First day of School! EEK!

Woke up WAY too early today... 7 AM. So not the Spanish way.

Met my buds at Plaza Mayor and hoofed it to orientation. Some of my classmates were way too excited to be there.... haha

We split up into beginers / intermediate and then advanced. I was with the advance folks. Class went from 9-11 (grammar) and 11:15-1:15 (culture). Overall I felt it helped me remember the differences between past, imperfect, pluscoimperfecto and other forms of verbs in the past. Not exactly what I would call enthralling though.

After class I booked it in the 90 degree heat back to mi casa. We had... brace yourself... cured ham and wrapped it around honeydew. . . yeah. Not my favorite meal.

After lunch I went over to the residencia to hang out. We went out for some tapas b/c our teacher said that if you buy an alcoholic drink they'll throw in pinchos (small tapas) for free. We tried. It didn't work in that bar.

I went on a new route home from tapas... no parks = no creepy old men = britty happy. Dinner we had sandwiches. How I love thee. Ham and white cheese (who knows maybe goat cheese but it's good) without crust, toasted. So delicious. & Fruit for dessert. Me gusta mucho!
Now that I've skyped my mama & taken a shower, I can go to bed :-D

Historical Tour of Salamanca

Woke up around 9 am... Pretty early for here. Met peole at the Plaza Mayor at 11 to go on a historical tour of Salamanca. We learned that the heads in the plaza are those of either royals, explorers or professors. Here we are waiting for the tour to start:

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The tour included: Plaza Mayor, La casa de las conchas, the cathedral and we concluded down by the river. This is the ceiling of the cathedral in the new part. It is GORGEOUS. This part represents heaven.

After our tour we scattered home to eat lunch. . . Today it was potato salad, ham w/ gravy and melon. Good thing I dont hate potato salad. I still think I'm going to come home weighing less than when I started -- all this walking and funky foods. IDK.

I then met up with Elizabeth.. she lives relatively close to me. We did some window shopping. Word is there is a MASSIVE sale nation wide on July 1st. Hopefully it's as good as they say it is!

We then went to the residencia... our unofficial hangout.

A big group of us (pretty much everyone minus 2 peeps) went out for tapas... except we all just got drinks. Agua de grifa is my new favorite thing to order... you guessed it Tap Water!

Now it's time for dinner... I'm crossing my fingers!

Oh... Pablo!

Woke up today at 11AM! Wow... Took me a while to recover from last night. My grandma body isn't up for those late nights! (But it was tons of fun :-D )!!

Walked down to the market w/ my host mom. It was GYNORMOUS! People were flocking from all over!!! It wasn't like our market.... It didn't have any produce, just clothes and purses / shoes / towels and music and other random things!

These are all the people coming and going from the market on the road that leads to my road. SO MANY!!! I bought a cute pink top for 3 Euros! WAHOO!

After that I had lunch -- spaghetti, chicken and melon (kind of like honey doo but sweeter)

Then I met up w/ Robert. We were on a hunt for soap and sandals. I just now read the label on the soaps that we got.... Beauty Cream Bar!!! HAHA. Robert and I will be looking beautiful!!

Before we got the soaps we went on a hunt for the lucky frog. ... Can you see it? It's pretty tiny!

Next we headed to the residencia and played a game of skip-bo and watched a bit of soccer. The boys, Janessa, Annie and I went for a little stroll to see another part of town. The boys peaced out and we went to the big park to see people dancing. Low and behold Pablo was there. My new friend. Oi Ve!!! He thought he could buy my love... I told him I had already had ice cream and was going to have dinner. He didn't like that. Pablo pretended to hit me as if he were mad ... also pretended to choke me..... I wasn't digging this. So once he disappeared for a little while I scurried off. Here's the man..... This time he had his teeth in. Jacob dear... You have a much better smile. I choose you pikachu!

