From earlier today...January 29 :)

So, yesterday, we met up to go to Nueva Cádiz, but we ended up staying in the older part. Stacy had gone for a walk the day before, and she said that there were a bunch of shops in a part that we hadn’t gone to yet. Plus, we couldn’t figure out how the buses worked. So, it ended up being the four of us from the API program, then Lauren from our class, and Andrew, a guy that Lauren goes to school with back home. Since it was like 4:45, nothing was really open yet, so we went to the cathedral. When we got there, we found a Ben & Jerry’s. The girls from Vermont (Sophie and Karia) were really excited because Ben & Jerry’s started in Vermont. We got a scoop of ice cream (which was RIDICULOUSLY expensive) and ate it outside cuz the weather was nice. We had some entertainment because there were some Americans trying to talk to some Spaniards, and they didn’t know any Spanish. Apparently a group of 750 something students doing semester at sea had their first stop in Cádiz, and were taking advantage of the drinking age. Well, after that, we went to a bar to get a sandwich cuz one close by had everything for one euro. So I got a bocadillo de tortilla de patatas (potato omelet sandwich) that was really little, but decent, and a tinto de verano. Only 2 Euros, though, so that’s good. While we were there, Mikey finally called me back, and gave me some info about a Latin Club that they have in Rota. After I talked to him for a few minutes, we left the bar and went window shopping. There weren’t very many places we were dying to go into. After that, I went back to my place to grab my computer, and then went to the Residencia to use the internet. Unfortunately, the internet there is pretty slow, so it wouldn’t let me upload any photos onto Facebook. I came back home at quarter to 9, cuz Encarna had said that dinner was at 9pm. She made mashed cauliflower, which wasn’t good, and an undercooked “hamburger.” Not very good at all. But we ate together and talked for awhile. After dinner, I sat in my room & listened to music while I read. This morning I had school. It was boring (again), but during lunch, I was able to use the internet and upload almost all of my pictures. After class, we all talked to that Marvin kid from Holland that is in our class. Since he has lived here in Cádiz for awhile, he told us about some good places to go and party or dance. He told me somewhere that they give free salsa lessons and have a Latin Club at night. It is in Nueva Cádiz, and I think we are all definitely gonna go this weekend. When I got home, Encarna had started my laundry (YES! FINALLY!), and we all ate together (her daughter’s family. We ate some really delicious chicken. It was like roasted in the sauce they make Cuban pork in. Yum!!!! And then she made home-made French fries with that sauce on top. Wow, it was to die for! I told her that she has to teach me how to cook it! She said it was really easy. So then Encarna, Mónica, José, and I sat around and talked for awhile. Now I am about to go to the resi, and hopefully I will get a chance to post this! <3

