Travel home

Was a rebel once again and swiped some extra food for lunch from the buffet breakfast at the hotel! I had to get a taxi because the shuttle service was unavailable on Sundays. The dude dropped me off at the wrong terminal. Shame on him. I had to juggle my luggage and hop on the airport shuttle to the correct terminal-- 4. I ran into a girl who was also studying abroad in Spain and was on her way home. She also had not traveled home alone before, so we ran through the airport together.

Once I was on the plane I crashed. Only for about four hours though. I woke up to see that "27 Dresses" was playing. That perked me up a bit and I stayed awake for the rest of that flight. That and the fact they served me PIZZA! Ok, it wasn't the best... but I definitely was happy to see some Americanized food!

My layover in Dallas consisted of going through customs, being randomly selected to have my goods pawed through, going through security, calling Jacob / the padres to tell them I'm alive and getting on the plane.

I have no idea what happened on my flight to Seattle -- I was asleep. Landed in Seattle about 10:15 PM. Some super good looking wannabe limo driver picked me up!

We headed to the hotel Parker works at. I caught Jake up on all the adventures I had and showed him all my super sweet souveniers.

Aug 3:

This morn we made some mean waffles at the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Finally my food had some flavor. My tastes buds were going nuts.

After we checked out we headed over to Gasworks Park. It was pretty spectacular. Such a gorgeous day. Neither of us have been there. There were tons of kids getting their senior pictures. So we tooks some shots of each other. We're pretty much amazing.

Then we headed over to the water front and had lunch at Ivar's. There they love the seagulls so we made many new friends. All of them are named Fred or Fred's cousin.

Headed up to Pike's Place and got mom a belated birthday boquet of flowers. Then I drove to Seatac and pressed the eject button and Jake flew out of the car. He had a 3:15 pm flight to Minnesota.

Once I got home I backed in and saw this amazing sign made by my brother and mother.

Reina Sofia

Our hotel is so swanky! Annie and I woke up and had our complimentary breakfast. It was stellar. We then hopped on a metro and headed to the Reina Sofia art museum.

There we saw some of Picasso's works. The most famous being "Guarnica". We were hoping to find a map with the most famous works in the museum because we were short on time. No such luck.

We left there around 11:30 AM. She went back down to the metro to go back to the hotel. She flew out to Barcelona to start her cruise. After un brazo, I was on my own.

I headed over to see the Cristal Palace. It's super pretty but on the map it makes it look huge, but it's not. I think they to get new map drawers. After that I continued through the Madrid Park. It is absolutely gorgeous. Next I went to the botanical gardens. Once again the map drawers did not draw the map proportionatly.

My next item on my agenda was to go check out Corte Ingles. We talked about this store so many times in business class. The store is HUGE! Absolutely incredible. They have everything from beds to a grocery store! I'm glad I made the effort to go check it out.

From there I went down to the metro. I have that system down now! It's super easy and only 1 euro (each way). Not too bad for taking me from one end of town to the other.

I re-packed my bag. I seriously hope it weighs less than fifty pounds. They charge $50 if you go over. Then I ate my sandwich I bought at Corte Ingles. I also watched a debate on BBC about housing situations in different countries. It cracked me up because we had this same discussion with people of the same backgrounds - Chinese, Spanish, American, Brazilian - in business class.

Madrid Bound

Boats, feet, car, train, taxi, metro

Slept in... and boy did I need it! I still only got 4 hours of sleep though.

Annie, Bhavina, and Karen met me in Plaza Mayor... Karen said her goodbyes and the rest of us went down to try to rent boats for an hour. Unfortunately the boat place wasn't open, but their boats were still there!

We crossed back over the river and ran into two guys from my business classes. One is from Italy the other from Germany. They can talk to each other in four different languages and each knows more than that! I can not even fathom thinking about learning another language!

After I got a pic with them Annie, Bhavina and I got gofres. They are a thick waffle like treat that tastes more like a doughnut with ice cream and hot fudge on top! Delicious!

I went over to the res next and said goodbye to Erik and Bhavina. Then I had my last lunch. It consisted of a funky potato salad with tuna and olives in it, and pork.