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Day of Relaxing & Noche Blanca

Started out the day by checking out a watch store (relojeria) to see if I could get a new battery for my watch I bought in France. He checked the battery and it was still really good and put it back in and Whaaaa-la it works. I think he's a miracle worker... b/c it certainly was not working before. This is my watch... later in the afternoon :-D

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Then I headed to the park to meet some of the girls I was going to hang out with for the day. I was super early b/c the stop at the watch dude's place did not take long. So I found a nice bench in the park they were meeting me at. I should've looked around before I sat because there were about two dozen old men looking at me -- gawking at the token blond girl in the area. A group of them over yonder started singing and one got up and danced by himself.

Then.... A man walks by then turns around and comes back to sit by me. His name is Pablo. He really wanted to take me somewhere with him. First it was coffee... then he wanted go dancing... then he wanted me to meet his friends. Oh ... I should explain this Pablo character. He is probably in his late 70's, has only 4 bottom teeth, has nice looking combover and over all just an old man. After about 10 minutes of him wanting me to go places w/ him I said I saw my friends. Poor Pablo.... He should go for girls his own age ;-P

Once my gal pals came to my rescue we headed to Parque de Jesuitas. Its a beautiful park located on the Southeast side of town. There we hung out from about noon to six-ish. So much to do there -- zip line, frisbee, cards, listen to guitar etc. Pretty fun!!! Here's Robert playing bits and pieces of songs he knows.

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Later on we went to La Noche Blanca. Its a huge community festival that included performances, concerts, dances, tours and all sorts of stuff in between. On our way we met these dudes wearing sombreros. I asked why .. thinking they may work at a restaurant or something but he responding --to shade him from the sun! HA. What a jokester. They were celebrating the kid in the obscene costume's birthday.

We watched a bunch of different dance groups. I really wanted to get up there with them! There were belly dancers, hip hoppers, break dancers, flamenco girls. So awesome! After that we sat down for some icecream and Cokes :-D I had "ron con pasas" flavored icecream (rum & raisins). Reminded me of those butter rum flavored life savors!! So good!!! Here's the girls at the Plaza Mayor.

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First full day in Salamanca

Walking Tour

Started out the day with breakfast (desayuno). This consisted of tea, cracker like cookies, and muffins with apricot jam.

Once my host mom came home from shopping we walked to the Plaza Mayor. There is where I met up with the API group. We toured the city where we may have classes and other useful buildings like the post office and banks that dont charge commission! The plaza is very pretty :-D

After that we returned to our houses for lunch. Lunch (almuerzo) is at 2:30pm. I'm definitely not used to that. For lunch we had spaghetti. I thought I was done then but I was told that I'm too skinny and need to eat this massive pork chop thing. I settled for half. Then was round 3 -- watermelon. At least it wasn't heavy like the meat. I was stuffed to the brim.

I met up with some people from my group at 3:15 to check out the city a little bit more. We first went to the dorms where others live. It's very spacious there. Once we grabbed a few of them we headed for the plaza mayor for a coke / water / tea. Here's Robert and myself. We were with Michael and Elizabeth and waiting for Jon, Bhavina and Cate. Four other girls walked through the plaza and joined us as well (Stephanie, Amy, Devon and Karen). All eleven of us headed down to the river to see the parks.

There we saw the beautiful cathedral as well as some super cool skateboarding spaniards. They fell a lot. Here's a group shot I took w/ my camera... it's a bit crooked but oh well.

Meeting Ma & Pa

Journey to Salamanca

Started out the day like the past few ... breakfast and meet with the group. This time was a bit different because we were all packed up!

API broke our trip a bit by stopping at the Escorial. In this town is the monastery "El Escorial" which covers 7 acres of land. It is still in use today. The cool thing there is the tombs of many of the Spanish Royal family. We walked downstairs in this overglorified room full of caskets with gold plates embellishing their names. The rulers were on one side and their spouse on the other. In this picture there are some of the kings in the Bible. Very pretty.

We got back on the bus and headed to Salamanca. I think it was a 2 hour bus ride... but I slept most of it! Go me! Once we were there, we saw our moms huddled with our director Maria. My mom is in the red pants.

