Need to not go on Facebook!

Since the phones UConn gave us are absolutely awful and every text costs 8 cents, none of us use them very often.  As a result, during siesta (2 pm-5 pm or so) you can find the majority of us on Facebook.  I hate Facebook. Yes, I go on it a lot. And yes, I like the pictures. But mostly, I think Facebook sucks.  Especially today, because I logged on and saw pictures of my friends all together and a message from Marissa about a "mandatory soccer dinner"! I miss my friends and my team a lot today. Hence, I need to go on Facebook less so I can avoid said pictures/messages (although I realize the pictures I am uploading are infinitely cooler than a frat party's basement, but whatever).  Also I feel lame for going on Facebook when I'm in such a fun place!

Note: This is not in Spain. This is actually in Hartford Hall, in North Campus, which is way less exciting and definitely dirtier than Spain...But! I miss these people a lot today (well, every day, but especially today!)

Anyways, it has been an exhausting last week or so.  I went to Barcelona over the weekend with Lynn to see Lindsay and it was awesome! Barcelona is a very interesting city.  It is very international, so a lot of people spoke English, but it also had it's own style with cool architecture and statues and palm trees everywhere! I can't even think of an accurate comparison in the United States-Barcelona was completely unique!

The best part was when we toured Camp Nou, which is FC Barcelona's stadium.  I love Lionel Messi, so being so close to the field was unreal.  I wish I could go to a game there! Lindsay went with her parents on Sunday after I left, and I am so incredibly jealous of her. After we did the tour, we were walking back to the metro and there was a sudden PARADE right in front of us for Carneval! Little kids were all dressed up in their costumes, and everybody was singing, dancing and throwing confetti! We had heard that neighborhoods did their own small parades, and we just so happened to walk right through one.  The parades that happened last night near Barcelona were a lot more uuhh, inappropriate, let's just say (like many of the Carneval parades), but this one was kid-friendly.

So close to the field! The seats say "Mes que un club" which means "More than a club"

They were Noah's Ark!

The only bad part of Barcelona was having to catch the flight home, both because I had to leave and because my flight was at 6:55 AM. That meant having to leave Lindsay's apartment at 4:45 AM to catch a bus (turned out the bus didn't run-we had to take a cab) to the airport, resulting in ZERO hours of sleep. I don't think I've ever done that before to be honest, and I can't say I want to do it again.

BUT...I am going to have to do it again, because I am going to Italy TOMORROW!!!! I am going to Rome until Saturday, and then Florence Saturday-Monday, and then back to Rome.  Christy and Gabby, two of my teammates, are in Florence and I'm staying with them! I can't wait to see them and all the other people I know in Italy (Matt, Jordan, Liz, Alex, etc. :).  I'm also pumped to travel with Hannah, since I guess I know her pretty well...Again, I think the only bad part will be my flight home, which is on Tuesday morning at 6:15 AM. Ohhh no, here's to another sleepless night!

This school week (which is already over, since I'm skipping class tomorrow...) was relatively boring and tiring, since I am still recovering from last weekend. However, when I was coming home yesterday, I walked right into a big protest in front of one of the main governmental buildings.  Everyone here is in an uproar because there is a new labor law being passed, and apparently nobody likes it.  I get the feeling that the Spanish are really into protesting, since there are always protests shown on the news.  The ones a few days ago in Valencia were violent, but in Granada they have all been peaceful.  Since I had never seen a protest up close before, I decided to stay and watch.  The people next to me looked American and were speaking English, so I randomly asked them what was going on.  As it turns out, they were all from Milford, Connecticut! What a small world (part 300).  Three of them were visiting, and the last one lives here and works at a school teaching people English!  She studied at the CLM when she was in college and moved back here last fall.  I have always imagined myself doing something like that (although I've been thinking more about South America) so that was interesting.  I got her e-mail and we've been in touch, especially because her friend plays on a soccer team here!

