Minnesota Wild Rice

Rachael I were planning on going to the Alhambra today so we set our alarms to wake up at 8:30 am this morning. When we woke up, we checked the weather and realized that it was supposed to rain so we decided that we are going to try again next week. We went back to bed after we decided this because we were still tired from the night before.

When we woke up and were eating breakfast, Mila came up to us and asked us about the wild rice that Rachael gave her as a present. The instructions are in English and Mila doesn't know English so it makes it a bit difficult for her to make it. When we finished eating we went to the kitchen to help her cook it. When we were reading the recipe, we noticed that we were supposed to have 20 cups of water for the 2.5 cups of rice! No way that was happening so we just filled up a pot with water and hoped for the best.

We stayed in there and helped Mila translate the instructions and then we once it was boiling, I said I would return soon to help her more because Rachael was going to the gym. There was a point when Mila asked if she should add salt and the recipe said that you could optionally add a teaspoon of salt. We told her yeah, add some salt, but only a little, and she added about 3 tablespoons, or half of a handful! Going to be some salty rice. Mila and I figured out everything and they seemed to turn out okay. Now the taste of them is going to be the interesting part. 

When I finished cooking the rice I went back to the bedroom to study for an hour and half. I read through my Islamic Culture notes one time in that time period and I was exhausted afterwards. There is just so much information that I need to know! The whole semester's worth because I am taking the midterm again.

The lunch was good, including the rice. It was a little undercooked but we didn't care too much because the rice had really good flavor. Mila also cooked up some chicken with onions and then we had the usual salad and bread. 

After lunch Rachael and I went shopping to go buy my wedge sandals and to go to El Corte Ingles to exchange our USD to euros instead of taking out more money from the ATM. When we walked past the store, they were closed for siesta so we decided that we would return later. When we went to Corte, they had a minimum of 50 USD to exchange money and we only had 45 cummulative so we couldn't exchange anything. We then went to La Via Lattea for some gelato. I got half Ferrero Rocher and half Kinder Bueno. It was so good and creamy. I am definitely going to miss this availability of gelato and ice cream around Granada because it is not like that in Green Bay or Winona. 

It started to rain right after we got our gelato so we walked to El Corte Ingles to stand under their hangover to avoid the rain. When we finished our gelato, it was still sprinkling a little bit so we just decided to walk to the store for my shoes because it was now 5, when they would be open. They had the shoes, in a size smaller, but they fit, so I bought them! :) SO Cute! And they were even 10% off, so it was a good deal.

We then went to Lefties to look around and they had their 20% off sale on everything, but I held back because of my weight limit. Sucks because they have such cute cute clothes!! We then walked home and hung out in our rooms, listening to Spanish music.

Later in the evening I was going to Skype my parents and Kristin while they were at my grandparents house, using Uncle Jack's computer, but he didn't have a webcam and their phones didn't work, so they Skyped me when they got home. When they were driving home, I Skyped with Brynn for a little bit. 10 days until I get to see her! :)

Skyping my parents was nice because I am starting to feel anxious and getting really stressed out about finals. They reassured me that everything is going to be okay, no matter the outcome, and that I just have to study  my butt off to ensure that I tried my best. 

After Skyping them it was dinner time, the last dinner with Lineth because she leaves tomorrow morning at 5 am. During the dinner there was a show on called EuroVision, and it was like a contest of singers between countries. It was pretty cool but there were some whack performances. After dinner I said my goodbye to Lineth and then went into my room to study, or to try to study.

I studied for about 15 minutes before Mila got on the phone and was talking up a storm. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to study when I can hear other people talking, so instead I just listened to some music and went to bed. 

6 Days!

One Week!

Today marks the one week point until I return home to the United States. It is crazy how fast things have flown by and how many awesome experiences that I have had here in Spain, and everywhere that I have traveled. Something that I will never forget!

Today. Today started off rough because I woke up at 9:30 after going to bed at 5:30. It was a fun night so I was paying for it a bit in the morning hours. I was up this early because I had a walk around Granada with my Islamic Culture class. Rachael had class today today for a make up day but she wasn't going to go so it was just me leaving this early! I ate breakfast and got ready, then I made sure that Michael was awake and going, and then I headed out to the CLM. 