At 5 PM Tomas brought me to the train station. On our way we say Annie, Janessa and Rachel walking in that direction. I did not know Tomas has a car. I'm pretty sure I asked them in the beginning if they have a car. Meh. He helped me out with my luggage and then said goodbye.

The train ride was 2 hours and 45 minutes. I chowed down on the bocadillo Maite prepared for me. It was pretty fabulous. Once we got into Madrid we had to book it to our hotel so we took a cab. The dude was a spaz though. He kept making random mouth noises and it took him a couple of tries to find the hotel. We then checked in and turned around and hoofed it to the metro. We had 10:30 dinner plans at the oldest restaurant in the world --Botin. There we met Devon and Gokul, also three other people from our summer session (but not w/ API).

Once we were done we said our goodbyes to Gokul and Devon and hopped back on the metro. On our way home some dude was telling me that it's a good workout to take the stairs (b/c I was on the stairs and he on the escalator). I rolled my eyes and told Annie I could out run them if need be. She replied, "You just have to out run me!"

Last full day... & Churros!!

Went to my final day of school. (We have 3 skip days and I elected to use one of them for Friday!) I found out my grades... I think I need to learn to slack off better. The grades themself do not transfer - it will show up as a pass or fail on my transcript. Here's what I earned... Grammar: B; Business: A-; Economics: A; Culture: A. I only needed C's... haha.

Overall I felt as though I learned a ton about the EU through my business classes as well as the home countries of my fellow classmates. It definitely did not feel like five hours of class everyday! Thank goodness!

After school I headed back home we ate lunch and I packed my bags. That was difficult. I'm such a pack rat sometimes.

I then headed over to the residencia to go to dance class :-D. The residencia is 4 stories (only the middle two have students in it this term). The porch overhangs on the left and is over the gas station below. Definitely way better than a typical dorm.

Our final dance class was SPECTACULAR. We all were so silly. We actually look pretty darn good now. Alvaro our teacher wanted to know how people dance in the US. Erik, who was there today to step in for Jon's absence, told him its más cerca y más sucio (closer and dirtier). Janessa and I demonstrated.

I headed home for a well needed siesta... b/c I knew I was going to fiesta later on!

At dinner I asked for Pic w/ Tomas and Maite. Here's us on their couch. They're so funny. At dinner Tomas quizzed me about my stay here. He asked if it was up to my expectations and if it was a positive or a negative experience. I told him it was great. He said, "Perfecto." And then did his normal smoker's chuckle.

After dinner I headed to the residencia. We were all meeting up there for one last night of fun! Our first stop was El Savor. We got to show off our amazing salsa skills. Next was Camelot. This place is more Americanized. I was sardined in there for quite awhile! The last place we went to was Kandhavia. It was my first time there... huge dance floor and great music. As the night went on we said goodbye to many of the people that are sticking around here. On a brighter note, Annie and I made it for churros. They open up at 4:30 AM. I'm pretty proud of myself! haha And they were AMAZING! 6 churros and a thing of chocolate for 2.60 euro. Divide that by two and you've got a cheap snack!

Grammar Final & Goodbye Dinner

Tossed and turned last night... Don't know if I was nervous about the final or what was getting me! So lame!

My first class is grammar and today we had our final. It was amazing. Time of my life. Or something. It was five pages long and I had to write a 2oo word essay to accompany a text that we read. It took the full two hours. So lame. I only had to get 50% of it correct to get my passing grade. :-D I've never had to just pass before. I kind of like it!

After that the other classes were easy. I found out that I got an 86% on my culture final which just so happens to be between an A- and an A... so she's giving me an A. Wahoo! Oh and I dont have to go to that class tomorrow nor the next day! ... I'm going to give myself my own culture lesson.

For lunch today I had a smorgous board of random leftovers from their get-together last night. The most interesting was a peach, skinned and cut in half. In the dip in the middle she put tuna & mayo topped off with an olive. I soooo wanted to take a picture! HA

I took a siesta... skyped Jakey... then went out to wonder w/ Annie, Erik and Estuardo.