Speaking of soccer, my Señora's daughter's friend's niece (phew, that was long, sorry if you didn't follow that) plays on a team too. She called me the other night and invited me to practice with her. So, hopefully next week will be a week full of soccer! :)

For now, I need to go finish my internship applications and then go to the theater tonight to see a play for my Spanish Culture class.  Ryan is visiting next Tuesday and I could not be happier!

Lauren

P.S. Update on my Señora: The other night the TV showed a clip about Franco and they played Spain's national anthem along with the story (I looked it up-Spain has always had the same tune to the national anthem, but Franco changed the words to what he wanted when he was the leader).  I was curious as to what she would do, and she did not let me down-She proceeded to march around the kitchen, kind of in a dance, while singing Franco's words to the anthem! I sat there, somewhat amused, and also very very confused as to how someone can still idolize a man who was friends with Hitler. This is an interesting learning experience, let's just say...

Way too tired

It's Wednesday and I am exhausted because it has been a full week of class, homework, studying...... Ok, or not.  The only reason why my classes are difficult is because they are in Spanish (Spanish with a weird, Andalucian accent, might I add, which makes things even more confusing!).  I don't have much real work to do, but I am currently procrastinating writing a one page history paper about the Roman influence in Spain, a one page summary of what I learned in literature class, and six grammar fill-in-the-blanks.  ...I should NOT be complaining.

Tomorrow is Thursday, and I officially start my weekend at noon (Six AM in Connecticut-it will be the weekend for me as all of you are either just waking up, still sleeping, or, if you're my mother, you will have been awake for 2 and a half hours already. I would not recommend this last option, unless you are crazy).  The good news is I am going to Barcelona this weekend for Carneval, which is the Spanish equivalent of Mardi Gras and Halloween mixed together into a mess of craziness.  The biggest festival actually takes place in Cadiz (where I went two weeks ago and wasn't crazy about), but Lindsay is in Barcelona and I can stay with her for free so...Barcelona it is! Unfortunately, someone may need to bail me out of jail when I attempt to kidnap Lionel Messi and take him back with me... (kidding, kidding).

I am too tired to write coherent sentences, so here is a list:
1.  Vino blanco=white wine.  Blanco vino=White people came.  Do not accidentally say the second one like I did last night. Oops (again).
2.  Since vegetables are seemingly a rarity here, I have grown to like salad when my Señora makes it. Weird.
3. All I really want is a bagel with cream cheese and lox. So Jewish of me. And I don't want Dunkin' Donuts bagels. Those aren't real bagels. (I am a bagel snob).
4. I also want to watch Sportscenter, but I don't want to hear about how badly the men's basketball team is doing.
5. Pitchers and Catchers report to Yankees' Spring Training on Sunday... This is absolutely not relevant to my life in Spain, but I felt I should inform everybody that baseball season is almost here!
6. Beware of cars, motorcycles, and large buses. Do not cross the street when you do not have a walk signal. This knowledge is also relevant in the United States, and maybe I should listen to common sense more (motorcycles like to try to run me over).
7. My mother's main concern before I came here was my apparent "lack" of table manners.  However, if she saw my Señora's table manners, she would think I was perfect.  Apparently, slamming your utensils onto the plate when your done is okay.  So is answering the phone during dinner, entirely licking the wrapper of your yogurt while making gross sounds, chewing with your mouth open, burping, and coughing all over everybody's food.
8. The Spanish love their TV.  Who says Americans are technology obsessed? The TV here is a third family member, and is strategically placed a mere foot from the table and is always, ALWAYS, on.  However, I am okay with watching soccer highlights while eating.
9. The Spanish also love their yogurt. I like yogurt as well, but not with every meal as dessert. Give me ice cream or give me death.
10. Meeting people from all over the world is the most fun thing! Today I met a girl from Austria and a girl from Germany.  They study at a school in Austria, and are in Granada until July. They were super nice, spoke perfect English (and decent Spanish), and were generally very cool people. And they spoke something like five languages. Pshh, I am an ignorant American...
11. My first meal when I return home will be a large turkey sandwich. (I'm never eating ham again after being here).  Then I will sit with my Tulmeadow Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip ice cream in front of the Yankees game and watch the entire 9 innings, followed by Baseball Tonight.  Then, I will watch Sportscenter until it repeats, and I will proceed to watch it again.