When I got there, there were only people from the other class there and I was worried that Michael was going to ditch out on me, but he didn't and he just showed up a bit late! The walk was boring, I'll be honest, but we did get to see an arabic bath ruin that is underground. That was the highlight of the tour.

We walked around the main part of town looking at the history there and then we went up to the Albaicin and that is when Michael and I had enough of the walk because we were not up for that. We went, but not happily, and then we left after 2 hours of walking around. The tour was supposed to last an hour and a half long but it went way longer than that because we left before it was done. Here are some pictures from the walk.

After the walk, Michael and I stopped by Subway and I got a baby sub for a euro and he got a meal. The baby sub was the perfect size and I had salami, pepperoni, lettuce and tomato on it! That was all that was allowed, so I took it all! I miss subs like that! 

After Subway, we walked home and then I went back to bed until lunch time because I was exhausted. I spent the rest of the day resting, even sleeping more after lunch, and hanging out. I was planning on studying but I couldn't get in the zone. 

Around 7, Rachael and I decided that we wanted to go to get churros at Cafe Desi, the place that we tried to go before but they were closed. This is also the place that Wes wanted to get to before he left but he ran out of time. We met up with Michael and then walked over there. It was sprinkling a little bit but once we sat down, it started to rain harder! 

The churros were a million times better than at Cafe Futbol and I wished that we had went here earlier, but it was probably for the better for the sake of caloric intake. Both the chocolate and the churros were better, hands down!

We waited under the awning where we were sitting outside before continuing to go home because we wanted the rain to stop. It stopped so we left, but as soon as we left, it picked up again. It was a battle that we couldn't win!

When we got home, we hung out until it was dinner time and we had pizza for dinner. We survived a ham and cheese patties dinner. There was a soccer game on that Mila was really excited to watch because it was the King's Cup and someone called her right before the game started and she said "This is not the time to call, this is the time to watch soccer!" It was really funny because she was dead serious too. 

After dinner I almost fell asleep just sitting in my bed so I decided to go on the computer and screw around on there. I showered and then went to bed at 11. It was a day of relaxing and sleeping, and it will probably be the last time that this happens because I need to study for my finals. 

Last Day of Classes in Spain

As the title of this post states, today is the last day of classes in Spain. Next week is finals week so there are no classes being held, just exams.

For my final class of Variedades, we talked about the countries that we researched and the types of Spanish languages that are used there. We each gave a quick 5 minute talk about the country that we had researched and that was it, pretty easy. We then talked about the final exam a little bit and BOOM  I was done with classes!

I didn't go home right away because Michael and I were going to study for Islamic Culture, but that didn't last too long. We decided that we are better off studying alone and then getting together on Sunday to discuss things and quiz each other.

I then walked home and took a nap for an hour because I was exhausted from all the learning that I have done over the past 5 months! When I woke up I worked on my blog and FINALLY got all caught up. It has been a busy and crazy week indeed so I am glad that I am caught up and it is out of the way.

Lunch time came around and then it was time for me to go to my intercambio. This is when things got interesting. I decided that I was going to leave 15 minutes early so I could sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. When I got to la Fuente de Batallas, I took out my iPod to play a game on it while I waited and I noticed that Asun had messaged me on Facebook right before I left, and I hadn't checked it until then. Asun wanted to meet at 5 instead of 4:30 because she was going to be late. Because I don't have wifi outside of the house, I walked to the CLM to use their computers to respond to Asun. When I got to the CLM, the computer lab was closed because there was a class going on in there. I decided that I was just going to return to the fuente and wait for Asun there.

After waiting for about 10 minutes it started to sprinkle and then rain a bit harder. I didn't have my umbrella with me and it was 4:40 so I figured that I would quickly run home to grab my umbrella and then be back by 5 to meet Asun. When I was about 2/3 of the way home, the rain slowed down to practically nothing and then by the time that I grabbed my umbrella and left, it had stopped. When I was in my room I quickly explained to Rachael everything that had just happened and told Asun that I was going to be like 5 minutes late, assuming that we were still going to meet at 5. On my way out the door, she messaged me saying that she had arrived at the fountain, so I booked it there! When I arrived, at 5, I told her what had happened and we just laughed it off. The funny thing was that I was probably leaving the plaza at the same time that she was arriving. What are the chances. And I didn't even need my umbrella.