From January 28

Well, just for the record, the tortillas were wonderful. After dinner, I went in my room and called my mom. After that, I called Isidro and talked to him for awhile. It was really good to talk to a friend, cuz even though I have friends here; I have only known them for a little over a week. I tried calling Mikey, too, but he didn’t answer. I am starting to get a little homesick (of course), but I think hanging out with someone from home would help. Yesterday morning, I left for school wearing a new pair of shoes (really cute blue flats). I thought the 4-block walk each way would be the perfect distance to start breaking them in. Well, I wasn’t paying attention, and I ended up walking like 15 blocks in the wrong direction. Oops! So needless to say, I had blisters on my feet by the time I got to school. Ugh. Class was pretty boring, but I did get a few minutes to check my email & Facebook. After school, I came home and Encarna had made this…stuff. It was quartered potatoes that were cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. Actually, it wasn’t really spicy, just by Spanish standards. I wasn’t a big fan, but it was edible. After lunch, I decided to “dormir la siesta” or take a nap. So I slept from like 3 til 6. It was so nice. After that, I took a shower and read my book. For dinner, she made me some shrimp and pork fried rice (frozen & from a bag…no soy sauce :( ) and little hot dog sausage things. The rice was okay, but greasy and lacking flavor, and we all know I don’t like hotdogs. After dinner, I read my book until like 10:15, then left to meet Sophie & Karia for a drink. We ended up at this little bar with some middle aged folks in it, just hanging out. We had a glass of vino tinto (red wine), then we tried this drink called tinto del verano. It was soooooo good. It is red wine with club soda, then limes, lemons, or oranges in it. During our second one of those, they started to close, so we decided to go somewhere else. While we were walking around trying to find a place that was open, we ran into a group of like 10-12 Americans from Washington. We chatted w/them for a few minutes, and they told us about a bar where a lot of the kids on Erasmus (the European version of study abroad) hang out. So, we went there and had a few more tinto del veranos (but these were more like red wine with Coca-Cola). There were a lot of Americans there, and some people from other parts of Europe. It was an okay place, and everybody was having a good time. We left at like 2am. I was surprised how safe I felt walking home. Everybody I passed on my way either nodded at me or said “Hola.” When I got home, my host mom was sitting in the living room with her granddaughter & her granddaughter’s boyfriend talking and watching TV. I came to my room and called Mama to see how her first day at work went. Then I went to bed, and slept til about 10:30. We didn’t have class today cuz it is the Feast Day of our school’s saint or something like that. After I woke up, I sat in bed and did my homework, then some Sudoku and Word searches and listened to music. I had my ColaCao (hot chocolate) at like 11:30, and at 2:15, Encarna’s family came over for lunch. We ate this potato stuff that was really good. Dice potatoes with meat of some kind in some kind of yellow gravy/puree stuff. Also, the bread was fresh out of the oven again, which is awesome! At 4:30, I am meeting the girls and Lauren (a girl from our class) to go to the new part of Cadiz. We want to do a little bit of shopping and stuff. Hopefully it will be fun. I’m interested to see the bus situation they have here. I’ll write more later :).