And then I am going to play soccer.

Love love love,
Lauren

P.S. My literature teacher today said that she saw a few of us running by the river, and that running is "unhealthy."  Too bad one of those people was me.  Gosh darn it Lauren, stop being so unhealthy and going for runs! Clearly my desire to be physically fit is going to be the end of me......

Confidence and Confusion

How is it possible that this is the beginning of week four in Granada? Time flies...

I had a great weekend in Granada.  It was nice to relax, sleep late, and hang out with my friends.  On Friday, Lynn found a hiking trail online only fifteen minutes outside the center of Granada (near the Alhambra).  The website claimed the hike was only two hours, but it actually took us around four! We couldn't stop taking pictures and admiring the absolutely UNREAL views.  It was amazing to all of us that we could take a short walk outside of the city and end up in such a serene and beautiful place.  You sure can't do that in New York! (Unless you count Central Park which...I don't.)

Just one of the many, many pictures I took on Saturday.

There was random playground equipment! So Lindsey, Colleen, Hannah and I took the opportunity to be five years old again.

Maybe more exciting was Allie's visit to Granada! She is a close friend of mine from high school, and is studying in Alicante (a city about 3 and a half hours northeast of here) with Clemson University.  Her program came to Granada this weekend, and it was great to catch up with her! :)  I promised her I would visit Alicante, so I'm hoping I can keep that promise even though a lot of my weekends are busy. Plus, she lives on the beach! That'll definitely give me incentive to find time to go!

Allie and me with our delicious frozen yogurt. Mine was of course covered in Nutella. :)

When I first got to Granada, I wasn't even close to being confident in my Spanish-speaking abilities.  I still have days where I feel like I don't understand a word (exaggeration), but those days are becoming few and far between.  On Friday, I went to a hotel near my house to make a reservation for my dad's svisit.  The man working spoke English, but I chose to speak to him in Spanish instead.  He didn't even have to switch to English to talk to me, and I understood every word! Wahoo! I consider this a big achievement, since I've found many people here do not have a lot of patience for Americans learning Spanish.  The last three and a half weeks have definitely been about gaining confidence.  Now, when I go into a restaurant, taxi, school, hotel, etc. my heart doesn't start to pound out of nervousness.  I can do this!

Of course, there are moments of confusion.  Take yesterday, for instance.  After class, I power walked down to what I thought was the bus station to buy my bus ticket to Madrid (my flight to Italy next Thursday takes off from there).  I heard the bus station closed at 1:30, so I had to hurry.  After frantically crossing multiple streets and dodging several cars and motorcycles, I arrived at my destination.  I confidentially approached the ticket counter, and told the man working that I was looking to buy a ticket to Madrid for February 23rd at 8 AM.  He stared at me. "Uhh, did I say the right thing?" I thought. Yes, yes I was sure I had constructed a perfectly Spanish sentence.  He told me there wasn't a trip to Madrid until 9:10 AM.  I was confused. I grew flustered. The internet said there was an 8 AM bus! I was positive he was wrong.  I argued.  I informed him that the Internet's schedule said the bus left at 8 AM. He shook his head at me, and wrote down the number "9:10 AM" on my paper. Duh, I understand, I thought. I'm not stupid.  My Spanish became Spanglish, until I was positive I wasn't even making sense. I said "Gracias" and walked away, defeated.

I stood in the lobby of the "bus station" for a solid 3 minutes until I realized I was, indeed, an idiot. There wasn't a bus from this station at 8 AM because I was at the train station.

...Oops.

In my defense, the street signs leading up to the train station only said "Estación" with a picture of a train on it.  The train looks oddly like a bus, okay?! So, that was my one blonde, stupid Lauren moment of the week (I hope. The week has only just begun...We all know I am capable of much more).