We went to El Tren for our intercambio and it went well. It was nice to practice speaking Spanish and to catch up with her. She said that I have a large vocabulary of words but then I said that I need to use them more and have more confidence. We talked about a lot of other things, including in English what the difference is between MUST and SHOULD. Try explaining that one without using those words in a sentence. It was difficult but I figured it out eventually. 

We took a picture together because this might be the last time that we see each other. I hope not because I am trying to fit her into my schedule next week so I can see her right before I leave. If not, here is the picture. I also needed the picture for my photo book!

After the intercambio we walked a little bit outside to our departure point and said our goodbyes, just in case this was our last time meeting. I then walked home and rested for a bit. Rachael got home and then it was time for dinner.

HAM AND CHEESE PATTIES NIGHT 3!

We have lasted a while without eating them and that was a good thing, but now we are back at it and eat them :(

After dinner we got ready to go out. Tonight is our last Thursday night of being able to go out so we are going to hit up Camborio for the final time. We met Michael outside our place and then walked to Emilio's for their genie in a bottle drinks. On our walk there, we came across a sign that said elephant on it so I had Rachael pose for it so I could take a picture! :) 

Later, we ran into Leah, Sam, Alex, and Liz who had just gone on a double date. They were on their way to Emilio's to meet up with us. 

At Emilio's I ordered the drink that I had tried when I was there last time, the Pinero. The Pinero has vodka, rum, gin, blue, and pineapple juice. There could be one one ingredient but I cannot remember it right now. The drink is huge and it is only 5 euros! What a steal!

We played foosball and hung out for the next couple of hours, and Ruth also showed up with Yuki, as well as Ian. Right when we were about to leave, Helen walked in with some of her friends. We took a picture together and then got Sam in one!  Helen was my first non SOL friend in Spain and I hope to keep in touch with her after Spain. We were in intensive month together and now we have Grammar, POE, and Spanish Civilization and Culture together!

We left Emilio's and walked to Camborio and got there at around 1:15 so we still had time to take advantage of the open bar. I had 2 cups of Tinto de Verano and then the open bar closed. 

We danced the night away and we took a tequila shot to celebrate being done with classes! Finally, I never thought that this day would come. Michael used up all of his free drink coupons that he had accumulated over the past week or so, so he was in a happy place. We left Camborio at like 3:45 and then walked to get Shawarma near the CLM because all of the other places were closed. Ian and I ordered a shawarma and Yuki got a kebab and Rachael didn't get anything. Ruth and Adrian were walking home with Michael. We then walked home from there with Yuki and we got home at about 5 am. 

It was a long night and tomorrow is going to be rough because I have to wake up at 9:30 for a walk with my class. Oh boy, oh boy.

When in Spain, do as the Spaniards do!

Vino Potable con Juan

Last day of Monday, Wednesday classes!

In Grammar, we finished up talking about pronouns, for as much as the time allowed, and then Susana gave us a touching goodbye and blew us all kisses when we left. I learned to like her a lot more than I did in Intensive Month. She is a good professor and really cares about her students, not to mention that she is pretty hilarious.

In Islamic Culture, we went over what would be on the test and reviewed. Pretty much to just remind me how much I don't recall from the lectures and how much studying that I need to do to prepare, or try to prepare, myself for the exam.

I came home and ate lunch and then left early because I had my POE oral final today. When I got to school, I met up with Leah, my partner for the oral final, and we noticed that there were a bunch of our classmates waiting around to go. The professor wasn't there yet and she was supposed to be there at about 2:45... it was now 3:10. We all waited around until she got there because we couldn't pick out our topics until we saw the list of options and she finally showed up at 3:30, 45 minutes late! Her excuse, she forgot that she signed kids up early, but regardless she should've been there 15 minutes early so the students could read their articles. The exam itself went well, not awesome, but well. I had a hard time pronouncing a lot of the words because they were new to me and different. Our topic was the death penalty and if we agreed with it. Lauren also did the final with us.

