in grey suits with baby blue ties walking into the airport... we then see a few people get up from their seats and go take pictures with some of the guys... this sparked our interest and we rubber-necked all the way to our original destination. After we managed to get our caffeine, we waved down a worker on a Zamboni like machine and asked him who this army of nicely dressed men were... he informed us that they were Malaga's professional futbol team. Playa say what!? we were in the presence of Gods... I mean they weren't the top gods like Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, but they were still pros! I totally would have asked for a picture, but I looked like a bad train wreck and it just wasn't worth the embarrassment. Needless to say, we walked back to our shelter star struck.

The caffeine did nothing for me.. it put me straight to sleep... for a whopping 20min... I was SO ready to be home in MC's house, but I knew I still had quite a journey left in front of me. It finally came time for us to head to our flight only... we were at the wrong terminal so... we had to take yet another bus (free of charge) to the correct terminal in order to go through the correct security. Speaking of security, I got frisked again... I'm tired of getting felt up by women... not to mention unnecessarily beeped going through the metal detector. The rest of the day is pretty standard and uninteresting so I'll skip to our arrival to Granada......... So.. we make it to Granada.. yay! home! and find out the buses are all jacked up due to a marathon happening downtown. Great... Plan B yet again. I eventually make it home, kicked Colleen out of our room (not really she was super nice and just went and chilled somewhere else), and I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow... I was awoken by Colleen telling me lunch was ready and I was happy to see MC had made my favorite meal (white wine chicken) especially for my arrival [speculation]. After lunch I went back to bed woke up for dinner and then got ready for bed yet again.. it was a glorious, glorious day.

Dos besos,

Courtney

Midterm Time: El primero blog de noviembre

Hola chicos! (girls, you are included in this greeting as well... unfortunately Spanish is a very machismo [male oriented] language and they always take precedence when talking about a collective group of men and women)

Well, it's that time of the month... yep, you guessed it... MIDTERMS! (ha.) I'm expecting some difficulty with these upcoming midterms... not because of content, but because of motivation. All I have to do is pass these classes and Texas A&M University (Whoop!) will be happy...sin embargo (therefore) it makes it 1000000000x harder to buckle down and study. Not to worry though, all of you concerned people out there.. (Mom, Dad) I have dedicated my time and brain to retaining as much of this information as I can. I figure the Spanish vocab and phrases will only benefit me, and is kind of the reason why I'm here.. academically at least. Speaking of vocabulary... (good segway for a story.. or 2)...

Story #1

So... Colleen and I went and ate churros last night at Café Futbol, and when we asked our waiter for two glasses of water, he failed to bring them to us. We chalked it up to an NBD (no big deal) and decided to ask for the check. Two minutes later he brings us 2 glasses of water. At this point we are confused.... I really wanted to ask him, "Do you even speak Spanish?", but I didn't... I downed my water and proceeded to ask for the check once again... this time he nailed it. Check. Brought. After churros, Colleen and I had every intension of going and sitting on a bench somewhere and people watching (it was Halloween and Spain is new to the whole "costume" idea...thankfully they haven't caught on to the whole, "lingerie is a considered suitable clothes idea"), but it was raining and we were without umbrellas so we walked back home... I almost biffed several times... I was even wearing my Chacos.

Story #2

So... Colleen and I are sitting eating lunch discussing last night's festivities, and MC informs us that there is a good churro place.... somewhere... (I didn't really understand and honestly I didn't really care) and as she is telling she uses this word that neither Colleen nor I understood... so, being a person looking to expand my vocabulary, I ask her what the significance of the word is. She puts her hands up to her face and says, "Oye chicas! Necesitan estar en las calles mas!" (Oh girls, y'all need to be in the streets more) [she was talking about a cross walk...paso de peatones].. Let me just take this opportunity to say:

1. This woman acts like I never leave the house!
2. Bad things happen in the streets
3. Girls in streets never have a good connotation
4. Who the heck uses the word "cross-walk" on a daily basis?
5. Thus far... I have experienced very few Spaniards patient enough to talk with me, and even if they did I highly doubt they would use the word "cross-walk" in our time spent talking
6. American parents like when their kids stay at home... not to mention STUDY!
7. She can't grasp the fact that Colleen and I are not party animals like her son and his girlfriend; who stay out until 6am.

Whatevs.. I'm here, I'm trying, and I don't need her help. LOL

After lunch Sarah, Evelyn, and I decided to crack a few books (more like packets, but whatever) at our place Esmaralda's (yes it's m-a-r-a...). It's this quaint little cafe complete with WiFi, cigarette vending machine, toilet paper filled bathroom, and a vast array of American pop music (Ke$sha to Beiber).. the people who work there are super great as well. They will let you just sit there for as long as you want and not give you dirty looks because you are taking up a table long after you have finished your drink. My only complaint is that the tables are small and the chairs become uncomfortable fast... totally worth it for no dirty looks. While we were there, I took to learning my hundreds of vocab words for POE (devil class.. Sarah disagrees, but what does Sarah know... other than more Spanish/vocab than me) [I said that because she now frequents my blog and I wish to make her "mad"... I will hear about this mention upon next meeting... she's quite a feisty little thing] Speaking of Sarah, last name Moe, she informed Evelyn and I today (while in Esmaralda's) that the only song she can harmonize to is "Broken Strings" by James Morrison.. but she can only harmonize while in her car, so don't ask her to harmonize anywhere else... she can't do it. Anyways, I dommed about 1/3 of my vocab and then decided to read, what I thought was a short article for Spanish Civ., but turned out to be a 40pg. long chapter... Will I read this chapter in it's entirety? H-No! (The H is for Heck).. I got the jist of that thing in the first 10 pages...at least to my knowledge... :) While taking a break from the endless vocab, I noticed a young boy (about 16) walk into E's... his appearance was as follows:

• Tight skinnies (sagging)
• High top tennie runners
• "Cool" zip up hoodie
• No lie... 6inch.. I don't know what you would even call it... I guess half a mohawk? It's weird because it's only the top that is long enough to spike. I'll try to eventually get a picture.. you'll see.

This is not the first time I have seen this "half-hawk"... it seems to be a very popular phenomenon around here and this is my theory about it... I think that the "half-hawk" is a trick to make these kids look taller. For those of you who do not know, Spain's men are some of the shortest, if not the shortest, in all of Europe (I was an idiot thinking I was gunna find myself a man here)... and using the "half-hawk" for height compensation is the only explanation.. because it sure as heck doesn't look cool.

It soon became dinner time and Sarah and I walked to our neck of the woods and I made it home just in time for dinner. I had left over spaghetti, a potato chip or two (Colleen had thankfully eaten the majority of them when I arrived home), an sunny side up egg that I know was not adequately cooked (I'm expecting the effects of salmonella soon), and pudding. And now here I am.. sitting with terrible posture, writing this blog with notes written on pieces of napkin (such a writer thing to do...although.... I'm no writer... I hate it too much.. It's a miracle I can keep a journal and a blog)