I needed to be cheered up last night because I missed home, and my friends, and it's Valentine's Day and all and I knew I wasn't going to be with a lot of the people I love.  Luckily, my good friend Ryan Facebooked me and told me he is coming to Granada in 2 weeks! He's studying in Dublin, and I can't WAIT to see him! He wasn't home for very long last summer, so this will be a happy reunion. :)

Happy Valentine's Day to everybody! Valentine's Day isn't about having a boyfriend or a girlfriend, it's just about having people in your life that you love. I have a lot of those people, and I hope all of you have un día fantástico! :)

Lauren

Oh. My. Goodness.

I wasn't going to write anything today because it seemed like a pretty normal day. Went to class, fell asleep in class, came back to the apartment, ate a big lunch, and then went to my meeting with my language partner.  Aaaand, that's when my day got interesting.

I signed up for a language partner through the school. Not a date.

Apparently, Spanish "gentlemen" use the language exchange program (we get matched up with someone who wants to learn English, and they help us with Spanish) as a dating service.  His name is Jose and he is a 21 year-old student from Granada. We agreed to meet at school at 5 pm, so there I was at 5 pm standing in the middle of the entrance-way waiting for him.  After a few confusing phone calls, I saw a man walk into the school and immediately thought, "please please please do NOT let this be him." It was. Of course it was.

Think Jersey Shore meets Spain.  Spiked hair with gel, a leather jacket with some sort of chain/belt contraption, awkward facial hair that was trying to be a beard, and low pants.  Also, he looked waaaay older than 21 (but I've noticed people in general here look older than they really are).  Members of the UConn group were there and I tried to flash some of them a, "please help me!" look, but they were busy being jealous that I already got paired up with someone.  As Andrew, my life guru from Cape Cod, always says, "You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their eyes."  I generally have excellent instincts about people anyways, and I also remembered Andrew's advice when I looked at this punk.  Jose's eyes were shifty, and generally creepy. What to do, what to do.

I decided to give him a try, since my mom says I don't do that enough.  Thanks mom, by the way. I blame this situation on you (kidding).  He said something about a nice coffee shop nearby.  I didn't know that nearby meant a 25 minute walk, but whatever.  While mulling over my options as to what to do if he tried to kidnap me, I decided to make sure we stayed in a public place.  We got to the coffee shop.  It was actually really good.  By that I mean the food was good, because I got frozen yogurt with candy on top.  The conversation sucked.  He asked me to tell him about myself. "Okay Lauren, you can do that," I thought.  He listened to nothing I said, as his eyes were glued to my chest.  Obviously he was not listening at ALL, because the next question was irrelevant: "Do you have a boyfriend?" Here we go!

Now, I have experienced some creepy boys at UConn before and generally know how to handle myself in these situations.  Sometimes I claim to be a lesbian, but I decided this was not the right venue for that.  Plus, maybe he was just curious! Give him the benefit of the doubt. I said, "No, no, I don't have a boyfriend." That should have been the end. Nope. Not with this lovely young fellow.  He proceeded to berate me with questions as to why I don't have a boyfriend, because that must be impossible! He repeatedly told me I was too beautiful to be single, and that I was just so pretty! I politely said "Gracias," because I know there are cultural differences and I have heard that Spanish men are usually very forward.  But he kept going. For the ENTIRE time.  He kept repeating that I had pretty eyes. Come on, really? My eyes close when I smile half the time, I forgot to wear makeup today AND I haven't really slept in three weeks so there are large bags under them.  At least say I have a nice smile.  Or keep those comments to yourself until you get to know my personality.

I would've been okay with all of this to some extent if he wasn't still staring at my chest. Then he paid for the check, because "I always will pay for girls with pretty eyes." I decided to ask him about how Spanish people at the discotechas do not dance inappropriately (like at UConn) and they laugh and take pictures of Americans when we uhh, grind with Spanish boys.  He told me (in different words) that he likes Americans because they are easy.