Because we only had the final to do today, I got done with class at 4:15 and I had to wait around until 6:30 for my final class of the day! I worked on my blog and hung out with some of my classmates. Helen came back to school at 5:30, instead of 6:30 so she kept my company while I was on my computer. I also Skyped Kristin really quick to show her my picture book so she can start working on hers as well. She is all done with her finals and now just has to finish up work before she can go home.. lucky duck! I also got to talk to Katie today, and it was nice to catch up because it has been a while with our busy lives! Can't wait to live with her next semester.

In my Spanish Civilization and Culture class we reviewed for our final exam and it freaked me out because of how much information that we have to know. It is a lot, more than I thought it would be!

After class, we met in the patio of the CLM to go out to dinner with Juan Carlos, from Winona State. He is my favorite Spanish professor ever, and my Spanish advisor, so when I saw him, I was excited and we gave each other a hug! It had just started to rain when we left the CLM to walk to the restaurant and I didn't have my umbrella, so I got a little wet. Luckily it was only about a 5 minute walk. 

We were in a really cool restaurant with colorful plates on the walls and on the third floor, so there was a pulley system to bring the food up. For the tapas. Oh boy did we get a lot! We started out with a salad with a lot of veggies that had a sauce similar to that on a Big Mac. We then had tomatoes and avocados, and tomatoes and shredded mozzarella cheese in oil and herbs.  Second, we had pizza crust that was crispy with MELTED mozzarella cheese. TO DIE FOR! AWESOME! Then they brought out fried calamaris and finished it off with some steak, fries and veggies. Some of the students were still hungry so German ordered another round of the cheese and bread. For dessert we got suckers. During all of this, we had as much tinto or beer that we could drink. It was a good good meal! :)

During the meal we were allowed to talk with Juan Carlos about whatever we wanted to. I asked him about the grading scale but he didn't know what the previous one was so that answer is still up in the air. He also mentioned that they are restructuring the Spanish majors and minors and we only have to take 2 literature classes now, instead of 3. Thank goodness! Finally he talked about how he is planning and travel study to do the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain and how there is a fountain with free wine! Aka, vino potable. 

Agua potable is when there is a fountain that you can drink out of in Spain. Vino is wine in Spanish.

After dinner, it was still raining, but we headed home and showered up and then hit the hay!

Tye Dye Tuesday

Today in Variedades class, we watched a movie about the different accents in Spain and regional words and expressions. Towards the end of class we listened to more interviews that people did, but we didn't have enough time to listen to mine, thank goodness!

After class, Katie and I went shopping for souvenirs! First we went to the box store, and it was closed. Probably too early for them to be open because it was only like 10:15 when I got there. I will return later tonight after my workshop. We then went to go buy tapas recipe books, in English, to bring home and cook the foods that we have grown to love. Last stop was the T-shirt store where I finally bought my Siesta, Spanish Yoga T-shirt! The shirt is an XL in mens, which clearly is not my size, so I am going to have to do some manipulation to make it work. 

After shopping, I went back to the house to take my usual nap on Tuesday. When I woke up, I worked on my photo book and set up a time to meet with Asun on Thursday for an intercambio.

It was then lunch time and after lunch I was supposed to meet up with Michael and Maggie to study for Islam but Maggie was sleeping and Michael had something else come up so we cancelled it for today.

Soon it was time to go my workshop for tye dye day! Woohoo! Katie wasn't able to come today because she was overloaded with homework. When I got there, I took my other projects that I had been working on with the wax, and started to iron and melt out all of the wax. I then have to take them home and wash them in cold water and salt to get all of the residue out. 

Then it was tye dye time! But first, a 20 minute long explanation that bored me to death because I didn't need any explanations. I then tye dyed! Here, or at least in this class, you have to keep the cloth in the dye for 20 minutes, holding it there, and then rinse and repeat in another color, if so desired. That was new for me and the time went by slowly because I didn't have anyone to talk to in English and everyone else was having their own conversation in Spanish. Oh well, I got through it!

When I got done tye dying I left class early and went to the box store, hoping that they would be open. They were! I bought my box for myself, and it even has a mirror inside, how precious! :)

I returned home and it was soon time for dinner. The rest of the night I stayed up working on my blog and other things on the computer.