From January 26

Yesterday, we met up at noon and went to a café to drink coffee. While we were there, it started POURING rain. Just then, Karia realized that she had left her window open, so she had to go back to the residencia to shut it. Sophie wasn’t done with her coffee, and we still had to pay, so we told Karia we would meet her at the “resi” once it stopped raining so much. So as Sophie was finishing her coffee, it stopped POURING, so we decided to pay and leave. By the time we got done paying, though, it was pouring again. We decided to leave anyways, so by the time we got to the resi (5-6 blocks way), we were SOAKED! We hung out in Karia’s room for awhile to dry off some. Luckily, only some of her stuff had gotten damp…but not wet! At like 2, we went to this restaurant near La Plaza de Flores. It had stopped raining by then. The food there was REALLY good…yum! I got 6 whole calamari (or calamari family as the called it), and little fried balls of seafood. We wanted to go shopping, but all of the stores are closed on Sundays. We decided to get dessert at this one café near the resi, but it wasn’t gonna open til 5, so we walked around and ended up in La Plaza de San Antonio, or usual meeting place. The sun was actually shining, so we decided to hang out there while it was kinda warm. We hung out there until about 5:15, and then realized it was time for the café to open. We sat outside after we got our treats (I got 3 flautas filled with chocolate….2 of which were for this morning during class), then we went into the resi to warm up a bit. Sophie went up to her room, and Stacy & Karia were using the internet, and I was just sitting there, which is fine w/me. Karia & I wanted to go watch the sunset, but Stacy needed to do a bunch of stuff for school online. So Stacy stayed in Karia’s room while Karia and I walked toward the sun to find a good place to watch the sunset over the water. We ended up in the same spot we had gone the day before…on a wall overlooking the beach & the boats. It was really pretty, but I had forgotten my camera, so I don’t have any pics of it. I’ll steal some from Karia and post them on Facebook. After that, we went back to the resi, and I came home to eat dinner. Encarna cooked some sliced pork (?) with the mashed eggplant stuff. It was decent. After that, I decided to go read in bed b/c I had to wake up early for school this morning. I fell asleep at like 11pm, which was good. This morning, I went to the school cuz we had our first day of the intensive 2-week Spanish course. The first thing we did was take a test that was like 8 pages long…fill in the blank for the most part, but some essay answers. I am pretty sure it was just to see what we still needed to learn. I didn’t think it was very hard, but my written Spanish is WAY better than my spoken Spanish. After that, we got to take a break…so we got some cafe con leche at the cafeteria. Also, I got like 15 minutes to use the internet. A few hours would have been better…but whatever. So besides us four, there are 3 other people in the class. One girl is from New York and seems pretty cool. The other girl is from Finland and seems pretty shy. Also, there is a guy from Holland (?) in there, but I can never hear him speaking, so I don’t have an opinion yet. Oh, and there WAS a German girl, but she didn’t come back after the test. She spoke REALLY well, though, so they might have moved her to another class or told her she didn’t have to take it, haha. In the second part of the class, we just talked to the profesora. After class, I came home, & the apartment was empty! Only for like 5 minutes, though, cuz Encarna showed up with Aliria/Alivia (??) and Joel…her grandkids. We ate this super delicious soup with white beans, chick peas, celery, and a little bit of potatoes. It was in this creamy-ish sauce that was yummy. Also, we had bread that was fresh from the bakery & was still warm, so it wasn’t hard & crusty like normal. I loved it, but they seemed disappointed that it was still warm. Then the kids’ parents came over…José & Monica. I had to leave at like 3:15 cuz we were going to meet Carmen so that we could go on some tower thing. It was AMAZING, by the way. You could see all of Cadiz from there, including the entire bay of Cadiz. I took TONS of pictures that I hope to post up when I get time to use the internet. I might even go to school early tomorrow just so I can use a computer there. Anyways, also in the tower was this thing called a black camera where you could see Cadiz live & moving, displayed on this huge bowl-shaped screen. It is really hard to describe, so I’m not even gonna try. You’ll just have to come see it for yourself. After the tower, we went shopping & I bought some blue shoes cuz I left my purple ones at home :(. They’re cute, but I have noting to wear with them cuz Encarna STILL hasn’t done the laundry. I’m on the third time wearing the same pair of jeans, and now they are so loose that they are practically falling off. Anyways, the other girls wanted to look at cell phones with Carmen, so I tagged along. After that, I came home, and here I am. Tonight Encarna is making me tortillas españolas. I am pretty excited cuz I tried them in Madrid & really liked them. For those of you who don’t know, a tortilla española is basically a big omelet with potatoes, and various other things. I’ve been told that Encarna makes them the best…so we’ll see!! :)

First Saturday in Cadiz

Earlier today...
Right now I am at La Plaza de San Antonio waiting for Stacy, Karia, & Sophie. I got here early cuz there is supposed to be free WiFi, but I couldn’t find one that was unsecured. Oh well, maybe in another plaza or restaurant. We are planning to walk around again today and maybe get a little lost. I’m sure it will be fun. :)

Now...
Okay, so right now I'm sitting in the Residencia where Karia & Sophie live so that I could get some internet. Stacy & I went to a cafe this afternoon, paid for a drink, and found out they didn't have WiFi even though it said so on the door. Lame. But today the girls & I took a walk through parts of Cadiz we hadn't been to yet. We went to some different plazas with trees and flowers, a botanical garden thing that was huge & beautiful, and to the beach. We took a ton of pictures. I'm gonna be putting them on Facebook another day. I had lunch at home....It was "Spaghetti." But in reality, it was spaghetti noodles with hot dogs and some thinned out ketchup-type stuff with maybe some herbs in it. Not the best thing I'd ever had, but I was starving and the bread that came with it was good. I also ate an orange. Yum. I sat at the house for awhile and read, too. I'm kind of mad right now cuz I waited like 30 mins for this album of pictures to upload onto Facebook, and when it got to the end, it said it failed and that I had to start over. So I'm just gonna upload the rest of my pictures next time I have internet. I have an album full of pictures from Toledo (where we went on Thursday morning), and then probably an album & a half worth of pictures from Cadiz. Right now it's about 8pm, and I think I'm gonna go back home to get ready for dinner time. The girls want to go out tonight for a drink or whatever, but I'm still feeling really sick & tired...plus I'm not really in the mood...so I'm gonna stay home and relax. More later!