So. I tried to hustle back to the school, where I was meeting Hannah in ten minutes.  He followed me. Yay. I managed to walk into some poor old woman, and she yelled. He put his arm around me. No. I finally turned to him and said "Adios."

I hate when people touch me. I hate when boys are overly forward. I hate when boys are creeps.  I'm sure a lot of this was due to cultural differences, but it doesn't really matter to me. I felt so uncomfortable. I have come to the stunning realization that I miss American boys.  At least they don't carry purses or wear scarves.  Also they smell like a man, which is how a boy SHOULD smell.  Most of all, I only wanted to have a language partner.  I have no interest in a boyfriend.  Also, why is it so shocking that I don't have a boyfriend? He was completely floored.  The compliment was flattering, but it came off waaay wrong.

I'm finding this country to be sexist and definitely stuck in a time where women were not thought of as being independent.  This is a problem for somebody like me, since I am super independent.

Along similar lines, last night I tried to play soccer at the main university (not where I go to school).  I was told I couldn't.  Every single person playing (and there were a lot of people) was a male.  Apparently, girls don't play.  I had heard this before, but I was hoping maybe it'd be a false rumor.  The sad thing is that a middle-aged women told me that women don't play soccer in a very matter-of-fact tone.  She didn't even care that women are so limited (at least in my eyes).  Apathy. I despise it. The man working at the office in the university asked where I was from, and when I said the United States, he was shocked I had even touched a soccer ball before, or even knew what soccer was.  If my Spanish was better, I would've asked him if he had ever heard of Mia Hamm.  She was, in fact, an American woman who was actually pretty decent at soccer, or something like that.

There is a reason why the Spanish women's national team didn't qualify for the World Cup, when the men's Spanish national team won the whole thing.  Now I understand.

I have never been so grateful for the opportunities I have at home.  They always say the United States is the land of opportunity.  I never fully understood that before, but now I most certainly do.

P.S. E-mail from my Spanish lover! "I just want to tell you that I had a great afternoon today. You are a lovely and a funny girl ^-^."


Hmm...should I not answer or should I not answer? I think I won't answer.  Americans are all easy though, duh! (He found the wrong girl. Sorry dude!)

Sevilla, Cadiz, and Ronda!

First and foremost, I AM SO HAPPY THE GIANTS WON! :) :) :) :) This is the clip that keeps running through my head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki-w4KYpnuw

I returned home from my first trip in one piece! Barely.  I think I may have gained 20 pounds, and I am also running on very very little sleep.  I don't think I have slept more than 7 solid hours since I've been here, but that seems to be the norm in Spain.  I am awful at napping, so I don't take that much advantage of siestas unless I am too tired to walk (has only happened once).

I don't even know what to say about the trip.  I had fun, definitely, but it was also completely exhausting! The first day, we went to Seville.  I absolutely LOVED it, and I wish we had more time there to explore.  The city was much bigger than Granada, and definitely more crowded, but it was also so so beautiful.  I actually think it might be prettier than Granada, which is saying something.  We toured the famous cathedral there, which was cool, but we toured the Cathedral in Granada the day before so I was kind of bored.  They all look the same to me, as ignorant as that sounds.  At least I can say I went, though!  My favorite part of Seville was definitely El Parque de Espana, which is a giant park with fountains, trees, and flowers everywhere.  It was freezing and winter-y the day we went, so I'm sure it would be even prettier in the summertime.  I don't know what I'll fully remember about Seville in the future, but I will definitely remember Lynn trying to open a bottle of wine by covering it with a towel and hitting it against the wall.  We gave up once the person next door starting banging on the wall in an attempt to shut us up.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

The next day we went to Cadiz, which I had heard great things about.  Unfortunately, I felt the city was kind of a letdown.  It was absolutely FREEZING when we went, with a lot of wind and general cold-ness.  A lot of the stores were cold for the Spanish-equivalent of winter, so we could not manage to find a decent restaurant for dinner. We ended up at a Domino's type place, where we got weird looking pizza. I got a salad (yes, Mom, really!) because I couldn't manage to put any more junk into my stomach at that point.  Being in Cadiz felt like being in Cape Cod in the winter.  It was desolate and didn't seem to have much character.  But that's just my opinion. I'm sure other people loved it.  It just wasn't for me.  Also we went to.......another cathedral! I know, I know, I should be grateful that I even get to go to these places.  I am grateful, but I would also be okay with never seeing another cathedral in my life.