I am almost done with my photo book, the only thing that I am missing is my photos with my intercambios, Asun and Lourdes, which I am going to get in the next week!

:)

Happy 18th Birthday Karyn!

Happy 18th Birthday Karyn!

:)

Sorry I cannot be there to celebrate with you but I'm sure you are going to have a spectacular day, with or without me!

The only excitement of the day today is Karyn's birthday.

I went to all my classes and didn't really do much new stuff. Grammar we started to learn about pronouns, which is actually a lot easier than I thought, so far. In Islamic Culture, we had our last day of lecture because on Wednesday we are having a review day. Thank the Lord that I am almost done with this class! Now to pass it.. 

Between lunch and my classes I started to watch the Survivor season finale and I was not too happy with who got 4th place, Eddie. I wanted him to go to the end! 

In POE I listened to my classmates talk about situations during Franco's regime and I almost fell asleep. We also discussed our final oral and final written exams.

Between my classes I finished the Survivor season finale and watched the aftershow. Congrats to Cochran for winning the million and the Malcolm, what a babe, for being the Sprint Player of the Season.

In my Spanish Civ and Culture class we debated about graffiti being art or not. When I was asked what I thought about it, I just said that I don't have an opinion because they were tearing apart everyone else's and I was not in the mood to fight about graffiti, especially when I don't really care about it.

When I got home, I worked on my photobook some more and then ate dinner. When dinner was over I went on my computer and worked on my photobook some more. I was exhausted and wanted to go to bed at 9:45 but stayed awake until 12! Accomplishment in my mind. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! :)

Even though I can't be there, or Kristin, I hope your day is wonderful and filled with lots of joy and love from everyone! Soon you will be reunited with all of your daughters :)

Barcelona day 4. 

We started the day by waking up and eating our napolitanas. We then all packed up all of our things and checked out of the hostel at around 10:30 am. We were allowed to put our stuff in a luggage room, free of charge, for the day so that we didn't have to carry our stuff around the city. We were all sticking together today, all 5 of us, for the most part. 

First, we caught the Metro to Placa Espanya, where there is a bullfighting ring, or so we thought. I had learned about this place on the hop on hop off bus tour with my parents back in March and I couldn't exactly remember what it was now, but I knew that it was a bullring in the past. It was also quite obvious by the shape of it.

As you can see in the left of the picture, there is an overhang that you can go up to in a glass elevator, for a price of a euro, or you can go inside the bullring and use the elevator in there for free. We decided to go for the free route and we soon learned that the interior of the bullring was a shopping mall! How clever! We went to the top of the ring, the 5th floor, and walked outside onto the circular path. We were allowed to walk around the ring for free and snap all the pictures that we desired. We even could walk up to the glass elevator on the walkway overhanging off the building. Here are the sights from the top of the building!

The overhang that had the glass elevator.

After we viewed the top of the bullring, we came back down through the elevators inside the mall and were back on the busy streets of Barcelona. We walked back over the side of the roundabout that was by the Metro station and from there we wanted to go to the Olympic Stadium. We saw there were two huge towers in the road and a festival/car show going on in between it so our path to get uphill was blocked. 

We had to walk a block or two over and then navigate with our map to find our way up to the Olympic stadium. Along the way, we came across a park that was beautiful and full of nature. We wandered through it as a shortcut to get to the road that we needed to be at.

We finally reached the end of the park, and then we were on the main road. We walked up the road for about 5 minutes and then we found the gem of Barcelona, the Olympic stadium from the 1992 Olympics! The X-Games are being held in there next weekend so they were getting everything set up for that. We got to go inside for free, but we were not able to explore the stadium itself.

After spending some time at the Olympic stadium, we headed back down the road, in the opposite direction to go to the art museum, which actually looks like a castle. Along the way we saw the tower for telecommunication and a statue of the Olympics.

We continued our walk to the art museum and along the way, Ruth separated from us to go to church at 1. We will be meeting up with her later in the day for lunch and everything else. We didn't actually go into the art museum because none of us had much interest, but we did sit there for about 30 minutes soaking up the rays and resting our feet and legs. It was a gorgeous building with a lot of intricate details and old-fashioned but modern feel to it.