Once we met our mothers and gave air-cheek kisses like all the good spainiards do... we headed for her house. I tried to talk as much as my sleepy mind would let me. I think I ended up just nodding my head a lot.

My bedroom is tiny but yet just big enough for me :-D The dresser is giant and holds all of my clothes I brought. Thank goodness!!! We had supper tonight at 9 pm which is pretty normal for dinner time. We had meatballs and french fries (I'm starting to think all Spanish people like this combo). Dessert was Natilla (a custard like dessert) with apricots. It was kind of like cinnamon pudding. Pretty good.

Holy Toledo!!!

First Real Excursion!

Started out the day with continental breakfast with the gang. We hopped on a comfy bus and went to Toledo. This city has a wall around it and was once the capital of Spain. We saw on our walking tour: Iglesia de San Juan de los Reyes, a synagogue, Cathedral de Santa Maria and Lunch at McDonalds!!

Here's my new novio. I believe he is Don Quixote. Very handsome. And heck he doesn't talk back!! Que Bueno! JKJKJK (Dont cry jakey... he's made of bronze... not very portable!)

After that we returned to the bus and slept (imagine that) all the way back to our hotel.

Mom and Dad ... the super amazing people they are took me out for one last American meal (Hard Rock Cafe -- I think it's becoming my second home). It was super. I talked to the taxi drivers both ways; asking them silly questions.

Next I met up with our group. All of us wanted to go out and see the US vs Spain game. We went out and this er.... odd man (maybe slightly handicapped) came with us. Unfortunately we couldn't find a bar nearby that had the game playing so we went to the hotel bar (which did have the game on!) WE WON!!! According to a news article I just read the last time Spain lost was 35 games ago in 2006.

We left towards the end of the game and headed for some dessert. We stopped at un Helado tienda in Puerta del Sol.

Then we gave ourselves a night tour of the Royal Palace and Plaza Mayor. We had such a great time :-D

Day of Interesting Foods

Started out the day tip toeing hoping not to wake my room mate from Minnesota. We'll be living together just at the hotel. Once we get to Salamanca I'm all by myself.

We had a free breaky!!! Wahoo.. gotta love free stuff (they dont come by often here!)

After breakfast we headed to the Royal Palace. This is the Salamanca group outside the Royal Palace. The king and queen dont live here... they just throw parties here occasionally.

We then had lunch at La Viga... Oh dear goodness. Here they have Menu del Dia which is a 3 course meal for a set price (9.10 Euro at the place I went). I went for the soup thinking it was a safe choice. Not so much. It had floating bread. IDK. It was weird. I think it was called Sopa Castellano. Second course was Albondigas. Robert knows how I like my albondigas in Spain. Anyways... They served it with french fries on top. What the heck! I thought he was making fun of me at first, but other people in the restaurant got that too.

Next we went to the Prado Museum. I've been to both the Palace and the Prado before but this time I knew more about the history of Spain and appreciated it more.

We were then oriented about what was going to happen in Salamanca. Long informational meeting.

Janessa, Rachel, Annie (another girl from Minnesota) and myself went out to meet Janessa's new Spanish friend David. We had dinner at a place called Santa Ana. Janessa asked for the weirdest things on the menu. We got anchoives, octopus, plate of ham and cheese, and bread with tomato on top. I thought I was going to starve, but I tried it all. Go ME! The anchoives tasted like salted slime, whereas the octopus tasted like salted gummy bears. I cant say that I'll be ordering them again. David works at that restaurant so one of his friends that sells trinkets gave us fake roses (the colors matched our shirts! haha).

Ditching the Parents

Ditch the P-Unit and Meet up w/ group

Hung out w/ the Parents for the last time today. We went on my last bus trip with mom and dad.

Mom and I hit up some good sales at H&M and other cool places. She got a couple trashy romance novels (in english) at a bookstore nearby.