Then I got ready to go out for our final dinner -- our last API activity. We ate at an Italian restaurant in the train station sooo good. Then we went over to the residencia to hang out. Others went out to the clubs but Janessa, Annie and I made our way home.

Today I had a test in culture.... I studied a whole whopping hour yesterday and during my breaks between classes today. I think I knew almost all of it :-D

After class I ate. That was profound. Since my test was in my last class I was able to ditch out right when I was finished!

Annie, Janessa and I met up around 4:30 to go to the API office to obtain our free shirts... It was pretty snazzy. It's a shirt w/ the University logo on it :-D We also checked out this random painted ceiling of the zodiac signs. It looked old. I dont know the history on it though.

Next Annie and I hustled our buns over to the residencia to meet up with the group for our second to last dance lesson. Today the boys learned how to move their hips!!! We found it pretty amusing!

I got a bocadillo (sack lunch) for dinner tonight that I ate at the residencia as I studied with Karen. I think my madre was having some sort of dinner party tonight and I wasn't invited. Meh. It worked out. Tomorrow Jon leaves for Barcelona with Cristina and Stephanie, so it was the last time I'll see them.

For the rest of the evening I studied grammar. It was a real hoot.

Helado... como siempre

Whoever came with the idea that subjunctive tense of Spanish verbs should be turned into a game was seriously mistaken. I spent two hours on the edge of my seat crossing my fingers, hoping not to get called on. Juego de subjuntivo = dos horas de tortura. The rest of school was easy cheesy.

After lunch I met up with my date for six weeks -- Annie. We went to a wedding dress shop (vestidos de novia) but all but 3 were in the thousands of dollars. Sorry... I'm only going to wear this bad boy for a couple of hours... I sure as heck am not going to spend that kind of money on it!

We took a walk to the Northwest side of town to find this little shop any wanted to check out. After that we headed back towards the resedencia... but we made a pit stop at "El Arbol" a grocery store and picked up a thing of ice cream to share. It was GREAT. Note the mass amounts of chocolate on my hand. I was a wild one!!

I did some quick studying for culture before dinner. After dinner I headed back to the res to go out w/ some of the gang. Three of the people are going to Barcelona this weekend but are leaving Tuesday night. So this was the last time to go out with them. Such a weird feeling. We went to Ohara's and then the Irish Rover.

Sandeman

Loaded up on the bus at 10:30 to go to the river and try out some wine. We went to the Sandeman winery. We saw the sign the night before and we thought it was Zorro, boy were we confused! Once we were there we wondered through their facility. There were barrels upon barrels of wine being stored. The oldest they have is from 1906. This one costs about 3,000 Euro per bottle. And it has to be drinken within 24 hours.

For the "tasting" part they served us only one type of wine -- tawny. It tasted a bit oaky. Can't say I was a fan. This is Cate and myself at the tasting. She's one of the two girls living in the residencia.

After the tour we had a couple hours of free time. We bought some snacks to accompany our lunches and ate down along side the river. Such a gorgeous day!!!

Right before we left we were hanging out by a race of some sort. They were riding off-road bicycles. We're still not sure what was going on. Anyways they started chucking us hats. We all looked pretty darn sexy.

At around 3 we headed back to Salamanca. I slept... like normal. We made a quick stop for ice cream / bathrooms about halfway through. After that I did my hw. We arrived in Salamanca around 8 pm.

Atlantic Ocean

I woke up to the back of Rachel. We’re pretty sure that we’re the only ones w/ a double bed. We strolled down for our free breakfast. They had some super stellar rolls.

At 11 the bus picked us up to go to the beach. It was gorgeous but uber windy! (Dad would not have survived). We tried to play Frisbee but it was too darn windy. I tried to send it up wind but my super bullet Frisbee style would catch air, twist, and crash. So, I pretty much just laid out all day until the bus picked us up at 4. Estuardo went to the grocery store and picked up some ham, cheese, buns and some snacks all for 3 euro. I gave him a euro and he made me a mean sandy sandwich.