From January 23

January 23, 2009
Bueno, it’s been a few days since I’ve written. I have been pretty busy. Let me try to summarize what has happened. So, I never got a roommate at the hotel. Carmen came & knocked on my door and told me that the meeting was moved to 6:30. So at around 6pm, I talked to Karia online and I met her out in the hallway and we went to the meeting. I met Stacy Lee & Sophie Conway there. Apparently, the other 2 girls that were supposed to be on the program lost their passports or couldn’t get a visa, so they aren’t here, and we aren’t sure if they are actually coming or not. Well, after our meeting, we all met up to go to dinner. API was paying for it, so heck yeah! Apparently, it wasn’t just the four of us and Carmen. So, the ENTIRE Sevilla group was there (~50 people!) and we were brought plate after plate of Spanish food. We ended up eating 10 shared plates of food between the four of us (paella, jamon, calamari, etc) PLUS some cake. It was insane. We didn’t eat it all, though, of course. So the next morning, I met Stacy, Karia, & Sophie for breakfast at the hotel, and then the whole group went to El Museo del Prado. It was a pretty nice walk through Madrid to get there, but it was SO cold. Also, we had to wait outside for like TWO HOURS before we could go in. Most of the art work was the crappy old kind, but I got to see some Cervantes and El Greco stuff. I saw Las Meninas which was cool. The four of us went to lunch at this cute little restaurant called “La Finca de Suzana.” I had some potato/artichoke thing first which wasn’t very good at all. But my second course was way better…couscous with 3 chicken legs and curry sauce. It was delicious. Then for dessert, I had 2 schoops of chocolate ice cream. Plus, we split a bottle of wine. The best part is that it only cost 9.50Є. Pretty good, right? After that, we went back to the museum to look at some more old stuff, then we went back to the hotel. Us girls and 2 boys from the Sevilla group (Rob & Andrew) that Karia knew (I think…) took a walk around town and ate at a Gallego (food from Galicia, a region of Northern Spain…) restaurant. I had mussels al gallego but I didn’t like them. Luckily, I was sharing with Karia and she had gotten plain steamed mussels. After that we (minus Andrew who went back to the hotel) walked down to the Palacio Real to see it lit up at night. Apparently the Spaniards aren’t very impressed with it because it’s ONLY like 250 years old! After taking a few pics, we got a little lost in Madrid, but found our way back. We went to this really boring old folks bar, and had beer & wine. It was like 12:30, and we were all tired, so we went to sleep. The next morning after breakfast, we went to El Escorial, this really cool palace/monastery from the 14th century. It had some REALLY old books in it. One was over 1,000 years old and had taken over 75 years to make (a very long time considering El Escorial itself only took 23 years…how fast!!) because it had hand-cut gold foil letters and hand-made meticulous pictures, etc. My favorite part was the burial room…it was big & circular & made of green Spanish marble, something reddish (wood? tile?), and bronze. It was absolutely beautiful, & I bought a post card of it cuz we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. Oh, and it was snowing for the second day in a row. We came back to Madrid, and all of us girls weren’t feeling so great. We went to this Italian Restaurant, though, that was wonderful! I had asparagus soup, pasta with veggies, and cream puffs w/chocolate, plus a glass of wine for like 10Є. Yum! Then we went back to hang out at the hotel & had a meeting at 6pm about Cadiz. At around 8:30, me, Sophie, & Karia (Stacy was feeling bad still) went to some restaurant w/food from Istanbul. I didn’t really like whatever I got (Kabop w/French Fries) but I wasn’t very hungry. It was like Fast Food. The next morning, we went to Toledo. First, we took a tour on our bus, and then we took a walking tour. It was a really cool city, and I got to see El Greco’s famous painting “El Entierro de….” Somebody? Our group had to leave early to catch the train back to Madrid. We had lunch at VIPs, an American-ish restaurant. I ate pasta w/cheese a STEAK (really thin, but it was good) with French Fries, and Mango Ice Cream. Only 10.50Є. Yum. So we RUSHED back to the hotel, grabbed out bags, got 2 taxis to the train station, and somehow got everything on the train just barely in time. It was already leaving the station