Here is a Komatsu thingymabob for all you tractor / machine loving freaks. Cough(Brandon, Grandpa Del, Grandpa Jim, Uncle Rick, Dad!)Cough

After our tours were done I frantically packed up, said toot-a-loo and grabbed a taxi to the hotel where my group is staying... I'd say it's just a step down from the Westin Palace.... Maybe 2 steps. At least it's not bunkbeds!!!

Our group had a meeting, then we hit the streets to Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. Everything is under construction. Kind of lame. They want (or have) the 2016 Olympics... I think that's why there is so much going on.

After our Hike we went out to dinner. I thought we were going for traditional Spanish food. Negatory. We went to Wok. Chinese or Thai or Japanese food IDK. It was good.

Here's a couple pix of that. Janessa (the other girl from western) & Myself. And one side of the table.

I'm starting to feel like a gypsy

Packed up one more time

This morn we packed up and headed to the train station in San Sebastian. I took some last minute shots of the hotel. Here’s the Hotel Maria Cristina in S. Sebastian. :-D Very gorgeous!!


Once we were on the train we had crepes with mushrooms over carrots and peas. Not exactly my favorite meal. The OJ was good though :-D

The train station here is set up like an airport. There is tons of foot traffic and lots of stores. We caught a cab and headed to the Westin Palace in the heart of Madrid. Once I showered… and laundered we hopped on yet another tour bus. Definitely the best way to see the city!
My undies on display.... I'll call it Ode to Victoria Secret!


We went to HRC again. This is number 3 (in three different cities) in the past 10 days. Here’s dad w/ his HR goody bag and his camera… His two favorite things!

From Spain

We jumped back on the bus and headed to a market in a park. Dad got these AWESOME gafas del sol. It brings out his inner James Bond.

From Spain

To conclude our night we walked over to Plaza Mayor. We had churros and drinks.

From Spain

June 20: 1 full day in S. Sebastian!!!

Cruising the Streets

Today we rolled out of bed and headed to the streets of San Sebastian! We had sandwiches and super good ice cream at La Casa de Café. We went shopping in la parte vieja of the city. By the beach there was a throng of people hanging out, really quietly, in front of this building. They were giving a moment of silence for the Policeman that died yesterday from a car bombing in Bilbao.

Next was the beach. We rented chairs for 1.10 each and hung out on la playa for an hour or so… Pretty much until we felt fried. The beach was happening. It just happened to be topless – yea that was oh so awesome. And NO I did not take pix of the chicas on the beach. Here we are leaving the beach:

After that we shopped some more. I found a skirt and a little sweater doo dad. We found a magazine stand and they had goodies attached to them!!! Here’s mom and her Cosmo + Sunglasses for 3.95 Euros.

And my Elle Magazine came with these knock off shoes!!! (They have similar ones … ok almost identical in the mag but for 180 Euro!!)

There are many little parks in this city. In this one there was an er… figurine / statue/ idk of the world and the constellations. I thought it was especially snazzy.

For dinner we decided to go for something more comparable to home so we went to an Irish pub for burgers. Boy, were we wrong! The burgers were thin … and not what we’re used to. Dad was bold and ordered something he couldn’t pronounce Chorizos Ibéricos. I knew chorizos is sausage but had no idea what the second word is. When she came out with the plates, mom and I got burgers, whereas dad received a plate full of what looked like pepperoni. Ibéricos is Iberian. HAHAHA we got a good laugh!

Train Ride Times 4

We started out our day by hopping in a cab. From there we went to train station number one in Paris – Gare Montpassare. This train took us to Bordeaux (famous for their wines I guess). I managed to sleep for that 3 hour ride (imagine that!).

From there we went to stop number two – Gare Dax. That one was only an hour. Here’s my happy father reading his paper.

Next we went on a train to Hendaye. Also a one hour ride. Our final ride was on the Eusko Rail to San Sebastian. Our hotel is GORGEOUS! Hotel Maria Christina.

