UPDATESSS FINALLY!!!!

ahh this week has been crazy, busy adventuring, busy with school, busy with planning for march and spring break, and busy with my acquisition of the spanish language! lets see...

sooo every weekend in march i will be gone traveling around spain- i am going to miss madrid for sure but excited to see what else is Spain!! And each trip is going to be very different, its going to be quite a whirlwind :)

Weekend One- Galicia with Spaniards!! Galicia is the most north-west province of Spain right above Portugal and it's supposed to be gorgeous and GREEN! A few weeks ago Chrissy and I met some spanish guys who are super cool and nice and are originally from Galicia but are now here in Madrid studying to become dentists! how random? Also, my Spanish girl friends from class know them through friends which is such a coincidence. Anyways, we have been talking to them a lot and they invited us up to Galicia because there is a huge festivals all over for Carnaval and also another festival called La Arribada that celebrates Christopher Colombus' return to Spain after discovering the Americas. Look it up- thats where I am going!! Christina told me the town where it is is supposed to be AMAZING and she got so excited when I told her the plan. Sooo successss.. me, tevia, chrissy, pablo, and manuel will be taking an overnight train there on Thursday night and we will arrive Friday morning!! Wahooo.

Weekend Two- Sevilla and Cordoba with my program!! Not really sure what the deal with this one is yet or what we are going to do, but it will be nice to have everyone together again and also have everything paid for!!! Successs- and Sevilla and Cordoba will be amazingly beautiful. One of our program heads is from Sevilla so hopefully we will get the local's tour.

Weekend Three- Mallorca with the parents!!!! Mom and Dad are coming for the week and our last weekend we will be flying to the island of Mallorcaaaaaa :) I'm sure it will be fabulous and gorgeous and relaxing and everything!! And good to be with the parents of course!!! Ill be getting us around with my spanish...

Weekend Four- Finale weekend!!! Going to BARCELONAAA to visit Jessica and Emmaaaa, my friends from Boulder who are studying there. All the adventures are up to them- I am SURE it will be hilarious and fun, I will be staying in a hostel while I am there too.. succcesss!!!!

Anyways, lots of adventures this month- but lets see- how did February wrap up?

-Radio class has been hilarious- Each class I am recording news broadcasts that I have to write myself and then we record them in the studio in front of the class- its hilarious and awesome. Getting to be good friends with two Spanish girls in my class and also this other chick who is from Germany but has lived in Brazil and Spain and Thailand and speaks like 15 languages and is generally a badass. Today, she gave me and Pablo a ride to the train station (greatest thing ever since everyday that train station gets farther and farther away) and I walk as slow as a turtle so its like a hike to get home. We have a test next week in my other regular class and I don't know what I am going to do- sooo hard to analyze texts and learn new material in Spanish. These are like intense readings we are doing and somehow I have to comprehend it all in Spanish- not easy at all.

-Tevia and I found a new Irish Bar to watch her beloved Manchester United!! We have quickly become regulars at the James Joyce Madrid and Tevia is turning me into a soccer aficionado whether I like it or not. Man U played Chelsea last night and I was torn who I should root for. Chelsea for obvious reasons or Man U because Tevia will literally have trouble breathing if they are losing. There are always great people there and we have managed to make friends with the bartender and on Saturday we met some hilarious Welch guys and spent the evening joking and cracking up while watching english rugby and drinking Heineken. Success??

-On Thursday night we went out with Borja and all his Spanish friends! Met some great people and bar hopped to all his favorite places with the best tapas. And the best mojitos. I tried to teach this spanish girl the Hokey Pokey song (didn't work) and I also got my Portuguese on with a Peruvian guy who was there. We came back to Malasaña and I had to make a pit stop to my favorite little hole in the wall burrito place where I have become friends with the hilarious Mexican guy who works there- luckily that night a kid my age was there who is also friends with the mexican guy and turns out he lives down the street from me AND has a moto hahaha. I made him promise to give me a ride one day which he agreed to!!! Today I ran into him again on the way home from school walking through Malasaña and he got my numberrr soo we can scooter it upppp. So good to be recognized and feel at home!! hahah

-Chrissy's parents were visiting this week so Tevia and I had quite a few day adventures together. Friday it was beautiful out so we headed to Retiro Park with snacks and a hammock and literally spent all day in the park laying in the hammock and chatting. Spaniards were like amazed by the hammock and I am pretty sure we got like 15 pictures taken of us throughout the day. It was sooo relaxing and I think everyone in Madrid was at Retiro enjoying the day:) Then on Saturday we took a little trip to El Escorial!!! It is this adorable little mountain town about an hour outside of Madrid and there is a HUGE monastery in the middle and the town is great. We proceeded to stand in line for an hour to get into the monastery but then decided to bail to go find crepes. We have our priorities straight haha. Good to be back in the mountains though- if only for a day!!!

Other than that I have been studying and hanging out with Christina who made a delicious squash/ potato/ onion soup thing last night to prepare us for Spring!! My spanish is improving ten-fold each day as well. Yesterday I bought Spain's equivalent of the New York Times or Washington Post and read it on the train to school- all about Libya and that situation in Spanish!! It was a success because I really could understand a fair amount of it. The differences I have noticed between Spanish and English is that english has a million different words to describe every single thing, but the verbs in spanish will be one word but mean a million different things. Also- it is really interesting because you sort of adopt the personality of the Spanish language when you speak all day. It is hard to explain but like your voice kind of changes when you speak spanish versus english, the rhythms, the attitude, etc. Crazyyy!!

Ahhhh okayyyyyyyy- this is all for now!!!!!!! Wish me luck this weekend in Galicia!!!!!! :)

Fun Fact: The Spanish version of "The Notebook" was renamed "El Diario de Noah" which translates directly to Noah's Diary. Also "Sound of Music" was called "Sonrisas y Lágrimas" which translates to Smiles and Tears. "Meet the Fockers" was called "Ahora los Padres son ellos" meaning Now they are the Parents. Hahahaha its funny.

PSSSS: feel free to comment on the blog people!!