What a Life This Is

This might just be my last blog in Spain. Luckily, I'm traveling Europe for another month after this, so I'm not done yet!

I should break this blog up into a few posts but we all know that would take weeks. I'm just going to spit out my thoughts in an unorganized fashion, so try to keep up.

Vamos.

My host mom cooks every meal for me, but rarely sits down to eat with me. I always felt it was a bit strange, and then one day she told me that she doesn't like food. I told her that her taste buds must be broken. Who doesn't like food? I'm almost positive she's just saying that to avoid talking to me in Spanish. This is a true testament to how bad my Spanish is if someone is willing to give up eating for 6 weeks to avoid listening to me struggle for 3 meals per day..

They don't refrigerate a lot of things that require refrigeration. I've smuggled yogurt, meat, and eggs out of the house and into the dumpster because of lack of refrigeration.

A few nights ago around 1am, a drunk man stopped me when I was walking past a bar on my way home. To emphasize how drunk he was, I must point out that he asked me what my name was 7 times during our medium length conversation. He continued to tell me about how he has family and friends but he is empty and sad on the inside. My goal was to escape without him crying to killing me. After about 30 minutes, I succeeded, and I hope Pablo is doing better now!

Two weekends ago we went to Barcelona. I'm going to describe the city with individual clauses to leave some mystery in your mind: English everywhere, painful imported sand, 1992 olympics, impressive Gaudi architecture, sneaky waiters, interesting nightlife.

This weekend we took a day trip to Picos de Europa in northern Spain. The two girls that planned the trip didn't tell us we'd be scaling the side of a mountain. We literally climbed up the side of a mountain, and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. There's something about putting your life in danger than makes you feel alive. It was an incredible experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Well, that's all I have the patience for right now. I leave Santander on Wednesday. I'm headed to Pamplona (running of the bulls), Seville, Rome, Prague, Vienna, Trier, Cologne, and Munich. 

See you soon!

Barcelona, Spain

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain

Los Picos de Europa

The group of champions

I am alive

I'm alive and blogging!

I wrote three sequential blogs at a good pace before I lost interest. Keeping up with a blog is difficult for me because I have loads of crazy (good crazy, not bad crazy) and interesting thoughts everyday, but I forget about them before I write them down. That's why Twitter was perfect for me (while it lasted).

Anyway, here it is:

I made it to Santander! They said it would be chilly, but I wasn't prepared for the first few weeks here. It was in the 50's, raining and windy almost everyday. I guess I just didn't expect sideways freezing rain in Spain. Luckily, it warmed up enough to go to the beach last week! Soon I'll be back to my bronzen color we all know and love.

Hmm what else... There's a large duck and a small duck that live in a front yard of a house that I walk by on my way to class everyday. I think one might be a goose. I guess they're the homeowners pets, but I always want to play with them. It reminds me of Joey's pet duck and chicken from Friends. Also, I think there's a pigeon that has become friends with them.

My host mom is super awesome. She lives alone and feeds me copious amounts of delicious food. I only have one complaint: Spaniards eat too much bread and not enough meat. My first meal when I get back to the States? Rudy's. I miss Texas BBQ almost as much as I miss Texas.

I think I've said this already but it's worth saying again. Spanish girls are gorgeous. The average Spanish girl is at least a 7 out of 10. I'm working really hard on my fluency so I can talk to them. I have zero game in English, so my Spanish game runs in the negatives.

After my program here in Santander ends I'm travelling to Seville, Rome, Prague, Vienna, and then Germany. I'm buying my plane and train tickets and booking my hostels today. I'm going to be so broke.

Our entire program went on an excursion to Burgos, Segovia, and Toledo this past weekend. My favorite thing was the Roman aqueduct in Segovia. It is the most preserved aqueduct in the world, and was built by the Romans in the FIRST CENTURY with no mortar!! The stones were just placed on top of each other in a way that keeps them from falling. Of course, my first thought was "I can probably push it over." I couldn't, but I tried.

Alright that's enough for now. I can use iMessage whenever I have wifi, so text me and I'll tell you a joke or we can talk about the government spying on us. Obama is probably reading this right now...

Until next time!

Beach in Santander

Toledo, Spain