Once we got back to the hotel we turned around and hit the stores. Then we watched a movie while everyone else was getting ready for dinner. I believe it’s called “The Guardian.”
For dinner we headed back down to the river. Annie was my date once again. We shared some pork thing with French fries and sodas. It was extremely tasty. Annie and I went on the hunt for dessert or something to its equivalent on the way home. We cruised through their train station—gorgeous. We ended up at the Majestic Café. It is in art-deco style. We shared 2 desserts—an apple tart and a chocolate cake. Both were delicious. It really made we want to have an apple bar!

We found some people playing cards in the lobby living room, so we joined. I’m pretty sure I played the LONGEST game of Uno in my life! The first and second place winners were out about ten minutes in. The rest of us were there until an hour or so later. We played until Jon decided to cheat and let Annie come in third.

Off to Porto, Portugal!!

Final Excursion

On my way to school today I decided to take some pix of my route to school. Starting out we have my hallway.

Once I get outside I always see this construction work. I believe that this is an articulated truck and an excavator.

Then I pass by this park every morn next to Plaza España.

Next I’ll cross a couple of big roads and go down this road. It reminds me of Harry Potter

That road brings me to Plaza Mayor which is where I meet up with Karen to walk to class. Sometimes I see Robert and Jon too.

During the last bit of the walk we go towards the cathedral. It reminds me of Marry Poppins with all the seagulls flying.

And here is the building where all my classes are.

It takes me about a half hour to walk to class. (I have it all timed out. 7 minutes to P. España, 12 minutes more to P Mayor, and another 7 to school.)

I got to skip out on the last 15 minutes of culture class today to catch our bus to Porto.
Bus ride felt super long, however I slept the majority of the time. :-D

Once we arrived we divided into our rooms. Rachel is my roomy! Everyone else has two or more beds. We get to share a romantic double.

After we got situated we headed down to the river—very beautiful. Annie, Janessa and I had our bocadillos our mom’s made us, so we didn’t have to buy anything. Estuardo, Annie and I wondered around looking at the bridge… climbing up a creepy hillside and making our way back home.

We ended the night with a mafia game. The doctor did not save me and I was the sheriff.

La Celestina y Baile

School!!! ... only 6 more days left... and I can miss two of them and still get full credit. (So tempting!) It's bad when my favorite part of grammar class is our five minute break. haha

Once I finished lunch I headed out with Annie and Estuardo to explore the city. We headed to a garden down by the cathedral is. This is where the story "La Celestina" was written about.

The story tells of Calisto, who falls in love with Melibea, but following the schemes of Celestina their love has a tragic end after an accident in which Calisto falls off a ladder. Melibea then jumps out of a balcony ending her life. The story started by Calisto wondering in the garden of Melibea (hoping to talk to her) saying he "lost his falcon." I'm pretty sure all guys should try this pick up line once in their lives!

After that brief history lesson we headed to the residencia to meet up before dance class. Our group had a ton of fun... like normal. Today we had a dance off, well Robert and I versus Devon and Jon. I'm not sure who technically won... I vote us! On the way back we passed the other half of our API group (they have a later dance class). Erik just happened to be wearing the same shirt as Robert. Cute.

I then siesta-ed for 2 hours. It's more like a reallllly long nap. Siestas are only supposed to last for 20 minutes or so.

Dos presentaciones, La Piscina y flamenco

Survived grammar class. Always a bonus. Today we were working on expressions "temporales." They're transition words, such as "as soon as," "after that," etc. Then we worked on Por vs Para. Always a demonic subject.


After grammar I went upstairs to give my 2 presentations. The first one went super. The whole presentation worked, the projector worked and people were focused. The second one... ugh. The projector decided not to work, so instead of a powerpoint show we had to wing it and do one w/ the chalk board. Not quite the same effect. I'm pretty sure our class was bored out of their minds.


I just realized... I've done more presentations in Spanish (5+) that I have in English (1) in my college career... Odd


Then in Culture class we learned about the Flamenco dance. Interestingly enough I went to a show later this evening.