by the time we got to sit down. So we took a 5 hour train ride to Cadiz. When we got off the train, we met our hosts (Mine is Encarna & she was there w/her granddaughter Vicky & Vicky’s boyfriend). We waited together for a cab, then went home. They laughed the whole way home, and I caught most of what the said. They all talk really fast and they have an odd accent where they make a “sh” sound when it should be “ch.” I asked where that accent comes from, and Vicky told me twice, but I still don’t know what she said. Anyways, Vicky cooked a frozen pizza for me, and one for her boyfriend, and a sandwich thing for herself. After that, we all sat in the living room and watched Big Brother. It was the finale and some hottie named Ivan won.  We sat there until about 12:30, then I went to my room to sleep. It is SO cold in this house, and I had FIVE blankets on, and I was STILL freezing. I guess it’s better than being hot. I guess I will describe my room. It has 2 twin-sized beds, a small desk, and a wardrobe. Also, a night stand w/3 small drawers. It is actually pretty big. The apartment isn’t all that small….a small living room w/a TV, a couch, and 2 small chairs that barely fit, Encarna’s bedroom (I haven’t seen the inside), a bedroom for one of her grandsons (Hugo) who lives here sometimes, then my room. The kitchen is pretty small, too. There is a fridge/freezer & 2 cabinets on one wall, and on the adjacent wall, a stove & a sink. There isn’t an oven, just a small convection oven (?) they keep plugged in on the counter next to the stove. The sink is only half-sized, too. There is a bathroom that is pretty decently sized. A toilet & a urinal, a sink w/counter space, a shower, & a closet. It’s pretty spacey. Oh! And it’s on the first floor! Anyways, I woke up this morning at like 10:45. I took a shower and had a Colacao (Hot Chocolate) for breakfast. Vicky came to walk me to the Plaza de Espana, and at 12pm, we met Carmen & the other girls there. Carmen took us on a tour of the old part of the city. It is SO beautiful! I’m gonna get very lost, though. We saw the beach, and we got a short tour of the school (which is gorgeous!). Then, we went home for a lunch/siesta. When I found my way, Encarna’s daughter Monica had just arrived. With her was her son Joel, and her daughter Arildia (??? – I still can’t figure it out!). She is 10 years old, and Joel is probably 6 or 7 and very adorable. We at chick-pea soup with spinach or something in it. It was definitely edible, but very salty. Then Monica’s husband Jose Maria came and ate, too. It was very interesting to see them interact, but they are all very nice and seem very smart. After they left, I went to my room to unpack some stuff. At 5pm, I met the girls are La Plaza de San Antonio, and we went walking around. We ate some food at a small bakery, then got hot chocolate/coffee at another café. After that, we went to the residencia, and Stacy & I used Karia’s internet cuz neither of us have it at our houses. We hung out until 8, then Stacy & I left Karia & Sophie at the residencia. We got a little lost going back to the plaza, but we made it. Then we went back to our own places. When I got home, I started writing in here & uploading pictures onto my computer. Encarna made me some dinner. It was a Tortilla Francesa (a plain omelet) and some greenish slimy stuff that was surprisingly delicious, especially with bread. I asked her what it is, and figured out that it’s eggplant that had been pureed or something. Encarna ate a tortilla, too, and some lettuce. She said that she just got out of the hospital on Monday after being there for 12 days. Her blood pressure was really high, apparently, so they gave her a new diet. Also, her granddaughter (her name? I still don’t know…) was there and ate a sandwich that her mom brought her (they live 2 doors down). After dinner, her grandson Hugo came. I think he is gay, cuz I heard him say something about his novio (boyfriend). He is really nice. He took the girl somewhere for awhile. I gave Encarna the book of North Carolina and showed her pictures of the mountains and of Raleigh. Also, I gave her a copy of Twilight in Spanish, and she was really excited about it cuz she really wanted to see the movie because it JUST came out here. She showed me her collection of books about the states in the US that she has gotten from various students who have lived here. Then, I got back to writing in here – Now it’s like midnight, so I’m gonna go to bed. Hopefully more stuff soon.