We went for tapas at this quaint little joint called Bar Txalupa. It was kind of like a buffet style layout. The inside of the bar was made to look like the basement of a ship. Pretty nifty! Here are some of the tapas. The first one looked too scary to try. I went for the safe bets like shrimp and bread :-D

June 18: Last Day in Paris

Woke up at 11:30AM … Yeah that Bike ride wore us out! So we skipped breaky and went straight for lunch at Vesuvio – an Italian pizza joint. Pretty darn good! Oh and dad ran out of gaunches so he laundered them in our bathroom… (He didn’t have a microwave to nuke them here so he settled with a line dry).

After that we wondered the streets of Paris looking for something a bit more affordable. We found an underground shopping mall. Above is a pic of a park next to it. It also had ping pong tables. Super cool! This place also had a cineplex, swimming pool and gymnasium. Here’s a sexy dude in a speedo.. . I took it out of focus intentially (otherwise you might die looking at it).

Mom and I then met up with dad at the hotel and got ready to go to the Hard Rock Café / Moulin Rouge. I brought my Can-Can skirt for a photo op. On the way I found a costume store with a black plume. I’ve decided I’m going to wear that a lot considering it was 5 euros. My night was made when they played Lady Marmalade in the Hard Rock… I almost got up to dance!! (If only my dance gals were there!) Dad has the pix of Moulin Rouge / HRC.

EDIT :::: Here's a Pic of me and the the Moulin Rouge!!! Some tourists thought I was a dancer in the show...... they were taking pix!

June 17: Cruising In Paris ~ Last night and Today

After a well deserved nap yesterday, we went to dinner at Chez Maitre Pierre. It was SUPERB! Our waitor was super silly and the food was magnifico!

My dad ordered a "big spoon" to share our dessert. Our waitor brought out this massive soup ladel. See here:

We started out this marvelous Wednesday with a hop on the bus. We saw a street fair going on by the statue of Washington. (I dont know what they have for our Presidents... but they have a ton of statues of them.)

After that we had le hot dog in the park by the Eiffel tower. They were NASTY! Two midget dogs on a hard bun. ICK.

We then rode over to Notre Dame. Picked up some souveniers and checked out the cathedral. Incredible. There is stain glass everywhere w/ pictures of different bible scenes for the illeterate.

Next was the bike tour. AMAZING! We went all around Paris on this super sexy bikes. They looked like beach cruisers. It was through Big Fat Bike Company. They even speak English! Amazing.

EDIT:

Here's the Eiffel Tower at night:

Final Day in London / Lost in the Labrynith of Subways

It's been a whirlwind since we've been here!!! Our last day in london was great! We saw this awesome store called Primark where everything was about 10 pounds or less... I got a ton of great stuff! (Thanks Leisha for telling me about this joint!!)

We are now in gay paris. We got off the train last night somewhere here... still not sure where we were. Then followed peeps to the station. We then got lost there ... thank goodness for some French dude!!!

The tunnels there for the subway were worse than Hogwarts staircases!!! Here's a random poster that was down in by our train. A deer in a bikini advertising OJ.... ODD!

We then got out at Franklin D. Roosevelt station. It was wet ... kind of dreary. We hiked for a good half hour or more. No one speaks English very well, which made finding our hotel difficult. This morn we went for crepes. They were pretty good! ... me gusta.

We hopped on another tourbus doo dad here. Got a ton of info about the different places in Paris. -- until my headphones went out. Then we went to starbucks for an afternoon snack. now we're here.. ( i just woke up from a 2+ hour nap) oi ve

Here's Mom and Dad in front of the Eiffel Tower on the bus!!!

Snog & Our new house!!

Gaining our bearings...

My P-unit just purchased this lovely house. (It's more of a castle)

OK OK ... It's the Queen's Buckingham Palace. We caught the middle of the changing of the guard. They were marching to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" and "Grease Lightening" from Grease. I found this a bit odd.

After that we went for some Snog (Snow and Yogurt combined ... or slang for making out -- whichever you prefer). We met dad's cousin Marla and her husband Sean. We had a smashing time!

We went to lunch earlier and I had what I thought would be a milkshake. Turns out it was more like Nesquik's Strawberry milk.