Michael, Rachael, Liz and I headed back down to where the Metro stop was in Placa Espanya. We made it about half way before we had to change our course because of the car festival going on. We thought that we could walk on the outside and not pay to get in, but that was not the case, so we circled around in the neighboring blocks. 

We then took the Metro back to the hostel and hung out for a little bit and used their computers and Wifi. From there, we were going to wait for Ruth to be done with church before going out to eat for lunch, but Rachael and I were hungry and we had a gut feeling that things were going to fall through, so we went to eat without them. 

We ate at 100 Montaditos, and they have 1 euro tapa sized portions on Sundays and Wednesdays. They also had 1 euro jars of tinto de verano or beer. We each ordered a jar of tinto, and then we ordered a hotdog and a hamburger. I then ordered a chicken and "bacon" sandwich with barbecue sauce and Rachael got a calamari sandwich with ali-oli sauce. We each also ordered a dessert of chocolate bread with Oreos and whipped cream or chocolate.

All of this was only for 8 euros! The only disappointment was that the supposed bacon was more like ham. Only a few more days until I can have real bacon!

After lunch Rachael and I went down La Rambla, hoping to stop at Carrefour for some food for the plane, but they were closed, even though we checked yesterday and their sign said that they would be open. We then continued down to the pier and just sat and hung out in the same spot that we ate our fruit and chocolate the day before. It started to get breezy and chilly so we headed back up La Rambla, stopping at other supermarkets, but they were all overpriced because of the location. We then went and hung out at Placa Catalunya for a bit until heading back to the hostel.

On our way back, at one of the crosswalks, someone came up to us asking if we spoke English and if we knew where Placa Universitat was. I told her that it was where we were going and that she was welcome to come with us, so she tagged along. I learned that she was from Istanbul, Turkey and she was traveling and just wanted to see everything. We showed her where the plaza was and then we backtracked a little bit to go to a store that had a bakery attached to it. They had a piece of pizza for 1.50 and hot dogs that were wrapped up in bread for cheap as well. We knew that this was where we were going to return to get our dinner for tonight, instead of dishing out our life savings at the airport. 

We went back to the hostel and about 2 minutes after we walked in, Michael, Liz, and Ruth walked in right after us. We were all together, and we didn't even plan it. We sat on the computers for a bit until it was 5pm, when we could get our things from the luggage room. Everything went smoothly and there were no problems with our luggage when we retrieved them.

We walked to Placa Catalunya to ensure that we got on the bus for the airport   because there were strikes going on, of course. Placa Catalunya is the main stop so we knew that they had to stop there for sure. Before we got to the placa, we all stopped at the bakery and bought pizza or other goodies. Rachael and I then went to McDonalds because I wanted their deluxe fries again, figuring I wouldn't be able to get them anywhere in the USA. 

We all met up at the bus stop, which was full of people trying to get to the airport. We all still had our tickets from our "there" trip and now we were going to use them for the "back" trip. Michael and I sat next to each other because there weren't many open seats, and lucky for us for getting a seat because the bus was packed packed packed full of people. Every aisle was full of people standing and luggages and there was no room for movement or to pick anyone else up, so we didn't stop at the other stops. It is a good thing that we went to Placa Catalunya to get on the bus to ensure that we made it to the airport on time.

When we got to the airport, we went through security and Ruth had to get patted down because something beeped when she walked through, but other than that, no issues. Our boarding gate wasn't posted yet so we just sat around and watched the movie that was playing on the TV. We ate our dinner and munchies that we had packed and soon enough it was time to board the plane.

The plane was pretty big and Rachael and I were sitting next to each other, with the aisle in between us, in the back. The flight was smooth and quick and soon enough we were in Granada. 

The airport bus was there when we landed so we got on that and then we were headed to the city center! We were the last stop on the bus so we got off the bus at about 11:30. 

When we got home I Skyped my mom for Mother's Day and hoping to talk to my grandmas, but they had already left our house. I then stayed on Skyped until a little after 12 so I could wish Karyn a happy 18th birthday! I went to bed soon there after.

Home sweet home in Granada.
Successful last trip :)