I guess here I will talk about the food.  IT WAS AMAZING. The entire group probably gained 10 pounds per person.  My new favorite food is definitely paella, which is rice, with some kind of sauce, and seafood mixed in.  It tasted so good and I could've eaten it all if I wasn't so stuffed (all the restaurants here give massive appetizers in addition to the main meal and dessert!).

Paella! Mmmm

The other amazing meal we had was supposed to be sandwiches. Or so we thought.  To our surprise, though, we were given these giant skewer-type things with a plate on the bottom.  It was a giant kebab of chicken and vegetables hanging above the plate!

What a weird yet delicious meal

We were all so exhausted by Sunday, but still had one more place to go: Ronda! I did not even want to go, to be honest. I just wanted to take the bus to Granada.  But luckily Ronda was amazing.  As we were driving, we went through the gorgeous Spanish countryside.  It looked like Ireland (not that I've ever been there...).  Ronda was perched on top of a hill overlooking the countryside, and the view was unbelievable.

Yay for pretty places!

One of the best parts of the trip was when we found a UConn Huskies themed bar in Ronda! A UConn student studied in Spain many years ago and decided to move to Ronda and he opened up a bar.  To my surprise and happiness, the bar also had Yankees photographs everywhere!! It was great. Unfortunately, though, it made me miss everybody at home! This weekend was difficult because my soccer team had a party Friday, Saturday was Barstool (which mostly all my friends went to) and Sunday was the Superbowl. Even though I have my own amazing pictures from the weekend, seeing pictures of all my friends together made me sad. I'm glad all of you are having fun though! I wish I had watched the Superbowl, too. Unfortunately I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before and accidentally fell asleep. Waaaah :(

So anyways, that concludes my first trip out of Granada.  It was fun. I liked most of it. Yay!

I have a few complaints, though.  Sorry for being all complain-y and blunt, but I feel as though the UConn program definitely has flaws.  For example...
1.  I am afraid I'm not speaking enough Spanish.  Outside of class, we all talk in English, which is our own fault, but it's because we don't feel confident enough to speak Spanish among natives/each other.  I wish there was something to make us speak in Spanish more.
2. Along those lines, every other school here took a language intensive class starting at the beginning of January.  I think we could have DEFINITELY benefitted from that. I know money is an issue, but this is important.  UConn placed all of us in the same classes, even though there are very different levels of Spanish.  We should be split up more based on our knowledge of Spanish.
3. I wish we met more people from other schools. I really love meeting people and I feel slightly confined here. Not that I don't like the UConn group, but meeting different people would be fun too.

There are other things, but I'd rather keep those to myself.  As a whole, I'm glad I went with UConn, but obviously there are always going to be small flaws with any program.

On another note, my Senora had a coughing attack during lunch today and I got really nervous. I thought she was choking. She coughs constantly and it's...gross. I often think she might keel over. She hasn't yet, but today was close.  Also, on an uncomfortable note, I found out that she loves Francisco Franco.  For those of you who don't know, Franco was a (brutal) dictator of Spain until his death in the 1970s, often described as a terrorist and murderer.  He was also tied closely with the Catholic Church, which is why so many Spanish today consider themselves Catholic but do not practice their religion.  My Senora, however, is seemingly in denial about the atrocities committed by Franco.  The other day on the news, there was a story about people who had been tortured by Franco.  Only recently were these people allowed to tell their story.  Instead of watching this report, my Senora yelled at the TV and changed the channel.  She is entitled to her opinions, but her ignorance frustrates me.  Again, she regularly forgets the name of her own president.  That would be like me forgetting Barack Obama's name.  She also claims to know nothing about politics and seemingly doesn't know too much about her country's culture (she never knows the answer when I ask her questions).  Frustrating is the only word I can come up with to describe how I feel about this.