Following class and lunch I headed over to the pool w/ Elizabeth, Chelsea, Stephanie, Karen, Cate and Amy. It was SUPER windy though so we only hung out for a couple of hours. Elizabeth whipped out her 2-liter Sprite from her backpack.

Got home. Did a smidgen of HW. Skyped mom and talked to Jake online.


I made myself dinner a bit early because API was taking us out to a Flamenco show. I sat w/ Estuardo, Annie, Rachel and Michael. Beautiful show. The singer sounded like a drunk though.

We finished the night with ice cream in Plaza Mayor. My poison was strawberry this time :-D

Intercambio y Baile

Went to school today thinking that I was going to present one of my two presentations. Oh no... the German dude and the Italian dude decided to talk FOREVER about stuff we were doing last week, leaving us 10 minutes to present. Then our presentation / projector / uber old computer didn't work. It was quite sad. So tomorrow I'll be presenting. Pretty much for 2 hours straight. So lame!

After school I met w/ an intercambio (exchange) -- Sara again. This time with Annie. We talked about school things and random other topics.

Then Annie and I made our way to the residencia to then go to dance class. We learned a new move.. I think in English it's called the yogurt. It was pretty silly. The boys shimmy up then bonk you on the head w/ their hand. I have no idea why it's called yogurt. The other class didn't learn it! bwahahah
I went over to the residencia after to work on my homework. It was a nice change of scenery. Having two presentations tomorrow may just kill me. Although after that all I have to do is listen to other presentations in the business classes. That and I only have 2 finals next week. One on Tuesday, the other on Wednesday. OH and I passed my grammar midterm. I did decently considering I missed the first 2 days due to class changes.

Estuardo is focused on something amazing (I'm sure) & I thought I'd pop in the pic :-D That was my scary face. meh.

Cámara Salamanca

ewwwww. So I had a test in grammar today. Definitely could've studied more for that one. However, I only have to pass to get credit :-D

After that I went to business class for a whole whopping half hour. We then packed up and went to the Salamanca chamber of commerce (at least that's what I think it was!!) The newspaper had this title "El Primer ministro de Asuntos Económicos de la Embajada de EEUU, John Peter Higgins, interviene en el Foro de Embajadores de la Cámara." Something about the prime minister of economics of the US ... yea you get the picture.

It was very informative. Within the US Salamanca trades with Florida, New York and Seattle. (They even listed it like this -- two states and a city).

Following the forum there was a meet and greet upstairs with food. About half of my class showed up for the presentation and then we lost another half for the meet and greet. It was down to me, two Germans, an Italian and two Brazilians. We didn't get a chance to talk to the US dude.

After that I wondered home, ate lunch, did hw, and went back to meet up with Annie.

We went looking at wedding dress shops. Nothing really caught my eye. The hunt is still on.

On the way home I picked up yet another magazine with awesomeness inside. This is a Marie-Claire with shoes, a swim suit and deodorant. All that for 4.50 euros!!

Homework & a Jazz Concert

Slept in today! I think that was the first time this whole trip (since I arrived in Salamanca!) However, sleeping in for me was until 9:30.... Actually that doesn't sound like sleeping in at all, but it's a heck of a lot later than I normally get up!

Had breakfast. The norm-- 2 mini muffins and about 6 cookie cracker things with tea.

Then I plugged and chugged away at my 2 presentations, 2 papers and studied for my grammar midterm. I managed to finish my chunk of the first presentation. It looks pretty darn sweet, if I do say so myself! I also finished up my paper for that presentation. The other powerpoint is for Wednesday so I have a couple days to finish that bad boy up. Did you know that movies shown in Spain are dubbed because their old dictator Franco wanted to preserve the Spanish language? This presentation was way more enthralling than my one about domestic violence. Ugh.

After a long day of homework and a dinner alone (the padres went to el campo... which could mean field, country side or many other various things), I went out for ice cream w/ Estuardo, Amy, Stephanie and Elizabeth. (Estuardo and Amy are in the pic! Note our super awesome striped shirts!!)

Then we walked down to the old cathedral and watched / listened to a jazz concert. They sounded great! I wish people were dancing though!