OH, PS…I’m STILL sick. I might give up and go to the pharmacy 

From January 19

Well, I didn’t get to sleep last night until around 11pm, but that’s okay. I slept well until about 4:30am, then woke up coughing, etc. I tried watching TV & some other stuff, but it took me til about 6 to fall back asleep. I knew breakfast wasn’t til 6:30, so I thought I’d at least TRY to sleep. I ended up sleeping til 9:45, which is way better than expected. I got some breakfast downstairs in the lobby. I had a crescent roll, a piece of fruit I didn’t recognize (some kind of melon), some yummy cheese stuff (I even brought some back to my room!), and a strawberry yogurt. They had orange juice & water, and I had two of each. I’ve been drinking water from the faucet. I asked at the front desk and was able to get on the internet. I got to talk to mom & dad & email/facebook some friends. Now I am uploading photos onto Facebook and waiting for the group to show up. I think I might be getting better, though. I just now got my nose to stop running as much. Hopefully whoever is staying w/me in this room will be here soon. Maybe she’ll want to get lunch or something. I’m gonna keep uploading pics and watching TV (cooking shows in Spanish!!). I hope to write more when something else happens.

From January 18

Well, I’m here in Spain. My flight arrived an hour and 10 minutes early. I never did get my bags searched of anything…but they were pretty much the last ones to come out and the airline had thought they lost them! But I got lucky. So there was no food at the airport….so when I got my bags, I got into a taxi, and came here to Hotel Moderno. My taxi driver was really nice and (of course cuz he was Spanish), kind of hot. We talked the whole way and he gave me his card to call him, but I don’t think I will. That would be awkward. Haha. Anyways, I got here & couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights. So after an hour or so, I figured out that you have to insert the key into this thing in the wall. Then I slept from about 11 til 4. There is wireless internet here, but you have to have the password and I don’t want to walk down there. Anyways, I just took a shower, and I’m watching TV. There is this really neat show called “Pasa Palabra” where they give you a definition and you have to know the word. You’re only given the first letter * they go really fast…like too fast for me to learn the new words or even guess at the answer. But I don’t want to go out by myself, so I’m just gonna wait til the morning you eat. My cell phone needs a pin #, and of course, I didn’t write it down. Gotta get internet in the morning, I guess. I’m really tired & I’m still EXTREMELY sick. It’s about 9:30, and I think I’ll go to sleep. More tomorrow?

contraseña – password
ligar – to date
verde ~ picky

From January 17

So today I left the United States. Last night we had a going away party which was absolutely amazing. So many people showed up…and some came from Boone! (Christy & Josh Adams). We made jello shots and tons of food & did tons of shorts and just had a great time. At the end, we all were dancing and it was crazy fun! This morning I had to say goodbye to everyone, and so of course, I was crying like a crazy person. I was so nervous, and on top of that, I am really sick. Super sore throat, runny nose, & coughing up nastiness. Well, I got to the airport really early and texted some friends & hung out w/Ron til my plane came. I say by myself in the last occupied row, and it was a really short flight (~45 mins) on a small plane (~24 rows). I landed in Philly around 7pm and walked forever to get to my terminal thingy. I got some Teriyaki Chicken & some crappy food court restaurant, then sat and waited for my plane. There were SO many people there, PLUS they were ALL gorgeous cuz they were all Spanish. My seat on the plane was the last one (row 38!), but the flight attendants moved me to row 18 so I could recline, even though I insisted it was fine. The recliner on this seat is broken, anyways, haha. But nobody is beside me on this plane, either. They had the option of bowtie noodles w/tomato sauce or Southwest Chicken. I chose the pasta, of course. Not impressive. BUT!!! They had Ginger Ale, which is pretty freakin’ exciting! Anyways, I’m flying over the Atlantic & there’s nothing to see. I’m not flipping out…yet. I’m gonna try to get some sleep though!