Anywho, on a lighter topic, tomorrow I am meeting with my language partner! His name is Jose, and he is a student in Granada who is interested in learning English.  We are meeting at school to talk and help each other learn each other's languages! I'm excited for this.

I am hopefully playing pick up soccer later, if I can find the place my director told me about. Let's hope!

For now, adios!

Lauren

Every weekend is apparently a vacation

So, thanks to the study abroad gods I was blessed with many long weekends.  Since my program does not have classes on Fridays, I have a built in travel day and can leave Granada to see the rest of Europe any time after 12 on Thursdays!

Obviously, I am taking advantage of this.  I was planning on going to Scotland to see Jen for St. Patrick's Day (I know it's not Ireland, but it is apparently a big deal there), but the tickets to Edinburgh are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and also take 18 hours for some reason, so that's a no-go.  However, we came up with a solution: meet in London the weekend before!  I was not planning on going to London to be honest (sorry to my cousin Carrie, who actually should've been born in London because she loves it so much) but I can't exactly say no to a trip that is 40 euros round trip.  Plus, once I actually thought about it, how could I not go to the birthplace of Harry Potter? I guess you could say I am slightly obsessed with everything Harry Potter-related, so I hopefully will be going to King's Cross Station and boarding the Hogwarts Express (ha ha ha).

I am also super excited for my plans for La Semana Santa (spring break April 2-9 that coincides with Easter).  Somehow, my accountant father managed to find the time to come visit during tax season and is giving his poor, poor students at UHa exams the week he leaves (Dad, I hope you don't tell them you're giving them a test so you can go on a European vacation)! He is coming March 29, and the next day (hello, jet lag!) we are flying to Geneva, Switzerland! I have heard SO many good things about Switzerland and I can't wait to go.  We are probably going to go to another country near there as well (maybe Salzburg? If anyone has ideas, let me know!) but aren't sure yet...currently on the eurail website trying to find something. :)

I have one other longer weekend the last part of April, but I don't know what's happening then. Maybe somewhere closer, and maybe hopefully somewhere with a beach? I vow to come back with a tan!

Tomorrow, I have a UConn organized trip to Seville, Cadiz, and Ronda (as I said before).  UConn has a different trip for us every month to different areas in Spain, which is actually awesome.  We get to stay in nice hotels and do not have to do any of the organizing ourselves! I am soo unbelievably excited to travel that I don't think I am ever going to want to come home.  Who knows, maybe if I get an internship that doesn't start until later in the summer I can stay here a bit longer. :)

Also, as a side note, my Senora finally stopped calling me Lorelai.  Now she prefers "Laurle-eafiohgesodhg" because she doesn't know how to pronounce "Lauren."  I kind of liked Lorelai because it made me feel like I was on the Gilmore Girls.  I'm also realizing how lucky I am to live here.  I thought the size of my apartment/bedroom/own bathroom was normal, but my friend Gail came over the other day and told me that my apartment is a mansion.  I don't know if I would say that, but it is definitely very nice.  I'm thinking my Senora has a lot of money-most of the host families/moms have told my friends to take short showers (there is a drought in Spain in addition to the high cost of hot water) and to turn off the lights whenever possible.  My Senora, however, has never mentioned anything about the water, and actually encourages me to turn on lights so I "don't kill myself by walking in the dark." Today she made paella (basically rice, with some kind of sauce, and seafood mixed in) for lunch and it was DELICIOUS.  I told her I was going to be fat, and she launched into a ten minute story about her health problems... none of which I wanted to know... but hey, she made me a great lunch!

I have to pack for my trip this weekend, shower, and (hopefully) nap, in addition to finalizing a lot of my travel plans (buy bus tickets to airports and such.  Granada's one downfall is that it does not have a big airport, which means we have to go to Malaga or Madrid to get good flights!).

Adios!

Lauren